Brand Noise

Context of Costume is Evolving

Lest we forget that lines of sight vary from person to person, consider two perspectives on this year's Sarah Palin Halloween costume. The context for costume is evolving as room is made for simultaneous reverence and satire.

1. “I want to go as Palin because she is an enigma to me,” said a 26-year-old New Jersey lawyer. “She’s random, she's ballsy, and she has the most outrageously close-minded politics I’ve ever come across.” The registered Democrat’s costume consists of a red power suit, American flag pin and an ostentatious fur stole.
2. A 50-year-old from Boerne, Texas, a largely Republican community, will be wearing rimless glasses in honor of the politician. “I think Sarah Palin was the smartest thing the Republican Party has done in years,” wrote Kim, whose friends find the costume to be a classy, powerful statement. “[And] my boyfriend thinks she’s hot.”

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(Photo: Rubies Costume Company has sold more than 15,000 units of its latex Sarah Palin mask since start of production in late September, and it can barely keep up with requests. In past years, election-related masks were a good indicator of who was slated to win the presidency, but this year it’s “confusing”: Obama is outselling McCain, but the Palin mask is clearly blowing them both out of the water.)

Obama: A Study in Brand Management

Obama's brand management, unprecedented in presidential politics, shows pitch-perfect understanding of the keys to appealing to the youngest voters.

Perhaps inevitably, among the first apps introduced for Apple's new iPhone -- the latest success from another millennial mass marketer -- was an Obama "Countdown to Change" calendar that ticks off the seconds until Election Day.

Obama sticks very well to his script...And that hasn't gone unnoticed in most quarters. Wrote Newsweek's Andrew Romano, "Obama is the first presidential candidate to be marketed like a high-end consumer brand." His rising-sun logo echoes the one-world iconography of Pepsi, AT&T and Apple. Read more.

(Photo: Obama in MO.)

What? There is No List?

George Carlin cemented his reputation in 1972 with "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television". His ode to curses led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling. Despite that 1978 ruling, the Federal Communications Commission doesn't have a list of words it considers profane. In its consumer fact sheet, the FCC defines profanity as "including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance." But are those seven not-fit-for print or broadcast expletives still offensive?

What a cool job it would be to compile and edit such a list! Imagine the street cred...

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Brunette Solidarity

According to W Magazine, Diane Von Furstenberg has been carrying a picture of Wonder Woman around in her diary for years. Who knew? It came up in an article about the capsule Wonder Woman collection she developed in tandem with Warner Bros. and DC Comics. Joel Silver's movie is still in the works for 2009, while everyone laments the team's loss of Buffy Vampire Slayer's Joss Whedon over creative visions.

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.

Disney Readies Miley Cyrus for Carousel

Walt Disney Co. executives are putting the finishing touches on a project of pressing importance: grooming Demi Lovato,  a 15-year-old Texas girl, as a possible successor to Miley Cyrus, star of the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" and myriad other entertainment ventures. Read more (WSJ)

Talk Show Brands as Trend Beacons

The cover article from this Sunday's NY Times magazine got me thinking again about how talk show brands like Martha, Oprah, Ellen and now Tyra act as beacons or lenses that show us where the cultural zeitgeist is going.

"Like her hero Martha Stewart, Banks wants, most of all, for her name to immediately suggest a distinct point of view. Her brand, like her trademark “tough but still smiling” smile, is consistent in all her shows: serious about the frivolous; empathetic and empowering; and always, always aimed at young women, across all races. It’s girly TV with a punch."  read the article

In so many ways the cultural zeitgeist has changed from the days that spawned the brands of Martha & Oprah.   The story was trade-up. A code inherent to Boomer maturation. Improve your home, improve your dinner, improve your place in life.  The story now is trade down/downsize, deflate and make more human.  What could be more symbolic than a supermodel popping her own pimples on national TV.   Her mission follows in the spirit of "Real Beauty" seen in campaigns like Dove and Nike and "HI-Lo Synergy" seen in retail such as Target and H&M.   In many ways Ellen Degeneres shares this same code. A role that feels a responsibility to making things more toned down, more casual.  Getting political candidates to boogie before sitting down to talk. This is not Martha or Oprah. It represents a cultural shift of generational dominance.  we are transitioning from a Boomer/Gen X media world to a Gen X/Gen Y world. 

Building Brands as Character Actors

I am constantly integrating a cinema perspective to the way I plan brands.  In speaking on the topic of brand placement and integration in consumer experience, I described the process of managing these new strategies as similar in how one manages the career/brand of a good character actor.  The example I have used in the past was Christian Bale, but an interview with Alec Baldwin on 60 minutes this Sunday made the connection for me again.  It was something he said.  Good character acting is.. "learning to listen to the other actors".  I think this says a lot.  How often do brands imagine themselves as the leading man - only to realize that this position leaves them looking like a hollow talking head and disconnected from the scenes they wish to live in.  Brands need to channel the authenticity that comes from listening - the art of character acting - and cultivate a meaningful position in the mise-en-scene.  That is the formula for better experiences.

Smooth Move for PETA

Aretha Franklin's US$19,000 tax bill will be paid by PETA if she promises never to wear fur again. The Respect singer is close to having her Michigan home repossessed unless she can come up with the money. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have agreed to settle the bill if she agrees to their terms, which also include handing over her collection of fur coats.

PETA says it's a win-win situation. Interestingly, should Aretha accept the offer and renege on her promise never to wear fur, she will be slammed and PETA will emerge even stronger. Lots of message board controversy wondering why PETA doesn't just donate the money to a shelter. The discourse of buying a celebrity resonates far louder and sustains itself longer than a donation.

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