Some unofficial representations of brands/icons upset people, but some, like this, are completely charming. I think it must be a badge of brand success when you can be recognised even as a knitted finger puppet, when you're so well known and iconic that a folk medium can summon up your essence. Here's a good test for brand managers - if your brand was a knitted finger puppet; would anyone recognise it?
Hi there...
In Spiderman's case, it's clearly testimony to brand success. But I think the knitted finger puppet test has limitations in its ability to serve as the definitive gauge for brand success.
What would happen if Phillip Morris’s brand managers were to use it, for example? What would Marlboro man look like? Wouldn't a knitted puppet version of him easily be mistaken for Charles Ingalls from ‘Little House on the Prairie’? And what would the Apple brand look like as a knitted finger puppet? Would anyone be able to recognize it?
I would imagine life to be pretty hard for brand managers at Apple if the company adopted this model to evaluate their job performance.
Posted by: Fredrik | September 22, 2006 at 10:29 AM
I love the idea of Folk Brands. They exist in abundance in LA, especially the Latino districts.
There's a whole blog of its own in there somewhere.
http://positiveapeindex.blogspot.com/2006/09/j-j-tire-service-corner-of-fletcher.html
(Via Metroblogging LA)
Posted by: dylan Trees | September 23, 2006 at 12:36 AM