Toluu : Tom Fishburne

Tom Fishburne

This one time, at Brand Camp: cartoons, marketing, and business lampooning

I originally started this cartoon as a series of panels on "recession survival tactics". I started thinking about different brands as "species" and I sketched a few panels with examples of how different brands approach the threat of recession: a turtle hiding in its protective shell, an ostrich with its head in the sand, etc.

Then I started sketching a panel on "blending into the herd", and I realized this would be fun to draw as a full cartoon (I may draw the other "species" later).

"Blending into the herd" feels like one of the most common responses to the recession. 2009 is full of so much risk on its own, businesses are becoming even more risk adverse than usual to compensate. The first projects to get cut are the speculative ones. Many companies are pulling back on innovation as a way to batten the hatches.

This defense is illusory though. If anything, retailers are facing even greater pressure to rationalize their shelves. Redundant products are in danger of getting cut. Consumers are shifting to cheaper private label if there's no compelling reason to buy branded products. Differentiation is more important than ever.

I think this climate creates a lot of opportunity for brands that are willing to try something new. The ones that can adapt the quickest and offer something truly unique have the potential to not only survive, but thrive.

a marketing carolDecember 27 2008

I couldn't resist one last Christmas cartoon reference before New Year's.

I was at a marketing holiday party recently with a slightly ominous edge. Everyone seemed both thankful that 2008 was reaching an end and nervous about what was in store for 2009. The specter in the room was the uncertainty about next year, and the fear around low consumer confidence.

It got me thinking about A Christmas Carol (spending Christmas in London tends to remind you of Dickens). In the story, Scrooge gets progressive visits from the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

It feels like we marketers are being visited by the same spirits as we think about our businesses before heading back to the office in January. I realized that we're all feeling anxiety about the Ghost of Shopping Future, and that in some way it's haunting all our marketing plans for next year.

And then something cracked me up about drawing this grim reeper character holding an empty shopping bag.

how to market a novelDecember 7 2008

My cousin and good friend, Rodes Fishburne, just finished his first book. It's quite a good novel set in San Francisco, somewhat in the vein of Tom Robbins, and officially launches on December 30th.

Anyway, he asked if I had any advice on how to get the word out about the book. Quite a few new books are published each year and it's hard to break through the clutter. Sounds like most any product category actually.

I gave him a few suggestions, and then thought this might make an interesting contest. So, I have a signed first edition for the best marketing suggestion for Rodes received by next Wednesday, the 17th. Just post a comment to this blog post.

brand droughtDecember 7 2008

December is often a time of year when things quiet down for marketers (except for the spike in agency parties). But this year it feels dominated by a whole lot of scenario brainstorming and re-planning. The common theme is how to do "more with less".

I started kicking around cartoon ideas around "more with less" and the metaphor of a drought came to mind. While some brands with deep pockets will use this time to maintain spending and grow faster than less-funded competitors, most brands are facing budget cuts like they've never seen before.

In a drought, it's a good time to re-evaluate entirely what you're doing. The answer isn't to just use less water on the same old thing, it's to try things that don't take a lot of water.

David Taylor and David Nichols published some handy tips on recession-proof branding recently. Also, Adam Morgan just re-released his classic book, Eating the Big Fish, which shows there's a lot you can learn from challenger brands in a recession.

point of differenceNovember 23 2008

I had a cuppa the other day with my friend Ceri and wound up as a hand model on the innocent blog. We have an old-fashioned barter going with innocent, and Ceri dropped off a whole heap of smoothies in their astroturf-covered van in return for some handsoaps. Soaps for smoothies. Not a bad deal.

Any way, we also had time for a nice chat, and talked about how many companies are getting so risk-adverse in the down-turn. Risk-adversion often takes the form of committees weighing in on ideas to sand the edges so that they're "safe".

But, I think that the "safe is risky" motto even applies in a downturn. Actually, I think it especially applies in a downturn. Because the status quo won't cut it when consumers are reframing how they look at the world. Nimble brands will take advantage of this time to find new opportunities.

In the credit crunch marketing conference I mentioned last week, one of the speakers talked of the importance of becoming the "peacock in a crowd of pigeons" (another way of describing the "purple cow"). The easiest way to remain a pigeon is to take the "safest" path.

It reminded me of that old story about the artist who was asked how he knew how to sculpt a horse. He said, "easy, I just chisel away everything that doesn't look like a horse."

I think that brand mediocrity often comes about this way too. Just chisel away everything that's interesting, rem