Monthly Archives: November 2009

No Brands on the Dance Floor

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We humans are natural dancers. Dances can be celebrations, or for praise, or for an audience – or just a simple act of letting the rhythm move your body. Dancers can communicate ideas, preserve cultural identities, strengthen social bonds, or just have a lot of fun. [source & amazing photo collection]

I believe there are massive marketing opportunities around dance.

Combining creativity and movement, dance has mass appeal in our ever-fragmenting world. Just look at Dancing With The Stars, SYTYCD, Dance Crew and Glee. Or glance down YouTube’s all-time most popular videos: Evolution of Dance, Wedding Dance(s), Where The Hell Is Matt, Prison Thriller, Soulja Boy, Single Ladies, OK Go, Breakdancing babies, and the list goes on.

Billions of views don’t lie. Dance is a cross-cultural connective powerhouse.

So where are the dance-inspired brands?

With brands finally realizing that to win they must commit to something bigger, I’m shocked to see so few companies with dance rooted in their brand strategy. Sure there are successful executions (T-Mobile), but search “dance” on Brand Tags and you’ll find a smattering of loose associations hardly resembling commitment. The Gap comes out as the top connection, with people still recalling campaigns from their glory years. [UPDATE: Gap's new holiday campaign is a bit of a way-back playback for them]

Now I know what you’re probably saying: ‘how can you possibly build a brand with dancing?’ I bet they asked the same question with Lululemon and Yoga.

More to come.

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The Online GC Community Grows!

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Earlier this week I found out that I passed the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC) certification exam. Although the certification itself doesn’t directly influence my role or employment as a genetic counsellor, it is generally a good qualification to have and one that I am proud to have. The news couldn’t have been more timely, as it has given me an extra boost of confidence as I head into my Canadian certification exam next week.

But perhaps just as exciting as the news of passing the exam, is the launch of a new GC authored blog, “Genetic Counselors Questioning Certification,” that is dedicated to intiating and advancing an online discussion about the GC certification process itself. Because the focus of the blog is incredibly specific it will likely not be of interest to those outside of the GC world. However, I think the presence of the blog itself symbolizes a really important shift in our community. Only a year ago I was hard pressed to find other GCs online. In the past 12 months we have created The DNA Exchange and seen the birth of several other GC authored blogs (NSGC presidents blog, Martian Genetics, Gene Trends). I am happy to add Catherine Clinton and Sarah Savage to the growing list of GC bloggers and applaud them for taking the initiative to bring their questions and concerns public. I look forward to seeing how the certification conversation develops as a result.