A few weeks ago the CEO of VW North America, Stefan Jacoby, attracted a lot of press for his comments made in an interview in the Washington Post. Herr Jacoby explained that his key goal for the brand was to create more mainstream “North America friendly” fleet of cars that honored the different driving experience we have here (vs. Europe). He got a lot of stick after the interview for comments about better cup holders and entertainment systems. Basically VW brand fans were afraid that this vision would lead to a dilution of what they love about VW - i.e. that the brand would become more blah, less unique and less “imported”. I’m one of those people. I only have to look at Saab to see a European brand that’s been denigrated with a more North American approach to design and manufacturing.

Further enhancing my brand snobbery, I came across this set of viral films created by DDB Stockholm, sponsored and supported by VW. No doubt about it, this is the spirit of VW that I like and which draws me to their brand. Lovely idea, well executed, nice message and one which seems in keeping with what I associate with VW (good design ideas for the people). Piano Stairs is my favorite:

While I’m at it, this is my favorite  VW spot from their UK agency DDB London. It’s a couple of years old, but I could watch it over and over. Another perfect example of their brand voice. I’m hoping that with the change in corporate direction and the upcoming change in agency partner, that this voice is never lost.

The consistently good Brand Mix pointed me in the direction of a great article in the New Yorker about the psychology of delayed gratification.  Experiments were conducted with 4 & 5 year old kids where they were given the choice to eat a marshmallow immediately or if they could wait 15 minutes, they could have two.  See this hilarious video example of it in action.  Psychologists stumbled on the theory that those kids who were better at delaying gratification became more successful in later life (as measured by academic and career success, wealth etc..).

It made me consider whether there are brands today that could be considered to be delayed gratification brands? By this I mean brands that increase in value because we have to wait before we get to use them. I found it really hard to generate a list, mainly because we can pretty much have what we want when we want it today. Even a brand like Starbucks with its new VIA coffee ensures that you can have a great cup of coffee even when you’re nowhere near a cafe.

Apart from serious luxury goods, the only things we typically crave but can’t immediately have are either distributed on a limited basis OR have not yet launched (like a new movie not yet in theaters, a new iPhone not yet on the market). Even big ticket items like cars and vacations are easily accessible to anyone with a decent credit rating. What brands these days have created greater value by making their customers delay gratification?

I love the Evian couture bottle program. With the proliferation of bottled water brands that span the market from packaged tap water to luxury designer water, there is a natural comparison between bottled water and fashion.

Fashion sells textiles at extreme markup through design. Doesn’t Voss, Bling2O, Antipodes and other ‘Fine Waters’ do the same thing? Evian is clearly keeping a foot in this trend.

Here are some of the Evian designs so far. The latest one by Paul Smith is definitely my favorite.

I came across the photographer Fred Herzog a few years ago and loved a retrospective of his work shown at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2007. Walking through the airport the other day, I came across this shot, showing a bunch of kids at a corner store and the obligatory retro style ads for Coca-Cola. The one I loved was for 7-up, with the fabulous message “You Like It..It Likes You”. Six words that basically sum up the goal of online brand relationship building. From 1960.

From a business point of view, the last year has essentially been about the economy and what we were once told was the worst recession since the Great Depression. I’ve long held the belief that the depth of recessions are manifestations of our own fears, i.e. we’re told there’s a big recession, so we slow our spending and boy, wow, we’re suddenly in a recession. I’m not discounting all the significant economic indicators, but I believe false pessimism leads to a deeper hole than one we might originally have been in.  So I was interested and chagrined to see this graph, courtesy of the Societé Générale which shows how economists are largely far more optimistic about recessions than the reality.

As James Montier, the author of the report wrote, “when you look at their record, it’s clear that the three blind mice have more credibility”.  A question I’ll pose now and try to answer later is this…if economists can be this wrong about predicting future behavior, how about brands?

The myth of the Kennedy Camelot was perhaps one of the most artfully crafted and executed examples of branding of all time.  With Ted Kennedy’s passing today, we have lost the last thread to the old, whimsical, romanticized vision of the Kennedy name.

And, while Teddy almost single handedly dismantled the brand in his youth, he matured into a steady patriarch who quietly upheld the brand equities throughout his long and lauded career.

It was the Kennedy’s who paved the way for a campaign like Obama’s; hung on symbolism and a vision of idealism, simplified and packaged for popular consumption.

Sadly, it seems that the Kennedy brand has been left to wallow in the inexpert hands of the next generation, as have so many carefully composed luxury brands of the past.

Goodbye Camelot, you were a lovely, sweet dream.

I am fascinated by the uproar about the transfer of the show Project Runway from the uber stylish Bravo to the more, um, subdued Lifetime (it premiered on the new channel last Thursday).  According to the blogs, viewers were sure that the show would not be nearly as good on Lifetime as it was on Bravo.  But while the channel has changed, the format, the hosts and the lingo will remain - so why was everyone so sure it would be bad?  Because the Bravo network has developed an incredible brand around “drama” TV that is so bad it’s great, for young-minded, style-oriented viewers – while Lifetime’s for…well, I don’t really know – women who stay home on Saturday nights?  (Even the name Lifetime sounds old!)  Fans trusted the show coming from Bravo as curator.  I’m inspired by Bravo’s ability to create this “in the know” persona for itself (even the logo suggests people are talking about it!). The most successful channels are brands – and while some are reaping the rewards of brilliantly managing this, those that don’t will be totally “out.”

I’m inspired by my friend Mike’s new renegade promotional efforts to stir up some commotion over his client/friend Rachel Nasvik’s handbag line. Inspired by the book The Pirate’s Dilemma, Mike decided to subvert the New York City street stand piracy game by beating those vendors to the punch.  Using Twitter, he alerted fans when a limited number of genuine Rachel Nasvik bags (normally sold at high end department stores) would be available at those ubiquitous street stands for a discounted amount – then sat back and let the excitement build.   Fans were delighted to be let in on the deal, and Mike strengthened the Rachel Nasvik community by giving loyalists a reason to stay tuned in.  Plus, by accessing an irreverent and fun new “channel,” the brand made a statement about its personality and, I’ll say it, joie de vivre.   Sounds like a brand worth staying in touch with.  More here.

Our Chicago office founder and MD recently turned 39 again, and in honor of his birthday, his loyal troops wanted to find a cool little t-shirt store and print up a customized tee (”39 4Eva”). It’s not too hard in Chicago (or any big city) to find these niche type boutiques, and none really seemed to stand out until they found the T-Shirt Deli.

One thing that inspires us at Egg is finding brands that really pay attention to their story. In order to be able to do that, they have to be obsessive about the details. The T-Shirt Deli’s story is about mimicking the best delis, offering t-shirt aficionados as many fonts as cheeses as well as the promise of something fresh and totally unique.

There are two elements of the story that they deliver so well.  One virtual, one real world.

First their T-Shirts are served up wrapped sugmarine/hoagie/hero style in butcher’s paper with the packaging held together with ironically contradictory stickers like “lean ham and kosher meat”. Great little details that show they care. Second, on their website the navigation looks like an old plastic deli board complete with miscolored letters and their mailing list invitation is a deli “take a ticket” stub. Nice little touches like this make a difference and suggest that if they care enough about these details, then their product will be similarly high quality.

A few weeks back, there I was waxing lyrical about getting a personal note from the pilot on a United flight which made me reconsider my lack of emotional connection with my airline of choice. Shortly after that post I also heard the first rumblings of a story that has gathered massive momentum online since. The popular “United Breaks Guitars” story has been everywhere with almost 4.5 million views on You Tube, coverage on the Today Show, Jimmy Kimmel etc. It certainly makes the United brand look shabby and tight-fisted. In a nutshell, musician Dave Carroll saw United baggage handlers tossing his checked bags around for fun, including his beloved Taylor guitar which was damaged to the tune of $1,200.  The song is about him trying to recoup that money from the airline.

Clearly in this case, the big loser is United - apparently when this story became so big, United’s share price dropped $180 million, a caustic reminder that brand reputation does have a dollar value. Most news coverage on this has focused on the humble Dave Carroll who has been a maestro at playing the social media game, so he’s the obvious winner.  However, in my view, the biggest under the radar winner here is Taylor Guitars - the small Caifornia-based manufacturer of the eponymous guitar. Here’s a brand used by some of the most renowned musicians worldwide (Neil Young, Dave Matthews) and Sting, suddenly sitting on a piece of PR gold. Based on this response, I’ve got to think they didn’t really make the most of the opportunity.

As for United, they’re getting even more stick from other country musicians singing about how awesome their competition is.  Brand damage by country music song is a pretty sorry stage of affairs.

This spot has been getting a lot of play on the advertising blogs lately. It’s an Australian beer ad for VB, which is immensely watchable, even for non-Australians. I’m not a VB drinker and nor will I go out of my way to find it, but the spot created a really positive impression of the brand for me…and really that’s what matters. VB is a massive mainstream beer…effectively the Bud of Australia, with huge appeal to a broad audience. I can imagine the planner sitting down to try to write the “target audience” section of his brief and struggling to find anything really insightful for his creative team. Then, maybe the lightbulb went off that the insight was not about a focused target audience, but more about the brand’s huge everyman appeal. The fact that VB is enjoyed by a huge array of Aussies means that it must have something special about it. The way the spot celebrates this appeal across a range of stereotypes is a great creative leap. It reminds me of the brilliant Bud radio spots years ago celebrating Real American Heroes (all 110 of them here) .

More importantly, it reminds me that while we often strive to focus down to a tight definition of our audience, maybe we should look much more broadly at a larger pool of users and concentrate more on what they need, rather than just who they are.

I’m currently on a research project set across three cities in India. Over dinner with my client Abhijit in Delhi, we got to talking about the interesting dynamics of cell phone adoption in this massive country. The biggest player here is Nokia, who just “got it right” according to Abhijit. I pushed for a reason why and he rattled off a number of smart moves… terrific advertising, a stellar product, and early entry into the market. But what caught my attention was an anecdotal story of how Nokia connected with the working class. Abhijit said a key move was when Nokia won the allegiance of truck drivers (who, believe me, are everywhere in this country!). As Nokia was looking for new and innovative ways to improve their hardware, they stumbled across a deceptively small insight: truck drivers get out of their trucks a dozen or more times in the course of a long night on the road… and it can be really, really dark (you know… that thing that happens when the sun goes down). The answer? Add a little flashlight to the phone. Bingo! Instead of looking for some earth-shaking, never-before-seen feature on the bleeding edge of technology, Nokia went old school and added a light bulb. And just yesterday on my flight from Delhi to Mumbai, the Economic Times of India published the results of its Brand Equity Most Trusted Brands survey. The top brand for 2009 and now two years running? The guys with the light bulbs sparking up — in more ways than one.