Brand Association: Jekyll or Hyde?
Monday, December 14th, 2009One affair suggests private relationship issues. Several alleged affairs is a public debacle for Tiger Woods and his sponsors. It begs the question, why do businesses choose to tie themselves to the cult of celebrity? The answer is because there is such a cult of celebrity.
Society has obsessed over recognition of personality for centuries, although the context has altered over time. Recent decades has witnessed the shift away from notability for achievement or exalted position and more towards fame for fame itself. Those recently seeking fame/infamy as the intended outcome include the “Balloon Boy” and the White House trespassing Salahis. It’s Warhol’s 15 minutes on steroids.
The reason why companies tie themselves to particular celebrities is more nuanced than that, of course, especially for the stewards of those corporate brands that sponsor a particular personality. Brands need to communicate their core archetypal attributes, being those characteristics, attitudes, behaviors and, indeed, that personality that those companies wish their consumers to associate with and perceive in their brand. It is easier for a brand to express those traits by illustrating them through something or someone iconic, within which or whom those brand traits are readily witnessed. (more…)


As technologies, such as Amazon’s Kindle, change our behavior and engagement with reading, it also changes the way we perceive the act of reading. Inherent in this is the role of design. There are those design considerations that relate to the functional and emotional interaction with the device and technology itself. These devices have attempted to replicate certain aspects of a reader’s interaction with the physical book, such as allowing for a finger swipe to turn a page. A friend of mine actually tore the guts from a hard back book and used velcro to attach his Kindle inside. It was a revealing gesture, as well as a well executed one.
I almost exclusively watch T.V. shows online, either on hulu.com or a network’s Web site. I am never at home when shows are typically aired and I like the format of short 30 to 15 second ads rather than 2 minute blocks that interrupt the show you are watching. The commercial that was constantly on was a new advertising spot for Frito Lays’ healthy line of snack food.
