I was caught off-guard by the sheer simplicity and clarity of the message. With “Drive One”, Ford isn’t trying to inspire anybody. There is no intent to build brand image or brand associations. Poetry, this ain’t. No emotion is evoked by these two words.

I found it strangely refreshing. It is a direct order to the customer. The call to action isn’t embedded in the slogan, it is the slogan. It’s almost like they got tired of trying to be cool, just threw their hands up in their air and said, okay, people, just buy the friggin cars, k?? It cuts through the bullshit and gets to the point.

Is Ford onto something? Maybe advertisers should just have the brand message explicitly in their slogans. There are no lines to read between and no one gets confused.

What would some Gen Y brands say if they were this honest?

Activia

Danone’s use of Bifidus Regularis has caused some controversy, since Bifidus Regularis is nothing more than a made-up word to sound scientific.

Axe

Not too much work to draw this one up. Axe ads are explicit in more ways than one.

Hollister

Only people with 4% bodyfat and perfect facial symmetry wear Hollister. Since you’re wearing Hollister, that must mean you’re one of those people, right?
More thoughts on Hollister here.

I Am Not A Plastic Bag

Anya Hindmarch’s popular, eco-trendy “I Am Not A Plastic Bag” was really nothing more than pretentiousness in the form of a canvas sack.

Red Bull

Red Bull does give you wings…because it has a synergistic effect with alcohol.

Here’s to hoping Ford gets rewarded for their forthrightness.

In almost every case study, every class discussion and every before-class conversation, Apple’s products and marketing strategy are mentioned. All comments are positive. Steve Jobs and Co. are the maestros of hype, arbiters of cool and the idols of tomorrow’s business leaders. It should be interesting how this incredible influence plays out in the next few decades.

No brand name over the front doors, no glass windows to see inside, and two Tiger Beat model types to greet you on the way in. The inside is so dark, ladies might feel the instinct to grasp the pepper spray inside their purses. An overbearing perfume/cologne mix hangs in the air. It’s almost as if they’ve designed the store to repel you, but their success clearly shows that Gen Y is responding.

Above is a peek inside one such store, which almost seems to go against every ergonomic and design rule conceived in the last 50 years. But perhaps that’s precisely why it’s so successful. Teens are always going to want to rebel against their elders, and this is just the latest iteration.

Or…maybe I’m just getting older. Next thing you know I’m yelling at kids to get off my lawn…

Nascar is an overwhelmingly American WASP institution. I’m sure many of you are conjuring “Bubba” with the pickup truck draped with a confederate flag. Now just imagine if there suddenly was a spike of Nascar interest in the Chinese community. Chinese people would then start watching races, be seen in the crowd, wear Nascar gear, etc. Would the original fan base be receptive to these new fans? Would they be turned off, seeing the new audience as intruders to their private club that they love so dearly?

I’m not saying that Nascar is run by the Klan. But a situation like that highlights how people can invest so much of themselves into a brand, that they can feel betrayed when it changes from what they originally bought into.

Burberry suffers from a similar “problem” in the UK where chavs wear their products, robbing the brand of its air of class. There’s also talk of American Idol being a victim to such a case, since their ratings are involving more and more parents, moving the show away from the intended tween demo (this partially explains the mystery of Taylor Hicks’ victory).

Last year, Cristal said that they don’t want rappers to talk about their product anymore. They lower the brand’s prestige, it seems. If you’re saying that your beverage is the drink of lords and kings, and then you see your beverage in a video surrounded by mounds of bouncing flesh and ex-convicts…well, bit of a contradiction there.

I’m sure Cristal loved the sales but hated the association. This is basically the equivalent of the convenience store selling slurpees to inner city kids, but then telling them to shoo away from the store, you’re scaring away my customers!

You could be like the ever-growing Facebook and accept the fact that you are sitting on a fantastic product that has appeal far larger than your current audience. Welcome everyone with open arms. There’s going to be complaints — but those dissenting voices are drowned out by the incessant, soothing sounds of the cash register.