Marketing Superheroes

Great article from AdAge analyzing the marketing efforts of two of the summer's biggest superhero movies: Iron Man and The Dark Knight. Click here to read it.

The Tragedy of Greg Norman

This past weekend, Greg Norman began the final round of The Open Championship leading by two strokes. He ended the round six strokes off the lead after shooting a 7-over-par 77. It was yet another Sunday collapse for Norman, whose closing round close calls are epic, tragic and kind of sad.

After the tournament, conventional wisdom said this Norman loss did not feel like the others. He is 53 years old, after all, and hardly plays golf anymore. ABC golf analysts spotted a flaw in his swing from the beginning of the round, as he was staying back on his drives, which made them difficult to control.

All of this was true, of course. Norman was not expected to win and his performance through the first three rounds could be described as a minor miracle.

However, he could have completed one of the most improbable and legendary performances in professional golf history. In his prime, he was beloved almost on a Nicklausian level. His major collapses never let him achieve his position as Jack's heir.

So, was this year's collapse "okay"? Did Norman not mind so much? Will it not haunt him for the rest of his life, like his 1996 Masters performance? His attitude all week suggested it probably will not. He obviously does not have the passion for the game he once did, nor does golf define him like it did 15 years ago. His business interests, personal fortune and new love (tennis star Chris Evert) seem to be consuming his attention these days.

I suppose that's all well and good for Norman as a person. He's probably healthier this way. But as a golf fan, it is sad and disappointing. It would have been unbelievable to watch him redeem himself, grab that one last trophy and say to all his detractors, "See, I told you I was better than you all along." Jack Nicklaus would kill for one last major.

It's sad to see someone lose his passion, his drive. And as much as Norman contends that he is not all about golf anymore and that his new life and new successes satisfy him, I don't believe it. He's fooled himself into this mindframe because he's sustained losses like no other professional golfer. He's haunted and this is his coping mechanism.

The King is Dead; Long Live the King

There are few brands more American than Anheuser-Busch, brewers of Budweiser, the self-proclaimed "king of beers." Add the Clydesdales, the "St. Louis, Missouri" tag at the end of their ads and their ubiquitous sports sponsorships, and you have a brand that is rivaled maybe only by Chevrolet as an "American" brand.

And so it is with more than a little sadness that the business world is marking the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by InBev, the Belgian brewer owned by a South American group. Blame the weak dollar, inflated expenses and A-B's stodgy stock performance. Yeah, InBev says St. Louis will still be the North American headquarters for the new brand, which will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev, and that they will not diminish the sponsorships and marketing A-B has traditionally embraced.

But we all know it won't be the same. And if it is, it won't last long.

This comes on the heels of other reports that say General Motors is considering shuttling some of its classic brands, as well. They have publicly acknowledged that Hummer is on the block and Pontiac and Buick also seem in perilous positions. And who are the most likely buyers? As with legendary British brands Land Rover and Jaguar, Indian and Chinese companies are the top contenders.

Oh, and speaking of American car companies, Abu Dhabi investors just bought the historic Chrysler Building in New York City.

Globalization is great and brings many benefits to the U.S. economy. And the U.S. has gone through periods of foreign investors snatching up American icons before (Sony buying Paramount Pictures, for example). But this time around feels a little different and the U.S. needs to ensure that we are getting something out of the global economy besides larger credit limits.

Obama's #1 Facebook Friend

The New York Times published a great story about Barack Obama's unprecedented success with online fundraising and social networking.

How is he doing it? By hiring a Facebook co-founder, of course.

Obama has harnessed the power of online campaigning like no one before and light years ahead of Republican rival John McCain. And 24-year-old Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes is leading the way.

Obama in Fargo

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama visited Fargo last week, a day before the Independence Day holiday. Local news affiliates heavily covered the event because it is unusual for a presidential candidate to visit North Dakota during the general election campaign. Our state has a scant three electoral votes and we are pretty solidly Republican when it comes to presidential elections. So, Republicans take us for granted and Democrats write us off.

As a result, local media made a big deal about the visit and speculated that Obama was here because he believes the state may be in play this time around. The reality is Obama does not believe the state may go Democratic in November and not one of our local media outlets reported on the real motivation for Obama's visit.

He has an amazing fundraising apparatus and he plans to use it against Republican rival Senator John McCain by forcing McCain to spend money in states where he normally wouldn't need to. So, Obama is visiting and buying ads in North Dakota, Montana and other normally right-leaning states to force McCain to do the same. McCain uses his relatively fewer resources protecting his "home turf" and Obama can outspend him in battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Maybe Obama believes he can swing staunch Republican states his way and maybe he's right. But that seems unlikely, unless an Obama tidal wave sweeps the country and he achieves a Reagan-Mondale or Nixon-McGovern margin of victory. Absent that, his "red-state strategy" is just a shrewd use of resources.

1776 - read it

If you're like me and don't want the Independence Day festivities to end, take a gander at 1776, a fantastic book by my favorite mainstream historian, David McCullough. McCullough's historical writing is accessible to anyone; it is not too academic.

From Truman to John Adams, McCullough continues to crank out vivid, lively accounts of historical figures and how they influenced their times. 1776 is special not because it brings to life perhaps the most important year in our nation's history (which it does amazingly well), but because it is relatively short (400 hardcover pages) and because it delivers a sobering message to Americans that the independence and freedom we enjoy after our victory over the British was not preordained and was, in fact, in dire jeopardy many times during that year alone.

While doing publicity for the book when it was published, McCullough said more than once that if cable news and embedded journalists had existed at the time, the American Revolution would have failed miserably. It was only because a committed band of revolutionaries stuck to their cause that independence was ultimately achieved. Public sentiment would surely have turned against them if information flowed as freely as it does today.

McCullough's account of the battle for New York City is especially stirring, as I would guess most Americans only vaguely associate that city with the Revolutionary War. He also describes how the hot war was well underway before the Declaration was signed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, and how many citizen-soldiers abandoned the Continental Army to tend to their farms and families. The soldiers were often cold, hungry and dispirited.

So, if you're looking for some summer reading with a little heft (but not too much), give 1776 a try. McCullough is a master.