As rumored late last year, GM is dropping Chevrolet's lackluster "Chevy Runs Deep" slogan and replacing it with a tagline and positioning that the brand's management team believes is more forward-looking and will be more effective: "Find New Roads."

In dumping the introspective "Chevy Runs Deep" tagline — introduced in 2010 with narration by dulcet brand voice Tim Allen, the comedic actor who's also a Michigan native — and adopting a more outward-looking brand positioning, the GM marketing brain trust is taking a number of steps simultaneously.

They're aiming for a new external positioning that can serve more global purposes as "the touchstone for the brand as it devleops new products and technologies for sale in more than 140 markets," according to a GM statement.

Notably, Chevrolet also is adopting "Find New Roads" as an internal rallying cry, an actionable objective for its engineers, marketers and other staffers around the world both for purposes of internal branding and employee engagement in the mission of the brand.

"What we need to do is bring this to life, and it needs to become the thrust of the brand," Alan Batey, GM's interim CMO and its vice president of U.S. sales, service and global marketing, told brandchannel. "That's why the internal alignment is the starting point." External applications of "Find New Roads" will begin globally later in the first quarter, he said.Continue reading...

Las Vegas has plenty of regulars. You’ve got your gambling grandmas, your bachelor and bachelorette parties, your Elvis impersonators, your big-hatted and loudmouthed high rollers, and plenty of just regular folks coming in to try and make a few bucks off the backs of gambling’s titans. 

In 2012, about 40 million folks came into town to enjoy the lights, noise, and shows of Vegas, but the insatiable tourism board wants a whole lot more. After all, there are nearly 125,000 hotel rooms and 365 nights to fill. Cue a new tourism and place branding campaign, one that touts the city's official digital hub at its busiest time of year.Continue reading...

Leveraging its design chops in a whole new way, Target is launching a new multi-faceted marketing campaign behind its CPG products with a decidedly unique twist.

"The Everyday Collection" by Target isn't its latest limited edition designer collaboration. It's a minimalist campaign touting — wait for it — groceries, from cake mixes to laundry detergent, prenatal vitamins to cuts of steak. It's also applying its acknowledged sensibilities in fashion and design to promoting the, let's face it, more mundane SKUs in its inventory on behalf of its brand affiliates: consumer packaged goods.Continue reading...

Banking has become more consumer-friendly, particularly through sophisticated ATMs and mobile banking applications, but banks are still hampered by the stereotype that they are largely impersonal. TD Bank's new branding campaign, "Bank Human Again," makes the most of that deficiency.

New TV and web spots, supported by newspaper and digital media including a microsite, show a variety of consumers in what appears to be a cold, gray unwelcoming bank. Each consumer attempts a simple action only to be thwarted by a robotic-sounding voice that spouts bank policy.

In one spot, for example, a customer finds that the chain on the bank's pen is too short for him to write. When he asks about it, a disembodie voice says, "Here's the thing, Martin, banks can't have people taking their pens." TD Bank's answer: plenty of pens with no chains. Not to mention no rope lines, free coin-counting, and a focus on the little things that add up to the big things in customer service.

While a chained pen may seem insignificant, it's a remnant of banks' traditional (inflexible, impersonal) way of doing business. "The new marketing campaign viscerally communicates TD's attributes of unparalleled service and convenience, and our customer-first culture," stated the bank's Chief Marketing Officer Vinoo Vijay.Continue reading...

It doesn’t much matter what a high-ranking Republican’s actual politics are. At some point along the way, if he or she wants to be accepted by mainstream Republicans, he or she should pay some kind of homage to beloved GOP icon Ronald Reagan. And to those who somehow besmirch his name or his policies, look out.

As for those of you who try to actually own a piece of the 40th US president's hallowed legacy, be ready to feel the heat. The 54-year-old American Security Council Foundation (ASCF) is feeling it right about now after it trademarked one of Reagan’s most famous campaign mottos: “Peace Through Strength.”

That has left a few Republicans, especially those who worked in the Reagan White House, feeling a little frustrated. Seventeen former members of Reagan’s national security team put their names on a letter to the ACSF asking it “to back off its intent to sue any organization using the slogan in a proprietary fashion,” according to HumanEvents.com.

“For those of us who proudly served with President Reagan, it is unimaginable that anyone would seek to own a phrase immortalized by him – and, as a result, made not only an enduring feature of our country’s political lexicon, but a touchstone for all those who love freedom, and understand what is required to safeguard it,” they wrote, the site reports.Continue reading...

Cisco wants to be more than the largest manufacturer of computer networking equipment. It wants to guide customers through the myriad possibilities of the Internet of Everything, a phrase it's co-opting in service of its new brand positioning.

The tech brand has shut down its six-year-old tagline, "The Human Network." Its new tagline, unveiled today in a $100 million campaign — "Tomorrow Starts Here," a phrase you'll find, fittingly, all over the Internet and beyond: on its homepage and on social media as a promoted hashtag on Twitter, on its Facebook page, in a new TV campaign, in an infographic, in a series of blog posts, and in a new print campaign that comes to life via augmented reality and Cisco's mobile app.

The brand's chief marketing officer, Blair Christie, told TheStreet.com that it's more than just a campaign and new tagline.Continue reading...

As the US audience for Spanish-language television continues to grow, the competition is heating up as evidenced by Univision’s rebranding of its second-largest network, TeleFutura, a shot across the bow at rival Telemundo.

Its new name is UniMás and the content and marketing skew are towards the younger male Latino. Univision Communications Inc. is the leading media company serving Hispanic America and new deals with Caracol Televisión, RTI Colombia, and Televisa strengthen its position as the fastest growing broadcast network in the US, irrespective of language. 

“UniMás will offer the new generation of Hispanic Millennial trendsetters – the Más Generation – options for bolder content,” stated César Conde, president, Univision Networks. "We will deliver more of the best available Spanish-language programming, more series, more sports, and more movies that speak to what our audience is looking for.” 

The revamped network debuts on Jan. 7, 2013 with a slate including dramatic thrillers, “Made in Cartagena” and “Quien Eres Tu” (Who are You), a boxing-themed drama called “Cloroformo,” and a project based on the novel “Diablo Guardian” by Xavier Velasco to be adapted by Gustavo Bolivar, author of the hit series “El Capo” and “Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso.” 

Increased sports programming includes games from the Mexican National Team, Liga MX, CONCACAF Gold Cup 2013, FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 and World Cup 2014 and continue popular fare such as “Solo Boxeo” and “Contacto Deportivo.” 

“We have been focused on making TeleFutura the undisputed No. 2 Spanish-language network in the U.S. behind Univision,” said Conde to the New York Times. “This new brand positioning is going to really identify and connect UniMás with the main mother ship brand of Univision.” 

UniMás is an example of sweeping changes in Spanish-language television in the quest for more viewers and ad dollars. “The Hispanic market is not the old stereotype of the past at all. It’s incredibly young and tech savvy,” said Karl Heiselman, CEO, Wolff Olins, the agency that recently redesigned Univision’s logo as a 3D version of the multi-colored tulip and added “The Hispanic Heartbeat of America” as a new tagline.

Telemundo has also announced rebranding, replacing its blue “T” logo with a bright-red version in a campaign featured this month on parent NBCUniversal networks including A&E, Bravo, CNBC, Lifetime and MTV, where the Spanish word “te,” informal for “you,” is replaced with phrases like “Te sorprende” and “Te informa” (It surprises you. It informs you). 

“It is the year of the brands in the Hispanic space,” said Jacqueline Hernández, COO Telemundo in the Times. “When you’re doing a brand refresh, your goal is to keep, maintain and attract.” 

On the news front, CNN en Espanol, the Spanish-language news network pay TV leader for the past 15 years in Latin America and the United States, is launching CNN Latino, a syndicated programming block tailored for the U.S. Hispanic broadcast stations covering news, lifestyle, documentary, talk and debate.

"The U.S. market is so diverse and so large that there is room for two distinctive content options," stated Cynthia Hudson-Fernandez, SVP and GM of CNN en Espanol and Hispanic strategy for CNN/US.

CNN Latino will launch in Los Angeles late January 2013, with a branded programming block of eight hours as well as a dedicated section on the worldwide Spanish-language site, cnnespanol.com.

"There is a real demand for relevant, dynamic, quality programming and CNN Latino is a unique product designed specifically for the growing U.S. Hispanic audience, representing the dual reality of U.S. Latinos today who are multi-generational and proud to be bilingual,” added Hudson-Fernandez.

Ford steps up its reinvention of the Lincoln brand today with the unveiling of a new advertising campaign that "introduces" a revived entity it's calling the Lincoln Motor Company. Ford CEO Alan Mulally and other top executives will announce the new campaign in (where else?) New York's Lincoln Center Plaza Monday, with supporting events on tap in Miami and Los Angeles as well.

"Today we are announcing a new beginning for a brand that has been part of our company and the American fabric for more than 90 years," stated Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally. "The new Lincoln brand will be defined by great new luxury vehicles, such as the new MKZ, that feature quality, unique style with substance and innovative technology. These elements, coupled with a new level of warm, personal and surprising experiences, will enable Lincoln to appeal to today’s new luxury customer."

The first phase of Lincoln's brand relaunch was unveiled during Ford's appearance at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and will culminate in a Super Bowl TV ad on February 3. Interestingly, Ford has shunned advertising during the big game for the last few years.

Lincoln originally was called the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922 when Edsel Ford signed the agrreement purchasing the company from its founder, Henry Leland. By dusting off the old moniker, Ford hopes to begin to re-educate American luxury buyers about a brand in which it is only now investing significant resources gdain, after essentially neglecting it for the last few years.

"The campaign captures the founding principles of the [Lincoln Motor] company and brings them forward to a new generation of progressive luxury buyers," Ford said in its press release. It also noted that back in the day, Edsel Ford made Lincoln "one of the most distinctive luxury brands in the industry, with motorcars that were urbane, sleek and elegant — the epitome of understated luxury."Continue reading...