For many years, I have meant to visit Columbus, Indiana.  You know that’s the town that is differentiated based on the architecture of its companies and buildings. I went yesterday.

If it is possible to overdo branding for a city, Columbus may have done it.  The reason for the differentiation is real.  The logo is just downright cool.  The slogan, “Unexpected, Unforgettable” is really good, (except that I forgot it and had to look it up while I was writing this blog.)

The idea exceeds the reality in my estimation.  At least a dozen of the world’s most famous architects are represented, Meier, Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Kevin Roche, etc.  There are some neat buildings and the parks and landscaping is exceptional for a town of 40,000 people, but a vast majority of those people have houses and yards and businesses that detract from the town’s brand image.  And  of course, many of the town’s modern buildings did not age well.  They look out of date now.

I found myself deeply enjoying the town’s reputation for the first hour, being ho hum for the next hour, and finally deciding, “what’s the big deal?” in the third hour.

I find the techniques used for some internet advertising to be despicable.  For instance, Verizon’s IQ game.  This starts out as an unbranded challenge by an individual chosen to seem like a friend, a challenge for you to take an IQ test, and compare  your score to theirs.   You go through ten different screens or so, to find out that the only way you can get your score after answering the questions is to sign up for a Verizon account.  I don’t know what the numbers show, but I am actually so demotivated by this technique that I am more likely to NEVER sign up for Verizon because of their wasting my time and showing so little respect for the customer.

Since when did “tricking”  the prospect become a valid technique for advertising?

Last night I drove past 32 outdoor billboards in Atlanta and of these, 28 had too many words to be read completely in the time that it takes one car to drive by.  What happened to the old principle of “six words or less” that I was taught in college advertising?   What were you taught?

The same principle can be found violated in revolving banners and headlines on Internet sites.   Far too many of them change too quickly to be read, at least by me.  What is going on?

I learned this morning that new products guru Margot Chapman jumped off the Golden Gate bridge ending her brilliant career.  I will miss her.  We were friends for almost 35 years.

Margot first made waves back in the late 60’s inventing Warm Fuzzies, the very first sheepskin bedroom slipper with the wool inside.  Yes, all the fuzzy  footwear since then, including fuzzy versions of Crocs, owe their heritage to Margot’s original idea.

She and her sister Leslie then opened the Chapman Sisters Calorie Counter on Michigan avenue in the Wrigley building, the first restaurant to ever price their food by calorie and let you know what you were really eating.  It was 1977.  It was a Monday-Friday lunch-only concept that did over $1 million a year in revenue.  Today, restaurants like Seasons owe their heritage to Margot.

In between Margot helped hundreds of CPG companies come up with innovative new products.

Most recently, Margot and her partner Pam Rose created Swirls near the zoo in Chicago, and literally started the trend toward cup-cake bakeries.

Goodbye Margot.  No matter how desperate things must have seemed to you, the business will remember you through your many innovations.

What do you think about Waffle House vs. Huddle House?  Which is your best choice for a sit-down quick meal?

I personally think that Waffle House is best on service.  I can never remember a bad Waffle House waitress although I once had a bad waiter at a Waffle House in Springfield, Missouri.  But never a bad Waffle House waitress.

I have had good Huddle House waitresses, but the staff is not predictably good. And some locations can be woeful.

As for food, Huddle House is much better in my opinion with the exception of the cheese scrambled eggs at Waffle House which as as good as scrambled eggs can get.

Waffle House has many more and better locations.  Which is your favorite?   What is most important to you?  Food, service or location?

For me, it’s Waffle House for breakfast and Huddle House for any other meal.  But that’s just me.

There is a commercial for a new paint or stain by Behr which in my opinion is guilty of burying the lead.  I don’t remember the name, whether it is a paint or a stain, but I remember one line of the commercial that was accompanied by an almost impactful visual demo, had it been shot differently and had it been made the focus of the commercial.

The line buried in the copy was “One brush stroke does the work of two.”  The visual demo had two brushes laying two side-by-side stripes of paint that converged into one.  But it was shot at an angle which made it hard to see, and was built into a montage of multiple images which was beautiful but unimpactful.  Thus the client and the agency took a potentially meaningful idea and hid it in :30 seconds of me-too copy.   The footage is beautiful and I am sure it is on the agency’s reel, but it could have also been great advertising.

There is a lesson in this for all of us.  If you are lucky enough to have a real idea, don’t hide it.  Focus on it.

Once in a while I see an item in a store that could be a big idea if advertised, at least in my opinion.  Sometimes it is the concept.  Sometimes it is the industrial design as with the photos below.

First of all, this is the most functional dust pan I have ever used, and nothing else is close.  You set it on the floor and sweep into it.  You do not have to bend over.  It grips the floor.

Secondly, the industrial design is so differentiating and sleek that it could be award winning architecture were it a monument.  It stands up for storage and to make it easy to use as a waste pan.  It definitely should make the MOMA.   Today after the photos, I am just leaving it out because I enjoy looking at it.  Similar to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, it is pleasing from every angle and perspective.

Where did they miss out?  Well, if it has a name, I cannot find it.  I think it may have been part of the Oxo line which has many great industrial designs, but nothing is stamped into the plastic so I cannot tell you.  No name, no patent filing number.  Easy enough to have molded in, but nothing.  What a wasted opportunity.

And wow, would this respond to advertising.  I think that every home in America should have this dust pan.  It is awesome in every way.  I may try using it as a piece of functional sculpture.

Awhile back, I wrote about James Bond Island in Pha Nang Bay in Phuket.

Today, let’s look at a different destination that was re-branded closer to home.

In the late 1970’s The Herschend family purchased a small, Smoky Mountain theme park called Gold Rush Junction. It had a steam train ride, a few general store type shops and a saloon with a family oriented saloon show and that was about it. The brothers already owned a very successful theme park in Branson, Missouri called Silver Dollar City. When they bought the TN park they re-named it Silver Dollar City, TN. They added a few rides and 1880’s craftsmen and attendance grew to several hundred thousand per season. Not bad for the little tourist town of Pigeon Forge.  But wait.

In the fall of 1985, it was announced that the Herschends had done a “Joint Venture” with Dolly Parton (the details of the JV were never made public). The park was going to receive an extensive makeover and open the next season as Dollywood. Because Dolly is a living legend and folk hero in the East Tennessee area, the park’s fame spread like wildfire and within a very short time annual attendance reached the millions.   All they really did was re-brand a current park and re-open. Quite a success story of what a great brand can do.

Has anyone else noticed that the key differentiation that drove KINKO’s to market dominance has been eliminated by FEDEX since the merger?

The five FEDEX/KINKO’s closest to my office now close at 6pm.  The always open option that made KINKO’s the choice of entrepreneurs and students everywhere has been eliminated at least in my neighborhood.  Is KINKO’s still available 24 hours in your neighborhood?

What if you are sitting at your desk and someone says, “let’s brand fragrance.”  You reply, “you mean a certain fragrance?”  “No” they say, “let’s brand all fragrance.”  Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?

Well consider what Muzak did years ago when they created the idea of using music in the background in the workplace.  Muzak is known as elevator music.  It even created the term “elevator music.”  Now it’s in office buildings, lobbies, restaurants, schools, etc.   And the category that resulted, Business Music, has competitors.

I assumed this category began in the 1960’s, but research showed me that it is much older than that.  The company Muzak Inc was incorporated in 1934.  This brand gained credence after a British study in 1937 showed that music increased work efficiency.  Then another study in New Jersey showed that music added in a manufacturing plant reduced absenteeism by 88%.   The brand Muzak introduced a form of franchising in 1938.  William Benton of Benton & Bowles advertising was an owner of the brand at one time.

Technology has changed but the fundamental idea is the same.  Even the Ipod owes its success to the same basic idea.  Background music increases work efficiency, whether in the hallway, at the desk, or in the gym.  What an idea to brand!