The Brand Canyon

 The Brand Canyon

A steep sided gorge carved by competitor brands that sits in different marketplaces.  Planners are often major proponents of the Brand Canyon area as it presents a significant positioning opportunity for other brands.  The Brand Canyon is often clearly visible from market maps and aside from viewing, it can be represented as part of a brand positioning landscape.  As a rugged natural feature of marketplace evaluation exercises, it can be said to be remote on occasions and therefore subject to a number of environmental hazards, which may not surface until further analysis. 

Does advertising create trends in society or follow them?

I was posed this question today and I think it is a bit of both really.  A lot of advertising, in order to be relevant and tap into the right audiences, appeals to trends that already exist, whether they're bubbling in the underground or just creeping up to the surface.  Helping to push these existing trends to audiences that may not be aware of them yet is something that advertising can really get stuck into.  But I don't believe it is as cut and dry and unearthing trend-gems and using them for brands' benefits. 

It all depends on the creativity and the balls of the agency involved, and of course the vision of the brand, to say whether this is actually enough for cut-through.  It is certainly the case that in some instances it isn't enough and that sometimes advertising does create trends from seemingly nowhere that catch on to our consciousness and help brands become synonymous with certain behaviours. 

De Beers is a fascinating example of that - the way they pioneered linking diamonds to engagement rings in order to create a brand in a brandless category.  That strategy has remained true to the brand since its inception and it is a relevant today as it always was.        

The snow brand's decline

Ok, so I am posting rather late on this weather topic, but there's a good reason for it.  These past three days have been a complete disaster for me - obviously on Monday I wasn't getting to work or anywhere for that matter - I was trapped in my flat on my own.  On Tuesday it took me two hours to get home.  And finally, yesterday I slipped and fell on some ice, which resulted in a head trauma and me freaking out in an ambulance - once again this week I ended up alone in my flat, but this time, in a lot of pain.

I am back to around 60% capacity today and am feeling altogether different about the snow brand.  Rose-tinted perceptions are no more.  Snow is NOT as fun as it seems and it really wasn't until this week that this really dawned on me.  I am quite young, and so still have fantastical memories of childhood sledging, snowball fights and general positivity, but I now see the bigger picture of the brand.

It's like when we all found out how some clothes retailers have some ethically dubious manufacturing processes or when we found out that Pringles are not strictly crisps, the lustre surrounding the brands kind of waned somewhat and their true colours came shining through.

So now, I have seen the dangerous and inconvenient side to snow for myself - which is different from reading about cars freezing, people being trapped - I have experienced it and as a result, snow's brand values have edged away from purely positive. 

Maybe a little repositioning exercise for the snow brand could detract from all of this negative PR?