[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
As the New Year quickly gets moving and Wal-Mart reorganizes its marketing, (No, I am not going to talk about the changes that every advertising and retail publication has covered in every little detail>), it\u2019s time to look for some new ideas in strengthening our brands.<\/p>\n
With the Super Bowl finally drawing near, I was thinking about how all the bowl games are now branded and the stadiums also sport commercial names. It\u2019s ironic that the \u201cbig game\u201d is going to be played in Dolphin<\/em> Stadium, formerly known as ProPlayer <\/em>Stadium, former known as Joe Robbie<\/em> Stadium. For building awareness, paying several million dollars to put your name on the stadium is not a bad idea. Well, unless, you were the Astros who played in Enron<\/em> Stadium. The team got better. The stadium changed names for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n Anyway, I was intrigued last summer while waiting to arrive at our gate at London\u2019s Heathrow airport. All the jet ways were labeled HSBC<\/strong>. I\u2019m sure some travelers thought this stood for H<\/strong>eathrow\u2019s S<\/strong>uper B<\/strong>aggage C<\/strong>orridors rather than one of the world\u2019s largest banks, which must need more awareness around the world. However, as I sat there I was curious about the idea of using these usually bland jet ways as a branding device and thought that this is really good real estate to build awareness and recognition for international travelers and business people. (By the way, the letters stand for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in case you were wondering.) All I knew about them is that they handle the finance offers for a lot of retailers, like Levitz, so that you don\u2019t have to pay for that sofa until 2010.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, I was flying into JFK airport in New York and low and behold their jet ways were HSBC sponsored as well. As a matter of fact, it seemed like I was now seeing HSBC wherever I looked in the city. A growing company using innovative ways to gain higher brand recognition. I started thinking, wouldn\u2019t it make sense for Macy\u2019s to have their names on all the jet ways at LaGuardia or Newark? What about American Tourister or TravelPro luggage at other airports, or maybe they could sponsor the baggage wagons that come out to unload the planes. Speaking of planes, we\u2019ve seen the Shamu version of some Southwest Airlines planes sponsored by Sea Worlkd; why not have each plan sponsored (much like the busses in some metro areas)? We could fly in the Target plane to Minneapolis, or the Home Depot 737 to Atlanta. Maybe a Neiman Marcus jet to Dallas. I know that Frontier Airlines was going to sponsor their airsick bags and plastic ware. So many branding opportunities\u2026<\/p>\n I was always impressed by the Target logo in the end zones right between the goal posts at NFL stadiums. I thought the Sports Authority logos at courtside and rink side at many venues made good sense. Branding isn\u2019t just another great ad or commercial, it\u2019s using available venues to further enhance not just awareness, but also the personality of the brand. So many retailers are stuck on running weekly circulars, price and item TV spots, and a \u201cvigorous\u201d website. Circuit City ran an ad this week for it\u2019s Firedog computer services. It was great because it promoted the fact that the company was giving a donation to America\u2019s firefighters to support their important role in the communities. Enhanced the brand and said we are more than just the next big deal on an HD big screen TV.\u2028Building a relationship with your customers is what branding is all about. It\u2019s not just another ad in the paper or name on the jetway.<\/p>\n By the way, learn branding ideas from 18 experts, including yours truly, in the valuable book, Marketing Magic<\/em>. Cover price is $19.99, but it\u2019s only $10 if you order it online through my website at www.kenbanks.com.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] As the New Year quickly gets moving and Wal-Mart reorganizes its marketing, (No, I am not going to talk about the changes that every advertising and retail publication has covered in every little detail>), it\u2019s time to look for some new ideas in strengthening our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":476,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions\/476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}