Who discussed BSA branding at Hong Kong conference?

[RememberSchiff]

This caught my eye.

HONG KONG,  Asian Licensing Conference explores new opportunities

The concurrent Asian Licensing Conference is being held today and tomorrow (8-9 January, 2018), gathering about 30 global licensing experts to explore industry opportunities and challenges.This morning's two plenary sessions focused on location-based entertainment licensing and brand licensing.

In the first session, Charles Riotto of LIMA, Viacom International Media Networks (represented brand: Nickelodeon) and Dream Castle (represented brand: Ali the Fox), shared how location-based entertainment can create unique consumer experiences through licensing.

In the second session, representatives from Electrolux, Brandgenuity (represented brands: BMW, Banana Boat) and Boy Scouts of America discussed how corporate brand licensing has become a core business development strategy to raise brand popularity and expand their customer base.

http://news.sys-con.com/node/4216773

Why? Who?  How much did the trip cost? 

Edited January 8, 2018 by RememberSchiff

[Back Pack]

Regardless of the cost why would a company with dramatic customer losses think they’re in a position to give advice about successfully managing their brand. 

[RememberSchiff]

Hubris?

 

[Tampa Turtle]

Institutional proof, once again, that National's focus is on image over substance. I suppose it is a sign of the times but one hopes for the best and prepares for the worst. 

I had similar issues with a mainstream church I belonged to. In their quest to become more efficient with resources they enlisted many skilled business types on their committees. Eventually they mostly talked about the best way to deliver the 'product' (sermons, worship) to the 'customers' (parishioners) and used the 'metrics' of attendance and collections per person. Eventually the focus shifted from the core mission of the church (god's message of salvation, etc) to pleasing the congregation even if it meant avoiding core principles. Eventually it blew up in their faces as those who were the traditional stakeholders moved on or died out and the ones that replaced them were fickle, shallow, and easily frustrated.

Our culture merchandises everything (I am tried of arguing with my teen that an offensive and racist youtube video is 'good' because it has had two million views and most be making the person some money) and I argue that some organizations are different. I think National is kind of aware of that but would rather be popular than right. If BSA becomes a more popular brand but loses its soul along the way they will still call it a victory.

I'd say more but I need to trudge out to the desert and cry out in the wilderness some more....

[ianwilkins]

Well everyone's heard of Boy Scouts right? Am I right?

There you go then, the scout "brand" is just behind a popular fizzy soft drink and a fruit based tech company. Possibly.

It must be an amazing brand because everyone has heard of it. I really can't see how that fits in with Asian Licensing but hey, write your speech...something something leverage something something synergy etc etc for 10 minutes or so job done.

Edited January 8, 2018 by ianwilkins

[Col. Flagg]

4 hours ago, ianwilkins said:

Well everyone's heard of Boy Scouts right? Am I right?

There you go then, the scout "brand" is just behind a popular fizzy soft drink and a fruit based tech company. Possibly.

It must be an amazing brand because everyone has heard of it. I really can't see how that fits in with Asian Licensing but hey, write your speech...something something leverage something something synergy etc etc for 10 minutes or so job done.

This is only PART of any branding strategy. The NEXT question is: "What is your opinion of Boy Scouts?" A brand may be known for all the wrong reasons. GM comes to mind. Chrysler? Yugo? Spam? Exxon? Man City?

Having BSA at a branding summit is like having Hillary at an ethics seminar or Trump at a personal relationship building workshop. There's just no "street cred".

In the US we have this company that rates "initial quality" for cars. Several (really bad) car makers use this term to tout their brands. What does it mean? It is a measure of problems experienced within the first 90 days of ownership. How many times does ANY car have issues in the first 90 days? Why is this even measured? It's a useless stat designed to let poor quality cars APPEAR to have good quality. Talk to me in 5 years about these cars and then see how good their "quality" is. THIS is BSA summed up in my opinion. They look for meaningless things to hang their hat on while the REAL issues go unresolved.

As @Tampa Turtle said, image over substance. 

Edited January 8, 2018 by Col. Flagg

[cocomax]

What is shocking about the Boy Scout brand right now is if you go onto Google and do a search for "Boy Scouts" most of what you see is NOT what we should be seeing from a healthy and loved program.  Most of what you see are about Girls in the Boy Scouts and most those pages go out of their way to attack boys. There are many stories about pedophile scout leaders. Many pages about getting God out of scouting.   

While talking to boys ages 11 to 17 about joining scouts, I get an earful of bad impressions young men now have of scouting that was not the case back in the 1970's when I was a scout. 

If you destroy the Boy Scout brand in the minds of boys between the ages of 11 and 17, you have done messed up, bad.

 

 

 

 

[EmberMike]

My initial thought about this is "Why now?" 

The BSA is in the middle of a brand identity crisis. Questions loom about whether it should even keep the same name or modify it to fit the new membership policy. Hardly seems like the time to talk about the successes of BSA branding. 

In the future I hope that the BSA could become a good case study on how a brand can successfully envolve in a changing environment and as the organization itself changes. But right now? Really, BSA?

I also don't get the venue choice. These licensing shows are trade exhibitions for mostly toy companies, game companies, and big licensed brands like sports teams, Harry Potter, etc. How does the BSA fit in with these global brands looking for broader global recognition and licensing opportunities? 

The BSA could do a lot to better get their own brand in order before talking to other companies about theirs. As it relates to these licensing expos, what little the BSA does to extend their brand to fun and interesting products could certainly be done better. Do they even license their brand out to 3rd party vendors at all? I was actually really happy to see the BSA come up with some cool new t-shirt designs, the ones that were on the kids in the Instagram photo for the girl program announcement back in October. Sadly I still don't know where to get those shirts or if they're actually even available at all. 

Edited January 12, 2018 by EmberMike

[Cleveland Rocks]

32 minutes ago, EmberMike said:

Do they even license their brand out to 3rd party vendors at all?

The BSA has over 120 licensees, everything from the embroidered emblems, logos, and activity shirt (I refuse to call them class B uniforms) vendors, to other areas, like knives, model trains, coins, cookware, scrapbooking supplies, jewelry, even licensed cremation urns.

A person from National I spoke to at the last Jamboree said the licensing division takes in a couple million a year in licensing fees.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Cleveland Rocks

[NJCubScouter]

43 minutes ago, Cleveland Rocks said:

even licensed cremation urns

I wondered whether you were kidding.  So I decided to find out.

You weren't kidding.

https://www.inthelighturns.com/boyscout-memorial-urns.html

[scoutldr]

Besides $300 for a wooden box, did anyone notice the rank badges are out of order?

[Jameson76]

1 hour ago, Cleveland Rocks said:

 even licensed cremation urns.

 

Now I can hang out in the troop's office at the church for all eternity...that will be great

Edited January 12, 2018 by Jameson76

[qwazse]

Thanks for the idea. I've been of the mind to make my own casket. Given plans for cremation, maybe I could start with my own urn. Maybe in the shape of a PWD car 5x scale? It would hold patches and neckers until I die ... to hand out to my mourners.

i probably wouldn't put a BSA logo on it ... No point in leaving my estate with hassles from BSA licensing.

[RememberSchiff]

16 hours ago, scoutldr said:

Besides $300 for a wooden box, did anyone notice the rank badges are out of order?

Not me. Good eye. 

I wonder if the BSA License Lawyers will defend the brand and send notice.

Should there be a recall? 

 

 

[Eagle94-A1]

I going the cheap route. Wife told me she would cremate me, put me in a knee sock, and bury me at camp.  I said " YES PLEASE!"  2 pairs of socks are in the safety deposit box just for that purpose.

 

BSA will do anything to make money. That's why they went after all the local mom and pop shops that did troop T-shirts and whatnot over the years. Funny think is, As late as 1998, they were allowing folks to use BSA designs and logos for free. I have a DVD somewhere of BSA images I got for free, including several versions of the Venturing logo.