December 2013 – Page 2

Friday Five: Best posts of 2013

It’s the final Friday of 2013, which means it’s time to do a backwards glance at the contents of this blog over the past 12 months. And time for a bit of introspection.

At a time when the experts are saying (again) that blogging is dead (again) — or at least dead for anyone except “40-somethings with kids” (I’m 50-something and have no kids) — I do have to stop and wonder whether there’s any value in a traditional blog like this versus, say, a tumblr. (Except, as I reported earlier this year, I haven’t exactly gotten the hang of the whole tumblr thing.) But then I look at the handful of fine higher ed-focused blogs that are out there, and the value they bring to their target audiences, I have to think that blogging still has a purpose.

And therefore, I plan to continue to publish this blog in 2014. And just as it was in 2013, the frequency of posts will likely be sporadic and sometimes off-topic, but I hope that some of you find some value in the topics I write about, just as you did this past year.

Here are the five (or so) blog posts that I thought brought some value, if not a little bit of insight, to the higher ed community in 2013:

The elements of a great #highered Twitter account. First on the list is a two-part post, and its success belongs to all of you much more than it does to me. For this reason, the topic is probably the best example of how these old-fashioned blogs can still foster conversation among members of a community of practice, and tap into the hive mind to generate great ideas. The discussion began with a post last April in which I took Education Dive to task for their approach to ranking the top Twitter accounts in higher ed. (Education Dive relied on two criteria — number of followers and Klout score — plus an undefined “subjective appraisal” to determine the best of the best.) In that April post, I called on the higher ed community to share their thoughts on what makes a great Twitter account, and you responded in droves. I sifted through those comments to create the second part of this discussion in May: The elements of a great #highered Twitter account.
‘College (Un)bound’ and the frog in the kettle. My thoughts on Jeff Selingo’s 2013 book College (Un)bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. One of my highlights in 2013 was getting to meet Jeff Selingo at the CASE Annual Assembly last July in San Francisco.
Content strategy is fine, but… A suggestion that, instead of focusing so heavily on content strategy, we take a look at the needs and wants of our customers and come up with an audience strategy.
Media relations in a disintermediated world. As a former journalist turned PR/media relations practitioner turned brand manager, the role of media relations and the news media is a recurring topic for me. I wrote this back in October, and will also be presenting on this subject in June 2014 at a regional PRSA conference in Springfield, Mo.
Boring old brand-building. A post that builds off of a quote from the greatest branding book ever written, Al and Laura Ries’s The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.

Thanks so much for reading in 2013, and for sharing your thoughts in the comments, on Twitter, and elsewhere. I wish you all a successful 2014 in all measures.

Duck Dynasty and A&E’s rebranding failure

A&E unveiled its new tagline, “be original,” last fall and used “Duck Dynasty” stars to help convey that brand. Has it backfired?

Back in October, when A&E unveiled a new tagline as part of its rebranding campaign, the cable network was riding a wave of popularity, thanks to hit shows like Duck Dynasty. The “be original” tagline seemed to work well with A&E’s lineup of quirky programming.

As A&E marketing exec Guy Slattery told The Hollywood Reporter at the time:

We felt like we could really own “originals” the way USA has managed to own “characters” and TNT owns “drama.”

Well. What a difference a couple of months makes, eh?

As has been widely reported over the past week, Duck Dynasty‘s bull goose, Phil Robertson, in an interview with GQ Magazine, shared some of his thoughts about gays and African Americans in the pre-civil rights south, among other things. His comments sparked strong reactions among gay rights and civil rights groups, and (of course) on the Internet. A&E suspended Robertson, a move that caused a powerful counter-backlash from Duck Dynasty fans, conservative Christians and alleged First Amendment advocates who took to Twitter to #StandWithPhil.

It now appears that A&E wasn’t too serious about the suspension. The Duck Dynasty patriarch will return to the show in January (source). So, maybe the GQ interview was all a publicity ploy cooked up by A&E’s publicists? (Although this report — and this one — would suggest otherwise. It appears that Phil Robertson went rogue on A&E.)

But my subject here today isn’t about Duck Dynasty or Phil Robertson and his comments. It’s about A&E’s brand identity.

I wonder if this entire controversy will strengthen A&E’s “be original” brand or weaken it?

Let’s examine this issue in branding terms:

Phil Robertson is a de facto brand ambassador for the network. As a star of A&E’s franchise program, he is among the most widely recognized personas of the A&E brand (along with the rest of the Robertson clan), and A&E features the family heavily in its branding and marketing. These days, it’s difficult to separate the A&E brand from the program.

But do the stars of Duck Dynasty represent the brand A&E desires? They’re not mainstream America — not by a long shot. They’re rednecks, bearded, white, conservative — the stereotypical Red State “God and guns” demographic. But their show has managed to appeal to a broad audience, if the ratings are to be believed.

But does all this equate to original?

The visual cues may indicate that. But with any brand, the messaging is also important.

And whether A&E likes it or not, the words of Phil Robertson, as a brand ambassador for A&E, reflect on the network.

Phil spoke his mind. I’ll grant him that. But what he said was not very original. In fact, and unfortunately, his views have been around for a long, long time. For too long.

If A&E really wants to “be original,” it should pluck Duck Dynasty from its lineup. But that won’t happen. That golden goose is probably more valuable than ever.

If there’s a branding lesson to be learned from any of this, it is this: Make sure your brand ambassadors are on message. In other words, get your ducks in a row.