The Brand Man Speaks

KFC to "Refresh" fill pot holes around America with cause branding effort

Given the general feeling among the American populace that US companies are run by selfish, money grubbing people, cause branding is surfacing as a hot marketing tool again as a way for entities to build trust and brand awareness hopefully leading to increased sales and loyalty.

One such case is KFC's "Refresh" pothole program that has begun in its home city of Louisville, KY. KFC is working with that city to repave or "refresh" potholes with new pavement "labeled" with "Refreshed by KFC" chalk statements. The program ties to the fast food retailer's new "fresh" campaign which promotes the freshness of its chicken offerings.

In these tough economic times cities are very short on funds for infrastructure repairs and the Mayor of Louisville welcomed this civic project with open arms. KFC is reaching out to Mayors throughout the US with the program and expects more cities to join this cause marketing effort.

Cause branding or cause marketing has been around for several decades but seems to resurface with greater activity when consumer morale is down along side weak economic times as a way for brands to break though the clutter and do "meaningful" things to build connections with consumers.

Whether or not KFCs sales will be enhanced by the pothole filling campaign remains to be seen but it is getting a great deal of free PR for the company as a corporate do good-er in a period when few companies are doing much of anything positive for the public.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

AIG senior management: All Candidates for Cheaters, Liars and Thieves Club

I have periodically written about a "brand" I started called; Club CLT. It stands for Cheaters Liars and Thieves. I have added names to the list of people who have stood out as major offenders, mostly corporate types who have benefited greatly at the expense of regular people and our nation as a whole.

Today I add the entire senior management staff at insurance giant AIG now that we know they were awarded millions in bonus money even as the company took billions in bail-out aid from the US Government (actually American Taxpayers).

Now we also learned today that many recipients left the company immediately after receiving a million dollars or more in bonus money.

ALL THESE PEOPLE SHOULD BE ARRESTED FOR STEALING AND DO JAIL TIME..all the them. Desperate measures are appropriate for CLT Club members.

We need to fire the senior management of any of these companies that get bail-out money...and hire the talented unemployed who for no fault of their own are on the streets. This country must be full of talent begging to work for a lot less money and do better work. It's these very same senior managers that screwed up these companies in the first place...aren't we just putting the wolf back in the sheep's' den?

Do you agree? What do you think?

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

SciFi Channel rebranding itself as "SyFy" to expand its identity/audience

The SciFi Channel (part of the NBC Universal Group) has announced a re branding effort to expand beyond just science-fiction stories and related subjects.

The new name: SyFy.

The new name retains the same phonics but with some light-hearted twist goes beyond the original and also makes it easier to build a stronger brand identity and channel destination.

The Channel's management knows it has a very loyal base of viewers but they feel they can keep and nurture those loyalists while expanding the channel's content and reach new audiences.

This kind of change is always risky when you have such a loyal consumer base, however, there is no doubt that having a brand name that is also the title for a particular genre limits brand growth and brand uniqueness and expandability. Overall, I believe this will be a successful move for the cable entity. Anxious to see the new graphic design to support the new name.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Kellogg's turns soured Phelps endorsement deal into humanitarian effort

Kellogg's one of the country's leading cereal makers has turned a bad deal into a good one benefiting thousands of really needy people.

Kellogg's terminated their endorsement deal with Olympian Michael Phelps after Phelps admitted use of illegal drugs at a party last year. The incident was photographed and featured on the Internet.

Kellogg's had already produced millions of boxes of Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes brand cereals with Phelps mug on the front of the boxes. They pulled the product when they dropped him as a celebrity endorser. What to do with the tons of cereal? A really good thing.

Kellogg's donated all the cereal to a food bank in San Francisco where product was happily accepted including with Phelps' face. The food bank has said that they rarely get cereal products donated and this unfortunate situation had a silver lining for them.

Good move on the part of Kellogg's even if it was partially a PR stunt. In this economy food banks are really hurting and the donation of quality food to a deserving facility outweighs any self serving activity by the company.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli