Oneupweb : Brand Hankey Pankey

So, I’ve noticed that companies nowadays are beginning to play around a bit with their brand and the message or image that brand sends to the world. Take us for example! We lovelies at Oneupweb have gone through some major brand reorganizing in the last few days. We’ve also had a chance to play a bit with our brand’s image and message.

These bits of re-working and toying with have proven to be quite fun and functional! Yet, we have only just begun!

While toying with a brand can be an enjoyable and laugh inducing affair, there are limits to what can be considered “useful branding.” The line between success and failure is thin. The line between creative and creepy is even more so.

Take the world’s most popular fast food chain for example. Sex sells…….or does it?

The girl is pretty enough, but there’s something a little off about this bit of magic, a little cult-ish.  “Drink the Kool-Aide” becomes “eat the burger.” And, why is she not Japanese?

Then comes bashing your competition. This bit of brand hankey pankey can be dangerous, it can backfire. But, then again, it can resonate and entertain. Who’s to know until you try?

Personally, I am a fan of the supremely boring breaking out of their box and smashing you in the face with entertainment! Is there anything more boring than money? Nope. Is there anyone better for injecting in-your-face, thought provoking clarity than Samuel L. Jackson? Nope. He’s also pretty good at the follow-up one liner!

Now, not going to lie here, while I loves me some laughin’, my favorite medium is shock value. I love it in guerrilla marketing and I love it in moving pictures as well. The pack leaders for punch-you-in-the-gut and leave you reeling with emotion advertising are those feisty seat belt folk. Click here. Good, good.  Now, click here.

Parting thought? A brand is a wonderful thing. No matter who you are or what you sell, your brand will move with your varied emotions and bring you praise and accolades, or scorn and jeering. Be careful with that brand, but not so careful that you allow it to wallow in obscurity. Take a chance or two, the worst that can happen is a re-brand. As Edison says… “I have not failed, I have only found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Don’t do this though, I have no idea what these guys were thinking. Underwear commercial? Big Brother is watching PSA? Careerbuilder.com? I don’t know…