Where are the billboards? Where is the radio flight? Where is the print campaign? After all, Sportsnet Magazine debuts on newstands this Thursday. This appears to be a launch of a different sort.
A great magazine begins with great content – writers, photographers, etc. One such new hire is Steven Brunt, longtime sportswriter for the Globe & Mail. Mr. Brunt “chose” to announce his full-time move to Sportsnet on PrimeTime Sports, the flagship program of Sportsnet Radio, FAN590. Not in 30 or 60 seconds mind you, but in a 20 minute conversation with host Bob McCowan. It was real, honest and very human. Mr. Brunt explained his main reason for moving was the chance to do something “really good” – in other words, the magazine. He also appeared later that evening on Connected, the highlight show on Sportsnet television. Again, an interview about the magazine…not a sales pitch. The website, sportsnet.ca, featured a sneak peak of the content. 
Maybe a barrage of traditional media advertising exists and just I missed it. After all, Rogers has the vehicles and money to launch big. I prefer to think that this is how media convergence marketing should work – integrating the message into Rogers media vs placing it onto Rogers and/or paid media. If executed with aplomb, it’s smart. Very smart. To say nothing about cost savings. Keith Pelley, Rogers Media President, is no rookie in such matters, having spearheaded the Vancouver Olympic effort.
Regardless, I’ll pick up a copy on Thursday. Why? My curiosity is piqued. Not by a billboard, but by truly effective storytelling.
[In the interest of transparency, Rogers Sportsnet was a client of One on One Communications, my former agency.]
There’s been a fair bit of public discussion about the creeping commercialism of corporate brands into areas of sport previously viewed as sacrosanct. This discourse was renewed upon the recent news that the Toronto Maple Leafs had agreed to add corporate logos to practice jerseys. Keen observers naturally viewed this as the thin edge of the wedge, foreshadowing a time when the beloved Blue & White would be festooned with all manner of corporate symbols.
I, for one, believe that this development is inevitable. Sadly. All it will take is one greedy owner (and there’s lots of those) who will cave to corporate pressure (read: dollars) and apply a corporate brand to a team jersey. It will be small at first, but the precedent will have been set and other teams will follow like lemmings.
Here’s a crazy thought. What if one organization had the courage to go the other way? Let’s use rinkboards as an example. Imagine if the Toronto Maple Leafs replaced all the rinkboard ads with graphics that celebrated their history? Do you recall the b
oards in Vancouver during the Olympics? No ads. All graphics. Very refreshing. Sure, the Leafs would leave money on the table, but as a brand strategy, it’s brilliant. On every televised game, on every highlights package on every TV channel, fans would immediately recognize the Leafs as distinct, as a team that placed tradition above commerce, that recognized the importance of the brand above all else.
I know, few teams could ponder such a move, given the economics of sport today. But isn’t making bold strategic decisions how some brands become truly iconic?
So there I am, driving. In the lane next to me there’s a Mini. Not just any Mini, but a Mini Countryman, the newest model in the Mini line-up. There were four adults in it – two in front, two more in back. You see, the Mini Countryman is actually not mini. It’s not maxi either. It’s…well, in between. There was something just not right about it. It caused to me think, “Is this a brand extension that’s just not meant not to be?”
The success of the Mini can be traced to the essential design of the vehicle – compact, sporty with a wide stance – an unmistakable presence on the road. Size is so much a part of its success, so much a part of the brand’s DNA that messing with it seems somewhat desperate. “If we can’t get more people to buy a Mini because it’s small, why don’t we simply make a bigger Mini?” Or so the reasoning seems to be.
What makes a Mini a Mini is the fact that it’s…mini. I hypothesize that people who buy a Mini do so for the very reason it’s not a sedan that can carry four adults. I just can’t see Charlize Theron driving a Countryman in the Italian Job, complete with Mark Wahlberg and Jason Statham in the back. People love the brand for what it is – a zippy sports car powered by distinct style and history.
Brand extensions work. Sometimes, however, they go beyond their reach by undermining what made the brand so successful in the first place. I’m thinking the Mini Countryman is one of them.
What do you think?
When I was growing up, I didn’t really pay that much attention to product design. Yet I do recall one company who put as much emphasis on how products looked as how they operated. That company? Braun. The very fact I remember this is testament to the Braun strategy – separate the company from its competitors through the use of distinctive design. At the time, Braun’s small appliances seemed almost space-age, all smooth contours and lines. A Braun coffee maker was designed unlike any other, a white cylindrical object, with small logo placed discreetly on the front. Was it breakthrough design? I’m not qualified to comment, but it did make Braun unique.
Dyson, a small appliance maker headquartered in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, UK, seems to be the “new Braun”. Have you seen those new fans they have recently introduced, the ones with no blades? Very cool – no pun intended. Advanced technology is paired with cutting edge design to deliver a product that looks – and operates – like no other. I think Dyson goes one better than Braun, demonstrating an adherence to functionality that borders on obsession. Perhaps the products look so wild, they need to ensure conservative customers that they do, indeed, work extremely well.
I still have a Braun coffee maker and a coffee bean grinder. I’ve yet to take the plunge with Dyson yet, but converts tell me the products are worth every penny. What I have bought into is the Dyson brand strategy. What’s more, I can’t wait for the next Dyson product launch. What product, one wonders, will they turn upside-down next?
You may recall in my last entry, I bemoaned the fact that marketers in the quick service restaurant category rarely allow talent in to actually taste the product on camera. That’s right, rarely does one see a person actually taking a hearty bite into the very product that is being advertised. Why? Likely for fear that a small piece of food might get stuck to a cheek and that”messy” incident would turn potential customers off.
Enter Swiss Chalet.
In their latest TV effort now running in major markets, the product is pork ribs. After the requisite beauty shots and copy that trumpets the quality of said ribs, the spot ends on the heroes – a youngish couple enjoying the product. In this case, the woman takes a big bite and leaves a smear of BBQ sauce the size of Texas on her cheek. Her dining partner tries – but cannot bring himself – to point out the “embarrassing” faux pas. She, on the other hand, has no problem pointing out a similar sauce issue on his cheek, albeit much smaller in size.
My point? A little reality makes the spot deliciously charming.
