Oldsmobile's attempt to distance itself from its un-hip and old man image with the "not your dad's Oldsmobile" campaign failed partly because it was a desperate plea from a suffering brand. Who wants to be associated with such a voice?  On the complete flipside, is the great new campaign from Canadian Club with the tagline "Damn Right Your Dad Drank It" which is ballsy, confident and shows great father/son insight.  When a man is confident of his own path in life, he can look back at his dad's achievements with renewed respect, not a desperation that he wants to be so different. I love this new campaign for that insight and its awesome retro look, and can honestly say that it has caused me to rethink my opinions of Canadian Club.  Kudos to Energy BBBO for coming up with such a great approach.  What other brands have embraced their negative baggage and spun it into a successful repositioning?

Today the Federal Trade Commission issued their much anticipated subpoenas to 44 food and beverage companies to talk about how they advertise to kids.  And here is exactly where my free-market hackles get all in a tizzy.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge proponent of social responsibility in companies, and I think all great brands will  be required to have some kind of accountability for the product  (as the personality or vibe) that they put out into the world.  However, I believe that this will occur because of social and market forces, and not because of government oversight.

And, with this particular issue, can we not blame user error?  I like a good bowl of Frosted Flakes as much as the next girl, but I know when to say when.  I use responsibly.

Is the very existence of Tony the Tiger really the reason why American kids are couch riding, sportsaphobic, corn starch junkies?  Kids were not morbidly chubby in the 60’s and I do believe there were some bubbly animated characters shilling for Ovaltine at the time.  Not to mention, the last time I saw Tony, he had six-pack abs and was coaching a soccer league.  What exactly is our problem with Tony? 

Ok, let’s say that they bump off Tony… Sopranos style… fade to black.  And everything that Kellogg’s produces meets standards of nutrition and is entirely made from prunes.  Do you think Junior is going to suddenly find himself eating from the food pyramid and joining the track team?  No way, he will pour a half cup of white sugar on his vat of Pruney Flakes™ and curl up in front of Sponge Bob just like last Saturday. 

This is not a solution to any problems, it is simply a witch hunt and the food companies will hang their heads and perform their contrition and the blame will be reassigned to the next person in line.  Who will that be?  Certainly not the parents.

When do you sell product tangibles and when do you sell the brand experience? 

As a brand strategist who values both the power to persuade and the power to inspire, I think the answer is always “do both at the same time.”  Recently, I was helping a major food and beverage manufacturer assess some creative that was heavily product-centric.  The result:  A very credible, honest assertion about the product that left consumers saying “o.k… but why should I care?”  I told the client that they should be applauded for an effort to get real amidst a sea of fluffy, unsubstantiated advertising.  But our discovery was that we needed this work to do more than just talk about a product truth. 

Great advertising (and great brands) help consumers link products to a bigger, more visionary and exciting experience.  The truly iconic brands are the “lifestyle” brands… meaning they’ve helped people integrate their products into what they want their lives to be about on a broader level.  So… we’re back to the drawing board.  We’re keeping the honest product truth in the next round.  But this time we’re using it as a spring board to an elevated experience so the product plays a supporting role in what really matters most:  the consumer’s life and how they can get the most out of it!

Here’s a shout out to my agency friends. What does the advertising world look like when all ads are opt-in? When we’ve moved to WiLife and the dumb boxes (aka televisions and the like) no longer rule the roost. We’re moving — quickly — to an age when we can stream any form of media anywhere we want. WiLife will enable “interactive” media to overtake traditional broadcast enabling behavior-based modeling (results) to win the day. What happens when consumers are given the keys to the kingdom and advertising needs to attract an audience? When we move to a world where ads must earn attention via entertainment value, context (fits my life) or temporal requirements (I’m in the market now), or entirely new models of conveying the message. How are you innovating your future to fit with rapidly changing technology?

Or do you see a different story unfolding? Please comment below and share with me the scenarios you see.