Meaning, One Cup at a Time
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Starbucks and other "experience brands" need to evolve into the age of brand meaning quickly. Why? Because the brands that win today are ones that drive social agendas.
Tag: Patrick Davis
Davis Thinking
Perspectives on The Decision: We Needed a New King
Friday, July 9, 2010
LeBron could manage and leverage his announcement as he did not just because of his remarkable talent...not just because of the dynamics and finances of the trade...not just because powerhouse stars can now "go direct" to fans. He could do so because our present cultural moment requires a new king, an elevated god, and triumphant hero.
The Rise of Moral Brands
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
One need not stretch too far, nor have particularly partisan views, to accept arguments that ours is a culture marked by institutional collapse. Confidence on Wall Street and in capitalism itself slipped with the tarnishing of names AIG, Lehman and Merrill Lynch (among others) during the Great Recession. Trust in the U.S. government eroded along party lines, calling into question the integrity of the democratic process, on the path to health care reform. Faith in the Catholic Church continued to fold just last week under the weight of yet another round of scandal fueled by priests preying on the most vulnerable. On somewhat lighter fronts: there is no longer a "most trusted man in news" when every adman is a newsman, and so many newsmen an advertisement (or plagiarist). Science is more politicized than ever, the clarity of its objective truths clouded by a climate of competing interests. If our cultural institutions are not as strong as they once were, where is one to place belief?
Super Bowl Ads: Tell Me Who Are You?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Legendary television producer Norman Lear often said it was best to start the story "in the middle." That's where the truth of the narrative is, and the theory held for Super Bowl XLIV. Smack in the middle of a confused and confusing collection of ads was The Who, an embarrassing half-time show of old white men singing of "pinball wizards" in the age of connected gaming, and claiming some distant insight into the "teenage wasteland" of a generation to which they do not belong. Yet, they were entirely relevant context for the general fiasco of this year's ads, asking: "Tell me who are you?" With some notable exceptions, advertisers seemed to have no idea who they were this year, nor who their customers might be.
Apple's Big Announcement: What Steve Really Said
Monday, February 1, 2010
When Steve Jobs took to the stage in San Francisco's Moscone Center on January 27, the world knew what to expect: Apple would finally announce its long-awaited tablet. With that pre-determined focus and the anticipatory roar for the next "insanely great" thing, most missed the larger announcement of the day. Steve Jobs did not simply announce the company's latest creation; he completed a task first made public in January 2007, when the company dropped "Computer" from its name to become Apple, Inc. The real news hidden in plain view as Jobs unveiled iPad was the repositioning of the company that created the personal computer.
GAP Announces End of Recession
Monday, November 16, 2009
After years of disappointing design, quality and performance, GAP seems tapped into the American cultural pulse once again. The company's holiday advertising campaign announces that the country is "Ready for Holiday Cheer." Like many retailers, GAP is spending more and launching earlier this year, including a major Vanity Fair insert and back cover. Whether these efforts end up translating to sales, of course, remains to be seen. Still, the campaign does more than any other to date to declare a shift in attitude. Consumers will decide for themselves to celebrate in ways "modest" or "all out," but either way, GAP gives permission "to liberate" from the dark clouds of the past 18 months. A holiday declaration of independence -- "This holiday, it's up to us" -- makes the empowerment message abundantly clear: Yes, Virginia, there is an American spirit of hope, even joy, that will not be silenced. The recession is over.
Post-Agency III: Naming Names
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
It seems a fait accompli, the death of agencies. I’ve made the case for the collapse of this industry business model several times over, and the Financial Times has recently detailed the challenges and the various players’ attempts to address them. It was, though, Nicholas Negroponte from MIT’s Media Lab who stated the issue plainly and first, a decade ago, saying that any organization that “describes itself as an ‘agency’ is doomed.” He was right, and the industry still has not taken on the fundamental question of the day: if not an “agency,” then what?
Bud Light Lime “In the Can”: AdAge Gets it Bass Ackwards
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The most successful beer marketers in the world have crossed a line. According to AdAge, a pun is “the final frontier” in “tasteless” beer advertising. In a spot for Bud Light Lime leaked on the Internet, everyday folks innocently confess to getting it “in the can” (some of them like it and want to do so again!). The punch line of the spot reveals that the popular brew is now available in all-too-familiar handy aluminum containers.
Starbucks: Time to Get Real, For Real
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Starbucks has a brand problem. Everyone knows it. Their founder knows it. And, to Starbucks' credit, the company is taking action. A brand problem, though, is a business problem. It's not a matter of addressing or re-dressing things. It's about operations, about the integrity of processes. Making the promise and keeping the promise of the brand can never be detached from the consumer experience. This is not good news for Starbucks; it's still faking it.
Post-Agency II: Mad Man Market Thyself
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
It is no news that advertising agencies are in crisis, struggling to survive under the multiple pressures of reduced client budgets, degraded media effectiveness, and connected, informed consumers. What is news: agencies are proving themselves unable to adapt and to fix their own business problems; client-side solutions are winning. This, more than anything, illustrates the disconnect too often experienced between “the business” and “the creative” sides of marketing. The marketer’s role, in the end, is to navigate the markets — to succeed even amidst change — not just to razzle and dazzle though sales don’t come in the door. This applies to clients and to marketers alike. Mad Man: market thyself.
Steven Brill’s Problem: What Clear’s Failure Means for Journalism Online
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Steven Brill’s TSA “fast pass” company and creator of the Clear card has imploded. Verified Identity Pass takes with it more than $100 million in investor cash, the registration fees of approximately 200,000 travelers, and a dumpster-load of sensitive biometric data. The company provides only a message that it has ceased operations as of June 22, 2009 due to creditor problems, and posts a link to its privacy policies. The one message that seems to be coming out clearly in media is that Brill stepped aside from daily management some time ago. Got it: you are not responsible. Unfortunately, Brill isn’t done with us yet. He has one more bad idea that, like Clear, involves gathering up data, segregating worthy information from unworthy, and charging for it: Journalism Online.
Black Markets and The Future of Innovation
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The phrase “black market” carries with it an ethical conundrum: goods and services that are likely stolen, controlled, illegal or immoral, yet still attainable via the right connections for the right dollars. Operating outside of regulation and taxation, black markets are, to some, considered pure economies capable of extracting the highest prices for those things in greatest demand. Things such as drugs, weaponry, prostitution, or copyrighted materials or designs. While regulators and the makers of luxury goodies understandably might want to concentrate on shutting down these markets, innovation leaders would be wise to get close to them and study them rigorously. As pure markets, they reveal a depth of unmet demand, a potential for mainstream commercialization, and a degree of price insensitivity that mainstream CPG companies and retailers sorely need.
Microsoft’s Fembot Strategy
Friday, April 24, 2009
Microsoft wants to help you advertise. Let’s pause on that for a moment, shall we? The people who respond directly to a smaller competitor, cannot present a consistent image to save their own markets, promote the idea that brand does not matter and release broadcast spots created on a Mac. That Microsoft. The Microsoft so in touch with consumers that they are boldly going into retail with nothing but a tightrope of user frustration upon which to dance or hang. That Microsoft. They want to help you advertise. To women. Specifically, something called “women (25-54).” We assume this is not geek speak for the code to activate some Redmondian Fembot. It might as well be, because what Microsoft proposes in its recent online campaign (proof of its own advertising pudding?) makes the fairer sex seem more foreign than ever.
Re-Verb: Noisy Markets Demand a Brand Voice
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
As interesting and important as micro-blogging and other momentary, disposable bits of culture might be, I tend to be more interested in the larger patterns they can help reveal — not the chatter itself. Recently, the former has helped me tune into something intriguing: an emerging meme about brand voice.
End of the Social(ist) Web?
Thursday, April 16, 2009
There should be no question about how little I cared for Andrew Keen’s last book. I found much of what he presented to be flawed, small-minded and grouchy. I also expressed the wisdom of crowds to select and correct content worth following. Let’s call that the power of the curator. So, I am especially happy to see that Keen has come around to a more enlightened (if not exactly Utopian) view, wherein not everyone with browser access is an idiot. He seems, now, to believe the common man is capable of discerning tripe from truffle, and having the good sense of choosing and following talent.
The Good Business of Good Citizenship
Thursday, April 9, 2009
For most Americans, the conspicuous consumption of the late 20th century was not just a show of status or an assumed birthright in the land of plenty, it was an act of justified (if not inspired) patriotism. Prospering and buying things proved the American system worked. In our greatest moment of national crisis, George W. Bush called us to arms post-9/11, with the rallying cry of “go shopping” to support our economy and stabilize our nation. Consumption was the way to fight back; it was our role as citizens. Economic policies followed that fueled this citizen-consumer march into battle. But something else happened along the way, too. We didn’t just shop. We reconnected. We found new ways of expressing citizenship, and they can serve us well now as marketers, if we follow a few, new citizen-based rules.
M-I-C... I See You Think We’re Idiots
Friday, March 20, 2009
Recently, I wrote of my interest in branded commodities and provided some fine examples of how this complex form of brand management can be done correctly. In the “never do this” category, I must now offer the other end of the spectrum.
Microsoft’s Viral Disconnect: Pretending to Build the Brand
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
There’s plenty of chatter about Microsoft’s new viral video. Great. You got some people to watch it, and with this post, even more. At a technical level, the spot is working (pun intended). At a brand level, I am at a loss.
AIG: The Mismanagement of Brand Capital
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The free markets are my friend. I love the business of business. I believe in the power of hard work and intelligence to create competitive advantage and great value, both economic and social. I tend not to be a fan of regulation (I am an entrepreneur, after all) but mainly because I have faith in people and companies to conduct themselves with a very high standard of ethical conduct. My faith is more than challenged these days. Thanks, AIG.
Twitter’s Social Economy
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Immediate search is compelling. But Twitter has something much more powerful: value-creating disequilibrium in an age of social network equality.
Amazon’s Liquid Content Play
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I frequently find Fast Company to be a frustrating read; it’s had more than a hard time finding a relevant voice post-dot-com. The magazine’s recent take on Amazon’s decision to release both Kindle 2 and an e-book reader app for iPhone and iTouch proves how old the publication’s vision of markets and technologies really is.
Patrick Davis Partners Moves Headquarters to Atlanta
Monday, December 1, 2008
Patrick Davis Partners, the global brand consultancy, today announced that the firm has relocated its headquarters from St. Louis to Atlanta, where the company has operated an office since 2002.
Reverse Your Psychology, Win an Election
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Hollywood is turning out in force, saying “don’t vote.” Because not voting is still a vote.
Award-Winning Spam: You Be the Judge
Thursday, October 2, 2008
If you won an award as the result of spam, would you want it? Apparently the folks at the Stevie Awards for Women in Business think you would. They have spammed me to help them judge the overwhelming number of entries they have gotten worldwide. If you spam, surely you consider your email public garbage worthy of being blown about in the digital wind — so I set it free here below.
Markets, Marketers and Marketing: The End of the Road for Imposters
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
What is happening in the global financial markets is stunning, surely. I am more stunned, however, by the complete absence of dialogue in the marketing community about this historic moment. Like most stockbrokers who fell into success as markets expanded, most marketers only know how to carnival-call their offerings to cash-flush consumers. Say goodbye to that easy effort. The age of true strategy is at hand. It is make or break, to be sure.
Mad Men: Totally Bewitching
Thursday, September 25, 2008
In the history of television there have been two great shows about advertising: "Mad Men" and "Bewitched." There was also "Thirtysomething," but the whiney solipsistic ethos of that show erases it from the annals of broadcast history in my mind. So with that, we let a few pictures tell a few thousand words.
What the New Facebook Says about Web 2.0
Monday, September 15, 2008
Old Facebook was charming. It was simple. It did a job nothing else had done. I liked the odd tidbit updates from friends and colleagues, the new form of autobiography, the passionate grouping of wing nuts and dilettantes alike. Mostly, I liked that it was, in its own words, “a social utility.” It was helpful, and it performed. Then along came Microsoft with a huge infusion of cash and, it seems, clunky PC-world inefficiency and “more is better” ideology. So now we have the “New Facebook.” A fix without a problem. A mousetrap with no rodent. And, I would suggest, a business model without a business.
Bill and Jerry’s Excellent Adventure
Friday, September 12, 2008
I must admit, I really did not want to like the new Microsoft campaign. I found the initial “Shoe Circus” spot to be silly and irrelevant — an effort that came off as simply trying “too hard” to be funny and awkwardly hip. Then came the joyfully odd bit of suburban “connection” in the latest spot for Microsoft. I love it, have watched it numerous times, and have forwarded it to many people. I have been converted to a Microsoft marketer, if no longer a customer.
Alltop: Am I the Last to Know?
Friday, August 8, 2008
Does everybody already know about this wonderful site, which provides massive amounts of content "aggregation without the aggravation," as the Alltoppers say? It's new to me -- but then again, much is.
Brand China, Sponsored by the Olympic Games
Friday, August 8, 2008
With 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, we see a China that is a powerhouse of contemporary, iconic architecture. We see a China that is global host, not a walled world. We see an entire culture struggling with freedom, technology and the environment. From this view, China is a massive case study -- a window into -- the global future.
Post-Agency Era, Now Powered by Google
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Ad Planner service from Web giant announces age of advertising brokerage.
Broadcasting a Joyful Noise: R.E.M. and Politics in the Digital Age
Monday, June 23, 2008
In one powerful night, R.E.M. concludes its North American tour with a meaningful set built for an election year and the digital age.
Presidential Parody
Friday, June 20, 2008
Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama spoke today in Chicago in front of a seal surely meant to convey a presidential image and his readiness for the job at stake. Instead, he made me giggle.
More than OK! Orla Kiely Stationery Helps Advance an Essential Design Language
Monday, April 14, 2008
London-based designer Orla Kiely has extended her brand to stationery. In so doing she is growing a design language that seems familiar and global at once. It is the right way to build the next major brand.
Brand Obama: Unchanging Change?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
We've avoided politics, largely, until now, when there is a question of brand to explore. Much has been said already about "Brand Obama" and "Brand Clinton," and which is more compelling or divisive to the Democratic party. That's not a question I'll approach to answer here, but I would like to ask which of the two is actually a brand at all.
Abercrombie's Boring Panty Raid: The Ennui of Nipples
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
It's true that there's nothing new under the sun. Also true that sex sells. Oh, true, too, that outrage gets news coverage. And true, so it seems, that Abercrombie & Fitch have become hopelessy lost in marketing cliches with the beautiful boredom of their new Gilly Hicks underwear brand.
The Rise of Malleable Brands
Monday, February 4, 2008
Super Bowl XLII reveals brands in-flux, searching for meaning, making a case for their own relevancy, and showing just how flexible they can be with the new consumer.
The 'Shut Up' Heard 'Round the World
Monday, January 28, 2008
With Target’s wholesale dismissal of bloggers, America's favorite retailer said more than it realized about the tired PR industry and its own relevance going forward.
Cultural Collage, Daily Edition
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
We all know the sad song: newspapers are dying. Some even say they should, as soon as possible. Yes, we can get our “news” – whatever the slippery definition of it may now be – in more efficient and interactive ways. But what do we lose if the newspaper goes away?
Content Rewind
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Marketers are talking nonstop about “content” these days: how it can help companies “be the media,” how it may be more credible than news, how it more closely connects readers and sellers, how it is the key to successful social media. Fine. All true. But is any of it new?
Rant of the Almost Rich: The Illogic of Andrew Keen
Friday, November 2, 2007
Andrew Keen “almost became rich” on the Internet. Now, he's written a bitter book attacking the "amateurs" who have succeeded where he couldn't.
Be a TV Big Shot
Thursday, September 20, 2007
It looks like a fun game -- and a really interesting way for BRAVO to gain consumer-viewer data and low-cost programming advice. We say, "let's play."
Brand Wal-Mart: Basics Bungled, Leadership Lost
Monday, September 17, 2007
The retail giant's new slogan suggests Wal-Mart is part of a higher standard of living. There's more than one problem with that claim, from internal policies to a lack of marketing vision.
The Black Widow of Brands: The Unbankable Britney Spears
Monday, September 10, 2007
In this age of celebrity endorsements and entertainer-based empires, we delve into the disappointment and bad business that is Britney Spears.
Whoopi Goldberg’s Racist Logic
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Today, during her premiere on ABC’s “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg came to the defense of Michael Vick. Whether publicity stunt for ratings, genuinely held opinion, or spontaneous outpouring of stupidity, there’s a fundamental problem with Goldberg’s logic. It’s racist, at its core.
Evolved Volvo
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Marketers seem a bit surprised today that Volvo is evolving its core brand positioning to evoke some sexiness alongside its legendary safety. Anyone who has a confused reaction to this is way behind the times. The tired notion of brand as repeated “one-note” song has hobbled some of the biggest companies in the world. (Wal-Mart’s challenges might be tied back to its singular focus on “low prices,” which led consumers to see the entire company – rich as it is – as “cheap.” And everything Ford is doing is “bold,” right? Except sales.)
Eco or Ego?
Monday, August 27, 2007
While I applaud and, I hope, help advance the “green” movement on a number of fronts, I think it is important also to recognize the functional selfishness of the entire effort. If we are honest, “going green” isn’t really about saving the planet or improving the environment. It’s about saving ourselves. Our broad, cultural hubris may let us forget these are separate things.
Faking It: Brand Tom Ford
Friday, May 4, 2007
Horacio Silva, the New York Times critical shopper, recently detailed the rough handling he suffered amidst the unbearable preciousness of Tom Ford’s new menswear boutique on Madison Avenue.
Reputation on the Auction Block
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Mr. Murdoch wants the take it up a notch and buy Dow Jones & Company and the world’s leading financial paper, the Wall Street Journal. Who can blame him, really. His portfolio of holdings could be more balanced, and the Journal certainly could benefit from his legendary approach to cost management.
At Issue } essential reading
Welcome to the Post-Agency Era
Nov 24, 2008
The post-agency era is upon us. With staggering speed and efficiency, consumer preferences and digital technologies have coalesced to create a broad and deep cultural demand for direct relationships. In this disintermediated market, do we need go-betweens at all?
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