Since we live in a world where everyone and every thing is under the microscope thanks to social media, I had said that it might make some brands wary of some new initiatives and look for elements that may offend some group or the other. That does not mean that brands which hitherto took a stance or made a comment on societal trends or some values will suddenly stop doing so. In any case, my…
Ad agency professionals and their clients – the marketing folks at enterprises, pretty much know that a majority of the ads are simply ignored by consumers. Now there’s a new phenomenon to worry about: social media outrage. Ad avoidance is a phenomenon not limited to digital advertising where a CTR of minuscule percentages is seen as a good metric. The problem has existed right from the days of traditional media – be it billboards, print…
I came across a LinkedIn post linking to an article which called to question the importance of brand names for a business. Essentially it said that any name is fine for a business as it is the product performance which matters ultimately. The note cited examples of successful brands who have seeming run-of-the-mill or names unrelated to their business. For example, Lays has no relation to the category it operates in (potato chips or crisps…
Whenever a famous logo, especially one that’s been around for a long time, goes for a change, there is criticism from the public. Thanks to social media and its 24×7 outrage treadmill, the noise seems amplified of late. Some of the recent instances of logo outrage include Google, Gap, Airtel and now Wipro. The backlash for the new Gap logo was so intense that the company had to revert to their old logo. Airbnb got…