The Bowl Game Names I Want to See

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Badgers, Bowl Games, Bucky, Campbell's, College Football, Cotton Bowl, Dole, Football, Goodyear, Kellogg's, Kibbles n Bits, Kitchenaid, Liquid Plumber, marketing, musings, names, Orange Bowl, sponsorships, Willy Wonka, wisconsin

While watching my beloved Wisconsin Badgers win the Cotton Bowl on Monday – Go Bucky! – I remembered when bowl game names actually made sense in the connection of companies and locations that sponsored them. The Cotton Bowl name still fits the location since Texas is/was the largest producer of Cotton but it’s sponsored by Goodyear. I don’t think of anything soft and fluffy – not even the blimp – when I think of Goodyear.

College football is undoubtedly big business and corporate sponsorship and the names of bowl games change year to year. Didn’t Sunkist sponsor the Orange Bowl at one time? Then FedEx? Then Discover? Well, Sunkist was perfect match with King Orange, but now it’s the Capitol One Orange Bowl. Maybe Capital One should sponsor the Spare Change Bowl and leave the fruit sponsorship to the citrus farmers.

So on that note, here is a list of bowl game names I’d like to see that make sense in terms of product + bowls:

Campbell’s Soup Bowl
Dole’s Fruit Bowl
Blue Bunny’s Ice Cream Bowl
Kellogg’s Cereal Bowl
Liquid Plumber Toilet Bowl
Kitchenaid Mixing Bowl
Willy Wonka Candy Bowl
Kibbles N Bits Dog Bowl

Any bowl names you can add? Please put them in the comments.

#Love the Challenge

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#lovethechallenge, Alverno College, college, communications, faculty, influencers, information, Libby Morse, Lipman Hearne, marketing, online presence, Sebastian Thackenkary, social media, staff, strategies, students

How is your online presence evolving to meet the needs of your target audiences? Here is an article I wrote on how Alverno College is reaching students and the community.

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As Alverno rolls out its newest marketing campaign, Sebastian Thachenkary, director of Marketing Communications, wants to be sure audiences are receiving the right messages in the right medium. When developing Alverno’s plan, Marketing conducted research with both current and prospective (high school) students, faculty, and staff to help define the messaging and approach perspective audiences find appealing.

Three key terms emerged: history, tradition and innovation. “People want to see a more complete picture of what Alverno really is, and what makes the College unique,” says Thachenkary.

Alverno brought in Lipman Hearne (LH), a Chicago-based agency known for its work with educational institutions including women’s colleges like Smith, Bryn Mawr and St. Catherine. Using the research and marketing history, LH recommended the media buy move away from traditional print and billboard media.

“We put a greater focus on digital advertising because that’s what our audiences are using,” says Libby Morse, LH’s senior VP and creative director. “We’re seeing strong growth in this area, and it’s a great way to engage with students.”

In addition to broadcast and outdoor media, Alverno has a greater digital and online presence than before, including tablet and mobile websites, and paid and earned social media.

A new element is the #LoveTheChallenge hashtag campaign, giving the Alverno community a chance to share information. Students, faculty and staff use it to talk about events, programs and experiences. “A successful hashtag campaign will generate more social media views and conversations about Alverno than anything we could buy,” explains Morse.

The new marketing focus will help the College raise awareness and grow enrollment. While targeting enrolling students is a primary focus, the program will also reach influencers such as parents, employers and school counselors. Other components of the marketing mix will target prospective graduate, transfer, adult and returning students.

“We have additional targeted strategies in place to communicate with all audiences,” notes Thachenkary. “We’re also incorporating video, which provides a great avenue for people to talk about Alverno from various perspectives.”

Written for Alverno College Magazine Fall 2015
See more at: http://www.alverno.edu/magazine/our-college/lovethechallenge/#sthash.OSi18mHv.dpuf

 

The Force Was Not With Them

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advertising, AdWeek, automobiles, brand loyalty, branding, business, consumer, creative, crisis plan, Darth Vader, deception, diesel emissions, Edward Boches, failure, faith, false, marketing, perception, recall, scandal, success, The Force, vehicles, Volkswagen, VW

There is probably no one at this particular time who understands the importance of branding better than Volkswagen. With the recent revelation of the diesel emissions scandal, Volkswagen really put their foot in it. As facts continue to surface about the product, executive knowledge, and the fact that 11 million vehicles (and their owners) are impacted, the deception consumers feel is enormous.

How does this scandal affect VW’s branding?

It’s a devastating liability. From a consumer’s viewpoint, branding facilitates buying. Instead of buying something of which they are certain – and VW certainly had phenomenal brand recognition and loyalty – consumers now have difficulty evaluating the quality and honesty of the product, and will look to other branded products.

Edward Boches wrote an article* in AdWeek summarizing the fallout that will affect VW’s consumers. The product has had great advertising for a long time, and that influence played a large part in shopper’s decisions. Even Boches says, “VW’s advertising made me feel good about the brand, the car and myself.”

I remember how delighted I was to see (and watch many times over) Volkswagen’s “The Force” commercial. https://youtu.be/R55e-uHQna0 I don’t own a VW and the commercial wasn’t enough to get me to purchase, but I will say kudos to their creative team for creating an ad and branding that tugged at my heartstrings as I cheered for the mini Darth Vader. The commercial evoked feelings of perseverance, faith, and success. These are three components VW will certainly need as they move forward.

Will Volkswagen recover from this disastrous turn of events? Only time will tell, and if they have a strategic and well-executed crisis plan that can turn around public perception. What will be interesting to watch is how their branding, advertising and messaging will change. Branding has considerable value. Once a brand is tarnished, it’ll take momentous effort to move consumers.

Even the Force may not be strong enough to fix this one.

 

*Read full article here:Edward Boches’ How Volkswagen Just Squandered 55 Years of Great Advertising

Can You Make A Splash Like Google?

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Apple, branding, business, Coca-cola, company, culture, design, elements, Google, icons, image, logo, logos, marketing, Nike

The Google logo has certainly earned its place as one of the most iconic logos of all time. It rates up there with Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple. This week, the company revised its logo and launched it to the masses. A lot of
people are talking about it – good and bad – but it’s generating talk, which is always good for business.

Having been through many logo redesigns as well as the development of others, I can both appreciate and cringe at what was most likely a long, detailed and well-discussed process to arrive at this current iteration.

There is a lot of work that goes into the development or redesign of a logo. First there’s the development/creative brief. Discovering all information, gathering knowledge, and understanding the company and product before any design work begins is critical. After all, for what is perhaps the most visual component of a company, how do you want to be perceived through your branding? It should be well-thought out and developed.

Next, you move on the concept. Logos don’t always have to portray exactly what the company does, instead it might focus on a particular value or message. This is where all that initial research about the business really comes into play, as you can develop something that’s unique and relative to the company.

Once you have the initial work done, then you begin to work on the image. A sign of a great logo is its versatility. The logo should be available in both color and mono (black and white) version, but of course color is important. Think psychology – what does the color mean? Or how does the color fit within the industry?

It’s not an easy or fast process, and most likely everyone will have an opinion. Sometimes just when you think you have the new logo right, it gets shot down and the work restarts.

Curious to read what others think of the Google logo? Click here for a solid review:  http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2015/09/02/3698025/lovehate-design-experts-debate-the-new-google-logo/

Don’t Take The Rock

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business, clean, cleaning, Dawn, desk, employee development, Golden Shovel, labels, marketers, marketing, musings, office, organization, organized, paperweight, rock, SIx Sigma, ugly sweaters

It is typically twice a year I take the time – or I find the time – to give my desk and office a thorough cleaning. For some reason, I feel guilty organizing my space – much more so than any guilt I might feel in letting it pile up.

The first bi-annual cleaning pass comes around the Christmas or Holiday break. Most offices seem to be on a mental hiatus anyway, with staffers partaking in holiday cookie exchanges and ugly sweater contests, or even recuperating from the Holiday Happy Hour the night before. Often associates are out of the office diligently using their remaining time off before the end of the calendar year resets the clock. It is then I can find an afternoon to dig in, unearth and organize.

The second time of year my office receives its due attention is usually sometime during the summer. There tends to be at least one or two days where, in the good way of a perfect storm, projects are done, phones and emails are quiet, and my clients or associates are on vacation. This means regularly scheduled meetings are cancelled. How joyous those one or two free hours seem.

At one company I worked, the department head implemented one component of Six Sigma. She thought we marketers were a messy bunch (in full disclosure Dawn did once receive the Golden Shovel award from another department). For one week we underwent training to organize and rearrange, learning everything should have its place and could be found. To ensure nothing went lost or missing, we put a label under every item on the shelf or desktop. Stapler. Monitor. Photo Frame.

ROCK.

Yes, even the rock received a label. I have an inspirational paperweight given to me by a co-worker years ago, and even that, when you lifted it from its spot on my desk, had a label to ensure I would notice if it was gone. It usually got a good laugh when people picked up the rock to look at it and found the label identifying its location.

I’m confident I’ll never label everything like that ever again, but for two weeks each year I feel proud of myself (nice little pat-on-the-back moments) and admire my clean and organized office. I appreciate there is actually a desktop surface underneath the file folders and documents on my desk. And maybe even a label.