Brand Noise

Grin Reapers

Marie Tupot Of scenarioDNA is featured in an article in this weekend's San Diego Union-Tribune:

Poking fun at recession fears — getting laid off, watching the 401(k) slide into the abyss — can sometimes make the unthinkable, at least for a time, bearable, some marketing experts said.

Laughter is communal and brings people together, so humor can be marketing gold for a company when it is done right. But it can also backfire if it crosses the line. With black humor, that line can be razor-thin, experts agree.

“There are times black humor works, but it has to be done well,” said Marie Lena Tupot, co-founder of scenarioDNA, a New York consumer behavior research firm that helps companies build their brands. “In these volatile times, when people are being laid off without notice, an advertisement or gimmick that plays on the recession can turn negative and be in poor taste.”  Read more

Social Credibility Among Artists for Obama

From now until Election Day, an artist in Brooklyn is calling on peers to simply circle round public objects (manhole covers, storm drains, pipe caps, etc.) making them into large Os, and then chalking the letters 'bama' to the immediate right of the object in the street or sidewalk, so that it looks like [ROUND OBJECT]bama. The point? Get people to think "OBAMA!" whenever they see an O-shaped object in public.

(Photo: O for Obama in NYC.)

Heart condemns McCain-Palin use of 'Barracuda'

Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart said Thursday night that Universal Music Publishing and Sony BMG have sent a cease and desist notice to the McCain-Palin campaign over their use of 'Barracuda.'

"We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored," the group said in a statement that said they "condemn" the use of the song at the Republican convention.

Read more.

Symbols Speak Loudly: Consider Turbines

The wind turbine is the “it” item of summer 2008...Advertisements broadcast by the presidential campaigns of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama during the Olympics have featured almost identical pastoral panning shots of turbines. If you add the General Electric commercials that boast of the green-powering of the Games, the TV screen has shown wind turbines gleaming white more often than Michael Phelps flashing gold. There are turbines posing among the mannequins in the Calvin Klein windows on Madison Avenue. And last week Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg planted in New Yorkers’ heads images of turbines on the bridges and rooftops and — an instance of icon meeting icon — lighting Lady Liberty’s torch with their gusty might.

Not since Don Quixote have so many windmills presented such an orgy of illusion: wind power accounts for only about 1 percent of the nation’s energy. Notwithstanding the ardent advocacy of people like T. Boone Pickens, oilman turned windman, it will be some time before the production catches up to the publicity.

But that’s the way it is with a cultural icon: it is both of and ahead of its time, and it knows that looking good is half the battle.

Read more.

Sackboy: Homespun Spin on Gaming

Sony is banking on the inauspiciously named star of its new video game, "LittleBigPlanet," to boost sales of its PlayStation 3 console this fall -- and the homemade-looking Sackboy just might pull it off.

Sony also plans to create about 1,000 "LittleBig billboards" -- about the size of a small yard sign -- to stick in the ground in and around San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Unlike typical cardboard yard signs, however, the minibillboards will feature working lights and ladders and other high-end art and design. The idea came from the game's agency, Deutsch. While the size of the boards almost ensures that at least a few will be stolen, that's OK with Sony. A spokeswoman said some pilfered signs posted on eBay may even add to the hype.

A man-sized Sackboy made a public appearance in Japan.

The line from gaming to crafting is a fluid one...we've been watching it...it thrives on a multidimensional consumer.

Read more.

moot manga and memes

Time also  interviews moot, the founder of the online community 4chan. 4chan is a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images. 4chan's collaborative-community format is copied from one of the most popular forums in Japan, Futaba Channel. Different boards are dedicated to different topics, from Japanese anime, manga, and culture to videogames, music, and photography. moot founded 4chan when he was 15 as a space where he and his friends could talk about manga and anime; it's based on a popular Japanese site called 2channel.

Starbucks Pike Place Backlash

(via WSJ) A backlash is brewing against Starbucks Corp. over its Pike Place Roast coffee, which has perked up the company's sales by attracting new business, but has alienated a small yet vocal group of longtime patrons.

Related
Starbucks Replaces Bold Blend
 

BK Trades (Way) Up

If you have ever worked on an "eating out" brand, you probably are aware of the way in which food/restaurant chains are often positioned and grouped.  The difference from fast food and fast casual.  It seems that these groupings are slowly losing their meaning.  Do consumer see a difference between "semi-upscale" fast food like Panera and "everyday" fast food like BK's?  The consumer is looking for innovation and it seems like it is anyone's game if you can capture the imagination and attention of the consumer.  Trading up is the opportunity in every action you take.

(excerpt from Adage)The world's most-expensive burger -- at $190 a pop -- is not to be found in an exclusive Manhattan restaurant, but in a tiny branch of Burger King in West London.  Determined to show the world that it takes meat quality seriously, the fast-food chain is marketing a limited-edition gastronomic glory available once a week, Thursdays only, in this single location. All proceeds go to a local children's charity. "The idea is to change perceptions by pushing the envelope to raise awareness of our ambitions," said Mark Dowding, Burger King's head of product and innovation for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "We have emphasized the quality to create noise and interest in the market."

Smokeless Tobacco: An Odd Solution Toward Health

Big Tobacco is trying a new approach to keep America's dwindling 45 million smokers in the fold, reports AdAge.

The solution: snus (they are always curiously plural), a pinch of steam-cured tobacco nestled in a tiny tea-bag-like pouch. Snus don't need to be spit out like traditional fermented dipping tobacco; they simply remain under your upper lip until you've gotten your nicotine fix.

According to the American Cancer Society and the medical journal Lancet, if every smoker in America were to switch to snus, substantial reductions in heart disease and certain cancers would be evident in a decade's time...

This, on the heels of Amy Winehouse's emphysema diagnosis. The Sunday Mirror quoted Mitch Winehouse as saying that Amy has an irregular heartbeat, and has been warned that she will have to wear an oxygen mask unless she stops smoking drugs.

Rural Blues Band Befriends R. Crumb & Daughter

John Heneghan and Eden Brower of NY’s East River String Band are reviving rural blues. “Before radio took over in the mid-1930s, music was really interesting — people weren’t hearing each other. Now, you can hear the most popular thing on the radio and then everybody copies it. In the ’20s, music was different from state to state, county to county.” Robert Crumb, the iconic cartoonist and 78 record collector has befriended the band, along with his daughter, who is also an artist. Crumb has traded records in their apartment, sat in on their shows and, most recently, drew the cover art for “Some Cold Rainy Day.” Definitely something to be said for the days before mass influence. Has the envelope for innovation been pushed beyond its limits? Read more.