From What Great Brands Do: To be great, you need to say no. I thought of this insight when I read a recent Businessweek article by Lindsay Rupp, “J. Crew CEO Drexler Says Retailer Will Sit Out Athletic Trend.” J. Crew Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mickey Drexler is quoted as explaining the decision, “Where we thought […]
From What Great Brands Do: Emotional brand-building requires you to develop a personal dialogue with your customers on the issues that are most meaningful to them. Remember, when connecting with customers, it’s WIFM — what’s in it for me (the customer)?! other #WGBD quotes: you have nothing worth communicating what business are we really in? […]
From What Great Brands Do: Unless and until your culture is expressed clearly through your customer experience, you have nothing worth communicating. In light of recent high-profile brand logo changes — Southwest Airlines, Hershey, and WWE — it seems a good reminder that great brands build their brands by cultivating a strong brand-led culture inside their organizations — […]
From What Great Brands Do: Asking “What business are we really in?” drives the development of innovations that break boundaries while maintaining critical emotional ties to consumers. For example, the folks at Uber bill the company as a “transportation network” and they talk about evolving the way people move. The company mission: Transportation as reliable […]
Want to know if you’re building your brand the way great brands do? Take this 10-question brand assessment. […]
From What Great Brands Do: If you don’t develop greatness among your employees, your employees are unlikely to deliver greatness to customers. Learn more in The Secret Sauce of Employee Recruiting and Engagement, a three-part post I wrote for The Keva Dine Agency, a leading recruitment and placement agency for the creative industries. Part One: By knowing […]
“Who should own the brand?” Mitch Joel, digital marketing guru and founder of the agency Twist Image, recently posed this question to me during an interview on his podcast about my book What Great Brands Do (take a listen to the podcast here — it’s one of my favorite interviews). Mitch was asking about […]
Today marks the six month anniversary of the launch of my new book, What Great Brands Do! Thank you to all of you who have read the book, given it to friends/colleagues/clients, posted a review or write-up, interviewed me, shared it with your social networks, and otherwise helped make the launch so successful! I am […]
It’s been nearly 3 years since I wrote “Lessons from Lady Gaga” and I’m still learning about marketing and brand-building from the Lady of Pop. Lady Gaga has already taught marketers how to attract attention through well-designed appearances (e.g., emerging from an egg at the 2011 Grammy Awards show) and how to develop brand communities like […]
From What Great Brands Do: By connecting internal culture to broader cultural movements, great brands create futures in which they thrive and grow. What do I mean? How about: Lululemon Athletica employees are part of the movement that’s making yoga more than just an exercise routine. Zappos employees are on a mission to “wow” customers at just […]