Brand: Personality Not Included
Execution: Viral, Social Networking
Target: Business book readers
Rating: *****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri

Description:
Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose their Authenticity and How Great Brands Get it Back is a new business book published last month by Rohit Bhargava, Senior VP of Digital Strategy and Marketing at Ogilvy PR. Bhargava is a first-time author, but confronts the publishing world with the experience of a new media expert. His Influential Marketing Blog is listed in the AdAge Power 150.

To market Personality Not Included, Bhargava drew from his blogging and new media PR experience to create a variety of attention-getting stunts, the largest of which was a simultaneous interview with 50 bloggers for the launch of the book (here’s one) which amplified the viral nature of his book launch. He also created a facebook add-on to a book signing event to increase turnout and a group blog called The Personality Project to complement the book’s website. Bhargava has a twelve month plan of activities to launch the site. Rohit is speaking in New York on Wednesday, May 14th.

What Works:
Marketing a business book can be a daunting task for a first-time author who is not a celebrity. Most publishers view new authors the same way that venture capitalists view start-up companies. They make a good number of small bets and then see which author manages to make their own work successful. So authors are left to their own devices to market their ideas.

Bhargava has done an excellent job of mining his expertise in new media, particularly social networking, to build a base for his book. He recognizes that a campaign of this nature is by definition a slow build, and that his chances of hitting a bestseller list are most likely a year or more down the road. He has cleverly co-opted the interest of bloggers and colleagues by creating event-driven online properties. The 50-blog simultaneous interview which he used to launch his book was particularly inventive, as it provided real sales momentum but a better artifact (in the form of a variety of interesting author interviews permanently archived by Google and a competition among bloggers to see who came up with the best questions) than the “social media bum rush” done for The Age of Conversation.

Bhargava has also strategically done a good job of positioning Personality Not Included against the anticipated book “Groundswell” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff from Forrester. While that book handily outsells his at the moment, by positioning Personality Not Included as a new-media-aware branding book rather than the chronicle of a fundamental change in consumer behavior he has given his work a longer shelf life.

What Doesn’t:
This is a significant book and Bhargava may have lost an opportunity by not engaging professionals to help him get mainstream media reviews. This would have been tricky however, as he is a senior executive in a PR firm himself. However his expertise is in digital media and he does not have the same relationships with traditional print media as he does in the digital sphere. While there have been some very good examples of books launched entirely in the blogsphere, notably The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott, a gentle push from BusinessWeek or The New York Times can be invaluable for a new business book.

Branding Bottom Line:
Bhargava finds new ways to turn the web on its head. We would hire him.

BONUS: Interview with Rohit Bhargava

How did you come up with the idea for your 50-blog interview?
The nice thing about having your own book is that if you have an idea that you think works, you can do it. The idea for the blog interviews came out of my desire to do a promotion that bloggers would be interested in because they get something in return. For me, I wanted them to write about the concept of a book that they hadn’t read. For all the 55 bloggers that decided to ask me 5 questions about the book, they were getting good customized content for their blogs and the chance to win a prize (and fame) for having the best interview. I had the idea on a Sunday and launched it on a Tuesday, so sometimes when the right idea comes along, it just works.

What are the biggest challenges for a first time author marketing his own book?
The biggest challenge is to realize that all the marketing and publicity will fall on your own shoulders. I knew this going in because I had some great advice from other authors that I talked to, but you’re never quite ready for how much you actually have to do yourself. The other challenge for someone like me is that I still have my full time day job, which means much of my book efforts are in the after hours or not full time.

You talk about a slow build and a 12-month calendar. What are some of the things you have planned for the rest of the year?
Well, I have an overall strategy that I’m working towards which has lots of different elements but I can’t really say what is exactly going to happen over the next 12 months because some of the efforts I have not come up with yet. Right now I’m spending a lot of time talking about a new site I launched for the book that I am really excited about called The Personality Project (www.thepersonalityproject.com). I can tell you there are quite a few more activities that I have planned over the next few months that will likely duplicate the amount of buzz of the launch and hopefully eclipse it!

With thousands of business books published each year, what do you think the key to differentiation is?
I spent a lot of time on this - researching other books that could be considered “competitive” to my book. I think the answer is twofold. Part of the theory of the book is that personality sets companies apart, and to a degree the personality of my book sets it apart from others in the same space. In addition, I focused very much on writing a book that was fun and engaging to read, and ultimately useful. It was this focus on being actually useful that sets PNI apart as well, because so many books are written in a theoretical way instead of a practical way.

In your first few weeks what have the biggest surprises of new authorship been for you?
The single biggest surprise has got to be just how much weight people who organize events and conferences put on authorship. I always suspected that if the book became successful, I would start to get better speaking invitations for more prominent slots or keynotes instead of panels. I expected this would take some time, but it was almost overnight that this started to happen. That was surprising, as I don’t quite feel that the book has earned that for me yet … but I plan to try and make the most of the chances I’m given!

What has been your best use of social networking to promote your book?
So far, I’d have to say the launch interview idea was the biggest success because of the buzz it generated. There are a few other ideas that I will be launching (which I mentioned above) that should equal or better that buzz as I roll them out.

You launched at nearly the same time as an anticipated book in a similar area: GroundSwell. How do you compete with that marketing machine?
I am actually a great admirer of both Charlene and Josh, so when I made it to their launch party for the book a few weeks ago, we talked about this. I actually think it’s a great thing because our books are very complimentary. PNI is not a book about social media, but it does incorporate social media into it - so I could see many people getting very different things from both. What I realized after launching my book is that the real competition is other books that my publisher (McGraw-Hill) launched in the same timeframe because I am competing with marketing resources with those books. If I have competition to fight against, that’s where it really comes from.

Which did you enjoy more ˆ researching, writing or publicizing your book?
I love marketing and am really passionate about actually putting theory into ACTION, so I’d have to say the best time I’m having is right now with all the promotion for the book. The writing and researching, for me, is the hard work that got me to this point. When you’re actually marketing, that’s the fun part!

You have focused your launch efforts in San Francisco although you live in D.C. Why?
Focusing on SF was a deliberate choice because I have a lot of contacts through the Web2.0 crowd on the west coast and wanted to make the most of this community. In addition, during the weeks of the launch of the book, most of my speaking engagements were on the west coast, so it made logical sense to do the launch party there. I have lots planned for DC too, though, and will be in several other markets over the next few months before I start heading international as well.

What one piece of advice would you give to a first-time branding book author?
I would say, take an honest look at what your goals are and publish your book with that goal in mind. For me, PNI is a chance for me to make my reputation and share something useful with people who need to market something. The international component of the book and distribution was most important to me, so I went with the publisher that I did because they have a really strong distribution arm. That has turned out to be a great decision so far.

What follows is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands. The book evolved from a class in Positioning and Brand Development at NYU where I asked my students to write case studies of brands that had been founded by entrepreneurs without an MBA or any formal marketing background. I was surprised at the strength of these brands and some of the stories behind them. Two of the cases from the class became subjects for the book: Roxanne Quimby (founder of Burt’s Bees) and John Peterman (founder of J. Peterman). Peterman was actually the first of these entrepreneurs that I met - he agreed to talk to me even before I had a contract to publish Accidental Branding.

Accidental Branding has just been released in the U.S. and is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-a-Million. If you have a group of 30 or more entrepreneurs or marketers and are willing to buy and read the book, I’ll be happy to speak to your group on the phone or in person for free during the months of May or June this year.

EXCERPT FROM ACCIDENTAL BRANDING: HOW ORDINARY PEOPLE BUILD EXTRAORDINARY BRANDS

CHAPTER 3 – THE STORYTELLER JOHN PETERMAN (J. PETERMAN)

“This is a single-action Colt 45 Peacemaker, the gun that tamed the West,” Peterman says, as he slides the long revolver out of his custom-made shoulder holster, flicks opens the cylinder, and loads .45 caliber bullets one by one. Then he hands me the gun. The sun hangs low in the Kentucky sky, pouring red light over Peterman’s ranch on this midsummer’s evening and making me squint as I inspect the Colt. It is a craftsman’s piece that looks like it has been hammered out of a single hunk of iron. The handle is inlaid with smooth Bakelite, which is cool in my hand. It is heavy, much more so than it looks, and as I extend my arms to aim it I feel gravity pulling it groundward. I hold the gun carefully with two hands and sight down the barrel. Then, releasing my breath, I gently squeeze the trigger. Nothing happens.

“Just ease back the hammer when you’re ready to fire,” Peterman says calmly, as if he has not even noticed my failed attempt. I nod and slowly thumb the hammer toward me until it clicks into place. Then I line the shot up and pull the trigger again. This time the Colt jumps in my hand. It is loud, much louder than gunshots in the movies. Peterman looks through binoculars at the can I’m aiming for, which is 40 feet away. “You’re down and to the left. Don’t flinch when you fire.” I hadn’t realized I’d flinched, but I notice it the next time, and the next. I continue firing through two reloads, shooting 18 rounds in total. My flinch gradually lessens, but although a stout poplar tree showers chips every time I fire, the can sitting in front of it does not seem to budge. Peterman is gracious with the limited supply of bullets. He gives himself a mere six shots. When we retrieve the coffee can, there are five holes in it. Peterman says, “Looks like you hit it a few times.” He is being polite. I am pretty sure I’ve missed the can altogether and he’s hit five of six.

The Peterman in question, the one I’ve come to central Kentucky to visit, is none other than that Peterman: John Peterman, the founder of the J. Peterman Company. He is the man who built his mail-order business to $70 million dollars in sales and reinvented the catalog as we know it. His name is familiar to over 40 million Americans. In 1991, Holly Brubach in the Sunday New York Times called Peterman a “merchant poet.” He is also famous because of the buffoonish caricature of him played by John O’Hurley on Seinfeld starting in 1995. Four years later, Peterman went spectacularly bankrupt at the height of his fame. And now he’s back, quietly rebuilding the empire he lost.

Peterman has invited me to spend two days with him in Lexington, where I will interview employees at the J. Peterman Company (including his wife, Audrey), sit in on merchandising meetings, and see how the business runs. I am not sure he realizes that my central goal for engineering the entire trip is to visit the ranch I’m now standing on. After spending four hours interviewing Peterman in New York City a few weeks earlier, I’ve become convinced that the ranch will explain some of the mysteries of the myth he so successfully created. Even before Seinfeld, people were telling stories about J. Peterman. He was the world traveler who had fought in three wars, who hobnobbed with sheiks and maharajas, who looked equally comfortable at a state reception or tending a farm in Provence. Peterman’s little Owner’s Manual was a secret handshake for a certain set of people.

Along the way, the J. Peterman Company attracted some incredibly loyal customers, loyal enough to see their beloved business go bankrupt and still return as consumers two years later when Peterman revived it. In Lexington, I hope to answer a simple but elusive question—how did Peterman build this myth that motivated so many fanatic customers? And I have become convinced that the answer lies hidden at the Peterman ranch.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc. from Accidental Branding. Copyright (c) 2008 by David Vinjamuri. This book is available at all bookstores, online booksellers and from the Wiley web site at www.wiley.com, or call 1-800-225-5945

Brand: Coca-Cola (The Coca-Cola Company)
Execution: TV (1 and 2)
Target: Soft Drinkers
Rating: *****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri

Description:
Two Super Bowl spots for Coca-Cola, both of which broke for Super Bowl XLII. The first spot features Democrat Jim Carville and former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist arguing on a talk show. They say the word “wrong” at the same time and Frist says, “jinx - buy me a Coke!” “Right now?” Carville asks and Frist says, “No talkin’ - jinx rules!” The two leave the show and walk outside to a hot dog cart where Carville buys Cokes. Frist sees a tour bus and says, “How ’bout it?” “Why not,” Carville shrugs and the two take a tour of Washington, D.C. where they rediscover their love of America (even riding on Segway scooters at one point). The spot ends with them having another Coke while sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, looking at the sun setting over the reflecting pool and Washington Monument.

The second spot starts with a tranquil aerial view of Central Park in New York City. Three floats for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Stewie (from The Family Guy), Underdog and a Coca-Cola Bottle (which we don’t recall seeing in the most recent parade) are being handled by their teams. Then a gust of wind takes the Coca-Cola bottle aloft and Stewie and Underdog immediately begin to fight for it. The battle continues over the streets and sidewalks of Manhattan until, unexpectedly, Charlie Brown catches the bottle over Central Park.

What Works:
The New York Giants may be going home with the rings, but from the brand manager’s perspective it looks like Coca-Cola won the Super Bowl. Although perennial favorite Budweiser won fan polls in such forums as Adbowl, Coca-Cola scored more points from a brand equity standpoint by surprising viewers with two strong messages about the brand - each of which place the brand itself (and not secondary brand equity props like the Budweiser Clydsdales) as the hero of the spot. In fact, the spots mark a remarkable turnaround year for Coca-Cola which has taken itself from the depths of advertising irrelevance (perhaps epitomized by the failed remake of the iconic 70’s spot “Hilltop” called “Chilltop” as an introduction for Coke Zero - an effort so profoundly bad that an online version cannot be found) to a fresh rediscovery of the brand in the hands of Wieden & Kennedy.

Coca-Cola as a brand is most successful when it used as a social catalyst - the profoundly unique element that brings people together. Even though Stewie and Underdog are fighting for a single bottle in the “It’s Mine” spot, the real story is all of the New Yorkers watching the proceedings in wonder, remembering their first trip to the Thanksgiving Day parade. On a small island, events can unite people quickly. Such is the message of this Coke spot. The Frist/Carville spot is expertly timed - coming as it does just a few days before the socalled “Typhoon Tuesday” when nearly one-half of the U.S. electorate goes to vote in primary elections. Speaking as it does of transcendent values that overwhelm partisan issues, it aligns Coke with an important cultural moment.

Taken together, these spots remind us of the profound impact of an iconic brand, one that has been easy to forget for more than a decade.

What Doesn’t:
The Atlanta beverage giant’s future fortunes may hinge more on water and non-carbonated drinks (as evidenced by the recent acquisition of the Vitamin Water brand) but Coca-Cola needs to remember that the equity of all of its brands is enhance by the goodwill that the Coca-Cola name generates. Other than a few noble efforts by Wieden & Kennedy (and Psyop who collaborated on the magical “Happiness Factory” campaign” ), Coca-Cola has significantly under-invested in a brand that drives much of its brand equity as well as employee and distributor morale.

Branding Bottom Line:
Squint and you’d think Coke just aired an Obama commercial and an outtake from Cloverfield. But it’s still a home run.

Issue: Does a funky new website point to the future of journalism?
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri

There’s something new, and distinctly odd, out there on the frontiers of the Internet.  The site Truemors aims to empower ordinary citizens to spread, well, rumor.  Ideally those that are true.  Anyone can contribute, and the rules are simple - write stuff that is actually true and don’t break the law.  The result is a very eclectic stream of information which users can rate, and thus sort.  What rises to the top is the stuff the most people believe - or like.

Whether Truemors will prosper remains to be seen. But the central idea behind it - that citizens can report information directly on a joint forum - is an intriguing step forward.  The success of blogs has proven that credible reporting need not come from the most established sources.  Even mainstream media like CNN and Fox have solicited and run video taken by eyewitnesses.  Truemors tries to take the process a step further, shoving the microphone directly into the hands of the average joe.
Part of the concept has already been proven.  Perhaps one of the most important developments on the Internet has been the rise of social bookmarking with sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, and Stumble Upon.  These sites allow ordinary people to organize the Internet by explicitly selecting and tagging sites they deem worthy.  It is a much stronger approach than Google search for finding contextual information when it works, and it is one of the core ideas behind the Web 2.0 concept.

Truemors, founded by entrepreneurial guru Guy Kawasaki (The Art of the Start)  along with Will Mayall and Kathryn Henkens faces a high hurdle (and indeed some initial skepticism from luminaries like Seth Godin).  The result of putting publishing power into the hands of absolutely everyone is chaotic (a recent scan of the homepage contrasted stories on Dora the Explorer and the Liberty bell with an expose on a couple charged in an identity theft case.

Beyond the marketing question of whether Truemors will catch on is the bigger question of whether unmoderated citizen journalism will degenerate into gossip and innuendo or whether a Wikipedia-like effect will raise the level of contributions.  Voting on posts creates a ‘greatest’ list which is placed above the running list of posts.  But ‘greatest’ may be more like ‘best of craigslist’ than a highly combed-over Wikipedia entry: it may be more about entertainment value than accuracy.

In truth, Truemors may have just reinvented the oldest network of all - the ancient marketplace where news, gossip, rumor and innuendo walked hand in hand.

Subject: NYU extends its brand with full campus in Abu Dhabi
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri

NYU announced today finalization of an agreement first reported in August with the government of Abu Dhabi to open a full-fledged liberal arts campus in the Middle Eastern kingdom. NYU President John Sexton calls the campus, “the first comprehensive liberal arts campus to be operated abroad by a major U.S. research university,” commenting also that, “the costs, planning, design, building and all expenses related to the operation of NYU Abu Dhabi will be assumed by the government of Abu Dhabi.

This is an astonishing move for an elite academic institution, particularly given some of the natural concerns that arise from the funding plan for the campus (see below). It is, however, a logical move for NYU given the myriad troubles that current immigration policy has given U.S. research universities attracting both overseas students and researchers, particularly from the Middle East and North Africa. Many U.S. universities operate campuses abroad, primarily to allow their U.S. based students to study abroad and create centers of expertise in areas that make sense for these. The NYU move is revolutionary because it will fully extend the brand to another country

This also creates real danger for the NYU brand, which will for the first time not be entirely in the hands of the U.S. administration. Although the program will be created entirely by NYU, relying entirely on funding from a single source - an overseas government at that - creates the long-term potential for divergent interests between NYU and the government of Abu Dhabi.

In branding terms, NYU is creating a line-extension (although it could be argued that they’re simply increasing distribution for their current brand) by creating a campus with an entirely different business model in Abu Dhabi. If this new campus fails to have the same academic rigor or intellectual freedom as NYU in New York, it will hurt the brand for NYU. But globalization is a natural step for strong U.S. educational brands and NYU is aggressively pursuing this goal.

Disclosure - I am on the Adjunct Faculty of NYU - but I was in no way involved with creating plans for the Abu Dhabi campus.

Brand: HBO (Time Warner)
Execution: Web Video Environment
Target: Web Influentials
Rating: ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri

Description:
This deceptively simple montage reveals a complex series of interconnected plots.  The website shows an apartment building.  Any of the apartments can be clicked on to reveal what’s going on inside.  The viewer can also zoom in or move forward in time.  As the viewer becomes more familiar with the environment it becomes clear that there are other buildings in the city that can be located and clicked on.  The plots are by turns odd, creepy (a ghost floats through the building at one point, a mortician photographs the dead), amusing and unexpected.  In addition to the website, Voyeur video can be found on HBO on demand, there is a blog and other ‘artifacts’ are rumored to be around the web.

What Works:
The old maxim in writing is “Show, don’t tell.”  Advertising is the living rebuttal of this line of thinking.  We are endlessly telling consumers what our products can do and depending on the strength of the brand and persuasiveness of our arguments to do the work.  When we demonstrate the products in an ad, we call that ’showing’ but its really still ‘telling’ since it is a contrived situation.

HBO confronts the problem of maintaining its leadership in cutting-edge television content as the Sopranos goes offline.  The post-Sopranos, post-Sex in the City network needs to burnish its reputation as an innovator in order to keep viewers tuning in to new series like “John from Cincinatti” and attract professional talent.

HBO Voyeur is an intriguing way of showing HBO’s ability rather than telling about it.  This advertising blog is calling it a ‘Web Video Environment’ simply because we don’t really have a name for what it is.  No other advertiser has done anything quite like this.

This is effective advertising for HBO because it is both innovative and well executed.  The web environment works seemlessly, and it is easy to get lost inside the web of interconnected plots.  The explicit voyeurism of the site points out what we know but don’t say about television itself - it is serial voyeurism.  Part of the appeal of all good television drama is seeing inside someone’s life without having them know we’re watching.

What Doesn’t:
The site only runs well with a very high speed connection.  Not recommended for hotel-room wi-fi, for instance.  We would like to see somewhat deeper plotlines and the ability to tune in dialogue rather than tunes.  This site is an exceptionally good way to waste three or four hours - if, say, you’re reviewing it.

Branding Bottom Line:
Reminds us why we love HBO.  Now if we could only see the Voyeur version of “The Office” …

Brand: Travelers
Execution: Online
Target: Home buyers, parents, small business owners
Rating: *****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri

Description:
This microsite helps consumers understand the risks associated with everything from buying a new home to running a business.  A series of interactive challenges helps educate parents how to childproof a kitchen, new home buyers how to make their house more difficult to break into and small business owners how to minimize slips and falls among many other things.

What Works:
One of the best microsite executions we have seen, the Travelers in-synch challenge strikes an excellent balance between education and entertainment.  Travelers notably avoids the rookie mistake of making each exercise so easy or intuitive that there is no real challenge for the user.  It also does a great job of explaining the reasoning behind the correct answers.  The Travelers in-synch challenge does an excellent job of motivating consumers to learn more about protecting themselves, their families and their businesses.

Advertising that establishes the expertise of the brand is extremely effective at building brand equity in the long run.  Travelers knows that if it helps consumers actively manage risk, they will be better insurance customers.  The cumulative effect of well-executed interactive campaigns like this is to build trust between the consumer and the Travelers brand, which will build consumer loyalty.

This microsite also stands out because it functions smoothly.  The graphics are crisp, the animation loads quickly on a high-speed connection and the games run as they are intended.  This also contributes to the perception of professionalism and competence that Travelers is trying to build for its brand.

What Doesn’t:
More information on the real-life costs of slips, breakins, fires, etc. might build a stronger case for consumers to follow the recommendations that Travelers provides.

Branding Bottom Line:
Travelers builds interactive advertising that works.

Brand: Pirelli P Zero (Pirelli)
Execution: Web Video
Target: Bored Car Enthusiasts
Rating: *
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri

Description:
A short film by Pirelli to promote the new Pirelli P Zero tire. Uma Thurman drives a yellow Lamborghini from her house and nearly hits a boy stepping in front of the car. Cut to a close-up of the enormous tires as the car stops in time to avoid putting this film into a different genre. As Thurman pulls away the boy speaks into a walkie-talkie, informing others that Thurman is on the move. Uma pulls up to a stoplight, next to a muscle car. The driver revs the engine. As she is deciding how to respond, the passenger pulls out a submachine gun and starts shooting at her. From there, the film is an extended chase scene with Thurman eventually getting hit by a bullet, briefly stopping the car and entering a bar only to find it inhabited by other flunkeys of whoever is chasing her. Finally, as things turn desperate, Thurman speeds through a construction site and narrowly avoids a shoulder fired rocket when a voice says, “Congratulations, Congratulations!” Then we see that she has been driving a simulator in a Pirelli dealership. The film ends with her reprising the beginning of the film in her real car, without the conspiracy.

What Works:
The basic idea of providing branded entertainment is sound if it is executed properly. BMW Films proved this some time ago and an earlier Pirelli film “The Call” also demonstrated it. The concept works when a few elements are present:

1. Brand Linkage - The branded entertainment must have a strong and rational link to the brand. Without this, strong entertainment will fail as it will not transfer equity to the brand.
2. Entertainment Value - Branded Entertainment is still entertainment. It must be strong enough to compete with other forms of entertainment.
3. Strong Execution - Without a good ‘wrapping’ branded entertainment will also fail. It must be surrounded with subtle but effective brand messages and ideally have some call to action.

Pirelli did a good job of promoting this video with mainstream media and PR. They gave the film a chance to succeed on its own merits.

What Doesn’t:
Unfortunately, “Mission Zero” fails miserably as entertainment. Don’t blame Thurman or even the cinematographer who had no opportunity to overcome weak writing. Short form films are among the most demanding kind of visual media. They must be constructed masterfully to create meaningful characters. This film wastes the moment and demonstrates a cardinal rule of action films - without characters we can identify with, action is just background noise. Mission Zero is a great deal of noise.

Branding Bottom Line:
Mission Zero reminds us that bad film doesn’t make good advertising.

Brand: Propel (PepsiCo)
Execution: TV
Target: Professionals
Rating: **
Reviewer: David

Description:
A monster made of junk runs through the streets of a city, to the tune of “Under Pressure” by Queen.  As the monster moves through the urban landscape its components, which include an unhappy boss, a tow-truck, taxicab and office furniture fall off one by one to reveal a solitary man jogging.  A female voiceover says, “Fit has a feeling - and a water: Propel Fitness Water.”

What Works:
This ad features spectacular visual effects which make it worth watching.  The stress monster does indeed look real and its decomposition into parts is transfixing.

The ad is also carefully targeted.  Instead of featuring a professional athlete who might attract teenage boys and young adults, the mainstay of parent brand Gatorade, this ad shows a professional adult male who one would think appeals to working women and men.  Propel is intended to compete with Glaceau’s Vitamin Water which has a similar target.  The spot is crafted to avoid competing with Gatorade.

What Doesn’t:
This spot is an excellent example means overwhelming the ends.  In other words, the visual effects are so spectacular that the brand message is lost.  In fact, this advertising blog reviewer watched the spot three times in the course of normal viewing and could not remember the name of the advertiser until the end of the spot - this in spite of having the active desire to review the spot for this blog.  Pity the consumer who has no such motivation.  The metaphor for this spot (having all of these external concerns weighing on you when you’re just trying to work out and get away from them) is also a little strained.

Finally, nothing unique about the brand comes through in this spot.  While the brand positioning does not need to be ‘features and benefit’ oriented, we don’t see a strong and unique emotional positioning here either.

Branding Bottom Line:
Great effects in that stress monster spot - what was that brand again?

Brand: CarMax
Execution: TV
Target: Used car buyers
Rating: ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri

Description:
A Clint Eastwood-voiced cowboy rides into a corral in a dusty Western town, saying “I need another horse,” to the man who greets him. The horse salesman says, “You ever been to a HorseMax?” “Nope,” says the cowboy. “Come on, I’ll show you around.” Then the salesman explains the HorseMax policy, “see, at HorseMax we’ll buy your horse whether you buy one of ours or not,” he says as they pass a ringing cash register. “… even if she ain’t in good shape,” he adds as the men see a horse with a brace of arrows planted in it (the ASPCA disclaimer about the horses not having been harmed flashes at the bottom of the screen at this point). “See that filly there?” the salesman asks, “We’d never sell you that horse.” The horse the salesman is pointing to is obviously a horse costume with two people inside. “You know why?” he asks and as we see the man at the head take off the horse mask and shake his head, he answers the question himself, “It ain’t right on the inside.” “We even got a money back guarantee,” the salesman concludes. At this moment the spot shifts scenes seamlessly to the modern day as two similar men walk conspicuously in front of a CarMax. “Oh,” the man who is the customer says, “It’s amazing no one’s thought of this before.” The spot cuts to a car max logo with the tagline, “The way buying should be.” [emphasis from spot copy].

What Works:
We like this spot because it carefully lays out the brand positioning (’a better buying experience’) while maintaining visual and story interest. The western set adds entertainment and intrigue to the spot but doesn’t distract from the message. Indeed, the obvious perils of trading in a used horse underlines the unsatisfactory state of the used car buying experience in the prospective buyer’s mind. This is a good example of a spot which is able to work in a number of relevant copy points without feeling too slow or looking like too much of a sale pitch.

What Doesn’t:
CarMax doesn’t actually make its appearance to the end of this spot, which could make brand recognition harder although we believe most consumers will think of CarMax when the HorseMax name is first spoken. The pacing of this commercial is good, but not exceptionally brisk.

Branding Bottom Line:
CarMax would really have something if they could line-extend to SpouseMax, ChildMax and In-Law-Max.