Brand Inferno, Brand Paradiso

We’re taking a page from Dante, who gave himself permission to put anyone he wanted into Inferno or Paradiso. Likewise, we invite you to do the same with brands. Tell us which brands you think are the best and which are the worst. You’ll be able to see how others have voted once you’re done. We think its an interesting exercise in analyzing how brands affect us and how we think of them. So get all judgmental and make your picks.

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Beyond Petroleum?

What happens when a petroleum company claims to be green, but really isn’t? Putting solar panels on a few concept stations doesn’t offset the environmental disaster in the Gulf. Of course for British Petroleum it is much more than an environmental disaster, this is a publicity disaster of the highest magnitude, and likely a big [...]

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Perhaps the most fun brand book ever

We are cranking on a very cool project for our Bozeman, Montana client, RightNow. It’s a brand book. Perhaps the most fun brand book we’ve ever done. Smart, sassy, inspiring, all that stuff. We’re also working on a new made-for-youtube video for them that’s way fun as well. Great product, great mission, a great company [...]

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What’s the buzz on electric cars?

We just created this nifty little device for monitoring conversations, tweets, media reports, etc. on certain topics. We call it “The Buzz.” Right now we are monitoring electric cars. And not just the big brands, but rather some of the innovative upstarts. Check it out here. Go ahead, click on a bee and see what [...]

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Logorama up for Academy Award

Watch your favorite brands in an epic battle to save themselves from themselves in this Oscar-nominated short film. Censored on YouTube, watch it here.

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Rebranding the Mercenary

Blackwater, the notorious private army, contracted by the Bush administration to protect “high value” military personnel, and accused of numerous crimes against Iraqi civilians, has recently undertaken an extensive brand repositioning. The corporate name itself, Blackwater, had become a public relations liability, a toxic asset if you will. The company spent more than a year in [...]

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Requiem for Saturn

Farewell, brave effort. The last of Detroit’s idealism. A response to what people were asking for, both in a car that met their needs and in a car company that could restore American pride. Different has a way of being whittled down to same. I guess we’ll have to look to meet our needs, and [...]

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Kleenex® Tissues, thy will be done.

A quick scroll to the bottom of the today’s AdFreak blog found me actually paying attention to a banner ad. As you can see from the adjacent image, Kleenex® Tissue has embarked on a polite campaign to protect the sanctity of their registered trademark name. The legal department over at Kimberly-Clark Corporation is apparently going [...]

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Brand Ethos

The headline says “Every Bottle Makes a Difference.” Ethos water, acquired by Starbucks in 2005 distributes .05¢ from each $1.80USD bottle sold ($.10 per unit in Canada) to fund clean water projects in under-developed areas. Although sales of Ethos water have raised over $4,000,000 for clean water efforts, and the marketing positioning suggests clearly that [...]

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One company, two brands, two cultures

The recent announcement of Amazon acquiring Zappos certainly caught my eye as I have been following Zappos closely over the past year to further my understanding of what it takes to create enduring brand cultures. I have to admit the first thing that came to mind was that this acquisition was the beginning of the [...]

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