A reporter from a major magazine interviewed me this past week and asked me how companies should go about building their brands as a result of assisting in disaster relief efforts.
If you are looking to get public relations and brand building value out of disaster relief efforts, don’t start there as your motivation for helping. If you start out for the public relations value, you are almost certain to come across as self-serving, shallow and publicity starved.
Help out others in times of disaster because it is in your [corporate] heart to do so. Ask yourself this question, “If our brand could assist in the recovery efforts in some way but nobody would ever know about it, what would we do?”
Next, seek ways to get as much of your assistance directly to the most critical places as efficiently as possible. Work with relief organizations with great track records of low overhead expenses or coordinating governmental agencies and find out the priorities in the recovery efforts. Target those areas with your help. If you can donate money to the efforts, that is great. If your product or service can help in some way, donating the product or service is also a great way to help.
Sure, you may be able to get some good publicity for your brand as a result of helping, but don’t make this your primary objective. Search your heart and help because it is the right thing to do. Anything else your brand enjoys as a result is gravy.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Monday, September 12, 2005
Book review: Asinine Advertising
I just finished reading Herschell Gordon Lewis’s new book, “ Asinine Advertising: How Stupid and Unethical Advertising Costs You Money”, and enjoyed the read.
Mr. Lewis is one of my favorite authors. His “On the Art of Writing Copy” has a prominent place on my bookshelf and his column, “Curmudgeon-At-Large”, in Direct Magazine causes me to read the publication starting at the back each and every month (just before I go tearing through to see if there is a Tom Collins article).
“Asinine Advertising” offers great case studies in truly horrible advertising. While this book is more of a comment on poor copywriting and lack of creativity in many advertising departments, it serves as a reminder that we must all guard against the tendency to create marketing communication messages that sound similar to other current ones we’ve heard recently rather than concisely communicating true benefits using a new, fresh and personal communication style. In the new world of email spam, Herschell points out that many business communications across just about all media are taking on the same characteristics of spam—and he builds a strong case.
While readers of Direct will be familiar with much of the first half of the book because it seems like it’s been covered in his column before, there is enough fresh material here to keep you engaged—and laughing at the absurdity of it all.
While the $22.95 price plus $7.00 “Freight/Handling” for the 132-page paperback might someday, in itself, earn its own chapter in the book, I won’t complain too loudly because I’ve spent more on much lesser book offerings in the past.
Don’t buy this book if you are looking for “How to” information or a formula for writing good advertising, but by all means if you get a kick out of seeing bozos skewered, then sit back and enjoy the [quick] read.
If you are also looking for the “What to do’s” rather than just the “What not to do’s”, then you might also consider Ted Nicholas’s, “
How to Turn Words Into Money”.
Mr. Lewis is one of my favorite authors. His “On the Art of Writing Copy” has a prominent place on my bookshelf and his column, “Curmudgeon-At-Large”, in Direct Magazine causes me to read the publication starting at the back each and every month (just before I go tearing through to see if there is a Tom Collins article).
“Asinine Advertising” offers great case studies in truly horrible advertising. While this book is more of a comment on poor copywriting and lack of creativity in many advertising departments, it serves as a reminder that we must all guard against the tendency to create marketing communication messages that sound similar to other current ones we’ve heard recently rather than concisely communicating true benefits using a new, fresh and personal communication style. In the new world of email spam, Herschell points out that many business communications across just about all media are taking on the same characteristics of spam—and he builds a strong case.
While readers of Direct will be familiar with much of the first half of the book because it seems like it’s been covered in his column before, there is enough fresh material here to keep you engaged—and laughing at the absurdity of it all.
While the $22.95 price plus $7.00 “Freight/Handling” for the 132-page paperback might someday, in itself, earn its own chapter in the book, I won’t complain too loudly because I’ve spent more on much lesser book offerings in the past.
Don’t buy this book if you are looking for “How to” information or a formula for writing good advertising, but by all means if you get a kick out of seeing bozos skewered, then sit back and enjoy the [quick] read.
If you are also looking for the “What to do’s” rather than just the “What not to do’s”, then you might also consider Ted Nicholas’s, “
How to Turn Words Into Money”.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
"Business Speak"
…and on a lighter note,
Yesterday’s Tampa Tribune had a great article by Amanda Henry (ahenry@tampatrib.com) entitled, “Synergize This”.
The focus of the article was about the robot-like use of corporate-speak in business settings for the sake of sounding smart or simply to obfuscate the inherent uselessness of the extraneous use of verbiage in cross-functional teamwork environments.
A colleague of mine and I have an ongoing interest in such practice going back to when we both worked together in a previous company where the corporate bigwigs (i.e. “pinheads”) engaged in the exercise as standard practice. My colleague and I agreed that we would call it “B.S.” (i.e. “Business Speak”) and, hence, dubbed the practice “B.S. Bingo”. In fact, when he and I are in the same meetings these days where I deliver a presentation, I always find a way to work in the phrase “leverage synergies” just to see if my colleague, “Big”, cracks a smile and gives me that nod of awareness that goes undetected to those who are not clued-in to the practice. It has become a bit of a joke to he and I and every time it goes undetected by others in the meeting room, we laugh about it together later that day.
Amanda Henry included 2/3 of a newspaper page dedicated to four Bingo cards that included terms such as, “drill down”, “leverage(ing)”, “synergy”, “touch base”, “paradigm”, “win-win”, “branding”, “core values”, “push the envelope” and “strategic”. Readers of the newspaper are to cut out the Bingo cards, take them into their next business meeting and mark the buzzword or catchphrase when it is said during meetings. The first one with “bingo” wins the game.
What a great reminder to use common, ordinary language to make our points….unless, of course, we are hoping to get that next promotion.
Yesterday’s Tampa Tribune had a great article by Amanda Henry (ahenry@tampatrib.com) entitled, “Synergize This”.
The focus of the article was about the robot-like use of corporate-speak in business settings for the sake of sounding smart or simply to obfuscate the inherent uselessness of the extraneous use of verbiage in cross-functional teamwork environments.
A colleague of mine and I have an ongoing interest in such practice going back to when we both worked together in a previous company where the corporate bigwigs (i.e. “pinheads”) engaged in the exercise as standard practice. My colleague and I agreed that we would call it “B.S.” (i.e. “Business Speak”) and, hence, dubbed the practice “B.S. Bingo”. In fact, when he and I are in the same meetings these days where I deliver a presentation, I always find a way to work in the phrase “leverage synergies” just to see if my colleague, “Big”, cracks a smile and gives me that nod of awareness that goes undetected to those who are not clued-in to the practice. It has become a bit of a joke to he and I and every time it goes undetected by others in the meeting room, we laugh about it together later that day.
Amanda Henry included 2/3 of a newspaper page dedicated to four Bingo cards that included terms such as, “drill down”, “leverage(ing)”, “synergy”, “touch base”, “paradigm”, “win-win”, “branding”, “core values”, “push the envelope” and “strategic”. Readers of the newspaper are to cut out the Bingo cards, take them into their next business meeting and mark the buzzword or catchphrase when it is said during meetings. The first one with “bingo” wins the game.
What a great reminder to use common, ordinary language to make our points….unless, of course, we are hoping to get that next promotion.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
The death or reinvention of a destination brand?
The mention of the City of New Orleans prior to this past week usually conjured up images of Marti Gras, southern hospitality, Old World charm and good times to many of us outsiders. For many of us, New Orleans seemed like a great little escape for a couple of days because the city has marketed itself as--and was to many of us--a great party town, a wonderful jazz town and a great place to attend a convention. Jambalaya. Crawfish. Hurricanes at Pat-O’s. The balcony at The Cat’s Meow. Bourbon Street and the River Walk.
That has all changed.
Brand “New Orleans” as we all knew it is dead.
After the absolute devastation of natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina, we’re getting to see a side of New Orleans that we either didn’t see or didn’t want to see.
Poverty. Crime. Deteriorated housing. Social and moral decay.
The challenge to New Orleans is to decide whether or not it even wants to come back as a destination brand and if so, what does it want to stand for?
Once the city has come to grips with the recent disaster, it will have to make some hard choices.
One of those choices will be to decide what it wants to be—if it even wants to be anymore.
Will it want to rebuild the party town, live to excess image of the brand or does it want to reinvent itself and become something completely different?
When and if New Orleans starts to rebuild and it has choices to make, I hope New Orleans decides to be a brand bigger and better then before. My hope is that the deep social issues are addressed as a priority and that any thought about New Orleans as a destination brand for tourism comes as a distant afterthought.
Now is the time for New Orleans to get in touch with those core values that are most important to it and make decisions about what it is now and what it wants to be.
If it decides to address social issues as a priority, eliminate corruption, deliver education reform, and focus on branding itself as a wonderful community for its citizens as the primary goal before any thought is even given to tourism, then it will by default re-brand itself as a wonderful destination brand. When it does so, we will all flock to support it and reward its decision richly.
Our thoughts, prayers and support go out to all of the victims of Katrina.
How to help:
The American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org
Lutheran Church World Relief & Human Care
LCMS World Relief & Human Care
That has all changed.
Brand “New Orleans” as we all knew it is dead.
After the absolute devastation of natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina, we’re getting to see a side of New Orleans that we either didn’t see or didn’t want to see.
Poverty. Crime. Deteriorated housing. Social and moral decay.
The challenge to New Orleans is to decide whether or not it even wants to come back as a destination brand and if so, what does it want to stand for?
Once the city has come to grips with the recent disaster, it will have to make some hard choices.
One of those choices will be to decide what it wants to be—if it even wants to be anymore.
Will it want to rebuild the party town, live to excess image of the brand or does it want to reinvent itself and become something completely different?
When and if New Orleans starts to rebuild and it has choices to make, I hope New Orleans decides to be a brand bigger and better then before. My hope is that the deep social issues are addressed as a priority and that any thought about New Orleans as a destination brand for tourism comes as a distant afterthought.
Now is the time for New Orleans to get in touch with those core values that are most important to it and make decisions about what it is now and what it wants to be.
If it decides to address social issues as a priority, eliminate corruption, deliver education reform, and focus on branding itself as a wonderful community for its citizens as the primary goal before any thought is even given to tourism, then it will by default re-brand itself as a wonderful destination brand. When it does so, we will all flock to support it and reward its decision richly.
Our thoughts, prayers and support go out to all of the victims of Katrina.
How to help:
The American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org
Lutheran Church World Relief & Human Care
LCMS World Relief & Human Care
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