Happy New Year!

Here we are on the eve of a brand new year! Hopefully 2007 was a great year for everyone, but let's make 2008 even better! While I've always had a tough time understanding why the flip of a calendar should make you want to improve yourself, I'm going to give it a solid shot.

I was just thinking this morning about what it is that I really love about what we do. As a business owner who depends on the relationships of clients in order to succeed, I truly love hearing how the work that we do at SOZO | Pivotal has helped businesses and individuals grow. I reflected on some of the conversations that I had with clients and really felt good about the purpose and mission of this company. To paraphrase some of what I heard in 2007:

"It's amazing how much this branding effort has added credibility to what we do..."

"I almost want to cry...this is so awesome."

"Have I told you lately that you guys rock?"

I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging by posting these snippets of conversations, but it really makes my day when I hear things like this. I suppose it means we're doing our job.

So my goal, mission, or resolution, if you will, for 2008 is to have more of those kinds of conversations with our clients throughout the year. If our clients are happy, and happy enough to tell us how happy they are, then I'm happy!!

Thanks to everyone who's been a reader of this blog throughout the year. Best wishes for an outstanding 2008!!

Great quote...

"Advertising is a tax you pay for unremarkable thinking."
Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad

MLB and the Mitchell Report

Stop for a second and consider what you would do if your business was facing a major bombshell and knew exactly when it was going to detonate.

That's pretty much what MLB is up against at 2pm today when the Mitchell Report is released. The report, put together by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, supposedly will name 60-80 former and current MLB players who are associated with the current steroid issues within the sport. The findings are also expected to put a black cloud over the league as a whole as well.

So what does this mean for the MLB brand? My first reaction was that it certainly can't mean anything positive. But, the more I think about it, the more I feel it may actually have a twist that is more positive than negative. A report of this nature and with this much anticipation is going to likely shed some serious light on the facts. After these facts are released and the media--namely the sports talk shows--have their time with it, there won't be any more to report on this. Either the current homerun king took performance-enhancing drugs or he didn't.

The speculation should then be over, right? Only time will tell.

Will baseball's history books be revised? Will players cited still maintain their innocence? Will the game change in the next couple of years because baseballs aren't flying out the park in record fashion and older legends of the game are no longer recovering from old age, but rather retiring to the broadcast booths and front offices?

All in all, I think baseball will be just fine. It's withstood serious black eyes like gambling and severe work stoppages in the past. It will get up and knock the dust off itself with this as well.

This had to M.I.F. somone off

So the people at Spirit Airlines claim they didn't know what the acronym, M.I.L.F., stood for. Seriously? Well, they know about it now.

And what about the ad agency that was moronic enough to pitch this concept? Can you imagine the laugh out loud hysteria at that office after the Spirit execs said "we love it!"

Unbelievable!

Creating a well-branded environment isn't a snap

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a thousand words may not be enough to create a clear picture. I'm referring to a post over at Brand Autopsy about companies preventing customers from taking pictures inside their retail stores. John Moore's post was in response to one posted by Seth Godin.

If this hadn't happened to me a few months ago, I would have been a bit shocked. Why can't I take a picture inside a store, I'd wonder?

I was in the Taschen bookstore in New York a few months back and saw a wall that was painted in a very cool color palette, so I took out my camera phone and snapped a shot. Seconds later a store employee came over and said "no pictures in the store." I didn't object, but I did stand there wondering what had just happened. It wasn't like I was at CIA headquarters taking pictures of top secret documents. I was in a bookstore.

The more I thought about it, the more I understood the rationale behind this policy. I could be a competitor. I could be photographing text in a book and plagiarizing an author. I could be trying to recreate someone else's painted wall design. I could be up to a lot of things that are no good, but I wasn't. I just thought it looked great. I don't even have the photo anymore—I kind of wish I did, it really was a cool design.

The idea though that someone would be taking pictures in an effort to replicate and rip off a retail environment seems very shortsighted to me. A brand and the environment that helps shape it isn't that easily reproduced. Just yesterday I was having a conversation about this same topic with a friend of mine who is an interior designer. We collectively laughed at how some people think it is so easy to design furniture and interiors.

According to these other posts, Starbucks, Apple and Whole Foods all have a policy of no picture-taking in their store. It's kind of funny considering Apple sells iPhones with cameras. The thing is all three of these companies have a very solid brand. Sure, they don't want someone to come in and try to duplicate their environment, but here's the thing...it's not that simple.

You can't open a coffee shop and paint the walls the same colors as a Starbucks, throw in a few couches and wear green aprons and expect to be as good or as successful as the real thing. Starbucks should realize this as well.

I don't care if you get Annie Leibovitz in there for a photo shoot, pictures can't give you all the ingredients to steal a brand experience. It's about lighting, product positioning, colors, furniture, layout, the people working there, the smells and sounds...so much that can't be summed up in a flat photograph.

If I had a storefront, I would encourage photos. It's free PR directed right at the people taking the photo and to all it is shown to.

Maybe while I'm Christmas shopping this weekend I'll ask around and see if and why stores have these no picture policies. Now I'm curious.