Create & Consume

Caption: “The Illusion of Choice.” For anyone...

Tue, 29 May 2012 09:54:00 -0400

Caption: “The Illusion of Choice.”

For anyone moderately familiar with marketing, advertising, or even general business, it doesn’t come as a surprise to learn that basically 90% of the brands you seen on store shelves are produced by one of these 8-10 “mega-brands.”

This image has been making the rounds online alongside the aforementioned caption, implying that while consumers may think they have the right to freedom of dish detergent, they’re pretty much supporting P&G or Unilever one way or another. Therefore, we are powerless against the corporate machine.

But in any industry, be it consumer goods or wireless service or automobiles, consolidation is the trend. A new market is identified or created, deemed to be ripe with customers and cash, and lots of tiny brands begin to sprout up, all competing for this desirable new target. To better compete (through increased capital, better distribution, proprietary information, etc), the brands begin partnering or acquiring one another, creating brand portfolios and parent companies. Consumers are then left with a choice between Conglomo-A and Conglomo-B.

It’s a little depressing to think we’re confined to forever support one of two or three corporate overlords. But fret not… this is when the opportunity for innovation is best! True, these big companies have money, and supply chains, and R&D. But the one thing they can’t do that startup brands can is move. Little brands can dodge and weave and change direction in order to meet demand, like speedboats. P&G and Nestle are like cruise liners, or even aircraft carriers. Huge behemoths that are slow and difficult to turn around.

Media companies have glommed together over the past 50 years, bringing us the 42-minute TV “hour” and lowest-common-denominator programming. Huge companies need to appeal to the widest demographic possible. But now, through innovation and technology, we’re seeing brands begin to challenge those big boys. Netflix and Hulu posit that maybe video entertainment doesn’t *need* to capture 10 million viewers or rely totally on advertising revenue. YouTube has shown us that amateur videos of people’s real lives can be just as entertaining as scripted network comedies. The market is changing, and the behemoths are being tested.

This can happen with the consumer brands in this infographic, and already is in many ways! Increasing demands for sustainable and natural goods have given rise to small, challenger brands like Method (good-for-the-earth cleaning products) and Trader Joe’s (all-original, often-natural groceries and packaged goods). These are the challengers that will begin to break apart the massive, monopolistic brand map you see above.

There’s no “illusion of choice.” The real choices are just a little hard to see right now beyond the all-caps, screaming billboard of the big brands. But just wait— they’re on their way. That’s the natural flow of the marketplace.

Hippos love trash, didn’t you know? Ocean City, MD (Taken...

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:08:55 -0400

Hippos love trash, didn’t you know? Ocean City, MD (Taken with instagram)

Great Falls Park! Anyone have a spare barrel? I’m feeling...

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:20:56 -0400

Great Falls Park! Anyone have a spare barrel? I’m feeling brave. (Taken with Instagram at Great Falls Park (National Park))

Flatiron and friends on a rainy day. (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:10:51 -0400

Flatiron and friends on a rainy day. (Taken with instagram)

Beach walkway at First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach....

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:17:26 -0400

Beach walkway at First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach. (Taken with instagram)

Class of 2012 graduation celebration on the Cheese Shop patio!...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:55:05 -0400

Class of 2012 graduation celebration on the Cheese Shop patio! (Taken with Instagram at The Cheese Shop)

Neptune lords over Virginia Beach with an iron trident…...

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:55:54 -0400

Neptune lords over Virginia Beach with an iron trident… literally. (Taken with instagram)

End of the day at College Creek. (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:27:08 -0400

End of the day at College Creek. (Taken with instagram)

Super Mario lunchbox so old, it was before they even started...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:24:23 -0400

Super Mario lunchbox so old, it was before they even started drawing Luigi differently from Mario! (Taken with instagram)

Mr. Goodies of Lynchburg, VA: There’s always money in the...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:05:38 -0400

Mr. Goodies of Lynchburg, VA: There’s always money in the banana stand… (Taken with instagram)

Chips allowed in class after 4:30p. (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:47:10 -0400

Chips allowed in class after 4:30p. (Taken with instagram)

Poster ads for the latest season of AMC’s Mad Men (which...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:32:46 -0500

Poster ads for the latest season of AMC’s Mad Men (which has been some year and a half in the making) have been appearing all over New York City. And like any large, white space in the city, the posters have been promptly covered in tags and graffiti. But as you can see in the pictures, many of the street art additions have actually improved the ads.

I find it hard to believe that AMC execs purposely left the ads big and blank as an invitation for would-be Sterling Cooper Draper Price creatives, but I also think they had to know that people wouldn’t be able resist leaving a mark. Whether intentional or not, this ad campaign for a show about advertising has in itself become a commentary about the nature and effectiveness of advertising.

Genius. Meta. A little bit pretentious. Just like the show.

jaymug: Can you imagine logos telling the truth? The latest of...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:47:00 -0500

Apple - Appearance Costs

Coca Cola - Enjoy Commercialism

Windows - Will work for a while

Marlboro - Moneywaster

Budweiser - Bellyexpander

Porsche - Penis Extender

L'Oreal - L'irreel

Crawling in the morning

jaymug:

Can you imagine logos telling the truth? The latest of the ‘Honest Logos’ series by Viktor Hertz

These are great. Give us some more!

From “Social Media Explained,” via the Forbes...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:46:00 -0500

From “Social Media Explained,” via the Forbes Marketshare blog:

SOCIAL MEDIA EXPLAINED:

Twitter: I am eating a #hotdog

Facebook: I like hotdogs

Foursquare: Here is where I eat hotdogs

Hipstamatic: Here’s a vintage pic of my hotdog

YouTube: Here, I am eating a hotdog!

Linkedin: My skills include eating hotdogs

Spotify: Listening to Hotdog

Google+: I work at Google and eat hotdogs

I’ve been seeing this joke make the rounds for the past couple of weeks now, each time with a different main activity (“eating donuts,” “taking a pee,” etc.), but the idea still rings true. It’s a neat little package to help define and describe the “point” of social media that still somehow manages to elude so many. Plus, it good-naturedly mocks the inherent narcissism and self-promotion that goes along with so many of our digital portals… he said on his blog that was named after him.

But— I think we need to also take a look at how other, non-social forms of media might convey this same hot dog-eating idea:

TV: BUY THESE HOT DOGS! Attractive people eat them! HOT DOGS!

Radio: For your FREE hot dog, call 1-866-HOT-DOG. That’s 1-866-HOT-DOG. That number again is 1-866-HOT-DOG. Again, 1-866-HOT-DOG. Call now!

Yellow Pages: AAAA-Brand Hot Dog Sellers! “Look for the quintuple A!”

Spam: Incre@$e Y0ur H0+ D0g $ize in tw0 week$ FREE!

Telemarketer: Are you currently satisfied with your hot dog provider?

Billboard: Hot dogs.

See? These are a lot more annoying. That’s why I’ll take Instagram’s vintage hot dogs pics any day.

Ok Go - “Needing/Getting” Latest visionary video...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:24:55 -0500

Ok Go - “Needing/Getting”

Latest visionary video from viral kings Ok Go, this time playing a drive-through song. I seriously think we’ll look back on all these videos years from now and marvel at how this band truly embraced and embodied the dawn of digital media. Rock on, guys.

WOOF. Triple word score. 30 points. Read it and weep.

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:39:19 -0500

WOOF. Triple word score. 30 points. Read it and weep.

How to Report the News in 2.5 Minutes Not only this completely...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:57:36 -0500

How to Report the News in 2.5 Minutes

Not only this completely nail the various camera shots and visual illustrations (one cannot overstate the use of “fat people from the neck down” footage), but Charlie Booker delivers the entire thing in a pitch-perfect recreation of that newscaster tone.

Anyone else ever try to emulate that “up, then down” intonation that they always end with?

Does a 5-year-old understand your brandmark? This made the...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:42:00 -0500

Does a 5-year-old understand your brandmark?

This made the rounds on the intertubes a few days ago, but it was too great not to post here. I love any kind of feedback from little kids regarding marketing and advertising, because they aren’t susceptible to the same traps of bizspeak and buzzwords that we are. Some notable moments:

How deeply-ingrained is Starbucks in our culture that even a 5-year-old can identify their logo as “the coffee place”? I literally couldn’t articulate what coffee even was at that age, let alone tell you where to get some. The fact that this little girl both knows what Starbucks is and what they sell speaks volumes about its ubiquity in our lives.

Even more impressive: correctly identifying the pretty-abstract BP logo. Wonder if the Gulf Coast spill coverage actually cemented BP into the minds of America’s youth, setting the stage for massive growth once they all start driving?

The Bank of America logo “looks like a flag.” Mission accomplished, gentlemen.

The McDonald’s logo looks like it’s made of french fries. This blew my mind. Have I been missing this connection the entire time? Again— the mind of a child providing clarity and connecting visuals in a way I never thought of myself.

All of those large cat logos really need to start differentiating themselves better.

I loved this, and would love to see more. Marketing folks with kids: can we make these videos the new “Shit ____ People Say”?

Samsung burns Apple & iPhone fanboys in a new ad for the...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:47:48 -0500

Samsung burns Apple & iPhone fanboys in a new ad for the Galaxy S II.

“I could never get a Samsung, I’m creative.”

Well done, Samsung.

via.

New Old Spice ad - “Motorcycle” This is just a...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:34:16 -0500

New Old Spice ad - “Motorcycle”

This is just a really entertaining ad, the latest in a seemingly never-ending string of hits for Old Spice (fresh-scented kudos to their agency of record Wieden + Kennedy). That bear is incredible.

I see these Old Spice ads as the burritos of the advertising world. Burritos are consistently delicious, not insanely earth-shattering, and still outside the food box enough to make you say, “Oh yeah, I forgot about burritos!” when deciding what to eat.

That being said, I can personally attest that Old Spice’s recent advertising resurgence has absolutely turned me into a proud customer. What can I say? I want to be the man your man could smell like.

30-Day Challenge #17

(daily posts may be brief this week due to me being back home in the great state of New Jersey, and my inability to balance lengthy blogging with GTL-ing)