Controversy Helps

I got my customer, L2 Accent Reduction Centre, on the cover of today’s Metro newspaper in Vancouver.  My customer thinks that the story is quite controversial.

If there wasn’t controversy to the story, she wouldn’t be on the cover of a popular paper, and tens of thousands of people wouldn’t now know her service exists.   Most of the story content favours her company anyways.

It wasn’t my intention for this to be a controversial article, but I knew that including ‘government funded’ in the press release was just asking for it!

If you can, stir up a bit of genuine controversy – with your company name in the middle of it.  Reporters LOVE covering controversial topics, so why not give the people what they want?

Shocking Visuals Win

William Ashley China in Yorkville, Toronto balanced a Lamborghini Gallardo on top of 4 China tea cups to show how strong their products are.

It doesn’t look like there’s anything helping the cups hold up the 3,150lb ‘Superleggera’, so that’s 787.5lbs per tea cup!!

Exotic Spotter link

Negative update:  I tried emailing William Ashley this link, and they don’t have email on their website  – not as savvy as they look.

I told you!

The 30 year survey that people are happier if they watch less TV is getting a lot of coverage this week.

I have never been a big TV watcher, and have not owned one since I moved out of my parents at 19.
I also believe that less TV can make you more creative.

Where websites are going

Do you ever go to a website and say “Whoah!  Sweet!”
Not often enough, right?

Toyota offshoot Scion captures the emotion of their brand well.  The site makes you instantly become curious of the culture behind the cars.

And Cowie and Fox, a web design shop, makes me wonder what they could do with my brand.  How many more people would call me if I had a website that was THIS captivating?

Your website is SO important!!  Yes it is.

Did you find the King’s wallet?

Burger King has started a subtle yet compelling buzz by leaving wallets in US urban hot spots.  The wallets include actual money, BK money, and the Buger King’s funny Driver’s License.

Picture the feeling you get when you find someone’s wallet:  the slight surge of adrenaline, the determination to return it to its owner, and the thought of whether or not you’d keep the included money.

This campaign is sending Blogistan abuzz and making people scratch their noggins, wondering what’s going on.   Although hard to measure, there’s no doubt burger sales are up.

Zeitgeist Wording, Bitchin Branding

This NY Times best seller is probably a good book, but people DO judge books by their cover.   Out of dozens of books on display, this jumped out at me from the shelf.

The wording is timely (zeitgeist can mean ‘the right now’).  I was taught to write the way that people talk, and this wording resonates well with a generation of people that speak in IM chat lingo and think in Facebook updates.

Presidential Perception

The swarm of new ‘experts’ say that one of the reason Obama captured the popular vote is because he appeared more presidential.   This was not by accident.

More often than McCain, Obama was speaking from statesman-like podiums with dark curtains and old glorys in the background.   Perception is everything!

The Affliction Ban Works

I talked to a Robson retailer today that said that since Vancouver clubs have banned people wearing Affliction clothing, petty and real crime in and outside of clubs has been reduced.

Poor affliction.  They were banned from UFC events – which actually helped make them cool in certain circles – but now clubs are seeing the results of turning people away that sport their gear.

It’s fascinating to watch one group of people rally around a specific brand.  Will Affliction become the Harley Davidson of clothing, or will it fade away when thugs all flee to another label?