Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba (authors of Creating Customer Evangelists) point us to the humorous side of brand strategy with this cartoon from SkyDeckCartoons.com by Tom Fishburne.

BAD: If you have your brand stand alone, it becomes a speck…. GOOD: Instead, if you tie it emotionally to one of the other BIG parts of the consumer’s mindshare, then you stand a chance…. For example; heroically advancing your career … or caring for your family … or intelligently maintaining your home … loving your spouse…. There are a million approaches that could be taken with any product or service.

So, are you “selling pickle relish” or are you “providing the most delicious and nutritious foods to your family”?… You have a choice.

Go Ahead, Socialize ...

I have several clients that are in the middle of trying to embrace the New Rules of Marketing … different mixes of blogs, online news releases, online article posting, social networking, etc…. Not unexpectedly, they are each struggling in different ways with this paradigm shift…. My prediction is that only one will truly be “successful” in the next 12 months.

Today, Seth writes:

Organizations don…€™t fail because the Web and the New Marketing don…€™t work. They fail because the Web and the New Marketing work only when applied to the right organization. New Media makes a promise to the consumer. If the organization is unable to keep that promise, then it fails.

Hear, hear! So, WHAT is “the right organization”, you may ask?… The right organization (the one that will succeed) is one that has the moxie to fully and completely embrace the paradigm shift…. One that is willing to chuck the old and adopt the new…. One that says “DASH the old way of advertising” and re-invents itself using the new rules…. One who pushes their way through the Dip (using another Godin-ism) and finds itself in the brighter greener pastures of the New Media.

If your organization can’t take this bold approach with such vigor, there is a strong possibility that the effort would be for naught and that you aren’t “the right company.”

Go Ahead, Socialize ...

Do you think it’s hard to define and implement a great brand? One where you can effectively stand out from your competition? Okay, try this … redefine an entire art form, become internationally famous and be the ONLY name that comes to mind when one mentions the art form. This kind of makes your brand task seem a little easier, yes? Indeed, this is what Marcel Marceau did for the art of pantomime.

From 1980 through 1982 I was a member of the University of Michigan Mime Troupe … and, yes, an idol of mine was Marcel Marceau. I had the pleasure of seeing him live in Ann Arbor but never had the opportunity of meeting him in person. It is with a truly sad heart that I say goodbye to my idol today. Marcel passed away yesterday in Paris at the age of 84. With him, passes a special set of skills that will not be seen in this world again in quite the same way; The ability to create light … to bring life to a butterfly with the flutter of a finger … to defy gravity … to evoke multiple characters simultaneously … to bring laughter with but a gesture of a hand.

The world mourns, but none more so than I. Rest in peace Monsieur Marceau.

Go Ahead, Socialize ...

For years I’ve talked about the benefits of brevity in tagline development. My usual pitch recommends the creation of a two to four word blurb. Then I usually give the one example of, what I believe to be, a great tagline that is five words long … Dodge Truck’s “Grab Life By The Horns.” These five syllables contain soooo much brand emotion, and the individual words are so short and fluid, there’s almost no detrimental impact that burdens other five-word taglines.

Well, I’ll no longer be able to use this tagline as an example anymore as the company is shortening the tagline down to the much simpler “Grab Life”.

All I can say is BRAVO! The new line is tighter, faster, easier to remember and loses very little brand impact. This is a nice transition and a bold move …. (oops, wrong automaker.)

Go Ahead, Socialize ...