What's your (brand) situation?

Today's post is not about advertising, but it is about a brand done right.

I'm sad to say the brand to which I refer is Jersey Shore's own "The Situation". I say "sad" because it's not a big, blue-chip marketer with deep pockets and a team of freshly minted ivy league b-schoolers behind it, navigating the choppy waters that are marketing strategy.


Instead, this brand is a guy who is arguably an egomaniac getting more free press and publicity than his acting ability deserves.

That's what makes this an interesting lesson in brand strategy.

A recent Miami ad school grad named Branden Kramer made up these Situation shirts and had his buddies model them as a goof (so he claims..) They are, if nothing else, a testament to The Situation as a brand.

For everything The Situation is not, including a guy most of us want to like, he is incredibly single minded when it concerns his own brand strategy. The Situation is a guy with 6 pack abs. Whether the camera catches him on Jersey Shore, hamming for the paparazzi or congratulating himself in TMZ interviews for Dancing with the stars, his behavior is consistent and predictable. He lifts his shirt and points to his rock hard abs.

The Situation doesn't talk much about his hair, his acting, his dance skills, his athletic ability, his family, future goals or anything else. He is a guy with a 6 pack. And he wants to be THE guy with THE 6 pack.

So, that brings us to the important part.

What is your brand's Situation? Is it equally single minded? Different from anything else? Can your target articulate (your positioning) without skipping a beat? Does your situation translate visually? If you saw it unclothed, without its logo, would you know it?

The above applies to whatever brands we support as marketers, as well as our own personal brands. Think about it.

There's one thing the situation is and that is ON STRATEGY.