Friday, June 26, 2009

Paying Tribute to Two of America's Most Profound Brands

We offer this tribute to Farrah Fawcett...
What an absolute beauty she was.  
How many of you have taken a photo in the Charlie's Angel pose?




And of course...the King of Pop will not be forgotten.  
We remember the good years.  
When the Thriller video came on television, we watched it with our Mom and Dad like we were watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon....It was really just Michael moon walking on earth...which was of course out of this world!
The thriller album quite literally became the sound track of our childhood.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day Old Man

Please pardon the personal nature of this blog.  It has absolutely nothing to do with PR or Branding.  Just a note to say Happy Father's Day to our Daddy, Jerry Bass.  He passed on February 14, 2009.  So this is our first Father's Day without him.

Our Daddy was without a doubt the coolest, hippest cat in town.  At 60 when he passed, he thought he was 19.  

Our Daddy was a God-fearing Hell Raiser!  He loved GOOD MOVIES like Papillon, The Outlaw Josie Wales, Alfie (the original) and Cool Hand Luke.  He loved a cold bear on a hot Georgia Day.  He loved schooling his young nieces and nephews in backyard games of golf.  He loved cooking Heaven knows what greasy fried dish for his identical twin brother "Uncle James." He loved his grandchildren Dorian and Daylynn.  He loved our Mama his ex-wife and faithful friend.  And we have it on good authority that he adored his two girls.  

This is a picture of Daddy and Mama on Easter Sunday circa 1978 in Talbotton, Georgia.  This is Deana's favorite picture in the whole wide world.

We love you Old Man.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

TV DAD’s – Branding Gone Negative

Over the last 50 years, the Dad Brand has taken a licking.  We’ve quite literally gone from Father Knows Best to Raising Dad. If you think I’m being a bit over the top, just analyze the family structure of your top five favorite situation comedies or dramas.  I’m sure that four out of five have a less than positive image of Dad.  Dad is a clueless, inept, and bumbling idiot at best and cheating, beating, boozer at worst. 

Gone are the days when TV Dad’s provided for the needs of their family, coached the little league team and dispensed sound advice.  I know that Dads in real life were never the perfect models of our TV Dad’s, but it at least it gave them something for which to strive.  

As we celebrate Father's Day Weekend, I'd like to salute the brands of some perfect and perfectly imperfect dads.