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My new book, FUSION: How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World’s Greatest Companies, has only been out for a couple of weeks now but it’s already looking like a great success.  It’s gotten nearly 50 reviews with a 4.9 rating and been the #1 new release in a couple of categories on Amazon.  And […]

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When will marketers learn that eyeballs aren’t worth more than integrity?!  Brand managers and advertising agencies continue to run irresponsible ads and do outrageous acts in an effort to draw attention to themselves.  At best they might get some short-lived PR but more likely they end up just wasting their money — and damaging their […]

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Now that marketers in practically every sector prioritize content marketing, storytelling is heralded as a brand’s most effective approach to developing content.  It makes sense — people are emotional beings, so we respond to stories because they engage us on an emotional level.  And, as Nicholas Ind and Oriol Iglesias write in Brand Desire, “Brands […]

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Here’s a hypothesis:  There are essentially nine different types of brands and you can jumpstart the development of your brand strategy by identifying the one that’s right for you. I’ve developed this hypothesis after working on brands for over 25 years.  I’ve come to realize that there is a finite number of brand types or […]

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(This is the latest installation in a long-running series of introductions to books I recommend.  If you would like me to look at a book on business, brands, or the people who work on them, please let me know in the comments section below.) – the book:  Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What […]

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Success today comes from not only knowing who your customers are, but also why they buy.  It’s not enough to know your customers’ demographics (e.g., adults aged18-54) and category behaviors (what they currently buy, what products/brands they use).  Even knowing your customers’  economic value (e.g., customers who spend $500+ in our category, companies that have […]

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– the book:  BRAND A-Z, the latest book from Marty Neumeier, is a dictionary of 1,000 current terms in brand strategy, design, marketing, advertising, innovation, and management.  It’s a much-needed update from the original edition published in 2004. […]

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Last Friday Samsung launched a new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, its first product launch following last year’s Galaxy Note 7 debacle.  It’s loaded with ground-breaking features and functionality and has been called an “early favorite for the best phone of 2017,” but it’s probably not enough to re-galvanize the brand.  Samsung needs more than […]