Blog

Topic: Advertising
  • Jun11
    TrendyMinds Staff

    When Stupid is Smart

    by TrendyMinds Staff in Advertising, Branding, Public Relations 4 comments

    When I first heard that Chevrolet sent out a memo to its employees announcing that they were forever ditching the term “Chevy” to maintain its brand consistency, my jaw dropped. How could a huge corporation who had the best of available branding consultants, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, do something so stupid? Why on earth would they want to eradicate the nickname “Chevy” which has immediate emotional connections with their customers (the type of deeply rooted connections that every brand dreams of having), and insist on a brand name that doesn’t?

    “Chevy” has been used for about a 100... read on

  • May21
    TrendyMinds Staff

    Buying the milk for free

    by TrendyMinds Staff in Advertising, Branding, Business, Design, Interactive Services, Promotions, Public Relations, Social Media 7 comments

    From Pepsi to Folgers to Doritos to the neighborhood business down the road, corporate decision makers are letting the public call the shots on marketing strategy. They’re asking you – yes, you -- to come up with slogans and taglines, jingles and theme songs, logos and business names, products and flavors.

    Let’s take a behind-the-scenes look at how this crowdsourcing phenomenon was born, shall we?

    Scene: Boardroom. Marketing meeting.

    CEO: Sales are down nationwide for Big Box USA. Consumers aren’t responding to our current promotions. What’s our next move?

    CMO: Well, we have an... read on

  • May13
    TrendyMinds Staff

    When Companies Ignore Branding Guidelines

    by TrendyMinds Staff in Advertising, Branding, Public Relations 5 comments

    Each spring, I always look forward to the first of May for two reasons: summer parties and my annual trip to Churchill Downs for The Oaks and Kentucky Derby. Every year I can count on a fun-filled weekend catching up with old friends who fly-in each year for the occasion, having the traditional mint julep and seeing women in fancy, oversized hats.

    This year's trip to the racetrack was a little different, though. Yum! Brands, the official sponsor of the Derby, decided to do give one of its well-known chains a little makeover for the event. The world's largest restaurant company altered the... read on

  • Apr20
    TrendyMinds Staff

    Psst. Stealth Marketing. Over here.

    by TrendyMinds Staff in Advertising, Promotions, Public Relations 7 comments

    When many think about public relations and marketing, they think of traditional methods – press releases and media placements, brochures and signage or special offers and promotions. While these methods can certainly be effective, they can get a little, well... boring. Yawn.

    So what’s the new trend in strategic communications? A method called stealth marketing is emerging as an exciting (and sometimes controversial) way to get the public’s attention. Marketers are getting sneaky... like a fox.

    Fortune 500 companies are giving stealth marketing a try. BlackBerry <a... read on

  • Mar19
    TrendyMinds Staff

    South by South Wowed

    by TrendyMinds Staff in Advertising, Branding, Business, Design, Interactive Services, Miscellaneous, Promotions, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology 0 comments

    Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference in Austin, Texas with the rest of the TrendyMinds team. I had anticipated five days of learning, networking and inspiration, and my expectations were high. Everyone talks about SXSW as being the best conference the industry offers -- and it isn't often that an industry conference gains an obsessively passionate following.

    But now I get it.

    SXSW was an amazing experience. It was exhausting, to be sure. Sessions run back-to-back from 9:30am to 6:00pm. Your feet are sore and swollen from walking... read on

  • Feb15
    TrendyMinds Staff

    You say Pepsi, I say Pesci

    by TrendyMinds Staff in Advertising, Branding 0 comments

    As I listened to my trusty NPR news station the other day, my meandering mind was caught by an alluring bit of news.  Pepsi had changed its name, in Argentina last year and now in Spain, recognizing that in these countries "Pepsi" is phonetically difficult to pronounce.  Argentines pronounce it "Pesci" (they also pronounce Sprite "Pri"), and in Spain they pronounce it "Pesi."  This problem plays out in a funny commercial

    It struck me as delightfully irreverent.  It also reminded me of being continually offered "Bebsi" by my dear Auntie Nano in Lebanon… not to mention conversations with... read on

  • Feb10
    TrendyMinds Staff

    Everything’s Bigger in Texas… including our brains.

    by TrendyMinds Staff in Advertising, Branding, Business, Design, Interactive Services, Promotions, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology 0 comments

    In just one short month, the TrendyMinds staff will be heading to Austin, Texas for the biggest, baddest industry conference around, the place where everybody who’s anybody in the industry will be -- South by Southwest (or, as the cool kids call it, SXSW). 

    Part nerd prom, part industry conference and part "scene to be seen," SXSW is arguably the most influential industry gathering of its kind. With the big names in the business like Pete Cashmore (Mashable), Evan Williams (Twitter) and Ben Huh (CEO of Pet Holding Inc, which brought the world some of the most viral blog we’ve seen like... read on

  • Feb03
    TrendyMinds Staff

    THINK but not too hard…

    by TrendyMinds Staff in Advertising, Business, Public Relations 1 comment

    Last week, I was asked, "Where do ideas come from?"  Now a left-brain individual would have simply drawn the diagram outlining the creative process:

    • Preparation (Immerse yourself in information)
    • Incubation (Relax and think about anything but the problem at hand)
    • Illumination (The "Ah-Ha" moment)
    • Evaluation (Will this work?)

    This is correct -- congratulations. 

    However, isn't creativity different from person to person? While I agree with the basic model outlined above, there are right and wrong ways to go through this process that are still individualistic. 

    For me,... read on