BY: Amy Sharp
I love watching golf. Not necessarily up to ‘not moving from the couch all weekend’ guy standards, but I can definitely kill an afternoon following a tournament. One thing I have noticed over the years is the growing ‘logo fest’ on almost every players apparel. First it was just an additional sponsor to the hat or back of shirt, followed quickly by an additional logo or two on the front of shirt and why not one on the collar? I can just hear the sponsor/agent now, ‘It’ll be in all the closeups!’ I worry that just around the corner are more NASCAR style wins, which involve the winner spending as much time (cue the ‘grab and chug’ sponsor drink) naming/thanking sponsors as discussing play.
The problem with all this (besides the fact that it just seems to barge in on the grace of the game) is a great example of why creatives whine about wanting ‘more white space’. ‘White space’ is the space that allows objects to exist. Take a great portion of that space away, and the audience doesn’t know what they are looking at. Therein lies the battle and the whining begins. No one starts out using all the white space up. As you chip, chip, chip, away at it (no pun intended), before you know it, there is nothing but a sea of clutter to look at. If a sponsor wants the audience to see and remember said logo/partnership, in a sea of logos – what do you think the likelihood of that is?
In the past, Tiger Woods and Nike have handled it perfectly. Nike paid big dollars for exclusivity during play, while other Woods sponsors, Gatorade, Gillette, Tag Heuer, etc. got different pieces of Tiger. Of course that kind of money isn’t always on the table, but even Tiger is in a different situation now. Players need to be more selective about what they allow sponsors to demand of them. Sponsors need to be more innovative in how they take advantage of brand partnerships. If they don’t, they’re just throwing their money away.
BY: Brian Sullivan
I watched a short video today that challenged the viewer to guess the name of a movie based on the icons in the video. The icons morphed from one to another in a very clever way touching a wide range of movies. While movies are not my thing (I have a hard time sitting still that long), I loved the challenge of trying to guess the titles and felt good when I got one or two right.
I believe consumers like it when you challenge them. To be clear, I am not suggesting consumers like to be challenged to a duel or have their comments challenged (think Apple’s response to iPhone 4 complaints), but I am suggesting that consumers like smart communications that challenge them to think (even just a little bit). The goal is to engage them and not just talk to them. And, consumers find it endearing when you give them credit for being intelligent. Of course, there is a time and a place for this type of dialogue with a consumer just as there is a time and a place for “Big Mac $2.99.”
When a brand speaks to their consumers intelligently and treats them with respect, they will earn loyalty. When they can make their audience think just a little bit whether it is a reference to something in pop culture or a simple double entendre, people respond positively to the challenge of figuring it out.
This type of thing happens everyday in conversations around the world from… Andy Roddick referring to spontaneously shaving his head as a “Britney moment” to someone (me) playing the Violent Femmes Blister in the Sun over the company paging system just prior to a beach vacation. Smart communicators know the value of a payoff when the consumer has that “aha” moment which really translates to “they really know me.” Consider a Pepsi spot I did a few years back for an under-the-cap promotion that used the song Twist and Shout as the background, or Gastro One, the new name of the leading GI practice in our region, or the new tagline Live it Up, Just Down the Road for Tunica, MS, a primarily drive-in destination gaming market. All of these create “aha” moments, but in very different, very subtle ways.
So, as you can see, we consider every touch point an opportunity to give our audience credit for being smart, to engage them in a meaningful way and to ultimately gain their trial and resulting loyalty. Of course, social media outlets have become the ultimate way to engage consumers and have a true dialogue. However, it is important to remember that you can’t ignore the other opportunities to engage your audience. Man cannot live by social media alone.
I challenge you to see how many movie titles you can guess and can almost guarantee it will be more than I got. Click the image to view the video.
