Buying into plotlines
Your brand is your user experience
Merry Amex-mas (Augmented Fun From Down Un)
Where do you stand on SOPA and PIPA?
Some recent thoughts on “rebranding” from the marketing blogs:
The Next Stage
“Theatre.” If the word puts you in mind of excruciating boredom and happy/sad drama masks you’re probably in the majority. So argues Vancouver theatre marketer and blogger Simon Ogden in his recent Rebranding of theatre post. “ . . . to get these creaky images out of the minds of the general public, we are going to have to re-brand.” It’s his call to arms for a new generation of theatre makers and marketers. The goal: “Establish a common consciousness about how our art form is thought of by those that aren’t . . . well, us, and convince them it’s not that thing that they’re thinking it is.” Great idea.
Dollar Rede$ign Project
Speaking of niche blogging, here’s an entire blog devoted to the rebranding of US money – both figuratively and literally. “The Dollar ReDe$ign Project hopes to bring about change for everyone. We want to rebrand the US Dollar, rebuild financial confidence and revive our failing economy.” See the double meaning of the word “change” there?
City of Toronto web re:Brand blog
It’s awesome that the City of Toronto is embracing blogging, but its “City of Toronto web re:Brand blog” is so far more confusing than clarifying. It’s a blog “about toronto.ca and the web re:Brand project.” So, it’s a blog about a website and a separate “re:Branding” project? I’m lost.
Rebrand Tasmania
The Australian island state of Tasmania wants to be known for more than that insane cartoon spinning devil guy. To that end, some savvy marketing folks down there have started the “Rebrand Tasmania” blog: “We started this project because as proud Tasmanians, we felt the current State Government brand failed to capture the unique sense of environment, heritage and culture that Tasmania has to offer.” They’ve put their first 3-minute pitch video on their site. Here it is:
Keith McDonald
March 24, 2010 @ 9:21 pm
Hi Ian, Keith here from the City of Toronto re:Brand blog mentioned in your piece. One of the oddities is how we aren’t attached to toronto.ca directly but on Blogger. That may lead to confusion. We’d rather be in one place – I may go over the reasons why we aren’t in our own blog but won’t waste time here. To clarify … we are rebranding the toronto.ca website – that’s the project.
So you’ve given me pause – maybe we should just say it that way … love to hear what others think. And while you’re at it tell us what would make the toronto.ca website better for you.
Cheers.
Ian Mackenzie
March 25, 2010 @ 9:33 am
Hi Keith,
Thanks for the clarification. I had a sense that it was a straight rebrand of Toronto.ca, but I got tripped up in some of the explainer copy and the possibly overcomplicated word “re:Brand.”
Certainly, “we are rebranding the toronto.ca website – that’s the project” makes it clear as day what’s happening – and I think it’s well worth having a blog about that.
As for what would make toronto.ca better for me. Thanks for asking. I can start by telling you what I’ve used it for in recent memory:
1) Getting info and downloading maps from the “Discovery Walks” program.
2) Learning about parking in my neighbourhood.
3) Getting info about Toronto Animal Services.
In all these cases, I believe I arrived at the site through search, Google.
I have no real problem with toronto.ca. But I have a feeling I’ve only just scratched the surface of the services available to me there.
So if I was to offer any citizen-of-Toronto-armchair-rebranding-feedback, it would simply be to make toronto.ca more inviting, more exciting, and more accessible. Help people who arrive at the site organically to understand how much you’ve got on offer.
Keith McDonald
March 25, 2010 @ 4:31 pm
Thanks for the note Ian … I’ve changed up our description on our Blog and the other notes are exactly what we are looking to discover. I especially like the goals you advance for us. Will we get there? Stay tuned!