denise lee yohn: brand as business bites™ / Archive for November, 2009

T’was the day after Thanksgiving and all through the mall
Shopkeepers and sales staff had prepared for it all

They’d hung their over-sized sale signs and filled all their racks
“Shoppers start your engines,” they suggested, “not a moment to relax.”

Windows were a sea of red posters, red tags, and red decorations too
Promoting not the color of Christmas but the more common sale hue

Advertisers had stuffed local newspapers with flyers and FSIs
Featuring deep discounts, limited quantities, and other special buys

E-tailers stuffed my in-box full of promotional emails
Every subject line was announcing a deal or a sale

The signs of sales desperation were everywhere I looked
Even TV ads eschewed entertainment and went straight for the sales hook

Instead of enjoying shopping and having some holiday fun
Finding the best price seemed to be job number one

Looking for good gifts and their trimmings lost its appeal
Since I wasn’t sure each offer I would find was the absolute best deal

I got tired just thinking about shopping before I headed out the door
All the talk about prices made it seem like a chore

And so I decided to pass on Black Friday and just stay home
In feeling overwhelmed I’m guessing I wasn’t alone.

(the image above is a partial view of all of the FSIs from my local Thanksgiving day newspaper — the stack was almost 2 inches piled high)

I just finished listening to Chris Anderson’s latest book, Free, and I was particularly fascinated by the portion which discussed the changes in music distribution in China.  I’ve been thinking a lot about how the book publishing business is experiencing some dramatic challenges and I believe there may be some important takeaways for book publishers from the changes that Chris describes in his book. (more…)

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to hear the leaders behind four of the most exciting brands in action sports talk about their journeys as entrepreneurs.  They were brutally honest about their struggles and gave some great advice.  I’ve compiled my notes into the following presentation.

Thanks much to the entrepreneurs:

Brian Enge, CEO of Zoot Sports
Andy Laats, Co-Founder and President of Nixon
Todd Richards, Olympic Snowboarder, Co-Founder Omatic Snowboards
Beaver Theodosakis, Founder & CEO of prAna

and SI and the USD Entrepreneurship Club for sponsoring the event!

I read with great interest an article in SmartBusiness about Red Mango and the yummy yogurt chain’s founder, president, and CEO of Red Mango, Dan Kim.  I’m fascinated by the frozen yogurt chains that have emerged on the cultural landscape in last 5 years.  Pinkberry has probably gotten the most coverage in the press, with its high design aesthetic and celebrity fans, but there are plenty of others in the game including Red Mango.  The category is very crowded with operators of all sizes competing in a relatively small niche with punch cards and discount days.  Building brand awareness and shoring up a loyal customer base are particular challenges, which is in part why I’m so interested in the category (liking fro yo also has something to do with it too!)

In the SB piece, Dan explains his thinking and approach to building the Red Mango brand.  Clearly, this is a guy who gets it.  He believes in the power of his brand and he actively nurtures and protects it.  Here are my reactions to his comments, along with some suggestions for how he might ensure his brand-building efforts continue to be successful as the chain grows. (more…)

Recently I met with the folks in Cisco’s brand group and was delighted to find a few simple brand tools sitting in the place where a person’s business cards are usually found. (more…)

Listen to this post as a podcast:

Right-click here to download the podcast

Recently several manufacturers have announced that they are initiating an e-commerce business.   I’m not sure of the motivations behind these moves but it seems to be a growing trend. Although many manufacturers have been offering direct sales for many years through their own e-commerce sites, it seems we’re seeing a new surge of interest in doing so from players who have historically shunned the idea.

(more…)

The following is a guest post by a colleague, Craig Hoffman, former Senior Business Development Officer for NexCen Brands, Inc.  During his tenure, NexCen acquired 9 consumer brands ranging from Bill Blass, The  Athlete’s Foot, and Great American cookie.  He developed a unique brand review that focused on understanding the brand first, then focused on ways to monetize the brand.  Utilizing this approach, he oversaw the research on hundreds of brands as potential acquisitions.

I used to carry a Blackberry…  (more…)

Last Sunday’s New York Times included a piece, “At MoMA, ‘Permanent’ Learns to Be Flexible.”  It outlined how the museum’s new chief curator of painting and sculpture, Ann Temkin, is challenging the rules of museum display.  In the piece, I found some instructive parallels for struggling retailers. (more…)