Continuing on my post inauguration high, I want to share the brilliant copy from a print ad by Marriott Hotel that ran in USA Today, and other national papers January 20. The ad is quite simple. 14 lines starting with “You can’t …” 14 lines that are crossed out. Here is the complete list of “You can’t …”

You can’t abolish slavery.
You can’t build a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
You can’t give women the right to vote.
You can’t fly a plane from New York to Paris.
You can’t defeat Nazi Germany.
You can’t devise a plan to rebuild war-ravaged Europe.
You can’t cure polio.
You can’t allow black children and white children to go to school together.
You can’t put a man on the moon.
You can’t pass a Civil Rights act.
You can’t beat the Russians in hockey.
You can’t help bring down the Berlin Wall.
You can’t map the human genome.
You can’t elect a black man President of the United States.

The last line of text reads: “What’s next, America? Because whatever it is, the answer is yes, we can.”

A historic day. Glued to the TV since 7am. Sharing this with my wife and two daughters. It’s a new generation. And in the words of our 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama – Yes We Can!

If you haven’t read Buyology by Martin Lindstrom, I recommend it. The key insight is to remember that we humans are emotional beings first and logical second. And that having a (brand) conversation on an emotional level is much more rewarding (i.e. sales and loyalty) than conversations that speak only to logic. Read the book and you will recognize yourself in many of the examples presented.

This past Sunday, in Parade magazine, Lindstrom writes on How Subliminal Advertising Works and presents some great examples to support his point of view (a view that I share as well) that subliminal brand cues play an important role in the buying process. As you take your brand into the new year, what are the subliminal brand cues for your product that make consumers buy? If you don’t know, find out.

If you missed the premier run in October 2008, The Sundance Channel is running an encore of season four starting this week. If you are new to the series, “ICONOCLASTS explores the intersection where two great talents meet – and where creativity comes alive.” in the words of Executive Producer Robert Redford. Or if you prefer the scripted version:

ICONOCLASTS presents an intimate, unpredictable portrait of creative visionaries whose passion for what they do has transformed our culture. Like the leadership consumer packaged good brands I work with on a daily basis, these celebrity “Brand Icons”are leaders that have changed the conversation on how people view and experience the world today. I was inspired by the pairings for this season. I trust you will enjoy them as well.

Season Four
Desmond Tutu + Richard Branson
Stella McCarthy + Ed Ruscha
Tony Hawk + Jon Favreau
Bill Maher + Clive Davis
Venus Williams + Wyclef Jean
Cameron Dias + Cameron Sinclair

If you are so inclined, season two is available on iTunes and season three is playing on Hulu.

Source: The Sundance Channel

With Mac World and CES just days away, Robert Scoble’s article Passion Play in Fast Company (November 2008), is a good reminder that brands need to be having conversations with their most passionate consumers. In the case of tech brands that is the early adopter.

You want to reach the mainstream? You first need to reach that one consumer who is most passionate about your brand and product. Reach them and they will be your advocate for reaching out to the mainstream. A great example is the Apple iPhone. In less than two years, Apple sold almost 18 million iPhones. The 3G version sold almost 7 million in the last quarter of 2008 – surpassing the total number of original iPhones sold in their lifetime.

Where did the sales momentum come from? I say early adopters like myself. At first I said no, I had a great Nokia phone, why do I need all that other stuff like a camera or listen to music or watch a video, etc. Yet, I was one of the first to buy a Newton. What convinced me was the quality of the screen – Wow! I bought one within the first 3 days and have been an advocate every since upgrading to the 3G when it came out. By my count, I’ve influenced over 20 people who would have never considered an iPhone to buy one. And with the App Store, my two daughters are fans as well – future iPhone buyers when dad says it is ok to have a phone (is never soon enough?).

As you change the conversation of your brand, make sure you are having that conversation with your most passionate consumer.

Sir Richard Branson answers questions from FORTUNE and readers in Questions for Sir Richard Branson in the November 10, 2008 issue of FORTUNE Asia. I was in Singapore on business at the time and came upon this article. I’m a big fan of Branson as a fellow entrepreneur. I like his spirit and perspective to life and business that when the opportunity came up to attend his Rock the Kasbah charity event for Virgin Unite this past October in Los Angeles I quickly said yes. And that is another story.

I’m still looking for the complete article online as it is a very good read. In the meantime there were two questions that I want to share Branson’s response as he clearly articulates the importance of a strong brand and changing the conversation.

How are you dealing with the economic crisis?

So far, we’ve been very lucky. Because we’ve been going 25 years, we’ve built up a reputation, built up a trusted brand, and therefore, in this time of difficulty, people will go out of their way to fly us. We have also, in a sense sadly, benefited from a number of other carriers that we were competing with going bust. So any dropoff that we might have felt from people losing their jobs or the banking crisis has been more than offset by there being less competition.

What’s been your biggest business blunder?

Virgin has gotten it right when we’ve taken on a Goliath and offered a much-better-quality product at good value. We’ve gotten it wrong when we’ve taken on a giant with a product where we can’t differentiate. Virgin Cola is the classic example. For the first few months (in 1994) that we launched Virgin Cola in England, we took Coca-Cola by storm. And we got 60% market share where we were selling. It was great fun. Then Coca-Cola set up a SWAT team in Atlanta. They sent it to England. They went into all the retailers that we were in, and we suddenly found that we had no shelf space left. And because we had nothing unique, we soon found our market share go from 60% right back down to 5%-10% if we were lucky.

The two key insights to take away are:

1. In troubled times, consumers retreat to reputable, trusted brands. All the more important to design your brand “right” from the start.
2. If you can’t differentiate (change the conversation) yourself from the competition, you will not establish yourself as a sustainable brand. How can you change the conversation and establish your brand as the leader in the category.

Source: FORTUNE Asia – First – Questions for … Sir Richard Branson

To follow up my last post on color schemes, here is an article from USA Today – Raise a hue and cry, ‘Buy it in this color!’ on the impact of color in consumer shopping decisions. Even in these recessionary times, color can be a strong sales driver. But then you already knew that.

Automotive designer Robert Cumberford writes about The Best Racing Car Design of All Times – the Bugatti Type 35 – in Automobile Magazine. Great read and the Bugatti is a timeless beauty.

Navigators, a running series by the San Francisco Chronicle Business staff profiles prominent business leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area who are managing their way through the severe economic downturn. The December 23 profile on Virgin America President and CEO David Cush caught my interest as I am a big fan of the airline.

Some insightful quotes by David:

The economy – “In the end, during tough times, what matters is putting out a great product that people want to buy. As long as you are doing that, at the right price, everything is going to be OK.”

Their audience – “We can’t be the airline for everyone. We have a very specialized product, we have a very specialized target audience and we are going to make sure we do not catch the disease a lot of airlines do, which is to decide they can be everything to everyone and they outgrow their business model.”

You can read the complete profile here.

Brand Engine core values + long-term client success = great story. At Brand Engine we live sustainability. And when one of our clients is recognized for their environmental efforts, we like to brag. In Good for Earth, Good for Business, a San Francisco Chronicle Business article by George Raine, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) ranks number 11 of 63 large businesses graded on their environmental record. The ranking was done by Ceres, a Boston group that joins investors and environmentalist to promote that going green makes good business sense (and I completely agree).

From the article – HP… is nearly three years ahead of schedule to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of its products and operations to 20% below 2005 levels by 2010, and went on to increase its overall target to a 25% reduction.

Over the past year, Brand Engine has contributed to communicating HP’s commitment to the environment. We helped re-launch HP Eco Highlights, a labeling program to inform consumers on the environmental features and impact of HP consumer products.

Stay tuned for the case study.