brand-as-business bit: While perusing the aisles at Target awhile back, I stumbled across these really great packages of healthcare products and fell in love: I was so pleased to read the story behind such an ingenious brand in Businessweek. (Be sure to check out the sidebar on the playbook of gimmicks used in most […]
brand-as-business bit: Tucked away in last week’s New York Times automotive section was a great piece about advertising. The subject was Ed McCabe (of Scali, McCabe, Sloves fame) whose iconoclastic approach to advertising etched into our brains safety as Volvo’s brand identity. Three points about Mr. McCabe’s strategy really resonated with me: “Volvo’s reputation for crash […]
brand-as-business bit: The folks at UpMo, an employee-centric career management company, asked me to contribute to their blog, the upMover. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to share about something I’ve been thinking about for awhile now: the power of storytelling to engage employees. Companies often use advertising and social media to share rich […]
(Check out my latest “Brand Experience Brief” — a report with insights and analysis of new and interesting restaurant and retail concepts.) Fast fashion retailer Uniqlo is on a roll. I visited the company’s Herald Square location, one of three stores it has in New York City. Here’s what I thought of the brand experience there: more brand […]
brand-as-business bit: In Fast Company’s recent write-up on Red Bull, Red Bull Media House managing director Werner Brell is quoted as saying: “[Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz] knew that success would be in how you market the product as much as the product itself.” It reminds me of a favorite quote of mine from Geoffrey Frost who […]
(Here’s the latest in a series of “Brand Experience Briefs” — reports with insights and analysis of new and interesting restaurant and retail concepts.) The Habit is one of the many “better burger” chains generating a lot of buzz these days. Although its charburgers do taste good, the company needs to work harder to differentiate the brand […]
On the eve of a special Apple event, it seems the allure of the Apple brand is as strong as ever. “We have something you really have to see. And touch,” declares the invitation to the March 7th media event. Quite a buzz has been building up! I don’t know if tomorrow’s announcement will impress […]
brand-as-business bit: Here’s a quick add to my previous critique of this year’s Super Bowl commercials. Making a Super Bowl ad involves a level of innovation, strategy, and skill that rivals what goes into making the advertised product itself. So it’s helpful to see what can be learned from those in a similar business of […]
brand-as-business bit: I’m interested in the Komen/Planned Parenthood situation from a brand point of view, not a political or moral one. That’s why a piece by James Gregory, CEO of Core Brand, a brand valuation consultancy, piqued my interest. He says the Komen organization should have done things differently by focusing on: “basic ‘brand alignment.’ […]
Super Bowl advertisers could learn a thing or two from Eli Manning. The Giants’ quarterback threw some crisp, clean passes in Sunday’s Super Bowl because he was crystal clear about who the intended receiver was. Moreover he used his insights about the receiver – how fast he could run, how well he could outmaneuver the […]