With three years behind us since Hurricane Katrina and, continuing in the spirit of The New Orleans 100 project, I've been contemplating my hometowns future and realizing the positive changes that have come about since the storm. While researching information for the NOLA 100 project I came across an article from Chris Rose, a columnist for the Times-Picayune. This jist of this article rings so true even today - enough that I had to append to it and pass it on. Some will recognize a bit of themselves in this post and, if you don't, then you should get out more.
New Orleans. How wonderful those words sound when said with no quirky emphasis on odd syllables. And they always seem to elicit a response from both those who've been there and those who are dying to go. "Have you been there?
Have you ever been to Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait and gone back every morning of your visit? Have you ever been to Mardi Gras - attended Bacchus? Endymion? Rex? Have you ever had oysters at the Acme Oyster House? Have you ever sat out at the "fly" eating crawfish, drinking Abita beer, watching the river go by and basically doing a whole lot of nothing?
Have you ever taken a walking tour of the Garden District? Have you ever sung karaoke at Cat's Meow? Do you know who John Folse is? How about Uncle Lionel? Hubie Vigreaux? Coco Robichaux? Have you ever risen at 6AM to roam the streets of a "quiet" French Quarter? Have you ever been to Galatoire's for a Friday liquid lunch? K-Paul's? Emeril's? Can you remember when Zulu threw gold-painted coconuts? Have you ever ridden the streetcar down St. Charles Avenue secretly sipping a daiquiri?
Have you ever had a mint julep on the porch of the Columns Hotel? Been to the Napolean House for a Pimm's? Have you ever sat for hours at the piano bar at Pat O'Briiens sipping hurricanes? Have you ever been to Audubon Park? City Park? Have you ever been to mass at the St. Louis Cathedral?
Do you know who Harry Connick, Sr. is? Have you ever had breakfast at Brennan's? Have you ever been to the original Tipitina's? Have you ever been to the Superdome? Saint's game? Sugar Bowl? Super Bowl? Final Four? Have you ever had cheese fries at Fat Harry's? Thrown peanuts on the floor of O'Henry's? Have you ever been to the Rendon Inn? Can you remember the Worlds Fair?
Have you ever been to the campuses of Tulane and Loyola? Have you been to a crawfish boil? Sucked the heads? Have you ever been "on the lake"? "Across the lake"? To the "west bank"? Have you ever had a Ferdi from Mother's and wondered what "debris" was? Have you ever been an unexpected invitee to a jazz funeral? Have you ever been to JazzFest - the first or second weekend? Have you ever been to Pontchartrain Beach now, or then.
Have you ever stood in line at the Camellia Grill? Had a po-boy at Uglesich's? Oyster and artichoke soup at Mandina's? BBQ shrimp at Pascal Manale's? Gumbo at Dookie Chase? Have you ever visited a plantation home upriver?
Have you ever been to the French Quarter festival? Strawberry festival? Tomato festival? Can you pronounce Tchoupitoulas? Thibodaux? Boutte? Have you ever been to Clancy's? The Upperline? Brightsen's? Feeling's Cafe or Mimi's?
Have you ever driven out to the Biloxi beaches? Have you ever had a monsoon at Port of Call? Breakfast at the Blue Bird? Have you ever seen the Neville Brothers? Cowboy Mouth? The Radiators? Have you ever been to the Maple Leaf at 2AM to hear Rebirth jamming into the wee morning hours on a work night?
Have you ever been to New Orleans?
If you've been there, undoubtedly one of these things found its way into your itinerary. You probably also saw the dirty streets, the tired shotgun houses, and cracked sidewalks. You've heard about the high crime, poor public schools, poverty and racism. And yes, there are many housing projects. It's very hot in the summer, people are generally overweight, and the city is always a hurricane away from being flooded out and washed away.
Thankfully, each visitor choses to see the New Orleans they want to see. Luckily, New Orleans has the amazing ability to win over many more than it loses. It can cause one to see the big oaks hovering over St. Charles Avenue and not the trash on the sidewalks. It can cause one to see the street musician rather than the street beggar. It can cause one to see the wrought iron balcony rather than the dilapidated building it hangs on. What is it about the "city that care forgot" that makes most see the positive rather than the negative?
The answer to New Orleans' allure may, on the surface, seem different for locals and tourists but I suspect there is common thread - its people, the people are the heart an soul of New Orleans.
There is a culture and tradition in New Orleans that is sweet and simple. No need to overanalyze this. It recognizes that the enjoyment of life itself is as attainable for the poor as it is for the rich. A hand on the shoulder and touch on the arm is just the way we say hello. We call our friends "cher" and "heart" because we love them. We know that good music, food and drink is made all the better when surrounded by friends who share the same outlook. When it is your way of life, when it is woven into your circle of friends, social gatherings aren't seen as "events" but as something you just do.
And New Orleanians don't believe they've cornered the market on this way of life. We recognize it when we see it elsewhere and applaud it. We take it with us to far away places and infuse it into the fabric wherever we live. Like the stickers say "Be a New Orleanian wherever you are". What makes New Orleans so special is that we have a concentration of people who have it and foster it. It's generational. It's hereditary. It's in our blood. It's in our soul.
The challenge to New Orleans, to the New Orleanian, is as great as ever. Our reputation temporarily tarnished by the things that occurred in the after math of Katrina, it is now up to those who live here, have been here, and adopted this city to not let these terrible scenes replace the ones we have of our city. While money is needed to rebuild, preserving that feeling and attitude that New Orleans gives you is just as important. Did the flood waters wash away the New Orleans way of life? Not a chance. Not a chance that New Orleanians would deprive future generations of this breeding ground of the good life.
With the vast destruction of parts of this great city now clear, the question is being asked even now, "Is New Orleans worth rebuilding?" To that, I can only reply, "Have you ever BEEN to New Orleans?"
To end this post, here's my favorite quote from the Times-Picayune newspaper about my beloved city:
"We dance when there is no music. We drink at funerals. We talk to much, and live too large and frankly we're suspicious of those who don't..."
When you meet us now and you look into our eyes, you will see the saddest story ever not told. Our hearts are broken into a thousand pieces. But don't pity us, we're gonna make it, our soul - the collective soul of this city - is waterproof, and don't you ever forget it.
This week I had lunch with a colleague who works at one of the most innovative and creative shops around today. One might assume that his agency is based here in nYc - but then you'd be wrong. Honest mistake though; New York City has probably more advertising/branding/creative studios per capita than any other city in the world. So if not in New York City where might this bastion of creative talent be simmering its brain cells to cook up the next hottest campaign? LA maybe? Nope. Perhaps Atlanta or Richmond? Wrong again. So where else is there a hotbed of energetic, creative fun people? Why in New Orleans Louisiana, mon cher. Which brings me to the topic of this post. Everyone in the United States now knows of New Orleans highs and lows, most especially the lows. With 24/7 news shows highlighting everything wrong with my hometown it brings me the greatest pleasure to bring to your attention the New Orleans 100:The New Orleans 100 is a worldwide initiative that will highlight and encourage discussion among millions about 100 of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina.After hearing so many of the positive changes and innovative projects post-Katrina, we've decided enough is enough. It's time to put and end to the negative press in the mainstream media. We know the levees broke. We know our city is dysfunctional. We know that.But do you know about Prospect.1? The largest biennial of international contemporary art ever organized in the United States. Or NOLA YURP? An organization that offers a support and resource network to connect, retrain and attract young professionals from diverse backgrounds for a sustainable New Orleans. The world needs to know about the NEW New Orleans. And to quote Brad Pitt,"If you're going to rebuild something, why not rebuild it right?" Amen brother.To combat top down media during the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we will leverage bottom up tools on the social web (email, blogs, twitter, facebook, digg, etc.) which can reach a combined audience of millions to raise awareness about New Orleans and inspire action to make a difference.The list will be release on Monday, August 25 - the week of the Hurricane Katrina anniversary. Our goal is to reach 1,000,000 views by 8/29/08. We encourage everyone to spread the word by emailing the list, blogging it, digging it, stumbling it, etc.. You can make a difference. All it takes is a click!To view the list and find out more information , please visit http://alldaybuffet.org/neworleans100
I’m looking for comments on a fictitious ad that was run in several newspapers and their online sites by Philadelphia Media Holdings. The ad’s ran in papers such as The Inquirer, Daily News and on Philly.com and were used as a way to test the papers ad reach in print and online.
The ad, which was purported to be from an luxury airline entitled Derrie-Air, would charge customers by weight on a sliding scale as a part of a carbon neutral pricing and tree planting strategy. [As as side note; as ridiculous as this idea may sound I wonder if such a pricing structure could actually work some day? I believe that everyone should be responsible for their own carbon footprint.]
Several journalism ethicists and observers have voiced opinions that that the ad’s were clearly deceptive as there was a lack of full disclosure on the print ads, however, the online Derrie-Air website carried a disclosure at the bottom of the page informing visitors to the one page site that this was a fictitious campaign. Do I need to mention again that these ads ran in such prestigious bastions of journalism as The Inquirer?
You can view the Derrie-Air ad HERE . I look forward to your comments.
There seems to be a lot of hype over sites such as Coolspotters.com, SeenOn.com and Seesmic.com.If you haven’t already heard of these sites let me take a moment to explain their proposition. These websites feature candid photographs of celebrities and other bold-name-types using and wearing well known brand name products and clothing. They then link to other sites or brick and mortar stores where you can purchase whatever you saw your favorite celebrity flaunting. Welcome to reality branding, or what Marc Gobe, President of branding think tank Emotional Branding calls “a near perfect mash-up of celebrity obsession, rabid consumerism and Web 2.0 functionality”.
This concept is nothing new. Traditional media has long recognized that celebrity association is a powerful driver of buying decisions. In 1995, Time Inc. has had tremendous success with In Style magazine which shares a principle similar to these sites which provide readers with product details for trends modeled by America's favorite celebrities. Similarly, Condé Nast took the idea a step further with Lucky magazine, called a magologue—the product offerings of a catalogue with the editorial influence of a magazine.
What these innovative sites have done is shorten the cycle in which Joe Consumer is not only aware of what a certain celebrity is wearing or using but then empowers that reader to become buyer with just a click. Whew! Now I no longer have to flip to the back of the magazine to see the “Where You Can Buy It” column. I love ‘instant gratification’!
However as the line between sponsored advertising and reality branding disappears many consumers may fail to differentiate between a celebrity’s sponsorship and their personal shopping decisions. But then what’s the difference anyway? Most celebrity types are often paid for wearing a certain designers clothing and receive gift bags with free items from brands that are hoping to score big with a celebrity endorsing its product by association. Personally, I don’t know how many celebrities are stepping out and spending their tax rebate checks on the latest and greatest when it’s delivered to their doorstep daily – free of charge; we are not them, but then that’s not what brands want you to think anyway.
***Chase Wegmann is Director of Business Development & Client Strategy for a advertising, branding and marketing agency in New York City***
While walking through Whole Foods this weekend I came across a life size poster-board cutout of a well-known New Orleans chef who has had a successful cooking show and condiments/seasonings line. What caught my eye is that this posterboard chef is holding in his posterboard hand a whiteboard in which anything could be written upon it. Example: Rocky Mountain Oysters @ $6 A Dozen. Obviously not was written, but it made me wonder how does someone surrender control of his likeness/identity - his brand - so easily?
This apparition triggered other random thoughts that tend to jump through my mind like a cable remote control on amphetamines; which ultimately brought about the following question: “Why is that companies that do one thing well feel the need to branch out into other sectors that have no correlation to their core business and dilute their brand?” Are they attempting to attract new customers? Build customer loyalty? Or are they just trying to add to the bottom-line?
In an article from April 25th, Eric Newman who writes for Brandweek tells us that Starbucks is restructuring its entertainment division and shedding its Hear Music label. That a coffee purveyor even has an entertainment division is beyond me. Starbucks customers don't go into a Starbucks for books or CDs, which are impulse buys like candy at the checkout aisle of a supermarket; they go for its coffee. It’s apparent that Starbucks has been attempting to become a lifestyle brand alah Martha Stewart while neglecting its core business. At least branching out into breakfast sandwiches and providing wi-fi internet are related to the coffee shop experience in general.
Keeping with the coffee theme, McDonald’s is another example of a core business strategy gone astray. McDonalds, following Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, has decided to jump into the caffeine frenzy by promoting its own line of premium coffee drinks.
Jack Russo, an analyst with Edward Jones recently commented in Medill Reports, the journal published by Northwestern University School of Journalism and Marketing Communications, that the addition of coffee bars within McDonald’s could hamper the efficiency of the stores service and adversely influence its bottom line. Russo added further that “McDonald’s can’t afford to lose focus on its core menu; stores have to make sure they have enough space, enough training and enough personnel to continue providing food to customers fast. It might hurt their sales otherwise.”
Personally, I’m not a patron of McDonald’s, but I think ordering a premium coffee from a fast food restaurant is akin to eating at Morton’s steakhouse and ordering fish.
Business need to stay focused on their brand DNA – what makes them successful – and carefully choose what ancillary business lines, products and services to invest in which can distract them from their core business and ultimately dilute their brand’s identity.
***Chase Wegmann is Director of Business Development & Client Strategy for a advertising, branding and marketing agency in New York City***
Its funny how everything old is one day new again. Akin to the Johnny Carson days of old, television talk show hosts are communicating sponsors product information directly to their audience. As audiences continue to be battered and overwhelmed by advertising, sponsors are looking for more creative ways to connect with consumers. In the April issue of Conde Nast's Portfolio, Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vice president of media planning and buying agency Starcom Worldwide, says late night and syndicated daytime talk shows are offering live commercial options in an effort to combat ad avoidance and the clutter of commercial breaks.
The traditional thirty second spot is dead. Live commercial options are just the latest effort in how agencies are now creating custom branded content such as the action packed trio of "The Hire" movies produced by Fallon Worldwide in 2002 for BMW; to more common strategic product placement within everyday commercial television shows. Custom content, advertisers are finding, produces a larger share-of-discussion with consumers which leads to deeper brand identifiably; whereas with product placement your entrusting your brand to a more subtle tie-in to the popularity of the show within a certain targeted demographic. Audiences notice those Coca-Cola cups sitting atop the judges table on American Idol and identify themselves with the shows characters that choose to drink it. With a live commercial, you are merely taking product placement, and the implicit endorsements that are its by product, to the next level. For a simple direct approach think Oprah's Book of The Month club or products that get hyped on a morning program like The Today Show.
Yet all of this is nothing new. Radio stations have been successfully incorporating live commercials into specific talk shows such as Imus, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh etc…for years. Here is a classic case of what works in one medium logically attempting to transition into another. We’ll have to wait and see if audiences buy in.
***Chase Wegmann is Director of Business Development & Client Strategy for a advertising, branding and marketing agency in New York City***
We are becoming consumers of information. I’d like to point out that there’s a distinct difference in being knowledgeable on a particular subject and having access to that knowledge through the internet. Who needs to be knowledgeable on anything when you have access to a plethora of information readily available? We have forgone, or advanced beyond depending on your viewpoint, from studying and memorization in lieu of a mnemonic approach that offers instant-on access to the information that we need.
Even computers and the way we interact with them have changed. It used to be that we held onto our own information on our own systems. And now with the advent and widespread use of ASP enterprise applications we entrust what we would once be considered information from both a personal and corporate perspective to companies such as Google Aps, Microsoft Office Online and Salesforce.com. The internet is becoming an extension of our brains while our “computers”, which don’t do much computing nowadays, now act as mere nodes or view screens to access our information rather than being the keeper of the flame.
***Chase Wegmann is Director of Business Development & Client Strategy for a advertising, branding and marketing agency in New York City***
In an era of corporate social responsibility, how can a multinational company participate as a patron and sponsor of the Olympic Games without tarnishing its image? Even a better question is who would have thought that sponsoring an organization like the Olympics could bring about negative stigma and public opinion?
Transcending politics, the Olympics were intended to assist in contributing to the building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. Although in all fairness, I don’t think there was much in the way of corporate sponsorship envisioned in 1924.
In an era where companies are expected to demonstrate social responsibility, sponsoring the Olympic Games in China - a country with questionable human rights and environmental practices - olympic sponsors can and should prepare for a backlash of some sort. Perhaps the Olympic Committee should expand the charter to request attending countries to impose a moratorium on corporate backlash during the Olympics;h although both sponsors and protest groups will agree that it’s hard to ignore such a huge stage. Branding experts have opined that backlash should have minimal impact on sponsors brands.
Case in point, Lenovo’s top tier sponsorship of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing China should astound no one. Lenovo is a Chinese owned company and a global player on the world stage and markets since its acquisition of IBM’s computer business in 2004 for almost $2B. Being Chinese owned, their risk is minimal. However, other sponsors such as Samsung, Coca-Cola, Visa, McDonalds and GE are global, multinational companies who generally don’t walk into alliances or partnerships without a clear plan of action. These companies are looking to expand their brand to the 1+ billion potential Chinese consumers. Sponsoring the Olympics is good business sense and, in its own way, a demonstration of their good social responsibility.
Additionally, people who care about human rights issues are generally not consumers of the products that these corporations produce. I don’t think you’ll find many Amnesty International employees or volunteers enjoying a Coca-Cola in a McDonalds anytime soon, or, for that matter, anyone in a McDonalds anywhere having deep conversations regarding human rights issues over their Big Macs.
Sponsors assuage themselves by saying that they are moving forward to the spirit and ideals that the Olympics represent. Moreover, the one brand that could come out looking the worst could be the Olympics itself.
***Chase Wegmann is Director of Business Development & Client Strategy for an advertising, branding and marketing agency in New York City***
