Take your logo and shrink it down to the size of your pinkie fingernail.  What will it look like?  Will it be readable? … recognizable?  Will it look like a smudge?

This is what the folks at SanDisk (the folks who make storage media) went through recently.  It was obvious that as they expanded their product offerings and as those products got incrementally smaller (like the Nintendo Wii chips), their logo began to suffer from smudge-itis.  Enter a logo redesign process! Read the full article from the team at UnderConsideration.
The logo redesign goals were to:

• Eliminate the icon component of the signature to be similar to the other players in their space (except for Apple who uses an icon).
• Simplify the font so it can be scaled down to smaller sizes
• (Here’s the tricky one) NOT lose any brand equity by going too far astray from the original logo.

Despite the fact that many people might look at the after-version and chalk it off as a “whatever”, non-event … the end result (from a designer’s perspective) is the new logo is beautifully done.  All goals were met.  This, folks, is no small feat.

Question: Could your logo stand up to such rigorous scrutiny? 

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“Hello. My name is Kevin, and I’m an American Idol addict.”

“HELLO KEVIN!”

There. I said it. Now that it’s out in the open, let me tell you about a site my wife discovered a while ago and shared with me this morning.  It’s an American Idol recap article on the Entertainment Weekly website written by Michael Slezak.

“Why”, in heaven’s name, you might be asking, “is this worthy of commentary on a brand blog?”  Good question. First let me say that this post is only really going to be appreciated if you’re an Idol fan.  If you’re not, please continue to read on, but the commentary is reinforced if you know what’s going on in the show.

OK … think about what makes great brand. It’s the creative process of moving a large(ish) sector of your target audience to feel powerful, deep, emotions about your product or service.  What better example do we have than the 10 of millions of raving fans that are weekly compelled to call in support to their favorite up and coming star.  Next, read Michael’s article and then tell me that he, personally, isn’t moved by this simple reality TV show deeply.

The real reason I was motivated to write this post was the quality of Michael’s writing.  This guy cranks out these articles within minutes after each show and the richness and humor that’s crafted “on the fly” is astounding.  We should all aim to write as well as he with our best, time-intensive efforts.  I, personally, will leave that level of writing to the superstar wordsmithes … and continue along my merry way with this casual blogging style. HOWEVER, boy to I appreciate the skill that it takes to write like that.  Bravo Michael! (… he says as he dabs a Kleenex to the corner of his eye.)

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You can’t envy Encyclopedia Britannica. But if you’re caught in a fading industry, you need to either completely re-invent yourself (a la ReImagine by Tom Peters), or quit (a la The Dip by Seth Godin). The last thing you should do is make your system even more inconvenient.

The Wiki world (Wikipedia in particular) hit Britannica square between the eyes with free content, and free access to their user supplied/edited content … which makes expensive book-based encyclopedias a tough sale. Not too surprisingly, the previous holder of “the authority” title in research information has done some scrambling. Britannica announced this past week they are allowing publishers to subscribe for free access to articles. Here’s a snippet from their blog;

… We’ve been swamped with requests for free subscriptions, and we’re processing them as quickly as we can. We do look at each one, so the screening process is not entirely programmatic, but no one should have to wait more than about 24 hours between applying for a free sub at our registration page and receiving an answer from us.

The majority of the people who have applied so far, by the way, have qualified and are receiving subscriptions.

If you have any problems with or questions about your subscription or the registration process, please send us an e-mail about it. (Update: Please also write to us if you’ve applied for a subscription and haven’t heard back from us in 36 hours or longer.)

Not only to they tell you up front that you have to fill out forms (yuk), and possibly not get accepted (sheesh), but they go on to let you know that there may be problems with the registration process and to contact them if they haven’t responded in a day or two (HOLY COW). Is it still 1995, and I just missed it?

Thank you, but I think I’ll just pass for now and continue to use Wikipedia.

Tell me what YOU think! Are you a fan of Wikipedia? … or, in your estimation, does Britannica have a chance to survive?

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HEADLINE, New York Times, April 6, 2008
“In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop”

Marc Andreesen reviews this story in the most succinct (and funny) way. His headline would have a been a much shorter “Blogging Causes Death.” Marc also provides us with expected follow-up headlines (I’m really looking forward to them) … culminating in the inevitable “Child Abuser/Serial Killer/Campus Shooter Had a Blog.”

Of course, they don’t get it. Traditional media (those stuck in pre-90s mode) will, predictably, take potshots at the new media in an attempt to hold their ground. My favorite part is the nature of the headline — just oooooozing with hype.

Supporting commentary — Here’s a video of Shel Israel (co-author of Naked Conversations, arguably the best book on blogging) interviewing Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, on the topic of “Marketing vs. Communities.” A major theme in the interview is the idea that many businesses are still not getting it … and what will happen to them. [Note: Ignore the coffee drinking and sticking the mic in front of Jeremiah's face. Shel admits he's still getting used to interview videography.]

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A “Trip” is …

• A planned path from here to there
• Well trodden
• Predictable
• Nothing new … mundane
• Repetitious and safe

A “Journey” is …

• Without a predictable destination
• A path over, as of yet, unseen territory
• Ripe with challenges
• Exciting, fresh and new
• A thrilling, risk-filled adventure

Question:  Is your business development more like a trip, or a journey?  What about your career?  What about your next product or service?

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I listened to a podcast earlier today from Christopher Penn and John Wall (Marketing Over Coffee … my favorite marketing podcast) and the discussion revolved around blogging, new media, podcasting, etc.  Nothing really new there.

The little twist that Mr. Penn threw in, that I thought was interesting, was consciously infusing your podcasts with keywords and phrases.  The logic is that your cast may be quoted or, in part, transcribed back into text-based mediums.  When this happens, your cast will likely be found by surfers using those keywords.  This is indeed an interesting little twist on how to view your own content creation.

So, instead of simply interviewing people or randomly talking for the sake of creating a podcast, you should include podcast keyword/phrase preparation as part of your entire content creation strategy … which is, of course, a part of your overall written marketing plan.

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I’ve spent the entire morning catching up on the podcasts I subscribe to.  When I have the time, I’ll also go out and check out who’s new on the scene.  I’ll subscribe to a feed, listen to one or two podcasts and make a quick decision on whether or not I’ll continue with this author.  Because there are soooo many great content providers, we all have the luxury of being super critical on where we spend our precious time.  Here are some of my filters:

• The person must be connected, relevant, intelligent and informative.  This is filter #1.  If the first author doesn’t meet this criteria, I quickly hit the delete button.
• The person has a voice, powerful opinions and is carving out their own niche in the world.  Me-toos don’t cut it for me.
• The feed isn’t too long.  I’ve only kept one feed that regularly goes over 30 minutes because the author jam packs the cast with great, valuable content.  Not many people can do that.  Most podcasters would be better served to keep their casts to less than 15-20 minutes.

A new addition to my list (as of this morning) is whether the person can speak.  I listened to a West Coast social media podcaster this morning and although she passed muster for the above criteria, I had to delete her feed because it was agonizing to listen to for any stretch.  Two full podcasts was my limit.  It was a continuous stream of “uhs”, “ums”, “ands”, mouth smacking, and just general filler while her brain scrambled for the next idea on which to ramble.  OK content … terrible presentation. YIKES!

I was at a seminar in Boston a couple of months ago and the speaker was so bad that several people got up and left the room in the middle of his talk.  The remainder of the crowd (around 100 or so) stayed put but got increasingly anxious and restless.  Most certainly, few of them will attend this speaker’s sessions in the future.

The difference between the two scenarios is the “in person” speaker has the luxury of watching people get up and leave the room.  Whether they do something about this is up to them.  The podcaster, however, will likely never know if people quickly unsubscribe from their feed.

This, however, can be remedied! … For several years now I’ve been - off and on - involved with Toastmaster’s International.  Toastmasters is an organization dedicated to helping professionals improve their speaking skills … as well as listening and thinking.  There are clubs all over the world. If you’re going to seriously get into podcasting and you have no experience in public speaking, then I strongly recommend finding a Toastmasters club near you and honing your speaking skills.  Your audience will love you for it!

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I looks like little David (i.e. online, social, consumer-driven, music management) may have taken down Goliath (i.e. the big recording labels … all except EMI, and they’re still in negotiation).

A new MySpace venture, funded by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., will launch later this year. The service will provide MySpace members with DRM-free, streaming, on-demand music (ad-based, of course) and will allow users to create playlists and all sorts of other cool non-centralized, bureaucratic RIAA-like features. Oops, did I let my opinion of the RIAA show there a little?

This TechCrunch article has most of the details. Please, dear reader, make note of this event! It’s a biggie business milestone. This is on the order of light bulbs beating out candles and gas lamps … the auto beating out the horse and buggy … VHS beating out Beta … Jordan Sparks beating out Sanjaya Malakar.

This signals the end for many industries. Music stores, radio stations (as we know them today), major record labels control over artists, etc. Maybe it’s not an immediate end to these staples of our society, but, it will be a quickly changing aspect of our business landscape.

Yesterday, I had a wonderful lunch discussion with Terry Lieberman (VP & General Manager) and Dennis Hennessey (Director of New Media Development) for The River — 92.5 FM, a triple-A station in Portsmouth, NH. The discussion revolved around their view of the changing nature of the radio industry. Let me say emphatically, these guys guys ‘get it!’ We all agreed, if the big boys in the radio biz don’t wake up and smell the coffee sometime in the next 12-18 months (24-36 months will be too late), they’ll likely find themselves being referenced with the likes of button hooks, collar tabs, and bed warmers … or Sanjaya Malakar.

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