A Bad Case of App Envy
I have bone to pick about apps. With the launch of the iPhone and now the iPad, apps have become big business and many large brands have created apps to enhance engagement with its products. The world has gone app crazy – or so it appears.
Here’s my problem. In North America, approximately 9 million Americans have an iPhone while Blackberry has nearly 15 million users. So, WHY are apps for the iPhone significantly outnumber the number for BlackBerry. Us BlackBerry users still want to be able access Rolling Stone’s concert vault, hold up fake lighters, look at maps of foreign countries and anything else that apps can help me do.
Come on developers. Don’t forget about the BlackBerry users. We need fancy apps to pass the time in line and at stop lights too.
The Celebrity Fragrance Phenomenon
The last few years have certainly seen an upsurge of celebrity endorsed perfumes. Similar to last Christmas but even more imminent, the perfume counters this past Christmas season are featuring the latest and greatest releases by Paris Hilton, Faith Hill and Usher. In the early 90s when Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds was released, celebrity fragrances were few and far between. Today, celebrities are using their names as brands and consumers are buying into the idea (literally)! Perfume producers are targeting an existing consumer audience comprised of celebrity fans. Celebrities’ status in society supports this high-end image that consumers strive to impersonate. With the release of numerous new celebrity clothing lines and shoe collections, consumers feel like they can relate to their favorite artists and actors. Now they’re purchasing the toiletries to match. Do the celebrities themselves even have influence on these scents? If so, the question becomes, who do you want to smell like? More importantly, are celebrities really wearing their name brand scents? And if not, why are consumers?
Contributed by: Ashley Popham
Carnival Introduces FunHub
Carnival Cruise Lines debuts its Dream ship this fall with a 12 day Grand Mediterranean Cruise departing from Rome. Onboard this grand ship will be the company's latest innovation, dubbed the FunHub, a comprehensive shipboard intranet portal featuring the cruise industry’s first on-board social network. The portal provides access to a wide variety of information on the ship’s services, facilities and daily activities. FunHub will allow guests to create online profiles, meet and interact with other guests, send and receive messages, check menus and weather reports, and more. Available free of charge 24 hours a day, the FunHub will serve as a resource to keep guests connected to everything related to their cruise experience.
Check out more on the Dream ship featuring the new FunHub portal here.
Did slot miss their shot?
Remember mixed tapes? The old school cassettes made for friends containing your favorite songs, with clever titles such as "Road Trip Mix 91"?
Fast forward 20+ years and enter slotRadio. From the looks of their advertising, the new music player + music card is targeting moms ... busy moms in particular (although really, what mom today ISN'T busy?). I fall into this category, and it seriously took reading the ad several times plus a visit to their website to help me understand exactly WHAT they were selling. Is slotRadio a music player? Actual music? A big idea?
It's really all three. slotRadio is a music player, with special "pre-filled" cards loaded up with music from specific categories. For example, I can choose a card with 1000 country-specific songs ready to play in my slotRadio player. Or a health and fitness card that has seven playlists created with specific activities in mind (cardio, cooldown, yoga, etc.). Great concept. Appropriate target. So what's the problem?
The name. slotRadio. Sure it's descriptive. Yes, it's functional. But this is a category definer. No other manufacturer has a product like this. Imagine if Procter & Gamble had chosen to use "Dust-Trapping-Cloth-on-a-Stick" for their inventive product in 1999.
To make things even more confusing, the pre-loaded cards are branded slotRadio, as is the player. But the slotRadio card can actually be played on the Sansa Fuze and the Sansa Clip+. Seems to me a better option would have been to name the player slotRadio, and give the card (new, unique, different) a (new, unique, different) name.
Apple defined the personal music category with the iPod. Now SanDisk has a chance to redefine the playlist. Unfortunately I think the choice of name leaves the door wide open for a second player to come in and dominate with a more original brand name.
Theravance and Astellas Announce FDA Approval of VIBATIV(TM) (telavancin)
Vibativ was recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections.
"We are very pleased with the FDA's approval of VIBATIV, and extremely excited about the prospect of bringing this new medicine to the market," said Rick E Winningham, Theravance's Chief Executive Officer. "This is a significant event that marks the first approved indication for VIBATIV and validates Theravance's strategies in drug discovery and development. We believe that VIBATIV will become an important medicine addressing the urgent medical need for new antibiotics to treat Gram-positive infections caused by MRSA."
Mommy, Mommy!
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Recently entering the world of children’s toys is a new doll that can walk the walk and talk the talk. Fisher-Price recently introduced Little Mommy: Walk & Giggle Doll. Equipped with the latest technology, this amazing doll can talk, walk, and stand up all by herself. According to a Senior Engineer at Mattel, the technology used to power this little play toy machine is similar to the resources used to power the Apple IIe.
Your little girl comes prepared to say up to 60 different phrases including “I’m tired,” or “help me, momma.” You can love your own Little Mommy: Walk & Giggle Doll for between Read more
Vanity Fair Discusses Personal Branding
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A recent article in Vanity Fair Magazine by contributing author, James Walcott, titled, What’s a Culture Snob to Do?, discusses the current dilemma facing Culture Snobs caused by the pervasive effects of technology. In our society today, many people personally brand themselves by the material possessions they own. The book you read proudly while riding on the bus; the CD collection waiting to be perused by the next passenger that hops into your car; and the DVD collection that is displayed on the shelves in your home waiting to be fawned over by the next house guest, are all outwards displays of your inner being. Whether or not you would like to admit it, our society is quick to make snap judgments about a person’s character based upon the book titles seen in the arms of their readers. This judgment serves as a bit of a Read more
Brand Your Bugs
As consumers are looking for more natural solutions to implement within their lives and specifically within their healthcare choices, probiotics are emerging as a hot new trend. Probiotics (translated as "for life") refers to the "good" bacteria that are included in dietary supplements or food products.
This "good" bacteria found in our adult bodies has been shown to assist with digestion, produce vitamins, regulate the immune system, and help the body stave off the "bad" bacteria. The dominant population consists of strict anaerobic bacteria: Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Eubacterium and Peptostreptoccocus.
Consumer companies are getting into the bug business by branding and marketing specific strains of this good bacteria as an ingredient brand in their yogurts, juices and supplements.
Take a look at some current offerings:
- Align has a new presence in the media by touting its "Bifantis," which is a neologism that truncates the scientific name of the bacteria: Bifidobacterium infantis 35624.
- Activia has been on the market for several years and recently utilized Jamie Lee Curtis as the "Activia Lady." Their primary ingredient is "Bifidus Regularis" from the Bifidobacterium animalis DN-173 010 strain.
- NakedJuice bypasses the direct reference to bacteria altogether and uses simply "Probiotics" on this product within their lineup. It's interesting that they refer to probiotics as the "friendly, live active cultures."
- Attune Foods offers two probiotics bars, and takes it a step further by reinforcing the idea of a daily nutritional value with "daily probiotics."
- Bio-K+ utilizes a strictly scientific approach, through both their core brand name and the product names. CL1285, available in capsule, fermented milk, and dairy free forms, is a bacterial probiotic culture containing the unique and patented formula of L. acidophilus and L. casei.
- Finally, check out GoodBelly Yogurt & Juice. These products use the mark "Lp299v," which refers to Lactobacillus plantarum 299v. No emotional benefits present in this ingredient name; the company uses their core brand to communicate the end result of the product.
What do you think? Does branding bacteria with an emotional name versus a scientific one make you more inclined to try a probiotic product?
Ode to the Blue Shirt
To some, Billy Mays was just a loud, blue-shirt-wearing pitch man used to sell products you didn’t know you really needed. To others, like every-day inventors, Billy helped dreams of success and fortune come true.
Billy started his career as a travelling salesman crossing the country pitching household items like the Ultimate Chopper at tradeshows and fairs. In 1999, he got his big break selling OrangeGlo on the Home Shopping Network. What followed included dramatic success with products like OxyClean, Mighty Putty and the Awesome Auger.
The TV show, “Pitchmen” humanized him and showed Billy as not only a sales person, but a savvy marketer and loving family man. What becomes glaringly apparent while watching the show is that it’s Billy’s personal brand that inventors are drawn to to realize their dreams. While building brands like OxyClean, he was creating his own brand standing for trust, quality and value.
It’s a success story built one commercial at a time…“As Seen on TV.”
Technology Brands Help Edge Out the Competition
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Addison Whitney has two new names and logos to add to its portfolio in the running world: StabilicoreTM, which is a technology brand for New Balance shoes, and Aceba, a Dry Lubricant used in Asics Chafe FreeTM products.
For those who think that Nike is supreme when it comes to athletic footwear, runners will tell you a different story. Runners are very loyal to brands that work, and Asics and New Balance have emerged as trusted names for those who hit the pavement every day.
A quick poll of AW’s running group, “Brand, Sweat and Tears”, revealed the following insights about running brands:
- “I am more loyal to technologies than I am to master brands”
- “I don’t care if it’s popular- I care if it has got the specifics that I need! (e.g. high-arch support)”
- “If I find a technology that works for me, I am more likely to buy other items from that brand (the shoes fit, why not buy the matching shorts and tank!)”