Speaking at the 2010 Online Marketing Summit held last month in San Diego, John Battelle, the CEO of Federated Media Publishing, had an interesting take on how brands have come to be defined in a customer-centric marketplace, within a social media context.
“A brand is what one of you says to another one of you about a company,” he stated.
It’s not about the products but the conversation, he said. “The most important thing marketers can do is to leverage new tools that allow people to engage in conversations around the brand. We need to go where the human passion is, we need to listen, understand the social mores of the conversation and figure out how to add value.”
For years movie houses have attempted to lure customers by offering the top new releases or bargain prices
without giving much thought to the off-the-screen customer experience, which was pretty much the same at most theaters. A trip to the cinema consisted of waiting in line to buy tickets, stopping by the concessions counter to buy the same overpriced candy and popcorn with melted orange stuff poured on it, then hurrying into the dark theater to try and discover a few available seats.
Then came stadium seating that offered improved creature comfort, with reclining backs and better sight lines, as a means for improving the movie experience. The introduction of IMAX added further enhancements in terms of sound and picture quality on large curved screens, but there were only a limited number of theaters and they were not convenient for much of the population. Until now.
Filed under: Marketing Theory
Caribou Coffee has gotten a lot of media attention over the past couple weeks for its “complete rebranding.” It all seems a little over-hyped to me as what they’ve basically done is refresh their logo design on signage, cups and napkins. Frankly, I’m astounded that brand is still being defined in such superficial terms. I’m also wondering how many people really care, other than the folks at Caribou Coffee.
As Alfredo Martel, Sr. VP of Marketing at Caribou, explains: “This rebrand is meant to signify an important change in the direction of our company.”
The new logo is a different take on the traditional animal icon, which now features the body of a coffee bean and antlers in the shape of a “C” on the backdrop of a shield that represents a state park emblem, not that I would have known that last part without being told. Another thing I wouldn’t have noticed is that the caribou is now leaping to the right rather than left, toward the company’s future. I do hope we’re not over-thinking this.
Companies engaging in cause marketing programs face a delicate balance between causes: the altruistic giving and the self-serving 
promotion. In today’s media-hyped marketplace it can be a dangerous thing if not pulled off in a sincere and credible way.
More companies are jumping on the cause marketing bandwagon as an alternative to tradition advertising, which is why many of the heavy hitters were conspicuously absent from this year’s Super Bowl ad fest.
Case in point: the Pepsi Fresh Project that ran through February. Rather than spending millions on a handful of 30-second TV commercials in and around the Big Game, Pepsi decided to reallocate that money to a worthy cause. They launched a major cross-media campaign asking the public to visit refresheverything.com and vote for a select charitable cause or community group worthy of receiving a grant ranging from $5,000 to $250,000. Options include a girls club to promote self-esteem, a diaper bank in Detroit and a group that is recycling T-shirts into shopping bags to raise money for rescued animals.
