First, David simply talks to the bride and allows her to show-and-tell him everything about the wedding—the table centerpieces, favors, venues, bridesmaids’ and wedding gowns. More often than not, the bride takes a very literal and cliché approach to the theme of her wedding, collecting all possible things that interpret her theme literally and putting them together, usually haphazardly. David then takes the theme and reinterprets it into what the brides weren’t aware they were ill-equipped to achieve.

Wait for it….

You got it! This is how many clients approach their business brand. They bring many clichés and literal approaches and calculated decisions to the table to present to me why their idea of the best logo for their company is the best idea for their brand even though their best approach works against the very thing they are trying to achieve (which is usually differentiation and a niche in a crowded marketplace). As much as David Tutera is an expert, as a graphic design extraordinaire, I have the necessary skills to reinterpret your input  and vision into a brand designed to achieve your business goals. David Tutera advises:

“Try to plan your wedding before going to all these outlets. Try to go back to when we didn’t have all this information, and find out who you are. I think if you find out who you are and you realize what you want, then you can go look at the information, and find out what it is that you need, and not have the information dictate to you what your wedding should be.”

The unkanny! designer will reinterpret:

“Try to plan your [business identity] before going to [clichés, calculated and literal methodologies]. Try to go back to when we didn’t have all this information, and find out who you [want your business to be]. I think if you find out [your business identity]  and you realize what [your goals are], then you can go look at the information, and find out what [works best to your business advantage], and not have the information dictate to you what your [business] should be.”

When you call unkanny! design, you can trust three things:

1. I will listen to your business ideas, vision, mission and goals.

2. I will work to create a solution that will achieve the desired effect.

3. I will explain every decision so that you understand why the design approach works, how it applies across both internal and external facets of your brand, and how to maintain the integrity of your brand throughout its application.

I’ve read many opinions via blogs and media and had a number of conversations with a few friends about this “unfinished, leaked” commercial and even laughed at the exaggerated use of stereotypes in the Second City parodies of the Burger King ads and finally came to an unkanny! conclusion:

This is a very bad commercial from every perspective.

From an advertising perspective: What everyone must understand about advertising, especially television, is that all advertising is based in generalizations, assumptions, and unfortunately stereotypes. This is how they “relate” to their consumer or particular demographic to get them to buy the product being advertised. There are stereotypes throughout the ad, including the white man that asks the question, donnes in a denim button down shirt and khaki pants, the black girl who stands behind him with her natural hair and earphones in her ears, the Asian young girl cashier who obviously couldn’t best answer the question because her dorky White boss chimed in before she could get a word in, and look at the “dorky” White boss who bears a striking resemblance to the dorky personification of the “Windows” guy from the Apple ads, an overweight, White guy with hair neatly combed to the side and round eyeglasses. Do you think that same commercial would have appeared in some predominately White viewing market in the south or midwest? Not a chance. It was designed to appear in predominantly Black, inner-city and suburban markets where the advertisers thought they could connect to their markets through Mary and an R&B sound. When celebrities are ask to participate in an ad, the ad is usually centered around what that celebrity is known for, for example: Seinfield uses his humor in the Acura Ads; Tiger Woods, Roger Federer representing the best game performances for Nike Ads; Jennifer Hudson singing and showing off her weight loss for Weight Watchers, etc. In this particular ad though, Mary J. Blige’s celebrity status is limited to being a familiar voice singing the ingredients of a crispy chicken wrap as if she were singing one of her most recognized tunes. In all due respect to Mary, if Burger King wanted an R&B sound, they could have gotten any black, female R&B singer to sing ingredients. They were hoping that Mary’s visual star power would bring in more sales. The concept of the commercial itself is poor as it fails to capitalize on Mary J. Blige’s stardom in her industry. In many ways, one can argue that it reduces her celebrity status.

From a branding perspective: Burger King has long been known for two things—the Whopper and flame-broiled burgers. Remember those commercials with the juicy burgers passing through the flame-broiler? Yum! Well, in the age of healthier eating, flourishing gourmet burger joints, tastier vegetarian options, organic food and pink slime, that flame-broiled burger just didn’t sound or look as enticing as before. Unfortunately, having a name like “Burger King” doesn’t give you much room for deviating from the very thing you should be the expert on. So how does a struggling brand stay relevant? Deviate completely from its mark of expertise—add a crispy chicken wrap to its menu. The chicken isn’t even flame-broiled (which would be the healthier alternative to frying). The chicken is on a tortilla wrap, not even a bun and they didn’t even develop their own special sauce. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

From a Black perspective: First, let me say I do not find the commercial offensive based on it being a black person singing about crispy chicken. Let’s look at a few ads that perpetuate the poor stereotype Black people are comparing the ad to:

GE Ad for an Electric Stove

Do-Nut Dinette Ad

Ad from 1950s

To say that Mary J. Blige “sold out” for $2 million or that Burger King is racist is a stretch. No one seemed to react the same way when Popeye’s employed a sassy Black woman with short hair and a Southern accent to be the face of Popeye’s Chicken. That woman claims to have owned the recipe and rarely appears in the commercials without an apron. Her name is “Annie, the Chicken Queen” who oftentimes points her finger, twists her neck and says “honey”. Let’s even look at the Pine-Sol commercials who employed yet another sassy, gap-tooth, full-figured woman bearing braids/dreads being the expert on clean, claiming “that’s the power of Pine-Sol, baby.” To say these women are modern-day Aunt Jemima and Mammy are not a stretch. Had Mary just done a voiceover singing the ingredients, it likely would not have generated any news. Because she is in the commercial singing the ingredients, there’s an outcry. She isn’t seen eating the chicken with greasy lips, she isn’t speaking as a mammy or jemima character—in fact, she adds nothing to her role in this commercial than singing the lyrics in a setting she would normally sing her lyrics, which is in a performance on stage to an R&B beat. If she were singing the lyrics on a horse, that would be crazy. If she were singing the lyrics and playing the banjo, that would be stereotypical. If the commercial began in the concert setting instead of in the restaurant with a couple of forgettable characters, it likely would not have generated as much offense.

There are times when passion takes a definite backseat to financial desperation as a deciding factor in choosing which projects to take on. I’ve been in such a financial bind, I begrudgingly took on projects that were highly underpaid. Sometimes, I modified prices to fit someone else’s budget, or worked for clients who completely disregard my creative process in favor of their own last minute deadline. I’ve done work before collecting a deposit, only to find that when payment was required at the end of a project, I couldn’t get anyone to return an email or voicemail. I’ve definitely been burned—and much to my chagrin—because I didn’t stick to my guns.

I’m guilty, but I’m not alone. If you are like me, every minute devoted to someone else’s project is one minute loss to spending time with my family. After a string of bad client experiences, I redefined my ideal client from “anyone who is paying” to one who will respect my creative process and design expertise. There are also key words and phrases I’ve identified that raise red flags indicating this “potential client” doesn’t fit the mold of my “ideal client” in which case, I reject the opportunity. Bad clients kill inspiration and passion, and lead me to create pieces that are meagerly effective. Choosing the “ideal” client keeps my work “enjoyable” and I work best when I enjoy what I’m doing. I encourage you to do the same.

Have you ever felt like you should be doing something just because everyone else seems to be doing it? I feel like that sometimes. When the web became a household convention, every business decided it was absolutely necessary to have a website. Having a web presence became a much greater priority than having a printed brochure. In fact, some potential clients didn’t even take your business seriously if you didn’t have a website. When blogs emerged as a mass communication tool (with the potential to earn residual income through advertisers if your readership was high enough), many businesses started a blog. When Facebook social networking was adapted as a to-do item in every person’s daily task list, many businesses saw an opportunity to advertise their products and services to millions of people by joining this “brave new world.” A client once asked me if they should have a blog, join facebook and/or twitter because every other business seemed to be doing it. So I replied, “Is every business doing it?” The answer to the question is no.

Before you can decide how your business interacts with potential clients, you must first decide who your business is. You must first know and understand your brand. Only then can you decide how your brand will communicate. My friends know me pretty well. All of them have known me for the last ten years, at least. They know the things I’m most likely to do, and least likely to do based on what they know about me. In the same way they know me, you must know your brand. If your brand personality is conducive to the Facebook or Twitter environment, go for it. Any business communication effort—be it blogging, Facebook, Twitter, website, brochure, flyer, other marketing collateral, printed or electronic—requires dedication, diligence, time and energy for success. Repetition and consistency build/strengthen a brand. It’s okay to do what everyone else is doing, so long as it makes sense for your brand. Your greatest challenge will be figuring out how to differentiate your business from others that live in the same environment. Aye, there’s the rub.

What’s my point? Many people avoid Walmart for the same reasons I did—it’s too junky, can’t find what you’re looking for, paper plates and plastic forks in two different ares, etc. Are your marketing materials the same way? Can people follow the information on your website or are the background colors too bright? Is your writing succinct or wordy? Are you using bold, italicized, and underlined text in all caps for emphasis? People would much rather go elsewhere than to try and navigate your brochure or website for the one little thing they’re looking for. Perhaps if you clean things up a bit, people will be more inclined to spend their money with your business. Like a good neighbor, I’ve got all the cleaning supplies you need.

One of my favorite blogs, Design*Sponge, stated “the four P’s of marketing are Product, Price, Placement and Promotion” in a recent blog post about the top 10 Ladies Biz Mistakes and Successes. I encourage you to read the full article by clicking here. Maybe it isn’t in the budget to hire an unkanny designer for the design, but I am available for consultation. Let’s stir things up together!