The Brand Man Speaks

CNN.com's new website format undermines CNN brand

I was stunned the other day to see a new format for CNN.com. I have religiously read this page everyday for several years as my first source of news and information in the morning.

I found nothing wrong about the old format. I found the information I wanted easily and the site in my opinion was consistent with the brand's television effort...both dependable sources for world news easy to access.

Sure websites need to be updated and tweaked periodically, however, the new CNN.com site is simply awful and a sharp departure from the original...not in a good way.

The site now is weak on news and looks more like a page of advertisements with cute links to rather low level video stories. It no longer speaks "news expert" or "superior source for news and information". It might as well be a tabloid page selling garbage celebrity stories.

I think whomever redid this site has completely lost sight of what the CNN brand is all about. I no longer have it as my home page, having switched to MSNBC.com's home page as an easier to use, more definitive news and information source.

CNN television still remains a good source for news, however, when you start to muck with various brand channels the overall brand strategy starts to fall apart and years of hard work to build the brand can be lost in mere weeks. That is what I think will happen to CNN if they don't immediately fix their website.

This move reminds me of Tropicana Orange Juice's recent major misstep with its package design which made the brand generic and sales dropped enormously and fast. They listened to the market reaction and fixed the problem quickly, saving the brand from a disastrous financial downfall and possible extinction.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Lexus dumps brand's signature voice over talent; picked up by Mitsubishi

In a surprise branding move, Lexus has dumped its voice over pitchman of 20 years in favor of younger talent. Although changing voice overs is usually not a big deal in television advertising, the actor who launched the Lexus brand and its "relentless pursuit of perfection" slogan had become a key element of the brand and its identity.

James Sloyan's soothing, elegant, but firm voice became as recognizable as the Lexus car itself. You didn't have to see the ad to know it was for Lexus.

Then imagine my surprise the other day when I heard that same famous voice saying the words, "Lancer by Mitsubishi". I was incredulous. How could that be? I wondered if Sloyan wanted too much money during contract renewals or someone at Lexus had lost their mind? I even wondered if the voice for the Mitsubishi ad was a close copy and not the real thing, but after repeated hearings it was clearly Sloyan's.

Building instantly recognizable brands that transcend the actual media in which they are promoted is not an easy task to achieve and Lexus had made that happen.

So what gives here?

Here's what I learned today from an online automotive industry forum.

February 10, 2009 - A fresh voice narrates the latest commercials for Lexus. Continuing on that path of "The Pursuit of Perfection", Lexus has made that change, most recently with the latest blitz of new commercials for the 2010 RX. There is a new voice in town and like the previous voice over actor, his name happens to be James too.

Who is this new James you may ask? His name is James Remar. Some of you may know him as one of Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) boyfriends on the popular HBO show, Sex and the City. He was also casted in movies such as 48 Hours, The Phantom and also 2 Fast 2 Furious. Remar has narrated the latest commercial ads for the new RX spots. He will also be the voice for future Lexus ads.

For 20 years since the inception of Lexus, we have seen, heard and lived the many "Relentless" and "Passionate" evolutions featuring that distinct voice. That distinct voice belongs to actor James Sloyan. Although we will miss the original Lexus voice, we will never forget those original Lexus benchmark commercials and the regal narration that Sloyan established for the industry. Think LS400 commercials and the infamous champagne glass smoothness test. Thank you Mr. Sloyan for all the years of Lexus pursuits.

"Thank you Mr. Sloyan for all the years of Lexus pursuits"?......wait a minute. This might have been a major mistake for the Lexus brand and a smart move for Mitsubishi. Now, the Mitsu brand gets instant attention for the confusion and increases  awareness of its new sportier Lancer model. Yet, Lexus loses a valuable asset especially since this automaker isn't about radical changes it is about evolutionary improvements to a great automobile...staying the course...consistently delivering...so why would one risk undermining the brand strategy by dumping a brand component as golden as the product itself?

I plan to investigate further, but believe this was not a smart branding move.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Netflix brand evolving while unexpected competition grows from Redbox

I have been a fan of Netflix since its inception. The idea of ordering online, sitting back and having the movies come to your home and just mailing them back (at your leisure) when you're finished transformed how I watched movies. I hated going back and forth to Blockbuster stores incurring late fees and always wishing I had some DVD at home to watch on that unexpected rainy day or "special' evening.

Many didn't believe Netflix would survive. My mom's investment adviser said not to buy the stock despite my strong marketing intuition about the company and its future. To his surprise, but not mine, Netflix has done extremely well in this recession with its stock price doubling.

Netflix is actively competing with itself by offering more downloadable movies directly from the internet to laptop or home TV and smartly understands technology based entertainment is a rapidly moving target. I have yet to download a movie from them, although I have three free movies that are available to me to do so, because I think watching movies on my laptop is disappointing (size and impact-wise) and I have not bought the requisite equipment to send downloable movies directly to my big flat-screen TV....yet.

Despite their success, Netflix has strong competition from an unlikely source, Redbox. Redbox is a vending machine DVD rental business that was started by McDonald's during a time when McDonald's like Starbucks was looking for new revenue streams from ideas inconsistent with their core brands. McDonald's had some success with Redbox but sold the concept to Coinstar this past year after they started investing in the business in 2005.

I understand why Redbox can be successful. $1 rentals of recent releases sold like buying Coke from a vending machine in thousands of locations. However, it doesn't work for me. I hate the idea of having to take the DVD back to some place especially if I am not going that way and find dropping the DVD in the mail so easy and effortless. But I am obviously increasingly part of the minority. Redbox's old fashioned delivery system is growing fast even as movie downloads (on the other side of the technology spectrum) are also developing steam. I suspect I will go the download path far sooner than renting from a Redbox, but that's just me.

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

Super Bowl Ads 2009; Not very super: Pretty weak and boring

Like many millions of folks, including fellow marketeers, I spent a good part of Super Bowl 2009 watching the ads looking for memorable creative that would be worthy of $3 Million per spot.

Unfortunately folks, most ads were dull, boring, meaningless, stupid and certainly not memorable. If you are going to spend all that money to place a commercial in the Super Bowl, at least ensure the ad is one that will entertain and hopefully influence. In  my opinion, a lot of companies wasted a lot of money last night.

I found myself wondering, "what message are they trying to get across here?" in most cases and saying out loud, "that wasn't the least bit funny". By the end of the game, I had a very hard time remembering what brands had been advertised.

I feel the Bridgestone Tire ads (yes I do remember the brand) were the most "huh?" ads for me...seemingly disjointed and unclear what their message was all about. I certainly have no idea why I would want to buy that brand of tire.

The Cola wars are back but I didn't develop any partiality to one brand over another because of their ads.

Doritos? Awful just like the product in my opinion.

Budweiser needs to find a new ad agency.

A few were somewhat memorable.

The E-Trade talking baby is back with a friend and always gets a chuckle out of me. I enjoy this creative and think it is memorable stuff.

Pedigree Pet Food did a splendid job promoting animal adoptions showing why it is better to adopt a dog than many other (wild) pets. (Full disclosure: I provided expert commentary about this ad prior to its airing for a major media source...no pay...but I was already positively predisposed to the creative.)

Jason Statham continued his James Bondesque activities showing Audi's new A6 is one helluva fast car. I love the Transporter movie franchise I must admit. I think I might actually buy an Audi next time I have enough money to buy a new car, (if the economy improves).

Monster.com's "moose-head" ad was cute and clearly calls out that it is time to find a new job...if there are any out there......

The surprise hit for me was Cash4Gold.com. The late night direct response advertiser was "allowed" to buy space usually reserved for the prestigious consumer products/services brands because the economy is so weak and NBC had lots of unsold inventory. The bottom feeder advertiser used Ed McMahon and MC Hammer especially well to promote their mail-in gold redemption for cash service. It was surprisingly good creative that wasn't so cheesy as I would have thought and did a great job of message delivery with humor.

Finally, but it was an in-house ad for NBC's Hulu online service, Alex Baldwin did a nice "30 Rock" styled ad for the website that was extremely well-done and memorable.

What did you think? Share your thoughts.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

If Rupert Murdoch runs The Wall Street Journal like he runs DirecTV expect the worst-by Eli

Adding additional DirecTV services to an existing in good standing account shouldn't be a big deal. I finally got a HD LCD TV. Unfortunately, I have yet to be able to watch it because adding this television and the appropriate HD signal box (to get the breath of HD channels) has become a nightmare.

Nearly a week after calling DirecTV and working my way into the President's office I have yet to get the new system to work. The story is way too long but believe me when I tell you I have spent many hours on the phone with 12 people at DirecTV and their knowledge base is either inaccurate or faulty and they are completely unwilling to be accountable for this situation.

I am having to bring in an independent operator to fix the problem (at my own expense). DirecTV went as far as to tell me today (like Sprint wireless has done with some of its problematic accounts) they will now start charging me $5.00 per call if I continue to contact them...!!

Meanwhile they have been charging me for the extra service (which does not work).

If this is an indication how the Wall Street Journal business will be run expect it to become a completely dysfunctional operation run by pleasant but not competent folks. What a shame the WSJ is one of my favorite reads staffed by some terrific people who likely are too good to stay under the new management.

I have contacted the California Attorney General's Office of consumer affairs as well as the FCC to file claims of deceptive business practices against DirecTV. It has gotten that bad.

If you have had similar problems with DirecTV please contact me.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Engagement Marketing: Trendy promotional tool or effective brand enhancing strategy?-by Eli

In her article this week in the LA Times: Honda Branding , reporter Alana Semuels posed the following question:

"Would you buy a Honda just because some guy with a Honda logo on his shirt helped you unload your grocery cart?" No seriously this is not a joke it is an example of "engagement" marketing. Market research says yes.

What is engagement marketing?

Promoting activities where the product or service is secondary or a sidebar to the event and even in many cases not even mentioned. A way to reach audiences quietly and unobtrusively in ways that may never promote the benefits of the product or service but still instills an interest and creates awareness.

Does it work?

Yes but with a caveat.

As I explained in Ms. Samuels article engagement marketing gives advertisers an opportunity to break through the clutter of today's overcrowded media and advertising world and touch consumers in a quiet personal way that is very powerful.