SCHMITTblog

[Podcast] Old Logos Never Die...

BBC Radio interviewed me this week about Citigroup’s plan to take down the monolithic red umbrella sign from its 40-story building in downtown New York – and from everywhere else in its visual identity.  (Listen to the BBC Radio piece)

Apparently, the man-and-woman-on-the-street in Tribeca are sad to see the old umbrella go (“If they had it that long why not keep it?  There’s a lot of things in this world that hasn’t lasted that long.”)  But the brand managers have decided that nostalgia and awareness have to be sacrificed for the goal of a sleeker, more universal brand—“Citi” —that conveys the new global reach and strategy of the firm.

As Douglas McArthur might have said, “Old logos never die, they just fade away…”

[Podcast] Viral Videos & Brands

Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership played host again last month to the monthly meeting of the New York Video 2.0 Group.

At their prior meeting, I interviewed some of the speakers and participants about the hot new field of on-line video.

CLICK HERE for a 7 minute PODCAST, of Part 2 of that interview.  In this half, we discuss:
•    The case of the “Mentos & Coke” viral video
•    How customers talk to brands with online reviews and video
•    When to invite customers to create content about your brand
•    Buffy the Vampire Slayer sues her core customers

If you missed it, you can find part 1 here.

-David Rogers

[Podcast] Internet Video Roundtable

Last week’s business news was dominated by Google’s acquisition of YouTube: the search giant is paying upwards of 1.6 billion USD for a 11-month-old website that has yet to generate a profit.  But YouTube has captured the lead position in a huge growth area: video on the web.  With 100 million views a day, YouTube has become the ground zero of a new media explosion.

Earlier this month, Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership played host to the third monthly meeting of the New York Video 2.0 Group, where the new movers and shakers of online video meet to show off their latest technology and discuss new directions in the field.

After the meeting, I had a chance to interview some of the speakers and participants about the hot new field of on-line video. 

Click here for a 9 minute podcast, of Part 1 of this interview.  In it, we discuss:

• What is driving the growth of broadband video?
• How are video sites branding themselves – or are they? 
• How does video change who’s in control of brands, companies or consumers?
• Who’s going to pay for the video, in “Web 2.0”?
• Will advertisers pay to put their brand next to user-created videos?

-David Rogers

P.S. Part 2 of this interview is posted here

[Podcast] Experiential Marketing Skeptics

Schlepped myself through a New York City snowstorm this morning to the studio to do a live interview on experiential marketing for BBC Radio 4 in London.

They had a couple of skeptics with me on the show. One was a guy called James Woudhuysen who argued that there’s nothing new about experiential marketing; it’s been part of good salesmanship for more than a century. Companies should rather focus on “real” innovations. The other skeptic was Joan Harvey, a consumer psychologist, who argued that experiential marketing is a short-term trend but it won’t stay. My view: the customer decides on what a “real” innovation is; and customers today and in the future will expect more than just a product that works. So, experiential marketing is quickly becoming the standard and will be the standard of the future. Listen in.