Brand and the Birth of Christ

Today my family and I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. As I wish you the best of all things Christmas, I also want to share some thoughts drawn from my experience as a brand analyst and from my experience as a student follower of Christ.

For the past while in brand activity, I have been interested in learning why, as we embrace social and smart technology, our communication lacks authenticity in the eyes and ears of those we seek to influence most. I wondered if analyzing the 'Christmas' brand could help understand authenticity in a brand strategy.

Three CBC radio presentations contributed to my thinking about the 'Christmas' brand: Last evening, as they have for 35 years, the program 'As it Happens' presented Al Maitland reading Frederick Forsyth's story, 'The Shepherd'; This morning CBC presented Handel's Messiah from the Basilica Notre-Dame in Montreal; and, a little later The Queen's Christmas message provided thoughts on truce and reconciliation.

'The Shepherd' is a story about a fighter pilot who is lost over the North Sea on Christmas Eve. He is rescued in a most remarkable way. A revelation for me was the pilot's openness to believe a rescue was possible in the context of the fears and challenges he faced. In brand building we seek to be discovered by those who are willing to accept what we have to offer. 

Today, one must search widely to find Christ in the 'Christmas' brand. However, when Christ was born, there was an openness to expect, to believe and to accept this little baby as the promised Messiah. The narrative of the birth of Jesus features angels, kings, wisemen, scholars, shepherds, onlookers and parents, all who experienced this birth within the context of their own knowledge, hopes and fears. From each point of view we see various responses to this little boy.

Handel's Messiah takes the listener on a journey featuring promise and prophecy as well as the life, death and resurrection of the Messiah. Handel sets to music a narrative we can understand as a fabulous construction (inventive manipulation of fact) or we can accept the narrative as it portends to be - the birth of God's son to redeem mankind, his rejection by those he came to redeem and his eventual triumph over evil and death. The degree of authenticity as this story unfolds comes from those who tell the tale from their own personal experience. In branding today we would call this kind of commendation 'word of mouth'. It has far more influence than all the 'likes' and 'Google pluses (+)' of social media applications. In the Messiah narrative, those who were healed or fed or who had witnessed Jesus in action passed along personal experiences that are unassailable by those around them.

In her message to the Commonwealth this morning, the Queen expressed her wishes for reconciliation and peace within the context of her own faith in Christ. In her message, she highlights the experience of those who accept the hope Christmas offers. 

Over the past year I have witnessed the comfort and peace Christ can bring to those who accept his love as they faced many challenges. The measure of a brand is the influence it can assert. The 'Christmas' brand continues to empower and bring hope to those who accept the simple message. As you enjoy Christmas 2014, I encourage you to analyse what has powered the 'Christmas' brand through the challenges of time and history. There are many lessons to be learned.

May the Joy and Hope of Christmas 2014 cause you to be a blessing to those around you! May comfort and peace abound in your life during 2015!

Brand - Stepping to the Music

Over the past few weeks we have looked at brand influence and tried to understand how social media brings consumers toward a brand. We have observed a natural inclination to be 'instep' but we also recognized that being in step doesn't always achieve a positive result if the influencer plan doesn't correctly contemplate reaction and consumer experience.

Many of you know of our Percheron draft horses here at Paradigm Corporation. As I was preparing these essays I realized our horses are yet another example of how we generate a behavioral response and influence animals to be in step.  

Watch in this clip from 2011, as local drover Brian Coleman, takes the 2011 World Champion, Jackson Forks Six Horse Hitch for a victory drive around the arena at the Calgary Stampede.  You will see the horses pick up the beat of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and 'step to the music'. The path generating this response to rhythm is, Conductor to Orchestra, Orchestra to the Six beautiful Percheron mares in this hitch.

Watch the Video

For your convenience I have noted a number of the effects we have talked about here below:

• Collective Consensus
• Rhythm
• Social, Emotional, Cultural, Behavioral responses
• Trone Brand Energy and their Firefly effect

Brand - Is it Always Positive When Things Synchronize?

In an earlier blog we considered the 'firefly effect' identified by Trone Brand Energy.  This phenomenon can bring male fireflies into synchronous effect so the light of many male fireflies attracts greater numbers of  females to mate with them.

As brand developers and designers, we are interested to influence large groups of consumers.  With new technologies this seems to be more possible and affordable then ever before.  But are the things we use to create synchronous behaviors always positive or do we create experiences that are less than positive for the consumers we seek to influence.

Steven Strogatz explores synchronous behavior in nature and finds four rules that seem to apply in biological systems as well as some situations that have not created a positive experience.  Enjoy Steven in this TED Video and then add your comment on a positive or negative experience that has resulted from a 'brand influencer program' you were involved in.

Brand - P&G Building Relationships for Gillette

On Friday evening just as the Olympic Opening Ceremony ended P&G wished US athletes connected with their Gillette brand good luck!  If you watched the opening ceremony you also saw how P&G maintained their brand relationships with Moms for Tide and many other brands.

This relationship building is textbook online support for an important client base.  Have a look at the Gillette video and identify the elements you find most appealing in the comments area.

VIEW THE VIDEO

Brand - Fireflies and Trone Brand Energy

When I was a young boy, a favorite early summer past time was to chase fireflies over the pasture as the sun slid away and darkness descended. Even when I grew older, fireflies still had the power to amaze me as I began to learn biology and understand how the same chemical principles that lit up these little creatures were used to light my watch. These days, with all the light pollution and chemicals in our environment the firefly seems to be in limited supply.

I still remember an evening more than a decade ago at ThunderRidge Ranch, when my wife and I were driving up through the marsh towards home when something caught my eye.  I quickly stopped, lowered the window and turned off the engine. There, just below the house, accompanied by the symphony of crickets and frogs and were literally thousands of little flashing lights. We watched the spectacle for a few moments before I realized this was something none of my children had every seen.  Eventually, four bleery-eyed kids watched this performance from our balcony and experienced the same amazement that fireflies had provided me so many years before.

Trone Brand Energy recently provided a key note at an industry event in the US and introduced their branding ideas for social media.  Fireflies amazed me yet again.  Take a look, identify the elements of this  approach and provide a comment on the how you can incorporate these ideas.

Brand - What Causes You to Change Behavior?

Thanks to our colleague Susan Dankert, Communications Coordinator of PIJAC Canada for sending this along.  The 'SMOKING KID' video shows very clearly we don't always practice what we preach.  Talking the talk needs something more - Walking the Walk.


Thanks to Ogilvy Thailand for this clear evidence.  Take a look around your world and find an example of people in the know that need to act now.  


What evidence would you fashion into a video to illuminate the problem you identified and the action required?

Watch 'SMOKING KID' Video