Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters have a reputation as a fun-loving and irreverent band, seldom taking themselves too seriously.

Their unusual name is taken from the name given to UFO’s spotted by Allied fighters in World War II. Dave loves to make jokes on stage. The band does a triangle solo to demonstrate the rock ‘n’ roll power of the triangle.

So Foo Fighters fans wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the band as a 52-page rider done up like a coloring book. The coloring book rider goes out to everyone who hires the band to play a concert.

What branding relevance is there to this?

They could have easily written a rider in legalese just like every other band does. But they didn’t, because Foo Fighters aren’t every other band. They are different, and they use every opportunity they can to prove it. A coloring book rider reflects that difference.

Brands are not logos, color schemes, or positioning statements. Brands are emotions. Brands are experienced, not proclaimed. And they are experienced at every level, not just in a corporate boardroom and not simply in your advertising.

Ever read the manifesto on the side of your drink cup at Chipotle?

 Have a look at the windshield of the Jeep Wrangler. The first image has a sillhouette of the iconic Jeep grill above the mirror. The second image is another sillhouette, this one of a Jeep climbing rocks. It is extremely tiny, hidden in the bottom corner of the windshield of the new 2012 Jeep Wrangler.

 Foo Fighters use their cool concert rider. Chipotle uses cups. Jeep uses the windshield.

Do you use every aspect of your brand to accurately reflect your unique identity?

In 1978, KISS was at their commercial peak. Double Platinum had just come out, and the KISS name was on everything including comic books, lunch boxes, Halloween costumes, board games, and pinball machines. They would bank over $100 million in merchandising alone between ’77 and ’79.

And then they decided to release solo albums by all four members of the band, all on one day. On September 18, 1978, the four solo records hit stores accompanied by a massive marketing campaign.

Within a few weeks, it was evident that the experiment was a failure. Quickly the KISS solo albums started appearing in record store bargain bins. The only lasting song from the era is Ace Frehley’s “New York Groove“.

Although they would go on to record one more tremendously successful album in Destroyer in 1979, the decline had begun. It would take nearly 20 years and numerous line-up changes before the original band would reunite and recapture their early magic.

In hindsight, four solo albums probably spread the KISS brand too far.

When you look around, you’ll see brands doing the same thing all the time.

This spring my favorite beer, Canadian beer Alexander Keith’s, released a limited time Ambrosia Blonde brew. It joins their five other offerings: India Pale Ale, Amber Ale, Light Ale, Dark Ale, and Premium White.  When I first started enjoying Keith’s beer two decades ago, there was only one type of Keith’s. Now there are six.

One has to wonder… do all of these new twists on the Keith’s name attract new Keith’s drinkers or do they simply split the existing fan base six different ways?

Does Keith’s Premium White do battle with other white beer or does it steal market share from other Keith’s products?

Bud Light is the #1 selling beer in America. So when Bud Light with Lime came along, did it take market share from competitors like Miller Chill or directly from Bud Light?

When Coors introduced Coors Light in 1978, did they steal market share from other light beers… or did they make the original Coors irrelevant? Coors Light is the 4th best-selling beer in America. Finding a bottle of the original Coors is rare anywhere.

I don’t know the answers, but I do believe that at some point this type of line extension spreads the brand too far.

Does Starbucks’ Via brand instant coffee extend the Starbucks line too far?

The danger is that Starbucks has built a brand based on on warm cafe environments, rich escapes from the hustle of the world, where soothing music plays while you relax. The Via instant coffee doesn’t offer any of the elements built into the Starbucks brand. You could very well drink it from a paper cup while listening to heavy metal music in a cold car while idiots cut you off in traffic. That’s not a Starbucks experience at all.

For a beer company, they risk creating fad brews that don’t match up with the image of the brand. Keith’s is built on heritage, having been brewed the same way since 1820. Their marketing is all built around the heritage of founder Alexander Keith. Would Alexander Keith have created limited-time summer blends that are best served with a slice of orange?

Here are 3 keys to successful line extension:

1. The new product must thrive in the same world as the original brand. Diet Coke can be just as refreshing on a warm day as regular Coke. They are served the same way and consumed the same way.

2. The new product cannot violate the marketing premise of the original brand. Volvo is built on safety, and any new Volvo – SUV or sports car – cannot violate that safety premise. Jeep has taken a dangerous route creating non-trail rated Jeep station wagons like the Compass.

3. The new product must have a direct relationship with the original brand, or else both will suffer. Is Bic a lighter, a pen, or a razor? Are they the current leader in any product category? New products that do not have a direct relationship with the original brand are not line extensions, but rather much riskier brand extensions.

Chrysler’s “Imported From Detroit” used Eminem. Now brother-brand Jeep is co-branding with a rock star, turning their latest ads for the Jeep Wrangler into a promotion for the new Lenny Kravitz album due out in August.

While the creative behind the Jeep/Kravitz campaign isn’t quiet as stirring as the Chrysler ads, it is a perfect match between brand and band.

Lenny is a self-proclaimed Jeep addict, having driven the same Wrangler for 16 years. He believes in the brand. And like Jeep, his music is gritty and uncompromising yet carries a certain sense of refinement.

Opportunities for partnerships like this are everywhere, and they don’t need to involve worldwide brands and big-league rock stars. It could be a simple partnership between an aspiring singer-songwriter and a new  neighborhood coffee shop. It could be a taxi company teaming up with a popular nightclub. It could be a local restaurant cooperating with a nearby movie theater.

Watch out though. Martin Lindstrom wrote a great book a few years ago called BRAND Sense in which he claimed that 90% of brand partnerships fail. Why? Over half of them fail for three main reasons:

1. There isn’t equal value for each partner. One partner has more to gain (or lose) than the other, or one partner is putting more on the line than the other.

2. Brand values don’t match. While it is true that more and more women are buying motorbikes, Harley-Davidson should probably avoid doing a partnership with Victoria’s Secret. The brand values don’t match.

3. The strategy is unclear to the customer. The most important person in the partnership is the one with nothing invested in it… the customer. If they don’t get it, the partnership failed.

Explore opportunities to create partnerships that benefit your brand, but keep those three points from Martin Lindstrom in mind.

Barry Silverstein at BrandChannel wrote a solid piece on brand partnerships that you might find useful.

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Consider two great bands.

Both rose to fame in the 1970′s and their songs dominated rock radio stations of the era.  Both replaced their lead singers (as well as other less prominent members) over the years.  Both continue to tour from city to city with only one original founding member.  Both are legendary.

Foreigner had over a dozen hit songs during their prime years.  They rocked out with songs like “Urgent” and “Dirty White Boy” and “Cold As Ice”.   They had massive ballads like “Waiting For A Girl Like You” and “I Want To Know What Love Is”.  There are few bands that had as many hits as Foreigner did between 1977 and 1987, and nearly all of their hits are must-play songs on classic rock and oldies radio stations across North America.

Lynyrd Skynyrd brought their brand of southern rock to the world a few years earlier, from about 1973 to 1977.  In ’77 a plane crash took the lives of three of the band members, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt, as well as their assistant road manager and two pilots.  They didn’t have nearly as many hits as Foreigner did.  Today only “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama” are among the most played songs on those same classic rock radio stations.  Some of their other songs are heard now-and-then, but certainly not very often.

Foreigner is a lake.  Lynyrd Skynyrd is a well.

Foreigner has a wide catalog of memorable music, although passion for any one song isn’t all that great.

Lynyrd Skynyrd has a small catalog of memorable music, but passion for their two main hits is extremely high.

What is the better scenario for a brand today?

The lake is wide, but not that deep.  Chrysler is a lake.  They make all kinds of cars from all price ranges and passion for the Chrysler brand isn’t particularly deep.  Sure people love Dodge trucks and Jeep Wranglers, but few people crave a Chrysler.

The well is small, but extremely deep.  Porsche is a well.  They only make a few cars, all expensive and high-performance, and passion for the brand runs very deep.  People save money all their lives to own a Porsche.

I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong answer.  Both “lake” brands and “well” brands can be successful.

Which would you rather be?

I look forward to your thoughts.

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Jeep didn’t start out making the urban soft-tops you see on the interstate every day.  The genesis for the Jeep was a World War II military request to have an all-purpose light truck for reconnaissance.

Coke wasn’t originally created to be the world’s best-selling cola.  It was initially an alcohol based drink called coca wine.  When the first prohibition rules were passed in Georgia, the non-alcoholic drink was created and marketed as a medicine.

And rock singer Dee Snider didn’t start off as a TV star.  He began as the lead singer of Twisted Sister, and in full big-hair and make up he belted out the massive 80′s hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It”.  Twisted Sister didn’t have a wealth of other hits, although they did attract a strong following in the hair band scene that supported them over the years.  When the audiences started to dwindle, Snider evolved into a radio host with his syndicated show that paid tribute to his genre, “House of Hair”.  That led to a full-time radio gig hosting a morning show in Hartford and then Philadelphia, keeping Dee Snider employed and in the public light long after his band had folded. Later, Snider’s voice became the soundtrack to many movie trailers, video games, and VH1 music specials.

Now Dee Snider is about to invade your home on TV with his reality show “Growing Up Twisted”, which follows Dee and his family around as they go about their business day to day.  A&E has signed the show for seven episodes this summer to test the waters.

That ability to adapt and navigate is the artistry of entrepreneurship, and you see it in great bands and great brands all of the time.

Like Jeep, Coca-Cola, and Dee Sinder, most great Rock Star brands and bands didn’t start out in the same form we see them in today.

Is your business plan nimble enough to change direction at any moment to take advantage of competitive opportunities?

Is your radar on to the trends and fashions that could open up new doors?

Dee Snider’s show runs on A&E on Tuesday nights this summer.

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Our minds have a wonderful way of dreaming worlds into existence.  We look back at our teenage years and the songs we listened to, and it seems like the world was so much nicer then.  The music was so much better.  Life was so much simpler.

We know better, logically.  When The Beach Boys recorded their first single, “Surfin’”, 49 years ago, the cold war had world tensions cranked high.  Kennedy and Khrushchev met that year in Vienna and disagreed strongly on many issues, fueling US policy on preventing the spread of communism is Asia through a demonstration of their force in the small nation of Vietnam.  In North America, the Communists ruled Cuba and bragged openly about the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.  Race riots in Alabama resulted in martial law.  The US Civil Rights Act was still three years away.  Life as a Black person in the USA wasn’t exactly easy.

Only in our memory was 1961 actually a nicer, better, simpler time.  That’s the beauty of our minds.  We remember things the way we want to remember them.  We remember the good times, and forget about the bad.

The Beach Boys, 50 years later, are discussing a major reunion.  Troubled chief songwriter and de factor leader Brian Wilson hasn’t been a consistent contributing member of the band since the early 80′s, and he’s apparently on-board for a reunion with Mike Love and Al Jardine, the last surviving original members.

The Beach Boys should go on tour.  They should celebrate their 50th year with a spectacular show that brings to life all of the amazing music they made.  There are few bands that so eloquently captured a time and place in music the way The Beach Boys did.

What The Beach Boys shouldn’t do is make a new album and  go on tour playing their new songs. The fans who pay their hard-earned money to see The Beach Boys in concert are buying an escape, not just a performance.  They are buying a temporary escape to their youth, where they can feel 17 again for a few hours.  If The Beach Boys play new music, the escape is over.

That’s what great brands do.  They are an escape, and allow you to be something you aspire to be.

If I drive a Jeep, I am escaping to somewhere off the beaten path.  I am paying extra to be able to explore the world away from the office drones and followers.

If I wear APO Jeans, I’m escaping to a world where things are custom made just for me, and I’m telling the world that what everyone else wears isn’t good enough.

If I buy my groceries at Whole Foods, I am escaping to a place where I can make a contribution to my own health and the health of the planet.  The extra money I am paying allows me to shop with a sense of purpose.

Will that Jeep ever go off-road?  Very few actually do.
Do I need jeans with silk pockets and diamond studs?  Definitely not.
Does shopping at Whole Foods actually make a difference?  Sure, but unless we all do it the difference is very, very small and mainly in our own mind.

Hopefully next summer fans of The Beach Boys will be able to blissfully escape to their youth for a few hours and enjoy the band as they remember them.  That’s the gift they can give to their fans by playing hit after hit, night after night, and leaving the new music to the new bands.

Beach Boys fans should also check out this earlier postabout how the obvious mistakes left in the hit song “Barbara Ann” provide an example of how Rock Star brands are authentic, not perfect.

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People are never exactly who they think they are.  We are all wearing “masks”.  In the branding world, “masks” are the personalities we aspire to be.

White suburban teens are the biggest consumers of hip hop music.  Does gangsta rap really speak to the average white suburban teen?  Nope.  It speaks to their “mask”.

Growing up in the early 80′s, my  spirit was summed up in Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”.    But I took it anyway, and went to school and listened to my parents and got pretty good grades.  My mask – the person I aspired to be – was  a teenage rebel who wouldn’t take any sh*t from anyone.

Music speaks directly to our masks.

Jimmy Buffett is a perfect example of an artist who markets to the mask of his fans.  When they listen to his music or go to his concerts, for a few minutes or hours they are beach bums with no cares in the world aside from how the fish are biting and when the next tropical drink will arrive.

Smart brands tap into those masks too.

Harley-Davidson has done a masterful job of convicing middle-aged men and women that they are far more rebellious than they really are.  On weekends they strap on their designer leather gear and fire up their Harley for a jaunt around the neighborhood.  They are law abiding, productive members of society, even if their mask says otherwise.

Jeep markets itself as the perfect vehicle for the generation that lives in the now and wants to seize every moment for adventure and excitement.  Yet most Jeeps never leave the safety of a paved road.

There’s nothing wrong with masks.  They are aspirations, and we all have them.

Rock star brands like Jeep and Harley-Davidson wisely market to our masks.  But they also live up to the brand promise, appealing to both the mask and to the reality.  Even if your Jeep spends most of its time in a heated garage, it is still built to handle the Rubicon Trail.  Likewise, every Harley ridden by a middle-aged CEO on a Sunday run to Dunkin Donuts could just as easily be straddled by a bad-ass Hell’s Angel speeding away from the cops.

For more reading on this topic, consider downloading the free e-book called “Refining Your Brand Personality” by David Freeman. David’s 15 page pdf on the topic helped inspire this post.  It is a free download from Wizard Academy Press and is available here.

And now, enjoy a little 80′s rebellion with Twisted Sister.

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I drive a Jeep. I have, for most of my life, owned one kind of Jeep or another.

It started with a 1979 CJ-5. It was a big, mean, off-road machine.

When our first was born, my wife made me sell the old CJ-5. Apparently 35 inch tires and a soft top wasn’t going to work with a car seat. So we bought a ’94 Cherokee that served us well.

Next was a Jeep Liberty. It was black with bad-ass fog lamps on top that only got used once, when we needed extra light for a street hockey game that extended into the evening.

When we lived in the Caribbean, we went for the classic Wrangler soft-top. I bought it used, and the previous owner of this particular Jeep was fantatical about dolphins. So much so, that she had them painted on the side and the hood. I bought the Jeep thinking I would have the dolphins painted over, but never got around to it. Promise to never use this picture against me… seriously. As a man and a Jeep owner this picture is highly disturbing.

Back on the mainland a few years ago we bought a Jeep Patriot with nice leather heated seats and a sunroof. No sea-dwelling mammals. And we loved it, but it just didn’t feel “Jeep” enough for me.

So now I am driving a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. Four doors, two tops, and all the off-road capability of the original. Doubtful I’ll ever drive it on anything more challenging than a dirt road, but still good to have.

What’s my point?

The cars we drive say things about our personalities. Seth Godin, in All Marketers Are Liars, would say that the car we drive reinforces the lie we choose to believe about ourselves. Driving a Jeep reminds me that I’m adventurous, take the road less traveled, and don’t want to have myself confined by a roof. I might never actually go off-road in my off-road truck, but I like to think I’m the kind of person who goes off the beaten path.

Music is the same. It helps define you… and your brand.

Do you think Lennon was the true genius behind the Beatles, or was it McCartney?

Are you a Stones person or a Beatles person?

Where were you when you found out Kurt Cobain died? John Lennon? Jimi Hendrix?

Did you go see “Mama Mia” because you wanted to, or because she wanted you to go?

Which early 80′s British band was better: Duran Duran or Iron Maiden?

Does “Seasons In The Sun” make you reflective, or nauseous?

Did you think Alanis Morissette circa 1995 was angry and scorned, or just bitchy and whiny?

Although these questions are personal, it is a very cool exercise to put them to your company or product.

What song would be your brand’s theme song? Who would you get to sing it?

What concert venue would your brand play, Bonnaroo or Radio City Music Hall?

When your brand plays live, do girls flash their breasts or flash their camera phones?

Using these human terms can really help you define your brand.

You won’t ever market yourself in those terms, but by defining your brand in human terms you start to give your brand qualities that people can identify with and relate to.  People don’t bond with corporations or mission statements or companise. We bond with other people, who share similar values and experiences.

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