04.23.14
Why Red Bull Loves Its Haters
When Dietrich Mateschitz launched Red Bull in 1987, he wanted the brand to be perceived as an ultra-premium drink so he made it the most expensive carbonated drink around at $2 a can. […]
Brand-as-Business
04.19.14
A Brand Is a Promise Delivered
From What Great Brands Do: Your brand can ’t just be a promise; it must be a promise delivered. other quotes: a brand is what you do when you can’t see any daylight between… […]
“Brazen.” “Provocative.” “Exuberant.” What automotive brand comes to mind when you hear those words? BMW? Audi? Maybe even Porsche? Certainly not Mercedes – and yet, that’s exactly how New York Times reporter John Pearley Huffman described Mercedes’ newest release, the CLA250. Now, I’m not a car gal so I can’t tell you if Huffman’s review […]
04.07.14
Building a Small Business Brand
Great brands don’t have to be big brands. In fact, one of my favorite examples of a great brand is a small, privately-held design and innovation consultancy (Bulldog Drummond.) Another is a 12-unit, $40 million fast casual restaurant chain (Tender Greens). Another is a small non-profit (Keep A Breast Foundation.) Each of these brands stands […]
04.03.14
A Brand Is What You Do
From What Great Brands Do: Simply put, your brand is what your company does and how you do it. Your brand is not what you say you are — it’s what you do. […]
“Great brands ignore trends” is one of the principles in my new book, What Great Brands Do, that has consistently been coming up in the interviews I’ve been doing about the book. It’s just so counter-intuitive. In fact, just last Friday, Jim Blasingame of The Small Business Advocate show, asked me about it in his radio […]
03.19.14
Great Brand Quotes
Here are the first in a new series of posters intended to inspire fresh thinking about brands and brand-building. Each poster features a quote from my new book, What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles That Separate the Best from the Rest. I’ll release these regularly here and on #WGBD, the virtual collage of […]
A thorough write-up about RH (formerly known as Restoration Hardware) in a recent Businessweek caught my eye. As Susan Berfield documented in the piece, the approach that CEO Gary Friedman is taking with the brand. I couldn’t help but draw parallels to several principles in my new book, What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building […]
03.12.14
The Big Brand Idea
What is the one thing about a brand that has stood the test of time? That’s how Moe Abdou, Founder & CEO of 33voices, began his interview of me. In our in-depth conversation, we cover topics including: what is no longer relevant about brands? what does “brand as business” mean? how are great brands keeping up […]
03.10.14
Business Growth Through Brand Focus
My new Harvard Business Review post, What Shake Shack Knows About Growth that McDonald’s Has Forgotten, explains that if your single focus is not grounded in your brand identity, your business will not likely experience sustainable growth. It’s a bold argument, I know, and I’m sure strong cases against it can be made — but in my […]