Almanac, Farmers Almanac, Farmer’s Almanac, Farmers’ Almanac, Old Farmer’s Almanac…
One might think it would be easy to tell the difference, but it seems that Google and Bing can’t.

Despite the presence of detailed schema and information, Google still mixes things up. Perhaps this has something to do with Freebase being read-only and Wikidata not being ready for prime-time…

Yes, there are a lot of Almanacs. But only one has been continuously published since 1792. Originally called the Farmer’s Almanac (note the location of the apostrophe), “Old” was added to the title to distinguish it from competing titles. The Old Farmer’s Almanac was also the first Farmer’s Almanac to be online and continues to have a strong presence in all of the major social media spheres. Far from being irrelevant in this brave new world, the Old Farmer’s Almanac is likened to the original portable device containing “information about all manner of things—health advice, weather predictions, jokes, recipes, charts detailing the times of sunrises and sunsets, and other ‘new, useful, and entertaining’ tidbits, as the cover promised“. While the information in the Almanac remains static at the time of publication, contrasting against a constantly shifting world of information and technology, there remains an element of folksy, ephemeral mysticism and back-to-basics levity that people are attracted to. Think of it as “retro” or “making old new again”.

The Almanac has diversified far beyond its annual publication to include Calendars, Cookbooks, Almanacs for Kids, Digital Magazines, Mobile Apps, and much more. The Almanac is also the only Farmers Almanac to offer voyeurs a look at their headquarters and garden via 2 webcams (one has been up and running since February of 2003).

The easiest way to tell if you have the original Farmer’s Almanac is by the cover. It has featured the “four seasons” drawing on the cover since 1851. It is also easily identified by the iconic yellow background, bright red double border, and portraits of Benjamin Franklin and founder, Robert B. Thomas.

For more on the Almanac, visit any of the following:

• http://www.almanac.com
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OldFarmer%27sAlmanac
• https://www.facebook.com/theoldfarmersalmanac
• https://twitter.com/almanac
• https://www.pinterest.com/almanac
• https://plus.google.com/+almanac
• https://www.youtube.com/user/oldfarmersalmanac
• http://oldfarmersalmanac.tumblr.com/

Yes, those colors are from the ancient “web safe” palette. They are still some of my favorites and those are the colors for one of the brands I work with. I’ve been thinking a lot about branding lately, especially with a diverse and large offering of products and channels.

I’ve put together a very small list of the good and the bad. Good, for me, is simple and easy to understand; a brand that doesn’t make you think too much about what it is, speaks for itself with no need for any marketing noise. The bad is…the opposite of that.

We’ll start with the bad first:
* Facebook (Too many logos, channels, and options. Too confusing.)

And here’s the good:
* Twitter (It doesn’t get much simpler than this. My favorite.)
* Firefox
* Skype
* Pinterest
* Instagram
* Google

Of course, this is just my opinion for what it’s worth.