John Coleman founded The VIA Agency in 1993 and has since led the Portland, Maine-based agency to its current stature as one of the two best small agencies in America.* He’s worked with organizations ranging from nonprofits to political movements as well as marketing giants like Samsung, Unilever, Disney, HBO, Discover, Welch’s, DuPont and others. John is a world traveler and yet a proud native of Maine, who holds both an M.B.A. and a B.S. in mechanical engineering. In his blog, he discusses how brands transform businesses, he celebrates truly inspired work, and he opines on the seemingly endless range of topics that, for whatever reason, happen to have captured his imagination. Even if only for a moment.

* The VIA Agency is proud to be named Ad Age’s 2011 Small Agency of the Year.

Brand Endearment: Why Super Bowl Ads Aren’t Dead Yet

 

My latest piece for Fast Company, “Brand Endearment: Why Super Bowl Ads Aren’t Dead Yet”, was published yesterday:

 

“There is an old truism in the sales profession—people buy from people they like. The same goes for brands. Being “liked” is certainly not the only reason people buy your product or service, but it’s the foundation of a strong and lasting relationship and something that needs to be nurtured and developed. There are certain times when a brand should be “selling,” and there are other times a brand should be building that deeper emotional bond–something I call brand endearment.

The Super Bowl is certainly one of those times. Super Bowl advertisements have become their own form of entertainment, and as such play by a completely different set of rules. Ads shouldn’t be in hard sales mode, they should be trying to build greater brand endearment. As the world quiets down to actually watch a Super Bowl commercial, they are expecting to be entertained, moved, inspired, or made to howl. Beware to advertisers who don’t understand these rules–they’ll wake up Monday morning with a multi-million-dollar case of buyer’s remorse.”

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Posted on 02.07.2012 | By The VIA Agency | Posted in Featured | Tagged , ,

John's Blog

Posted on January 19, 2012

7 Ways Daring Brands Walk The Line

My latest piece for Fast Company, "7 Ways Daring Brands Walk The Line", was published today: "People want to feel alive. We want to have new experiences and see things that surprise, inspire, or yes, even shock us a little. But we live in an Internet-exposed world that gives us all we want, raw and in real ...

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John's Blog

Posted on

CES Takeaways for Marketers

Convergence and cloud computing mean you won’t have multiple screens and multiple devices, you’ll have one screen everywhere you turn—and it will be yours: I was watching people play a very sophisticated video game on a pretty dumb device in a hallway. It was all being served up from a power server farm far away. ...

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John's Blog

Posted on January 5, 2012

Holiday Hot Licks

  Last month VIA hosted the annual holiday party for our employees and their guests and we had an excellent time, as we do every year. As the cliché goes, here at VIA we work hard but we also know how to play hard when the occasion presents itself, and we had an incredible year worth ...

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