Brand Mix

Here's my weekly summary of interesting and entertaining posts and articles. More posts at the bottom of the page in "Martin's Shared Items:"

1) Airline Marketing as true Service? Marketing Geek
Should airlines just ignore the reality of today's travelers, be honest or just shut-up? Michael Fassnacht laments the lack of courage that has kept them on the same old track.

2) TSA Embraces Performance Pay: The Challenge Dividend
Surely this headline is a joke? No. The TSA is, in fact, using a pay-for-performance model for its employees and it's not based on the number of quart-size clear plastic bags handed out or the number of bottles of water seized.

3) Is architect a verb? Seth Godin
Given my focus on brand architecture at Landor, I was interested to read Seth's post defining architecture as: "the intentional arrangement of design elements to get a certain result."

4) The Pret Manifesto: The brandgymblog
I've always thought that there's room in the States for a sandwich shop along the lines of the UK's Pret a Manger but, so far, it hasn't happened. David Taylor got hold of Pret's brand manifesto which helps explain why it does so well.

5) Nike's Beijing Ambush Strategy #3: "Courage" Creates Connections: Beijing Brand Battle
And, finally, a plug for Landor's Olympic Games blog. Landorians from around the world will be posting about the games focusing, naturally, on brands and branding. Frank Vial is writing a series of posts about Nike's ambush strategy.

Bonus Video: How the BBC is marketing the games (and it's way different from NBC's approach).


Double-bonus video: Colbert is obsessed with branding. Branding's so hot that even Stephen Colbert wants to talk about it!



Congrats to Lucas Conley for getting on the show to talk about his new book Obsessive Branding Disorder He held his own pretty well against Colbert and it was an entertaining spot. If I was to be a teeny bit critical, I might point out that he floated from one idea (there's too much focus on the message/branding rather than genuine innovation) to another (there's some really silly brand extensions).