JanetandPhil / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

In a recent discussion in my Strategic Writing course, we considered a company called Mondelēz International.  Actually, we started by looking at a snack-sized package of Oreo cookies.  The point of the dialogue was to consider what “corporate” messaging  means to a copywriter in the marketing department asked to develop material geared to sell snack-packs.

Now, you may not have heard of Mondelēz International, but if you took the time to click through on the link above, many of the brands featured in the animation will prove familiar.  And there in the midst is Oreo, a product that still bears the Nabisco logo on the package (which ends up being a brand between other brands). Continue Reading

A committed UST fan.

The license plate frame on my car reads “Alumni” at the top and “University of St. Thomas” at the bottom.  The metal looks a bit shabby, since it previously adorned at least two other cars, but the purple letters seem to be surviving.  I’m proud to hold a couple of degrees from UST and own a fair number of items emblazoned with its name and logos.  However, the limit of my brand loyalty falls short of a purple shield tattoo.

It’s fascinating how we manage loyalty to the brands in our lives.  For instance, while I purchase and eat exclusively Skippy^® Superchunk^™ peanut butter, there are no t-shirts or other memorabilia in the house to affirm this bias.  Further, this post represents the only public or private admission of this behavior.  So, even though absolutely loyal to the brand in use, I am a pretty crappy customer on the referral side.  My kids don’t even eat the stuff.

Even though we all have some unshakable brand affinities, other brand connections seem to be more chameleon-like.  Personally, the colors change on the alumni front, depending on the company being kept.  When chatting with undergrad friends, the Beaver hat figuratively comes out (Just making sure you don’t think I actually have a rodent for my head.).  Most of the time, I’m a Tommy.  Not a traditional Tommy perhaps, because the diplomas aren’t undergrad, but a card carrying graduate school Tommy.  It helps to believe in the quality of education here, but the affinity also contributes to defining me in the context of the business community, in the same way the Harley-Davidson eagle on my leather vest distinguishes me from a sport-bike rider.  Not good or bad, just decidedly different. Continue Reading

On August 22, the Alphabet Bash will turn the Aria into a temporary Mecca for the movers, shakers and wanna-bes of the Twin Cities message machines. The evening, while formatted as a loosely scripted mix and mingle, takes a tremendous amount of organization and planning, particularly coordinating the efforts of the dozens of associations and sponsors now involved. The “Bash” always promises and delivers great food, a fun atmosphere and, most assuredly, the best networking on the professional marketing communication community calendar.

I’m not just touting the event because the UST Opus College of Business is one of the two primary sponsors. We are engaged because this event brings together local business communication professionals from multiple disciplines on one night. It’s imperative that we are there, and should be for anyone interested in building a network of like-minded professionals – for fun and profit!

For those who don’t feel like they know many people, and worry about meeting new folks, here are a couple of tips. Continue Reading

Al_HikesAZ / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

This week a pro-gun group informed the media and area law enforcement that its members would be out in force at community events organized by another organization, pushing the limits of the state carry laws.

This is a classic guerrilla marketing and communication tactic – to co-opt the activities or space of others, without permission, to carry out some level of promotion for your own agenda.  Of course, there are degrees of this behavior. It is certainly common, and potentially legal, for a marketer to appear on a public walkway offering product samples. The co-opting begins when that walkway is adjacent or central to a public event, such as the Uptown Art Fair or neighborhood gathering as noted in the article above. When done unobtrusively, such activity is effectively harmless.

On the other end of that spectrum, for a guerrilla group to invade another’s event with the intention of overshadowing the efforts of the actual organizers represents unfair play. Plus, in cases such as the one cited, the invasion has real potential to escalate tensions and impact safety. Since the interlopers have not participated in arranging the event, how can they know whether their activities present real danger or not? They can’t. Continue Reading