Branding Loneliness

With millions of Americans looking to the Web for love, this week’s Brand Show looks into how online dating sites are trying to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Match.com and eHarmony.com have traditional marketing models, however, sites like SugarDaddie.com market themselves through public relations. Sites like SugarDaddie.com, which attempt to pair good looking women with financially successful men, are becoming even more popular and in turn targeting a different type of online dater. On this episode, we will look at how online dating has grown and how it has become more socially acceptable since its inception in the mid 1990s.

This week’s Brand Rant discusses how retail stores like Target and Toys “R” Us continue to advertise a recalled toy despite the toy being recalled nearly a month ago. And in the Brand Spotlight, we look into how Subway, the nations largest fast food restaurant, is attempting to be green by using 100 percent recycled products. Dr. Steve Pasternack, the owner and creator of SugarDaddie.com joins us to discuss his online dating site. Also, Brandon Wade, founder and CEO of SeekingArrangement.com discusses how his site has grown to have more than 100,000 users in just a year.

The toy “Aqua Dots,” which was recalled weeks ago, is still showing up in advertisements for popular stores.


Subway has become the first fast food restaurant in the United States to go green by offering recycled napkins, cups and cutlery.


Online dating sites that market themselves to beautiful women seeking rich men are becoming more and more popular.


Visit the web sites of our two guests at www.sugardaddie.com and www.seekingarrangement.com

A new program allows online daters to search for dates that look familiar to celebrities.

Online dating has become vastly more popular and more socially accepted since it was introduced in the mid 1990s.

Ethnography for Your Brand

On the day before Thanksgiving, the Brand Show looks into the latest buzzword in marketing, ethnography. Ethnography is the study of culture and people. Ethnographers are studying people in their daily lives and gaining better insight than focus groups and in-depth interviews. Previously ethnographers were primarily used in the academia sector. Now, advertising agencies and companies are hiring them to learn more about their brand. Today, we will look into the growing use of ethnographers in marketing.

This week’s Brand Rant discusses how Wal-Mart’s latest price claim of saving the American family $2,500 might actually be false. Consumers do not actually have so shop at Wal-Mart to get the savings. Only the existence of Wal-Mart saves consumers money. And in the Brand Spotlight, we look into how the NBA’s New Jersey Nets are trying to benefit from the Broadway strike in New York City. Dr. Don Stull, a professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas, joins us to discuss ethnography.


Wal-Mart’s price claim of saving American’s families $2,500 a year may be a little deceptive.

The NBA’s New Jersey Nets are hoping to attract a new type of fan as they offer ticket discounts to those who are unable to see a Broadway play because of the Broadway strike.


Ethnography is starting to replace focus groups and in-depth interviews as the best way to learn about consumers.


Eight O’Clock Coffee studied groups of coffee drinkers in different cities, hoping to find out more about its target consumer.


Procter and Gamble have used ethnography to determine how American families plan parties.


Market researchers are using ethnography to determine what people do rather than what they say.

Ad agencies are increasingly hiring ethnographers to follow people in their natural settings like in their homes or in a bar.



Marketers are looking into the science of ethnography to better grasp who their consumers are.

Collegiate Branding

With the college football season in full swing, we look into how colleges are branded. Beginning in the mid 1990s, state colleges realized the need to brand themselves because of declining state funding. Now, colleges are using blogs, the internet and social media to appeal to potential students. Also, colleges across the country are realizing the importance of their names. Many are changing their names in hopes to appeal to a broader number of potential students. In the last 10 years, five schools in the state of Missouri have changed their names.

The first of two Brand Rant’s discusses how Corona is hoping that country music fans will start to think of them for a cold beer thanks to a new partnership with country music star Kenny Chesney. And in our second Brand Rant, we look into how Southwest is trying to appeal to business travelers, hoping that they will pay for the highest priced flights in exchange for a cocktail and an “A” boarding pass. Paul Kincaid from Missouri State University joins us to discuss its name change and how it increased enrolment. Also, Christopher Simpson from SimpsonScarborough, a collegiate marketing firm talks to us about other tactics colleges are taking to appeal to potential students.

Corona looks to Kenny Chesney to appeal to the country music market.

Southwest is increasing its highest priced fares in hopes of offering incentives to business travelers.

Many universities are changing their names in hopes of becoming more appealing to potential students.

Rural colleges are using new tactics to attract students from cities.

The Science of Branding

New technology is being used to determine what is successful and what is not successful in advertising. A new practice, known as neuro-marketing, measures the brainwaves of individuals while they watch or look at ads. Advertisers are paying thousands and thousands of dollars to use this technology, in hopes of gaining insight about their consumers. While some claim that this is the future of studying brands, others claim that this is not conclusive and even an invasion of privacy. On this episode, we look into neuro-marketing and other strategies that marketers are taking to study their consumers.

This week’s Brand Rant discusses how NBC is considering a new show where two advertisers would be involved weekly in the show. The show would follow a fictional advertising agency as they go after two real advertising accounts. And in the Brand Spotlight, we look into how Holiday Inn is spending $1 billion dollars to remodel its hotels and improve its image. Dr. Paul Bolls, co-director of the PRIME Lab at the University of Missouri - Columbia, joins us to discuss new technology that marketers are using to learn more about their consumers.

NBC is considering a new program where two advertisers would be showcased in the script each week.

Holiday Inn is remodeling all of its hotels and getting a new logo.

Neuro-marketing, where advertisers look at brain waves of consumers to determine whether an advertisement is effective or not, is being used more and more by marketers.

Drug makers are constantly trying to find the perfect name for a drug that will appeal to consumers and not cause medical problems.

Adding a nine to the end of a price can have an effect on the decision of the consumer.

Read how Wal-Mart uses a pricing strategy that creates a psychological feeling for shoppers.