Seth Godin’s most recent book, The Dip, focuses on being the best and I agree that if you’re gonna do something, and you think it’s worth your time to do it, be the best — you owe it to yourself.

For Mattel, although they may strive to be the best at what they do, it is an important lesson to note that you are only as strong as the weakest member of your team. Sadly for Mattel the Chinese manufacturers are the weakest point of their team and boy what a whammy!

My Two Cents: Surround yourself with people you trust, don’t sacrifice quality and remember that your customers are one of your most important publics.

• It confirms that the things we search for most are actually on the Internet–online services;
• It confirms that consumers want Web access to traditional brick and mortar stores;
• It shows that people are looking for interaction online;
• It may be proof that social networking sites are more than a trend;
• It proves that Yahoo! is more searched than Google–my bet is people are “Googleing” Yahoo!, what an irony.

Here’s the top ten list according to Hitwise:

1. MySpace
2. ebay
3. Yahoo!
4. Mapquest
5. craigslist
6. WalMart
7. Google
8. Target
9. match.com
10. Bank of America

My Two Cents: Does this list represent anything significant? To some degree, I would say yes. The survey was based on data from 10 million Internet users, and although that is a statistically significant number, to be sure we would need to compare lists over the years. At the very least, this list serves as great case studies or best practices for anyone who wants to become successful on the Internet.

My Two Cents: I wrote this on my iBook.

What I’d like to do is present advertisements and commercials representing various brands and not only post a copy of the ad/commercial but also rate it based on a couple of factors and rate each factor on a scale of one to five, one being bad and five being exceptional.

1. Creativity: although not always necessary, it is definitely a plus and helps attract customers to your brand.

2. Uniqueness: if you’re doing the same thing as the other guys how are you establishing your brand? Uniqueness can definitely go along with creativity.

3. Message: Ads are meant to communicate something to the audience, maybe not everyone is the audience, but it should communicate some sort of discernible message.

4. Intangibles: Sometimes ads just have something about them call it pathos, or whatever, but sometimes ads just have a je ne sei quoi about them.

5. Overall experience: This is probably the most subjective, because it is, after all, my experience. I may not get the message or think it is creative, but all of it comes together to represent a final product that will effect consumers. In other words, consumers will have an experience with your ad.

This week I want to present the first ad I’ve come across for this creative marketing series and it’s Jeep’s series of bug ads. There are various versions, both in print and TV format, for anyone who isn’t familiar with the ads here is one:

(photo courtesy of MediaPost.com)

Creativity: 5

Uniqueness: 4

Message: 2 (I think the message is better expressed in the television format)
Intangibles: 3

Overall Experience: 2 (It’s a print ad!)
Admeter score: 3.2

My Two Cents: A good concept for the ad, the T.V. version is better (here, here and here, and the print version that hung in Time Square is even better, see that here.

What does this have to do with branding? Well, I read once that your brand is only as strong as it’s weakest point and to tell you the truth, if Chad and his crew are the weakest point of the Burger King brand, then they’ll be alright!

My Two Cents: I think a lot of companies know this is true, but don’t do enough to ensure that brand strength is translated from the top of the organization to the bottom.

This struck me recently as I though about the “subliminal” power universities seem to have over their alumni. I went to a good university and consequently spent money on my way to receiving my degree. Now, there are those who went to universities and spent more than $100,000 on their education, so what possesses us to go back to the alumni shop and buy a golf shirt for $70??!! The answer: affiliation, we feel a connection to our alma mater, it shows a bond between us and other alumni or fans, and in some ways it is part of who we are–i.e., you don’t drop the fact that you’re a Harvard grad without that fact saying something about the person you are.

My Two Cents: The successful communicator or marketer will find a way to connect with that sense of belonging–that need to be included–that we humans feel. Now, that’s not to say that we all want to be part of the Kleenex club, but I think you get the picture. Have you created a campaign or strategy as part of a campaign that relied on the principle of affiliation?

I am probably one of the last to hear about youtube and the lonelygirl15.com hoax/stunt??? It was brought to my attention by Mike Pogue of the New York Times.

My Two Cents: This youtube event reminds me of the .com vs .org discussion wherein we need to know the source of information to determine credibility. I am not familiar with thelonelygirl15 story but from the sounds of it, it’s pretty innovative, regardless of who is promulgating the videos and site. The danger I see is that, in an era when trust and transparency are in more and more demand, events like this can blur the lines and hurt credibility. Time will tell, and again, this is part of the learning curve.

What do you think? How important is disclosure in advertising? Do you see this as detrimental to corporate or brand trust?