If everyone in the world based all of their purchase decisions purely on price:

DRINK CATEGORY
1. RC Cola would be in the majority of soda dispensers
2. My father switches his COORS beer for a Pabst Blue Ribbon

BEAUTY CATEGORY
1. 2 in 1 Shampoo and Conditioner is found in most showers
2. People realize shaving products such as wild berry scented shaving gel are unnecessary

CAR CATEGORY
1. The Kia Sephia makes its big comeback
2. The Geo Metro gets re introduced as Kia Sephia's main competition

TECHNOLOGY
1. Acer laptops would be the most requested graduation gift
2. Dial up internet is still slow but now worth it

FOOD
1. Ramen outsells Barilla
2. Jello gelatin becomes America's most popular desert again

PETS
1. Beta fish are more popular than buying a puppy
2. Chia pets become a good substitute for a real pet

IN THIS TYPE OF WORLD:
Products would be the brand itself and the brand names are irrelevant and forgettable
Example: "You have to go check out those neon flip flops they have at the dollar tree."

FORTUNATELY:
People will always desire and feel the need to purchase "the good things in life"

This advertising agency is disguised as brands.

Advertising Age Chia Pet Article

Grand brands are not deceptive

I went to target the other day and was craving something sweet. I came across little debbie 100 calorie triple fudge brownies. This is what the packaging looked like:


I opened the box in the car and I laughed uncontrollably outloud. The product was so small and deceptive it was laughable. In fact, the product shot on the box was bigger than the actual product. The box also shows three brownies. They failed to mention 100 calories was only for one brownie the size of my thumb.

I looked up consumer reviews on this product and this is what the people had to say:

Hungry Girl blog: " The world's smallest fudge brownie. With tiny stripes. In an itty bitty plastic bag. It is laughably tiny. Really, REALLY tiny. Almost a joke. And it's fiber-free. Bummer. Even though this brownie tastes pretty good, it's hard to justify spending 100 calories and 4g fat on something so depressingly small."


Associated Content: "Not only are these brownies small, they are very flat and really, there is not much to this snack. These brownies were a disappointment to me. These brownies are too small. Period. Don't let the name fool you."

And those above reviews were just a few of the many angry consumer reviews I found.

Brands should use impulse buys to jump over one of the major hurdles of brands: getting the consumer to try your product. It is not effective for brands to get consumers at an impulse buy and then disregard them. This is detrimental for revenue because it eliminates repeat customers.


Brands more and more these days are trying to adapt to consumer trends instead of being true to what their brand stands for. If a brand does extremely well at making fattening brownies, then that is where they should put most of their efforts.

Little Debbie's brand promise is unwrap a smile. Unfortunately I unwrapped a hatered for the brand.

Great Brands have their own video game.

The Obama video game:


http://superobamaworld.com/

Package Design

This is an article I absolutely love. I came across it on notcot.com while researching for a current package design project. It is relevant to both brand managers and consumers. This link also reminds me of my awesome find at my favorite store (For the Love of Chocolate) in Richmond. I found a single serving nutella package that was just as much appealing as a great business building idea. I was interested in what other packaging nutella does. I found some interesting ways they repackaged the same product over and over again to keep their consumers hooked on the stuff. It isn't always product innovation that keeps consumers interested. Sometimes what keeps them interested is the way the brand packages themselves. This can not work for all brands, but Nutella seems to pull it off pretty well.


Powerful Packaging Design Link

Nutella single serving with spatchela from For the Love of Chocolate

Publish Post

When is it okay to change your logo?

When your brand has such a negative stigma, it can't hurt to change the logo.

If a company is truly trying to change their image, they should take some risks. It would be risky to not change every aspect of their new branding effort. If the brand loyal consumers are truly loyal, they will stick to the brand no matter what font type they use.

Walmart recently just changed their logo from a boxy font to a more feminine looking one. They are also changing the color of the font from a harsh blue to a soft blue. When The Martin Agency gained the Walmart account, they added an emotional aspect to the brand over a purely economical approach. They also did away with the dark blue spiky star in the logo. They replaced this with a soft yellow cheerful sun. Does this now mean that Walmart will make your day more cheerful because you saved a few bucks on your family?

If you could actually feel and touch the new logos, would you rather touch the spiky dark blue star or the soft yellow cheerful sun? Maybe this will pull in some new customers to the store after all. After a few months of this logo transformation it will be interesting to see if their sales and perception increase. The next step is for Microsoft Word to update their spell check option from Wal-Mart to Walmart.

A twist on insights

I believe that the role of a strategic planner is to make the ordinary into extraordinary. Really good insights do just that.

Here are some insights:




***Non-branded art: Filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns



***Non- branded art: Cappuccino Art

***Duck Tape: Stuck at prom - Duct brand duct tape scholarship contest

***Toyota: Banana leaf print advertisement

***Honda: Plant this letter direct mail piece

"This is the best hamburger I've had in a long time." -Leo Pike

There is a burger and hot dog chain restaurant in Richmond, Va that I think is an interesting brand. All of their food is apparently "famous". While "famous" might not be an added value they sure live up to their brand promise. Their hamburgers and hot dogs are made with high quality meat, which makes them taste like real meat. My friend Tristan and I were discussing what kind of restaurant we think Five Guys is classified as. Is it fast food? We knew the food was fast, but to us the connotation fast food meant something less. Also this so-called "fast food"/restaurant/chain/outstanding place adds a lot of extra value to their products for their customers. They provide an array of free toppings, which includes: grilled mushrooms, grilled onions, etc.. If this is a fast food chain joint, then why are they offering so many toppings for free? Isn't that the essence of a chain restaurant?

When the customer orders fries they put the fries in a cup in their brown paper bag. They then take the french fry scooper and dump another serving of fries into the brown paper bag. This makes the customer think that they are getting more bang for their buck. Tristan also thinks the grease that appears on the outside of the brown paper bag is added value. I agree with that disturbing pleasure. The whole point of this post is an opportunity that I think some brands are missing out on. I predict that in the future more brands will understand how small added values can add up to create a big impact in their consumers' minds.

My Brand Book

The next generation of art directors

Elephant painting an elephant

In the spirit of internship season

google is cool, BUT ChaCha is cooler

In my creative brand management class I am working on a semester long white paper project on the future of online retailing. While researching this topic I came across what I believe to be the future of the online search engine. ChaCha is the human search engine. It is the only search engine of its kind. I like to call it my personal search secretary. A live person (guide) does the searching for me. I can also chat with the live guide to help them understand exactly what I am looking for. These two-way conversations are the key to searching success. Instead of consumers talking to the brand, the brand needs to talk back. The results come out much more specific than a google search would. Another great thing about this website is that it automatically saves my searches for up to 60 days. I can't remember how many times I wish I could have gone back to previous searches.

Thank you ChaCha for making my life a whole lot easier!

Oh yeah..did I forget to mention this service is free?

Let me introduce myself. My name is Meagan.

Welcome to my amazing blog!

I know that yall are just dying to read everything that's in my brain (just kidding). I promise I won't write anything boring (except for this intro).

I'm a 1st year creative brand manager masters candidate at The VCU Brandcenter. The Brandcenter is an awe inspiring experience. I feel extremely lucky for the opportunity to dig deeply into some of the world's most powerful brands.

I grew up in the most diverse cultured city in the World: New Orleans, Louisiana. I then pursued an advertising undergraduate degree at The University of Alabama. I enjoy painting with my friends, cheesy reality tv shows, cheese, golfing, fishing, watching stupid youtube videos for hours on end (talking dogs, yatta, Leprechaun in Mobile, Frankie & Johnnie's Furniture), advertising, planet earth marathons, dancing, and listening to New Orleans brass bands.

Oh yeah.. when I was little I aspired to be a jingle writer.