AmericanVisionaries.com

Branding and the Narrative

"Brands provide a story to tell, the brand is all about the narrative and the American culture today is a narrative culture ... If a brand has a story and can prove itself, it's kind of like a candidate running for office.  Candidates with a better track record tend to get the nod."

- Paul Earle, RiverWest Brands, a Chicago firm specializing in Brand Resurrection

The above is from a great story: Heritage Brands to Get Wake Up Call, But Will Anybody Care? (Brandweek/Spotlight, 3/20/06).  I encourage you to read it.  But the reference to a well-run political campaign scares me.  It's not our Civic Generation's idea of authenticity and reality.

Now, about today's "narrative culture."

When Jacob ran for his life to lands unknown, he collapsed and  found a rock to lay his head on.  In a dream, Jacob saw angels climbing up and down a stairway (or ladder), extending from heaven to earth.  God appeared.  God told Jacob he would not die, that he would own the land he was sleeping on and that his decedents would be as numerous as the particles of sand beneath him. 

The next morning Jacob anointed the stone with oil and called the place Bethel, House of God.   

Nearly two decades later, God asked Jacob to go back to Bethel.  A landmark was built reminding all future generations of the promises to Jacob and his decedents at that site.  The story never left them.  (Genesis 28)

We've always been a narrative culture. 

Stories are evocative.  They evoke and communicate feelings, sometimes feelings we didn't even know we had.

Our legends, our symbols (if worthy) call to mind a story and a hero or demon.  Since ancient days, our narratives connect us to our arts, our architecture, our sculptures, our dances, our journeys, our homes and our music.

The Alamo, the Statue of Liberty, the Cross, the Art of The Palm Restaurants, DisneyLand, the Art at Rockefeller Center, the post office murals of the depression-era Public Works Projects, the Flag, the Star Spangled Banner, the depots of yesterday, hotels of legend like the Driskill in Austin and the Menger in San Antonio ... all are our stories, symbols with narratives.  We know their presence. 

If we don't know your story, we probably won't care about your symbol and your brand.  You can't be "cheap" enough, "service" oriented enough or buy enough real estate ("convenient locations") to make us care.

For some, like Tom Gilliland, the owner of Fonda San Miguel in Austin (3/21/06 Post), this knowledge and understanding is like breathing.

For others, it takes a black and white snapshot of what your balance sheet will look like in 5 months, 5 years, 50 years and 150 years.  But not too many companies really care about having a story or a brand that lasts that long.

Do you?

Art:  Ernest Martin Hennings, The Sheep Herder

Like breathing ...

Last week, Michele Miller and Future Now's Holly Buchanan taught "Wonder Branding ... Marketing to Women" at the Wizard Academy's Tuscan Hall.  Fellow Wizard of Ads partners Dave Young, Mike Dandridge, Michele, Holly and I went to dinner at Fonda San Miguel (one of the owners is from Dave's hometown of Sydney, Nebraska).

The restaurant is hidden away in a north-Austin neighborhood.  The earth-tone exterior of the hacienda is subtle; at night the lighting and landscape are elegant. 

Dinner was "artful."  The service, the presentation, the food -- all were shared arts by the chefs and staff.  All that was left for us to do was bask in the setting and enjoy each other. 

Inside Fonda San Miguel is one of Austin's most famous art collections.  I talked to Tom Gilliland, one of the restaurant's founding partners about the collection. 

I asked Tom about the vision for the collection at Fonda San Miguel.

He said, "The 'vision' such as it was, was at first to fill empty wall space and I happened to find the first piece, the surreal portrait of Emiliano Zapata.

After that, I guess the bug had bitten and I was on the lookout for paintings that would be interesting and right for Fonda San Miguel.

After hearing the wife of the former San Antonio Museum of Art Executive Director say to me, 'When you look at a piece and if it sings to you, then you'll know.'  Before, I'd just think if something was 'good,' that was enough.

Building this collection is like breathing, it's something that is a part of me."   

This year marks the restaurant's thirtieth anniversary and the release of Fonda San Miguel: Thirty years of Food and Art -- a book that showcases just two of the magical elements ... the food and the art of the restaurant.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

American Visionaries is designed to celebrate the best of blending the arts, culture, community and commerce.  These stories are mostly case studies of the innovators in the 20th century.

But, Starbucks Snow (3/2/06 Post) and Spring Break and No Escape (3/10/06 Post) have delved into a darker side.  The desperate expressions from the media, advertising and corporate worlds that have led us into new frontiers.  The grasping side that appears to lack the integrity and authenticity our young Civic Generation wants and deserves.  (Remember - we're all part of this new Civic Generation from 2003-2043 ... it has nothing to do with when you were born, it has everything to do with when you live.)

• The grasping side that honors advertising on the side of a coffee cup you just bought. 
• That plasters hotel lobbies and elevators with a brand's posters. 
• That allows your hotel room's pillowcase and shower curtain to be sold to carry a brand.

After a well-publicized battle for control, the new team at Six Flags announced last week they'd be showcased on the big screen -- new ads in theaters surrounding their locations will break on over 1,100 screens in June 2006. 

I thought what a few others thought - see these quotes, following the release from thrillnetwork.com:

• "That is exactly what I was thinking sfft.  Another thing to add to the already elongated section of previews." - G_Adv_123
• "Lol I think this sounds cool... If I have to sit and watch ads for crappy movies I  might as well watch a SF ad." - James

And, why not incorporate theater advertising into the plan?

"We have a captive audience watching your advertisement. No interruptions! The patrons sitting in the theaters are not going anywhere."
                              
                              - ScreenVision Cinema Network web site speaking to potential advertisers.

"CaptiveAudience.org has one primary goal:  to urge theater owners to discontinue showing invasive TV-like commercials before the beginnings of movies."

They encourage movie-goers to print "Reserved" seat signs like the one below to come early, get your seat and go somewhere else while the advertising is showing.

 

 

 

 

 

Ralph Nader distributed a news release, in 1998, stating, "We are calling for commercial-free movies – no ads, no product placements," Nader said.  "Movie theaters should be a sanctuary, a refuge from the ad barrage.  We are challenging movie and theater companies to rid themselves of commercials and product placements."

One of the major points mentioned by Jason Thompson, Director of Captive Motion Picture Audience of America is that "Commercial presentations continue to detract from the escapism and unique experience that movie theaters provide."

Destroy the integrity of the experience and you destroy the experience.

Spring Break and No Escape

In yesterday's New York Times, Julie Bosman reports that marketers are spending over $ 75 million "to reach the 18 to 24 year-old demographic, which is typically resistant to traditional advertising, (and) to associate their brands with the positive memories students have of their vacations." 

Marketers, who in the past have set up tents on the beach and given away free samples, are going to greater lengths to get attention.  Company brands are represented on pillowcases and shower curtains.  Axe (a Unilver line of men's deodorant and shower gels) is putting their logo on room keys, providing "Mission in Progress" door hangers and putting up posters in hotel lobbies and in elevators.

" 'It's sort of a veritable wasteland for logos and branding and that kind of thing, but not so much in engaging with that audience,' Kevin Roddy, the executive creative director for Bartle Bogle in New York. 'If it isn't done right, it's irritating, especially to this audience.' " 

Would you be irritated by this, if you'd spent $ 229 a night for a room at a resort where you just wanted to have a good time and escape?

I can't wait to hear how they respond.

The Art of the Loo

When my partner Dave Young mentioned on brandingblog.com that he'd been eavesdropping in the Cabela's restroom, it made me think of a conversation and another story I'd just read.

It reminded me of the conversation I had with a friend about the new Kona Grill that just opened at the Shops at La Cantera in San Antonio.  I asked her if it was worth the trip ... she said the food wasn't that great, they had a cool aquarium ... "but you've got to see the bathroom!"

Later I was doing research on the innovative use of art programs at Kohler when I read they'd won the distinct honor of having one of America's Best Restrooms in 2004.

Kohler's 2004 Award-Winning Restroom at The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin 

There's a similar organization, the British Toilet Association in the UK, awarding the same honors (The Loo of the Year Awards).  In fact, they're much more sophisticated ... they award in 50 distinct categories and in 3 different countries.

But back to the "America's Best Restroom Awards," the fact that the award is sponsored by Cintas, is no accident (oops ... no pun intended).

Cincinnati-based Cintas provides highly specialized services to over 700,000 businesses across America, and some of their product lines include entrance mats, restroom supplies, first aid and safety products.

Kirk Kirssin, Cintas Director of Marketing says "People form perceptions about the way companies do business based on a simple trip to the restroom.  That's something we help thousands of customers manage." 

(It affects the customer's experience.)

Cintas is serving their culture, their community and doing it in a relevant and innovative way.

By the way, if you'd like to see the 2006 finalists and cast your vote for this year's Best Restroom ... you have until March 31st. 

Starbucks Snow

Traveled to San Angelo, Texas and stopped at a (the) Starbucks.  Was bored and noticed there was writing on the side of the cup.  I'd always ignored it before.

"True story:  Recently I eavesdropped on a conversation between two twenty-something employees at a local Starbucks.  I listened as they barista mused about his taste in music.  Then the cashier asked him if he had ever heard the song Strawberry Fields Forever.  After a pause, the barista answered, 'No, I can't say I ever heard that one before.'  That's when I knew there really was such a thing as a generation gap."

- Mary Chapin Carpenter, Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter.  Her songs can be heard on Starbucks Hear Music station, XM Satellite Radio Channel 75.

D***, I just read an ad for XM Satellite Radio, Starbucks AND Mary Chapin Carpenter!  They were so sneaky ... I fell for it.

This week my founding partner, Roy H. Williams, wrote:

"Most ads never arrive at the Emerald City of Working Memory because they were dragged under by the poppy field of Broca's Area. Remember that field of poppies in The Wizard of Oz? After a long journey, Dorothy and her friends finally catch a glimpse of their destination. The Emerald City is in view. They need only to cross a field of flowers and then they'll enter the city and meet the mighty Wizard. But the poppies cause them to fall asleep halfway across the field.

The Emerald City is Working Memory, conscious awareness. If we do not reach it, we cannot speak to the wizard.

The Wizard is the prefrontal cortex of your customer's brain, that center of decision-making, planning and judgment.

Dorothy and her entourage are your message.

The Poppy Field is Broca's Area of the brain, ignoring – subduing – erasing every sensory stimuli that was predictable.

The Snow that re-invigorates your message is any element of the elegant unexpected... the chilling delight of surprise… particle conflict… elemental dissonance... incongruence… It's the last thing Broca would ever suspect...

And the last thing most advertisers would ever consider."

Starbucks considered it.  It was snowing.  But somehow I felt manipulated, cheated ... not delighted.  The same way I feel when I go to a movie that starts "at 6pm" and sit through 20-25 minutes of advertising before the movie begins.  So, why don't you just tell me the movie starts at 6:30pm?

What gives you the feeling of eating yellow snow?   

 

 

After going to the site mentioned on the cup, www.starbucks.com/wayiseeit, I learned the program is designed to stimulate conversation, to surprise ... and contributing authors represent a wide range of interests and ideas.  Most are not ads for XM Satellite Radio.  (I guess that was just the Venti cup for February 2006).