I love everything Mac — from my iPhone to the computers I use, I can’t imagine working or playing on anything else. For those of you who also utilize a Mac product for everything important, you’re nodding your head. My creative business persona basically picks apart their advertising — which transforms my thought process to the evolution of their brand. My position within McKain Performance Group, Inc. then processes and attributes the company’s growth to their ability to differentiate their products and brand AND provide the experiences that make their customers (ME!!) loyal.

For those of you playing along at home, here’s how it goes…brand image is closely related to graphic style, and graphic style is chosen based on the high concept of the company. (If you’re in business and you don’t know what a ‘high concept’ is, you absolutely need Scott McKain.) Although graphic style and a cool logo are not the only attributes that make up brand admiration, they are certainly a big part of a company’s image and reputation. Take Apple for example…

You probably know that Apple was recently named the “Most Admired Brand in America” by Fortune Magazine. What you probably don’t know is that their first logo was designed by Ronald Wayne, one of the three original Apple Computer partners (along with Jobs and Wozniack), who owned 10 percent of Apple’s stock and bailed out of the company after only two weeks — selling his stock back for a one-time payment of $800. But that’s just the beginning of the story…

In 1977, Apple rolled out their first brochure based on the company’s ‘high concept’ that included the headline tag, ‘Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication’. Do you think Apple would still be the admired brand it is today if Jobs and Wozniack would’ve stuck with what they had? It’s that Scott concept in my head that keeps saying, ‘you can’t differentiate what you can’t clearly define’ (not the exact quote, but it’s close enough) that surfaces and makes this Apple story the perfect example of why he’s right.

You’re online or you wouldn’t be reading this — but if you’re a business owner, or just someone that finds Internet facts interesting, this post is for you.

Check out this list of Who’s Online from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Did you know that Technorati is currently tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media? They also report that bloggers update regularly (over 1.6 million posts per day, or over 18 updates a second.)

The New York Times published an article recently that cited a survey that said only 5% of small businesses with fewer than 100 employees are blogging. Doesn’t sound like many …but with 25.3 million of those same biz types, that translates into about 1.25 million that DO have a BLOG.

With blogging, podcasting, vidcasting/YouTube.com affording low cost and no cost of production, it’s simply inexcusable not to be using any or all of the above to promote your message!

It’s evening, and you’re sitting in front of the television watching your favorite station. Your program is interrupted by commercials at regular intervals – so many times in fact that you can’t simply ignore them or excuse yourself to get a drink or go to the restroom each and every time an advertisement comes uninvited into your living room. So which ones do you remember? Quickly – name one.

If you’re like me (and many others), you remember commercials that are humorous. Humor in advertising is a delicate method of attracting attention and forcing interaction with a product or service. If it’s funny – we laugh.

Have you seen the Capitol One credit card commercials? There’s a series that revolves around ‘black out dates’, making light of what rewards you might receive from your credit card company. You know the one – the family is dressed for a skiing trip but it’s a hot July day. They ride the ski lift sweating in their winter gear; the father springs down the slope on skis – not sliding but taking a bumpy trip down the rocky slope. Just as he stands up and waves his arms saying, “I’m ok!” the mother (being a good sport) takes her turn down the incline, mowing his battered body to the ground once again. While I still trash the company’s direct mail offerings for credit that I receive in the mail daily, I would possibly take a closer look if ‘rewards’ were important to me when choosing a credit card company.

Adding humor to your marketing concept requires a careful balance in order that credibility is maintained. Everyone’s view of humor isn’t the same – nor do we interpret specific offerings or even recall them the same as our neighbor might. Let’s face it – a lot of people just don’t have a sense of humor, and humor in advertising is risky. When done right, it works very, very well and can create a comfortable and positive image for your company.

Here are a few points for you to consider:

• Advertising humor works best with established and commonly purchased products or services.
• Advertising humor needs to be well suited to its audience.
• Advertising humor needs to be product or service specific.
• Advertising humor has a relatively short life. The first time we see it, we may laugh out loud. But after a while, although we still may smile at the joke, it’s not so funny any more.

The most important point to remember – no matter if you choose to use humor in your advertising campaign or stick with a more traditional form of promotion — is that you MUST entertain your audience to be effective.