Brand identity can be a very personal thing. When I got married and added “Viveiros” to the end of my moniker, I received numerous congratulatory e-mails. I also got one from an irate reader, fuming that I’d “diluted my brand” by taking on my husband’s surname. I should either be Beth Negus or Beth Viveiros, the reader opined, rather than the unwieldy combo.
Wow, I have a brand identity? Cool. I always wanted to have something in common with the Gorton’s Fisherman.
Of course, having a brand isn’t enough. Your audience has to understand what your brand means. Two mailers misidentified the Viveiros brand recently. Columbia House sent us a spiffy bilingual mailing for Club Musica Latina. The envelope touted the vast selection of titles and customer service in both Spanish and English. This is great, except for the fact that we don’t speak Spanish — Viveiros is a Portuguese name. (No, we don’t speak Portuguese either. We’re lucky if we can master English most days.)
Sports Illustrated, meanwhile, curiously sent a mailing offering us the student rate for a one-year subscription. It’s a great deal, especially since no one in our home has been a student since George Michael wanted to be awake before you go-go’d.
Speaking of go-going off the deep end, Spike Lee drew a lot of attention to himself recently by suing TNN, claiming that the network’s bid to change its name to Spike TV was an attempt to infringe on his identity.
Huh? Spike TV, the New TNN or whatever they’re calling themselves at press time, has set its sights on being “the first network for men.” My mom liked them better when they were The Nashville Network. Targeting men means, of course, extreme sports, “Baywatch” reruns and raunchy, raucous cartoons like “Ren & Stimpy” — not the Grand Ole Opry.
None of this brings Spike Lee to mind for me personally, but what do I know? Several of my friends said their first thought when they heard the name was that the network featured the character Spike from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” And I’m sure others thought it was great that musical legend Spike Jones was getting so much TV time.
Lee eventually came to his senses and settled his dispute. The joke is that while he claimed he didn’t want his image to be associated with the channel, because of the fuss it’s now and forever linked with the home of “Stripperella.”
But maybe Lee wanted the attention. He hadn’t been in the news much recently and then blammo, lawsuit and instant attention. Nah, no one would file legal papers as a publicity stunt, would they? Especially not someone in the entertainment business looking for a little PR. Shudder the thought!
Dunlop Tire Corp. took a different route to branding recently. The Boston Globe reported that the manufacturer contracted with Boston promotions firm Street Attack to create a campaign to raise consumer awareness. The company recruited people online to get their heads shaved in the pattern of a tire tread and cruise around Boston wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “What’s up with my head?”
Boston was the test market for the campaign, the Globe reported. If successful, you may see “treadheads” — men only, since bald chicks wasn’t the image the company apparently wanted to convey — rolling through your town.
Hey, any branding campaign that results in a front-page story in a major daily newspaper can’t be bad. Maybe now that Spike Lee and Spike TV have made up, they could do a little branding cross promotion. I’m sure Pamela Anderson would love a part in Lee’s next “joint.” Or maybe Lee could shave the Spike TV logo into his hair. Ah, the possibilities.
BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS ([email protected]) is executive editor of Direct.
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