Left, Dragon Age package. Right, Guild Wars 2 logo. Everywhere: Firey blood dragons.

I have to say I like the Guild Wars 2 dragon better — the styling is solid, and it actually looks like a 2. Dragon Age obviously had the head start, though. I’m sure none of this was intentional, of course. As a marketer, you want to ensure that you can present a strong brand — a logo or general style that persists in all of your marketing materials — that is immediately identifiable to your fans and potential fans while standing out from the competition. Are Dragon Age and Guild Wars 2 direct competitors? Probably not — they offer different gameplay experiences, and Guild Wars 2 isn’t coming out for a while (Dragon Age, presumably, will be out in December… ?). I’d still be a bit iffy about how similar the imagery is.

We recently (not so recently) went back and changed the Witcher logo at CD Projekt RED for the currently-on-hold The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf. We felt that the original logo was a bit “me-too” in the fantasy realm, and that it could use a facelift to stand out and really present the console version as a striking new product.

Left, before. Right, after awesomeification.

Does branding impact you at all? Does it bother you when two brands use similar imagery? Am I just a filthy marketing snob for even noticing?

Give it up for the accent.

So today the mighty M is launching its McCafé brand in the US (I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to savor the flavors up here in Canada), bringing “quality espresso-based coffee” to its restaurants nationwide. They’re trying to take a bite (or gulp, if you will) out of the lucrative coffee market dominated by the likes of Starbucks and whatever other local mega-chain you have around your parts. Will it work, though?

Starbucks has been forced to close lots of shops because of decreasing demand (and overexpansion), so why would McDonald’s try to jump in now? In today’s economy, I can only imagine that higher-priced coffee is one of the first things to get chopped from people’s lists of daily purchases. Have you ever been to a McDonald’s in the prime coffee-drinking morning? It’s either people like me — hungover and ripping through the drive-thru for a full-day supply of Sausage McMuffins — or old people buying their 35-cent “senior coffee” and milking it for all the free refills they can get. I just don’t see the $5-venti-triple-soy-latte-drinking power executive stopping in at Mickey D’s on the way to his next big high-powered meeting.

I’ve seen McCafé in Europe, and the usually-discerning Europeans seem to have no problems buying espresso there… but I have a hard time associating “quality” with the McDonald’s brand. It’s always been the place to go for gluttonous, cheap meals the day after a ridiculous rum-and-tequila bender. If I want gourmet, I’ll go somewhere fancy… like Arby’s or something. That’s a big hurdle for McDonald’s to overcome.

They’ll do their best, though, in the only way corporate America really knows: bein’ baller and throwin’ cheddar. They’re set to launch a $100-million marketing campaign, which seems to be centered around the slogan, “Give it up for the accent.” Ah, wonderful; American marketers once again prove why they’re the best: they can distill a new brand that should be all about “good coffee” into a lame gimmick. Yeah, that’ll sell coffee. The website shows a few skits that convey the difference that little é makes… and… well… they don’t have much to do with coffee or quality or value or anything. I just don’t get it.

What do you think?

He's sipping a cappuccino. How adorable.

It’s no secret — me likey pork. Whether in chop form, thicker chop form, bacon, ham, you name it — I’ll probably enjoy it. But now this whole swine flu thing is giving pigs a bad rap. Now, nevermind kooky theories that this flu may be some zombie version of the 1918 Spanish flu that nearly toppled Europe, but it’s about time for pigs to hire a PR agency or some marketing consultants to sort this whole thing out.

We, as marketers, spin things in our favor; it’s really just a matter of trying to even the playing field. Pigs have always been in a tight spot: they’re widely considered to be filthy animals, there are entire ethnic /religious groups that look past the deliciousness quotient and refuse to even eat their flesh, and now they’re being associated with something entirely sinister that could bring the civilized world — including pig-abstainers — to its knees.

Pigs — with the assistance of communicators — could do a few things in this situation:

Distance themselves from the subject – A simple press release claiming no known connection to the illness would do some good. At least the news stories would be more “Swine Decline Ties to Flu” than “People Dying of Swine Flu.”

Blame someone else – This could fall right into that press release. Lay the blame on the birds — after all, they’ve been known to cause flus, too. Or say it’s SARS 2. Blaming terrorists or the economy could also work.

Rename the illness to something hip and/or delicious - This clever little marketing trick might come alongside a full-scale re-branding effort. Here you could actually try to boost consumer demand for the disease by calling it something like “Xtreme Baconation” and going on a big press tour with the Jonas Brothers (do they eat bacon? I don’t know). The kids would eat it up. YUM.

Make an iPhone app – Why not, right?

Open a Twitter account - Why not, right?

Limit supply – You could pull a Palm and limit supply of this Xtreme Baconation, again driving demand. “Where can I get it?” people will ask, and you’ll say, “sorry, all out.” Eh? Sounds pretty sweet.

Those are really just a few of the tools at the disposal of the pigs. By combining these tactics in a comprehensive marketing plan, they may soon see us eating more pigs, wearing pig hats, lining up outside the Swine Store and more. If any Elder Swine are reading this, holla atcha boy – I need some work.

UPDATE: It seems the fine folks at the World Health Organization read this blog and have decided to rename this horrible swine flu to something less offensive to the porky population. Now dubbed H1N1 influenza A, this illness is surely not going to get the headlines it did with the bacon connection.