Brand Mix

Photo: Olympics rings Vancouver by adrian8_8 on Flickr

A little sleep-deprived this week as I, too often, have had to stay up to the last minute of NBC's Olympics coverage to see if Julia, Shaun, Lindsey, Bode... were going to win a medal. What am I going to do next week when the curling competition heats up?

1) NBC's Olympics Coverage Infuriates Sports Fans From Coast To Coast: Yahoo! Finance
NBC is apparently losing $200 million on the Games and it's not gaining many fans with the way it's covering them. This Yahoo! article focuses on people's outrage at NBC's liberal use of tape delay and limited use of live streaming on the Internet. My irritation is with how NBC chops up events, putting all the best bits (finals and showdowns) on at the end of the night to try and get me to stay up and watch as many ads as possible. It's one time when a DVR really doesn't help much. I realize that NBC has to make money to cover what it paid for the rights but I figure it's not my fault that they paid too much so why are they making me suffer? In this race between the bottom line and customer satisfaction, the bottom line has won gold all too easily.

2) Why P&G Is Bringing 18 Brands Together for Olympics Push: AdvertisingAge
And speaking of ads, these Olympics provided the forum for P&G's first ever corporate TV ad in the U.S. The quintessential "house of brands" company has been gradually increasing its multibrand marketing efforts over the years culminating in this new "Thanks, Mom ad" from Wieden & Kennedy.



According to Global Brand-Building Officer Marc Pritchard this is the first of a growing wave of multi-brand ideas for P&G.

3) The Man Your Man could Smell Like: Old Spice



Meanwhile, here's one of the new Manmercials from Old Spice, a P&G brand that is still being given some separation from Olay and some of the feminine rest of the P&G portfolio so that it can do its own thing. This particular ad is already clocking in at over 2 million views on YouTube. An ad that people actually want to watch.

5) Winter Wonder Brand:The New York Times
If the Olympics are all about pomp and circumstance, how do you make them fit with a country that prefers a more low-key approach? Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, talks here about how the Vancouver organizers have tried to imbue these games with Canadian values- a little less grandiosity and a little more modesty, please.

4) Vancouver's Twitter Lesson: HBR
Unfortunately, weather problems and a series of technical malfunctions led to some people referring to these games as the Glitch Games. This HBR post talks about how one tweet was able to mitigate the fallout from one of the first and most prominent glitches--the uncooperative leg of the opening ceremony's cauldron tower. His tweet: Don't fault us for not getting the torch up in time, Canadians invented insulin not viagra. #van2010 #olympics helped shift the conversation from a #fail direction to something more sarcastic and funny. Meanwhile The Guardian (in the UK) ought to be a little more careful when suggests that these games are the worst ever. The next Olympics are in London and the weather's not likely to be cooperative there either.

6) What to wear with your Three Wolf Moon T-shirt: Murketing

Photo: loud and proud by kennymatic (Flickr)

And, finally, back to curling. Not content with blazing new trails for sports, it's also launching new trends in fashion. Here Rob Walker talks about the Norwegian men curler's pants. Expect to see colorful diamonds, dots and squares in your neighborhood soon.

That's it! Back soon with more stories from the world of brand strategy (and vaguely related areas). More thoughts and comments also available on Twitter (@martinjbishop).