It is time to re-brand this blog and I am looking for your suggestions on what it should be called.
I'm prompted to do so because, as I wrote yesterday, a post about conflicts of interests in accepting sponsorship from companies with a financial interest in infant feeding decisions was taken as a call to boycott a nipple cream company. This led to some misinformed comments about the boycott 'going too far' in targeting a breastfeeding product.
I already have much too much to do to spend time responding to criticisms of things I have never said, but I was interested to know how this misconception arose and so registered with the dicussion forum involved and posed the question.
This prompted someone to provide the following insight as part of the answer: "I think the confusion arises from the name of the website: "boycott nestle"..."
The blog was called : "Boycott Nestlé - Protect Infants". It does, of course, cover a lot to do with the boycott, but, as it has always explained, covers other areas of Baby Milk Action's work in protecting infants. To try to stop future misunderstandings I think it is time to re-brand the blog and I have already given it a provisional new title: "Mike Brady's Baby Milk Action blog". It has my name in it because it is, to some extent, a personal view of the topics involved.
But I'm open to suggestions for better titles for the blog. So feel free to post them here. You may also have views about the name Baby Milk Action. There have been times when people have seen the name and think the organisation exists to donate baby milk.
I'll also investigate migrating the blog to another URL. The links currently all begin with http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/ which may also cause some confusion.
The danger, of course, is the focus may go off Nestlé, which is the worst of the companies in terms of violations and in terms of opposing the internationally agreed marketing standards and our work to see them implemented in enforceable measures.
So feedback welcome.
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6 comments:
I think you have to be very careful not to pander to a minority of faceless individuals, Mike, who are either new to the issue, or who haven't been paying attention. 'Boycott nestle' is a catchy, tried and tested phrase, which is short and straight to the point - a good marketing ploy, if you will. Also, it hasn't confused anyone so far, so why has it suddenly started doing so now? It all seems a little odd if you ask me. I mean, how can you be sure these people are genuine and not simply industry hacks out to deflect attention from and undermine the campaign by trying to make it out to be something it isn't and never has been - about damaging the formula and associated industries? (When I search for Nestle on Google etc, Baby Milk Action immediately comes up which, in turn, leads me to your blog. So it isn’t that far fetched an idea, is it?) Those of us who have been following this campaign for many years know that isn’t the case, so why don’t these people? And, if they don’t know it by now, who are they to comment? Whatever you decide, you'll need to be very careful not to move too far away from the Nestle/Baby Milk keywords, or you’ll risk losing your position in the search engines (which would be good from Nestlé’s standpoint, wouldn’t it?).
Personally, I always thought the point of the blog and, indeed, of Baby Milk Action, is to monitor the underhanded activities of Nestle (and to a lesser extent the rest of the formula and related industries) who, more than any other, consistently and openly abuse the Code and any other official attempts to curb their seemingly insatiable exploits and, to keep the public informed about them. Over the years, your constant monitoring has not only hindered Nestlé’s apparent plans for global domination in all aspects of the food industry, regardless of the cost, but your reporting of their activities has also enabled your long term supporters to stay vigilant and well informed and to ensure that “the Baby Milk issue” and the “Nestle boycott” retain the high public profile they both deserve – in part, because of catchy phrases like the ones you’re considering changing. I’d think twice upon it if I were you.
Getting bogged down in non-issues like whether the name of your blog “confuses” people is wasting your time and energy and diverting your attention and resources away from the fantastic work you do. If some people are confused about the name of this blog or, indeed, the name of Baby Milk Action, then it's because they haven't been paying attention and rebranding or renaming any of it will do little to change that.
Regards,
Ann
Blogger Milk Action.
However, I don't think you should throw away your current name. You don't throw away thousands of hours of hard work and associations for the want of some people being a bit thick. Think of your blog name as a 'brand' and ask yourself do you want to throw away your 'brand awareness'. In advertising and marketing terms, you're throwing out a huge amount of identifiable awareness.
Also, Nestle will claim it as a victory, somehow, somewhere.
Not to mention, if you ever leave BMA (heaven forfend!) wouldn't you wnat the blog to carry on with a new person?
If I were you, I'd consider putting in a new sub-heading, and reframing your info box under the 'boycot nestle' header, to do what you want to acheive - clarify. So:
Boycott Nestle
The Blogger Milk Action Space (or somesuch)
Personally, if you rename this blog, I'll have to redo a gazillion bookmarks. :-(
Morgan
Blogger Milk Action
But I'd really think twice about changing it. You've put thousands of work hours, and there's a million website hits, gone into the 'brand awareness' of Boycott Nestle. Do you really want to throw all that brand awareness out and start again?
Some people are a bit thick, and need to have things spelled out more clearly. So perhaps redo your headers, with a new sub heading, and clarify there.
Boycott Nestle
Blogger Milk Action blah blah blah sort of thing.
Besides, Nestle will claim it as a victory, somehow, somwhere.
Personally, if you rename, I'll have to redo a gazillion bookmarks. :-(
And... if you ever leave BMA (heaven forfend), wouldn't you want this blog to carry on with the new person?
Morgan
Mike, I agree with Ann and Morgan who've put their views better than I could.
So I'll just say that I don't recognise a need for a change and: Keep up the good work!
Thanks for these comments. I've made a change back and an addition to hopefully make it a little clearer.
Just to add some more support! I agree with the other comments, the focus of this blog is still primarily Nestle, and while other posts may serve to highlight the wider problem with formula companies, these are still usually relevant to Nestle.
Also, at this stage, the Nestle boycott is so well known that the blog name and URL speak for themselves.
There is only so much you can do to make the blog's intentions crystal clear and there will always be criticism from some directions no matter what you call it! Some people will always jump to conclusions that suit their own opinions.
I think, as Ann & Morgan pointed out, you have a powerful brand here don't let it be undermined, the work that's done here is very important, google positioning is extremely important for attracting new readers and we'd have to change all our links to you!!!
Keep up the good work!
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