The Brand Nubian Queen

BRAND EXTENSION

After a hiatus and a new day job...even yours truly isn't recession-proof. But there is way too much going on in the branding world to ignore.

BET has announced that it is launching a new entertainment and music channel, CENTRIC, by fall of '09. While some of you are doing Toyota jumps, many are also cringing. Okay, leading protest marches is a bit strong--I mean, come on, they've gotten way better...haven't they? Don't answer that.

So they're launching this new channel, big deal say you. What' s most intriguing, at least to me, is the target market audience, which is unusual in this millenial media age. They are no longer seeking the coveted 18-35 market, they are looking at the over 40 age group market, the "sophisticated African American adult market."

Thanks be to new box-office golden boy Tyler Perry and his brand of-family TV comedies and film drama featuring predominately African American characters, finally, more marketing and ads will start recognizing this tarket group.

Glory be. I know I couldn't have been the only person sick of seeing fake Diddy's and choreographed moves in the ads of every new extended brand. iPods, yes, we get it--the 18-35 market. And no, I'm not salty because I've--*sniff, sniff* moved out of this tarket market group a few years ago.

BRAND NEW YEAR

    Finally, the moment many of us (okay, a LOT) of us have been waiting for--a  brand new start. The second half of 2008 brought capitalism to its knees and are keeping us (sadly) dependent on a mortal being to clean this mess up.

    Along with foreclosed homes and job losses, the retail world was also hit particularly hard. We saw the many retail brands fall by the gauntlet of Chapter 11. Not quite out of business but definately made you rethink giving giftcards from those stores for Christmas gifts.

    But some tried and true classic retail brands remained unscathed: pres tell, what is in their DNA? Their knees are a bit bloodied, profits are down significantly but they remain standing. I'm not surprised Wal-Mart's Great Value brand has been the one to see an upsurge.

BRAND WICKETY WACK

I wish someone could tell me what was on the minds of the Subway marketing folks when they hired the mad men/women to create this online ad. "Home of Da Five Dollar Footlongs"???? Were they trying for serious, funny, hip-ness, or all of the above?

They're trying to hit the folks low in cash for the $5 footlong subs. So...just who makes up the demographic of these folks low in cash...??? Oh, that question is not for you, reader; its for Jeff Moody — CEO of the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust and the genius (read: stupid) ad agency MMB. Yep, thanks Flavor Flav for allowing minstrel, pimps, thugs, and blinged out hood richness to come back into advertising! Hold your jewel encrusted goblet high on that one! Actually, thanks for nothing because it really never left.

Gee, I'm low on cash and I'd get a $5 footlong sandwich anyday--could this ad be just for little ole' me?

The announcement of the $5 campaign was ENOUGH. We got it. $5. Footlong. And that annoying jingle on the TV commercials. Folks are runnin' to this franchise fake-me-out-deli--to lower the price of a foot long sandwiche to $5 bucks is smart, look at our tanking economy--why be dumb and put out an insulting online ad?

After such an amazing campaign with Jared (whom I guess will just continue to be the brand ambassador), why in the world would they go for this cheap, uber-stereotypical attempt. So many ways they could have gone with an online ad--I would have even gone with anything that goes with their brand name--like the R Train, or the D Train or THE A TRAIN--DUH, A SUBWAY--before I came up with this wickety wackness. Look at the bling in Abe's ear. Tsk, tsk, Subway. Your high ad dollars and low thoughts of your target market are showing big time.

BRAND IN BLACK

                     

                                                       

There comes a time in corporate branding life, where a myth of urban legend actually becomes the thing of possibility.

Hence, the American Express Black Card. And yes, you can Snopes me on that one.

It is known on paper as The Amex Centurion Card, but known in the elite class echelon simply as The Black Card. So Amex has a card, dipped in black with a high credit limit. So what, say you the consumer?

Well, here's the fun part: it's the fact that you even know about it at all. Because you're really not supposed to know.

Shrouded in secrecy, The Black Card is a rare-issued, all exclusive, American Express card issued only to the super wealthy of the world, or basically, those with money to burn. It is beyond Platinum. Credit limit? Their isn't one. Yes, you read correctly, no typo--it's UNLIMITED. In fact, to receive one at all, you have to...well, you have to be...invited. It's not even advertised as a product on their site. You can't just apply. Apparently, when do you receive one, it is brought to your home with a security guard. Goes back to the old "don't call us, we'll call you." Or, "if you have to ask, you can't afford it."

What's brilliant about Amex's product is that it really DID start out as an urban legend. There was a lot of squawking in the 80's about certain high-end people getting a certain high-end card where they were allowed to have anything they wanted just by waving the card in the face of the stunned concierge. But it wasn't even true, until Amex took the idea and ran with in the late 90's, and created...ta da...The Centurion Card...The Black Card.

This is a luxury product from a global brand relying strictly on no print ads, no televised ads, nuttin'--simply word-of-mouth marketing. A classic example of un-marketing.

And apparently--you can get anything you want with the wave of this card. Check out some of the free gifts you receive as a member...or should I say, a members only?

BRAND GREED

I watched CNBC all last week, more than I'd ever watched it before. I watched the metamorphosis of several financial brands go from "long-standing" "traditional" "prudence" "reliability". The moniker of "trust" that was once associated with brands like Lehman-Brothers, AIG went down the toilet (with WaMu, Merrill Lynch and other old-money-name sounding financial brands closely behind). I watched and listen to the blame game: Republican lawmakers and conservative financial analysts pointing fingers at the Dems and slapping the wrists of corporation heads by saying, well, this is the fallout of good, solid corporations trying to get into the subrime mortgage game and lending to non credit worthy consumers who default on their mortgage loans (true). I watched the Dems wag their fingers right back and say: Did you take a gander at the bonuses for the CEOs for some of these same financial corps even when they knew the subprime industry was going downhill? (Uh...also true.) Now ex-AIG CEO is refusing a $22 million dollar payout. That would be most prudent at this juncture.

I watched and watched...like an episode of a juicy, pathetic soap opera. With my eyes wide shut.

BRAND BEN THE CHAIRMAN

                                                                       

As I was driving northbound on York Road (in Baltimore) I saw a billboard that completely confused me. In the background of the billboard were rows of smaller tiled pictures of the Uncle Ben face from the Uncle Ben Rice brand, and in the middle was a larger than life picture of just Uncle Ben's face--no ring around it, no red background (like the pic above) no orange background around the frame, no logo promise, just his face. It was...a little eerie.

Now I've seen this with magazines covers--the face of an entertainer staring back at you, like on Time Magazine or even Ebony, no caption, no teaser, the strength of the image stands on its own merit. Like Barack Obama and Joe Biden on the cover of Newsweek two weeks ago (yes, I know, and so was McCain and Palin...er, what?? You're breaking up...sorry, can't hear you anymore...) many brands will even feature just the brand design, logo or symbol itself on an ad, like Nike's Swoosh or a Susan Komen pink ribbon.

But seriously...uh, Uncle Ben? 90-second rice leading a revolution or somethin'?

Okay, now if this was a ploy on the part of the elusive Masterfoods/Mars Inc. to lure me to their website to check out Uncle Ben, then they definitely did that part well because that's exactly what I did.

This was an ad campaign that actually began last year and was called out by the NY Times. So if you haven't seen the makeover on the website yet, prepare to be entertained.

Umm...how can I put this to you lightly? Well, it appears Uncle Ben has been upgraded. Uncle Ben is no longer your friendly butler/domestic/waiter with the bow tie, he is now the chairman of the board. He wants you come in and sit down in his mahogany desk and his black leather swivel upholstered chair. He wants you to peruse the pages of his recipe book and feel all nostalgic like as you read about the history of the Uncle Ben brand.

But here's the funny part: the brand image is still the same. Same looking-to-glory smile on his face, same bow tie, same Uncle Ben. I was quite aghast to find out how much the ad agency, TBWA/Chia/Day spent on this campaign--a whopping $20 MILLION DOLLARS!!!

Could you imagine if Spike DDB had of landed this account?

Who is Mars Inc. fooling with this?

I feel like the damage with Uncle Ben brand image has already been done. It's too little, too late. Black folks from generations back already know the story of how the recipe was snatched from a black Texas farmer by a wealthy white food broker, who had dinner with a biz partner, saw the face of the matre d'hotel and said: "Eureka! We've got our Uncle Ben!" They probably couldn't use the farmer because he just didn't have that smiling, ready to please look. This smells like a re-branding disaster. And Check out the well-written post by anti-racism activist and blogger Carmen Van Kerckhove from last year.

 

BRAND DIVAS

                            

There are tons of books out about starting your business, how to effectively create your brand, how to reinvent yourself, yada, yada, yada. And not many TV talk shows can do this--yet the exception is The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC. His show manages to motivate, inspire and give you tons of info within the span of an hour every night.

The August 11 show was all about capitalizing on your brand and defining your brand. The guests were "supermodel turned supermogul" Kathy Ireland of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, Inc., Richard Notar, managing partner of Japanese restaurant cuisine, Nobu, Jeffrey Taylor, founder of Monster.com and Eons.com, and--what a treat--B.Smith, of B.Smith Enterprises.

I love Ms. Smith. I think she runs circles around all the other lifestyle-show goddesses. Thank God for her show on TV ONE because where else would you see a gorgeous over-forty Black woman WITH LOCS giving you recipies, entertaining, dining and craft ideas?? From a former model (like Ireland) who is already a successful restaurateur? She gave great advice on the show to a man with a startup company asking how he could reach multiple target audiences with one brand. Her advice was simple: focus on one area of the brand first, then extend.

And then they had the nerve, the audacity, the utter gall to feature yet another gorgeous over-forty Black woman WITH LOCS. (Yes, I'm really feelin' the bookers and producers over at The Big Idea right about now) She's one of my favorite voices and probably one of the most talented women in the entertainment business who has been doing this from way-back, Siedah Garrett.

Siedah Garrett has more than held her own singing side by side Michael Jackson on "I Just Can't Stop Lovin' You" and co-writing one of his biggest #1 hits, "Man in the Mirror." And you can't forget about the Dennis Edwards duet, "Don't Look Any Further." To list the other hit songs she has written and who she has written for would be a block long list (of course I can't resist to name drop a few: Madonna, Quincy Jones, Chaka Khan and she was recently nominated for an Oscar for the Dreamgirls hit: "I Love You, I Do.") She even did a stint as the frontwoman for Brit band Brand New Heavies (after N'Dea Davenport). I still play her song "Everchanging Times" around the house, when I'm in one of my adult contempo/80's soft rock moods and my five-year-old daughter loves that song.

So I also love Ms. Garrett, and not just because her strong voice can nab five-year-old fans. But here's why: she was a guest on The Big Idea--not giving advice, but asking for advice. She's designing her own line of   handbags and asked the branding experts how she can re-brand herself, as an award-winning singing/songwriting/producing career with her new passion for making handbags and purses? Kathy Ireland gave her a smart, direct answer which also leaned toward extension: go hard and use that triple-threat asset--don't think re-branding, think more of brand extension and work, work, work the media and get your name out there. Siedah mentioned she's got celebs already booking orders and being seen with her bags: Oprah, to name just a few. And she's gotten press in O the Oprah Magazine.

Uh, enough said, right? Yeah, we'll be seeing Siedah Garrett designer handbags in Barney's New York by Christmas. Bet.

Photo credits: discoverblackheritage.com (B.Smith pic) and Brad Barket/Getty Images North America (Garrett)