When Obama first came out with his logo in February of 2008, people in the blogosphere noted the striking resemblance between it and Pepsi’s logo. In articles such as Slate’s “Obama the Pepsi Candidate,” James Ledbetter discussed the connection not only between the candidate and company’s logos, but used the comparison as an analogy between the Coca Cola like establishment of Hillary Clinton, and the Pepsi like outsider appeal of Obama.

It remains debatable if the Obama camp ever intentionally modeled its logo after Pepsi’s. Although the comparison of Obama to Pepsi, and Hillary or even Mccain to Coke is an amusing one, it’s doubtful that the President elect’s camp consciously chose to emulate the brand. However, in light of the new pepsi logo contained in the ad below, it is undeniable that Pepsi’s reinvention of its logo is now banking on an association with Obama. This ad was released as a New Year’s wish from Pespsico, but on first seeing it, I, as well as many people I know initially thought it was an Obama ad.  

Brand association is nothing new. Think of a few of the most prominent examples that we use every day, Kleenex, Xerox, where the general product is called by a brand name. No one is going to ask for an Obama when they want a Pepsi, or vice versa, but the company is embracing the association between the candidate “for a new generation” and it’s own similar market position.

Brand association is a powerful yet subtle device that small business can easily incorporate into their marketing efforts. Here are 5 steps to create your own brand association:

1.       Identify the demographic(s) that you are trying to reach

2.       Identify a brand, product, or image that appeals to that demographic

-          For instance if you are  a real estate agency selling homes to upper middle class income families, picture a model home with any of the following images:  children playing soccer out front, a Mercedes Benz SUV in the driveway, or Golden Retrievers in the yard.

3.       Use language that incorporates that brand association to solidify the connection.

-Ex: Safety to Play, Affordable Luxury, Freedom to Roam, respectively with the above image associations reinforces that brand association.

4.       Incorporate these associations into your PR, Website, print and online ads, juxtaposing your company with these images and language whenever possible.

5.       Continue the dialogue, using the language you create to reinforce the association until it becomes an integral part of your brand.

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Relating to an earlier post about Twitter, a relatively new website, 12seconds.tv, has just gone into public beta. The site is the video equivalent of Twitter, offering microvideo, as opposed to microblogging. Tech crunch discusses a new iphone app that enables Iphone users to upload 12 second videos. However this app is more limiting than normal camera equipped mobile phones, in that Iphone users can only submit 12 second slideshows, while mobile phone users can email 12 second videos to the site which posts them automatically.

The success of Twitter, as in any social network, is the community adoption. Millions of people are now using twitter and it continues to grow in popularity. It remains to be seen whether 12 seconds will have the same success. From an early perusal of the site, it does not appear that there is a great deal of exploration of the format. People aren’t uploading videos that they’ve spent a great deal of time on, rather they press record and hit send 12 seconds later. It seems like there’s an opportunity for some more creative usage than simply pointing your webcam at yourself and uttering a sentence, although presumably if you continually utter interesting/insightful/hilarious sentences that may be all that is necessary.

Like Twitter, the value of 12 seconds may lie in it’s preview/teaser offerings, as a way to entice people to click links to more content rich sites. Many twitter users are also bloggers, and will post interesting links they find to their twitter account, which then reinforces their value as bloggers, because they are seen as purveyors of interesting and “follow worthy” content. (For those unfamiliar with Twitter, users can follow people, giving them real time updates of that twitterer’s ”tweets,” 12 seconds includes this same ’follow’ function ). By the same token, 12 seconds may have value for Youtube users, as a means of promoting new videos, or as content filler for the time in between their more substantial videos.

Most importantly, this seems like a golden opportunity for any small business that has news to announce. In much the same way as Zappos (a fantastic company by the way) emails announcements of their latest and greatest products, this format would be great for retail companies looking to show off their newest items. Travel agency’s can announce their new great travel deals. PR companies can make quick announcements. With a little creativity the 12 second format could be utilized to great effect, and if if it’s both interesting and valuable content users will appreciate it. One of the other great assets is the main page automatically displays every new video that is posted in chronological posting order. New videos will be posted for all to see, as well as a user’s followers. As always with social media, good content is of the utmost importance - create good, informative, entertaining/interesting content, and they will follow.

Marketing Tools, Web 2.0 Social Networking

Constant Contact is our top choice for a bulk email manager. When choosing a bulk email provider trust is an important factor, due in large part to the importance of spam compliance when conducting an email marketing campaign.  The CAN-SPAM act of 2003 outlines a number of requirements for bulk emailers that small businesses might easily overlook when conducting an email campaign. A tool like Constant Contact ensures that all elements of the compliance act are followed, as well as providing powerful management and tracking abilities.  It facilitates contact management for different campaigns, and allows the sender to see how effective each email is by measuring click-through to links in the email.  For those who aren’t aware of the CAN-SPAM acts specifics, here is a brief summary:

• Header Information must be accurate. All information about the sender must be true and accurate, including routing information, email address, domain name.
• Subject Line- All information in the subject line must be accurate and cannot contain misleading information about the content of the email
• Opt-out method – Most commonly seen as an “Unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the email, recipients must be given a way to be removed from the email list. When someone does choose not to receive further emails the sender must honor their request. This feature is one of the most important for small businesses as it is one of the most easily overlooked aspects of email marketing. Constant Contact provides the link at the bottom of each email and updates all your contacts when they opt out, making it easy to comply.
• Proper Identification and Valid Postal Address – Emails that are advertisements must be labeled as such, and include the sender’s postal address.

Being a spammer not only has legal consequences, but damages your reputation with your customers as well. Using a tool like Constant Contact alleviates that worry, and makes email marketing that much easier.

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