NerdBrand Podcast
The NerdBrand Podcast is at the intersection of nerd culture, branding, and advertising. Nerd culture is no longer an isolated subculture; it’s THE culture of the day and makes its way into our daily lives through the entertainment we seek and the technology we rely upon. Listen as we discuss our views on visual design, branding, and advertising for movies, comics and novels, video games, technology, and other nerdy passions.
NerdBrand Podcast
Pooping Bears, Emus, and Failed Army Campaigns: The Art of Brand Mascots
ABOUT NERDBRAND
NerdBrand is a national branding and advertising agency based in Louisville, KY.
Learn more about NerdBrand.
Hear more of the NerdBrand Podcast.
Anyways, up next on this episode of the Nerd Brand Podcast. We are talking about advertising that has definitely impressed us, and then we're going to play the music and we're back. So last week we talked about Google AI summaries and how they're available in audio format. So hopefully my internet holds up here and we'll see how the streaming turns out, but they're available in audio format. So hopefully my internet holds up here and we'll see how the streaming turns out, but they're available in audio format. So instead of reading your search results, you can now listen to them. Now research has come out. I have to add this, because I saw this last night that AI is not making us more inquisitive and it's not making us better. It's making us actually, I guess, worse cognitively, because we're not.
Speaker 2:I've heard that as well. Yeah, You're not using certain factors of your brain, You're only I guess I don't know the specific terminology but you're only using, like the inquiry part of your brain versus like using the creative part of your brain.
Speaker 1:If using the creative part of your brain, if that makes sense yeah, it's like it's all like, hey, tell me about this and do to do, listen to it, but then you don't have an engagement where you're able to more accurately like divulge that without that tool. And so it's almost like some people try to make the comparison to a calculator, to back in the day when we just did all the math, the only thing is but the paper never, like in the calculator, never gave you the answer, though.
Speaker 1:That's the thing. You never. You never asked the calculator, or you had to know what to input, so you became more or less an operator of the device. Now it's like there's really no operation to AI, it's just question and answer, like you and me right now.
Speaker 2:Right, unless you use it for certain. I don't know idea generation, because I feel like there's times like that or to condense stuff. I use it for doctoring. It's never a replacement tool, it's a resource is what I have always saw it as.
Speaker 1:Oh, you go down the WebMD hole. Is that what you do?
Speaker 2:No, not that I don't know. That's just my philosophy that I've accrued over the past couple of years when it's been at our exposure.
Speaker 1:Ah, okay, I was just like wait, don't do that, michaela, don't WebMD, you'll have cancer every time no, I'm not becoming a hypochondriac.
Speaker 2:I promise there's only one room for one person in my life that has that yeah, yeah, you always leave that one thing to them.
Speaker 1:It's like no, you own that, that's fine. I don't, I can't do the stress, so anyways. So let's talk about some brands. We're going to talk about charmin, liberty mutual and the us army. So, um, charmin, starting with that, I feel like they're amazing, because talking about poop wasn't a thing like it always has been a thing with guys. But let's talk. Let's think about Star Trek, like 1950s or 60s, when the show came 60s.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, 60s would be great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, predates both of us by far Be more or less my parents. I don't even know if it'd be your mom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my parents were born in the early 60s, so yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, so anyways, no bathroom. Like that ship all the way up to Next Generation in the 90s. And now it's like where's the bathroom? Nobody's ever really, I recall, said I'm going to go to the bathroom. Like they didn't introduce a shower until the motion picture. And so when the motion picture came out, then you saw a shower and then they explained it was like some kind of hypersonic. I don't know hyp, hypersonic, I don't know why I said that. Uh, it's sort of like a I don't know sound type shower to generate uh stuff to wash yourself. Anyways, go watch the motion picture if you do makes me think of uh psycho yeah, well, if you do go watch that, it's got a vibe to.
Speaker 1:Well, the character in there had the same haircut as as that because they did the. Uh, the lady that was the Vulcan on that show? I think. No, she wasn't a Vulcan, she was something else, she was bald-headed actually.
Speaker 1:Anyways, if you want to watch the motion pictures of Star Trek out there, be warmed and filled and on your way, and do so, because you'll just be bored. But lots of shots of the ship, so didn't have a bathroom. Then they put out schematics, you know, because nerds like to know like where is things actually at on a ship like that. And the schematics come out and it's like, oh, there's like one bathroom and they stuck it over in a corner and I'm just like, really you had to like get a whole disc and you had to put it way over there it's like three decks and then go over like so many yards and just to go pee. So that's funny.
Speaker 1:But Charmin comes out and they do what they do and it's like, oh, it's cool again, so it's not a problem. So I want to bring up their YouTube page. So yeah, I mean they literally we all know everybody goes. Why not enjoy the go. I mean, you know what? Where have you seen this in advertising in years and they've done this really well where they have made advertising about pooping a thing and, you know, getting really down to like without showing somebody doing the act and clean.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:They not wiping butt, Right. They've even gone that far. I mean you got a bear like riding a toilet. I mean this doesn't get. It's just funny to me. And now we all know they're bears, so what's the joke?
Speaker 2:Oh man, I didn't even connect those dots until just now. That's funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you got a bear even talking about little stuff on the bum when you wipe, and it didn't come all the way off. I know everybody knows what I'm talking about because oh, gosh, that makes me think of my dad.
Speaker 2:He used to. It was the Eddie Murphy joke that he would recite oh man, funny, fun stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you know this is a company that is like they just said. You know what? We're not going to lean into it, we are going to own it. And then you know they found ways to advertise like how it's perforated now and how that avoids tearing. When you tear off something, I think a lot of people they wad and then it's made to fold, so you can I don't know.
Speaker 2:Everyone's got a method and it's kind of like how you fold laundry. Everyone's like what's the way to do it? And I'm like I really who's to say?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's just yeah. But you never heard Kirk say give the command to Spock, say you have the con because I got to go to the bathroom and so yeah, it's. You know, all these years later and you have a brand here that is. You know this is their thing and they do. You know short videos on it. I don't think it's YouTube's attempt to try to deal with TikTok, but they cut their videos to where they could be used in these shorts. As far as I know, tiktok is still on. Today was actually the cutoff day for it, believe it or not. It was extended, so we still have TikTok as of June 20th. So we'll see what happens. But yeah, if our listeners out there are interested in Charmin, go to youtubecom, slash Charmin and subscribe to their stuff and, I don't know, enjoy the bears talking about the go. So there's that. What's your thoughts about this one about liberty mutual, because I know you've seen I just their jingle, I don't know.
Speaker 2:It has given me a certain level of fatigue, like can we change, can we pivot? Already, because I feel like the limu and this is just me, just my opinion, my opinion only uh, the limu emu, I feel like has become a little exhausted, and I don't know if you feel the same way, I don't know, but I feel like has become a little exhausted, and I don't know if you feel the same way, I don't know, but I feel like certain things like that have become iconic for certain viewers. It's kind of like the geico ads and how they. But I like how versatile geico goes, like that. You know they had the caveman and then they had the geico gecko. Like it's certain little features like that and they use them interchangeably. I feel like limuo Emu. Every time I hear the jingle, I'm just like and I disassociate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the latest one is the golf one, where they're out golfing and they got a whole series of those like we have on our screen here if you're watching us on YouTube or on video. But it's like, yeah, the Lemo Emu. So obviously Liberty Mutual L-i-m-u. Um, you got limo there and that's literally where I believe the name comes from. So I would imagine they were sitting in a marketing meeting and we're like, all right, well, okay, well, that's neat. What rhymes with limo, you know, and oh, and emo does, oh, okay, you know, because this is because both of these brands are very mascot-driven.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And most people probably wouldn't even know what an emu was Like. Oh, what's that ostrich doing on the screen there?
Speaker 1:Well, to be fair, I would mistake it for one. I wouldn't know the difference, but yeah, it's definitely a brand that. And then have you seen the ones with the baby, and it took me a while to figure this one out. They were doing a lot of these. They call them truth tellers. I don't know why they're called truth tellers, so if anybody out there knows, I'd like to know why they're called truth tellers.
Speaker 2:Oh, because it's the fella that's like the other. I think that's kind of kind of like back to my point with geico and how they use like different interchangeable focus points within their ads. I think this is the other one where it's the guy that's wearing the leather jacket and he, like, drops these truth bombs to people who are just sitting on that bench there.
Speaker 1:Oh, so he's actually a character Kind of like a cameo yeah.
Speaker 2:Like a commercial cameo, if you will.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I understand. See, this is what happens when you're over the age of 45. You see this stuff and you're like I have no idea why is this guy in there and why is this a thing. And you just explained it. So, thank you, michaela, now I get it.
Speaker 2:You're welcome. If it weren't for YouTube TV ads, I probably wouldn't know anything. Because I use Spotify, I dodge ads. I know I'm bad. I work for an ad agency and I skip all the ads. I'm an impatient girl.
Speaker 1:Well, the thing is, yeah, but you're our project manager. You're not like Mitch, a creative director or you know, yeah, you're. You can get away with that and be like I don't know, I just make sure the projects get done on time.
Speaker 2:Whatever you want to say.
Speaker 1:You know, by the way, for the record for everybody out there, she does way more than that, but still. But yeah, that makes sense now, for the record for everybody out there, she does way more than that, but still, um, but yeah, that makes sense now. And you know, they do the Bibberti thing to get. I don't know what they're, what, what, what was the original like, where that came from, I don't know. Um, I would assume it's because, you know, babies talk cute, so liberty. Maybe they have problems with the l's and the b's, I guess so. But yeah, that's, that's been their thing. Um, worked out, it's worked out pretty well. I don't know how long it's been going. Um, you know their channel. They've got tons and tons of videos. I mean, at least on the limu emu, doug and the doug is funny, but yeah and doug, I mean there's just certain names and words that are humorous, like stand-up comedians will say this like Aaron, doug, steve, maybe not Aaron, but still.
Speaker 1:AA Ron yeah, it's because of that. The AA Ron is why I remember John Aaron. But yeah, steve, for sure Steve is a funny name. It's like thanks, steve, and everybody will laugh you done, messed is a funny name it's like thanks, steve, and everybody laughs. You don't mess up AA Ron. Yeah, yeah, you don't mess up AA Ron. Yeah, I love.
Speaker 2:Keegan-Michael Key. Sorry, I just had to.
Speaker 1:But you've noticed, they're very specific about their banners. Two things I want to notice, especially for our video viewers notice where the icons are in the banners. Look at how centralized they are between the two. So you've got a nice adaptive thing where you've got the avatar and then you've got the, the banner at the top of the channel, and for both of them I mean very well done, very well laid out, um. So props to them for that. Uh, and of course I'm viewing on a desktop, so mobile, uh, would probably look. Let's see if I can pull off a mobile view um, yeah yeah it'll.
Speaker 1:It kind of does the job um.
Speaker 2:I don't think it just kind of cinches everything up a little bit yeah, I'm not sure that that's actually what you know.
Speaker 1:It looks like on an iphone. But uh, we're gonna say that. Yeah, we'll just say like, okay, you get a pass. Anyways, those are those two brands. Um, just out of curiosity, not to put you on the spot, not to make you kind of have to think hard or anything, but you got a brand that you like.
Speaker 2:I can just google it right now um well, we know, like you know what, what makes me not go like charmin, but you know what makes me go like energy wise, celsius and alani. You know I'm a big advocate for some energy drink brands yeah, let's see um, I'm probably gonna switch with the spelling.
Speaker 1:There it is let's see what they got so alani was purchased um not too long ago um for celsius yeah, for a lot of money. Yeah, by celsius, uh, and you know celsius story of their branding, their product and what it looks like is absolutely amazing because oh, yeah, uh, you know they put that out there and they're like, look, it's got to look this way other than otherwise. It just didn't, it didn't sell. It's a great. I'll never forget.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm sorry. Finish your point. I'm sorry. Okay, I was walking around. I was in Chicago. What was it? Yeah, it was in the wintertime, it was January and they had it was in Millennium Park. We were just waiting. We were walking around because we were waiting for our brunch spot to open up, a spot for us.
Speaker 2:So, we put our name in and we were waiting. We were walking around Millennium Park and like right off on one of the shoulders, there was a Celsius car and I was like oh, that's cool. I wonder what they're doing. They're just handing out random Celsius and I'm like you know what. That's such a great way to put your name out there, cause I didn't know, lonnie did something similar at like a fitness event that I went to a couple years back, where, you know, they were just handing out free samples and I don't know. I I have a certain, uh, passion for caffeine because it just, you know, gives me the energy I need, makes me the person I want to be for the day. So, exactly, yeah, you can laugh at it. Um, so it's okay, um, but but yeah, like that, I thought you know, that's a great way, you know, sample the product yeah, this is something I'm noticing, like I'm going through.
Speaker 1:I mean, there doesn't seem to be a face, a youtube page and they, they are running an ad, uh, here, sponsored, at the top. So, uh, anybody out there wants to contact us about doing this kind of stuff? Uh, yeah, this is what we do. There's always people always like, what do you do? It's like this. Uh, it's always good to show video on these things, to be like, yeah, that, right there, we just have to shoot the video, which is what we do. And therefore, you know, on and on and on, the madness goes.
Speaker 1:But it takes you to, uh, d to c and um, you know, this stuff, this, this drink, was bottled in Pleasure Ridge Park, louisville, kentucky, yep, so, but yeah, I think it was $4 billion was the acquisition for it. So, yeah, it's got a heck of a story in regards to that. I want to get it to the US Army, not because of the 250th anniversary or the recent parade, it's what. So, essentially, the parade and all that stuff, that's, it's all marketing. The whole thing is marketing, even even though I know a lot of the Trump stuff was around it. But forty five million, that's the marketing for that. So let's talk about the marketing budget of last year, though, and how that worked out. Oh my word, everybody was so upset about the 45 million for the you know the parade. Let's talk about the 100 million last year spent for recruiting and how that didn't work out.
Speaker 1:And, uh, this, this information and this story I have to give credit, it's brought to you by fat electrician because I watch his show a lot and love it, so this is where I'm getting some of the information. He kind of does a full breakdown on one of his videos on YouTube, so I recommend checking him out. But you know, the United States Army is always like any other Corps, and you know you've got your brother who's in the service. What branch is he in?
Speaker 2:He's in Air Force and my dad was in Navy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what branch is he in? He's in Air Force and my dad was in Navy. Yeah, so they don't like Army.
Speaker 2:No, they don't. They love to jab at each other. You know, chair Force for my brother and then Squid for my dad.
Speaker 1:Chair Force. Yeah, I've heard that a lot Of course. Yeah, I've heard that a lot. Yeah, you go into that Not to offend any.
Speaker 2:You know people who are serving, but you know just some familiar jabbing. That it always happens, you know, at every Thanksgiving Christmas.
Speaker 1:You never know. Hey, they're. All those jobs are important. We'll say that, like we will. Yes, well, you would know more than me. I don't have anybody, I don't have any family in there, but anyways, 100 million was used, so let's talk about the first $11 million. Did you read this?
Speaker 2:I did not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the first $11 million was given to Dwayne Johnson of Rock and he had to do five Facebook, no, no, five Instagram posts, and that was it. He had to promote the Army five Instagram posts, whatever that was, reels, I don't know. It was kind of an influencer campaign. That was $5 million out of the $11 million. The remaining $6 million was given to oh gosh, what's it called. It's not UFC, ufl, it's sort of like an amalgamation between the XFL and some other league and he bought it and he owned UFL, and so there was that spent, and so he only did two Facebook posts. He only did two Instagram posts. He didn't do the full five, he just did the two, so he owes three.
Speaker 1:As far as I know, this is to date, and the campaign short story is that it generated a negative 38 results. How do you do that? Well, basically, when you sign up or get people to enlist, then they go through a qualification. Okay, these people actually can be qualified candidates. They're still not taking the. They still not taking the oath. They still aren't in, you know. So they're still not taking the oath. They still not taking the oath. They still aren't in, you know. So they're in their.
Speaker 2:I guess you could call sales funnel, but they're not through it, right, right because when you do the oath that's literally, you know, that's like the closing of the sale, because then you know, say goodbye to your family, you hop on a plane and then you're off to boot. Camp is essentially how that all goes. Um, but yeah, like the stepping stones. For that is, you know, you of course engage interest in a recruiter and then you know, if you haven't already taken an ASVAB, which you know generates it's kind of, it's like an SAT, but military, think of like a military SAT, but it categorizes, you know, your skills and attributes that can be utilized in whichever branch you go in.
Speaker 2:So my brother, you know he took the ASVAB and he, you know, is more he's upon taking that, as whenever that categorized him to, you know, oh, work in maintenance, You're going to work on the parachutes and all the flight equipment. Make sure it's all up to par. So that way you know, paratroopers, pilots, you know they're ready to go in case they have to deploy from their plane or anything like that. Paratroopers always need parachutes from jumping out of the plane. So make sure that those bad boys deploy is what my brother does. So, once you have the ASVAB, and then as far as like the middle funnel of it all? I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:But then you know you eventually get to the oath and that's when you know your whole journey begins. Yeah, yeah. So by the time they got to that process, uh, they actually had 38 people drop out. There was like it wasn't even, it wasn't zero, it was negative 38. They lost people that enlisted from this. That's Now. We haven't even talked about the other 88 million. Right, that was a 100 million campaign. That was just 11 million. So let's talk about the 88. Where did it go and what did it generate? What do you think? What do you think it generated? 88 million. By the way, it was NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt's car was completely covered and they ran that for the thing. So it was all the NASCAR. Woo, guys. What do you think that campaign generated in enlistments and or leads and then qualified candidates.
Speaker 2:Oh man, I couldn't tell you it was how much the other one bombed. I'm kind of afraid to give out a number.
Speaker 1:Just take a guess it this is going to be fun I'll say like 500. That's what a lot of people think it actually generated 24,800 leads.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, well, better than the other one but.
Speaker 1:but there's a big but.
Speaker 2:Oh God.
Speaker 1:Only 20 of them were qualified. Oh boy, 20. 20. And so how many do you think out of that were qualified? Oh boy, 20. And so how many do you think out of that were recruited?
Speaker 2:I would want to say five to 10.
Speaker 1:That is so nice of you, but zero. No it's complete goose egg Dang.
Speaker 2:How do you not get qualified? Because I feel like, as long as you're, you know you're a high school graduate, you do the ASVAB and you know you're not, you know you're not a criminal, or you know have any not criminal, but like you know, any chronic yeah, yeah, chronic problems.
Speaker 1:You don't have a rap sheet, you don't like all the good things, I don't know yeah, uh, I just as soon as I hear any sort of ad campaign that's sponsored by a celebrity or anything like that, I mean some work. But I just don't think we're in that age anymore where it's a good, good idea to have to grab a celebrity name and use that as a you know, your mascot, if you will. I mean cameo yeah Some cameos.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like it's like what we suggest for our clients, like not everyone needs, you know, a TikTok page. It's relevant to your brand and I feel like some brands divert to cameos and I'm like, well, does it make sense, or are you just trying to be like, oh, look at me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know, if it's a brand, it's looking for an avatar. I mean, obviously the U S army doesn't need an avatar. I mean, they got a pretty solid brand and presence and their, their strategy now is very, very different, obviously. I think that it's a lot better, in my opinion. Uh, because they're, they're, they're using the actual, uh, the war fighters. They're actually showing, um, here's the hardware.
Speaker 1:I call it hardware porn. Um, it was a thing in the eighties and nineties with, you know, knight Rider and Airwolf and all of that you know, you have, you have an attack helicopter, you have a car, there's all this. Those kinds of shows on television don't really exist. I just call it hardware porn because that's just the way television shows in the 80s were. If you haven't watched any of those, I recommend you go back and dive into that, especially Airwolf. Airwolf probably didn't age very well, but it was pretty neat.
Speaker 1:I would like for them to try to maybe bring that back. That'd be interesting. But anyways, at the end of the day, yeah, they're showing the hardware and capabilities and stuff, and so it's sort of not as a blind, you know thing anymore when it comes to like, well, what am I stepping into more. So it's more transparent in that way. But yeah, Charmin has got some cartoon CGI bears wiping their butts and, uh, you got a bird over in you know Liberty mutual. So it's like you know there's a lot of things you can do. Maybe you don't need to do any of that.
Speaker 2:I don't know. It's just like uh, it's finding something that makes a little bit sense, but also it's engaging and it's all about how your metrics are. If it's something that really takes off, then you find the success in it. Then keep doing that until you know people get tired of it yeah, yeah, I mean that's it.
Speaker 1:I mean it's, it's never a thing, that's going to be a thing forever. I mean coca-cola. They bring out their bears, like you know, once a year um christmas time the puffins, I the puffins, I love the puffins.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it's just you got to know your brand and you got to know your audience, and so at NerdBrand, that's what we do you sit and consult with you, try to figure that out. It's a lot of working meetings that we are charging for, but you know that consulting phase is invaluable before you start writing a social post or start shooting a video or put a website up. I mean we do all of those things, but at the end of the day, it's like what do we want to put on that that actually resonates with the audience, that makes them want to convert or call you, to work with you? Because you can have a logo and a sign and a company and a car or whatever. That doesn't mean you're going to get customers. That's just not how it works.
Speaker 1:And so our job is to sort of find that thing that makes people want to like, remember you. And so if you're sitting around and you're trying to figure out what is that thing, well, it's like what we've been saying. It's like our job is to help you figure out that one thing that you're just not too sure about. So, just like, if you go to our website at nerdbrandagencycomcom, you'll find, uh, all that messaging there um, our job is to help you figure out stuff. I mean, you know, there's a certain something you're just trying to figure out and you're trying to trying to put a name on it. You're trying like that's, that's our job, so you can hire us for that. Um, get that off your plate, so that stress goes away, so you're not just like feeling like you're wandering around.
Speaker 1:So there's our ad for the show. Um, anyways, uh, special announcements are we're going to try to keep doing these shows more video wise, like this, and we're going to start doing some more live streaming. Uh, so, uh, I haven't decided on facebook or youtube, and also it matters on quality of internet connection for right for that, because this is very dependent upon that. I may have to upgrade mine or we may have to find a solution for that, but it is nice to kind of get back on video and we have the equipment. We're just finding a space.
Speaker 2:It's still a problem.
Speaker 1:I am upgrading the studio here at my house for those watching. That's where I'm at. I have two chairs coming, two brand new chairs, comfy ones, and I'm going to buy a table and, uh, I'm going to start outfitting this place and so we'll be able to do these things in person and have a couple of cameras on us and kind of go down that route. But uh, anyways, if you like this episode, go to nerve and adccom slash podcast like subscribe, sign up for newsletters. We are doing that. If you want to know what topics are and talk to us, I mean, just hit us up on social media. Uh, you know, those of you that were wondering, like, where's Michaela? There she is.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm here.
Speaker 1:Mitch is out. He is with family right now, um, and we are, uh, you know, wrapping up a pretty solid week in a good way. I'm pretty excited. I don't know you got any announcements or anything you want to share with anybody.
Speaker 2:Nope, just grinding away, just chilling.
Speaker 1:Just chilling and grinding away. That's something Michaela likes to do. She likes to do the work. Your role was account manager in other places and now you're kind of you're an inside cat, I guess is the way to say it.
Speaker 2:I don't know Meow, yes, but yeah, the project management suits me a lot better. I've always been an organized nut and just suits me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know, if you guys got a project out there, this is who you're going to interact with, um, as well as me, and mitch is, of course, but you know this is who's going to be got got their hands on your heart during the operation on the table, I guess, um, but uh, it's not not to intimidate you, michaela, just you know it is it?
Speaker 2:is mean, I was never really good at operations, so we'll see. Yeah, damn it.
Speaker 1:Those that remember that. Anyways, we thank everybody for listening and tuning in and we will see you next week.
Speaker 2:And remember keep your nerd brand strong.
