Mozilla the Pro-Privacy Brand

Mozilla's pop-up "Internet Health" store in NYC

Mozilla--known for its Firefox browser and other digital products--identifies as a pro-privacy brand. To reinforce that association with its brand, Mozilla and the Tactical Technology Collective recently partnered on a pop-up store in Little Italy in Manhattan. 

The Glass House, as it was called, welcomed 10,000 visitors in 17 days and offered thought-provoking, artsy exhibits, not to mention specific instructions for protecting privacy and security online. Mozilla's CMO explained:

The Glass Room is part of a global movement raising awareness for internet health.

Mozilla has been raising awareness of digital privacy and security concerns for years. Its website hosts a portal of information about how individuals can protect themselves online. You can click here to read more.

Marketing to Millennials

M I L L E N N I A L S

NPR's recent segment on marketing to Millennials featured an informal "focus group" of people in their late teens, 20s, and 30s, with a message to marketers: Entertain us, be authentic, and don't push too hard.

An online search for "marketing to Millennials" yields more than 8 million results, and this NPR coverage is one of the more recent hits. Late last year, Inc. posted a guide to Millennials that reminds marketers of this group's global, tech-savvy perspective and behavior.

What an Adweek infographic points out is that Millennials don't want hard sell, they want a friendly approach--and they enjoy advocating for brands they like and admire.

The Guardian (UK) also reminds companies that Millennials are willing and able to cocreate content for brands they like and admire.

Finally, Media Post recommends that marketers dig deep to see individual differences among Millennials, recognize the vital role of shopper marketing in influencing decisions made in the store, and understand when digital marketing can and can't make a difference.

Axalta Races into Sponsorship

Take a look at Jeff Gordon's newly repainted NASCAR Chevy #24, shown here in the Poconos 400 with the colorful Axalta sponsor logo.

Who's Axalta?

Axalta used to be DuPont Performance Coatings, a long-time sponsor of Jeff Gordon's car.

Now the coatings business has a new owner (Carlyle Group) and a new brand identity.

That means Jeff Gordon's car is sporting a new look, different from the "rainbow warrior" look it had with the DuPont logo (see right). Even non-NASCAR fans know this car if they have young relatives with diecast cars fashioned after Gordon's model.

Axalta wants Gordon's car to stand out from the pack when fans watch NASCAR on TV. Continuing a sponsorship that was successful for DuPont gives Axalta a wonderful opportunity to gain recognition and build its image among fans and followers.

Gordon himself is enthusiastic about the new arrangement: "What’s meaningful to me is that the name is new, but this is the same company that took a chance on a kid in 1992," he says.

Brand Identity: Be Distinctive, Be Consistent

Martin Lindstrom writes in Fast Company about the need to think beyond the logo when communicating brand identity. Every aspect of the product, packaging, Web site, ads, etc. must be distinctive and contribute to creating and reinforcing a unique brand identity. Lindstrom suggests a wonderful test: Cover up the logo on your ads, packages, Web site, and see whether your brand identity still shines through.

With Easter coming up, I used Lindstrom's test on the Web sites of several well-known candy brands. Try it for yourself. First, go to M&M's home page. Take off the m and is it distinctive? (When I visited, the colors had been changed to Easter pastels, a nice seasonal touch.) Then visit the Hershey site, the Ghiradelli site, Godiva, Whitman's, and See's Candies.

Now try the same test on a few computer Web sites: Dell, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Acer. Which are most distinctive and convey the brand identity most effectively?

It's difficult to look at any of these pages without thinking of the other marketing tactics used by these companies. The shape and design of an iPad2 (above) comes to mind, for example. That's a good thing, from a marketing perspective. But could you identify the Apple home page if the apple wasn't there?