Lately, it's been crunch time for me... literally. When I have a ton of deliverables I'm stressing about working on it helps to have hard candy to gnaw on. Today was of the chocolate persuasion & a kind soul gifted me with some peanut M&M's, which usually I love.
Although it seems these particular M&M's were Indiana Jones-themed in some pretty horrific colors of baby poop, dark brown, and a few accent red & yellows. Who wants baby poop and dark brown M&M's? I mean, a few browns mixed in with bright bold orange, green, red & blues is okay. But this is going too far. I'm a visual person. Part of the fun of eating this particular bent of chocolately goodness is the happy colors.
Someone in product development needed to pull aside the brand manager and say, "Psst--Seriously? Do these look yummy to you?"
Some brands are just not meant to be extended into some channels. I recently read Sears is teaming up with MTV to attract teens. Will this make MTV more or less cool?
Likewise, who you align with also needs to be a fit. If it's not enhancing your core, don't do it just because it's possible.
Just found your blog through Triiibes... looking forward to following you. I think we share a lot of similar interests.
Posted by: Jenni Catron | August 15, 2008 at 07:54 AM
Just found your blog through Triiibes... looking forward to following you. I think we share a lot of similar interests.
Posted by: Jenni Catron | August 15, 2008 at 07:53 AM
Excellent thoughts. The Sears-MTV combo is just humorous to me.
Just because it's cool and available does not mean you should pursue it. You run the risk of adding confusion to your brand.
Posted by: Andrew Weaver | August 07, 2008 at 09:24 PM
The last sentence in this post about MTV aligning with Sears ... it’s pretty much true. Kind of agonizingly true, the more I think of how MTV will inevitably lose more than they gain and how Sears will consume fruitless energy both trying to embrace and then distance themselves once MTV ... oh, sorry - just realized that I'm writing about a multi-site church experience that featured a naive attempt at aligning a downtown, established church (reliability of a Kenmore) and a second campus striving to be culturally relevant and missional (confidence of Exzibit, wisdom of Carson Daly). Is the union possible? Sure, but I'd rather have diet Coke and Mentos collide in my lunchbox. Lots of fizz, a burst of sugary bliss, followed by a huge mess to clean up - only soda and candy won't set you back the capital, and people aren't asked to be who they aren't.
I will add, respectfully, the major difference here is that everybody, even Sears people, know that Sears is sucking wind.
Posted by: Cavett Binion | July 30, 2008 at 02:06 PM
"I recently read Sears is teaming up with MTV to attract teens. Will this make MTV more or less cool?"
Not sure what it will do to MTV... but I do know that it won't make Sears cool. Frankly, they shouldn't try.
Posted by: Kirk Longhofer | July 18, 2008 at 05:20 PM