Oddpod member John Cassidy and his company Duplicates are not stressing about the recession, but taking action. They teamed up with their local news and developed the campaign called Reject the Recession. Check out the TV Ad:

They also have Reject the Recession kits that includes posters, stickers, and tips to fight the Recession.

A positive mindset is better than doom and gloom. If you’ve got ideas to share, please post them on our forum under Campaign O. The first 50 entries receive an Oddpodz T-shirt.

In the past few years, we’ve heard our share of news stories on dishonest, scum bag, greedy souls. From the Enron gang, to Allen Stanford, to the biggest scammer of all, Bernie Madoff who misled investors and lost over $65 billion. These people are a disgrace to business and mankind.

While these criminal profiles are plastered on every media venue from out there, and they should be, what about companies and brands that behave less than truthfully everyday in their advertising and communications? I think they are just as guilty, and consumers should be aware of their shady moves and then make their choices on what company they should do business with.

I’ve talked about some of these less than forthright brands in my speaking programs and I’ve written about them in the past. We just posted a story I wrote for Fast Company called Integrity, an invaluable brand asset

These companies really get under my skin. In fact, this morning I was reading a half page ad for “The Perfect Pitch” giveaway in Tampa. It is sponsored by Teasdale, marketing of distinction and some other seemingly reputable media companies. The ad says: throw us your perfect pitch and two companies could win $250,000 in media to promote your company and the at applicants get a gift bag valued at $3,000. What it did not tell you was that it costs $500.00 to apply. That information was only found inside the site on the PDF form. To me that’s creepy, and falls under the category of not being honest. Why not put that information on the ad? Wasting my time because of a lack of full disclosure or not clearly marking fees puts no integrity points in their basket. In fact I’ve shared this example at 10 times today with my business buddies.

Contests are notorious for these sneaky ploys. Big brands have dirt on their collars too.

I just received a mailer from Verizon. The offering was $99.00 flat fee for Internet, TV and phone service and they give you $150.00 back. Sounds great, right? So, I call my friendly sales rep to investigate. I wait on hold for 17 minutes, just to find out the boxes you also need for the TVs were not included and neither were the taxes. The drive out price was the same as what I already have. Wasting my time because of a lack of full disclosure or not clearly marking the real price is no better than a friend telling me a big lie. It hurts the relationship.

This list of slimy-talking, deceptive messaging happens every day. And brands wonder why consumer trust is at an all time low. If you know of a company that is resorting to dishonest marketing messages or campaigns, please share, so we can inform our community that the brand in question may too deserve the Bernie Badge of Deception.

We are so excited! Oddpodz got invited to produce a video on who we are and where we are going. Our video will be broadcast to over 400 top advertising and brand leaders this week as The Interactive Advertising Bureau hosts it’s annual conference in Orlando. This sold out conference will include many industry pros who will speak on how brands are battling back in these tough economic times and leveraging smart interactive, online media. Oddpodz leader Karen Post will be attending and sharing what she learns. So check back on Monday.

The Oddpodz video was produced by my great pal and fellow Oddpod Murv Seymour. Murv a former TV reporter, performs stand up comedy around the county and is an awesome creative producer of videos and film documentaries. If you need a cool broadcast tool, reach out to Murv who leads Sideline Media Group.

By Karen Post, The Branding Diva®, co-founder of Oddpodz

Brand like a champ, 5 ways to score from Super Bowl lessons.

What a game. So much emotion. Adrenaline everywhere. And many valuable lessons for even a small business to gain from. As you go through this next week and you are starring at a big opponent, whether it be, the economy and credit crunch, or a key competitor, reflect and take action from this international broadcast, pop culture and sporting event of champions.

1) One high profile ad will not build your business or brand.
Investing in a handful of high profile large audiences opportunities certainly has its upside. But in most cases, brand and business success come from integrated efforts that go way beyond even a killer promotional campaign.

While the Super Bowl audience was mammoth, how many eyeballs were truly the target for the brands behind the ads? And if they were, how many were too medicated with alcohol to take buyer action the next day? Or even remember the who was behind that funny ad?

2) The playing field is new.
Web 2.0 and the explosion of all media channels, means every dollar spent needs to leverage this entire gamut of new and old touch points.

The real winners in the Super Bowl advertisers had multi-point connections and dialogue with the viewers before and after the game spots ran.

3) Life lives through changing times. Marketing must be relevant.
Even events and brands around fun, sports and entertainment, need to go with the flow of real-time reality. Hyundai’s ads connected with their Assurance Contract
(lose your job, we’ll take back the car campaign) as well as the empathetic (Yes, you may be jobless soon with humor from Monster and Careerbuilder.com.)

4) Customer engagement, if done right, can convert in to sales.
Kellogg’s invites viewers to suggest a needy school (baseball field) with projects that require funding that Kellogg’s can help, Pedigree funds an adoption program and encourages getting a dog instead of a crazy pet, and Denny’s make us laugh and invites us over for a free Grand Slam breakfast. Experience first. Transactions will follow.

5) There is huge value in established, branded entities like an annual event, The Super Bowl.
This event started in 1967, the awareness and brand equity have been growing every year. Should an event be the part of your brand strategy, make sure to stay consistent to your story, and give it time. Event branding is a long-term project.

6) No matter how grim it looks, don’t give up.
In sports and in business, it’s about staying power, until the end. Just ask the Steelers. Stay focused on your game. Without the confidence and composure team showing up, you’ll be a player short.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

It’s Worth Talking About Wednesday.

The hump day that shares the brilliant! and the bad (roadkill) ads from around the planet.

Where do you find those Sarah Palin glasses or the Obama flip flops?
Here is a cool resource that will tell you in a text massage on your phone, fast.

ChaCha is like having a smart friend you can call or text for answers on your cell phone anytime for free. ChaCha works with virtually every provider and allows people with any mobile phone device - from basic flip phones to advanced smart phones - to ask any question in conversational English and receive an accurate answer as a text message in just a few minutes.

What’s your question?

Simply text your question to 242242 (spells ‘ChaCha’) or call 1-800-2ChaCha (800-224-2242) from your mobile phone to ask any question.

This innovative service gets the bright light. Well done, easy Web site and got to love the name.

Have you seen any interesting campaigns worth talking about? Have you created one yourself? We want to hear from you.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

It’s Wild Wednesday.
The hump day that shares the brilliant! and the bad (roadkill) ads from around the planet.

Note to readers: We are changing our Wild About Ads Wednesday feature to Worth Talking About Wednesday: Campaigns worth talking about. The media mix today is so diverse, we thought why not include any campaign worth talking about? We’ll look at print, PR, online and alternative programs. If you’ve developed a campaign, send it in. We’ll give it our three cents and invite our members to give theirs.

Charter doesn’t have to be a bitch.
Company: Virgin Charter
Agency: Anthem Creative

Virgin flies high with their Virgin Charter Print Ad. Earlier this year Richard Branson’s Virgin company launched a new brand extension Virgin Charter service. Branson and his team have always been smart and diligent brand builders. In this latest effort, the full-page print ad speaks to the affluent traveler who needs premium air service around their schedule; it is on target. The company does not own or actually fly the aircraft. They serve as a marketing portal for many independent jet service carriers around the world.

The ad, which I spotted in American Express’s Platinum Departure Magazine, leverages the Virgin brand’s personality, high energy and confident. The ad is a great balance of sexy, wit and direct communication. The photography and copy are equally as crisp and assertive. And when the reader is driven to the Website, you absolutely get what this brand stands for.

Have you seen any interesting campaigns worth talking about? Have you created one yourself? We want to hear from you.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

It’s Ad Wednesday.
The hump day that shares the brilliant! and the bad (roadkill) ads from around the planet.

Senior brand speaks to all generations.
Company: AARP
Agency: GSD&M

What a difference a decade makes when you are thinking about a brand and who it’s for. When I was in my thirties, and you said AARP, I thought of grannies and old fart men with too much hair in their ears. Now when I see a copy at the doctor’s office, it’s got George Clooney on the cover. That man never gets old, how could that be?

The answer can go two ways.
1) AARP is broadening its reach with messaging to all generations, see campaign review.
2) I am getting older and will soon be in their demo. Yikes, I never that thought that would happen. But, like Einstein said, it’s all relative.

AARP is about is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. OK, so why all these campaigns with young voices and future situations.

Is about being relevant to what’s important to your market.

The AARP Web site explains, our members care deeply about the world they are leaving for their children and grandchildren, and our new ads show that AARP is a multigenerational, diverse organization committed to championing the future of our members - and the future of every generation. The ads focus on our members’ five core needs: the need for health; the need for financial security; the need to contribute or give back to society; the need for community and to stay connected to family, friends and social networks; and the need to play and enjoy life.

Makes sense to me. I give this campaign a brilliant light. Good work. And, for me, it takes some of the sting away from the fact that I too will be a member one day.

If you are working on a project for the over 50 crowd, check out the AARP.com’s Web site, it’s full of studies and ideas to reach this 70 million plus senior market on and off-line.
Fact: Older Wiser Wired
More than 40 million U.S. adults over 50 are online. They bank, they buy, they search, they read, they contribute. ACNielsen reports that people over 65 spend nearly twice as much time on the Web (26 hours) as those under 18.

Have you seen any interesting born-again brands that have been around along time and suddenly and need a fresh look or maybe an obituary draft? We want to hear from you.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

It’s Ad Wednesday.
The hump day that shares the brilliant! and the bad (roadkill) ads from around the planet.

Does annoying work in advertising?
Company: Miralus Healthcare
Product: Head on
Agency: made in-house by HeadOn, (according to slate.com)

My recent most annoying ad (road kill all the way) has got to be: HeadOn

We see them and hear them all the time. Are they strategically annoying or the work product of some marketing team lost in space? I like to know what you think and what your most annoying commercials are?

This is the most amateurish and mind-numbing creative execution out there.

Formula: Repeat the tagline not once, but three times as a woman rubs the product on her forehead. Yet the annoying spots have jump-started sales and won the brand pop-culture credibility and some serious free airtime — including a solemn commentary from “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, who called it “the most annoying ad on television.” Sales are up 234%. That gives me a headache.

Watch it here.

Need more annoying spots check out: www.annoying.uber.com

Have you seen any interesting born-again brands that have been around along time and suddenly and need a fresh look or maybe an obituary draft? We want to hear from you.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

It’s Ad Wednesday.
The hump day that shares the brilliant! and the bad (roadkill) ads from around the planet.

Kissing and licking body part take new stage.
Company: Peak Enterprises, Sarasota, Florida
Product: Tung Brush and Tung Gel, oral-care products.
Agency: Joel Warady Group

Brilliant campaign, but why not own tung.com?

I suppose body parts like anything else have their place and time in our brand-centric minds. Of our appendages, our tongue is getting some new attention in the personal hygiene category. This week’s ad does a tasteful job of evolving a tired product into a hip, relevant brand.

The story: Tom Oechslin began selling his tongue-cleaning brushes in 1999. Positioned primarily as a clinical product sold to dentists and hygienists under the name Dr. Weider’s Original tongue brush.

In 2001, Tom began pitching the brushes to Wal-Mart, but was rejected for several years. Finally, in 2005, after working with brand consultant Joel Warady Group to rebrand the product from the clinical market toward a younger, cooler retail buyer, the Tung Brush was given a trial in about 800 Wal-Mart stores.

“The process was not an overnight initiative,” explained Joel. It was a major shift in strategy and moving the client into a new and sometimes uncomfortable zone.

After touring retailers and convincing Tom (the super conservative, really born again person) that lots of people were buying flavored KY jelly, piercing lots of body parts, having fun and even buying jewelry studs from Walmart, the product was reborn, rebranded and now Tung products are sold in some 3,500 Wal-Mart stores, recently launched in Japan in over 7,000 stores. Since the rebrand sales are up 25%.

Is your brand category changed? Is it time for a facelift, repositioning, renaming, repackaging or all of them?

Have you seen any interesting born-again brands that have been around along time and suddenly and need a fresh look or maybe an obituary draft? We want to hear from you.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

It’s Ad Wednesday.
The hump day that shares the brilliant! and the bad (roadkill) ads from around the planet.

This Mug does not make you want to buy the man.
Known by many as the modern day Godfather of sales, my pal Jeffrey Gitomer has done some amazing things. His business empire had humble beginnings, he started as an entrepreneur selling t-shirts from his car. Today, he is an international best-seller, author of at least 10 books I can name and has a stable of other product and learning services. His branding and all of his marketing messaging has always been consistent. He’s an in your face, confident and funny guy with a down to earth delivery. I’ve been receiving his weekly Sales Caffeine ezine, which is full of great selling ideas and resources for years. It’s worth checking out www.gitomer.com. This week as I scroll down an ad jumps out at me. Creepy!

The image looks downright scary! Like someone who flew over two cuckoo’s nests. Can’t argue it got my attention, but did it project a brand of trust? Photos matter. I don’t think this is Gitomer’s best look.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.