Or to put in another way, your brand ego shouldn’t write checks that your skill set (and history) can’t support.  But that’s exactly what happened to BP.  They created a brand build upon core ideas that were in direct conflict with their actions.  It took the gulf disaster to make this apparent.  And once the myth is revealed, there’s no going back.  And it very well may be the death of BP.

But let’s start at the beginning.   Here are the ACUTAL branding elements for BP crafted by Landor, a top branding company.

The Verbal Brand Driver–Beyond Petroleum

The Brand Promise–At the core of BP is an unshakable commitment to human progress. We aim for radical openness: We will be the magnet for people who want to change the world with new ideas by delivering a performance standard that challenges the world’s best companies.

The Brand Beliefs:

Progressive– transforming the way we do business .

Innovative – delivering breakthrough solutions. 

Performance – setting world-class standards. 

Green – demonstrating environmental leadership

So, what are our lessons learned?  It’s basically very simple.  Your brand must be true.  True to what you are and what you do.  It’s been said, nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.  And it’s the same thing here:  if your brand is a lie, it won’t take long for it be be discovered.  And when that happends, watch out!

Simply put.   Scent has the highest link to memory than the other 4 senses.  Olfaction and memory!!

In fact, scent has even been a useful modality in patients with Alzheimer’s Disease!  Pleasant aromas have been used to calm these patients when they are agitated.  Perhaps taking them back in memory to a more peaceful time.

But for those of you who insist, Olfaction is the sensory modality that is physically closest to the limbic system, of which the hippocampus and amygdala are a part, and which is responsible for emotions and memory.  So, there is a wealth of science to support this concept.

But let’s think about the marketing implications of scent beyond the obvious concepts of food and cosmetics.  Hummm.  Or should I say sniffffff. 

So, how does your brand smell.  And for that matter, how does it taste, feel and sound.  Interesting stuff for a brand-building workshop!!!

Much of this is already living on the fringes:

–Influence scoring”.  Yep, it’s already here. Your buying power is only part of your real influence to a marketer.  Your outbound influence to other consumers (hello bloggers and Tweeters!!!) are part of the equation that can establish you as as a key target.  Think of it as your marketing influence FICO score.

–Neuromarketing. Forget about focus groups and asking silly questions about what you like and don’t like.  Now the direct responses of your brain will drive market research and decision making.  It will even help you with you own preferences and selections.  Get ready to wear a funny little hat that reads your thoughts!

–Tactical scoring. We can now score individual tactic and rank how well then do in advancing the buying sequence!  From opening an e-mail to completing an on-line training program, marketers can now understand how close you are to the purchase.

What lies ahead is SCIENCE-BASED MARKETING.  It will change the way we think media, strategies and tactics.

And do you know what?  I already know what you’re thinking…

Enter e-ticulation.  It’s the e-version of gesticulation.  Gesticulation is the act of gesture…and now this notion of the computer gesture is emerging–living in technology like the Wii and further driven in part by the ipad.  Touch, push, move, stretch and point are now becoming part of the body language of the computer.  It’s applications in real life are significant.  From teaching a child  to professional one-on-one selling, this will become the new standard of interactive communication.

The interesting thing is that this new method isn’t just a step forward in technology but a step back to humanity.  It integrates the device with the individual.  It’s the Internet that you hold like a pet.  It’s an extension of yourself and establishes a direct neural connection with the way your brain works.  This is not be be underestimated!!!

It’s here and it’s here to stay.  It’s call e-ticulation, and you heard it here first.

But let’s take a step back,  or should I say a step lower…to your waist (and your liver).  Because, that’s where lipogenesis really happens and that’s where the fat likes to hang out.

Here’s my concern:  We spend so much time talking about aerobic exercise, fat-free and BMI that we are missing the most essential organ that needs exercise–the BRAIN!!!!

There are two main issues that need to be discussed.  The first is the practical reality of thinking and neural development.  You see, an active brain is more healthy and drives synaptic development.  A brain that is less active is more likely to be associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (my theory).  Simply stated, use it or lose it!

But there’s more.  Exercising the brain is not just expanding language skills or playing chess.  There is another, even greater aspect to this story–grooming consciousness and the evolution of mind.  Now, take a deep breath, because this is important.  SYSTEMATIC INTROSPECTION (LIKE PRAYER AND MEDITATION) IS AN ESSENTIAL ASPECT OF HUMAN GROWTH AND TRANSCENDANCE.  Contemplation is a powerful tool that is well established in great religions of the world and helps us up the ladder of personal growth–moving into a full-established sense of self (the ego) and then moving higher up to trans-personal levels.

So, next time you go to the gym,  fuss with your hair or spend hours searching for that perfect suit, think about grooming the very thing that defines you in a way Armini can never do–your brain.

“Hey–do I look fat in this brain?!”

It’s unchanging.

It’s that feeling of awareness you had as a child and that very same feeling you have right now.  It’s the I am moment–or I am-ness.

It’s unchanging.  The same. The perfect…such that when perfect is taken from perfect.  Perfect still remains.

Objects are the “human” interface” with this…and the cause for strife and struggle. The attachment to the transient…and these objects come and go…but only Onenessity remains.  Timeless and pure.

Recognize this Onenessity…this I am-ness and you recognize God.

And there it is.  Perfect.

(Thank you Ken Wilber)

But first a step back.  To the lightbulb.  You see, there were many twits there too.  They looked at the light bulb and saw the danger of electricity, the reduction of “candle light” atmosphere and the high cost. They were twits.  People who can’t see past the nose on their face…and cling to the convention of yesterday.

And that takes us back to the future…and to those who look at Twitter as silly device to let people know that you’re brushing your teeth or taking another breath.

They don’t get it.  And don’t really don’t want to.  They miss the emergence of “now” and the social media thread that spins the fabric of an entirely new (and vast) aspect of communication.  The light bulb doesn’t go off over their heads simply because they rejected it a long time ago…and still live in the dark.

Remember: “I didn’t realize that I was in the dark until after the light went on!”

And don’t forget to follow me at www.twitter.com/JohnNosta

I like the conservatives. They make me feel secure and in touch with my past and future.  Well, at least sometimes.

It’s politics that I don’t like.

Now, if you go back a few posts when I talked about how consensus often destroys innovation, I offered up the example of two people wanting to paint a house.  One wants white and the other wants red.  They compromise, move to the generic center, and pick pink.  What a terrible solution.    But, that may really be the way to sustain the peace.  A strategic peace build upon the traditions of the both sides.

Side one:  We are all one.  A profound reality that simply says “Tat Tvam Asi” (Sanskrit: तत् त्वम् असि ), the timeless Sanskrit sentence, translating variously to “Thou art that”.  Or, “love your neighbor as yourself”.   Which, in this reality, translates more directly into “you are your neighbor”.  This is the esoteric reality that expresses the reality beyond flesh and void of the imperfections of humanity. (Sidebar:  it’s still a reality accessable to us all, kinda like flat abs, it just takes a lot of work.)

Side two:  Peace through strength. I am woman hear me roar.  Let’s get ready to rumble.  Or, from a more practical and sinister perspective, the atomic bomb.  Yes, highly effective.  And perhaps, from a very “human”view, a solid choice.

Put these two together in a room and soon the granola bars and Ronald Reagan pictures all end up as weapons tossed across the room in a battle of ideology.  It just seems that the two sides (white and red) just can’t get along.

This issue is that given the imperfection of humanity (and the curious evolution of consciousness), pink maybe a good color after all.

In our democracy, ideology seems to be the wedge that splits the effectiveness our our governing bodies.  Yet we cling to these ideologies as a final truth.

The “human” condition is imperfect.  And solutions, in that context, may very well be the same–an imperfect compromise for an imperfect world.

तत् त्वम् असि or तत्त्वमसि)

Of course you don’t.  And the Heisenberg Principle shouldn’t mean much to you either.  But let’s go over it anyway.  It stated that certain pairs of physician properties can’t be accurately know at the same time.  The most common of this is the position and the velocity of a particle or object.  You can measure, to exacting specifications the speed of an object, but you will compromise your ability to nail down the position…and the other way around.

On to new media and the association between Twitter and Google.  The both reveal a wealth of information as a function of time and content.  Twitter gives you the relevance “in the moment” and Google provides a “consolidated depth of information”.  Together, they create the yin/yang to understanding contemporary relevance of information.

So…you can know how relevant and timely something is (do a Twitter search) and you can see that comprehensive depth of information (do a Google search).  To a certain degree, one comes at the expense of the other.

Interesting….

We’re all victims of this. Thinkers who are squashed with the high-brow analysis of pseudointellectuals and the thought-bullies who know better than we.

The point here isn’t liberation, but the shackles of constraint and fear that hold innovation and creativity at bay.  Creativity is the spontaneous outpouring of emotion and thought.  It’s the magical moment that–after learning and introspection–bursts forth in moments of clarity and vision.

It’s a precarious journey, this think we call thinking.  And it can be so easily derailed by the infusion of just a simple thought.

And the thought to fear is fear itself.  (yep, FDR was really on to something.)

Fear crushes innovation and creativity.

Fear puts our subconscious (and consciousness) mind in the exoteric world.  Not the esoteric world of creativity that allow us to tap the broad and rich sea of knowledge-flux that bubbles up to surface.

Fear is the driver of mediocrity and duplication.

Simply put, the best of creative and innovative minds have one think in common:  the freedom to fail!

Think on!