T.G.I. Fridays …  what can you say but “ubiquitous?” They’re everywhere. From every other street corner of any slightly metropolitan city to parodies in cult films, they’ve become the Walgreens of the “casual dining” industry. If there’s a cross section of people and commerce, they’ll be there, with silly stripes, suspenders, and buttons-a-blinking to welcome you. And as expected, T.G.I. Fridays is now on Facebook. But they’ve taken a little different approach to their Facebook efforts than others I’ve seen.

Have you met “Woody?” No? Well until earlier this month, no one else had either.

Woody is an “average guy” looking to pick up 500,000 fans before the end of September, and if he’s successful, those fans will receive a free Jack Daniels burger!

Now who doesn’t want a free burger?

To round out the social media-focused campaign, Woody has a few television spots running regionally, as well as posted in the Videos tab on the Fan page. So far, the page has a over 100,000 Fans, and is expected to reach their half million goal by the end of the month.

Now, McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A and Pizza Hut have all hit the 1 Million mark simply extending their current campaigns to the social media platform.  And from a social media marketing standpoint, this isn’t a groundbreaking approach.  But the fact that T.G.I. Fridays has created a character and campaign solely for Facebook is quite unique.

But that’s where my compliments take a turn to skepticism…

If you look at the entry form on the Woody fan page, they’re requesting email  addresses to send the free burger coupons to when the 500,000 has been reached.  Can anyone say marketing database? Sure, I’m okay with that… But then, there’s the next click.

When you submit your email address, the application asks for access to your Facebook profile information, photos, as well as all of your friends’ information!

For a free burger? No thank you.

Marketing database gathering? Phishing?  I don’t know, but that last step seemed to cross the line for me

Social media is about building community. Social media MARKETING is about building a community around your brand and it’s offerings.

I ask T.G.I. Fridays how will offering up all of my Facebook information help me feel closer to your brand? Sure, I get a free burger out of the deal (maybe), then what? (Enter your own spammy nightmare scenario here.)

Social media has made how people share personal information pretty liberal, but the line needs to be drawn somewhere. If companies want to use social media marketing to have me join in the conversation, they need to show authenticity, engagement and trustworthiness, not just dangle a free burger in my face…book.

Keep Cooking – TRUE Branding communities!
Andrew B. Clark
- The Brand Chef

Politicians… I hate ‘em. They offend me. They make me want to punch something – like a shih-tzu (although they already look like someone got there before me). Politicians spew, expound, wax poetic, twist, massage, and congeal the language that I cherish into convenient, little, sound bites and slogans that, from a branding and marketing standpoint, make me want to puke.

Today, my ire turns to *Hillary Clinton and her cronies…

At her Senate confirmation hearing, Ms. Clinton defined her (intended) approach to diplomacy as “Smart Power.” Describing it as, “…using the full range of tools available to the United States, including diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural tools.”

After some thought – and a little digging – this slogan, this “catchphrase” Ms. Clinton and her staff so strategically thought up sounded like more of the same regurgitated crap that lost her the presidential nomination bid. And it is.

Case in point:

“Soft Power,” (notice the subtle difference) first theorized and then published in a book by the same title, by Joseph S. Nye, Jr., professor of International Relations at Harvard, outlines his position as,

“The kind (of power) preferred by certain thinkers and political scientists… (that includes) ideals, diplomacy, moral authority. All about hearts and minds.”

What the hell? Am I wrong thinking that Hillary (and every other politician) needs to stop trying to speak in “marketing-eze” and that they really need to start thinking for themselves?!?

You know what, Hillary; the Senate is a group of pretty smart folks. I don’t think you need to dumb it down for them. Or are you so unsure of your ability to perform the job, you need to create these nifty little catchphrases to gloss over the facts? Just do your damn job already.

Rob Frankel, a branding expert and author of “The Revenge of Brand X.” said, “Essentially, ‘smart power’ is just more evidence of how bad the communication coaching Hillary Clinton gets and probably cost her the (presidential) campaign.”

And Alan Siegel, founder and head of Siegel + Gale, a considerably credible branding, marketing and communications consultancy, described “Smart Power” as an “unfortunate choice of words.”

Amen. (my choice of words)

From a marketing and communications standpoint, this was a bad choice. Unoriginal. Uninspired. Trite. Redundant. From a political and, may I say, professional standpoint, I’d suggest firing your communications advisers and simply getting down to the task at hand…

Maybe I’m just sick of the rhetoric. Maybe the recent campaign was too much. Maybe after another cup of coffee, I’ll see the advantage of using slogans and tag lines in politics.

Then again, maybe not. ‘Cause politicians and the sort make people disregard – no, dare I say HATE what I do for a living… Stop trying to market and do your damn job already!

That’s it in a rant… what do you think? Politics and marketing. Do they make good bedfellows?

Until next time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
–The Brand Chef

*Spineless Disclaimer – I’m not anti-Hillary, and this is not intended to be a direct assault on Ms. Clinton. I think she is incredibly intelligent with MUCH to offer our country as Secretary of State. So, please comment accordingly.

Fact: Newspapers can’t survive unless they change the paradigm in which they practice. Customers, including yours truly, are jumping ship for digital media content that is more up-to-date, accessible and relevant. Long lost are the days when newspapers produced engaging content and – in turn – sold ad space to generate revenue to support what (once) was a tremendous source of public information.

Why?

Newsgathering has shifted from being a passive act—tell me a story—to a proactive one—answer my question.

According to journalism.org,

“…Pew Research Center survey. The figures for almost every traditional media platform are now at historic lows. For instance, the number of Americans who said they read a newspaper “yesterday” has fallen by 40% since the 1990s—to 34%. The number of people who watched the nightly network newscasts yesterday has fallen even further—by half—to 29%. Radio news is at 35%. Regular readership of weekly news magazines is down to 12%.”

So, what does that mean for us? Where is that 40% going to get their news?

Blogs, baby. Blogs! Not to mention podcasts, vlogs and heavy-handed translations of traditional media to online, user-driven sites, and micro-sites.

With that, yesterday, I ran across this story: On January 27th, Joshua Karp (follow on Twitter: @theprintedblog) will be launching a twice-daily free print newspaper in Chicago, San Francisco and later in New York City. The content he will be publishing will be solely from BLOGS!

“So what,” you say, “Nothing novel there?” Hold on. Joshua has a little twist for you.

His intent is to aggregate local content from blogs and print them in tabloid form in time for the morning and evening commutes… The advertising – focused to reach targeted, local audiences – supports the newspaper (of course). It will also include classifieds (of course).

From Joshua’s venture, The Printed Blog web site:

“The selection of content in The Printed Blog is based solely on the votes of readers and their geographic location. In such a way, The Printed Blog revolts against the top-down, ‘one size fits all’ model of newsprint, as we know it. Instead of one paper serving hundreds of thousands of people, as is often the case, The Printed Blog publishes hundreds or even thousands of highly-localized editions based on what a community declares is important to them. The papers are distributed to neighborhood pickup points in A.M. and P.M. editions, and will incorporate rapid turnaround reader comments.

… As our society moves towards individualized information, The Printed Blog has the courage to respect our readers. We recognize the value of what individuals have to say, we publish the information they create, and provide them with the information they demand.”

News = information relevant to the people. When traditional news sources become irrelevant, or self-serving, people go to their community for relevance.

I’m interested in Joshua’s new venture. The online community will drive content. Readership will be driven by the local community. Advertising will benefit from a more targeted audience. Hmmmm…Where can this go wrong? Market? Content? Commuters? Advertisers? Classifieds?

Can you combine the past with the present? Why not just keep it all online? Why take it to press?

What do you think? Take a look at his formula and give me your thoughts.

Until Next time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
- The Brand Chef

Welcome to 2009! Man, it’s been a pretty wild ride.

Think of it… a short skip back, just five years, shows us that America can completely bungle a Presidential election and live (so far) to tell the tale. Counting errors blamed on both computers and humans made us realize that we can’t solely depend on one or the other any longer.

And if you remember, just nine years ago (this week), we were all wiping the sweat from our collective brow, having survived Y2K! My computer didn’t crash, did yours? (heck, I used a Macintosh… still do… did that really matter?)

If you think back just a little further – only 12 years – you may remember, Europe decided (all together no less) to pool their economic tender into the Euro. Contrary to naysayers, I don’t remember their exchange system crashing to a cataclysmic halt… heck I don’t recall even one report of change being counted back incorrectly.

Fascinating. I call it “Progress in spite of technology.”

So, why the somewhat tweaked glance back in time? Perspective. From what I can see, and whether we want it to or not, technology will continue to integrate itself deeper into our daily lives. And for marketing and communications, Web sites, blogs, e-mail marketing, micro blogging are all here to stay. So the time for being “technophobic” or a skeptic is over. Honestly, if you haven’t embraced implementation of technology in your communications (personally AND professionally), you’re already WAY behind the curve… but there’s hope.

So for 2009, what can we do to “tech-up” our marketing, our communications — our brands?

Here are some simple, yet TRUE steps – A Baker’s Dozen:

1. 1. Weave A Technology Culture – Use it to facilitate personal interaction, not replace it.
2. 2. Get social – Work within the culture, not against it, to facilitate technology adoption.
3. 3. Keep your message consistent – across all channels/platforms (from traditional print to new media).
4. 4. Maintain transparency – Technology accentuates the negative and brand ownership needs to be positive!
5. 5. Use technology strategically – get information to the right people at the right time.
6. 6. Start small – build on incremental successes. Turn the flame up too high and you’ll get burnt.
7. 7. Always Learn – Plan on and budget for extensive support and training for new technologies.
8. 8. Rethink Your Collateral Flow – Keep print materials available—just use them strategically.
9. 9. One Channel Is NEVER Enough – Use overlapping channels to communicate to a broader audience and “spread the love.”
10. 10. There Are No Stupid Questions – Ask for feedback and act based on it.
11. 11. Measure Twice, Cut Once – Obtain metrics where you can and make strategic decisions.
12. 12. Find Your “Special Purpose” – Don’t use technology only for technology’s sake—make sure it has a communication purpose.
13. 13. Always Chalk BEFORE You Misque – Test your message before you send it—and check everything, to the smallest detail (from spelling to links!)

In short – Embrace the future or it will come up an kick you in the shorts! History (even the shortest sampling of it) has proven that fact…

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

The Brand Chef would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Until Next Time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
– The Brand Chef

After 25 Years? Can you believe it?

It’s scary out there. As we’ve seen, even locally, Editorial Cartoonist, Brian Duffy (a rock star in my eyes) was let go last week, causing quite a buzz in the local blogosphere and Twitter. Below is a re-post from The Daily Cartoonist with an interview with Duffy from our local NBC affiliate.

Former Des Moines Register editorial cartoonist Brian Duffy was escorted out of the newspaper’s building after learning that his job was being eliminated in a cost cutting (slashing?) move by the paper’s parent company Gannett. He was not allowed to return to his office to collect his personal belongings, he says in an interview with the local television station. Duffy worked for the newspaper for 25 years, and as he recollects, never missed a deadline.

Here’s the interview.

What do you do when the economy threatens to jeopardize the standards you have come to trust? Has your company felt the pinch, like Duffy and The Des Moines Register? How, from a business perspective, have you chosen to deal with it? How, from a personal perspective, have you chosen to deal with it? Does the approach differ?

It’s scary out there. Look and plan forward. Work on stabilizing existing relationships. And always strive to foster new, exciting ones.

God Bless.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Thank you to The Daily Cartoonist and Alan Gardner for the original post.