All Gods Creatures

We’re dog people at Mammal. Hence when the RSPCA bring out a kick-ass photo campaign linked to their site we stand and applaud and more importantly make a donation. The website therspcaneedsyou.com.au is seriously well done and use of the black and white image of a tough looking RSPCA inspector with ‘1 of our finest’ in the print campaign is both well conceived and dramatic. The totally wrong public perception of the RSPCA being little more than a bunch of saintly ‘Do gooders’ getting cats down from trees is being faced head-on with this hard hitting, gritty campaign. If the govt are only going chip in a paltry 2% of the $80m per annum funding then they’re going to need further campaigns like this to continue to do the fabulous work they on behalf of all us animal lovers. GRRRRR!!!!

Shirt Sponsor United

There can’t have been too many Manchester Utd fans who didn’t shake their heads in dismay when they hear American owner (Malcolm Glazer) refer to their beloved football team as a ‘Franchise’. OK he’s not wrong. That’s what all the big clubs around the world are. And if not that’s what they want and indeed need to become. You can get Man Utd TV and clothing so we can be fairly certain that a Man Utd washing machine, perfume range and holiday company are all around the corner. Just think ‘Virgin’ but with football boots and flashy dyed hair. Actually Branson already has that second one...

Anyway, it’s a commercial fact of today’s football but for most football fans it does tend to distract from the passion of the game itself.

Which leads me to the current West Ham Utd shirt. Now I’ve been a ‘Hammer’ fan for as long as I can remember and more than happy to wear the replica shirt (Made in China for $0.50 and retailing in shops here for $180.00...) I’m wearing that shirt because of that little West Ham emblem on the left hand pocket corner. Not because of the vast ‘XL Holidays’ logo that totally dominates the entire front of the shirt. Shirt sponsorship has been around for ages (though hats off to Barcelona who have always refused to have shirt sponsors and now have a five year deal with ‘UNICEF’ which for a sport staggering in cash is a commendable way to go). And not doubt to pay those outrageous players wage demands West Ham needed a deal that would pay big money and XL Holidays obviously wanted maximum exposure.

But when it comes to brands then there’s always that danger of ‘devaluing the currency’. And having your club brand logo totally dominated by the current shirt sponsor does just that. Anyway, I shall wear my shirt with pride as always next season but should I need to book a holiday then XL Holidays won’t be top of my list. Maybe give Man U a call and see what packages they’re offering this year…..

The Fame Formula

A formula for fame! Whoa. It's F(T) = B + P(1/10T+1/2Tsquared) in case you wanted to know, or at least that's what PR "guru" Mark Borkowski reckons in his latest book.
If you're a publicist and you've got one (a fame formula)i reckon you tell the world, publish a book, get everyone crunching the fame formula and soon we've got a planet of famous people,famously duped that is.

I wonder if the the Big Borkowski gave a thought to how his existing famous clients might be feeling about him giving away his fame IP? Shaking in their boots famous boots I suspect.

Wasted Opportunites

It’s chilling (from a marketing perspective) how great opportunities go begging. A friend of mine manages a busy paint retail store which is part of a national chain. The shop is located on one of Perth’s busiest roads and it’s daily exposure to all those potential customers is as endless as the tail-lights of the cars crawling past during the rush-hour to and from the city. The company has its own in-house marketing team who have recently been given lashings of cash to spend on re-branding the stores. TV, magazine, radio have all been used plus in this case use of billboards. This one was located a couple of streets away from the store in a location that at best was ‘OK’ish’.

We’re done bill-boards here at Mammal and know that done right they are very effective. The billboard was fine but of course even the most lavish budget meant that after a few brief weeks it’s time was up. I mentioned seeing the billboard to my friend and he informed me that none of his customers had actually seen the billboard. He then went on to say that despite his store’s prime exposure for passing traffic it had remained painted with the old brand colours and signage for about six months. Six months! That’s half a year totally wasted! There was no apparent reason for this other than that familiar ‘big company’ problem of moving slowly when it comes to organizing things. Apparently no pressure was applied by the marketing team to hurry things up as they were focused on their own thing. All that money spent by the whizzo marketing team and yet an opportunity to use the FREE advertising area of the store itself totally wasted!

My point is that it’s all too common for ad guys to only focus on their part of the business. Their ‘specialist’ skills meaning they can remain oblivious to the broader business as a whole. Producing fine, groovy ad campaigns is one thing but it’s another to be aware of the business in a general sense and to make it your business to damn well find out and know what’s going on! Makes me stamp my little feet it does!

Sherman

Here at Mammal we must confess that we are 'Ben Sherman' kinda guys. It's retro that won't date. Sure the skinny 80's jeans and side-swiped mullet hair-do's are fine as retro 'today' but of course it won't last. A decent Ben Sherman shirt lashed with a smart Mod' ish attitude will not go out of date. I'm not saying we should all be dressing like Paul Weller but it's a brand that remains a 'constant'. And I hope it stays that way. As for every Ben Sherman there's a 'Converse' who now must make hay while the sun shines as it won't last. Sherman however, as long as it remains on the side-lines will keep it's alt-cool appeal. especially for us old gits. Anyway, I like this ad. It's a bit wayward and oddly doesn't really have the 'essence' of Sherman but it's oddness and humour is enough to keep it cool..Enjoy!

It's all Bluff

The continuing rise of online Poker games and ESPN’s world poker series and other Poker related spin-off’s has seen a huge increase in the general interest if the errrr sport? Print publication ‘Live Poker Magazine’ used DDB Paris to produce a fabulous campaign featuring the fundamental poker ‘art’ of bluff 'BECOME THE KING OF BLUFF'
Personally my initial reaction on seeing this one was to send two jets of recently sipped tea squirting from each nostril and into the murky depths of my Vaio. Wonder if Sony can include a ‘Re-cycled Tea Brown’ as a colour….

Official car of The Sith

Jeremy Clarkson’s ‘Cockometer’ rarely fails. He might scale pretty high himself on some occasions but generally when it comes to how much of a errrrrr…’Thingy’ you look while driving along The ‘Cockometer’ is up there with the Richter Scale as an effective measurement. He says:

'The Saab has no cockometer because it doesn’t need one. You’ve deliberately gone your own way, deliberately bought something that isn’t a BMW or a Merc or an Audi. And in the process you’ve ended up with something that’s not only a little bit different, but also rather good.'

Course, being a Saab driver I already knew this. I got my serviced yesterday at a Saab specialist and seeing all those assorted Saabs together in one place was, for the Saab lover, akin to chancing upon a flower strewn woodland clearing with families of pure white Unicorns frolicking around. OK that’s a tad strong on the waxing lyrical front but you get my point. There are such wonderful cars and the undying strength of the Saab brand makes it impossible not to know with every sense of your being that you ‘Belong’. Which, leads me rather neatly to Star Wars. Of which I’m also a fan. Another equally undying brand that will never fade away. The combination of the two is naturally almost too much to bare…..

we vote the girl effect one of our favorite spots this year.... simple and very very smart... its what we aspire to, we love it, check out the girl effect

Vaccum cleaner Ad's that don't suck....

I bet James Dyson saw this and wept.....

This time next year we'll ALL be wearing 'em!

I'm aware that there's a whole army of the Mammalman's blog readership who adore golf. OK I made that up but I'm sure there's a few who at least know that Tiger Woods isn't a collection of trees with big stripy cats wandering around. Anyway, it's a cliche (therefore based on some truth right?!) but golf is known for it's ghastly apparel. For every Nike ad with the aformentioned Tiger practicing his drive in the pouring rain with 'Just Do It. Get Wet' whilst wearing an impossibly stylish tight black sweater and slacks (Damn! I hate that word!) we know there's a thousands of bright pink tops and dodgy white golf shoes out there at the links. Anyway, for those who REALLY feel the need to look great out on the course check http://golfknickers.com It's fab. There's a million potential Christmas gifts for men and women you feel would benefit from wearing a pair of Plaid Plus Fours.....

Calling Time on Time?

A friend of mine recently informed me that 40% of men these days don’t wear watches. Goodness knows where he plucked this stat from ( I suspect this sparkling piece of ‘market research’ was based on the fact that half the time he leaves his own watch on the bathroom sink). Anyway, it got me to thinking that maybe wearing a watch these days is a little passé. That ones mobile, Blackberry, MP3 will give you all the time advice you need. In 156 different languages, 20 different time zones and all whilst playing ones latest favourite tune. With dancing elephants. And of course the having the latest gadgetry is an essential part of ones ‘cool’. Even without one of the portable gizmos it’s not too hard to just gaze down at the RHS of your screen and there’s Greenwich Meantime right there next to your Home Wireless speed.

Ad’s for watches are traditionally the top end products Tag Haur, Rolex, etc aimed straight at the ‘mature man’or indeed woman. Rugged looking yachtspeople , all crinkly eyed and weather-beaten glancing at their Tag Heuers before they head off into the roaring 40’s. Literally. The quality watch sites naturally ooze of big old school star quality. Brad Pitt, Urma Thurman, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman. Tiger Woods. Steve McQueen. Yes I know he’s dead but the ‘Cooler King’ remains cool forever. Even for selling watches.

And for myself ,having just been given, as a gift a cool looking Omega I was delighted to be reminded that this classic use of brand placement ie Bond’s watch is Omega. And we all know that even the ‘kids’ are finding Bond cool again. Despite Pierce Brosnan’s best efforts.

But of course this is all missing the point. Yes, the 16-30 years olds are no longer wearing watches. For now. BUT a watch is still a chance to display an elegant symbol of your taste level and your attention to detail. They still represent a ‘statement’ whether it’s a Fossil for the younger generation or a Rolex. Course if you happen to be Jay Z then naturally your Rolex will come with enough Bling to make Stevie Wonder shield his eyes BUT you can wear a quality timepiece that says ‘I might not have James Bond’s body, Walther PPK, License to kill or Miss Moneypenny lusting after me BUT at least I have his watch'.

Personal Brand Champion -David "Sex" Soller

He might not be able to dance but he's stayed true to his personal brand for 3 long and painful years- love him or hate him 'Sex' (or just plain on Dave to the rest of us) has ticked all the personal branding boxes - the brand is easily understood, you remember him and his absolute self belief in the face of criticism is undeniable - at '21 plus' and with a legion of fans we vote David "Sex" Soller a personal brand champion.

Researching Retail Brands (RRB) - Shopping!

A day of retail therapy awaits - brand retail research, okay - shopping!

Brand Epiphany

This is a blog about branding, marketing, design and creative ideas and how all that stuff is used to connect people to companies and companies to people, or at least how i see it. it's NOT about helping companies to sell stuff - that would be a little to one-way, a little to asymmetrical. This blog started because after 15 years in branding, advertising and marketing I realised that the brand process was being looked at the wrong way, or if you like, only one way - from the companies point of view, but what i realised is the need to not only building brands to connect to people, it's about helping people connect with it brands! The difference? perspective.

I don't want to 'just' help companies build their brands anymore i want to work from the perspective of the 'people' who i feel would like, need, would 'get into connecting with a brand - and then build it from that perspective - sloppily said i know - but of epiphanic (not a word- it should be!) never the less - a shift in dimension, a fresh perspective on things, a break through if you like - a new way of looking at things that gives deeper meaning for me when i am presented with an opportunity to work with a new client or even to look at the way I'm working with them now - inner peace? yes, almost...