Brand characters are still alive and kicking. But ads?
In a recent post, I bemoaned the passing of brand characters — like Charlie the Tuna and so on. But it 
seems all that bemoaning was for naught. ‘Cause brand characters are still with us. Like the Brawny Man, whom I savaged in an earlier post.
Do the Sonic guys count as brand characters? They’re certainly characters who tout Sonic as a brand. But do they represent the qualities of Sonic, or the intended audience?
Anyhow, apparently, AdCracker thinks it’s worth thinking about creating a brand character for your next ad campaign. Ad campaign? What’s that? I thought everybody was doing social media instead. Warning: sidetrack ahead!
I was talking with my friend, a brilliant young Web guy, the other night, and we both had recently read articles that said traditional advertising was making a comeback. Seems a lot of companies have tried to “move the merch” (as we hip people say) with social media and found it didn’t work. I commented that most companies don’t know how to do social media effectively. Then my friend astonished me by saying, with a twinkle in his eye, “Aha! But do you know of any social media campaigns that ARE effective?”
This pierced young fellow knows every trick there is on the Web. So I was shocked to hear him say such a thing. It seemed almost sacrilegious. You mean… the emperor has no clothes? If so, that’s going to crush the dreams of all those people making lotsa loot teaching clients how to do social media marketing. And, of course, the clients’.
Okay, what do I know about social media? Only that blogging on your website frequently and relevantly will get you higher Google rankings (unless they’ve changed their criteria yet again). But social media campaigns on Facebook and Twitter that actually sold stuff? I don’t know. I’m eager to hear of some.
Lately, political candidates are jumping on social media like crazy. I can’t tell you how many “friend” invites I’ve gotten from Kansas candidates who either want my money or my vote in the general election. But will it work to get elected? I’m skeptical.
The way Roy Blunt won the primary in Missouri was by old-fashioned political wheeler-dealer tactics and some good ol’ finagling, flim-flamming and back-slapping. He talked several people out of running for certain offices and cleared the road for his own campaign bus to roll to victory.
Blunt on left, ironically.
Unfortunately for our political system, advertising placement in newspapers and magazines has gotten tres cher. So only the established candidates with rich donors can afford to advertise. It perpetuates the tenure of some electees (like Blunt) who ought to be heaved out on their extremist cans.
Oops, I digress. Even from my sidetrack. Sorry. Back to the original subject.
But since we are talking about brand characters here, and politics, what about Michael Steele? Is he the perfect brand character for the national GOP, or what? He doesn’t give a fig for rules or ethics. Whoop-de-doo! Michael is making hay while the sun shines! This guy has violated historic tacit understandings nobody in that job before him would have thought of violating. Like the one that the head of the party isn’t supposed to be running around the country grabbing gunny sacks full of money for public appearances. Let alone publishing a book without letting ANYBODY IN THE PARTY know about it beforehand! He’s sneaky, greedy, underhanded and glib and doesn’t have a clue what the he-double-toothpicks he’s talking about. The perfect GOP brand symbol.
It’s nice to know some outfit still knows how to create one.
