All in Brand
Quick background, Jim and I worked together at Luckie and Company in Birmingham, Ala., (ROLL TIDE!) in the late 2000s. Since then, we have established not only a personal friendship, but a growing respect for our mutual industries. Jim's speciality is public relations, you can find additional information at the bottom of this article about him and his practice.
There's an interesting truth in business that the more successful that you are, the more enemies you make. Such is the case with any brand – including yours. What none of us want to admit is that for all the efforts we make to craft positive perception around whatever we support, there is someone in the wings waiting to exploit it or tear it down.
I find it incredibly interesting that in an industry like advertising where we mold "reality versus perception," that the majority of the industry, as a whole, still seems adverse to marketing to the LGBT community. I get that it's incredibly difficult to teach old dogs new tricks. However, we as marketing professionals should be pushing the envelope of "risk versus reward" with our clients. And the simple truth is this: Brands and businesses that take the LGBT community seriously now will reap the rewards over their risk-averse competitors that are.
Rarely does one construct a brand that has equal amounts of cultural significance and product association. Recently I have had the opportunity to work with Orlando Harley- Davidson, consulting them through Big Block Studios on their social media, content marketing and interactive integration. You would think that a rough-and-tumble brand like Harley-Davidson would just give the finger to the world and not give a shit about aggressive optimization.
Do you like traveling to exotic destinations? Are you able to sit for hours on end with an uncomfortable assortment of heroin-filled condoms inserted in your rectum? Then you've got what it takes to become a professional drug mule!
There are very few things less interesting to me than Miley Cyrus. On an interest scale ranging from The Location of Carmen Electra’s Latest Tattoo on the high end all the way down to Parenting Tips From That “Kate Plus Eight” Woman, Miley ranks slightly above Kate only because I’m a sucker for a good train wreck.