Fick joins SOZO | Pivotal

Dayna Fick has joined SOZO | Pivotal, a brand consulting and identity design company based in Royal Oak, MI. The announcement was made today by the firm’s principals, Kimberly Leclercq and Dave Klonke.

As an experienced office manager, advertising and marketing administrator, Fick’s responsibilities cover a variety of disciplines including administrative and office assistance as well as various design and marketing efforts on behalf of the company and its clients.

“Dayna’s business background and experience within the creative industry is a valuable addition to the SOZO | Pivotal team,” says Klonke.

Fick resides in Royal Oak with her 11-year-old son and is currently completing a degree in business management at Baker College.

SOZO | Pivotal is a brand consulting and design firm. The company works closely with businesses in creating a consistent corporate message and implementing marketing tools and programs to more effectively communicate with their audiences. SOZO | Pivotal also provides high-level print and web design as well as marketing strategies in a number of industries including architecture, manufacturing, professional services, sports and entertainment, restaurant, hospitality, franchise and retail industries. To learn more about the firm, visit its website at www.sozopivotal.com and its blog at doesyourbusiness.com.

Great logos...

Now that technology allows us to pretty much blog from anywhere,
there's no excuse for missing an opportunity to get a pic of some the
best logos we see around town.

So, who's reading this?

We've been contributing to this blog for nearly a year now and I love it. With the exception of a few periods of time where postings were scarce, I think we've done a good job commenting and writing on all things relating to branding on a consistent basis. It's been a lot of fun and a great opportunity for added communication with our clients and associates.

Based on our stats, we have built up a decent amount of subscribers over these past 11 months. If you regularly take a look at this blog, (or even if it's your first time here) please take a moment and leave a comment on this post. We would love to hear from you. You don't need to identify yourself and it doesn't have to be anything long, but please tell us what you like or don't like about this blog. What can we do to improve it? All comments are welcome and very much appreciated.

In the coming year, we're going to be introducing some new features and hope to focus on some of SOZO | Pivotal's own client case studies. We are also going to look into possibly having guest bloggers contribute throughout the year. So, if you have something you would like to blog about, let us know.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to check us out. There's a lot of great blogs out there on branding, design and business, so we really appreciate that your web browsing found its way to us!

Dick's takes over Chick's

Just saw this over at Darren Rovell's sports business blog at CNBC. Oh to be the PR person that gets to write the press release announcing Dick's Sporting Goods acquisition of California-based Chick's Sporting Goods.

Would re-branding efforts be considered gender reassignment? I better stop.

Where have all the taglines gone?

BrandWeek's T.L. Stanley has an interesting take on the diminishing role of the tagline.

As I mentioned in a post last week, advertising campaigns, and taglines for that matter, no longer get driven into our minds over an extended period of time. It's odd how there are many more opportunities in which we can advertise, but companies aren't taking the opportunity to stick with a solid campaign across all mediums.

Presidential campaign logos

The New York Times has a humorous cartoon slide show on the 2008 presidential campaign logos.

If I were to vote based on these logos, Barack Obama would be my guy. The icon is clean, refreshing and easily recognizable from a bumper or yard sign. There are so many "political" messages within the logo. Some are cliche, but I really think it's well done. I also like that "Obama" isn't set in a thick bold font. The "O" with sunrising over a field of red and white stripes definitely signifies a new start and change of direction.

Looking back at 2004, the Bush/Cheney identity was a lot more solid than what Kerry/Edwards had to offer. Did it play a role in the decision? If so, it looks like we'll be swearing in President Obama in 2008.

Chrysler considers major brand changes

You have to give Chrysler credit for considering to overhaul its entire dealership and brand model. As I've pointed out before in my 4-point plan for car dealerships, the current state of the auto showroom is old, uninspiring, stale and just really lacks any value to the car buyer.

The AP reported last week that Chrysler may cut up to 1,000 dealerships and in turn restructure its product offerings to better align with its three brand names (i.e. Chrysler=cars, Dodge=pickups, Jeep=SUVs).

I think it's the start of a pretty good idea. However, if this is the direction they choose, I don't think they should move too fast. Earlier this year I was baffled by Ford's decision to bring back the Taurus nameplate.

Basically over the past couple of years Ford created a new model line, gave the cars new names and then, when sales didn't quite meet expectations, they changed the name of the cars. No, not the cars, but just the names.

I hope Chrysler doesn't make this same mistake. Take it slow. Based on what I've read, I guess I'm assuming that Chrysler will get rid of products like the Aspen and Dodge will eliminate the Charger. I'm sure other overlapping-type models will be affected but these are two that immediately came to mind.

Why not make this transition over a period of five years. By then it's safe to say that each model will have gone through a major redesign. At that time, the old nameplate can be reasigned to a different brand or dropped entirely.

It will also be interesting how these initiatives could positively influence the ways in which cars are sold. If Dodge is going to focus entirely on pick-ups and commercial vehicles, then their dealerships should cater to this consumer. Why is it now if I look one way I can see a Ram truck with a Cummins turbo diesel engine and if I turn my head the other way I'll see a Grand Caravan?

People don't walk into the showroom scratching their head wondering should I buy a mini-van, a pick-up or a sports car?

It appears as though Chrysler is thinking in the right direction. I believe there's an enormous opportunity for either Chrysler, Ford or GM to make some drastic changes that will pump some much needed oxygen into the life of the American car maker.

A good article on what branding really is

We've been preaching it for a while — a brand is not a logo. Check out this article in BrandWeek.

Sam Walton would never pay a million dollars for a logo. But he would promise to provide his customers with the lowest damn prices and that promise evolved into one of the greatest brands in history.
Mark Stevens from Branding Is More Than a Look; It's a Promise

Advertising icon dies

Today's advertising campaigns just don't last as long or have as much impact as those from 20 to 30 years ago.

Anyone who remembers a White House without a Bush or Clinton can recall Mr. Whipple policing grocery store aisles and asking women (not men, of course) to please not squeeze the Charmin.

Dick Wilson passed away yesterday at 91.

Can you believe Wilson was in over 500 commercials over a 21 year period as Mr. Whipple? That's amazing to me, especially considering companies and brands today so quickly abandon a strategy without letting it become part of the culture. Will we ever again have advertising icons like a Mr. Whipple, Maytag Man or the Marlboro Man?

Reciprocal branding

I see that Corona has inked a deal to sponsor Kenny Chesney's 2008 tour. Upon seeing this, my thoughts went to the chicken and the egg.

Why? Well, you see, Corona and Chesney have two very similar and strong brands. Both are associated with warm weather, beaches and relaxation. They also both spend a lot of time in Mexico--or at least that's what the songs say.

I'm assuming Corona threw a lot of money Chesney's way in order to get its name on the tour. However, doesn't Chesney's brand strengthen through the association with the beer that you drink on the beach in that "old blue chair?" Shouldn't he owe the Mexican beer brand something for this brand alignment? After all, I would think Corona has a higher brand presence that has been established and strengthened over a longer period of time.

The devil made us do it

You can take the devil out of your business, but it doesn't mean you won't still be a disaster.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are now just the Tampa Bay Rays. Rays as in a by-product of the sun as well as the stinging variety found in the ocean. The Rays have been a joke since they became a Major League Baseball franchise in 1998.

Changing names, colors and uniforms won't get you to the World Series. In Tampa, it probably won't even get you more fans or increased merchandise sales.

The Rays are ranked #89 on the Turnkey Brand Index that I blogged about earlier in the week. I guess something had to be done. I actually like the classic look of their new uniforms, but the caps resemble the old umpire lids back when each league had their own umpire crews and wore those AL and NL hats.

Check out what they have to say over at Brand New. Nice.

A CEO with passion and a sense for branding

I heard Dunkin Brands Chairman and CEO, Jon Luther, speak the other day at a Detroit Economic Club luncheon and was very impressed.

Luther truly understands that a solid branding strategy must be supported from within the organization.

Here are a couple of snippets that caught my attention:

--good people who don't believe in the system have to go. We've heard this before, but he said it in a way that wasn't Jack Welch-like.

--Luther mentioned how closely he was involved the re-branding efforts of Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins. As someone who takes branding very seriously, I was a little surprised as he talked about the recent accomplishments of Dunkin Donuts. Only after he talked about these achievements, did I realize that I only subconsciously knew that DD had undertaken a major brand shift—a primary focus redirected from donuts to coffee—over the past couple of years.

Many times the fact that companies are developing a branding strategy that overshadows the substance of the actual campaign. Not the case for Dunkin Donuts.

Ranking the brands of pro sports teams

Turnkey Team Brand Index was released today and ranks every team of the four major sports. It's definitely an interesting list with a lot of question marks. Not knowing exactly how they calculated the scoring, I can't comment too much on it, but here are some teams and their positioning that struck me as odd:

Detroit Red Wings #8: Seems very high. Can't sell out any of the 2007 playoff games and have had empty seats at all home games this season. You also don't see those annoying car flags anymore...that's my brand barometer!

Detroit Tigers #11: Wow, what a difference a few years make. It goes to show things can change quickly in sports. Since 2000, we've really seen that here in Detroit.

Pittsburgh Penguins #20: This team has been
rumored to move to Hamilton, Ont., Kansas City and who knows where else and all this while Mario Lemieux was playing there. Now, they have Sidney Crosby and a bunch of other great young players and they're already this high on the list. It was only until a few months ago that it looked like this team was on the move.

New York Yankees #29: There is no way I would have thought they'd be ranked this low.

Cincinnati Bengals #30: One spot behind the Yankees? This list is quickly losing credibility with me.

Vancouver Canucks #38: You would think after spot 40 you could throw all the teams in a hat and pick them until you get to the worst ten, but the Canucks rank higher than the Miami Dolphins, New York Mets, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bulls, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens?!

(I need more help understanding this list)

Oakland Raiders #90: Merchandise, crazy fans, LA. Good or bad, they've always had the ingredients of a great brand. How else can you explain the number 15 Pistons trying to be them in the late 80s/early 90s?

Boston Celtics #104: I'm not too surprised about the last 20 teams on this list, but Like the Raiders, how can the Celtics be this low? Strange.

Here's an article in Street and Smith's SportsBusiness Journal with a little more insight in how this list was compiled.

Love/hate relationships

The most successful brands stir a lot of emotions. Your first thought is that a favorable feeling is what a marketer wants its audience to have all the time. But consider these companies. For as many people who absolutely love these brands, there are probably at least as many who loathe them.

New York Yankees
Dallas Cowboys
Fox News Channel
CNN
Marlboro
Walmart
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Apple
Microsoft

Don't you think the fact that millions of people--a great majority of which reside in Red Sox nation--hate the Yankees actually ends up making the Steinbrenners a bit richer? Or how about the guy with the brain 3-year-old driving a Chevy pick-up with a decal of a punk kid urinating on a Dodge Ram. Brand passion exists on all levels of the food chain.

Take a close look at this list. In many cases there's a worthy competitor (Fox and CNN or Apple and Microsoft) that fuels this passion. In other cases, it may be a large part of society that opposes a company's actions.

There's a lot of loving and hating going on there. Can you think of any more?

Lights out for Chrysler a smart move?

Perhaps my post yesterday chiding Chrysler for switching off the Daimler portion of their outdoor signage in Sterling Heights was poorly timed. After all, the company just laid off 10,000 workers. A cherry-picker erecting a new sign out front as employees walk out with pink slips would surely have been a bit tacky. Just another great example of the heads of PR and branding needing to work together.

DCX by day, Chrysler by night

I keep forgetting I have a camera on my cell phone. I wish I'd have gotten a picture of this.

I drove past a Chrysler plant in Sterling Heights last night and noticed the back-lit sign out front. The lights shined through the blue sign spelling out Chrysler. However, next to it was Daimler--lights out.

You can't expect all the signage to change overnight, but I just thought it was funny that by day, with the lights off, the company is still DaimlerChrysler, but to all the night time traffic, the name accurately reflects that it is only Chrysler these days.

I can hear it now, "hey, I told you to go out there and loosen the light bulbs behind D-A-I-M-L-E-R!"

Borders to break away from Amazon

I never really understood why Borders, an international bookseller based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, had its web presence incorporated into amazon.com.

Is there a worse way to try and stand out from the competition? I don't know the business structure of this partnership, but clearly, Amazon was making money off of every book sold through the Borders portion of amazon.com.

Borders has finally decided to stand on its own on the web and will be launching a new e-commerce site in 2008. This is great news for Borders. It finally shows a commitment to differentiate and innovate. The idea is that the new site will improve connectivity between the brick and mortar store and the web site.

From what I hear, it appears they've taken some cues from the iTunes model--a model that has proven highly effective. Customers will have the ability to feel like they're actually in a bookstore as they browse the " magic shelves" on the web site. On in-store kiosks, customers can take a look at customer reviews, a registry of sorts where friends and family can post their wish-lists and inventories of that specific location.

All in all, it's great to see Borders act like the big bookstore that it is.

I had also recently heard rumors that Borders and Barnes and Noble were ripe for a merger. Not sure if this is still a possibility, but it would be an interesting deal. Nonetheless, it appears the bookselling industry is about to change again. In the last 15 years we've seen many changes. With the launch of amazon.com to the growth of big box retailers like Borders and Barnes and Noble, the small mall B. Daltons and Waldenbooks are history.

Check out the new Borders beta site. This is yet another great and obvious idea that businesses too often fail to consider--build a prototype and let the customers beat it up and provide feedback. I think the layout is great. There's certainly a feeling of "being there." Borders is also doing a better job of presenting its products. When you walk into a store you see the new releases and best sellers on a table front and center. The same holds true for this new online presence. Rather than just indexing all the books, Borders is pushing the visitor in a direction that mimics the layout and flow of a brick and mortar store.

Branding a high school

In some ways, a high school is like a business with a bunch of subsidiaries. There's the academic division and the sports teams. There's the social aspect of dances and other important "after school" activities.

I really got to thinking about this this afternoon when I went online to look up some high school football schedules. I wanted to take my kids to a game if I could find a local school with a 1pm home game. My quick search didn't garner any results so we threw together our own football game in the backyard.

But my branding brain started thinking. How great would it have been if when I was in high school there had been a class where we could market the high school and its activities? We could have created branding strategies for the football team. After all, there were always empty seats in the stands. The program could have benefited from a solid marketing campaign. I wonder if there are any schools out there that let its student body participate in marketing activities that help build the school recognition? Just think...PR campaigns, logo and uniform design for the sports teams, poster design and advertising for band concerts, merchandise sales. The list goes on.

I'm so far removed from high school, but it would be interesting to see if any of this is happening.

Maybe I'll call my old high school, Lutheran High North, and see what we can do. Who knows, maybe I'll become a branding teacher.