COMMENTARY: Walmart Adds an Asterisk Issue: Wal-Mart adopts a new logo
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri (additional commentary on Fox Business News)
It must be a slow week when a corporate logo change makes news, but that’s where we find ourselves with Walmart as it changes its logo for the first time in sixteen years.
The new logo has three distinguishing points fr...
Baby Einstein - Can You Advertise an Insider Brand? Brand: Baby Einstein (Disney)
Execution: TV
Target: First time Moms
Rating: **
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
A testimonial-style commercial for Baby Einstein. The spot starts off showing the green door to a suburban house and superimposes “A Real Mom Talks About Baby Einstein DVDs” over the door. Then we meet A...
ThirdWay Advertising - 6/11/2008 10:48:59 AM
COMMENTARY: The Disney Virtual Magic Kingdom and Marketing Silos Issue: Marketing silos can hurt the brand
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
Last week, Disney closed the door on one of the most successful promotions in its history. Virtual Magic Kingdom was opened in 2005 as an online role-playing game set in a virtual version of the Anaheim Disney theme park. The game allowed players
ThirdWay Advertising - 5/30/2008 12:55:29 PM
COMMENTARY: Did Dove Put the Touch on Real Beauty?
Issue: Dove Accused of Retouching ‘Real Beauty’ Ads
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
In Accidental Branding I write that brands need to ’sweat the details’ - meaning that paying attention to even small, innocuous details of the business that might not obviously affect the brand pays important dividends. A b...
ThirdWay Advertising - 5/13/2008 5:31:16 PM
Marketing a Business Book: Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava Brand: Personality Not Included
Execution: Viral, Social Networking
Target: Business book readers
Rating: *****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose their Authenticity and How Great Brands Get it Back is a new business book published last month by Rohit Bhargava, Senior VP of Digital St...
ThirdWay Advertising - 5/7/2008 10:04:55 AM
Heinz Top This Challenge - Ketchup Goes Viral Brand: Heinz Ketchup
Execution: Consumer Generated Advertising Contest
Target: Burger Eaters
Rating: ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
Heinz launched a promotional blitz in December of 2007 for a consumer-generated advertising contest called “Top This.” The challenge was to create a new television spot for Hein...
ThirdWay Advertising - 4/29/2008 7:57:08 PM
CrowdSourcing a Museum - The Brooklyn Museum Click! Exhibit Brand: Brooklyn Museum
Execution: Online Viral
Target: New York Museum Goers
Rating: *****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
The newest in a series of intriguing online marketing initiatives for the Brooklyn Museum, Click! is an exhibition taking place from June 27 - August 10, 2008 which will be crowd-curated until May 23rd, 2...
ThirdWay Advertising - 4/17/2008 2:52:22 PM
COMMENTARY: Brand Karma, Video and Wal-Mart Issue: A small supplier decision comes back to bite Wal-Mart
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
[Image from NALIP.org]
In Accidental Branding, I write “Do Sweat the Details”. By this I mean that very small actions that do not at first seem to be related to our brands often have very big consequences for the brand.
ThirdWay Advertising - 4/10/2008 5:24:54 PM
Accidental Branding Excerpt What follows is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands. The book evolved from a class in Positioning and Brand Development at NYU where I asked my students to write case studies of brands that had been founded by entrepreneurs without an MBA or any formal marketing
ThirdWay Advertising - 4/3/2008 3:27:58 PM
COMMENTARY: Packaging Bites! Issue: Why bad packaging hurts your brand
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
Today I suffered what might almost qualify as a repetitive-motion injury: I cut myself while trying to liberate a consumer product from its packaging. The offender is often the clamshell style of package.
This package can only be opened with sturdy scissors or...
ThirdWay Advertising - 3/21/2008 4:59:40 PM
COMMENTARY: In Brands We Trust? Issue: Online Communities and Brands - Our New Hometowns
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
[Image from Church of the Customer]
Douglas Atkin, author of The Culting of Brands has a theory about people in the 21st century. We’ve mostly been torn from our hometowns. We don’t live with our grandparents or parents and may not e...
ThirdWay Advertising - 2/27/2008 6:11:36 PM
COMMENTARY: Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Lord & Taylor learn lessons from the Music Industry Issue: Why are retailers suing their customers?
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
We have been ranting for some time about companies that pursue business strategies that harm the brand. A Wall Street Journal front-page article yesterday highlights another such practice. Companies including The Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Lord & Ta...
ThirdWay Advertising - 2/21/2008 3:09:10 PM
COMMENTARY: Why Network Television Needs a Minor League Issue: As the Writers Strike End, Network Executives Contemplate Alternatives to Pilot Season
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
The strike may be over, but the longterm effects of the Writer’s Strike are only just beginning. Chief among them is the question of how to develop new shows for network television. The old model - a pi...
ThirdWay Advertising - 2/15/2008 1:04:39 PM
COMMENTARY: Competing Brand Paradigms in the Democratic Primary Issue: A surprising choice in the Democratic primaries
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
Political campaigns are usually the stuff of brand managers’ nightmares. The advertising is coarse, unsubtle and unconvincing. It argues with consumers. The media plans are absurd, bombarding consumers with spots so many times that they are...
ThirdWay Advertising - 2/10/2008 2:43:46 PM
Coca-Cola Wins the Super Bowl Brand: Coca-Cola (The Coca-Cola Company)
Execution: TV (1 and 2)
Target: Soft Drinkers
Rating: *****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
Two Super Bowl spots for Coca-Cola, both of which broke for Super Bowl XLII. The first spot features Democrat Jim Carville and former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist arguing on a t...
ThirdWay Advertising - 2/4/2008 6:14:27 PM
BK Whopper Freakout: Burger King Cribs New Coke Brand: Burger King (Burger King Corporation)
Execution: TV, Online, Viral
Target: BK Families
Rating: ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
A series of online and TV spots that feature hidden camera footage of actual Burger King customers being told that the chain no longer serves Whoppers after ordering one. The spots documen...
ThirdWay Advertising - 1/17/2008 5:46:39 PM
COMMENTARY: Where did Starbucks Falter? Issue: Howard Schultz back as CEO of Starbucks
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
Two news items today put a glaring light on the diminished fortunes of Starbucks. McDonalds announced that it would add baristas to its staff and serve cappuccinos, lattes and espresso as well as smoothies and frappes from stainless steel espresso machin...
ThirdWay Advertising - 1/7/2008 7:41:18 PM
COMMENTARY: When the Hollywood Writers Strike hits the Presidential Elections Issue: Will 2008 presidential campaigns waste millions on strike-crippled network television?
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
As the Hollywood writer’s strike spins through the holiday season into 2008, the distinct possibility of a perfect storm for advertising in the 2008 US Presidential campaign season looms. Could the combi...
ThirdWay Advertising - 12/14/2007 1:00:41 PM
OfficeMax ReGifts us with Elf Yourself Brand: OfficeMax
Execution: Online, Viral
Target: Bored White Collar Workers
Rating: ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
A viral campaign in its second year, Elf Yourself from OfficeMax allows users to upload photos of friends and loved ones, crop them and then watch the results in a fun animation.
What Works:
One of the most...
ThirdWay Advertising - 12/10/2007 4:25:15 PM
COMMENTARY: Craiglist meets Wikipedia with Truemors.com Issue: Does a funky new website point to the future of journalism?
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
There’s something new, and distinctly odd, out there on the frontiers of the Internet. The site Truemors aims to empower ordinary citizens to spread, well, rumor. Ideally those that are true. Anyone can contribute, and the rules...
ThirdWay Advertising - 12/4/2007 4:12:59 PM
Buckley’s Reveals the Awful Taste Brand: Buckley’s (W.K. Buckley, Limited)
Execution: TV, Social Networking
Target: Listerine Users
Rating: ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
A series of simple ads featuring a comparative taste test between Buckley’s and various awful alternatives including Spring Break Hot Tub Water, Snail Trail Accumulation, Us...
ThirdWay Advertising - 11/13/2007 2:10:06 PM
COMMENTARY: Could the Hollywood Writers Strike Spur New Media? Issue: The Hollywood writers strike may have unintended consequences
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
This morning at 12:01 am, Hollywood writers went on strike for the first time since 1988. Most of the commentary around this strike has been focused on the earlier writers strike and its estimated $500mm cost to the industry. Media c...
ThirdWay Advertising - 11/5/2007 1:48:11 PM
Apple Turns to Real People for iPhone and iPod Touch Brand: Apple
Execution: TV: iPhone / iPod Touch
Target: Business People / Mainstream Users
Rating: **** / ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
Two new campaigns from Apple feature real Apple consumers. The new iPhone campaign features a variety of real consumers, from a businessman to an airline pilot. Each explains how they...
ThirdWay Advertising - 11/2/2007 2:51:45 PM
Toyota Tacoma in the World of Warcraft Brand: Toyota Tacoma (Toyota)
Execution: TV
Target: Young Men
Rating: ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
The spot opens up showing a World of Warcraft game screen with three players. They are chatting as they might do during a game session for this massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The three are pre...
