So back in June my friend and fellow voice talent Doug Turkel pinged me about Twitter’s new logo. It’s nice, simple and, I thought to myself given all the different feed services and mobile devices we all use now, maybe a tad irrelevant.

Think about it.

With no scientific data to back this up (because that requires work and this is Sunday etc.) I’ll offer my “expert” (ha!) opinion: I feel with services like HootSuite and others, most of us don’t directly and visually interact with Twitter alot. So I don’t know that we’ll see the new logo too terribly much.

That got me to thinking about MY Twitter home page. As you may or may not know, Twitter allows you to customize your home page with some branding. (Here’s a link to a video if you want to see how it’s done otherwise your graphic designer can probably help you too).

Does my (or yours or anyone’s) home page on Twitter matter any more in our world of feeds or aggregators? Well, I kinda think it does for two reasons…again my “expert” (ha!) opinion.

1. When you’re a business, people expect a certain professionalism to your work. Your design not only conveys what your business does but also it’s attitude and personality. Should someone come across your Twitter page, an impression will be formed. Do you want to risk a bad impression? Probably not but if you really don’t care, I’d also ask why you’d really want a business presence on any Social Media channel.

2. It’s a free, colorful and fun way to convey your business message. It’s so simple that even if only 10 people see it a year, to me it’s money well spent.

Oh, and just in case you are completely clueless (it will be our secret) one of Twitter’s default backgrounds on your Twitter home page is the fastest way ever to publicly communicate that in your personal life you also wear plaid shirts with checked pants.

Dress nicely if you go out in public. 😉

I would love to know your thoughts on the matter.

Tags: advertising, branding, commentary, logo design, marketing, twitter by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Being that I bruised my toe pretty well Sunday (enough to get it x-rayed to make sure I didn’t break it) I had a little extra time in my Da chair with my laptop, foot iced and elevated. I was perfectly content.

One of the things I did was look at my Twitter page…not a Hoot Suite feed but the actual page.

My question for YOU involves reviewing my Twitter quote. If you can’t read it on the graphic, it reads:

Peter K. O’Connell
@audioconnell
Your friendly, neighborhood voice over talent since 1982. For a free quote, check an encyclopedia. For a quote involving you paying me cash, call 716-572-1800.

Not surprisingly, I find that quote incredibly funny, witty, sexy and tall…much like its author.

However, I know sometimes others don’t get my humor. Those are people who are usually not incredibly funny, witty or sexy. So sad.

Yet these people also have checkbooks that I want to access (i.e. them writing me checks) – therefore maybe I need to appease them. Or maybe I don’t…hence the advice from you.

So here’s the vote:

Should I:

a. Keep the quote as is because it is SO funny, witty, sexy and tall

b. Change the quote to appease those who are not so funny, witty, sexy and tall

BUT if you vote “B”, you need to make a suggestion as to what the new quote should be.

Tags: commentary, marketing, social media, twitter by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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It’s not everyday that a major corporation changes its logo. Although throughout its history, Microsoft has had it’s share of logos.

But last week when I saw they’d crafted a new identity, I kinda smiled.

At the beginning of August, I was in Seattle and my hotel was next to the Microsoft campus in Redmond. I didn’t make the time to drive around (which I’m sure I’ll end up regretting) but I saw so many Microsoft signs.

I quickly tabulated, when the new logo was revealed, how much it was going to cost the company to do a signage overhaul across the globe (not even counting the packaging changes).

Boy, there were a lot of people who could live a simple and happy life just off the interest earned from that signage bill.

But ya gotta keep the brand fresh and relevant. And the new look is nice, I think. Here’s a little more info on the logo.

Tags: branding, commentary, logo design, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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It has been a while since I’ve seen a new logo or revised logo worth talking about on these pages. I know many readers are voiceover-centric and not quote the logo addict I seem to have become. As addictions go, it’s not a bad one.

As many of you also know I have a soft spot in my heart for the American Red Cross and the work they do. So when I saw recently on Brand New the updated logo for the American Red Cross, I thought I’d take a second to chat it up with you.

Of course for many of a certain age, if they think about it, this is the only American Red Cross logo they’ve known and by and large, it has been pretty consistent. So a change on this puppy is noteworthy.

What I noted right off the bat were three things: the cross surrounded by the modern, shadowed button icon made popular by icons designed for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, et al; the change of the color or the word mark from black to gray and the darkened red of the Red Cross.

The button reminded me, as I said, of social media logos but also I recall (I think) seeing pins like that on people’s jackets or sweaters at the Red Cross, so I was cool with it.

The graying of the word mark seems intent on making it modern, and I get it. I think the black made it stand out more and it’s a name I don’t think should be put in the background. I believe they changed their font to this current font on their last logo change and I think they were smart not to change that in this iteration.

What I am really undecided about is the darker red. The red in the Red Cross is the ball game. I get that there needed to be shading on the red to help with the button design but it just strikes me as too dark. The vibrancy of the red is the key to the whole icon.

Overall, a nice change. But that’s my opinion…what’s yours?

Tags: advertising, branding, commentary, logo design, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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My friend and bilingual voiceover talent Liz deNesnera recently achieved one of her written goals from Faffcon 3 which was to redesign her web site and rebrand her company.

Take a look for yourself but I think she did a very nice job.

Tags: advertising, branding, marketing, social media, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
3 Comments »

Here’s a thought: I was just checking the stats on my Christmas card email blast.

That one email blast with a Christmas card drawing by my daughter was clicked through 830 times (that equates to 830 individual email addresses). That not the impressive statistic.

The impressive statistic is that is was VIEWED as of this writing 1,574 times.

Many people viewed it once but almost 300 people viewed it between 2-17 times!

It’s just a Christmas card right?

Actually, it was more than that…it was creative (all my daughter’s doing) and it was sincere.

Does this make me brilliant? No. I’m sexy, not brilliant….please get that straight. (j/k)

What those numbers (which could be exponentially bigger or smaller depending on your database) represent is people’s willingness, free will and desire to experience something creative…different. And honest.

So real quickly, let’s consider a missed opportunity.

You know what I DIDN’T get in the email once this holiday season? A Hanukkah card. Nobody sent me a Festivus card either.

Did they think I would be put off because that’s not what I celebrate? Heck, someone who thinks enough of me to send me a card for any happy holiday that is so special to them that they want to share it with me I will gladly accept. Wouldn’t you?

What about a St. Patrick’s Day card? Or a Canada Day card? Why not?

(Cue blowhard voice, deep. bellowing and full of gas) “Why Peter, it’s not professional! It might offend!” You know, this may be a personal bias (what offends me might not offend you and vice versa) but for example a Polish person who finds a special, fun, family tradition in Dyngus Day and who wants to send me a note telling me about it so that I might share in that happiness, does not offend me. I am honored even though it’s not my celebration. And I think “that’s different”.

If I saw a $5.00 coupon with that same note, I might question the sincerity of the sentiment

Don’t sell, just be sincere, be unique, be creative. Don’t include a press release, or holiday office hours or anything that screams “Me!” There’s a time and a place for that and certainly it’s still acceptable. But think different. Let’s your prospects become people and let those people see you as something other than a vendor.

Let them see you as a person.

How about we forget cards for a second…what else can you create for folks in your audience that just let’s them know you’re thinking about them?

What can you create that screams “Them!”? That you are thinking of them. Or that you just wanted to share this “fun” or “silly” or “special” something…just because they mean something to you as a person, as a respected individual.

If it were easy, anybody could do it. But you’re not just anybody.

What have you done that really made some client or prospect say “wow” in a good way? Or what ideas are now percolating inside you?

Tags: advertising, community, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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