When you think of brand positioning for Apple Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:AAPL) a few words come to mind: creative, quality, dynamic design and secretive.

In light of the last definition, most all information that has any hint of a new product, design or circuitry hits every mode of media within minutes.  Apple’s PR department has one of the easiest, most rewarding jobs in the industry because the brand has evangelists that hang on the company’s every word, official or otherwise. Media of every kind look for an edge when it comes to reporting about the company’s latest product. It’s also been rumored that Apple leaks information to the media in an effort to set off the buzz meter about a product. It works every time.

There is a brand parallel to Apple in professional sports. His name is Brett Favre.

Favre’s seeming indecision about whether to return to the National Football League for the last three seasons that has gone late into the summers, along with his advanced football age and injuries have created a National Enquirer-type watch on everything he does. There seem to be cameras and “news” reports of everything from his lawn-mowing chores to chats he has with his alma mater’s baseball team. Is all of this news? No. Do people click on links or tune into their favorite sports shows when they see or hear anything that highlights Favre’s name? Yes.

Favre is not someone who became a celebrity for being a celebrity. He’s a three-time AP Most Valuable Player (1995, ’96 and ’97), played in two Super Bowls, five NFC Championship games and has led teams to eight division title rounds. He holds every major NFL record that exists and his adventurous style of play through the years has only added to the mystique.

Whether you like the fascination attached to Apple or Favre is your choice. The fact is that when either one of these brands makes a move, people take notice in droves.

From a personal standpoint, I’d love to have a brand built on such fan bases. You’ll never satisfy everyone, as it is with life, but you have a winner when you can generate buzz from a whisper.

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Image by kyz

About Gail Sideman

Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.

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Jobs Unveils ‘iPad,’ Fate of Universe Still In Doubt

By Gavin O’Malley

• As scheduled, Apple debuted its highly anticipated tablet device on Wednesday — for many, representing the dawn of a new age in media consumption.
• Christened the “iPad,” the device is expected to be available in March for a (surprisingly low) minimum price of $499 (Wi-Fi enabled, with a 3G version to follow a month later). With it, users can browse the Web, read and send email, view photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, and read e-books.
• “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices,” said Apple head Steve Jobs, who unveiled the product at a private event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
• The iPad will come in two versions: one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G.

(www.mediapost.com)

ESPN Buys Vistas, Enhances Ad Insertions

By David Goetzl

• ESPN said last week it has acquired a company with technology facilitating virtual insertion of ads within sportscasts, such as a logo underneath a hockey player or Pepsi sign behind horses coming down the stretch.
• The acquisition of Vistas Unlimited could help ESPN financially, if it doesn’t have to license the embedded-advertising capability it already uses.
• Advertisers can insert logos in baseball, college basketball and other broadcasts, but not within marquee property “Monday Night Football,” since the NFL does not allow any sponsorship integrations in games.
• PVI Virtual Media Services has been a leader in the virtual insertion space — having developed the line that appears during football games showing the distance to a first down. Owned by Cablevision, it has worked with ESPN on advertising initiatives.

(www.mediapost.com)

NBCU: Profits Plummet 30% In Q4

By Wayne Friedman

• NBC Universal had a difficult last three months of 2009 — with profits sinking 30% to $602 million. NBC also witnessed revenue slipping 4% to $4.3 billion.
• Much of the drop came from Universal Pictures, with few high-performing theatrical movies and fewer DVDs sales — some 12 million units from “Inglorious Bastards” and “Public Enemy,” versus 33 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, which had “Mamma Mia,” “Hulk” and “Wanted.”
• Operating profit at Universal dropped $200 million with revenue sinking by more than $400 million to $1.2 billion. Also contributing to declines was higher TV rights fees for NFL football.

(www.mediapost.com)

Microsoft Calls For Online Advertising To Adopt Traditional Offline Metrics

By Laurie Sullivan

• Brands demand the promises and the guarantees of performance — the same performance and fundamental metrics they have come to know in traditional media, such as television and radio.
• During his keynote at OMMA Performance Monday, Young-Bean Song, senior director at Microsoft Advertising Institute, told attendees the online industry needs to adopt traditional performance metrics into online to make brands that traditionally advertise on television and radio feel more comfortable about moving advertising on the Web.
• Data needs to prove the outcome of a campaign. But that outcome has become complex. So, marketers continue to look for ways to take the data and prove the outcome. During the next few years, companies will bring traditional media metrics to online media plans. The industry will also design new standards for return on investments (ROI).

(www.mediapost.com)

Hyundai Lines Up For Super Bowl Touchdown

By Karl Greenberg

• With several opponents on the auto field injured and sending in the second string, Hyundai is dropping back to throw for a touchdown. The automaker is doing its biggest ad push ever for a single model this year, including a raft of ads on Super Bowl Sunday that tout the totally redesigned Sonata and Tucson vehicles, and broadcasting the message that Hyundai has taken a leadership position in the auto industry.
• Sonata, Hyundai’s core vehicle, which competes in the brutal mid-size segment of the auto market, will get the most media largess this year, and it is the vehicle that gets the big spotlight during Bowl Day and a month later during the Oscars.
• The company, which ran two spots during the game last year, this year will run two during the Super Bowl and four before. The spots, narrated with avuncular gravitas by Jeff Bridges, are elegantly shot and talk about Hyundai the company through Sonata the car. The first, for instance, touts Sonata’s 35-mpg rating and Hyundai’s leadership in fuel efficiency; another pre-kickoff ad focuses on Hyundai’s proactive work on vehicle safety.

(www.mediapost.com)

Dew keeps tour name through ‘11

By Tripp Mickle

• Pepsi has agreed to a two-year extension that will see Mountain Dew remain the title sponsor of NBC’s and MTV’s action sports series through 2011.
• Sources valued the deal at $4.5 million to $5.5 million a year.

(www.sportsbusinessjournal.com)

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About Ben Sturner

Ben Sturner is the Founder and CEO of Leverage Agency, one of the most respected, innovative, resourceful and ambitious sports and entertainment branding sponsorship agencies on Madison Avenue. Sturner has taken his multi-million dollar business from a small start-up in his New York City apartment to a premiere agency that has secured deals for clients including: Jimmy Kimmel Live, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball, KFC, Gillette, Progressive Insurance, Southwest Airlines, Reebok, Comcast, Anheuser Busch, Fremantle Media, Mark Burnett Productions and NBC’s Prime Time Celebrity Apprentice, Reveille, Radical Media, as well as other top-tier brands. Ben has been named NYC Entrepreneur of the month in TrueNYC.com and has been interviewed and featured on ESPN, NBC, CNBC, USA TODAY and WALL STREET JOURNAL as an expert in sports and entertainment sponsorship.

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