Thursday, November 29, 2007

Dove gets Axed

What happens when brand positionings collide?

We've all been taught that a product should own a place in a given target audiences mind. But what happens when two contradictory positions are attempted by the same company? Just ask Unilever. Their Dove brand focuses on 'real beauty' and 'self-esteem'. In contrast, Axe makes you think it is a pheromone in a spray bottle.

The press and YouTube (or should we consider that press now) are filling with stories and parodies about Unilever's apparent contradiction.

Now, when dealing with the essence of a brand one must also take into account the essence of the company.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Walls of Jericho Are Coming Down

What does open social mean?

First, what is it? Gabriel, I mean Google, is breaking down the walls between web sites by creating a means for functionality to be seamlessly shared across the Internet. Of particular interest is the ability to share functionality across a series of social networks.

Notice I didn't say 'site' above. The concept of open social implies that the web site is no longer a destination per se; but rather one part of the entire vehicle for interaction. This is a very good thing. As I've noted before, the concept of the Internet as a series of destinations is ultimately doomed because people want content to come to them.

In the past I sometimes wondered if I was inside those walls (corporate site) or outside (consumer). Today, its clear -- the wall is gone.

As Jeremiah Owyang recently wrote on MarketingProfs: " Web marketing no longer is limited to your corporate site. Let go of the concept of "driving traffic to your Web site" as a sole measurement of success. The Web, its message, and your battles are now fought on the open and distributed Web."