Lots of speculation has been circulating about what the new Minnesota Twins ballpark set to open in 2010 will be called. New stadiums provide a great branding opportunity for corporations looking to tie themselves in to the fabric of a city and their passion for sports. The new Twins ballpark will have a corporate name attached to it, but who should it be?  A Twin Cities blogger apparently uncovered the urls landolakespark.com and landolakesfield.com are owned by the Twins, Fox 9 News reported. Others said to be in the running include Allianz and Great River Energy. What Minnesota companies would you like to see?

A 25-year-old University of Minnesota grad Adam Bahner, better known as “Tay Zonday” climbed the YouTube charts in 2007 and is now being acknowledged for it. Zonday is one of 12 winners of the second annual YouTube Video Awards, recognizing the top user-created videos of 2007. His song and music video “Chocolate Rain” has been viewed over 15 million times. Zonday recorded the video in his Minneapolis living room in a make-shift studio space made of two-by-fours and bed sheets.

Over 200 people gathered at Grand Central Station in New York to pull off a ‘frozen in place’ act. (click here to view) The everyday travelers who weren’t in on it struggled to understand what was going on.  This isn’t the first time we have seen this done, but it got me thinking about street level marketing and how (if done right) can start the “buzz” brands all want and pay big $$$ for. If the “buzz” is cool, then it becomes viral. The anonymity of this group and their agenda (if they have one) only helps fuel the mystery. 

Now if a brand tried pulling this off and had everyone wearing a branded t-shirt or holding a Coke, how many onlookers would applaud? Very few I would guess. So what’s the secret to street team marketing? Be honest about what your brand is to people. Be in the right place and at the right time when you do it. And create a little mystery so people start talking.  Good luck.

Juice Salon is advertising in your mall. Here’s how it works. Half of a model’s head stays fixed at the bottom of an escalator; the other half of his head with different hairstyles descends on the fixed figure to create a hairy marketing delight. To see the video of it in action, click here. The other picture shows a pizza chain using escalators to show pizza being torn away from other slices using the front of the escalator step as stretched cheese.

Ok, so once again this really has nothing to do with marketing in MN, but oh well. I got nothing good to report from this state (but things are thawing out now and maybe some work will get done). Anyway, I had heard of this campaign and understand it has been around since 1998. It consists of documentaries, public service announcements, and other content geared towards youth.  

This PSA from the MTV “Staying Alive” Aids Awareness campaign is pretty fricken intense.

Just when you think you have seen the worst display of self-promotion, along comes “The Family Man.” He wrote, directed, and stars in his own infomercial for his Family Auto Mart car dealership in Florida. Watch if you dare, but head to the bathroom first. You may wet yourself watching this assclownery. Look out Denny Hecker, if this guy comes to Minnesota, you might be in trouble. Whoa!!!

Click for Family Auto Mart Informercial

If your band’s best gig in the past year was at 11:45 p.m. on a Wednesday at O’Gara’s Garage and you really think that your cover of “Jessie’s Girl” sounds “just like the original,” then you already know you are a no talent ass clown and should just unplug everything.

Being in a band is tough. Marketing a band is even harder (at least it was before YouTube and MySpace). But most bands don’t consider the ramifications of their name. A bad name will sink a band. Would you ask your friends to go see The Asbestos Tampons? Do you want your girlfriend to say she’s dating the lead singer of SuperHeavyGoatAss?  

Here are some basic rules for creating a band name:

1.) Don’t put the word “Funk” anywhere in the name. You aren’t “funky” despite what that 44-year-old cougar drunk dancing in front of your monitor says.

2.) Don’t use your real name unless you are freakishly good (i.e. Hendrix, Dylan, etc.). We already know you have lead singer disease; we don’t need to know what it’s called. It’s probably not a cool name anyway (ahem… Tim Mahoney). Try modesty. People like that.

3.) Don’t put a number in your band name unless you think 3 Doors Down rocks. It worked for 311, Matchbox 20, 3^rd Eye Blind, etc. but they are the exception. Numbers are retarded. Don’t do it.

4.) Don’t try to be clever and do a play on words. Examples of this unoriginal douschebaggery include, Statutory Grape, Chevy Metal, and Clusterfunk  (they get a double word score on ass Scrabble).

So you get the idea. A list of the worst real band names of all time was published by the Onion A.V. Club. Check it out.

Share with us some bad Minnesota band names. Got a rule for naming a band? Let’s hear that too.

Ok, so Target has been called out by angry customers and bloggers for having a Facebook page that encourages its group members (called Rounders) to post good things about Target and Target products but to make their affiliation with the Facebook group a “secret.” The Minneapolis StarTribune has reported on how this was done. Basically, college students are given some free swag to say good things about Target online. It’s called a brand ambassador program, and they are almost always bullshit. The problem with them is this: It’s fake and manufactured buzz. The first problem is relying on students to actually do what you say. Good luck with that. The second issue is that students will destroy your brand if you are not being honest and genuine with them. Real, genuine buzz or word-of-mouth will come on its own by being true to your brand, true to your customers, and actually doing something innovative that will move the needle. Paying people with free stuff to say good things about you isn’t genuine or good for your brand image. It’s just plain lazy. Kinda like buying ads on Facebook when you need to come up with a real back-to-school strategy. Facebook ads are what a brand does when it has no original ideas and is simply following the masses because “that’s where the students are”. Target doesn’t need to do this and can stand on its own with college students. That’s what’s sad here. The upside is that when Target realizes that brand ambassador programs are typically crap and that Facebook advertising is a colossal waste of a college marketing budget, they will move on, and people will forget they ever tried.

What’s better than a gynormous burrito from Chipotle? A blimp-sized burrito from Chipotle. I am addicted to the steak fajita burrito and a huge fan of their marketing. With Super Bowl ads costing an average of $2.5 million for a 30-second spot, I think Chipotle should take its outdoor advertising brilliance a step further with a giant foiled blimp. Besides the visual impact blimpvertising has, the amount of free media coverage would be priceless. What do you think about that? Do you have an idea for Chipotle or any other brand? Send it my way, it may makes its way to this blog.

McDonald’s Happy Meal Ad Cha Cha Slide (long version)

Chicago’s Leo Burnett advertising agency has launched a brilliant new spot for McDonald’s that is catching a lot of buzz for local Chicago DJ Willie Perry’s “Cha Cha Slide, Part II.” The kid dancing in this video (Quincy Eaton) is also rumored to have been approached by Jay Leno and The Ellen DeGeneres Show to make an appearance. It’s not often you see a 60 second spot done well, especially for a Happy Meal. The seriousness on this kids face almost made me piss myself. Nice work!