If you’ve not seen Cindy Sherman’s photography, you’ve been missing out on one of the most creative female photographers in the late 20th century.  She is known for recreating herself as completely different women in her “self portraits”.  If you consider yourself a fan of photography, you should be ashamed of yourself for not telling your friends about her work.

On a brand and marketing note, she has – like many other world class photographers – created a strong brand identity through the consistency and uniqueness of her work.  One of the interesting elements of her photography is that one knows what to expect, but never really knows what they’re going to get.

Here are the Top 5 Things you should have learned from Cindy Sherman:

1. Don’t be afraid to do art that makes sense to you

2. Ladies, expressing yourself is bueno

3. Photography doesn’t have to be just of weddings or your crappy Halloween party

4. Pictures are truly worth 1,000 words

5. Smeared make-up is pretty awesome

There is no doubt that you’ve been influenced by any number of celebrities and musicians in your life.  Between Leif Garrett defining how you approached gardening and Debbie Gibson providing your life-long concept of fashion, you’ve learned a lot.  This installment of “The 5 List”  is dedicated to the country music icon, Eddie Rabbitt.

As you know, I’ve been writing “The 5 List” posts imploring you to dig deep and equipping you with some solid smoke break conversation.

Your boy Eddie Rabbitt was known for being able to deliver feel good country tracks that had a knack for blowing up the pop charts too.  Carving out that niche in country music back in the late 70s and early 80s was monumental.  Very few were able to cross over from country to pop.  Juice Newton was able to smoothly make that leap; as was Chrystal Gale.

Look below and learn 5 things from your boy Eddie Rabbitt.

1.  Even if you are from Brooklyn, you can still become a country music stud

2.  The more you look like a lion, the better your odds with the ladies

3.  Singing about rainy nights really gets the ladies hot and bothered

4.  Sometimes people will try to turn you every which way, but loose…But don’t let them!

5.  There are a definite number of steps you can follow to win her love

The band Beirut has created a wonderfully simple music video concept ripped straight from the bowels of creativity.  Less is more nearly all of the time, folks.  That is exactly what Beirut has done.  They’ve not only decided to create a live music video for their track called “Nantes”, but they introduced the music in such a way that will have you asking yourself, “Why hasn’t anybody thought of that before?”

They’ve managed to set themselves apart from other bands of any genre.  This is key for their brand.  Let’s face it, bands are moving, breathing brands.  Can you, off the top of your head, identify key traits associated with Guns n Roses, The New York Dolls, The Sex Pistols, etc?  Those are all strong brands…ahem…”bands”.  Branding is key in music, as it is with all products and services.

Here are the 5 things to take away from the “Nantes” video by Beirut:

1. Less is more
2. Music doesn’t have to be overly-ProTooled
3. Euphoniums in any band are awesome
4. Setting your band/brand apart is key…people will notice
5. New Order’s live “Temptation” video from the early 1980s has some legitimate competition

See the video below:

There are a few things at play here.  Not only was it a mistake by the marketing department / ad agency, but also a failure of the PR department.  Once the misprint was noticed, Denny’s and their advertising and marketing divisions should have taken steps to address it.  Additionally, the PR team should have generated a few statements for online media addressing the misprint and how they were going to get things back on track, etc etc.

Here are 5 things you can learn from this Denny’s branding, marketing and PR fail:

1. Mistakes aren’t “the end of the world” if you address them swiftly and across the appropriate channels
2. Due diligence is a must prior to any major proclamation, print run or press release
3. Implement processes that are followed without fail with vendors and outsource partners
4. Ensure that the lines of communication between the PR, marketing and advertising departments are clear
5. Own mistakes in the Internet world.  Otherwise, online communities will ensure that nobody forgets your mistake(s)