Rebranding a Landmark — Chicago’s Sears Tower is No More
July 22, 2009
It’s not everyday that a national landmark is rebranded, but in the U.S. where everything and anything has a price tag, that’s exactly what happened last week when the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois became the Willis Tower. The new name comes from Willis Group Holdings, an insurance company headquartered in London that is leasing space in the Sears Tower (according to the BBC, Sears vacated the building in 1992 but the name has remained until now).
It’s always difficult for people to accept the rebranding of a landmark. Even sports stadiums that are rebranded when a new company becomes the primary sponsor can be a difficult transition for consumers to accept. However, in time, most of the rebranding backlash typically subsides as consumers lose their attachment to the previous brand name. Truth be told, as far as venue branding goes, the brand name usually has very little to do with the experiences that happen inside of the building. When it comes to stadiums and arenas, the same teams still play inside and the same types of music and entertainment groups still visit for performances. The only thing that really changes is the name outside the building. In other words, companies try to brand well-known buildings, stadiums, etc. to keep their brands top of mind, but the branding efforts typically lose their effectiveness over time.
My guess is that the rebranding of the Sears Tower in Chicago will leave many people upset and longing for better times in general — and better times in the past included the Sears Tower, not the Willis Tower. Ultimately though, this too shall pass, and the Willis Tower will continue to exist. Will people start referring to the Sears Tower as the Willis Tower anytime soon? It’s unlikely because the building is ingrained in our lives as the Sears Tower. It’s a habit that Willis Group Holdings needs to try to break if they want to benefit from the rebranding in the short term, and consumer habits are hard to break.
I also think that the transition would be easier and would happen faster if a well-known, popular brand had purchased naming rights to the Sears Tower. When an unknown brand enters the picture and takes over, consumers are highly likely to resist. Again, it goes back to the comfort and security issues that are innate for most consumers.
What do you think?
Image: Flickr
Catching Up with the Cloud
July 21, 2009
After noting (in a previous post) that the Wall Street Journal seems a bit late to comment on social media recruiting, I was surprised again the very same day by a story on the PBS program Newshour, titled “Cloud Computing” Concept Gains Traction. Again–nothing wrong with the story. It’s just another reminder that the mainstream press can lag rather far behind in its reporting on technology developments.
Which is more proof of a famous observation by Neuromancer author William Gibson:
The future is already here. It’s just not very evenly distributed.
Corollary: What’s established (or even retro) strategy for IT expertistas may still be cutting-edge (or even science fiction) for the average human. And even the average CEO.
So I went surfing to find out what folks on the techier side have to say about cloud recruiting, and I found quite a bit of material. Here are some interesting stops, if you want to take the tour:
- First, spend some time at Infoworld for an explanation of What Cloud Computing Really Means. There are definitions ranging from the very narrow to the very broad, but at the core we have this fairly straightforward proposition: “Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities.” In practice, the cloud space is mainly made up of Software as a Service (SaaS) products like Salesforce.com and GoogleApps, plus . . . virtual storage and servers (also known as “utility computing”); programming interfaces (APIs) that let enterprises connect their own apps to the cloud; managed development platforms (like Google App Engine and Yahoo Pipes) and IT services (such as Postini and CenterBeam); and–so far, slow to arrive–integrators that consolidate cloud-based capabilities.
- Visit info-rich Cloud Computing Journal, which covers a wide variety of cloud-related concepts, from .net to iPhone to virtualization. The site has plenty of tech content, but there’s also a business orientation, and lots of news. Tap into their RSS feed to get a drip-drip view of what all the fuss is about.
- Then check out plans for the upcoming Cloud Computing Conference & Expo. Presentations are not yet set for the November event, but keynoters will include top hands from Unisys, Yahoo!, and Oracle. Might as well get on the mailing list and see what evolves.
- As for “cloud recruiting”–there are two views of the concept:
- In one, the focus is mainly on a fusion of mobile recruiting + social media recruiting. For this view, watch some glitzy presentations at Cloud Recruiting; browse the Cloud-tagged section of Recruiting Guy’s blog; and eavesdrop on some discussions in the Cloud Recruiting area at RecruitingBlogs.com.
- The other view focuses more on recruiting via SaaS–and naturally, much of the material in this camp comes from the vendor space. Players include familiar names (Taleo has a product called Talent Grid, and SuccessFactors is starting to deploy its own cloud solution) as well as relative newcomers (like Pointwing and Workstream).
Takeway: The concept of cloud recruiting is still mainly an appropriation of a popular buzzword, rather than a well-developed new paradigm. But there’s clearly more to come, so now is a good time to get up to speed on the basic ideas.
(Thanks to Simon Eugster for the beautiful cumulonimbus cloud with big anvil! And–for a “history” of the William Gibson quote, check out some delightfully obsessive research by Brian Dear, CEO of Eventful.com.)
Cultural Sensitivity: a Smart Move
July 20, 2009
Very often, mishaps occur in pronunciation of a company’s name. It can result from having misheard it or simply just a preference for saying it a certain way. Then also, there are instances when the dialect leans toward a more comfortable way of saying things.
Some take offense if their brand/name is mispronounced, preferring that the name is studied carefully, taking more time to say it correctly.
Has that ever happened to your company or brand?
But kudos to to the global advertising brand, BBDO (part of the Omnicon corporation) as having heard the brand “Pepsi” being mispronounced and using it as a marketing strategy. The misspeak of the brand’s name is being advertised to the Argentinian market where surely their campaign will get one of the major soft-drink leaders a sharp increase in sales. A small portion (25%) of the Spanish population in Argentina can’t help but to pronounce the “s” in P-e-p-s-i as a “c”. In the Spanish tongue, it’s much easier to pronounce that way, so the caramel-colored drink is called Pesci.
“Pecsi” is an easier pronunciation given Spanish phonetics, and it sort of comes naturally. According to a recent survey, 25% of the population says it that way. (Full article at Adage.com; image is theirs)
Instead of Pepsi or even BBDO ignoring that market segment, or worse, trying to change them, BBDO advertising savants have wisely catered to the culture by launching a Spanish-written Twitterfeed campaign, complete with a Pesci website that will market the soda Pepsi as Pesci instead. How wildly clever is that!
What I find so impressive about the campaign is their sensitivity to the population and respecting the pronunciation that they are comfortable using. Wouldn’t it perhaps seem all too obvious that they would maybe try to “inform” or “educate” the market and lean them towards the right enunciation? I’m glad they didn’t! But instead, the advertising brand has smartly embraced the slight of tongue, capitalizing on an idea with a share of the population that I’m sure makes them feel pretty special, and that their consumers’ voice is heard…and a response given.
What do you think about this marketing approach by BBDO? Do you think the idea would assimilate easily into other cultures and other markets? Would there be some that perhaps might be offended? Or would they be flattered? Do share!
MySpace Repositions – Goodbye Friends, Hello Bands
July 20, 2009
MySpace used to be the social networking site, but Facebook has left MySpace in the dust wondering what happened to its audience. Even the teen audience has shifted to Facebook leaving MySpace behind. As MySpace finally stands back up and starts to dust itself off, someone realized that it was time to reposition the brand. To that end, the MySpace tagline, “a place for friends,” is no more. According to NewsCorp (who owns MySpace), the new MySpace will be a place for entertainment.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp CEO Rupert Murdoch said that the new MySpace will be a place where “people are looking for common interests.” Surprisingly, that doesn’t seem very different from the old MySpace. Isn’t that what social networking sites are for — to find people with common interests? Sounds like it’s time to get a bit more creative in terms of what MySpace will become. The “common interests” position has been done already. What can MySpace bring to the social Web that’s new or better than what people can find elsewhere?
Refocusing the brand is a great idea, and bands and entertainers certainly have become the mainstay of MySpace of late. Let’s face it, it’s the age of niche marketing online, but it’s very hard for brands to reposition quickly enough to keep up with the changing social Web when they’re owned by a company as big as NewsCorp. The repositioning is a smart move overall, but will MySpace be able to truly focus and recreate the site or will it be too hard to let go of the old MySpace? We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
What do you think? Is MySpace as an “entertainment portal” (Murdoch’s words) better than MySpace as a “‘place for friends”? Can MySpace reposition and succeed on a more focused scale? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Brands Can Add Facebook Fan Pages to Websites and Blogs with the Fan Box
July 17, 2009
Facebook Fan Pages are created by celebrities, brands, companies, organizations, etc. They’re an interactive place to share information, start conversations, and engage with a brand. They’re different from Facebook Groups in a number of ways. Perhaps most importantly, Facebook Fan Pages are public (you don’t have to be a Facebook member or be logged into Facebook to view them), and they are indexed by search engines (meaning they can come up in keyword searches). Facebook Fan Pages also offer more interactivity than Facebook Groups such as adding extra applications and related events. The general consensus is that your brand should have both a Facebook Fan Page (for long-term relationship building) and a Facebook Group (for shorter conversations).
Last week, Facebook unveiled its new Facebook Fans Page embeddable Fan Box that lets users place Facebook Fan Page information and updates on websites or blogs outside of Facebook. If your company doesn’t already have a Facebook Fan Page, particularly for your brands, then you need to create one. Then use the Facebook Fan Box to publish your Fan Page information and updates on your website and blog. That way, you’re creating a 360-degree loop of information and conversation. People can find your Facebook Fan Page from your website or blog, and people can find your website or blog from your Facebook Fan Page. Then they can self-select the experiences that they want to engage with in order to further experience your brand. That’s the beauty of the social web! Let it work for you and your brand.
There are over 200 million people using Facebook and according to the Facebook blog, 8 million of them join Facebook Fan Pages everyday. That’s a huge potential audience that your brand could be connecting with! The Facebook blog also provides information and links to directions to help you add the Facebook Fan Box to your blog or website as well as some great examples of companies already using the Facebook Fan Box (I like the example from Threadless or for a simpler example, check out the Blackberry website).
Image: Flickr
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