A Blog by VCU Adcenter Professor and O'Keefe Brands CEO, Kelly O'Keefe
A few weeks ago, I gave students an assignment to visit The Home Depot store and explore the current customer experience. Determine whether the chain should launch a major initiative in response to increasing consumer interest in style and aesthetics.
An alert Creative Brand Management student, Liz Streibich, noted this article on MarketWatch, announcing The Home Depot’s “softer, more colorful” test stores. Student responses measured up well to the actual plan.
My class has been curious about what I’ve been up to in my work for the Radio industry. So after it became public with a launch at the NAB Radio Show in Charlotte, I went through a summary of the research findings and brand strategy. To make sure this sharing goes both ways, my Creative Brand Management students will be developing some of their own ideas about how to get people more excited about Radio. Since we discussed the value of Position Testing, I’ve added material about the approach to the Resources section of this blog.
Up until now, I’ve been maintaining different sites for three different courses I teach at VCU Adcenter. But it seems to me there’s value in making all of these resources available to everyone I teach, and anyone else who happens across this blog. So, whether you are a student or not, I hope you find some interesting information about building brands, exploring cultures and the intersection between the two.
Ann Coulter has made herself the Paris Hilton of politics: pretty on the outside – ugly on the inside. So it shouldn’t be surprising that she would stir up more controversy by suggesting that Jews need to be “perfected”.
At the VCU Adcenter, we’ve been working on an assignment for the First Freedom Center, with the purpose of increasing religious dialogue to battle religious intolerance.
Communications Strategist, Nien Liu, asked me a provocative question, “What does the First Freedom Center think – do they consider this a crisis?”
Virtually every study on the topic suggests that when people feel comfortable discussing religion, intolerance of other faiths is reduced. Nien’s question was a good one. Here was an example of religion being discussed in a way that demonstrated ignorance and intolerance. Is this a good thing? I won’t speak for the First Freedom Center, but here are my own views:
First of all, this is unfortunate example of how ignorance leads to intolerance. The less you know about religious beliefs other than you’re own, the more likely you are to be intolerant. Coulter demonstrates not only ignorance of other religions, but also ignorance of her own.
Second, even intolerant discussions of religion can promote positive dialogue. When I did a blog search on Coulter’s remarks, I found over 2,500 blog entries on the subject. (General Google entries, which can include duplication, were over 400,000) Many of these were thoughtful and provocative, and many Christian commentators quoted scripture to counter Coulter’s point-of-view.
So to answer Nien’s question as to whether Coulter’s words created a crisis, I would say no. The powerful thing about free speech is that voices of hatred are almost always drowned out by voices of reason. It just takes a little time.
Links: Coulter’s Comments
Last night our Cultural Exploration team made presentations of comprehensive branding campaigns aimed at breaking the taboo of talking about religious subjects. The client is the Council for America’s First Freedom, an organization committed to protecting and expanding religious freedom. They take their work very seriously, as they should. The majority of bloody conflicts are caused by religious intolerance, and ignorance about other religions is a primary cause of intolerance.
If people talked more openly about their religious beliefs, or lack of them, the world would be a more respectful, peaceful place.
So why don’t we talk about religion? That was the first question 44 VCU Adcenter students had to explore. The answers are complex and varied: People are often ignorant or unsure about their own religion and don’t feel as though they’re in a position to discuss their beliefs. The people who do talk about religion are often seen as preachy or even fanatical. People are afraid that asking questions about the religious practices of others will be offensive. People are fearful that if they listen, they may be signaling a lack of faith.
Religion is a heavy topic; so most folks will talk about almost any aspect of their lives before they’ll talk about their beliefs.
Many of the presentations sought to lighten up the dialogue and provide tools to make it easier to enter into a conversation on religious subjects. Were they making light of a topic that is seen as too heavy to talk about? I hope so.
I thought I’d go out in search of authentic Italian culture and cuisine at Richmond’s Italian Festival this weekend. Unfortunately, I found neither. To be fair, there were a few booths serving passable pasta, but even the Italian sausage was quite a bit less than passable and quite a bit less than Italian.
Worse still were the booths serving Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and Virginia’s Finest Barbecue. How did these vendors miss the fact that this was an Italian Festival? Maybe because the organizers also seemed to have missed the point. As I passed the Judo demonstrations and Patric (Patricio?) Henry, I just gave up. I was glad to see one or two faces that looked liked they actually knew what a Cannoli is, but when Ron Moody and the Centaurs started playing beach music, I knew I had to go.
Contrast this with my trip to Philadelphia last weekend. (I compounded the fun by taking Amtrak, which is its own cultural experience.) In Philly, there is an Italian Market area where you can still find off-the-boat Italian Culture and food. Just eavesdropping in the restaurant was un-freaking-believable! But they still don’t make Sfingi like my Mom. The moral of the story? If you’re going to celebrate a culture, get it right! If I want to pretend I’m experiencing a European culture, I’ll go to Busch Gardens Europe, in Williamsburg.
Today, we had a powerful and timely talk by our guest speaker Ambassador Robert Seiple, the first ever US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom and current President of the Council for America’s First Freedom.
Ambassador Seiple helped remind us of the critical role religious freedom played in the formation of the US and the price we all pay when that freedom is taken for granted.
Our session ended with a challenge: An assignment to help promote religious dialogue and respect through a campaign aimed at the general public.
Our class explored unfamilair cultures through dress and habits this week, resulting in revealing and amusing storytelling. We also exchanged personal cultural maps. Learning about the many ways our cultural identities intersect in our lives. A link to more photos will be posted soon.
I like to get up close and personal with popular culture and my favorite obsession is with Advertising Icons. Americans know characters like Big Boy, Mr. Peanut, Mr. Clean, the GEICO Gecko and the Michelin Man (real name: Bibendum) better than their Senators or Congressmen. I’ve been collecting these characters for over 20 years and I’ve continued to buy them, even after pledging the entire collection to the Adcenter. (Look for an installation in the new building).
How well do you know you’re ad characters? You can look at some and vote for your favorite HERE. And while you’re there, check out the rest of the Advertising Week, 2007 site. The VCU Adcenter’s Rick Boyko, is on the board of the event and Adcenter students will be participating in the “Brand America” presentation.
If you’re looking for a moving book that provides powerful insights into a number of cultures, you should read King of the World, by David Remnick. The book gives us a look into the world of one of the most culturally significant athletes of all time, Muhammad Ali.
Ali left a mark on sports, religion, race, and politics. He was a Muslim ally of Malcolm X who rejected his slave name and his Christian roots, an athlete who gave up his status as a world champion when he refused to go to Vietnam, and a diplomat who spread goodwill throughout the world and ultimately won the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
