brand-as-business bit:  For quite awhile now, I’ve been wanting to write a bit with this title, “What Got You There Won’t Get You Here.”  It’s a twist on the title of Marshall Goldsmith‘s best selling book, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.”  Goldsmith’s premise is that our previous successes often prevent us from achieving more […]

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If we all don’t die falling off the fiscal cliff, 2013 will prove to be an interesting year for brands and businesses. The following are five (well, actually six) brands I’ll be keeping my eye on next year.  Importantly, these are not necessarily brands that I think will fare well (predicting the future is not […]

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2012 did not disappoint in terms of exciting brand developments.  (I wrote about the seven fast food chains making headlines in my latest QSR Magazine column.  Check out my recap of the news at Burger King and Pie Five among others.)  Among the brands in a range of categories making bold moves in 2012 were […]

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brand-as-business bit:  Much has already been said about the letter that JC Penney‘s CEO Ron Johnson recently sent to customers (see below), but I wanted to shine a spotlight on the closing line where he asks for feedback.  See my latest OPEN Forum column  on why I think this was only a goodwill gesture, not a […]

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2012, according to the Chinese calendar, is the Year of the Dragon.  In Chinese tradition, each year is dedicated to a specific animal and predictions for 2012 are for a dragon-like year of excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration, and intensity. With this expectation in mind, I’ve selected several brands to keep my eye on.  They’re likely to […]

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With all the hype surrounding the Olympics, you might have missed an announcement from JC Penney a couple weeks ago — they launched Xersion, “a new private brand offering the modern lifestyle customer […]