I drive a scooter. Almost every day for the last two years - unless its below 22 degrees, icey, or a downpour - I'm riding on two wheels. For the first 3 months I loved it. Loved parking on sidewalks, paying $5 to fill up my tank, scooting past traffic jams. You can cheat a lot of road rules on a scooter. But after two winters & two wipe outs, the love has faded fast. I now see a different side to my scooter rides. No trunk, gearing-up, helmet head, exposure to the elements, no Interstates - all of these things had just about gotten on my last nerve. And then my muffler fell off.
My wife and I traveled to Europe a little over a year ago. I do not speak French, but nonetheless, in some quasi-attempt to respect French culture and language I tried to engage the locals in French first...even if only to ask if they spoke any English. I ventured a bit too far into the language one night while trying to order dinner at a local cafe. Speaking to the waiter with a weird combo of French & English, I later found myself being served two full plates of food - two entrees for just me - by a very confused looking restaurant staff.
I'm turning 30 next week. And as I reflect back on my 20's - and what I've learned so far in business and branding - I see one common theme that is increasingly important to me: being human. Let me explain...
While driving home in our Civic the other day, I heard an ad on NPR for the Mini Cooper. Its hook, "go-kart-like handling". That's definitely not how my Civic feels, so I took notice. Its an interesting idea - to push me to thinking of a Mini in the same realm of experiences I've had driving on go-kart tracks or in my cousin's backyard. One thing came to mind when I heard that ad...fun.
Tax season holds one special promise for the matchstic house - the dancing liberties. Each December the poorly dressed lady liberties head out to the street corners to dance and remind you that Liberty Tax Service can take care of those pesky tax returns. And as they have grown in number and boldness, competitors have started to creep up.
This past December I completely forgot about checking Twitter & Facebook. No intent to do so...it just happened. A couple weeks later, when I realized the time that had passed, I also realized I hadn't missed it. So I set out on an experiment to see what would happen if I stopped the constant social media participation for a bit. How long would I last? Would people start to ask me why? My last SM check in was on Dec 18. Number of people that have asked me why I stopped posting - only 2.
Two years after Schultz's return to Starbucks, and things are starting to turn around. My last several visits to the green giant have been increasingly better - the coffee is improving, same with their baked goods, and the tea selections are going to full leaf. Starbucks seems to be fighting back...
In our day, Twitter followers determine rank of influence more so than who you work for. Who you're speaking for just doesn't matter so much anymore. Most would trust the opinion of a Facebook status update more than an editorial in the NY Times.
Enter the Conan vs NBC debacle...
"Different."
"Simple update."
"Change."
"Like Apple."
"Just..."
"I don't like that color."
"Innovation."
These are just a sampling of the types of words and phrases that get thrown around the branding table.
The antidote? A central component of the branding process - The Big Idea.
I'm not a big fan of opera, but I am a fan of the MET's logo. Simple, memorable, smart, flexible. When they went through their rebrand back in '06, it was said to have been "an initiative of the Met’s new general manager, Peter Gelb". This is always where a great brand begins.
- andy