BrandVertising

A few months back I was approached about hosting a web TV program. After some consultation with friends and family I decided to dive in and host a show about branding and advertising from the perspective of those that live and lived it from the very front row. The show became BrandVertising, cute but hopefully not too cute of a show name. Well two months later, along with my production partner fusedlogic.tv, we have produced two shows.

The fun thing about doing the BrandVertising show is that I get to reconnect with some great peers I've worked with over the past 25 years in this business. On my first show I talked with Rico DiGiovanni, who is now the president of Spider Marketing in Toronto. I worked with Rico when we both had a relationship with FCB on the Coors Light business. Rico and I had fun talking about brand activation and experiential marketing. Being the pilot episode of the show, we learned a few things like needing to improve our Skype connection (which has been fixed) but overall the show went rather smoothly and Rico was great.





Then this past week I interviewed Jane Price who before starting her current marketing and social media consulting practice, was the global head of social marketing for Intel. Jane was a former client of mine when I was running McCann Erickson in China and is one of the sharpest people I have come across. We had a good talk about how organizations are starting to mainstream social marketing into their marketing arsenal.




So as I move forward with BrandVertising I expect to continue having fun talking with great marketing communications professionals I know now, and will get to know in the future. If anyone has an idea for the show just let me know. Until then, click on an episode and give me your feedback.

Edmonton Meet Detroit

Many of you may have seen the amazing work the ad agency Wieden+Kennedy has done for Chrysler when you watched the Super Bowl this year. The theme work that sells the true power of Detroit behind the Eminem track is powerful and indeed makes me rethink what Detroit stands for today.

I live in Edmonton a northern city in the province if Alberta. Edmonton is a capital city on a similar northern parallel as Moscow. Since I returned here in 2007 I have heard many people discussing what this city should stand for, how should it differentiate itself, and quite honestly I think the brand of the city is lost. The sad thing is that this city has so much going for it. It sits at the base of the second largest oil reserve in the world. It has a citizenry that is smart, well educated and full of heart, yet not afraid to get their hands dirty, and it sits on a river valley that is the envy of any city in the world. While it is true for a good part of the year this river valley is dusted with snow and the river is frozen over but that is also part of the beauty of the city. Edmonton has seasons, definite seasons.

It is not my place here to define a brand for the city of Edmonton, not yet anyway. My place is to highlight the fact that cities can be branded powerfully, as Weiden+Kennedy has done for Detroit via a commercial for Chrysler, and those with the power to do so for Edmonton, should take note.