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Pat’s Picks: Top 3 Fave Brands

Today’s blog post highlights AM:PM PR Co-Founder Pat McCormick and his three favorite brands!

Apple

“Hi, my name is Pat and I’m an Applephile. I need to make that admission to explain why I have Apple’s marketing at the top of my list of faves. Apple infuses its brand in every element of its products and marketing – from ads to packaging, to the look, feel and function of its products. My latest Apple acquisition is my Apple Card. Like other Apple products, it’s clean, simple, minimal. It lives in the Apple universe with my Apple MacBook Pro, Apple iPad Pro, iPhone XS Max, Apple Watch, Apple HomePod, Apple TV and Apple Music. (Full disclosure: I’m an Apple stockholder.)

Disney

My second fave is Disney. Family and friends are familiar with my tradition of taking my grandchildren to Disneyland between their 9th and 10th birthdays. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy 9 great Disney stays with 9 amazing grandchildren. It’ll be awhile before I can take Haxton, who just turned 3 last week.
The Disney marketing that’s caught my eye recently is its upcoming launch of Disney+, the new streaming service. Disney’s D23 Expo, the annual gathering of the Official Disney Fan Club, was this past weekend and a number of new program announcements were released. The company made great use of its social media, digital tools and traditional media relations. Disney+ will to tap into the existing and future Disney media libraries as well as Pixar, the Marvel Universe, the Star Wars franchise and National Geographic. Cost will be $7.50/month, about half of a Netflix subscription. I’m also a Disney stockholder.
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Portland Gear

Third fave is Portland Gear. The company and its founder, Marcus Harvey, have a great origin story. He leveraged Instagram to perfectly position his company and his personal commitment to our community, its sports teams, and great design. Portland Gear is my nominee for the best example of developing a brand from a great idea which resulted in significant success using Instagram.”
Darth Vader and King Arthur's Sword

The Force is strong with Disney’s marketing of Star Wars buy

Pat McCormick as Walt Disney with his grandson Ian as MIckeyI confess I’m a Disney fan. Disneyland opened the summer before I entered 8th grade, but I never got to go until we went 30-some years later with our kids.

When Disney announced on Halloween that it had acquired Lucasfilm, owners of the Star Wars franchise, it was big news. It also was an opportunity for someone at Disney to invest a little bit of time to make a brilliant marketing move.

Remember the long-running series of Disney “What’s Next?” commercials featuring Super Bowl or NBA or Olympics champs being asked what they plan to do after winning their championships? “I’m going to Disneyland,” was the reply.

Well, on the day of the Lucasfilm announcement, some creative Disney marketer got Darth Vader and some Imperial Storm Troopers to cut a video asking Darth Vader “What are you going to do next?” The YouTube video shows Darth and his entourage enjoying the fun of Disneyland.

What I love about it is that someone, probably with no budget, could execute the idea so quickly. For those of us who visit Disneyland with some frequency (I take each of my grandkids for four days in the parks between their 9th and 10th birthdays), we know that Darth and the Imperial Storm Troopers have Jedi training sessions six times a day, so the costumed characters are easily available.

So is the whole park. Get a video crew Disney marketing team, shoot some video, edit and post.

In one day, the quickly posted YouTube video has had almost 500,000 plays. Congratulations to the marketer that had that idea. Brilliant.