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Category: Marketing and Branding (Page 11 of 13)

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BP’s Photoshopped Command Center: Why It Matters

July 22, 2010 /

So, BP gets called out for Photoshopping an image of their Command Center for use on their website.

Here’s a straight take from CBS News.

Here’s a more colorful approach from Treehugger.

Here are the before and after images (actually arranged as after and before):

British Petroleum, oil, Gulf, spill, disaster, PR, public relations, Photoshop, Adobe, manipulate, alter, image, photo

Before and After Photoshop: BP Command Center

I’ve seen two primary, polar reactions to this story:

  1. “It’s no surprise coming from those no-good, lying, reckless, corner-cutting, profit-hoarding goons!”
  2. “What’s the big deal?  They’ve obviously got bigger fish to fry!” (or fish to slick and suffocate, as it were)

I’ll take a minute to stand more toward the middle, but clearly on one side.

Altering an image is directly opposed to fundamental principles of management and public relations.  For the past 5 years, you couldn’t spend 5 minutes with any Harvard Business Review publication without feeling the movement toward transparency and authenticity.

Social media, in particular, has really brought these concepts in practice to the fore.  Fold in some Seth Godin-style storytelling-as-marketing and the picture is even more clear:  every individual and organization has the opportunity to tell the world who they are, what they’re about, where they’re from, why they’re here.  Beyond that, they can always share what they know, when they know it, directly with people who care.

If, however, these efforts are not received as honest and forthright from a good corporate citizen, this may be done for you (witness: BPGlobalPR on Twitter).  Regardless, companies of all sizes have embraced this opportunity and grown as a result.

As small an infraction as filling in a few Command Center monitors with some action shots may seem, it’s not honest.  When your every move is under the most extreme scrutiny you’ll ever enjoy, why doctor the images that are helping tell your story of response and recovery?  Apparently, trucking in workers for a Presidential photo op isn’t enough.

The BP spokesperson’s response to this story wasn’t awful: “Normally, we only use Photoshop for the typical purposes of color correction and cropping.”  Transparency, authenticity and honesty should be employed constantly, not “normally.”  Yes, it’s asking a lot, but truth is ultimately easier and best.

Among many the issues:

  • BP’s recent safety record is horrific compared to industry peers, so the talking point that the company has been “laser focused” on safety under Hayward is absolutely hollow.
  • Original estimates on the amount of oil pouring into the Gulf (5,000 revised to 50-100,000) now seem as ridiculous as the original cost estimates of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ($50-60,000,000,000 revised to $2-3,000,000,000,000).
  • BP has actively restricted access to images and information.
  • BP continues to buy pay-per-click campaigns (Google, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube) to try to steer searches to BP-produced information (to be fair, it’s a fine idea – I mention it because they took some heat for it).
  • BP withheld video of the leak for weeks, only released it through government mandate and continued to withhold HD video from scientists working on the problem.
  • Though off-point with regard to honesty, Hayward’s “I want my life back” and weekend of yachting earned charges of being aloof, insensitive and out of touch (um, 11 people lost their lives permanently in the initial explosion).  He even described the spill as “relatively tiny.”

The list goes on and the point remains: the PR response to the worst oil spill in U.S. history has been neither excellent nor honest.  The scope of this disaster is unprecedented.  It could have happened to any oil company working off shore.  Some PR blunders and gaffes can be reasonably expected.  Active obfuscation, however, is beyond “blunder.”

Bottom line: I find the Photoshopped image to be a micro-representation of an attitude, philosophy and practice completely opposed to the best path forward: transparency and authenticity.

Related Video

CNN’s Anderson Cooper has been very aggressive in covering this story.  A couple videos are linked in the body of this post and here’s a link to another specifically about transparency.  Plus, one embed:

BP CEO Tony Hayward fronts a friendly message with clean birds, clean beaches and colorfully suited workers (kin to the Intel Inside Pentium MMX dancers):

Thoughts?   Feel free to share them.

Toyota: Lost in the Wilderness?

July 9, 2010 /

What a great ad. What a great message. What a great brand.

I loved where Toyota was with this:

The automotive branding textbook example is “Volvo = Safety.”

A runner up: “Toyota = Reliability.”

Once the darling of the automotive world for its efficient production, fantastic sales and extreme reliability, however, Toyota‘s taken quite a hit over the past year.

3.8 million cars. 8,000 trucks. 600,000 minivans.  270,000 luxury vehicles just last week.  That’s a lot of recalls (and that little recall rundown’s far from complete!).

Reliability ratings have fallen, too.

Result: a hard tack away from reliability toward …

Wow!  That’s a ton of “safety.”  A quick count has them at seven mentions per :30 spot – nearly one time every four seconds!

On the upside: message is loud and clear, yet casual and clean.  Also, safety is not wholly separate from reliability; I consider the two concepts quite compatible.  It’s also timely and topical, if not a little bold given the state of all things Toyota.

On the downside: if you’re a Toyota owner (which I’ve never been), you may not buy the message – especially if the recalls have been particularly inconvenient.  This “safety” onslaught (I’ve seen several full-page print ads to match these spots) is not even fresh on the heels of the safety and reliability problems – it’s amid them.  I feel strongly, though, that something often enough repeated comes to be believed (for better and for worse).

I feel like this direction could really work … but they’re already giving up on it.

“They’re Already Giving Up” Exhibit A:

In short: “smart, young go-getter gets a helping hand from a good corporate citizen.”  Two notes: “Erica” does say the word “reliable” and it’s the same voice as the safety campaign.

The “safety” sell, though, seems to have expired.  They must have research that suggests their problems with perceived safety and reliability are over – or that those perception/imaging problems were never too deep.

If not, I’m considering Toyota lost in the wilderness.

Disclaimer: Toyota is obviously a highly sophisticated marketer.  My observations are based strictly in mainstream television and magazine messages.  I expect fully that they’ve got many targeted, niche campaigns striking exactly where needed that are beyond my view.

Too Little, Too Late for Kindle?

June 16, 2010 /

(((Disclaimer: this is not a technology review or product comparison.  This post is about product positioning in prospects’ minds.)))

They’re the best commercials on TV right now … but they’re probably too late.  The first of these hit the air in March.  The iPad dropped on April 3.

Amazon hit up Ithyle for these fun, imaginative and insanely stylish ads for their Kindle reader.  Between the visual technique, music, props, scenes and transitions, they sing “the simple pleasure of stories” to me.  The feature or benefit sell is strictly limited to “books in 60 seconds,” which is subtle and sound.

Too bad this effort wasn’t undertaken a year or two back.

Check out the first three:

The Kindle has a very specific purpose.  It’s uniquely focused – no apps, no color, no video, no internet, just reading.  3G wireless provides access to a huge library of books, each of which can be downloaded in a minute or less.  That 3G access requires no subscriptions or monthly fees.  The battery life is very, very impressive.  Quite simply, it’s the best e-reader currently available.

Despite all this, I feel strongly that the iPad takes Kindle’s place in the mind of prospective buyers of e-readers.

That said, this isn’t a zero-sum game.  For the sliver who only want to read books and who do a rational side-by-side comparison, the Kindle should come out ahead.

For a couple years now, Amazon has done a nice job profiling Kindle on its homepage, particularly around holidays and other gift-buying times.  They have end-cap displays at Target complete with a live device that you can pick up, hold and explore.  They continue to roll out beautiful ads on television.

I hope it’s enough.

Link: previous post on iPad’s potential value to magazine publishers

People Don’t Buy What You Do, They Buy Why You Do It

May 28, 2010 /

Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes and writer of its Digital Rules column, recently wrote about the “weak and uneven” economic recovery.

In doing so, he identified seven principles on which the companies that have succeeded throughout tend to excel:

  • design
  • speed
  • cost
  • external communication
  • internal communication
  • purpose

Each was well-illustrated with examples of companies succeeding by excelling in that aspect of business performance.

Sunrise, purpose, motivation, motivational, marketing, inspiration, inspiring

Motivational poster-style image representing "Purpose" grabbed from my Flickr photo stream so I'd have a colorful image in this post

The last one – purpose – really caught my interest because he highlighted thoughts of a guy I’d not read before – Simon Sinek.

The very best companies know why they do what they do.  They have a purpose – a reason for existence that transcends profit.  Driven by purpose, they create a movement and consequently get the most discerning and loyal customers.  In today’s crowded global marketplace customers ‘don’t buy what you do,’ says Sinek.  ‘They buy why you do it.’

This idea has fascinated me for a while and represents the most fundamental step in building strategy.  It seems so obvious and so simple, but it’s often overlooked and infrequently re-visited.  More often, we’re thinking and acting farther down the line at the tactical level.

Sinek’s “Start With Why” philosophy, of course packaged and sold as a book, isn’t revolutionary.  But the message is always timely and he gives it a fresh spin.

I’ll also add that I gave Sinek a “Like” on Facebook and will soon have motivational musings popping up in my News Feed.  Examples:

  • The difference between those who do and those who don’t is that they don’t believe it when they are told they can’t.
  • Assumptions can be dangerous because our behaviors are governed by our assumptions.
  • Those who lead are the ones who can clearly communicate their vision and those who can clearly communicate their vision are the ones who lead.
  • Leaders don’t complain about what’s not working, they celebrate what is working and work to amplify it.

Feels self-helpy, but I appreciate positive ideas communicated in well-crafted form.

A couple links:

Karlgaard’s Recovery’s Seven Secrets

Sinek’s “Start With Why” site, including video of his great TED speech

Shallow Analysis: PETA’s Circus Protest

May 27, 2010 /

In a way, this functions as a follow-up to the previous post about a marketing tactic employed by the Zeitgeist Movement of Colorado.  As in that case, the ideas marketed here lie outside the mainstream.  Unlike the Zeitgeist folks, the organization at work here is extremely well funded and celebrity fronted.

We experienced today in Colorado Springs the same thing many have experienced in cities across the country – a protest of the cruel “entertainment” that is Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which happens to be coming to town.

Protesting is PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  As the elephant’s sign reads: Circuses are No Fun for Animals.  The message is directed toward elementary school children and delivered on public property.

Here’s a shallow analysis.

PETA Circus Protest Colorado Springs Elephant Cruel Cruelty

PETA Circus Protest - Colorado Springs - Elephant

How it’s executed (approximately):

  • PETA gets Ringling Brothers tour schedule
  • PETA precedes the circus, city to city
  • PETA distributes material outside a local elementary school in each city
  • PETA alerts the local media in advance of protest
  • Local media swarms, story’s a good “talker” that elicits strong opinions
  • Conversation ensues

This execution is nicely focused.  They’re timely and topical with the elephant costume, signs, coloring books and more.  Preceding the circus with this message should influence the buying decision.

Commercials to get people to the circus have been running heavily on television here for at least a week; the circus is due in town in a week and a half.  As school’s wrapping up, kids may be talking about the circus.  Parents are probably in active consideration of whether or not to cough up the $100+ it costs to take a family of four to the circus.

There’s no question that this is effective in drawing attention to PETA and to the circus.  What is in question is what kind of attention does it draw – what kind of conversation does it start?

PETA Circus Protest Colorado Springs Cruel Cruelty

PETA Circus Protest - Colorado Springs

This strikes me as a case in which the discussion is limited to the organization itself, rather than to the specific topic and its related issues.  Alignments are basic:

  • People who believe animals are grossly mistreated and need a human voice for justice and protection
  • People who think animal rights people are moronic nut jobs and are perfectly satisfied with the status quo
  • People who take issue with directing the message toward young children outside their schools

Meanwhile, just how humane or horrific is the treatment of animals within the circus?  What are the consequences of training of large, wild beasts to perform unnatural tasks for our amusement?  What amount of money or entertainment value justifies any form of mistreatment?  The discussion never gets this deep.

Instead, it’s more basically about PETA – simply a love ’em or hate ’em alignment, plus a faction against their tactics in general.  It’s provocative.  It’s a continuation and refinement of their guerilla tactics.

This is not necessarily a bad outcome for PETA, especially if you subscribe to the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” philosophy.  Their name passed thousands of lips yesterday.  Because of the timely and topical nature of their message, some share of those people whose attention they got may have “converted” – evaluating the “circus is cruel” message and tending to accept or agree.

In conclusion and a bit from left field:  the difference between zealotry and simply spreading the word is defined by whether or not we agree with the message.

Link: local story at NewsFirst5.com with a couple dozen comments

Positive Outcome from Dubious Marketing Ploy

May 18, 2010 /

A note on a dubious markeing ploy …

I’m “friends” with Colorado Governor Bill Ritter on Facebook.  I’m not sure how or when this happened, but, as a positive consequence, I get some useful info about goings-on at the state level.  Because of this “relationship,” I was treated to this in my Facebook News Feed yesterday morning:

Zeitgeist Movement Colorado tags Governor Bill Ritter on Facebook

Zeitgeist Movement Colorado tags Governor Bill Ritter

Like many of his 4,868 other “friends,” I watched the video out of curiosity alone.  “We are all connected” … sounds interesting!

As it turns out, the Governor appeared nowhere in this video, which was a fascinating production – particularly the audio mix.  Among those who did appear, probably without their knowledge or permission, were Bill Nye the Science Guy, Neil deGrasse Tyson (PBS), Carl Sagan and Richard Fenynman.  The video became repetitive, running about 2:00 too long.

Obviously, the tagging of the Governor by a member of the movement was a tactic to get attention – a “spray and pray” effort to cast a message as widely as possible by whatever means available with the hope that a target will be struck.  The downside: this runs against new, targeted, permission-based marketing principles.  The lamentable upside: it actually works …  I’m writing about it right now (!?).

So what is this Zeitgeist Movement that made its way into my consciousness by way of a dubious marketing ploy?  They seem to have semi-laudable but wildly impractical goals/ideals.  They call for a “sustainable social design” built on a “resource-based economy.”  Those are nice-sounding phrases.  It’s all based on the life’s work of industrial designer and social engineer Jaques Fresco.

I say it’s “laudable” because their critique of the status quo is harsh, highlighting the ugliest things about the way we live, work and “prosper.”  Also laudable are emphases on: world as singular organism, humans as singlular family, dependence upon healthy environment, natural processes, and the scientific method.  Per their intro video, they endorse the “humane application of science and technology to social design and decision making.”

I judge it “impractical” because it seeks a complete and fundamental redesign of all the world’s social and economic structures; its coming to pass seems wholly impossible given human nature.

In hindsight, I’m glad my Facebook News Feed was “hijacked” by a fallacious video tag.

They’re “out there.”  They’re disconnected in nearly every way from mainstream thought.  They’re imagining an experience, even existence, here on earth completely unlike what it is today.  I expect that this separation from mainstream is a primary reason they resort to such tactics.

A positive outcome: they reminded me of something valuable.  We owe it to ourselves to consider every now and again how our fellow human beings are thinking and dreaming differently.

I never endorse such tactics, but I always endorse thinking, dreaming and listening.

Here’s their US homepage:  Zeitgeist Movement

Here’s a video introduction:  Zeitgeist Movement

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