Bewigged gals from the strangely named SF blog, The Mayor & The Hair evidently decided they weren’t getting enough attention (links) and upped the PR ante by pouring drinks over blogger Dean from gavinsucks.com at an SF blogger gathering last night. This entry, along with the umpteen million others, proves that their strategy worked. And also that people in SF don’t have a whole lot going on in their lives.

Underwear, Brand Loyalty? Think about it – is there any other piece of clothing that shows more brand loyalty than your underwear?

Today’s New York Times article "But What If You Get Hit By A Taxi?" clearly shows how the men’s underwear market is heating up.

It makes sense, in a society where we are constantly ambushed by all sorts of brands – do we ever stop to think about what kind of underwear we are wearing and why?  When I buy toothpaste I prefer Crest, when I buy coffee I want Starbucks and after reading the article "But What If You Get Hit By A Taxi?," I realize I like Hanky Panky. I never thought of my brand loyalty to Hanky Panky being quite like this.

The equation makes sense: Underwear = Brand Loyalty

Who knows – this might be the one area where we can escape some of the media’s influence and make a personal decision on our own. Nobody really knows what underwear makes us feel most comfortable, stylish and and confident (well, maybe Mortar360 can figure it out with their advanced consumer research techniques).

But, after all, underwear should be kept personal. Even though, I’ll let the cat out of the bag –  I am completely devoted 100% to Hanky Panky.

Corporate PR mavens at big tech companies like Google and Apple may enjoy a certain level of power over the press for now, but according to tech gossip blog Valleywag, they should enjoy it while they can.  The favored “media embargo” — which allows companies to give the press sneak previews of new products under the condition that news not be released until a specified date — looks like it’s on its way out. 

Blogs often scoop the news before the embargo date has passed, and how much of a sneak peek is it anyway, when many newspapers are privy to the advanced info and all making the same orchestrated announcement — same day, same time?  Now, the newest generation of newspaper managers are making audible protests against the embargo policy — among them, Marcus Brauchli, The Wall Street Journal’s new managing editor. 

But really, it’s always been a race for the privilege to be the first to break the news.  At issue isn’t so much the media embargo, but that newspapers must now keep pace with the blogs.  Bloggers abide by different rules than journalists, and it’ll be interesting to see how the mainstream media continues to keep pace with this new wave of reporting.

I like what Seth Godin posted this morning:

At 5, the clock radio at the hotel started playing Steely Dan. I knew it in less than a second. Two notes.

Same thing happens when I see just the edge of the New Yorker
sitting in the pile of mail or the formatting of an email from a
friend. I could probably tell a Starbucks just from the sound and the
smell of the store. They all have brand DNA.

Do you? Does your blog? Your company? I don’t think it happens by accident.

Want to find out how compelling your brand is? Is your marketing organization robust, or
just a bust? Use Mortar’s patented Brand-O-Meter™  to get the skinny.

Then give us a call 415-772-9907 x112 or send us an email and we can  give you a clear view of where your brand is, where it could be, and how we’ll get it where it needs to go, together.