How Hello Kitty got her paws all over the worldJapan’s favourite feline, Hello Kitty, is celebrating her 35th birthday. The LA Times looks at how one cool cat went from a cute Japanese decal to a global phenom, complete with a theme park, TV series and restaurant.
Branding
Pink bits: the absurd world of gendered consumer products
Marketers have never abandoned the idea that men and women require their own ‘special’ products. Women’s products are often tinted pink and advertised with cuddly names and breathy female voiceovers. Insulting much?
Kellogg fights fake corn flakes — with lasers!
Cereal king Kellogg has decided to tackle the pressing issue of imitation corn flakes by using lasers to brand its authentic flakes with the company’s signature logo. Take that, black market breakfast cereals!
Is iSnack 2.0 a marketing success?
Will Kraft’s engagement experiment with Vegemite and the #vegefail iSnack 2.0 name ultimately be a huge winner or a huge loser for the brand? Tactical TV’s Tony Richardson investigates.
The fresh battle of the apples
It’s the tech gods vs. the fresh food people as Apple challenges Woolworths new logo, which is either an apple or a stylised ‘W’, depending who you ask. But are Woolies and Apple really rivals?
How to pause bad web publicity
Something stupid happens at work and suddenly customers are tweeting and making YouTube videos about how awful your company is. How can you fight back when you’re trashed on the web?
Garbage in a designer box? Sold!
Further proof of the ‘people will buy anything as long as it’s in pretty packaging’ theory, a NY artist has been selling actual rubbish in a classy clear cube. Over 1,200 have been sold.
VIDEO: Incredible, amazing, awesome Apple
Pride in your product is important for any business, but Apple’s bosses seem to not only have drunk their own Kool-Aid, they’re mainlining it on an IV drip. A montage of the company’s recent keynote address. See if you can pick up on a theme.
The world’s most valuable brands
Interbrand has released its annual report [PDF] on the world’s most valuable brands. Coke came in at number one for the ninth time running, while Google and Amazon have shot up the list.
QUIZ: What product doesn’t Martha Stewart spruik?
Some celebs are happy to put their name on anything to make a buck, and lifestyle queen Martha Stewart is a great example. Is there a Martha Stewart vintage wine? Take the quiz!
Your ABC offers lessons on Branding Content 101
The upcoming Screen Producers Association of Australia conference is devoting an entire day to ‘Branded Entertainment’. Some of the potential partners you can network with are from Telstra Media, Ninemsm and … the ABC.
The A-B-C of parent advertising: Always Bright Colours
Advertising aimed at parents revolves primarily around cutesy cartoon images, like Winnie the Pooh on nappies. Why do marketers assume that having a child makes parents become infantile too?
What’s in a name? Money, say universities
By changing a course name from “German Literature of the High Middle Ages’’ to “Knights, Castles, and Dragons’’, Boston College nearly tripled enrollment. Catchy course names are becoming an important business strategy for unis.
Get of a whiff of perfume names that stink
Most companies realise the importance of a name and branding, but every so often some odd ones slip through the cracks. Here’s a list of the 12 worst perfume names, including ‘Insolence’. Mmmm, the smell of rudeness!
MasterChef set to be spoiled by sponsors
It was nice while it lasted: the forthcoming series of Celebrity MasterChef Australia will give its sponsors — including McDonald’s, Harvey Norman and Coles — “tailored on-air” integration, meaning more spruiking and less sauteing.
IKEA farewells Futura
After 50 years of marrying all its marketing to its own iconic version of the Futura typeface, IKEA has suddenly switched to web-standard font Verdana. Although it will allow them greater consistency around the world, does it come at the expense of the company’s unique branding?
Should BMW sell ketchup?
Researchers have found that consumers will happily embrace luxury brand names on products that have no logical connection with the brand’s core item. Could making their own mayonnaise, wine or dishwashers be a way for high-end brands like BMW and Cartier to weather the GFC storm?
Branding Australian cities: pride of place or pointless PR?
Big news in Melbourne today: Mayor Robert Doyle has spent $240,000 on a new logo for the city. But is it any good? We compare and contrast with other city brands from around this wide brown land.
Very disturbing vintage ads: into the minds of mad men
What do murder, pedophilia, suicide and a baby tiger have in common? They’ve all starred in these amazingly disturbing vintage ads!
