Managing the Gray - Marketing for the New Media Professional

I just had an amazing experience in customer service from Comcast and felt that it would be easier and quicker to share in a podcast rather then in a blog post.

With all the flack they have gotten over the years, I’ve actually been very fortunate to have a mostly good experience with them and the last 24 hours really proves that when a brand pays attention to the conversation happening out on the web about them and actively works to engage in that, good things can happen.

If you are not in the mood to listen, the short version of the story is that last night I made a snide remark about the lackluster quality of my HD picture on Comcast during the Celtics game. Comcast saw that and tweeted me back minutes later. This morning I got a call from their service center. This afternoon someone came out. Now my HDTV rocks! THAT my friends is customer service and how it should work all the time.

Brands need to wake up to the fact that “new media” isn’t going away and in fact, I’d argue that it isn’t new anymore, but is here and at the forefront so you either wake up and pay attention or you lose business to they company that is paying attention.

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Don’t freak out. As far as I know Miley Cyrus is fine. What I’m writing about the death of the brand that is Hannah Montana.

Last week there was all this commotion around some photos that were taken for an issue of Vanity Fair magazine. I love Annie Lebowitz and thought the photos were fine. I actually didn’t think that the one that really got the most attention was that good if I’m being honest. Parents were mad that a young girl would take suggestive photos. Even when in my opinion they was only minimal suggestion in them. But, that is a whole other discussion.

The point in all of this is that it is obvious that we are watching a transition from Hannah Montana (a fake character created by Disney) to Miley Cyrus, pop superstar. This is a planned, calculated first move in a campaign to change her image. People won’t like it all, but it is just like when a product or company renames itself. You’ve got to get people talking about you and guess what? Here we all are talking about it.

My daughter loves both. Isn’t it obvious by this picture? For the longest time she thought of them as separate people. When she bought the CD there were separate ones for each of them. The music was similar but different. I’ve watched as slowly she talks more about Miley and Hannah is forgotten. It has been happening for weeks and she is unaware of all this craziness going on right now.

There is no quicker way to kill off a young innocent girl then to have her grow up. It happens to the best of them and that is what we are seeing.

Soon Miley will be 16. Her fans are growing up as well. Sure, she has the choice of if she stays a “good girl” or she ends up becoming the new poster child for abuse and stupidity (i.e. Britney).

I’m just sick of reading and hearing about people “taking advantage of her” or Miley “not know what is going on” because nothing could be further from the truth. This is all just part of the big brand game and there is sure to be more soon. Sometimes you’ve got to take the good and the bad or as Hannah would sing “the best of both worlds.”

Posted in Brands, New Media | Comments(13)