Anti Branding Works
Okay, so we all know about branding these days. How it’s all about positioning our company in the public’s mind so that we’re in, at least, the top three of the marketing categories we want to dominate. Well, for the sake of this blog, let’s assume your eyes haven’t glazed over and you know exactly what I’m talking about. Now, for the sake of argument, let’s say that there’s "Anti Branding". No, really…I was watching this Discovery Channel program about matter and anti matter, and I’m now more convinced than ever that "Anti Branding" is real and behind some of the most successful campaigns in advertising history.
Sure, I’ve got an example. A great example. It’s the State of Iowa. I’m not sure that most non-Iowans know it, but our fair state is the land of milk and honey. I’m not joking here. We’ve got it all…mountains, oceans, lakes full of hungry fish, golf courses where all the greens are terraced to feed your ball directly to the cup, hot and cold running beautiful people, wi fi internet paved into every road so that you’re always connected, and the governor is on a first name basis with everyone that lives here..not just the powerful few. But understand our dilemna here, if everyone knew about Iowa, everyone would want to live here…then, we’d be just another California.
So, years ago…the brilliant advertising minds that lived here decided they had to do something about it. They began the first ever "anti branding" campaign. Through the rumor mill, the earliest version of the internet, those marketing genious’s let it be known that Iowa was a cornball state full of hicks. They started stories of cattle running wild in the streets, pigs everywhere, wild horses gone amuck, no culture and very little education beyond the third grade. They even hired Grant Woods to come up with a graphic. You remember American Gothic. And you thought it was just a painting.
"So Steve," you ask, "did it work?" You bet it worked. People today make jokes about Iowa all the time. There’s even a Hallmark card out there that reads, "You’ve been transferred to Des Moines?" and when you open it up it says "What did you do wrong?" It worked so well that people in this state don’t even know what we have. I recently learned that the architect for the "Iowa Hall of Pride" was hired out of New Jersey and the voice talent hired to do the commercials is out of Connecticut. Boy, did it work. Those early marketing moguls even convinced the people at Rand McNally to leave all of the mountains, oceans and any interesting topography out of any and all maps of the state.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and let you know that while the advertising force is strong…I think the dark side is stronger. You may just want to use the Iowa example and think about "Anti Branding" for your next client. And please don’t come visit Iowa. You might just learn the truth. And that might just tragically undo years of successful misdirection.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll leave the mic on for ya.
Sure, I’ve got an example. A great example. It’s the State of Iowa. I’m not sure that most non-Iowans know it, but our fair state is the land of milk and honey. I’m not joking here. We’ve got it all…mountains, oceans, lakes full of hungry fish, golf courses where all the greens are terraced to feed your ball directly to the cup, hot and cold running beautiful people, wi fi internet paved into every road so that you’re always connected, and the governor is on a first name basis with everyone that lives here..not just the powerful few. But understand our dilemna here, if everyone knew about Iowa, everyone would want to live here…then, we’d be just another California.
So, years ago…the brilliant advertising minds that lived here decided they had to do something about it. They began the first ever "anti branding" campaign. Through the rumor mill, the earliest version of the internet, those marketing genious’s let it be known that Iowa was a cornball state full of hicks. They started stories of cattle running wild in the streets, pigs everywhere, wild horses gone amuck, no culture and very little education beyond the third grade. They even hired Grant Woods to come up with a graphic. You remember American Gothic. And you thought it was just a painting.
"So Steve," you ask, "did it work?" You bet it worked. People today make jokes about Iowa all the time. There’s even a Hallmark card out there that reads, "You’ve been transferred to Des Moines?" and when you open it up it says "What did you do wrong?" It worked so well that people in this state don’t even know what we have. I recently learned that the architect for the "Iowa Hall of Pride" was hired out of New Jersey and the voice talent hired to do the commercials is out of Connecticut. Boy, did it work. Those early marketing moguls even convinced the people at Rand McNally to leave all of the mountains, oceans and any interesting topography out of any and all maps of the state.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and let you know that while the advertising force is strong…I think the dark side is stronger. You may just want to use the Iowa example and think about "Anti Branding" for your next client. And please don’t come visit Iowa. You might just learn the truth. And that might just tragically undo years of successful misdirection.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll leave the mic on for ya.
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