I know they play football during the Super Bowl and give out movie awards during the Oscars, but the advertising in these big-event broadcasts is must-see television, too. For this reason, advertisers are shelling out big bucks to participate.

ABC is charging up to $1.8 million per each 30 seconds of advertising and says the show is sold out. By comparison, the Super Bowl cost almost twice as much. But $1.8 million is still a big price tag, one that comes with risks if your ad fails to deliver. For the right brands with the right message, it can be a good deal. For the wrong brands or ones with the wrong message it is money down the drain.

What are the keys to success for Oscar ads?

1. Stay true to the theme of the event.

The Super Bowl is about guys waving the American flag, drinking beer, eating chips and making crude jokes in front of the television. The Oscars are about Hollywood glitz, glamour and grace. It is about sipping champagne, wearing gowns and getting awards. Women rule the roost on this night.

2. Winners do best.

When it comes to advertising at big events, leading brands with strong perceptions do best. It’s why Budweiser does so well at the Super Bowl. It is a lot easier for the leading brand to connect it to the event by making a broad statement about its category. To gain any ground, the number 2 brand needs to say why it is different or better than the number 1 brand. At the Super Bowl the past few years, Chrysler ran some emotionally powerful and memorable ads promoting Detroit and the American automotive industry, but I would argue those ads did more to help Ford and General Motors both of which are far bigger. Not to mention Chrysler is half-owned by an Italian and run by a Frenchman.

3. Consistency is key.

Advertising sporadically or only once in a big event rarely works. There are three reason why it is best if you stick to it year after year. One, consumers will come to look for your ads. Two, you get better at making ads for big events. After several years, Tide finally scored big with its Miracle Stain Super Bowl ad. Having experienced what works and doesn’t is very helpful. Three, staying consistent in the event generally keeps your competition out. Pepsi dropped out of the Super Bowl for a number of years which allowed Coca-Cola to jump in and take over the limelight.

Here are some comments about the ads we expect to see at the Oscars Sunday:

Diet Coke – “Gardner” Visual Hammer – Hunky guy

Consistency works. Diet Coke has been an Oscar regular. And its Hunky-themed ads have been running for almost 20 years. After losing out at the Super Bowl, women finally get their turn to objectify men. The problem is fact that Diet Coke is dying. The brand that is soaring and should have been advertised is Coke Zero! But for the Oscars maybe the hunky-guy would have worked well for the Zero brand too.

Chobani Greek Yogurt – “Go Real”

When you are the leader of a hot new category everybody is talking about, pouring on massive advertising is a good idea. When it comes to Greek yogurt and Chobani, the Oscars are the perfect place to launch a new massive campaign. The only problem here is the message. “Go Real” is the tagline? Go real? Shouldn’t it have at least been Go Greek? It isn’t about real or not. It is about Greek having more protein, no fat and filling you up. (But wait I just checked the Chobani website and they have launched new low-fat 2% yogurt, there goes the no-fat focus.) Chobani also needs a visual hammer for the brand. The package design is visually different but doesn’t communicate an idea. They can forget using John Stamos as the hammer, Dannon already hired him with miserable results.

Hyundai - Equus

Hyundai has been doing extremely well. This Korean car maker produces fun, affordable cars that are stylish and offer ridiculously long warranties. While advertising during the Super Bowl certainly made sense, does it make sense at the Oscars? It would promoted their stylish, yet affordable cars. Instead what are they doing? Using the show to promote their luxury line of cars. $60,000 for a Hyundai? You have got to be kidding. Like Bradley Cooper is going to drive a Hyundai? No celebrity or person with $60,000 to spend will buy a Hyundai when they could have a BMW, Audi, Mercedes or Lexus. The ads and cars are worthless.

There are a lot of award shows, but the Oscars remains on top. I must say they have a very nice visual hammer.

What is different this year is that you can watch most of the ads BEFORE the game. This could lead to one of many things for advertisers. It could play off big as millions watch and start discussing your brand and ad before the game. It could lead to anger and protests about your ads, which isn't always bad. Or it could lead to a whole lot of nothing.

Even in a social media obsessed world, success still comes down to producing a Super Bowl ad that is engaging, relevant, on message. And if it has a Visual Hammer too? Touchdown!

Out of the ads released here is a quick run-down of my thoughts:

TOUCHDOWNS

Budweiser: Visual Hammer - Clydesdale.

One of the best ads I have seen in a long time. Touching, powerful, memorable and on message. The Clydesdale visual hammer always is a winner. Budweiser is the King of Beers and King of the Super Bowl. Keep the tissues handy. A crowd pleaser everybody will love.

Audi - Visual Hammer - Headlights

Audi just keeps getting better and better. This year they bring us a new verbal nail "Bravery defines us" that perfectly syncs with the brand. Dad gives his dateless son the keys to his Audi to drive to the prom. Driving the Audi gives him a boost of confidence to kiss the girl of his dreams. Speaks not just to a universal message but one that is consistent with the brand. And as usual, the headlights hammer the brand message visually.

Doritos - Visual Hammer - Cheezy Triangle Chips

Staying consistent especially with a concept that works is always a good idea. Doritos once again brings us the "Crash the Superbowl" contest where viewers vote ahead of time which ads win and gets broadcast. This year brings a solid slate of winners. What makes this all work is that Doritos has a solid visual hammer for any director to work with. Combine the hammer with the brand's fun attitude and bingo, another Super Bowl success.

Coca-Cola - Visual Hammer - Contour bottle

This ad has generated some negative PR, and I agree the Arab/camel do lose out in this race a bit too early but with that said there is nothing truly offensive here. Just a big budget, classic Super Bowl ad that entertains and showcases the most iconic visual hammer in the world.

PUNTS

Go Daddy

Go Daddy is a Super Bowl regular. That is a good strategy. Go Daddy got our attention with sexy girls. That was a good strategy. But now it is time to do more. Now is the time to have a brand strategy too. Instead they have Danica Patrick stand by while a hot model makes out with a dorky guy making us all very uncomfortable. The last thing it makes me thing about is a URL. And URLs are a BIG DEAL! Finding the right URL is one of the most important things for brands and business these days. There is plenty they could have done here but didn't. One headline I saw on the Go Daddy site recently was great, I wish they had used this theme instead: "Score Your Domain."

Mercedes

Way too many celebrities. Way over produced. And way under priced. The message? Now the loser kid next door can afford a Mercedes. Mercedes now under $30,000! We have taken all the prestige out of our Mercedes brand and all that is left is this silly ad.

Volkswagen Beetle

Instead of showcasing another classic visual hammer - the VW Beetle - this ridiculous ad uses a white guy from Minnesota speaking in a Jamaican accent. For most of the ad, you have no idea what is going on. Even at the end, it makes little sense and isn't that funny. VM makes you so happy everybody gets a Jamaican accent? Is there pot in the glove compartment?

Kia

Affordable, fashionable Kia is a hit with consumers. This ad has some stunning visual effects and tells the classic story of how to answer every parents most dreaded question "Where do babies come from." The ending is a twist that shows off the car's new voice activated infotainment system. The feature isn't connected to the brand the way Siri is to iPhone. Last year's VW Darth Vader ad faced the same problem, fantastic ad but who remembers it was for VW? Not many. Consumers will remember the Space babies and forget the Kia. What Kia needs is a visual hammer that communicates an idea. Space Babies isn't it.

I'll be watching Sunday! And be back next week with a post-game round up. What was your favorite hammer?

    Remember a visual hammer isn't a logo, it is a visual that communicates an idea or emotion. Reebok had a logo, Nike has a hammer.

   Words alone don't elicit the emotion response that images do. Take this classic example. Compare your response to seeing a "visual of a baby" compared to the word "baby."

    I watch a fair amount of television and I'm always blown away by the Wounded Warrior Project. Talk about getting everything right.

1. Focus. A great brand always starts with a narrow focus. Wounded Warrior Project focuses on helping service members injured on or after Sept 11. 2001.

2. Name. Too often non-profits use long, generic names that get abbreviated to meaningless initials, like AARP. Not with Wounded Warrior Project. They use alliteration and a proper name that is memorable and distinctive.

3. Verbal Nail. "The greatest casualty is being forgotten." This statement sums up the mission of the organization in a meaningful way. And the double-entrende for casualty works very nicely to reinforce it.

4. Visual Hammer. You can't over-estimate the importance of the Wounded Warrior visual hammer. While the name and verbal nail are powerful, they don't elict the same emotional response as when you add the visual of a solider carrying a wounded comrad. Wow. And the choice to keep it simple and all black was very wise. It looks particularly nice on the website and everywhere they use it. As a relatively new group, they have had enormous success. When you combine a focus, name, nail and hammer, you can build a brand that cuts through the mind and goes straight to the heart.

    But in the spirit of New Year's resolutions and the mission of our work which is to "FOCUS" I am refocusing myself to publishing more frequently and more reliably on this blog. And to focus on only the most imporant social media for my brand.

    My goal is to make my blog posts more focused too. Not too long. Short and to the point. And I'm going to spend a lot of time discussing visual hammer examples. There is so much to learn by discovering what other brands are doing right or wrong with their visuals.

    Cheers to 2013! New post coming today!

            But with one brilliant word, Obama made his case. His “forward” slogan did what most slogans do not. It cut both ways. It said something positive about his brand while also saying something negative about the competition. That’s tough to do. But when you do that, your slogan is extremely powerful. Obama set up the election as a choice between going forward with him or going backwards with Romney to policies that failed in the past. What did Romney say? “Believe in America.” That slogan implies that Obama doesn’t believe in America. Obama spent four years as President and doesn’t believe in America? Makes no sense and says nothing.

            The final and not insignificant touch was incorporating Obama’s powerful visual hammer from 2008 right into the slogan itself. He couldn’t say “hope” but that visual did. It hammered his message in an emotional way words alone cannot. No matter what party you voted for or believe it, you have to admit the marketing of Obama was pure genius. Because it was.

    Frozen yogurt is a popular summertime treat and personal favorite of mine; it is also a category that has recently experienced tremendous growth with new brands branching out in all directions. Here is my recap of the growing tree of Fro-Yo brands, some with strong visual hammers fueling their growth, others with weak hammers leaving doubt on their futures.

    The Fro-Yo pioneer is TCBY founded in 1981 in Arkansas. Originally, the initials stood for “This Can’t be Yogurt. “ (A generic phrase that might summarize the taste experience but a weak phrase to use as a brand name.)

    To make matters worse, a competitor “I Can’t Believe It Is Yogurt” filed a lawsuit in 1984 and forced TCBY to create a new name from its initials. They picked the basic and bland “The Country’s Best Yogurt,” leaving them with initials that stood for basically nothing. No matter, being first and becoming the biggest chain has its advantages. But between the weak name and the few competitors building brands, the category languished.

    Unless challenged the leader tends to stay the leader. So for two decades, TCBY continued to dominate the segment.  In 2006, TCBY controlled 36% of the Fro-Yo market. What they should have done is to continue to promote the yogurt category. Instead they spent the years chasing ice cream and ices.

    Today its market share has been cut in half to 18%. TCBY has been clobbered by new brands that have pioneered new yogurt segments with powerful names and visual hammers.

    TCBY is currently chasing all the new trends. But it is too little and too late. It is very difficult to reinvent a brand that has a weak name, a watered-down position and lacks a visual hammer.

    They also recently launched a new logo with a modern look. But like JCPenney found out, you need more than a new logo to turn the business around.

    Launched in 2005, Pinkberry was the first brand to shake up the Fro-Yo tree. Instead of sticky/sweet, Pinkberry focused on tangy/tart yogurt for adults.

    The LA Times called Pinkberry yogurt “the taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets.” As the first brand in the new “tart” category Pinkberry got enormous PR, especially as customers and celebrities lined up for blocks in places like Beverly Hills to get a $5 cup of the stuff. They even call loyal customers “groupies.”

    In terms of a visual hammer, with a name like Pinkberry you would think the stores and their logo would be primarily pink! Instead, both overwhelmingly scream green. But the name itself is unique and definitely lends itself to the creation of a visual hammer. As the first brand in a new category, they have a huge advantage. So any simple, unique visual they use could become iconic in the long run, like the Swoosh became for Nike.

 
    Second onto the tangy/tart scene was Red Mango, launched in 2006. The name is Red Mango so the visual hammer screams red, perfect. Is that so hard, Pinkberry? Sometimes marketers need to go with the obvious. You see the red color, then read the name (Red Mango) which makes for a much more memorable brand image in the mind.

    Red Mango didn’t benefit from the same celebrity following and PR that Pinkberry did, but a good name and a great visual hammer can help tremendously especially if you are second. Red Mango has gotten favorable PR by winning taste tests including a #1 rating by Zagat’s.  The yogurt also has slightly fewer calories than Pinkberry which is a big bonus to calorie-counting fanatics.

    It is still early in the game and Red Mango is catching up to PinkBerry. Both have around 200 units and about 15% of the market each.  In the long run, I wouldn’t be surprised if Red Mango had the edge.

   
    The price of success? Long lines. And while the long lines at Pinkberry helped the brand build mystic and media headlines, not everybody has 45 minutes to wait for a cup of yogurt. And not everybody enjoys being at the mercy of the server for how much yogurt goes in the cup or how much topping goes on it either.

    The key to developing a new brand is not to copy the competition but to be the opposite. That is exactly what Yogurtland did in 2006.

    First there were self-service salad-bars where you filled your container and paid by the ounce. Why not do that in yogurt? Brilliant.

    Yogurtland pulled the machines from behind the counter and let consumers control the levers. Customers could put as much and as many flavors as they wanted in a cup. Then add toppings galore, little of this and lots of that. Measure your cup at checkout and pay by the ounce.

    Less waiting, more choices, simple pricing. The concept was a huge success and pioneer Yogurtland dominates the self-serve segment. Today, they have over 180 locations and are in fourth place in the overall category behind TCBY, Pinkberry and Red Mango.

    But because of its generic name and lack of a visual hammer the brand is in a weak position. The self-serve segment is seeing the biggest influx of competitors, many with better branding and eye-catching visual hammers. I predict Yogurtland’s 8% of the market will be hard to maintain or grow.

 
    While Yogurtland took the generic naming route, Menchie’s, founded in 2007, uses a name unrelated to frozen yogurt. That’s not always a bad idea. Names like Starbuck’s and Amazon turned out to be super names.

    But Menchie’s? Not a happy sounding name for a treat. It sounds kind of derogatory too. I assume they got the name from the Yiddish word “mench.” In Yiddish a mench is an extra-nice person. “That David is always so polite to his elders, what a mench!” Not exactly a compliment.

    Menchie’s is growing and there is one just two miles from my home. It has focused on the suburban family and kid market. The focus on the family is good, and they have benefited from early expansion. The brand currently has over 200 locations. But long term having a name that is hard to remember, sounds bad and doesn’t lock together with a visual is a major weakness.

 
    The Sweet Frog name is also unrelated to frozen yogurt, but as a brand name it is far superior compared to “Menchie’s.” Sweet Frog connects to the kiddie consumers, uses known words out of context and most importantly lends itself to a powerful visual hammer. It should be no surprise that since launching in 2009 Sweet Frog is leapfrogging its self-serve Fro-Yo competition.

 
    When it comes to logos, never sacrifice legibility. Orange Leaf clearly violates this rule with its original logo which is a mess. The large “g” is jarring to the eye. The only thing they did right was focus on a color. That is good, the rest not.

    Realizing the error of their design, they recently rebranded.

    The new logo is bright orange and easy to read. But the visual is so abstract and lacking in meaning that it is useless. What is that thing? It is not a leaf and it is  not an orange. It is just weird and disturbing.

    The one thing going for Orange Leaf is that in a sea of generic yogurt names, its name and color stand out. Its growth has been impressive with currently over 126 stores. A lot of that is due to the fact that by focusing on a single color you can make the retail design striking. It has the upscale design feel of Pinkberry and Red Mango with the advantage of self-service.

    When a category like frozen yogurt takes off, hundreds of brands enter the market. After the success of Red Bull, literally thousands of energy drink brands were launched. But since most of the brands were me-too imitations with weak names and no visual hammers, most failed.

    Only the few that got the branding right by being the opposite of the leader, narrowing the focus and using a strong name/visual hammer combination survived. In energy drinks, Monster, Rockstar, and Amp made the grade and are still around. While brands like KMX and Full Throttle, launched by the world’s biggest beverage company Coca-Cola, fizzled and failed.

    In frozen yogurt we see lots of small regional brands, most with generic “yogurt” names. As the category shakes out, I expect most will melt away as consumers and franchises move to of a handful of dominant national brands with better names and stronger visual hammers.

 
    Yoforia is just another premium self-service frozen yogurt with a generic name. No news here.  The font is simple and elegant.

    But what is that “O”? An eyeball? Weird, unmemorable and meaningless. When you are late to the game you need way more than that. You need a strong name/visual hammer combo.

    The name Yogurt Mountain lends itself the creation of a visual hammer. But instead the brand uses a generic cup of yogurt like every other yogurt brand.

    A missed opportunity to add a visual hammer to a rather bland name.

 
    The color is very laid back, too laid back for retail. In retail, being seen at all is half the battle. While the name Yogurtini does lend itself to a visual, is a martini glass the right visual? Is vodka one of the toppings? Are they serving the yogurt in martini glasses as the visual suggests? I doubt it, which is why the visual hammer is weak.

Yogli Mogli has one of the hardest names to say or remember with a weird take on a generic yogurt name. There is also no connection or explanation for the name. A story and visual can go a long way in getting a name implanted in the mind. Here they have neither. The local founders might be great, but for a brand to grow beyond that it needs the support of a good name and a good visual.

The best way to become a better marketing person for your brand is to study other categories. The principles of focus, unique brand names and visual hammers are much easier to recognize in categories other than your own. Once you get good at understanding the principles, then the hard work of doing it with your brand begins.

Think about advice. It is always easier to tell other people what to do than to do it yourself in your own life. With your own brand/life, you can always think of a million reasons why you don’t need to focus your brand or you don’t need to eat less to weigh less.

Success depends on understanding the principles and then following them. Neither is easy.

I'm also using today to kick-off my new Visual Hammer of the Week series.

It should be no surprise that this week's selection for Visual Hammer of the week is the Flag of the United States of America.

A country is a brand and its flag can become a powerful visual hammer. However not many countries have a strong flag hammer because most of the world's flags are too similar that they can't be identified. Only a handful of flags like the U.S., U.K, Canada, China, Japan and Israel truly stand out.

The biggest mistake of most flags is the use for too many colors. Singular colors like China's and Israel's work best.

The second mistake is not having a unique design or symbol. The unique design of the U.S. flag and the U.K. flag stand out. As does the brilliant Maple Leaf on Canada's.

But getting the design right is only half the job. The best flag hammers also drive a verbal nail into the mind. They say not only who your country is but communicate what it stands for.

The hammer flag of the United States says freedom. This country was built on freedom and we are known around the world as the "land of the free." The United States is a country that believes all people are created equal and deserving of the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Happy Birthday America and congratulations for winning Visual Hammer of the Week.

We have all encountered captcha boxes that are used to prevent fraud, spam and automated messages on websites. For me, I’m usually trying to beat the Ticketmaster clock while trying to get circus tickets for my kids. Tick, tick, tick. If I don’t beat the clock, I will lose my great seats and go to back of the line! Tick, tick, tick. Almost got my tickets, I’ve entered by secret presale promo code, I selected the date, I found the seats, done the payment info, and I’m almost there…tick, tick, tick…then the captcha comes. Bleary eyed, I’m trying to make it out, what is it??? Why are they testing me???

Captcha boxes like this are annoying and customers hate them. But companies need them to stop the bad guys. Or do they? Could a branding and research opportunity replace captcha and still stop fraud?

I was skeptical, until I personally talked and had lunch with Ari Jacoby, CEO of Solve Media who told me all about his new service that protects companies from fraud while providing consumers with a pleasant experience that delivers valuable research to brands.

It’s called Brand Tags. Instead of a captcha puzzle, consumers see a brand logo or visual hammer and are asked to submit words they associate with that brand. WOW! In working with clients, this is one of the most valuable types of research to do. It is like getting a snapshot inside the mind of the consumer. It lets you see what your brand owns in the mind.

For consumers, Brand Tags offers a fun way to keep their transactions safe without the headache doing a captcha. For marketers, Brand Tags offers a fast and reliable peek inside the minds of consumers at the push of a button. If you want to see what word your brand owns in the mind, if you want to see if your visual hammer is striking the right verbal nail, Brand Tags is worth checking out.

   A company makes a major mistake when it develops a verbal strategy without considering what visual hammer might help hammer that idea into consumers' minds. 

   In the year 2010, General Motors spent $1.1 billion advertising its Chevrolet brand. The verbal strategy? "Chevrolet runs deep."

   But how do you visualize an abstract idea like that?

   Most advertising slogans are abstractions impossible to visualize. To turn them into "nails," they need to be brought down to earth.

   Years ago, BMW could have used "performance," a typical automotive theme, to position its brand. Instead, it called its brand, "The ultimate driving machine."

   "Performance" can't be visualized, but "driving" can. So BMW ran television commercials with happy owners driving their BMWs over winding roads. A great hammer and a great marketing success. Today, BMW is the world's best-selling luxury vehicle brand, outselling Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lexus.

   Look at the problems Brand Atlanta has had in trying to create a memorable slogan for the city. Created by Mayor Shirley Franklin in 2005, Brand Atlanta has the task of trying to make the city more of a visitor and business destination. (Trying to do both was its first mistake.)

   "Every day is an opening day" was the first slogan that quickly ran out of steam. My complaint, Where's the visual that could reinforce an opening day idea?

   "City lights, Southern nights" fared no better. (It was another slogan that couldn't be visualized.) At the launch of this backup campaign, the executive director of Brand Atlanta said, "I went to New York last weekend and it wasn't because of I love New York." Maybe she should have paid attention to the best-known city slogan in the world.

   It's the "heart" hammer that makes all the difference. Ironically, Atlanta also has two well-known verbal ideas that do suggest visual hammers.

   Atlanta is a fast-growing community because it's the transportation hub of the Southeast and home of the world's largest airport. Locals often call their city "Hotlanta," a verbal idea that suggests many possible visual hammers.

   The second idea has to do the environment. Compare Dallas, the city's only serious competitor in the South, with Atlanta. Compared to Atlanta, Dallas looks like a desert and Atlanta is loaded with trees. "City in a forest" is what people often say about Atlanta.

   If there is one case history that demonstrates the power of a visual hammer, it can be found just 145 miles east of the city.

   In the world of professional golf, there are four major championships: (1) The U.S. Open, (2) The British Open, (3) The PGA Championship and (4) The Masters.

  The first three are hosted by major golf organizations, but the Masters is hosted by a private club, the Augusta National Golf Club. Guess which tournament draws the most attention? The Masters, of course.

   If you want to make your brand famous, give your brand a green jacket.

Visual Hammer is on sale now at Amazon and iTunes.

                In 1986, CBS broadcast a 60 Minutes segment about Audi entitled "Out of Control." The show chronicled the tendency of the Audi 5000 model to suffer from "unintended acceleration."

                (Three years later, the culprit was discovered. “The major cause," according to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "appears to have been drivers unknowingly stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal.")

                Consumers, however, blamed the car instead of the driver. Audi sales in the American market plummeted. From 74,061 vehicles in 1985 to 12,283 vehicles in 1991.

                In 1990, Audi hired my Dad to help them revive the brand following the crisis and downfall. I remember the case well and was curious about what his exact ideas for Audi were so I dug up a copy of his report. Al’s advice: "Don't try to fight a bad perception. Just change the name."

                Not a bad idea. It has taken Audi another 20 years of struggling to finally get where it is today. Enthusiasts speak to the quality of the cars, but for decades the brand suffered from the crisis and a weak sounding name.

                What if they had listened to Al’s advice? What if they changed the name? What could they change it to? Sometimes there are no good alternatives.

                But in the case of Audi, they had something right under their noses. Audi had introduced a four-wheel-drive model called "Quattro" which Al thought was a good automobile name. And it is! It also focused the brand on a key feature: four-wheel drive.

                The Ries advice: change the Audi brand name to Quattro and import only four-wheel-drive vehicles to the United States.

                What was even more interesting was a single line buried in report: "Interestingly, the four-circle Audi symbol is a natural extension of the Quattro four-wheel-drive concept.”

                Too bad Al didn’t have me and a copy of my new Visual Hammer book to help him sell that idea to Audi. He could have made the point that four circles are a powerful visual hammer for a four-wheel-drive vehicle with a four-wheel-drive name. It would have been brilliant!