At the 2010 DICE Summit, Carnegie Mellon University Professor, Jesse Schell, gave a stellar presentation on how the world of game development is transforming popular culture.  As Jesse states in the presentation, games have “crept out and they are going everywhere.”  My favorite quote on this trend is his explanation of geo-caching:  “Because it’s cooler to go walking in the woods if there is a treasure chest at the end.”

The transformation of gaming from a niche audience to an influencer of popular culture is something that should be on the radar of every Brand Marketer.  The below embedded video is a great place to start in learning why.

Read more: http://g4tv.com/videos/44277/DICE-2010-Design-Outside-the-Box-Presentation#ixzz0gwDevhbm

Back in 2006, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt infamously said that brand advertising was “The last bastion of unaccountable spending in corporate America.”

Yet during the 2010 Super Bowl, Google did what many would have called unthinkable just a few years ago… they ran a piece of brand advertising on the largest advertising stage in the world.

Supporting their Search Stories campaign, Google ran their “Parisian Love” television ad during the 3rd Quarter of the Saints / Colts Super Bowl.  Of course Internet companies have a long history of running ads during the Super Bowl.  And usually those attempts fail miserable (think Pets.com or E*Trade’s Monkey ad).

But Google’s latest effort is different than many of those failed Internet to Super Bowl Ads.  As my P&G colleague Stan Joosten wrote:

Google ad stands out – story based on emotions from a company centered around analytics. Sign of maturity.

Or take the point of Rishad Tobaccowala (from Denuo Group):

GOOG ad smart because it’s usage not awareness that matters. Most folks dont realize all one can do. Not even us “experts”

So why exactly is the Google effort a sign of maturity and not just another example of “unaccountable spending?”  From my viewpoint, the answer is in Google’s transformation from Tech Company to Consumer Marketer.

Ten years ago, Google was started as a pure tech company.  Their mission was “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” while their name was a play on the word googol (the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros).

But today, Google is much more than a search company based on a great technology.  They are starting to truly become a Consumer Marketer, competing for the hearts, minds and wallets of consumers against fierce competitors like Apple, Nokia and Microsoft.

You see, the smartphone battle of the Nexus One vs the iPhone isn’t about technology.  Neither is the search war between Google and Microsoft Bing.

In these competitions, Google is entering the world of traditional Brand / Consumer Marketing.  Think Coke vs Pepsi… Bud Light vs Miller Light… or Old Spice vs Axe.  These classic brand battles generally aren’t fought (or won) on technology or performance alone.  They are fought with emotion, words, and stories.  This fact isn’t lost on Google and they proved it with “Parisian Love.”

So let me be the first to welcome Google to the world of Consumer Marketing.  I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

See the full ad embedded below:

Right before the holidays, a colleague gave me a copy of Paul Arden’s “It’s Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be.”  Even though the book is a quick read, it is packed with thought-provoking points.  In particular, I was inspired by three essays that talked about how a Senior Agency Manager, Junior Ad Account Handler and Media Buyer “can make a big difference” in the world of agency work (pages 98 – 101 in the book).  In fact, I thought the points were so powerful that I wanted to do my own riff on:

How a Brand Manager can make a big difference

The responsibility for a brand’s success or failure often falls on the shoulders of the Brand Manager.  But the Brand Manager isn’t the sole driver of success.  In fact, I would say that they probably can’t even take credit for the majority of the things that really make a brand work.

But the responsibility for the success or failure does fall squarely on the shoulders of the Brand Manager.  The company has given the Brand Manager not only ownership of the marketing budget, but often the entire brand’s P&L.

However, the most important thing that has been placed in the hands of the Brand Manger though is the responsibility to inspire.

They need to inspire their direct reports (ie Assistant Brand Managers) to deliver work that is above and beyond what is asked of them.

They need to inspire their agency partners to bring them ideas that will deeply connect with people.

They need to inspire their management to support these ideas, even if it makes them uncomfortable.

And they need to inspire consumers to buy their brand…again and again.

This inspiration is going to take different shapes depending on the company and the person.  But in every case, the inspiration is going to be about

…making your brand something that people want to work on

…something people take ownership of

…where delivering great work is the only option.

A Brand Manager can make a big difference by inspiring people.  It is that simple.

In the halls of Brand Management, Tom Fishburne is easily more popular than Dilbert.  After all, he’s one of us.

So it is no surprise that Tom perfectly captured one of today’s most debated brand management questions:

“Who should represent a brand in Social Media?”

It is the same question that was posed on the American Express OPEN Forum, when Ann Handley wrote an article entitled “The Right Voice for Your Brand Online is…?“  In the post, Ann suggested the right “person” could be:

• The CEO (or other high-level executive).
• The marketing department.
• The company mascot.
• The intern.
• Separate identities for each distinct customer interest.
• Multiple individuals.
• Your customers.

All are interesting options but I think they left out not only the most obvious, but also the most important…the Brand Manager.

After all, the Brand Manager is the person that is suppose to live and breath the brand.  They are the one deciding on what products make it to shelf, what the advertising will look like and making the call on just about every other little detail that has to do with a brand.  When all is said and done, the Brand Manager is the brand.

So doesn’t it make sense for the Brand Manager to be the “Voice of the Brand?

The problem is that being the “voice of the brand” requires an entirely new skill set for Brand Managers.  In the past, Brand Managers rarely interacted directly with consumers.  When doing market research, there was always that convenient focus group where we could observe behind the glass.  With PR, generally we had a person that handled interactions with magazine editors and were in charge of “public  statements.”   And with advertising, our agency took the lead in crafting that message.  So while Brand Managers should be the “voice of the brand” in Social Media, it is going to require all of us to learn a new way of doing things… a new way to collaborate.

In the past, Brand Managers had to be experts at getting things accomplished internally and with agencies.  Going forward, Brand Managers are going to need to be externally focused, with a mindset for collaboration and partnership.  It is not going to be an easy shift, but it is one that every marketers need to be make in order to be the “Voice of the Brand.”

If you ask ten people on the street define a “brand”, you are probably going to get ten different answers.  But if you ask ten people in marketing to define a “brand”, I guarantee that all ten answers will be vastly different.

So I was a little surprised when I read Seth Godin’s post on “define: brand” where he offers this definition of a brand:

A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.

My surprise is in how closely Seth’s definition matches with one I would have provided. After all:

A brand is NOT a :30 second TV commercial.

A brand is NOT a “breathtaking” new logo.

A brand is NOT a coupon, BOGO, or special offer.

A brand is NOT what you hear in a focus group.

A brand is NOT a brand character, brand purpose or brand equity pyramid.

A brand is complicated and simple at the same time.  Which is why Seth’s definition is so perfect.  “A brand is a set of expectations, memories, stories…that account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product over another.”

I guess that is why a Brand Manager’s job is never boring.