“An amazing ‘invention’ that didn’t turn out to be an innovation” – that’s how one expert described Tata Motors’s Nano. Indeed, the current predicament of the $2,000 compact car that was introduced in India with great fanfare in 2008 holds some valuable takeaways for aspiring disrupters. Tweet
brand as business bit: How do you create desire? Diamond brand De Beers and Frances Gerety, the copywriter behind the company’s tagline, “A Diamond Is Forever” showed us how. A recent terrific piece in the NYT outlined their approach: appeal to emotions: “Sentiment is essential to your advertising, as it is to your product,” Gerety’s agency [...]
(“brand book bites”, a new blog feature of mine, are book reviews that highlight the most interesting brand stories in the latest best-selling books. Subscribe to my feed so you don’t miss these regular bulleted briefings on the books I recommend you read.) - the book: Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanatics [...]
brand as business bit: Showrooming isn’t going away — it’s the way people want and expect to shop now. So, what are brick and mortar stores to do to compete with e-tailers that undercut them on price — especially in consumer electronics where the prevalence of mobile price checking apps and online discounters have really [...]
Today’s interview guest unveils the strategies for uncovering consumer insights that drive innovation and help create distinctive customer experience. Steve Portigal is the founder of Portigal Consulting, a “bite-sized” firm that helps clients to discover and act on new insights about themselves and their customers. Over the course of his career, Steve has interviewed hundreds of [...]
(The following is the first in a two-part blog-exchange I’m doing with Annette Franz Gleinicki, a customer experience expert focused on improving customer and employee experiences. I follow Annette on Twitter and have learned so much from her writings. Because we have similar perspectives on customer experience, we decided share with our readers each others’ thoughts on [...]
brand as business bit: Hold the cone! No, I don’t mean “hold the phone.” I’m saying “hold the cone” because that’s what ice cream shop workers should do. Allow me to explain: Recently while in the Virgin America terminal at SFO, I decided to treat myself to some Pinkberry. After preparing my cone of yogurt [...]
brand as business bit: Last week as I sat working in my favorite hole-in-the-wall coffee shop as closing time drew near, I overheard two servers reading their store’s recent Yelp reviews to each other. (This, of course, is not a good practice for employees to engage in with customers in earshot, but since I’m such [...]
(Here’s the latest brand experience brief. In each of these short videos, I provide an audit and analysis of a new or interesting restaurant or retail concept.) Caffe Bene may be to Starbucks what Smashburger is to McDonald’s — a niche competitor with a distinctive product and memorable experience. Check it out: Brand Experience Brief: Caffe [...]
For a campaign that was intended to inspire people, Dove’s Beauty Sketches has received quite a bit of criticism. Among the complaints lodged have been: Tweet
brand as business bit: I recently spoke at CAMEX, the trade show and educational event for the collegiate retailing industry, produced by the National Association of College Stores. My topic was “More Walk, Less Talk: Build Your Brand through Culture & Customer Experience“ and I inspired and taught attendees how to drive their brand promise into their company culture and [...]
For over 20 years CoreBrand has highlighted the most powerful brands in its Top 100 BrandPower Rankings. The New York-based consulting firm recently released its 2012 report so I asked CEO and Founder, Jim Gregory, to join me to discuss the results. Our discussion focused on technology brands including Google, Yahoo, Apple, and Samsung since I thought it [...]
Ron Johnson’s departure from J.C. Penney last week can be attributed to his low CQ, that is, Customer Quotient. Just as some leaders have been accused of low EQ, emotional quotient (defined as the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself and of others), Johnson lacked the ability to identify, assess, and [...]
Last week, I had the pleasure of hearing Walter Robb, Co-CEO, Whole Foods speak about purpose, values, and culture, and brand relevance and evolution, at the UCLA Extension Restaurant Conference. Here are some of the thoughts he shared: Whole Foods for Thought by Denise Lee Yohn from Denise Lee Yohn, Inc. related: Brand Experience Brief (video): Whole [...]
Right as I published my blogpost on Changing Customer Behavior yesterday, I came across a related Bloomberg BusinessWeek article about the use of defaults, the third tool I had outlined in my post. The article investigated consumer behavior related to conserving energy and using clean energy and provided further explanation about the power of defaults. Tweet
