2022 Was the Year of #BrandIdentity Changes

 

Was your brand in the news during 2022? If not, don’t despair. There were many other brands that made headlines during 2022.

Here’s a recap of 35 interesting brands that either reappeared, rebranded, changed their logo, changed their name, co-branded, formed an interesting partnership, created a unique hashtag to match a campaign, changed iconic packaging, or in some other way made branding news during 2022.

*The television show that made creator Dick Wolf a household name and started a franchise of shows beginning in 1990, LAW & ORDER, returned with its first series. After an 11-year hiatus, the 21st season premiered with two original cast members, and New York City was again featured prominently in weekly episodes. According to Susan Rovnar of NBCUniversal Television, “Law & Order is quite simply one of the most iconic shows in television history, and the idea of continuing its legacy and partnering with Dick on an all-new season is nothing short of exhilarating. This is great news for NBC as well as TV fans everywhere.” (February 2022)

*The Washington football team finally chose a new name. As Co-CEO Dan Snyder explained, “As we kick-off our 90th season, it is important for our organization and fans to pay tribute to our past traditions, history, legacy, and the greats that came before us. We continue to honor and represent the Burgundy and Gold while forging a pathway to a new era in Washington. Today may mark the first day for the Washington Commanders, but we are and always will be Washington.” The final name selection ended an 18-month search after the team dumped its old name, the Redskins, in 2020, after a half-century of pressure from Native Americans. (February 2022)

*Facebook shifted its strategic focus to building an immersive version of the Internet that it calls the “metaverse,” and changed its name to Meta. As a result, employees formerly known as Facebookers became Metamates. (February 2022)

*KFC partnered with TikTok to fight hunger across the United States. The partnership developed a fund with the aim to give away half a million dollars in cash grants to nonprofits fighting hunger across the country. The campaign used the hashtag #KentuckyFriedGivingChallenge and was TikTok’s first-ever grant program to benefit nonprofits. (February-March 2022)

*Coors Light announced that it would ditch the plastic rings on its six-packs and replace them with an environmentally friendlier option. Beginning later in 2022, the beer cans will be packaged in cardboard wrap carriers that are recyclable and sustainably sourced. (March 2022)

*The last large Sears department store closed. (March 2022)

*Stolichnaya vodka announced a rebrand and would be sold and marketed as Stoli. In 2020, the founder was exiled from Russia due to his opposition to Russian leader Putin, and the vodka’s production facilities moved to Latvia. (March 2022)

*Minnie Mouse exchanged her timeless and familiar red and white dot dress for a dark blue pantsuit with black stripes and polka dots, a new outfit designed by British designer Stella McCartney. Announced by Disneyland Paris in January 2022, the wardrobe change would be part of the French theme park’s 30th anniversary – and would be worn by Minnie during March in honor of Women’s History Month. (March-April 2022)

*CNN+, the cable news network’s streaming platform, shut down one month after its launch. The shutdown of the service followed a merger between Discovery and CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia that formed Warner Bros. Discovery. (April 2022)

*The parent company of Facebook and Instagram took on a new role as a brick-and-mortar retailer with the launch of the first Meta Store on its campus in Burlingame, California. At the store, customers and employees could demo products and try apps. (April 2022)

*Known as a gas-guzzling vehicle for extreme speed, GM’s Chevrolet Corvette is going electric. (April 2022)

*Cracker Jack unveiled a line of limited-edition bags featuring Cracker Jill, a new character meant to celebrate women who break barriers in sports. The bags were available in ballparks across the United States on Major League Baseball’s Opening Day (April 7). (April 2022)

*Starting in late 2022, IKEA announced that it would sell solar panels. The line of home solar products is a result of a collaboration between IKEA and SunPower, a California-based solar company. (May 2022)

*While Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, some brands are selling products to commemorate that day. Walmart tried to sell Juneteenth ice cream and learned the hard way – bad publicity – that it was a bad idea. According to Christina Ferraz, founder and head consultant of public relations agency Thirty6five, “There were several missteps with this. When you collectively look at all these missteps – the branding, the marketing, the visual rhetoric – you understand that there weren’t Black creatives in the room that had a voice at the table.” (June 2022)

*To celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years of dedicated service, a specially commissioned Land Rover Defender 30 was designed and donated to support the British Red Cross. (See September reference to Land Rover.) (June 2022)

*Kellogg split its company into three separate companies. The snacks portion of the company became Global Snacking, which accounted for 80 percent of all sales, and was based in Chicago. The cereal business, which accounted for 20 percent of sales, formed North American Cereal, and the plant-based food division was tentatively named Plant Co. Those two businesses were based in Battle Creek, Michigan. (June 2022)

*Kraft Macaroni & Cheese announced that it would have a new name: Kraft Mac & Cheese. Three syllables were dropped from the name. The logo was redesigned, the same colors were kept on packaging, but a “noodle smile” was added. (June 2022)

*Turkey will now be known as Turkiye at the United Nations. (June 2022)

*Even though toy brand Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its 800 stores in the United States four years ago, it opened shops in every Macy’s in America this year. (July 2022)

*Mattel’s Barbie and Habitat for Humanity partnered to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Barbie DreamHouse to complete 60 projects around the world. According to Mattel, “Together, we’re giving real families real houses, and fulfilling dreams.” The campaign’s hashtag was #BarbieDreamHouse60. (August 2022)

*As the country of New Zealand confronts its troubled past with colonization and denying the Maori people their rights, a petition collected more than 70,000 signatures to change the island nation’s name to Aotearoa. (August 2022)

*Pottery Barn launched 150 pieces of furniture for people with disabilities. (September 2022)

*With all the chaos in Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine, Starbucks and many other brands pulled their business out of Russia. Once Starbucks left, another company entered in its place: Stars Coffee. In addition to the similarity between the names, the logo and menu were also nearly identical. (September 2022)

*A new M&M chocolate candy character was introduced. The purple peanut M&M was the first new character in 10 years. According to Jane Hwang, Global Vice President, “Purple has been in the works for a very long time, for years. This was about ensuring the entire crew, the entire cast of spokescandies, were reflecting the world that we’re living in…Purple has a specific personality: quirky, confident, and just a little awkward. Her debut comes with a song, ‘I’m Just Gonna Be Me.’” (September 2022)

*While there were many brands associated with Queen Elizabeth II, throughout her life, she was pictured behind the wheel of a Land Rover. The Land Rovers weren’t just ceremonial cars, but they were the cars that the Queen and Prince Philip drove themselves on their estates. (September 2022)

*Charles, formerly Prince of Wales, kept his name when he became the British monarch (like his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, did) and became King Charles III. According to Keith Roy, a spokesperson for the Monarchist League of Canada, “He’s quite comfortable in his own skin, his own name, and his own identity. His own reputation is strong enough that he can maintain his name.” (September 2022)

*President Joe Biden declared the covid pandemic “over” in a Sixty Minutes TV interview, but his covid team explained that it was more complicated. Many people still refuse to get vaccinated, and there is widespread covid fatigue. (September 2022)

*General Motors created a new energy business to sell batteries, battery packs, EV chargers, and solar panels with the goal to dethrone Tesla. The new company was named GM ENERGY. (October 2022)

*Barilla Pasta was sued in a class-action lawsuit because it allegedly misled consumers that it was from Italy and made from ingredients sourced from Italy. The brand’s products feature the tagline on their label with the Italian flag: “Italy’s #1 Brand of Pasta.” It turns out that the pasta products come from Illinois. (October 2022)

*Frontier Airlines dropped its customer service toll-free phone line. Customers would have to rely on other forms of contact including a chatbot on its website, a live online chat available 24/7, and its social media channels. (November 2022)

*Lena Horne became the first black woman to have a Broadway theater named after her. The former Mansfield Theatre now bears her name. (November 2022)

*KIA launched a redesign of its logo, but unfortunately, it was unreadable, and according to Google, 30,000 people a month search for “KN.” (November 2022)

*The French baguette was added to the United Nations cultural heritage list. Due to the bread’s new status, the French government plans to create a baguette day to connect the French with their heritage. (November 2022)

*Janet Yellen, the first female United States Treasury Secretary, has signed American currency. (December 2022)

*Users, advertisers, and brands are leaving Twitter in record numbers due to Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform, crazy policies, and lay-offs. (October 27, 2022-end of 2022)

With all these changes, one wonders if brands that don’t make changes have staying power. Do logos need to be refreshed every so often? Do brand names need to change every so often? How do these changes impact brand equity and customer/fan/stakeholder recognition? These are important questions to consider before making any strategic branding changes.

What brand will make brand identity news during 2023? Another brand identity recap will appear here on this blog in January 2024 – only a year to go!


Image Credit: Bright Pink Agency.

Marketing News of the Week: Frontier Airlines, Prince Harry's Memoir, and Professor Hillary Clinton

 

This week saw some interesting marketing news.

FRONTIER AIRLINES
Frontier Airlines is known for featuring animals on the wings of its airplanes who serve as representatives of their species, but this week, its advocacy and passion for wildlife conservation went one step further. The airline offered free flight vouchers for people who adopt one of three kittens from the Las Vegas Animal Foundation. The kittens will be adoption-ready once they hit six weeks of age. The person who adopts "Spirit" or "Delta" will be gifted two flight vouchers, each valued at $250, for a total of $500 per forever (furever) family. And the pet parents who adopt "Frontier" will receive four $250 vouchers for a total value of $1,000. This type of marketing is a purr-fect way to attract cat and animal lovers.

PRINCE HARRY'S MEMOIR
According to CNN Style:
"Prince Harry has set a record with his tell-all memoir SPARE after the English language version sold more than 1.4 million copies in its first day of publication. Sales included all formats of the book (paper, audio and electronic) in the United States, Canada and the UK, according to a statement issued Wednesday, January 10th, by the book's publisher Penguin Random House. The first full day of sales of SPARE represents the largest first-day sales total for any nonfiction book ever published by Penguin Random House, the world's largest trade publisher. Random House also said the first United States printing of Harry's memoir was 2 million copies, and now the book has gone back to press for additional copies to meet demand. SPARE went on sale in 16 languages worldwide."

Will readers be surprised by the Prince's honesty, and will they tire of his complaints and finger-pointing at the dysfunctional Royal Family?

PROFESSOR HILLARY CLINTON
New York City's Columbia University announced that former Secretary of State, First Lady, and first female candidate to run for President in the modern era Hillary Clinton will join as professor of practice at the School of International and Public Affairs and as presidential fellow at Columbia World Projects in the 2023-2024 school year. She will focus on supporting female leaders and engaging women and youth around the globe. She explained, "Columbia's commitment to educating the next generation of U.S. and global policy leaders, translating insights into impact, and helping to address some of the world's most pressing challenges resonates personally with me. I look forward to contributing to these efforts." How will the addition of Clinton impact Columbia's marketing efforts during the next year? Time will tell.

Due to this Ivy League university's exciting news, here are a couple of my favorite Hillary Clinton quotes:

"You're never too young to change the world. You just have to get started."

"We still have not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling. But some day, someone will."

What other marketing news stood out to you this week?

What will be the marketing buzz next week? Tune in to read all about it.


One final note from Britannica.com: "The first woman to actively pursue the country's highest office was Victoria Woodhull, a stockbroker, newspaper publisher, and champion of social reform who ran for the presidency in 1872, nearly 50 years before women throughout the United States gained the right to vote. Woodhull was an outsider candidate in more than a few ways. Not only was she a female candidate at a time when women could not vote, but also, at age 31, she was four years too young to serve as president, according to the requirements of the U.S. Constitution. However, the mostly middle-class advocates of women’s suffrage, notably Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, carefully distanced themselves from Woodhull, whom they considered an eccentric."


Image Credits: Frontier Airlines, Penguin Random House, and Columbia University.

Barbie Made News in 2022

During 2022, Barbie dolls made news. Usually, the international doll is not very newsworthy, but Mattel introduced five new Barbie dolls during 2022 to celebrate important women, their accomplishments, and their views.

But first, a little history about Barbie…

In 1945, Ruth and Elliot Handler started their company, Mattel, combining Elliot's name with the last name of their partner, Harold Matson. In 1956, the Handlers took their two teenage children, Barbara and Ken, on a trip to Europe, and during the trip, they saw a doll that looked like an adult woman. This doll was much different from the baby dolls that most little girls played with back in America.

Ruth was inspired, and three years later, Mattel’s version of the adult doll, which she named after her daughter, was unveiled and became a big success. The Barbie doll also had a wardrobe of outfits that could be purchased separately. In 1960, the Handlers took Mattel public, and Barbie quickly became an icon, with a wardrobe and career options that mirrored women’s changing goals.

Ruth Handler said in a 1977 interview with The New York Times, “Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future. If she was going to do role-playing of what she would be like when she was 16 or 17, it was a little stupid to play with a doll that had a flat chest. So, I gave the doll beautiful breasts. And Barbie kept pace with the times. During Camelot, she sported a Jacqueline Kennedy hairdo. During the 1970’s, her career choices and outfits begin to change to include a doctor, astronaut, and veterinarian, among others. My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, a girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.”

Mattel has created numerous Barbie dolls as part of its Inspiring Women Series to honor both historic and contemporary heroines with the hope of inspiring “generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before.” 

Here are the five that were introduced during 2022:

Ida B. Wells:
An educator, journalist, anti-lynching activist and NAACP Co-Founder. Her doll was accompanied by a historically significant accessory: a miniature replica of the Memphis Free Speech, the newspaper where she became editor and co-owner in 1889. (January 2022)

Queen Elizabeth II:
Dressed in royal attire, the doll celebrated the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee. John Lewis, the British retailer, sold out its supply in three seconds. The doll was just one of the lucrative memorabilia items created to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee – spanning everything from fine China to teddy bears, tea towels, fridge magnets, food tins, and more. (April 2002)

According to Kate Williams, a London-based history professor, “It’s incredibly important for children to see female leaders who have impacted history in their dolls, from Frida Kahlo to Amelia Earhart and now the Queen. It brings home the importance of women’s contributions to the world, the impact of women as leaders, creators, and pioneers, that women’s achievements are important and should be celebrated.”

Laverne Cox:
An actor, author, and LGBTQ rights advocate, and the first transgender person to have a Barbie designed after her. Launched on Cox’s 50th birthday, a Mattel spokesperson said the company was “proud to highlight the importance of inclusion and acceptance at every age with this doll.” (July 2022)

Gloria Estefan:
The doll celebrated the 33rd anniversary of the Grammy Award-winner’s chart-topping 1989 hit, “Get on Your Feet.” The doll marked the singer’s 65th birthday and was unveiled on the eve of National Hispanic Heritage Month. (August 2022)

Madam CJ Walker:
The first US self-made female millionaire, known for her entrepreneurial skills as she built her haircare and cosmetic brand from scratch. She was also known for her philanthropic and social justice efforts including her contributions to the NAACP anti-lynching movement. (August 2022)

To quote the BBC, “It is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries, with Mattel claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.”

These inspiring dolls from 2022 are not just toys, they teach. Who will Mattel introduce in 2023?

Image Credits: Mattel.

Leaders Don't Have to Be the Star of the Show!

 

Today, in honor of the final game day of the 2022 football season, I welcome Ron Oltmanns to my Blog for a Q&A discussion about leadership with a final question that relates to football. As a member of the Twitterverse for more than 13 years, I always enjoy meeting new people and learning from them. To quote Matthew Kobach (@mkobach), "Twitter is a key that unlocks thousands of doors, some of which you never even knew existed." Highlights of my conversation with Ron follow a brief introduction.

Ron Oltmanns is the founder of Leadskill, a consultancy specializing in developing leaders and teams for business impact. He has more than 25 years of experience in consulting and education with much of that time spent coaching and training business people. Based on his work in the corporate arena, small businesses, and startups in the United States and Asia, he has developed deep perspective on what makes people successful and what gets in their way. Leadskill has conducted workforce assessments, psychometric testing, and leadership development programs in multiple countries. Born in Venezuela, Ron grew up in the United States, and also lived in Asia for eight years. Now a Texan, he lives in Houston, with his wife Angela, and they have two grown sons.

QUESTION: You use your Twitter introductory space to say, "The best investment a leader can make is their self awareness and their team's emotional intelligence." Can you please elaborate?
RON OLTMANNS: Self awareness is a tricky thing. Most people would say they have it, and way more than half of the leaders that I talk to think they have above average self-awareness, which is impossible. How could 80-90% of leaders be above average?!

I have found that ALL leaders (myself included) could benefit from greater self-awareness. When leaders admit that they aren’t as self-aware as they’d like to be, but they’re working on it, something interesting occurs. I’ve noticed that it almost always results in their team's paying more attention to their own emotional intelligence. Greater emotional intelligence (EQ) pays a big dividend. People take better care of customers, and they work better together when they grow their EQ.

[Note: According to Wikipedia, Emotional intelligence is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions.]

QUESTION: You feature something called a FEELINGS WHEEL on your website. Can you please explain?
RON OLTMANNS: A key part of emotional intelligence is being aware of what you’re feeling. Research at UCLA several years ago proved that when you can name what you’re feeling, you’re much better able to manage your emotions.

Most of us have a pretty limited working vocabulary for what we’re feeling. A feelings wheel has an expanded set of feeling words arranged in a logical way so that you can find the right word to express what you’re feeling. Just doing that can increase your self-awareness, and when you are able to share specifically what you’re feeling with others, it creates a more empathetic and supportive environment at work. The feelings wheel is a great tool for making emotions more discussable.

[Readers can learn more at this link: https://leadskill.com/feelings-wheel/; and there are also several different versions of the wheel for beginners to advanced users in the online shop.]

QUESTION: On a post on your blog entitled "The Myths of Leadership," you wrote, "Leaders are only as strong as the people who follow them." Can you please share highlights from that inspiring post?

[Read the full post here: https://leadskill.com/myths-of-leadership]

RON OLTMANNS: As I grew in my career and interacted with more leaders, I found that the usual stereotypes of leaders that I carried in my head were just wrong. Myths, like leaders, are just born that way, or “leaders” are loud and powerful people are two misconceptions. I shared a couple more in that post.

We tend to think of leaders as powerful and charismatic people that can move a group of people. That’s sometimes true. But I’ve noticed it’s much more common to find leaders who are pretty ordinary people who are surrounded by bright and talented people.

When people are willing to follow or yield to a leader, that gives them power. When people become unwilling to follow or trust a leader, they lose their power. I encourage leaders to work hard to be worthy of the trust that people are placing in their hands.

SHARE THIS: When people are willing to follow or yield to a leader, that gives them power. ~@ronoltmanns #LeadershipTip #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: If you could have dinner with any three leaders from history or the current era, who would you choose, and why?
RON OLTMANNS: This is a fun question! Of course there are many I’d like to have dinner with, but here are three that come to mind.

[1] Socrates. He was famous for asking questions and guiding people to examine the flaws in their beliefs. According to his students, he was a great dinner guest and maybe he was the first real executive coach.

[2] Confucius. I got to live and work in China for several years, and they have the oldest living civilization on the planet. There are many myths about Confucius, and I’d like to really meet the man himself and see what he would say about China today as well as his views on modern society and how we could make it work better for everyone.

[3] Margaret Thatcher. Besides being the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, she had a great influence in the 1980’s when I was growing up. The UK was not the most powerful nation on earth, and I’d like to talk with her about how to lead with influence when you can’t command people and just flex your power.

QUESTION: One of my favorite leadership quotes is from author and consultant Mark Herbert (@NewParadigmer on Twitter): "Leadership doesn't require you to be the smartest person in the room. It requires you to block and tackle for others." What does this quote mean to you?
RON OLTMANNS: In American football, blocking and tackling are fundamental skills you have to learn and drill. Blocking is how you run plays, whether it's rushing or passing the ball. Tackling is fundamental defense; unless you tackle the guy with the ball, they’re going to score on you.

So, the quote says you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, meaning the leader doesn’t have to be the star of the show. If they block for others or tackle the opponent, they’re creating a team. Leaders realize that a good team can run circles around a lone superstar. Without blocking and tackling, you don’t have a functional team — just 11 individuals on the field. Leaders with a good functioning team will mow down individual stars every day.

SHARE THIS: The leader doesn’t have to be the star of the show. ~@ronoltmanns #LeadershipTip #DebbieLaskeysBlog

My thanks to Ron for sharing his leadership insights and for appearing here on my Blog...who else is looking forward to the Super Bowl and the ads? Check back following the Super Bowl game for my annual review of the ads.


Image Credit: Barry Weatherall via Unsplash.

Connect with Ron at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronoltmanns
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ronoltmanns
Website: https://leadskill.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadskill_com

Marketing News of the Week: Prayers for Damar and GM

 

This week saw some interesting marketing news.

PRAYERS FOR DAMAR
After the nation watched Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin collapse on the field during the Monday Night Football game between Buffalo and Cincinnati, everyone held their breath. In an unprecedented sight, players on the field of both teams kneeled and prayed together. Minutes ticked by, followed by the appearance of an ambulance, and then the ambulance took Damar to a local hospital. Broadcasters were speechless. The NFL ultimately postponed the game, and fans in the stands and viewers at home knew that something terrible had happened. While sports fans awaited news over the next few days, all 32 NFL teams changed their Twitter profile pictures to Damar’s name and number. This show of support proved that “Sports is important. And suddenly it’s not,” according to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. In addition, the hashtag #PrayersforDamar trended on Twitter. How can the NFL go forward with its marketing following this event? Perhaps, there will be a very memorable ad during the Super Bowl - and if Damar recovers by then, perhaps, the ad will feature him.

GENERAL MOTORS (GM)
According to CNN, “One year after losing the title it held for nearly a century as the top car seller in America, General Motors is back on top.” GM reported US sales of 2.3 million vehicles, which was a lower number than in past years because production was impacted by a shortage of parts, primarily computer chips. How will this news impact GM's marketing during 2023?

What other marketing news stood out to you this week?

What will be the marketing buzz next week? Tune in to read all about it.

Image Credits: Buffalo Bills and General Motors.

Words and Terms that Told the Story of 2022

 

Many marketing and news commentators have talked about books and films of the year, person of the year, color of the year, and notable deaths of the year. However, let's not forget memorable words and terms of 2022.

DICTIONARY.COM
Word of the year was WOMAN, "one of the oldest words in the English language; one that's fundamental not just to our vocabulary but to who we are as humans. And yet it's a word that continues to be a source of intense personal importance and societal debate. It's a word that's inseparable from the story of 2022." During the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in March 2022, she was asked, "Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman?'" She responded, "Not in this context - I'm not a biologist." In addition, women in Iran led massive demonstrations and became TIME Magazine's Heroes of the Year. And last but not least, the 1973 landmark decision Roe vs. Wade was overturned in June 2022.

MERRIAM-WEBSTER
Word of the year was GASLIGHTING, defined as "the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one's own advantage."

OXFORD DICTIONARY
Term of the year was GOBLIN MODE, defined as "a type of behavior which is apologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations."

GLASSDOOR
Term of the year was RETURN-TO-OFFICE. Since many employees preferred working from home or working in a hybrid capacity, employers continued to have conversations with employees about returning to their offices. Calls for employees to be back at their desks were met with pushback.

MOST SEARCHED TERM ON GOOGLE
In both the United States and globally, the most-searched term was WORDLE, a five-letter guessing game owned by The New York Times. According to Google, its annual Year in Search examined "the moments, people, and trends that sparked our collective curiosity on the search platform," noting that Wordle was the "top trending search globally, as guessing five-letter words every day became a way of life."

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
The WHO renamed monkeypox as MPOX because the disease's original name played into "racist and stigmatizing language." Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while monkeypox is phased out. According to NPR, "The one-year delay is necessary so that publications and records can be updated, and the delay should ease experts' concerns about potential confusion over renaming a disease that's currently causing an outbreak."

In addition, MERRIAM-WEBSTER added many new words this past year. Here are some that stood out:

*Pumpkin spice (thanks to Starbucks and competing coffee shops)
*Metaverse (thanks to Facebook, or Meta)
*Booster dose (thanks to the Covid pandemic)
*Video doorbell (thanks to home security systems)

And some terms were part of everyday conversations and news reports during 2022:

*Great Resignation: This term was coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at University College London's School of Management, in May 2021. But the Great Resignation is an ongoing economic trend in which employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs en masse, beginning in early 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

*Quiet Quitting: an alternative to resigning. According to The New York Times, "It's a rejection of the idea that work has to take over your life and that you, as an employee, should be going above and beyond your role." While the term may be new, the behavior used to be called "presenteeism" and "lack of engagement." According to Marlene Chism, "It's a story about the unempowered employee and the giant corporation...The antidotes to quiet quitting is to face issues head on - to stop avoiding and start leading."

*Quiet Firing: when employers intentionally treat employees so badly that they will leave their job. Some examples include: being overlooked for meaningful tasks; lack of wage increases; decrease in communication/facetime with supervisors; workload at unmanageable levels; making work-life balance impossible to manage; and overall poor work environment.

As the famous writer Joseph Conrad wrote, "My task which I am trying to achieve is by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel - it is, before all, to make you see. That — and no more, and it is everything."

What words and terms will define 2023? We'll have to wait and see.


Image Credit: Calimedia via Shutterstock.com.

Top Ten Marketing Highlights of 2022

With 2022 now history, it's time for my annual “Top 10” marketing highlights post – incredible that this is my 13th post featuring annual marketing highlights.

What do you remember from the 2022 marketing reel? What stood out as marketing innovation, and what will go down in history that was as memorable as Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl ad? Without further ado, let’s get to it!

With a nod and thank you to David Letterman for the format, here's my list:

NUMBER 10: Roe vs. Wade, the landmark piece of legislation that made access to an abortion a federal right in the United States, was overturned by the United States Supreme Court. The decision dismantled 50 years of legal protection and paved the way for individual states to curtail or ban abortion rights. This will impact all sorts of promotions and future elections. (June 24, 2022)

NUMBER 9: Two amazing firsts by inspiring African-American women.

*First African-American woman became an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court: Ketanji Brown Jackson. (She was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on February 25, 2022; confirmed by the United States Senate on April 7, 2022; and sworn into office on June 30, 2022.)

*First African-American woman was elected Mayor of Los Angeles: Karen Bass. (Defeated Rick Caruso in November 8 election and inaugurated December 12, 2022.)

NUMBER 8: TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres ended her 19-year run of hosting a successful daily talk show. (Final episode aired on May 26, 2022.)

NUMBER 7: Major league baseball celebrated the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and breaking the color line in baseball. In recognition of this historic event, on “Jackie Robinson Day,” all players wore Jackie’s number “42” on their uniforms. (April 15, 2022)

NUMBER 6: The United States Mint unveiled its American Women Quarters Program, beginning in 2022 and continuing until 2025. The five quarters issued in 2022 featured: astronaut Sally Ride, poet and author Maya Angelou, Native American activist Wilma Mankiller, educator and suffragist Nina Otero-Warren, and Chinese-American movie star Anna May Wong.

NUMBER 5: In honor of International Women’s Day and the 30th anniversary of Disneyland Paris, the theme park dressed Minnie Mouse in a pantsuit instead of her timeless red and white polka dot dress. Minnie wore a blue polka dot pantsuit designed by Stella McCartney, and in true marketing fashion, a limited-edition Minnie Mouse t-shirt was available online and at Stella’s stores. (March 2022)

NUMBER 4: Russia invaded Ukraine. While there does not seem to be a diplomatic or military end in sight, many brands stopped doing business in Russia, and some raised money for the Ukraine. North Carolina’s Mythic Brewing, Texas’ Palindrome Beer, Pittsburgh’s Bash Brew, and Spain’s Island Brew Mallorca used a “Make Peace Not War,” a customizable peace-sign label to raise funds for Ukraine relief efforts. Apple, Chanel, Prada, McDonalds, and Starbucks closed stores and restaurants in Russia. FedEx halted deliveries to Russia. ExxonMobil exited operations in Russia. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Levi Strauss & Co., Samsung, Netflix, and Tik-Tok suspended operations in Russia. Car companies including Rolls-Royce, Toyota, Ford, General Motors, and Volkswagen stopped shipping vehicles to Russia. Hollywood studios including Disney, Paramount Pictures, Sony Corp., and Universal Pictures halted or postponed the release of movies in Russia. (On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014.)

NUMBER 3: Social media platform Twitter began to unravel following Elon Musk’s purchase in October. Several haphazard decisions to change the platform were made as well as a majority of staff were fired or let go. As a result, many users migrated to other platforms, and one specifically, Mastodon, added millions of users in a short period of time. In addition, many brands stopped advertising on Twitter. (The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk began on April 14, 2022, and concluded on October 27, 2022.)

NUMBER 2: The founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, who previously expressed his reluctance at amassing wealth, gave away his company to help fight climate change. He explained, “We’re making Earth our only shareholder.” The outdoor apparel company is now in the hands of a trust and a nonprofit organization, and all future profits will be donated to fight climate change. (September 2022)

And NUMBER 1 on my 2022 Marketing Highlights List:

Drum roll please...

NUMBER 1: Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee during the summer of 2022, and then sadly, she passed away at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history, according to the BBC. This led to her eldest son Prince Charles becoming King Charles III, and his eldest son Prince William becoming the Prince of Wales. While all are predominantly ceremonial roles, the monarch still appears on all forms of postage and currency throughout the British Commonwealth which includes 54 countries around the world. So, consider the costs in changing from the likeness of the Queen to the likeness of the King – plus all the promotional items created as a result of the transition.

According to Charles Scarlett-Smith, Director of Brand Finance Canada, “When we’re thinking about Queen Elizabeth II’s brand, we really are being synonymous with the royal family and the monarchy. That brand alone ranks among the most valuable in the world. For a rough value comparison, putting the royal family’s impact up to a similar list of major corporate brands, the monarchy would rank fourth in the world, behind Google, Apple, and Amazon.”

And finally, to quote Camilla, the Queen Consort, “Queen Elizabeth II carved her own role as a solitary woman on a world stage dominated by men.”

What would you add to this list? Here's to 2023 and another year of marketing highlights. Happy New Year!


Image Credits: Ellen DeGeneres TV show, DisneylandParis, Walkers shortbread cookies, US Mint, and Major League Baseball.