We’re not fond of saying “told you so” (although we frequently think it) but Gap’s recent debut of its new logo – and the withdraw of it less than a week later – reiterated for us why we do what we do.  Having a known brand, being a market leader, and the willingness to throw a ton of money at a project should not overshadow what we think is a basic and critically important component of any marketing initiative: good thinking.  That’s what we do.

Here are our thoughts about Gap’s decision to scrap its new logo.

Change for the sake of change = bad.  We believe that everyone and everything can always be better.  But “better” needs to actually be

better. A change needs to be relevant and timely.  It should address a new situation or an altered market position.  It needs to make sense without a lot of clarification or explanation.  If it needs to be explained, it’s probably not needed.

Listening to customers = good.  We mean actually listening and hearing… not analyzing transcripts from focus groups or deciphering market research reports.  That’s why we value the immediate reactions that we (and our clients) get from Twitter and Facebook, and why we encourage our clients to “get out there!” – to greet the exhibitors at their show, the visitors at their museums, and the guests at their events.

Trying to BS your way out of a situation = bad.  Gap’s failed logo as an exercise in crowdsourcing? A carefully crafted PR stunt?  Who thinks of these things? Sometimes, bad decisions are simply bad decisions, and no amount of layering them with the latest buzzwords (and certainly not “blaming” PR!) makes them less so.

Admitting your mistakes = good.  Let’s be honest – there’s no substitute for being honest.  You make a lot of friends and earn a lot of credibility when you drop the BS.  We can justify, rationalize, pitch and pander with the best of them… but it’s never quite as earnest as simply saying “I’m sorry,” and its never quite as successful.

Big budgets = not so bad, but not always good.

More than 650 cool cats jumped, jived and wailed this past Saturday night at the Maryland Science Center’s annual Solstice gala. The festive fete featured fabulous music by the Beantown String Orchestra with American Idol finalist John Stevens, non-stop buffets, swing-era décor (including a gleaming 1941 Packard) and inspiring remarks by Dr. Ben Carson. Some of the greatest praise, though, was for the evening’s signature cocktail – a carefully-crafted concoction resulting from thorough research, intense scientific development and on-going testing in appropriate climatic conditions by the noted mixologists at the Maryland Science Center.

You can try this experiment at home:
3 parts Bulleit Bourbon
1 part sweet vermouth
Grenadine to taste
A few shakes of Angostura bitters
Served over crushed ice and topped with a cherry

A presentation yesterday by Visit Baltimore (the city’s newly-renamed convention and visitors bureau) ended with this inspiration and whimsy – Monday morning motivation for hard-working tourism leaders off to fight the battle of reduced institutional budgets and fewer bills in visitors’ wallets.

A quick poll of our staff reveals what we’re doing this weekend to celebrate (and take a break from) our labor of (jobs we) love:

-    touring upstate New York Wineries
-    attending a baby shower (her own!)
-    drafting a Fantasy Football team
-    dog-sitting a Siberian husky
-    demo-ing a kitchen (as in tear-down, not test-out)
-    attending a wedding
-    drinking
-    driving responsibly
-    playing BioShock
-    preparing a “Silver Palate” recipe in memory of Sheila Lukens

Last week Himmelrich PR got a taste of the new customer service reality.  And we like it.

After my Fathead fell off my wall and stuck to itself beyond repair, I tweeted about my plans to call the company for a mutually acceptable resolution.  I never got the chance.  The next day, @realbigfathead replied to my tweet, asking me which of my many decals was damaged.  Within minutes, I received a phone call from Fathead confirming my mailing address and telling me that a new decal was on the way. Free of charge!

Fathead is obviously monitoring Twitter for mentions of its product. The company is even forgoing the usual replacement procedures to satisfy the customer (most returns require you send back the damage decal and put a temporary charge on your credit card). While my intention was not to publicly blast the company, Fathead understands the power that social media allows for thousands of people (some of whom likely share my interests) to hear both good and bad customer experiences. Kudos to Fathead for nipping a complaint in the bud; naturally, I tweeted my satisfaction when my new decal arrived two days later.

Social media gives us the power to spread the word, and a powerful tool for companies to extend the customer service experience. Let’s all use these new tools wisely.

Today is truly the first day of the rest of our lives.  Oprah is on Twitter.  From what we can see, three hours in, Oprah is being enthusiastically welcomed as a member of the family; she is attracting 30-40 new followers every five seconds.

Our morning staff meeting was filled with lots of discussion and some initial questions:

Will this first day of the rest of our lives be the start of a whole new world? (Clichés and redundancy intended - literary license.)  Are Oprah’s +100,000 followers now a marketer’s most coveted and aggressively-pursued target list?

What new Twitter-related applications can we expect?  Someone somewhere is surely hustling this morning to create a Twitter client that tracks or monitors Oprah’s twittering.  See above.

Are we all going to see the Fail Whale much more frequently? How many of Oprah’s followers are new to the game because of her?

Is the “uproar” over ghost-Twitters unjustified?  Assuming that Oprah’s “people” are helping her out… why is it ok for any celebrity or CEO to have people writing their commencement addresses and speeches but not their tweets?

• tron: legacy flim

What do web searchers want to know about?  At any moment, Google Trends or Twitter Search indicate what’s of interest right now.  Our followers on Twitter are asking us for the list of Baltimore Food blogs we put together.  Enjoy.

Adventures in Baltimore Restaurants
What’s to Eat in Baltimore
The Baltimore Snacker
Taste of Baltimore
Strawberries in Paris
Pigtown Pigout
Dining Dish
Bmore Sweet
Baltimore Restaurants
In Good Taste
600 Block
Mango and Ginger
7 o’clock hour
Food, Wine, Beer, Culture
Baltimore is Okay…
Food Maven

We’ve been having some fascinating discussions about President Obama’s branding, messaging and PR tactics – his inaugural remarks, his strategies for building support for the stimulus plan, how Michelle and the kids are being used (or not used) to shape his image.  The one constant in all these conversations is a note on the President’s ties.

Red is power.  Blue is soothing and comforting.  Yellow is sunny… and supposedly cowardly. Our two favorite reads on the subject: Neck of State; http://www.livescience.com/culture/090206-red-blue-neckties.html ;

We all recognize the growing impact of social computing on our everyday lives, but it’s nice to have statistics to back it up.  Last year, Forrester Research published its Social Technographics Ladder, which categorized surveyed online adults based on their level of participation in social computing.

Last Monday, Forrester’s Groundswell blog released the 2008 survey which showed that 75% of respondents are at least “spectators” (the first “rung” in the ladder of social computing participation), compared with only 56% last year.  That’s quite a jump but not hard to believe considering how these technologies continue to revolutionize almost every aspect of our lives.

download chris de burgh golden ballads

In this season of political debates, it’s often hard to figure out who is telling the whole truth and who is twisting it for a bump in the polls.  Thanks to the St. Petersburg Times and the Politifact “Truth-o-Meter” for helping us­ sort it all out.  Each candidate’s statements are rated on a scale from “true” to “pants on fire.”  (Glad my mother never had one of these.)