Daily Dose of Branding-Goodness

OllyVitamins

What’s the worst aisle in a store like Target? According to method cleaning supplies co-founder Eric Ryan, it’s the vitamin and supplement aisle. Plagued by “uninspiring brands” and left without a clear understanding of the products and what differentiates them, Ryan became determined to shake up the aisle. Signing a 1-year exclusive deal with Target (much like the one method signed over 10 years ago), Ryan was able to create Olly, a new brand of vitamins and supplements that relies just as much on it’s easy-to-understand descriptions and innovative packaging as it does on the actual product. Instead of selling biotin, Olly sells “beauty.” And while the vitamin and supplement market has been growing for the past several years, it’s impressive to note that Olly sold $1 million dollars worth of product in its first two weeks.

Olly’s success only underscores the effects that good branding can have on a product. By adding a dash of creativity to the way they sell Olly, Ryan and his team have been able to change the nature of the vitamin and supplements aisle entirely.

What Sparks Our Fire: Great brand messaging and design that disrupts the space and drives sales.

Google Results In 140-Characters Or Less

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If you’ve made a Google search on your phone in the past week, you might have noticed a some interesting new results pop up. The “Popular on twitter” section debuted last week and is the first project to come from Google and Twitter‘s new partnership. Google will now show relevant tweets on some of it’s most popular mobile search results.

Displayed just below Google’s own “In the news” section, this new feature will allow searchers to see the most up-to-date information on the subject they are searching for, and help them gauge the public conversation around that subject. The prominent placement of the tweets on the search results page highlights the relevance and importance of social media by prioritizing it second only to “news.”

This innovation is just one of a few that Google has introduced this year to help make their mobile search tool as user-friendly as possible. Earlier this year, Google changed it’s mobile search algorithm to prioritize mobile and responsive websites. They’ve also created new ad experience options for brands advertising via mobile search.

Google and Twitter’s partnership enables social media commentary to become an even larger part of the information-gathering process for search users. And while tweets will only appear on certain search results with enough popularity, it is easy to see how this integration of facts and commentary could potentially help brands. By seeing non-affiliated tweeters talking about a brand, consumers can get a better, more organic sense of the brand’s personality and benefits to them.

What Sparks Our Fire:  Elevating the credibility of tweets as a source of real time information

Canopy Favorites: The Avengers.. I think?

In honor of one of our favorite TV shows ending this week (#RIPMadMen), each day a member of the Canopy team will give some insight into one of their favorite shows or movies.

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Two weeks ago, I made my way down to Union Square to catch an evening showing of the latest Marvel mega-pic.  This isn’t my favorite movie, I’m not a big fan of comics or Marvel, in fact, I don’t think this latest movie was particularly outstanding in anyway. Yet, I’ve still seen every Marvel franchise movie in the theater, and usually in IMAX 3D.

Even though I can’t distinguish between the plot lines of any of the movies taking place in the Marvel Universe,  I find they’re usually entertaining enough. The effects are cool, the plots are superficial, the jokes hit or miss, but what really peaks my interest, is the massive marketing engine created to effectively promote each of these franchises.

The ownership of the news cycle through carefully sequenced releases of information about new cast and crew members, the introduction of new super heroes that have existing tie-ins with already popularized super heroes through title movies, the launch of an ongoing ABC series that keeps the Marvel universe relevant even when there are no movies in the theaters, their merchandising strategy are just some of the key elements in Marvel’s hugely successful integrated marketing and cross-promotional strategy.

Whether or not you like the movies or comics, you can’t deny that what Marvel has created, is a prime example of how you can utilize every asset to extend and activate your brand.

Movie: The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Team Member: Michelle, Account Director

Canopy Favorites: Movies With A Message

In honor of one of our favorite TV shows ending this week (#RIPMadMen), each day a member of the Canopy team will give some insight into one of their favorite shows or movies.

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Creating awareness for health issues often relies on the visibility of the issue in public life. While Alzheimer’s is normally shown in the media as an old-age disease, the movie ‘Still Alice’ took on the nearly unimaginable task of depicting the early onset Alzheimer’s disease of a vibrant 50 year old woman. Starring Julianne Moore as Alice, the film created a great PR push for Alzheimer’s by showing rather than telling. The audience watches as Alice, a Type-A Columbia professor, slowly loses her ability to function on her own.

By making the film authentic and relatable, and casting the inimitable Julianne Moore, the movie was able to bring public awareness to Alzheimer’s disease. After the release of the film, there were many conversations about Alzheimer’s on all social media platforms, and continued press (print, TV, online, etc.) furthered the conversation about the disease. Non-profit organizations that support Alzheimer’s disease gained more traction, creating a win-win for everyone. Films that help bring visibility and empathy to diseases are incredibly powerful, and we can always use more movies like this in the world.

Movie: Still Alice
Team Member: Marla, Founder/President of Bella PR

Canopy Favorites: Funny Business

In honor of one of our favorite TV shows ending this week (#RIPMadMen), each day a member of the Canopy team will give some insight into one of their favorite shows or movies.

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Who would’ve thought that the best depiction of the startup world would come in the form of an HBO comedy? But according to many insiders, ‘Silicon Valley’ is just that. ‘Silicon Valley’ follows the trials and tribulations of fictional Pied Piper, a small startup with a killer algorithm for data compression, as it competes head-to-head with a mega-company looking to do the same thing. Relying on a real life group of friends and comedians as it’s stars, ‘Silicon Valley’ is not only interesting and accurate, but really, really funny.

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I love the show because it takes concepts I understand from work and school, and depicts them in the most hilarious settings. For instance, Sunday night’s episode began with the CFO teaching the team about SWOT analyses for business decision making. The team later uses the concept for a personal situation so insane I’ll just have to recommend watching it for yourself.

TV Show: Silicon Valley
Team Member: Jacqueline, Accounts Management Intern