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About The Author
Kim Phillips is an independent marketing consultant specializing in branding, communication strategy, creative writing and design, online content, email marketing and social media.
Branding in poor taste.
Posted in Branding, Business Practices - 1 Comment
Having spent my entire career creating, promoting and defending brands, I drank the branding Kool-Aid* long ago. In fact, when I worked in advertising for what became the second-largest bank in America, I was referred to as Logo Cop. A brand is an investment, and maintaining its integrity should be a zealous pursuit.
There are lots of ways to damage a brand, even for those ostensibly in charge of protecting it. Here’s one: be a bully. Chick-fil-A, in its infinite and litigious wisdom, is muscling a tiny t-shirt shop for making shirts that say “Eat more kale,” maintaining that it infringes on the fast-food chain’s ubiquitous advertising campaign. Visit the t-shirt manufacturer’s website and you’ll see that the owner, Bo, is all about eating natural, close-to-the-ground food, clearly relating in no way to Chick-fil-A’s offerings. But Chick-fil-A can use their massive war chest to grind poor Bo into the dirt.
Brand bullies aren’t limited to the corporate world. Susan G. Komen Foundation jumped on grassroots efforts to raise money for breast cancer research that included “for the Cure” in their name. Evidently, “Lemonade Stand for the Cure” will get you in hot water with the purveyors of pink-ribbon merchandise. Next time you buy a sanctioned pink product, realize that some of it will go to Komen, and some of that will go for legal expenses.
Bullies beat up on littler guys because they can. That leaves a very poor taste in the mouths of the public that supports the brand. Steven Colbert says it best.
*For Kraft’s lawyers: I consider Kool-Aid to be a tasty, healthful and refreshing beverage that also makes an extremely effective hair dye. This is an opinion piece.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Tip/Wag – Susan G. Komen Foundation & Spider-Man Musical<a> | ||||
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Tags: Branding, branding mistakes, Chick-fil-A
One Response to Branding in poor taste.
Posted On 2012/01/16 at 12:51 pm by Eric Garner :
Here’s a list of people I can think of that this *restaurant* has angered: the gay and lesbian community, the vegetarian community, several in the trademark/marketing community, the artistic community, all of Bo’s customers, the Governor of Vermont, the whole Northeast(?)…all during a terrible recession. And they brought about all this ill-will themselves!!! Amazing…