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) Why does India win so few Olympic medals? Marginal Revolution
No cricket is one reason. Now that there's one new version of cricket that's doesn't take any longer than baseball, there's a push to get it into the Olympics. Of course, baseball is on the way out so still little chance.

2) time to rework your ad schedules: xmas is here: Brand Flakes For Breakfast
One thing that I love about Thanskgiving is that blocks the too-early start of the Xmas season. In England, without it, Xmas decorations start going up right around now. Well, apparently, the Thanksgiving lines are now being breached in the States as well.

3) Google and memorization: Made to Stick
Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt doesn't believe that Google is making us stupid and Dan Heath agrees. Instead Google challenges the "cult of memorization" that's a mainstay of education and especially academic testing.

4) "Education" and "consumers" don't go together: The brandgymblog
David Taylor warns about the perils of trying to educate your customer. Usually, if you find yourself going down that path, you're going the wrong way. Another warning: unless you're Coleman, when you start thinking of product line extensions that are perfect for camping you're also barking up the wrong tree.

5) No Olive Garden Hospitaliano For Playboy’s Kendra Wilkinson: Eyecube
I like hearing about companies trying to rid themselves of consumers they don't want. This example is Olive Garden getting all flustered by the unwanted attention of a Playboy model because it could weaken its wholesome image.

Bonus section: A list of recent posts on Landor's Beijing Brand Battle blog:

1) Bubbling under the line: Gustavo Bechtold (Beijing)
200 new netizens every minute in China. Which sports brands have had the most success with internet word of mouth?

2) Olympic ad battle: Martin Bishop (San Francisco)
My gold, silver and bronze awards for ads based on arbitrary criteria.

3) Yum Cha Anyone?: Katie Crosby (Sydney)
NQR (Not quite right) Australian cultural analogies including Channel 7's use of "Yum Cha" for its Olympic roundup program.

4) Puma unmasks a Chinese face: Ray Ally (Beijing)
How one of the smaller sports brands has succeeded in leveraging its sponsorship of Olympic teams. (Written before one of those teams (the Jamaicans) won gold and silver in the 100 meters which has probably helped a lot.)

5) Li Ning Bags First Gold: Monica Au (Hong Kong)
Official sponsor Adidas can't have been happy to see Li Ning be the athlete chosen to be the last athlete to carry the Olympic torch and light the cauldron in such dramatic fashion. His namesake sports brand got a huge boost from his aerial feat (!)

And, finally, an added-added bonus: Dave Barry: Bye-bye, Beijing . Key quote: "The weasel burps at dawn."