"'tis the season for great branding"

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“‘Tis the season for great branding”

Traditionally, the holiday season has been the time for advertisers, especially retailers, to strut their best, most creative stuff and try to capitalize on the peak selling season. The newspaper used to be a showcase of great photography and copywriting. Television spots reached out to your hearts and for a while ignored the price-item frenzy to help put their brand on the top of Santa’s wish list. The postman needed a lift-truck to deliver all the great catalogs and wish-books that we kept on our coffee tables throughout the season. And recently, innovative programs (like OfficeMax’s “elfing” promotion) have put the fun back into the holidays.

I won’t say much about the print ads other than to note that Kohl’s and JCPenney are making a lot of printers and paper mills quite merry this Christmas. Enough already! And how many red catalogues can Macy’s possibly mail with an equal number of 15% discount cards?, As I’ve said before, Sam’s club has the best print out there.

For television, I decided to take a Thursday evening and watch the entire NBC schedule to see what great spots might be out there. I’ve determined that the programming director for the network must be a junior high kid with a warped sense of humor. Advertising-wise, it was just one big disappointment. Target (usually my favorite) missed the mark this year. Best Buy, TJ Maxx, and many others overdid the singing choruses. If you can’t do great creative, make up a parody of a Christmas carol and get a bunch of lip-syncing actors to join in the fun.?

But, once again as it has been for many years, there was a shining exception. I took the time to watch a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie and as always was not disappointed. The movie had a great message and great acting. However, the commercials were the best ever. Not only does Hallmark remind us of why greeting cards are a memorable way to connect to someone we care about, but they also remind us of the holiday traditions (as in ornaments with meaning) that make this such a wonderful time for families. And they didn’t stop there. With a third message at every break, reminding us that Hallmark has been doing it for over 50 years with nostalgic looks back that are real—not contrived. The messages are great for an industry facing more online competition, but they also solidify a great brand that has been consistent in quality and emotional value. When you care enough to send the very best comes alive. And Hallmark does it in their stores, with their products (besides the cards) and with a brand that people love. To view some of them, copy this link to your web browser: and enjoy the best of the season.
http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/article%7C10001%7C10051%7C/HallmarkSite/GoldCrownStores/GCS_COMM

MERRY CHRISTMAS! .



INVITATION: Don’t miss this year’s annual National Retail Federation Convention at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York, January 10-13. Robyn Winters, a “Whole Brain Thinking” expert and I will be introducing our new program – BRAIN BRANDING! This is a new, unique way to increase your market share and develop more customers.
Don’t miss a presentation that take a whole different look at branding. It's at 9:45am on Wednesday, January 13.