Branding

• Most Topular Stories

• The ROI of Brand: Top 25 Innovators 2010

  spatially relevant

  Jon Gatrell

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:32 am

• Living The Brand

  The BIG Kahuna

  BIG Kahuna

  1 Sep 2010 | 12:41 pm

• FREE Webinar – 4 Keys To Automate Your Lead Generation And Attract More Customers and Profits

  Biz Growth News

  Krishna De

  23 Aug 2010 | 2:08 am

• Is Your Career Trapped in the Matrix?

  The Personal Branding Blog: William Arruda and the Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists

  Walter Akana

  4 Jul 2010 | 3:51 pm

  Personal branding has come a long way since Tom Peters first wrote “The Brand Called You” for Fast Company magazine’s August 31, 1997 issue. While personal branding’s visibility and credibility has grown slowly and steadily over the past 12-plus years, there is no denying it has now become a mainstream topic. Just Google the term “personal branding” (in quotation marks) and you will find more than 891,000 results! The Reach Personal Branding Interview on July 15, 2010 at noon ET addresses upcoming trends in personal branding, as well as key suggestions to make the most of your…

• the art of planning

  Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

  Tom Fishburne

  29 Aug 2010 | 8:21 am

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  The BIG Kahuna

• Living The Brand

  BIG Kahuna

  1 Sep 2010 | 12:41 pm

  A few years back we helped our client Humboldt Storage and Moving create their new brand identity “stress relief”. And they’ve done a fine job at delivering that message consistently. Here you can see the logo design, tagline and truck design we implemented. Click here to view the embedded video. Great job guys!

• Dear Rust-Oleum

  BIG Kahuna

  7 Aug 2010 | 7:02 am

• The Power Of Branding

  BIG Kahuna

  17 Jul 2010 | 8:02 am

  I always laugh at people who think branding doesn’t make a person feel a specific way for a company or product. Take this very funny viral video made to discredit Apple’s iPhone and brand. WARNING, this contains adult, vulgar language: Click here to view the embedded video. Let’s just say all these things are true and Evo’s phone makes the iPhone look outdated and behind technology, how does one explain the sales,  loyalty, dedication and overall brand committment to Apple? One answer. Branding.

• Fun With Social Media

  BIG Kahuna

  24 May 2010 | 9:47 am

  You can do all kinds of great stuff with WordPress. You don’t have to stick to standard templates. Check out our latest project for the Parrot Club, a Gaming Entertainment Center in St. John US Virgin Islands. We also tied their Facebook and twitter accounts to their blog for automatic updates as well as using NetworkedBlogs.

• Seattle’s Best Sells Out?

  BIG Kahuna

  20 May 2010 | 1:16 pm

  So you’re Seattle’s Best and Starbuck’s wants you to re-brand. Why re-brand? Well because being everything to everyone is much better than targeting a market and differentiating…right? Now that Seattle’s Best is expanding into Subway’s and Burger King’s it’s time to change a good brand to accommodate all those lower end types that visit those restaurants…that’s the thinking right? Check out the email I got from Mandi Armond at Cohn & Wolfe, a subsidary of  WPP: Hi Scott , Seattle’s Best Coffee, sub-brand of Starbucks,…

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  Tom Asacker on unlocking hearts and minds

• Perception is not reality

  Tom Asacker

  6 Sep 2010 | 1:07 pm

  One of the National Football League's all-time greats, Jim Brown, once quipped, "I'm not interested in trying to work on people's perceptions. I am who I am, and if you don't take the time to learn about that, then your...

• The marketing times are a-changin'

  Tom Asacker

  30 Aug 2010 | 3:38 pm

  Come gather 'round marketers wherever you roam. And admit that the waters around you have grown. And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone. If your job to you is worth savin.' Then you better start swimmin'...

• The four biases of great service providers

  Tom Asacker

  23 Aug 2010 | 2:46 pm

  "I'm not an order taker. I'm an experience maker!" -- Jay Jay used to work at a local restaurant in town. He has since moved on to a new position as a head waiter in significantly greener pastures. When he...

• This really bugs me

  Tom Asacker

  20 Aug 2010 | 6:12 am

  The New York Times ran a short opinion piece in last Saturday's Business Day section titled, "Innovate, Yes, but Make it Practical." The author, Steve Lohr, begins his piece as follows: "BUSINESS is a field not of theory but of...

• There's your brand strategy!

  Tom Asacker

  18 Aug 2010 | 3:26 pm

  In the book Human Motivation, Harvard psychology professor David McClelland points to three things that drive everyone: Achievement - The desire to compete against increasingly challenging goals; Affiliation - The desire to be liked and loved; and Power - The...

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  Brand Mix

• Six of the Best: Why carpets in Vegas are so ugly and answers to other important questions

  4 Sep 2010 | 7:24 am

  There are things you've always wondered about and then, one day, you finally find out the answer. For example, why are those carpets in Las Vegas so hideous?1) what's with the ugly carpet in vegas? brandflakesforbreakfastThis important question has been on everyone's mind ever since Chris Maluszynski put together a gallery devoted to these spectacular carpets. Wired, Gizmodo and Marginal Revolution and their readers have all joined in the speculation as to why they are so ugly. Do they somehow keep people gambling? Are they designed to hide chips that fall on the floor so that the casino can…

• Meme of the Week deconstructed: Antoine Dodson/Bed Intruder

  31 Aug 2010 | 8:42 am

  This is fantastic. Lab-coat-wearing Internet Scientist ElspethJane from the Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies investigates the phenomena of Antoine Dodson / Bed Intruder, his family, and his overnight success. (If you don't know who Antoine is, that doesn't matter--the video will get you up-to-speed.)This video is the latest to air on the KnowYourMeme channel on YouTube. KnowYourMeme, a Rocketboom spin-off, describes itself as: "A web series and online database dedicated to documenting Internet culture, one scientismic investigation at a time." Others in the series include this one…

• Advertising is the cost of being boring?

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:40 am

  Print: Hugh MacLeod (Gaping Void)Hugh MacLeod created this poster for Andy Servonitz's recent Supergenius conference in New York. It's a popular point-of-view. Here's a variation on the theme from David Taylor: "Great brands are all about the product 'sausage.' And if that product is brilliant it advertises itself." In this view of the world, there's a a pecking order and advertising is being pecked.The net benefit construct I talked about in my post last week is less judgmental. It says that brand value is determined by the difference in what people are willing to pay its benefits vs. what…

• Song of the week: Cee Lo Green

  28 Aug 2010 | 7:45 am

  3 million plus views on YouTube and counting. Cee Lo Green is not happy about you driving around town with the one he loves. Here's the song. (If you don't like the "F" word, you won't like this.) As Billboard notes, a huge audience before the cleaned-up version even gets played on the radio.

• Differentiating your brand cost effectively

  23 Aug 2010 | 9:18 am

  It takes time, effort, creativity and money for brands to successfully differentiate themselves from the competition. It takes brilliance in innovation or design or advertising creativity or customer service or a combination of these and other factors to develop a brand that stands out from the crowd.All this effort has its reward. Differentiation translates into products and services that are worth more to people. They will pay more for them and be more loyal to them. If the products are really differentiated, people may even queue all night for them.But will consumers pay enough for all the…

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  brandflakesforbreakfast

• that's not a real guitar

  darryl ohrt

  7 Sep 2010 | 4:45 am

  Here's an awesome ad for Sparrow Guitars, the manufacturer of instruments that resemble Guitar Hero and Rock Band gaming devices, but come with real strings, instead. Thanks, Eliza!

• you need a vacation

  darryl ohrt

  7 Sep 2010 | 4:28 am

  Here's a great promo for Royal Caribbean that isn't at all about Royal Caribbean. Proof that sometimes it's not about selling your product or service, but instead the idea that might lead to the sale of your product or service.What brands can learn from this:Viewers are more likely to share this production because it doesn't feel like an ad, but instead an entertaining presentation of facts. From Brandwashed, via this BFFB post.

• the sassy faces of pete campbell

  darryl ohrt

  7 Sep 2010 | 4:17 am

  Imagine an entire blog devoted to documenting the sassy little faces of MadMen character, Pete Campbell. Well, stop imagining...it's here: Pete Campbell's Bitchface. From @modamags.

• send this to the writer that you know

  darryl ohrt

  7 Sep 2010 | 4:12 am

  Any writer, artist, musician or creator that you know will absolutely relate to this story about the process of "a project". Awesome. Thanks, Syd!

• what's with the ugly carpet in vegas?

  darryl ohrt

  3 Sep 2010 | 4:19 am

  One thing is consistent throughout each and every casino in Las Vegas: over the top ridiculously ugly carpet. Chris Maluszynski has managed to put together an entire photo gallery devoted to this carpet ugliness. Some theorize that it keeps people gambling. Others think it's all just a part of the Vegas tacky vibe. Whatever the reason, the gallery serves as colorful inspiration, and proof that no matter how bad your office carpet looks today...it could be worse.

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  David Young | Branding Blog - Marketing Advice and Advertising Strategy for Local Business Owners

• On Your Market...Last Chance for Intro Price

  Dave Young

  5 Sep 2010 | 8:06 pm

  I've told you about On Your Market. At the end of the day on Monday, September 6, the intro price goes away. If you want to know where your ad dollars are going and how to spend them better, you can hardly go wrong for $199. That's the price of just a few ads in most markets, and less than the cost of 1 ad in a lot of big markets.  Have another look at On Your Market.

• Ding Dong SEO Gone Bad

  Dave Young

  27 Aug 2010 | 7:26 am

  I'm gonna tell the long story. If you want the short story, skip to the last paragraph. Dinner last night was at Elway's, a bajillion-star restaurant inside the equally starred-up Ritz-Carlton in downtown Denver. After serving us some amazing steaks, the waiter asked if we wanted desserts. We all declined. He then said, "Look, we're kind of famous for our Ding Dongs. I'm gonna bring you one for the table to sample. You shouldn't miss this." I've talked about Word of Mouth advertising quite a bit and one of the best triggers is unexpected generosity. The Ding Dong rocked. Awesome. It's the…

• Avery's run at 3M: Differentiate. Demonstrate. Directed Humor.

  Dave Young

  5 Aug 2010 | 10:44 am

  Avery (the label folks) are taking a run at one of 3M's core products...the ubiquitous Post-It note. I like this campaign because the ads do a good job of differentiating the Avery products from the competitors, they demonstrate their use and advantages and the humor in the ads is directed in the right direction. That is, it reinforces the message rather than just being funny for the sake of funny. It's funny when the wife wipes out the guy's fantasy football board with the leaf blower and the Avery note is still firmly attached. Sidenote: I'm growing weary of the male=doofus theme of our…

• On Your Market: Open for Business

  Dave Young

  25 Jul 2010 | 7:33 pm

  I've been working on a soft launch for a project that has been in the works for almost 2 years. The idea is to teach business owners some of the very same techniques that we use when helping our clients with their marketing strategy. I got some very talented colleagues to help out and now I'd like to invite you to have a look. We're giving some free samples and we have it priced extremely low because we're just testing things out right now. You're welcome to sign up for the free stuff and jump in with both feet if you like. It's called On Your Market.

• Customer Engagement: A Kinetic Word of Mouth Technique

  Dave Young

  14 Jul 2010 | 11:48 am

  If you can get people involved in an experience with your product during the buying process, you'll go a long ways to cementing good feelings toward you. You'll also give your customer a reason to blab.Chevrolet is now offering Corvette customers the opportunity to assist in the assembly of the very engine that will be put into their new ZR1 or Z06. The engine will get a custom plaque before it's shipped to final assembly in Bowling Green, KY. Imagine if you will, how intolerable these Corvette owners will be in their insistence on telling you how they built their own engine. They'll want to…

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  Branding Strategy Insider

• What Brands Must Do To Succeed

  Derrick Daye, The Blake Project

  30 Aug 2010 | 9:10 pm

  We believe that brands must make promises to their customers. They must promise relevant, differentiated benefits. That is, they must offer unique value propositions. And, even more importantly, they must deliver on those promises/value propositions. Leading brands have a highly compelling brand promise and insure that the promise is delivered at each point of customer contact.According to The Conference Board’s rigorous 1998 “Managing the Corporate Brand” study, the following factors are critical for brand strategy success:Organization Support•    CEO leadership &…

• When Your Brand Name Is Damaged

  Steve Rivkin

  29 Aug 2010 | 9:05 pm

  The Tea Party Bookshop in Salem, Oregon, has a generous selection of titles on personal growth and spirituality. There’s a poetry reading on the third Thursday of every month. And every once in a while, there’s a “pagan meet-up,” when folks are invited to enjoy a nice evening chatting with fellow pagans. (Well, this is Oregon.) People who are angry about new Federal healthcare and happy about Sarah Palin wouldn’t necessarily shop there for books. But as the Tea Party political movement gained attention, they began calling and stopping by to ask what time the next anti-government…

• Brand Marketing's New Reality

  Martin Lindstrom

  25 Aug 2010 | 9:10 pm

  If for one reason or another, you’d slept through the past five years, only to find yourself suddenly awake in August 2010, you’d quickly realize the world of advertising and marketing has fundamentally changed in three major ways. First, subconscious or subliminal communication (and research) has become part of the vocabulary of most marketers. Second, power has shifted from brand owners to consumers - even the most powerful brands know that successful campaigns have to systematically engage consumers, who will in turn use their mighty word of mouth to spread the messages opposed to…

• The Brand Licensing Workshop

  Derrick Daye, The Blake Project

  24 Aug 2010 | 9:10 pm

  Brand licensing is one of the lesser known techniques for extending a brand into new categories.  The benefits of brand licensing are extensive and include:•    Building brand presence by getting product to market faster with little to no investment or inventory risk.  •    Accelerating the ability to gain additional shelf space or enter into new channels or regions.  •    Delivering valuable and steady royalty revenue increasing cash flow and operating income.  The Blake Project offers The Brand Licensing Workshop, a one-day engagement that is designed to deliver a…

• Exploring The Value Of Sub Brands

  Brad VanAuken

  23 Aug 2010 | 9:10 pm

  Regular readers of Branding Strategy Insider know we welcome and answer marketing questions of alltypes. Today, Christine, a VP of Marketing in Detroit writes… "I was wondering if sub-brands are typically valuable for a company or if their value is dubious?"Interesting question, Christine. If a sub-brand is designed to reach a market or market segment that the parent brand could not reach by itself, it is worth it. That is the primary reason for sub-brands from my perspective, to make the parent brand more relevant to a new or different market or market segment.  Having said…

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  BrandDigital | BrandSimple: The Blog

• Experiential branding is a whole new experience for some companies

  Allen Adamson

  23 Aug 2010 | 6:52 am

  Ever notice that the word “ambulance” is printed in reverse on the front of the vehicle? It’s so drivers can look in their rear view mirrors and know to get out the way quickly (as if the screaming sirens weren’t enough of an indication). I noticed the same reverse printing on the front of a Whole Foods delivery truck while I was out doing errands the other day. It was a brilliant branding tactic as it immediately got me to think about the first-rate food products and personal service associated with the brand name. In fact, it made me think about the actual experience…

• Good Brands Focus and Deliver

  Allen Adamson

  9 Aug 2010 | 6:51 am

  Even in Hollywood, the script for building great brands starts with focus. News of sightings of great white sharks off beaches this summer was as disconcerting as these stories always are. But for me, there was an added level of agita. I was reminded of how lousy this summer movie season has been. Where’s a “Jaws” when you could use a little distraction from the generally disconcerting news of the day. In my recent column in Forbes Online I write about how and why Hollywood’s lost its way and what I think the moguls need to do to get back on track and get movie buffs…

• What do Playboy, the 2011 Corvette, and Martha Stewart have in common?

  Allen Adamson

  21 Jul 2010 | 6:11 am

  Okay, wait a second. It’s not what you think. I’ve never been good at telling jokes and I’m not about to start. No, as a branding guy, what I noted over the last few weeks relative to the names in the above headline is that there was a common brand-building, or more specifically, re-building challenge. When I read that Hugh Hefner wanted to buy back outstanding shares of his Playboy empire and revitalize it and then saw that Chevrolet had launched a campaign for the sexy, 2011 Corvette with the same objective for its hero brand, it occurred to me that to succeed these two…

• TV advertising is still hot, if it follows the right recipe

  Allen Adamson

  9 Jul 2010 | 6:00 am

  Come on, admit it. Every once in a while you see a television advertising spot that makes you chuckle. Maybe you even spend a few moments chatting about it with colleagues at the water cooler. Perhaps you’ve even been known to send an ad link to friends and family in order to share the laughs. The fact of the matter is that good television advertising still exists, and people still pay attention to it, despite the cluttered digital environment. Notice I said “good television advertising.” While lots of it deserves to be Tivo-ed out of the picture, the spots that succeed do…

• Going back to move brands forward in tough times

  Allen Adamson

  21 Jun 2010 | 8:00 am

  Did you know that Kellogg’s Corn Flakes has been around for 104 years? I picked up this little bit of breakfast trivia when I picked up a newspaper and saw an ad touting the fact that the cereal has been “fat-free and cholesterol-free since 1906.” Now, I’m pretty sure folks back in 1906 didn’t pay as much heed to dietary requirements as folks today. But the folks at Kellogg’s being the great brand professionals they are, know what it requires to keep a brand healthy, including the need to keep it relevant. In my recent article in Forbes Online I write about…

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  Jonathan Salem Baskin's Dim Bulb -- Analysis & Musing from a Global Brand Strategist

• Where's The Retraction?

  Jonathan

  6 Sep 2010 | 8:17 am

  It's official: the allegation that P&G's new diapers cause rashes, led and fueled in large part by consumers' use of social media, has been refuted. Three cheers for the good news! Concerned parents and supportive activists can collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Solid, accurate information has saved the day for everyone involved. Only not so much. In order to get to the bottom of this issue (yuck yuck), here's a quickie background (more yuck yuck): one of the few real product innovations coming out of P&G these days is Pampers Dry Max diapers, which promise to do everything from…

• An Epidemic of Losers

  Jonathan

  1 Sep 2010 | 10:58 am

  The content creation business is thriving these days, especially now that the Conventional Wisdom has all but freed it from having any direct connection or relevance to actually selling anything. Instead, one of the new deliverables of today's marketing is often a contest of some sort, which I think is even worse than not saying anything meaningful about a brand. By definition, the promise of winning turns most customers into losers, yet awards, drawings, and other competitions seem to be among the first pitches coming out of agencies these days. Pepsi wants doers of good works to compete for…

• Reverse Logic

  Jonathan

  29 Aug 2010 | 1:38 pm

  It happens every time. The moment those E.D. drug commercials list the possible side-effects: dry mouth, muscle weakness, nausea and, oh yes, erections lasting for more than four hours. I laugh out loud (or did the first hundred times I saw it). Isn't it like cigarette ads warning that smoking could attract fast girls, or that eating fattening foods lets obese people outsource more of their healthcare costs? A four-hour erection isn't a warning, it's a happy dream. Like that potato chip commercial says, you can't stop eating 'em. This illustrates the challenge of communicating risks and…

• Walmarting the Category

  Jonathan

  26 Aug 2010 | 4:36 am

  P&G is slashing prices and attacking new markets worldwide in a dash for improved sales and increased share. I don’t quite understand how this is a business strategy for any business other than Walmart. It just seems like brand suicide.Perhaps the company's brands are already dead. P&G has seen sales plunge for its premium household products like Tide and Charmin as a healthy majority of American consumers have switched to at least one cheaper substitute. 2009 produced the company’s first sales decline since 2001, and it announced this month that it spent a lot more on advertising…

• Museums: The Past As Prologue

  Jonathan

  22 Aug 2010 | 10:19 am

  Chicago's Museum of Science+Industry (“MSI") is running a contest to pick somebody who'll literally live inside the place for a month later this year, in hopes that the winner will help promote it to the outside world. Visiting a museum is relatively cheap, easy, and offers at least the hint of a redeeming purpose, so it’s no surprise that the MSI isn’t hurting, nor are museums generally: over half of them nationwide reported attendance increases last year, and I’d bet MSI's 2 million-plus annual visitors make it one of America's most popular. But it's never too early to think about…

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  Biz Growth News

• FREE Webinar – 4 Keys To Automate Your Lead Generation And Attract More Customers and Profits

  Krishna De

  23 Aug 2010 | 2:08 am

  Here is a question for you… would you like to enjoy new qualified new business leads joining your data base of prospects every day – people who want to invest in your products and services? Building my list has been a significant factor in the growth of my business and yet every month I meet hundreds of entrepreneurs and marketing leaders who have not yet started to automate their lead generation. In fact my informal research at all of my live events where I am talking about marketing, digital marketing and social media has shown me that more than 90 percent of businesses are not building…

• Spots V Stripes – which do you support asks Cadbury as the official treat provider for London 2012 Olympic Games

  Krishna De

  6 Aug 2010 | 1:09 am

  With 721 days to go to the 2012 Olympics, did you know that Cadbury is the “official treat” of the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics through it’s sponsorship? Well they have just launched a two-year campaign, Spots v. Stripes – it’s an integrated campaign across TV, print, digital and social media encouraging the UK population to side with the Spots or the Stripe team. You can then take part in silly games – both in the virtual and in the real world – then logon to the site and claim your points. You can find the campaign on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook where there…

• Breaking up is hard to do – 3 tips for managing a smooth transition at the end of your social media campaign

  Krishna De

  5 Aug 2010 | 7:56 am

  Today RTE announced it’s new Fall schedule of programmes and one of the casualties was The Afternoon Show (it’s going to be replaced with a lifestyle programme comments The Irish Times). I was a very infrequent viewer of The Afternoon Show but I do recall when they came back on air after the Summer break in 2009 that they were one of the first shows in Ireland to encourage users to join the on Facebook or Twitter – alongside advising people to text and email the show. Programmes, be that TV ones or marketing programmes, come to an end – and unfortunately that also is the case with…

• European Marketers are soon to be able to buy and include brand names as keywords in Google Ads

  Krishna De

  5 Aug 2010 | 12:19 am

  Are you a business in Europe using Google Ads to build visibility about your products and services or to drive traffic to your website? Then you are going to find the announcement this week made by Google of interest. Google have just announced that they are changing their policy to allow European advertisers to buy and include keywords in your Google Ads that have been trademarked by other companies. This change comes into effect on 14 September 2010 and extends changes that were made in  Britain and Ireland in 2008 – though this has been possible in the US since 2004. Up until now, brand…

• Online habits and motivations of consumers online, the importance of ratings and reviews

  Krishna De

  30 Jul 2010 | 1:32 am

  NOTE: I am giving away access to a years service from LouderVoice, the online customer ratings service to celebrate their third birthday– scroll down to the bottom of the article if you want to discover how to be in with a chance to win it! Do you know what influences your customers to buy online? A recent Econsultancy report noted that in the US more than half (55%) of consumers report that a product with a high rating will increase their likelihood of purchasing. While in the UK three-quarters (75%) of people aged 18-26 years of age use recommendations on social sites to help them…

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  make the logo bigger

• It’s *okay* I guess.

  mtlb

  7 Sep 2010 | 11:13 pm

  Love to see how people are rendered in it, but if they hadn’t mentioned ahead of time that this Studio Aiko project was entirely rendered in 3D? Woulda thought it was shot on film or digital HD. Sick. Check out the making of build as well as alternate versions with different light conditions. Did I say sick? Because I meant... sick.

• The 2011 Lexus IS: Bass, guitar and keyboard not included.

  mtlb

  7 Sep 2010 | 10:53 pm

  But drums are in the latest cars makin’ them some noise spot.

• AdVerve 46 - Social in the South

  mtlb

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:52 pm

  Play the show now. Who’s taking Alabama social? The same crowd that brought Little Debbie digital. Luckie & Co.’s David Griner (@griner, TheSocialPath.com, AdFreak.com) joins us as we talk social in the Deep South, the meaning of transparency, the various merits of Alabama, and why you shouldn't tease BP employees on vacation. It’s a ride. A social southern ride. Linkage: – Dale Peterson. – Dr Pepper Moms. – The Beach is Calling. – BP employee parody. – FedEx Al.

• “At your Chevy dealer’s sports department.”

  mtlb

  6 Sep 2010 | 9:41 pm

  Maybe that’s the problem with dealers today: they need different departments?

• Philips gets the branded content thing right?

  mtlb

  6 Sep 2010 | 9:22 pm

  I think they might have. “Boyfriend?” is the first episode of Nigel and Victoria, the main characters in Philips’ stab at the genre du jour, and compared to recent efforts by other brands, the overall vibe feels mostly right. It’s an online series with Victoria Koblenko doing her own product review show. Ben Willbond’s Nigel is sent by the brand to make sure she stays on message. The show within a show theme isn’t new of course, but the way they pull off the product integration masquerading as its own review show works. Two things I’d do to it: Lose the Nigel has a crush on…

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  The Marketing Minute

• Real time search engine for Facebook and Twitter

  Drew McLellan

  6 Sep 2010 | 6:26 am

  Late this spring a new search engine snuck onto the scene.  Kurrently (www.kurrently.com) allows you to search Facebook and Twitter in real time. Put any search term or combination of terms into Kurrently, and instantly receive the scrolling results with Tweets and Facebook status updates organized by date stamp. The results automatically update as you watch. I tried it with "drew mclellan" and found quite a few Twitter and Facebook mentions that I hadn't caught through the normal tracking methods. It's been pretty tough to find a way to accurately gauge Facebook buzz…

• Why most companies will lose the search engine war

  Drew McLellan

  2 Sep 2010 | 3:22 am

  Everyone talks about being on that elusive first page of Google. It's the pinnacle of success and companies spend thousands of dollars to try and outspend their competitors. But in the end, it won't be your competitors who trump you.  It will be your consumers. Today, if you Google one of the 20 largest brands, over 25% of the search results will be links to consumer generated content. Why does that matter to you? Let's look at these truths: Social media is in its infancy and the volume of content is just going to grow. Websites that welcome consumer feedback and ratings are…

• Marketing tip #87: Don't start in the middle

  Drew McLellan

  30 Aug 2010 | 12:41 pm

  This past Thursday, I was a panelist for a MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) webinar with my cohorts on MENG's Social Media Council of Advisors -- Mack Collier, Paul Dunay, Beth Harte, Amber Naslund and Joe Pulizzi. During the Q&A portion of the webinar, someone asked:  "We have a small staff and a very finite budget.  Which would serve us better -- Facebook or Twitter?" I'm guessing that's one of the most common questions on the minds of marketers today.  I know I need to jump into the social media waters...so which end of the pool…

• Media training tip #3: Make it quick and memorable

  Drew McLellan

  29 Aug 2010 | 12:22 pm

  I've decided to cross pollinate my media interview tips by putting the third installment over at IowaBiz today. (click here to check it out). If you aren't familiar with the earlier tips, you can find them here: Media Training tip #1:  Have a single message Media Training tip #2:  Superficial but true Then, head over to IowaBiz to check out Media Training tip #3:  Make it quick and memorable.   After you've had a chance to check out the latest installment, come back over and tell me what I've missed or what else you'd like to know about how to…

• Marketing tip #30: Let your business name do its job

  Drew McLellan

  28 Aug 2010 | 10:48 am

  I have a friend who is launching her own business.  As she's wrestled with names for the company, she started out very pragmatic -- her last name and a descriptive word that would tell prospects what she sells. But she's not crazy about her last name and wanted something more creative.  So every new round of names became more fanciful and more creative in terms of spelling etc.  She was down to a final four -- none of which included the original group.  Her prospects are very B-to-B minded, mostly men and very white collar. Here's a portion of the e-mail I…

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  Ries' Pieces

• Non-Profit Marketing: Lessons from Kate's Club

  Laura

  17 Aug 2010 | 2:43 pm

              For many non-profits, spending money or time on branding is a hard pill to swallow. Too many non-profit leaders think it is either shallow or useless to spend either time or money on improving their brand image, tagline or logo.             Nothing could be further from the truth. Branding is the key to success no matter if you are selling sneakers or helping the homeless.            …

• High Five to FiveFingers

  Laura

  15 Jul 2010 | 8:40 am

                  There is nothing I get more excited about than seeing a new category and a new brand hit the market. There’s the thrill of discovery the first time you hear about one or read about one. The challenge of finding the store that has one. The glory of getting your hands on one. The pride in showing yours off. And the jealousy and bewilderment on the faces of those who don’t have one.               I’m not alone. In every category,…

• McDonald's Goes Above & Beyond

  Laura

  9 Jun 2010 | 12:13 pm

       It seems that no brand is safe these days. From Toyota, the world’s largest car maker. To Tylenol, the country’s largest over-the-counter drug. To McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast-food chain.       Each of these three brands has suffered massive recalls with the potential for massive brand damage.       That said, even if its response to a disaster is less than perfect, a leading brand has an amazing ability to survive. Consumers believe the leader is better and runs a better company than its…

• BP has a Brand Problem

  Laura

  6 May 2010 | 11:56 am

  They talked the talk but never walked the walk.         No industry is more loathed and distrusted than big oil. But while people may hate the industry, oil is a necessary evil that our society depends on. Like it or not, oil companies aren’t going anywhere.         Like many companies in unpopular industries, BP launched a massive advertising campaign to put a little lipstick on the oil pig. Advertising is not very good at changing strongly-held perceptions, but in BP’s case it actually worked.    …

• Laura on Fox Business: BP

  Laura

  6 May 2010 | 11:31 am

  Laura Ries discusses BP's brand problems stemming from its oil spill with Stuart Varney on the Fox Business channel on Thursday, May 6, 2010. Watch the latest business video at video.foxbusiness.com

• 

  Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

• the art of planning

  Tom Fishburne

  29 Aug 2010 | 8:21 am

   (to instantly download this cartoon, click here)For many businesses, planning for 2011 is in full swing, particularly the horse-trading, haggling, and negotiating to choose the revenue target. The core business team develops a bottoms-up plan they feel is achievable. The leadership team sets an top-down stretch target that is much higher. Then everyone bickers over the gap between the two numbers.There are a few schools of thought on where to draw the line in between. Set your target too low and you can reliably hit the number, but you may not have achieved anything remarkable. Set…

• always in beta

  Tom Fishburne

  22 Aug 2010 | 2:27 pm

  (to instantly license this cartoon, click here) Beta releases used to be restricted to small groups of Beta testers. A Beta release allowed you to work out the bugs before a general market release. When a product shipped, it was considered final until the next release.  Nowadays, many products are in perpetual Beta (and we're all Beta testers). Gmail, Flickr and del.icio.us carry the Beta designation for years at a time as the products are developed and refined in the open. This creates a mindset of continuous improvement and treats users as co-developers. The pace of…

• hoping to speak at SXSW again

  Tom Fishburne

  22 Aug 2010 | 10:10 am

  Last year, I had a great time speaking about innovation and cartoons at SXSW in Austin.  I'd like to speak again next year and would greatly appreciate your help making it happen. It's *very* competitive and they pick their speakers by online voting. So, please vote for me (and maybe leave a comment of support) here: http://ow.ly/2s6df. They ask you to register but it only takes a second. Thanks in advance. It really makes a difference.My topic is called "Think Outside the Brainstorm: Developing Better Ideas" and it's about different ways to find creative…

• jumping the shark

  Tom Fishburne

  15 Aug 2010 | 3:09 pm

  (to instantly license this week's cartoon, click here)My friend Michelle introduced me to the expression, Jumping the Shark, which is used to describe "the moment of downturn for a previously successful enterprise." It comes from the fifth season of the classic American sitcom, Happy Days, when Fonzie donned swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket to perform a ridiculous water ski jump over a shark. The guy who coined the expression describes it as "a defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you…

• make the logo bigger

  Tom Fishburne

  1 Aug 2010 | 10:11 am

  (to instantly license this week's cartoon, click here) The quickest way to rankle a creative director is to ask to make the logo bigger. It's an age-old feud that has existed since the dawn of advertising. It's often the first piece of feedback shared, and has even led to its own song:  "Make the logo as big as you can. And make the logo bigger. I don't want to tell you how to do your job. But, could you make the logo bigger? Bigger, bigger, make it big. Make the logo bigger."  A bigger logo won't fix a small brand. It won't make a brand more…

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  Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

• Lessons in Personal Branding from NPR’s Car Talk

  Roger Parker

  8 Sep 2010 | 2:30 am

  Tom and Ray Magliozzi’s Car Talk is one of the most successful personal brands on NPR, National Public Radio. The enduring strength of the Car Talk brand can be measured by: Numbers. Over 4.4 million listeners tune-in each week, listening on 588 radio stations around the world. Fund raising. Car Talk is consistently one of NPR’s leading fund-raising shows during pledge time. Longevity. The show has been on since 1977, with major growth taking place during the 1980s. Visibility. Car Talk’s Tom & Ray Magliozzi have been guests on leading network television shows like The…

• Become a Twitter Power User to Enhance Your Brand

  Heather Huhman

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:30 am

  With the many benefits of Twitter, it’s no wonder so many people are using it as part of their personal branding strategy. Not only can you market yourself and your expertise, but also you can connect with others you may have never had an opportunity to meet to in real life. Although you probably already have an account (if you don’t, sign up for one at www.twitter.com), are you considered a “power user?” And, how do you do this? Share relevant information You should already have a good grasp on your personal brand before you try to become a power user on Twitter. This means your…

• Career and Personal Branding Advice From Male Celebrities

  Dan Schawbel

  6 Sep 2010 | 5:30 am

  You’re fed up with the job market right now or you’re feeling stuck in your career, with nowhere to go, and you’re out of people to complain to. If so, then you’re probably watching your favorite show on TV, or browsing Hulu.com because you’re too cheap to purchase cable. Either way, you watch, listen, and hear about celebrities all the time. Most of the time, you probably don’t care what they have to say, but there are a lot of career and branding lessons that you can learn from them. Aside from reality TV stars, people aren’t just famous because they’re famous. They achieve…

• Personal Branding Interview: Nick Palazzo

  Dan Schawbel

  5 Sep 2010 | 7:10 am

  Today, I spoke to Nick Palazzo, who is the co-founder of STACK, a multimedia sports brand that educates, inspires and entertains athletes. STACK recently launched a new social networking site for high-school athletes, the Gatorade Performance Center. In this interview, Nick talks about his new social network, brand partnerships, and more. Why a social networking site for high-school athletes? We are building more than a social network of high schools athletes. It is a social training platform that includes many of the basic social network features such as creating a profile, communicating…

• A Cup of Coffee to Your Branded Twitter Skin

  Wendy Brache

  5 Sep 2010 | 2:30 am

  Your Twitter profile is a highly visible part of your online presence – don’t waste an opportunity to reinforce your brand there.  There are some beautiful and creatively designed Twitter backgrounds, or “skins,” on sites such as mytweetspace and twitrounds.  But, you can create one yourself and, depending on how fancy you want your background to look, you can spend zero dollars by using what you already have or thousand of dollars to hire a designer and/or use high-end copyrighted images. Create your own If you’d like to create a skin that is in keeping with…

• 

  The Personal Branding Blog: William Arruda and the Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists

• Getting Beyond “My Brand”

  Walter Akana

  12 Aug 2010 | 11:13 am

  These days, it seems that personal branding has faced increasing criticism. Much of it, I think, is driven by people who don’t get it, or at least who don’t get the concept that we advance at Reach. And, let’s face it, social media and the prevalence of internet marketers has allowed for the idea to be hijacked in the interest of “driving traffic.” Lot’s of people out there pushing “my brand” opens the door to the perception of personal brands as contrived or fake.  Frankly, I think the dialogue about personal branding is a good thing, and that we need to…

• Using Twitter and Branded Communications to Find a Job

  Susan Guarneri

  11 Aug 2010 | 8:28 am

  With Recruiting via Social Networks on the rise, why are you conducting an old-fashioned job search? You can either be at the front of the find-a-job-via-social-media movement, or you can be left behind by the throngs of successful candidates who have embraced new technology tools, such as Twitter, and landed a job faster and easier than they ever thought possible. Twitter use for sourcing candidates by employers and recruiters is at 42% according to the 2009 Jobvite Social Recruitment Survey. Yet, very few job seekers venture into the Twitter stream where they can be highly visible and…

• VanityVid is an exciting innovative social media tool that changes your profile pic into a video

  Sue Brettell

  18 Jul 2010 | 12:16 pm

  Exude Your Brand with VanityVid Wouldn't it be great if people could click on your Facebook, Twitter and Wordpress profile photo – wherever it appears – and make it come to life? VanityVid is a fresh new tool for changing your profile pics into a short introductory video, allowing you to connect with your audience like never before. What makes this tool different? When I'm evaluating a tool, my first priority is personal brand building: does it increase online visibility, enhance brand communication, have a well-designed interface; is it customizable, integrated with new media;…

• Personal Branding: Trends and Power Tips for Your Success

  Susan Guarneri

  12 Jul 2010 | 12:42 pm

  Personal branding has come a long way since Tom Peters first wrote “The Brand Called You” for Fast Company magazine’s August 31, 1997 issue. While personal branding’s visibility and credibility has grown slowly and steadily over the past 12-plus years, there is no denying it has now become a mainstream topic. Just Google the term “personal branding” (in quotation marks) and you will find more than 891,000 results! The Reach Personal Branding Interview on July 15, 2010 at noon ET addresses upcoming trends in personal branding, as well as key suggestions to make the most of your…

• Is Your Career Trapped in the Matrix?

  Walter Akana

  4 Jul 2010 | 3:51 pm

  I recently stumbled  onto a great post from Chris Brogan, “Avoid the Many Versions of the Matrix.” He raises the question, “Job security= being employed by a stable company. Matrix or no?,” and concludes: “There’s what we think is real; there’s what we observe as real: and then there’s what we can change.” In reading the post, it occurred to me that many people subscribe to a matrix-like view of successful job search. You know the one. Prepare a sharp resume, strong cover letter, network for job leads, and sharpen up your interviewing skills. Add to this, the…

• 

  Chris Garrett on New Media

• Eat Your Own Dogfood

  Chris Garrett

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:37 am

  One of the discusting but useful phrases in the programming and developer community is “Eat your own dogfood”. I am sure there are people out there who really do have to eat their own dogfood in a literal sense, but the meaning behind the phrase in our context is that you have to experience your product, content or service from an end-user perspective. If you do not have that understanding and empathy then you will inevitably not meet your full potential, or potentially create a bad experience. Do you eat your own dogfood? Answer honestly. Do you really understand what it is like…

• Feel the Fear and Launch Anyway

  Chris Garrett

  1 Sep 2010 | 9:51 am

  I just got off a call with my NLP coach. We swap services, so I give him advice about internet stuff, and he helps me with my (many) “issues”. One of the things he is helping me work through is my fear of moving my family thousands of miles away to live in Calgary, Canada. He said something that made me smile. “It will work out because you are an action-taker, you will %^&* make it work”. Swearing is not a big habit of his, but in this instance it did add some force to what he was trying to say Until a few years ago I wasn’t really an action-taker. I lived in…

• What the Soylent Green Secret Means for Your Business

  Chris Garrett

  26 Aug 2010 | 5:20 am

  “It’s the year 2022… People are still the same. They’ll do anything to get what they need. And they need SOYLENT GREEN.” I was only small when I first saw the film Soylent Green. Perhaps that is why it had such an impact on me. It’s an old film, it came out the year before I was born, and to be honest it’s not one of my favorites. The film itself is not important. There is a famous line from the film that has become more famous than the movie. In the film Charlton Heston has to dash around the distopian New York of the future trying to discover what…

• Mitch Meyerson Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars Interview

  Chris Garrett

  24 Aug 2010 | 5:07 am

  Mitch Meyerson has put together a fantastic book about social media, “Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars”, but as important to me is the strategy he used to create the book. Anyone who has publishing aspirations should take a good look, not just at the product but the model. I got a chance to interview Mitch yesterday about the book and his strategy behind it. Check it out here. Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing! The book contains “the priceless secrets, strategies, tactics and insights of more than 20…

• 7 Ways Social Media Helps With Business Networking

  Chris Garrett

  5 Aug 2010 | 7:00 pm

  I’m a firm believer in networking. In fact I credit my network with a great part of why I have achieved my goals in the last five years. My journey from intention through to completion just would not have been possible without my friends, mentors and contacts. Many of the people responsible for where I am I met through this site. You and I both have unlimited access to humanities greatest networking tool. All you need to do is tap into it. Of course I am talking about Social Media … As I embark on the next phase of my journey, our long-planned and wished for move to Canada, I have…

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  Igor

• Free Company and Product Naming

  igor

  25 Aug 2010 | 10:08 am

  Are your company or product name brainstorming attempts long on storm and short on brains? Igor has over 1000 brains in stock, ready to help you name whatever needs naming — most have very low milage, are hardly ever driven during the week, and are used only sparingly on weekends to scan refrigerator contents and such. Our collection of brains can be picked through at the Wordlab Forums, our free naming and branding brainstorming resource. Jump in and pick the brains! Tips for picking a brain: 1. Do not pick if the skin is too green–it’s not ripe yet. 2. The brain should be…

• Celebrating great names: Chardonnay Hooker

  snark

  3 Aug 2010 | 10:06 am

  I was briefly watching the local news a couple of nights ago, which I rarely do, and I caught a glimpse of this interview during a story about Southern California wildfires: Now that’s a great name! Like a Bond Girl. And kudos to Chardonnay for not being shy about having it and putting herself out there. And good luck battling those wildfires! For the rest of us who aren’t so lucky namewise, here is a Bond Girl name generator to help spice up our personal nomenclature. My Bond Girl names are Tawnie Small and Yoko Dos, both of which I quite like.

• Welcome to Spyburbia, USA

  snark

  2 Aug 2010 | 2:59 pm

  “They couldn’t have been spies…Look what she did with the hydrangeas. Spyburbia, baby — you heard it here first! How do you fool so many in suburbia for so long? “She said they were from Canada.” Yes Virginia, there really are spies everywhere, even in your neighborhood. Especially in your neighborhood, most likely. And if they say they’re from a mysterious blank spot on the globe called “Canada”, call the FBI immediately. [In Ordinary Lives, U.S. Sees the Work of Russian Agents] Anyone remember that ’70s Charles Bronson B-movie classic,…

• Top 12 Free Online Patent Search Services

  snark

  1 Aug 2010 | 10:44 am

  We get a lot of inventors here at Igor looking to name their new inventions, and we’re always studying the language of patents and trademarks. So, as a reference tool, here are Igor's Top 12 free online patent search services: IP.com USPTO WIPO Google Patents Patents.com FreePatentsOnline Patent Lens Faqs.org FreshPatents.com PatentStorm Patent Genius GetThePatent.com

• Virgin America’s aircraft fleet names

  snark

  14 Jun 2010 | 2:24 pm

  As a supplement to our previous post about Virgin America’s contest to name their first U.S. to Canada plane, here is a list of aircraft names in Virgin America’s fleet: Air Colbert Airplane 2.0 An Airplane Named Desire California Dreaming Chic Mobile Contents May Be Under Pressure Dark Horse Entourage Air Fog Cutter Gogo Dancer Jane Jefferson Airplane Let There Be Flight Mach Daddy Midnight Ride Moodlights, Camera, Action My Other Ride’s A Spaceship Red, White & Blue Runway Angel San Fransico Pride Superfly The 1-Year-Old Virgin The Tom Clark Express Three If By Air…

• 

  Hard Knox Life (@daveknox)

• The beginning of a new professional journey

  Dave Knox

  7 Sep 2010 | 4:35 am

  “Every new beginning comes with some other beginning’s end” For the first time in over seven years, I am starting a work week where I am no longer an employee of Procter & Gamble.  In fact, instead of working for a company that employees 140,000 people, I now work for one that employees just under 140. Needless to say, it feels a bit surreal. On Friday, it was announced that I will be leaving P&G to become the Chief Marketing Officer of Rockfish Interactive.  With the move, I will help to open Rockfish’s first Midwest presence with a new office here in…

• How the mobile landscape is changing

  Dave Knox

  5 Sep 2010 | 9:07 am

  Solid presentation on mobile courtesy of Jim Cuene of General Mills.

• The Brandery welcomes its inaugural class on Monday

  Dave Knox

  29 Aug 2010 | 1:42 pm

  The month of August has been a whirlwind that comes to an end on Monday with the launch of The Brandery.  The response was pretty amazing for our inaugural class with applications coming from 15 different states and40 percent of the total applications coming from outside of the Cincinnati area. On Monday we will welcome 6 companies to the program, 3 of which will be relocating for The Brandery.  Those accepted include: Brainrack: Founded by Senay Semere, Pepjin de Visscher and Matthew Veryser of Dayton, OH, Brainrack is a crowd-sourcing tool for organizations and for students to use while…

• Your product can be better marketing than your advertising

  Dave Knox

  2 Aug 2010 | 9:29 am

  Love this quote courtesy of Bob Lefsetz: “Before if you were making a product, the right business strategy was to put 70% of your attention, energy, and dollars into shouting about a product, and 30% into making a great product. So you could win with a mediocre product, if you were a good enough marketer. That is getting harder to do. The balance of power is shifting toward consumers and away from companies…the individual is empowered… The right way to respond to this if you are a company is to put the vast majority of your energy, attention and dollars into building a great…

• Never underestimate the power of design and brand for a start-up

  Dave Knox

  23 Jul 2010 | 6:23 am

  “One of the easiest things to do to make yourself standout within the digital world is to hit a homerun with the design and experience.  If you invest significantly in this area, then you are going to standout from all the rest.” – Darren Herman Darren is the Chief Digital Media Office at Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners and one of those guys that just plain “gets it.”  He wrote the above quote when talking about why Flipboard is suddenly the hot start-up of the week in the media world.  Ironically it is a sentiment that I was just discussing yesterday with…

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  GIRVIN | Strategic Branding Blog

• RAVENS, TOM FORD, EYEWEAR AND BRAND MYTH: THE LEGACY OF THE CORVID IN RETAIL BRANDSTORY AND MERCHANDISING.

  Tim Girvin

  3 Sep 2010 | 11:58 am

  The raven as the icon of black beauty, primordial intelligence, mystery and the old ones. RAVENS AS THE DARK STORYTELLER, THE MYTHIC BLACK RAINBOW. Is the etymology of corvid derived from the ancient Proto-Indo European seed sound kos, for shout? That would seem appropriate — ravens for shouting. Marketing as the shout, raven-style. But it’s the sound of the kraaak and croak that reaches to the heart of the word and the story – and running the linguistic gauntlet for several thousand years, the sounds of the black one, the ravening clan, that first bespeak the legend.

• SEEKING INSPIRATIONS | CREATIVE MENTORS: HAROLD BALAZS

  Tim Girvin

  30 Aug 2010 | 8:19 am

  SEEKING INSPIRATIONS | CREATIVE MENTORS: HAROLD BALAZS: THE DEFINITIONS OF DESIGN SPIRIT: A CHILDHOOD, RECALLED GROWING UP CREATIVE | WHO’S THE TEACHER THAT PLANTS THE SEED? Creative [V I B E] is juice, it’s jazz, it’s fire; unquenchable — it’s not dying, it’s not going out. Harold Balazs | Porcelain enamel Creative comes from family — and what they teach you, what comes of exploration, what comes of gifts, what comes of being in the school of being open, learning more, risking, failing, loving and learning more. Once it starts, like any solid…

• REMOTE WORK:

  Tim Girvin

  25 Aug 2010 | 4:51 am

  Seeking beauty, active focus, and contemplative strategy in remote locations: working someplace other than where you’re supposed to be. Found in the dirt, as a reminder of something special, recalled in a remote place of work. I’ve thought about — and practiced — the idea of working, roving, writing, designing, building strategy or tactical planning somewhere other than the office(s) downtown, or around people. Being with people is critical, being away from people is equally important. The verse of conversations are counterbalanced in the silence of directed attention.

• Fire and Smoke as Design Elements | the conception of the ultimate transformation

  Tim Girvin

  23 Aug 2010 | 5:24 am

  Designing things to be altered by fire. Girvin Smoke principles, brands and the waft of fire. Firebrands. I’ve been thinking about fire and smoke a lot these days, as you might’ve noticed. But like the proverbial A persona, I can’t relinquish the affection. It runs in the Girvin family. I like fire because of my father. I’m not sure about all of my brothers, but there’s a link. Fire, heat, passion, perfection. Girvin It’s nothing new, really, I’ve been writing about smoke for a long time. …

• THE SCENT OF BIRCH TAR

  Tim Girvin

  20 Aug 2010 | 9:19 am

  An exploration of trees, their saps, the resinous outcomes, the essences and their fragrances. And Birch bark — a visit to the Early Buddhist Manuscripts Research Project in the palaeographic laboratories at the University of Washington. Scent, script and scripture, story and history: mystery from the ancient forests. How could these be possibly aligned? The story deepens still… Sometime back, a couple of years ago, I was traveling in Firenze, along with Dawn Clark, Karen Dubin, Karen Adams and a team from the Sniffapalooza crowd. Meandering back into the recesses of the shelves…

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  EveryJoe

• Luis Scola Goes Nucking Futs to Beat Brazil

  Stephen Kersey

  7 Sep 2010 | 8:55 pm

  When Argentina is playing international basketball, it’s usually Manu Ginobili playing the starring role. With Ginobili sitting out this year’s World Championships, the mantle has been passed to Luis Scola — and he hasn’t disappointed. In fact, he’s been the World’s best player. Against Brazil, Scola was simply awesome. In a contest featuring the two South American powerhouses, Scola poured in 37 points on 14-for-20 shooting from the field. He also pulled down nine rebounds, dished out three assists and swiped two steals — all while going up against…

• Beetlejuice Actor Glenn Shadix Dies

  Kori Ellis

  7 Sep 2010 | 7:16 pm

  Actor Glenn Shadix, best known for his role as Otho the interior decorator in Beetlejuice, died this morning in his home in Birmingham, Alabama. His sister told the Birmingham News that her brother had “mobility problems” in recent years and “It looks like he fell and hit his head in the kitchen, and that’s the cause of death.” The actor was 58. GlennShadix.com In addition to cult favorite Beetlejuice, Shadix also appeared in two more Tim Burton films – in The Nightmare Before Christmas he was the voice of the mayor and he played Senator Nado in…

• Steelers Say "No" to Big Ben

  Stephen Kersey

  7 Sep 2010 | 12:00 pm

  Big Ben Roethlisberger had his suspension lowered from six games to four games by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. However, that doesn’t mean that all is forgiven. Roethlisberger, who has been accused of rape twice now, is feeling heat from his Pittsburgh Steelers coaches and teammates. It’s either tough love … or they’ve grown tired of his shady ways. First, Big Ben’s teammates striped him of being a captain. Instead, the offensive captains are wide receiver Hines Ward and tight end Heath Miller. For a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback to not be a captain…

• Google's Bouncing Balls

  Kori Ellis

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:29 am

  Today on the Google.com homepage, the latest Google doodle features a variety of moving, colored balls. When you hover your mouse over the Google name today, the balls run all over the screen away from your cursor, then settle back down into place. Google.com “Today’s doodle is fast, fun, and interactive, just the way we think search should be,” a Google spokesman said in a statement. But it wasn’t clear what exactly the doodle represents. Some have speculated that the interactive logo was celebrating Google’s 12th birthday, but the exact date of Google’s…

• Does Darrelle Revis Make Jets Favorites?

  Stephen Kersey

  6 Sep 2010 | 6:13 pm

  The song and dance finally ended on Sunday night when Darrelle Revis and the New York Jets agreed to a new contract. To end the seven-month holdout, Revis inked a deal worth $46 million over four seasons. The superstar cornerback will be paid $7.5 million this season and has a total of $32 million in guaranteed money coming his way. By getting Revis back into the fold, the Jets increase their Super Bowl chances tremendously. Without him, they were a good defensive team. With him, they are a great defensive team. If the Jets can dominate on defense and once again be a strong running team, that…

• 

  Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog

• Drake University's D+ Logo An Example of Harmful Naming and Branding

  7 Sep 2010 | 8:00 am

  By now most of us have read about the apparent blunder Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa, has made with it's D+ logo which has found derision across the blogosphere. People rightly say this looks like students who go to Drake just aren't that smart. From their web site: D+. When it comes to choosing the college that fits you best, there's simply no higher grade. Ad Week's Tim Nudd says that this "seems to position Drake as a school whose standards barely exceed total failure." The university defends itself by saying, "The D+ was not designed to stand alone or represent a grade.

• Xerox Using Major Brand Icons to Change Perception of Its Brand Naming

  3 Sep 2010 | 8:06 am

  Xerox is taking a tremendous gamble in its new campaign that hitches the Xerox brand name to familiar brand icons like Proctor & Gamble's Mr. Clean, Target's Bullseye dog and the Marriott Hotels & Resorts' bellman. It makes sense at one level, of course: they will graphically remind us how the brands we know and love, trust Xerox to work "behind the scenes" so they can focus on their core business. This move is a valiant attempt to reposition the company away from just copiers (yes, you read that correctly) and into the world of IT. But this is Xerox. A company that is synonymous with…

• Apple Adds the Ping Brand Name and Drops the CD Logo

  2 Sep 2010 | 8:12 am

  Apple gave us a few interesting naming decisions yesterday. Firstly, they did not ditch the iPod name, as some pundits suggested they might. They also did not embrace the iTV name, sticking with Apple TV, which means that the similarly named UK broadcaster can ask its legal team to stand down for the moment. On the other hand, we do have an interesting new name that has come from the "Special Event" held yesterday at the Yerba Buena Center. Ping (which sort of sounds like bing, as in Microsoft's search engine) is the new part of iTunes 10 that "allows you to share with your friends what…

• Commodore 64 Brand Naming Officially Back from the Dead

  1 Sep 2010 | 7:09 am

  Some names never die. Like the Commodore 64. Commodore USA is going to release a new computer that is a souped up clone of the trusty old 80's era computer. This has been a long time in the making: according to ZDNET: Commodore USA announced in March that it was reviving the much-loved Commodore brand, but ran into problems when it transpired that company chief executive Barry Altman had negotiated a licensing agreement with a company -- Commodore Gaming -- that was itself a licensee of the brand. The actual holder of the rights to the brand was Commodore Licensing BV, itself a subsidiary of…

• Is the iPod Brand Name Ending Tomorrow?

  31 Aug 2010 | 8:53 am

  Could the iPod name be on its way out? It's hard to think of a brand name that has so much resonance could be abandoned, and yet there are some interesting reasons why Apple may drop it. For one, Beatweek Magazine points out that the brand name is nine years old. Its not "hot" and trendy anymore. This might even spell the end of the click-wheel, which PC Mag predicts may only exist on the iPod Classic, which will hang on "until the day Flash memory is affordable enough to make a 128GB iPad touch." Tomorrow, when Apple has its "special event" at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in…

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  The Engaging Brand

• Social media can be your brand trigger!

  Anna Farmery

  6 Sep 2010 | 6:09 am

  Social media is a wonderful way of expressing your brand personality. However, I think it is more than that....brands, companies are not selling products or services per se...for me they are marketing emotional triggers... Consumers experience products and services. For me, they don't consume the product or service, they consume the experience. Social media can have a huge part to play in triggering that emotional need, that emotional desire to experience more....social media is almost like the smell of fresh bread at the market to trigger a desire to buy the loaf. Social media…

• Show 301 - How Risky is Risk

  Anna Farmery

  3 Sep 2010 | 3:54 am

  Show 301 of The Engaging Brand leadership and marketing podcast is ready just for you. To subscribe or listen on your PC now - both for free, you don't need to download anything - all explained at the end of the post. Award winning reporter and author, David Ropeik joins Anna Farmery on The Engaging Brand podcast to talk about How Risky is it, Really?  There is also a quiz on the site you can take about your response to risk! Is risk logical? How should we judge risk? How we can never have perfect knowledge of facts. Is there a short term vs long term factor in how we assess risk? Can…

• Show 300 - Facebook Marketing

  Anna Farmery

  25 Aug 2010 | 11:39 am

  Show 300 of The Engaging Brand leadership and marketing podcast is ready just for you. To subscribe or listen on your PC now - both for free, you don't need to download anything - all explained at the end of the post. We joins me on The Engaging Brand podcast to talk about What is Facebook from a business point of view? Are people really thinking about brands when socially networking? 3 ways to use Facebook for brands and businesses How do I decide my Facebook strategy? How do I make it differentiated from my competitors? How easy is the coding language on Facebook? Does Google index your…

• Show 299 - The 24 Hour Customer

  Anna Farmery

  17 Aug 2010 | 9:54 am

  Show 299 of The Engaging Brand leadership and marketing podcast is ready just for you. To subscribe or listen on your PC now - both for free, you don't need to download anything - all explained at the end of the post. Adrian Ott joins me to talk about her fabulous new marketing book - The 24 Hour Customer. Adrian is someone who I admire as she writes not about the why, but HOW to create a purchasing trigger in a time starved consumer. We joins me on The Engaging Brand podcast to talk about How to create content for the time starved consumer Time is not money, it is much more important…

• Do we need a new style of citizenship?

  Anna Farmery

  16 Aug 2010 | 11:45 am

  I keep wondering what we term citizenship now? We used to have a nation of shared values with shared legal boundaries....and now with social media those boundaries are being removed from a geographic perspective. I can honestly say I feel more affinity, have more shared stories with friends on Twitter and other social media sites than my immediate neighbourhood. What does that mean for society? Does a healthy society need to be of geographical importance? Can you imagine a day when we are represented at the United Nations by our social networks rather than our nations? It sounds silly yet, we…

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  Liquid Agency Brand Exchange

• A new look for Liquid.

  Alfredo Muccino

  2 Sep 2010 | 1:44 pm

  The walls came down and the gloves went on to jump start a new look for the San Jose Liquid Agency office. After occupying the large building that spans between South Market Street and First, it was time for us to make it our own, in true Liquid fashion. Before any work could begin, we established the look, feel and materials that would be used in the renovations. Many sketches were created to review where the new walls would be established, to ensure a successful transfer of all servers, electricity and computers. Sketches also helped to look at the materials that would be used, including…

• Marty at dConstruct 2010.

  Alfredo Muccino

  19 Aug 2010 | 11:52 am

    Going into it’s 6th year, dConstruct 2010 invites and brings together leading industry figures to explore the power of design thinking. Held this year on September 3 in Brighton, England, dConstruct is the affordable one day conference for those designing and building web applications. Marty Neumeier, Director of Transformation at Liquid Agency, has been invited to speak at this exciting one day event. His latest book, The Designful Company, explores how complex business problems we face today can’t be solved with the same thinking that created them. Instead, we need to break…

• Marty Neumeier at Brand ManageCamp 2010.

  Alfredo Muccino

  10 Aug 2010 | 5:02 pm

  Brand ManageCamp 2010 is an intensive two-day conference that features the most engaging and dynamic speakers in branding. This year, Marty Neumeier, Director of Transformation at Liquid Agency has been selected along with twelve peers to speak at this renowned event in Las Vegas, September 21-22. Created by experienced branders over eight years ago, the Brand ManageCamp marketing conference has become a place to generate new ideas today’s brands need in order to survive. Industry mavericks, best-selling authors, world-renowned experts – these leaders in innovative brand thinking will…

• Innovation Workshop wins two Telly Awards.

  Alfredo Muccino

  3 Aug 2010 | 9:51 am

    We are proud to announce that Marty Neumeier’s Innovation Workshop won awards in two categories at this year’s Telly Awards. The Telly Awards receives more than 13,000 entries from all fifty states and five continents. Each year the Telly Awards honors the best television programs and commercials, as well as the finest video and film productions for broadcast, along with work created for the Web. Innovation Workshop is a 45-minute tutorial that helps individuals and teams to transform their company into a powerhouse of nonstop innovation. Branding expert Marty Neumeier presents…

• Liquid launches the Hitachi LifeStudio brand.

  Alfredo Muccino

  26 Jul 2010 | 3:51 pm

  Hitachi hires Liquid to develop launch campaign for new brand. Hitachi LifeStudio is a new brand of hard drive products that takes simple storage and backup to a whole other level. When Hitachi started looking for an agency to help them launch the new brand, they selected Liquid because of our experience with technology brands and retail. Working on the LifeStudio launch has been fun because the products are truly unique. LifeStudio is much more than an ordinary drive – the products include software designed to help users manage their “digital mess” through an innovative…

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  Greteman Group Blog

• People Who Need People Are the Healthiest People In the World

  Carol Farrow

  27 Aug 2010 | 2:07 pm

  Still pumped after the recent 6th Annual Working Well Conference. I was especially inspired by Dr. Will Miller’s keynote presentation on social relationships. He discussed the weakening of close personal relationships in America and its impact on our health. Miller believes that modern culture is luring us into a lifestyle of isolation and separation. We’re losing the strong social support systems that are fundamental to our well-being. We’re moving away from our families and communities. We’re distracted by television, the Internet and other activities that pull us away from deep,…

• Marc’s Final Friday Picks August 2010

  Marc Bosworth

  26 Aug 2010 | 7:51 am

  Christopher Gulick at Artworks Chris Gulick will be taking his kinetic sculptures to the “One of a Kind Show” in Chicago later this year. If you’d like to help him finance his adventure, make a stop at Artworks, and pick up a specially priced Gulick of your very own. ArtWorks in Piccadilly Square – Central & Rock Road, 6-8 p.m. http://www.artworksframes.com mobiles by Christopher Gulick Monika Meler at Steckline Monika Meler uses printmaking techniques to create one-of-a-kind works, often applying layers of image on both sides of very thin paper. Her time as printmaking professor…

• If you think banking is boring, you don’t know Jack.

  Sonia Greteman

  24 Aug 2010 | 7:27 am

  Jack the Spokespanther That’s the message going out to all Derby High School Panthers as they begin the new school year. The dapper spokespanther Jack represents Verus Bank’s new Big Green School of Money. This Verus branch is not just located inside the high school. It’s student run. So they learn by doing. Derby High Finance The branch is off to a good start with 40 students signing up before school even began. Students can drop in to open a free checking account, complete with a debit card sporting the school colors: green and black. They can also take a photo with a life-sized,…

• Digital Jazzes Up the Joint

  Greteman Group

  18 Aug 2010 | 4:14 pm

  Jared Brickman When Jared Brickman moved to Wichita a few years ago, he found a surprisingly robust arts and entertainment scene. But no easy way to find out about them. He set out to correct that by creating an organization that intelligently leverages the power of social media. Almost instantly, ROK ICT became the city’s go-to source for art and music. It popped on our radar because of its clever aviation reference (ICT is Wichita’s airport designator). Plus we like to know where the cool stuff is showing. Jared’s a self-professed geek (how many folks do you know who played with…

• Marathon Brand Manager

  Greteman Group

  18 Aug 2010 | 10:14 am

  Jennifer When Jennifer Szambecki joined Greteman Group she described herself as a “compulsive joiner.” So, we have to assume she’s here because she really, really wants to be and not just responding to an involuntary impulse. Actually, Jennifer came in eyes-wide-open, having crossed paths with us many times since 2000 in a career that’s involved fundraising for a couple of our favorite organizations: Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Jennifer spent two years in Boston for another leading nonprofit. This avid runner lived happily on mile 24 of the Boston…

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• Paint Your Brand With Color.

  Ed Roach

  6 Sep 2010 | 10:00 am

  A terrific way to differentiate your brand is through the use of color. Your corporate palette can become an effective trigger point with buyers. You only have to look to the marketplace to see the companies that are using color to their advantage. The number one company that comes to mind is UPS or Brown as many people know them. Another is ING Direct which uses orange very effectively.

• How Rumor Affects Your Brand Podcast

  Ed Roach

  3 Sep 2010 | 7:01 am

  Rumors have a terrible impact on internal communications and thus your brand. Here is a podcast outlining the hazards.

• How To Manage Your Company's Brand

  Ed Roach

  31 Aug 2010 | 3:59 pm

  I was recently interviewed by Brenda Porter-Rockwell at Inc.com (the web devision of Inc. magazine). A number of branding professionals and I are featured in this informative article. I think you'll pick up some great tips and opinion here. Enjoy.

• How Bad Do You Want It?

  Ed Roach

  28 Aug 2010 | 3:48 pm

  How many people do you know who long to be in their own business? They have lots of great ideas and yearn to "be my own boss." They put a lot of energy in dreaming and wondering if this will be their ticket to financial freedom. I had the opportunity (I use this word lightly) to meet one of these dreamers the other day. They had that great idea that was going to do it for them. We shared a

• Barriers to Branding Success

  Ed Roach

  24 Aug 2010 | 6:02 am

  Everything that touches your brand affects it. How you market it, is the voice of your brand. Positioning is the stand you take. Community involvement is the heart of your brand. Brand perception is reality to your audience. How stake holders describe and talk about you has some impact on your brand standing and the perception factor. With all these influencers (and more that I haven't mentioned)

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  Guy Richards / Ordinary Life with a Brand Strategist

• #24 / You focus on fear to much!

  Guy Richards

  13 Aug 2010 | 9:35 am

  The plague of CEOs and executive teams. #24 / You focus on fear to much! from Guy Richards on Vimeo.

• #23 / What's the highest price problem you can solve?

  Guy Richards

  12 Aug 2010 | 6:41 am

  Down and dirty question to help you analyze what you do. #23 / What's the highest price problem you can solve? from Guy Richards on Vimeo.

• #22 / I fell off the grid!

  Guy Richards

  11 Aug 2010 | 1:42 pm

  The update. I'm holding on...but just by my finger nails. #22 / I fell off the grid! from Guy Richards on Vimeo.

• #21 / Join the adventure, fake snowboard park in VA

  Guy Richards

  26 Jul 2010 | 7:05 pm

  Checking in from Liberty Mountain in 90 degree weather wishing I wasn't in dress shoes and had about an hour to spare. ...with Justin BrackettPS. Yea I needed a haircut. #21 / Join the adventure, fake snowboard park from Guy Richards on Vimeo.

• #20 / At Jerry's House

  Guy Richards

  22 Jul 2010 | 3:44 am

  This is one of the wises people I know. During the course of his career he has raised over 2 billion for non-profits. #20 At Jerry's House from Guy Richards on Vimeo.

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  Orange Element

• Welcome to the New Orange Element Blog!

  Billy

  27 Aug 2010 | 11:55 am

  We hope you enjoy the new site design and features!

• A Gusto for Soccer

  Andrea Campbell

  13 Jul 2010 | 9:55 am

  We’ve enjoyed a month of World Cup action. As the games close, we’d like to pay a little attention to the type found throughout the event. Yomar Augusto designed Unity for Adidas. It reminds me a bit of Emigre’s Platelet, but the numbers held up great from afar on the jerseys and it is always nice to see a company practice consistency with a design element. The font appeared on everything from the soccer ball to the website to window graphics. Puma used Paul Barnes’ Crepello as seen on the Italian jerseys. I love the notches on the counter of the zero and the slight…

• Turn your junk into useful pieces of art

  Billy

  22 Jun 2010 | 5:53 am

  I know I personally like making sculptures out of random objects, but these guys take this to another level by utilizing found/used objects to make fantastic, usable and functional things. Not only are these great looking creations, but they’re a great way to recycle and make something beautiful all at once. For example, a light made entirely of soda tabs: From light bulbs to toilet paper rolls, there’s surely a project in here that will catch your interest. Check it out! Useless Junk Turned DIY Products

• Maryland Film Festival SIGNED Poster Giveaway!

  Andy Bonner

  5 May 2010 | 9:09 am

  The 2010 Maryland Film Festival starts tomorrow, and runs all throughout the weekend (May 6-9) right here in Baltimore! In honor of opening day, we are having two EXCITING giveaways! Find out how to enter below, and for more information on this year’s festival, including a full screening schedule for the entire weekend, please visit the Maryland Film Festival Website. You can also stay up-to-date on the latest happenings at the Festival by visiting the Maryland Film Festival Blog and following them on Twitter. Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for… Giveaway #1 One…

• A Day In The Life

  Andrea Campbell

  21 Apr 2010 | 8:48 am

  Congratulations to the coordinators of Baltimore’s first “A Day In The Life” event being held at MICA’s Brown Center this Saturday, April 24, 2010. The goal is to bring professionals and students together for discussion on the layers of our industry. Those lucky enough to have pre-registered will have the choice of attending small sessions throughout the day–11 options in total–that range from the business of design, branding, typography and the green movement. Our very own Aaron Moore is a panelist in the afternoon session The Value of Great Design. We are…

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  Brandweek - News and Features

• Disney Plugs In With Camp Rock 2 Sponsors

  6 Sep 2010 | 10:00 pm

  Cross-platform deals include Honda, Verizon FiOS, Best Western and Sara Lee.

• Timberland Offers 3D View of Earthkeepers

  3 Sep 2010 | 6:49 am

  Global effort employs 3D technology, social media to tout the brand's eco-friendly apparel.

• Pharma (Slowly) Goes Digital

  2 Sep 2010 | 8:43 am

  Online spending is expected to increase 10 percent this year.

• Apple Goes Social With Ping

  2 Sep 2010 | 5:06 am

  New social network serves as a promo platform for artists and a music discovery vehicle.

• Brand Icons 'Guest Star' in Xerox Campaign

  2 Sep 2010 | 12:59 am

  Following recent acquisition, the company is launching its largest effort in decades.

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  The BrandBuilder Blog

• Social Story: My very candid interview with Brandon Walters

  Olivier Blanchard

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:44 am

  Brandon Walters interviewed me kind of on the fly last week about the upcoming Social Story conference (Greenville, SC – September 24). The interview was obviously completely unscripted (at least for me). I haven’t watched it yet, but here it is anyway. (Click here if the video doesn’t launch for you.) We shot a lot more, so hopefully, other little tidbits and outtakes will pop up at some point. To sign up for the conference (seating is very limited), click here. Cheers, Olivier PS: Please note the absence of a moustache on my upper lip. Will this strike the final blow to…

• Social Media program planning 101: Purpose matters

  Olivier Blanchard

  5 Sep 2010 | 10:01 pm

  The Bird Man of Notre Dame - ©2010 Olivier Blanchard Just a quick note to start off the week: Purpose matters. Just a year ago, many of us were bemoaning the absence of major brands on the twitternets, myself included. PR departments were too slow to get into the space. Brand managers were still, for the most part, alien to the world of Social Media. Most organizations were at best cautious to enter the space when not overtly reluctant to do so, even dismissive. Today, as companies and their agencies are finally beginning to dip their toes and even try a few strokes on their own in the deep…

• The Social and the Media

  Olivier Blanchard

  3 Sep 2010 | 9:31 am

  The social: Less than an hour after checking into my room at the Westin in Sydney, my doorbell rings. (Wait… I have a doorbell?) At first, I think I am having auditory hallucinations, which isn’t good. I start to do the math: I left the Greenville-Spartanburg airport on Saturday at 11:05am. Passing through ATL, LAX and SYD, I have flown right through Sunday: It is now 11:23am on Monday. Time zones notwithstanding, that is how long I have been traveling to get here. My brain can’t do simple math anymore. I have no idea how many hours of sleep I have managed to grab in the…

• Ads vs. reality: The fast food stink test.

  Olivier Blanchard

  1 Sep 2010 | 9:36 am

  Source: www.boredpanda.com This. Is. Brilliant. Every time someone does a piece like this, I find myself grinning ear to ear. First, some attribution: The piece, published by www.boredpanda.com is tagged as a guest post by Dario D., who first published his images on his own site www.alphaila.com. I recommend that you check them both out for the full feature. Well worth a few minutes of your time. The premise (from Dario): So, I went to some fast food places (I won’t say “restaurants”, just “places”), and picked up burgers/tacos, so I could compare them with the ads. I brought the…

• Happy employees = Good business

  Olivier Blanchard

  1 Sep 2010 | 5:01 am

  From the vault: I had a fascinating conversation with a friend a few days ago who is on the verge of quitting his job. He’s always loved working where he is now, is friends with all of his colleagues, likes his boss, loves what he does… but the magic seems to be gone. I was kind of curious about what happened to so radically change his point of view. Was it the customers? Nope. Was he being treated differently by his boss? No again. Had anything changed in the last six months? Niet. So what was the problem? His answer: “I’m just not happy there anymore.”…

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  Mobile Commerce, SEO & Social Media Blog

• 21% Mobile Users Use In-Site Search Bar

  kara

  17 Aug 2010 | 11:14 am

  Approximately 21% of mobile website visitors use the search bar within the company’s mobile site, according to our analytics data for our clients. This finding makes sense since we know mobile website users are already used to the search bar when browsing the Web on their handheld device. Whether a shopper is using a BlackBerry or an iPhone, when a mobile user opens an Internet browser, the user is given 2 options at the top of the browser: The ability to enter your URL The ability to search using Google It’s only natural to give your mobile users the same sort of options on your mobile…

• Sephora’s Mobile Website Vendor Brings Beauty to Smartphones

  kara

  9 Aug 2010 | 12:21 pm

  Branding Brand Mobile Client: Sephora Project: Develop Mobile Website Send Inquiries to: info@brandingbrand.com You found the perfect shade of lipstick, but you’ve run out. When you get to the store to get a replacement, you realize there are many similar shades in that brand. It’s been a few months since you purchased your go-to shade, so you can’t remember the exact shade name, and unfortunately, you didn’t bring your old lipstick with you. So you’re stuck guessing, and can’t test your success or failure until you get home and find that “red” shade is too pink. This…

• Mobile Website Vendor Integrates Mobile and Social for Steve Madden

  kara

  30 Jul 2010 | 6:19 pm

  Branding Brand Mobile Client: Steve Madden Project: Develop Mobile Website and Integrate Social Send Inquiries to: info@brandingbrand.com Mobile website vendor, Branding Brand, launched Steve Madden’s mobile commerce-enabled site on April 19, 2010. With more and more retailers jumping onto the m-commerce bandwagon, it may’ve seemed like the natural next step in progress. But was it worth it? “Mobile commerce has yet to prove it can net big sales,” said Andria Cheng of MarketWatch. Despite the negative headline, Cheng also reported that Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru…

• Finders Keepers? What Should Be Done About the Lost iPhone

  nikkiglibert

  2 Jul 2010 | 2:52 pm

  We’ve all been there. It’s the night of your birthday and you are having a great time with friends at a local bar. By the end, you’re so exhausted you leave and forget your iPhone on the bar stool. No problem, you can just recover it tomorrow. No harm done. But if you’re Apple employee Gray Powell and that lost iPhone is the not-yet-released iPhone 4G, you’re in big trouble. How One Man Shook Apple to the Core What’s New About the 4G Were Gizmodo’s Actions Right or Wrong? It wasn’t just any phone—it was the not-yet-released iPhone 4G. How One…

• Be Like Clooney With The Best Link Building Strategies

  nikkiglibert

  14 Jun 2010 | 8:28 am

  Being the best doesn’t happen overnight. Just ask George Clooney. He sported his fair share of terrible haircuts (ahem..The Facts of Life mullet) and starred in some films he’d rather forget (heard of Return of the Killer Tomatoes! No? Me neither). But with hard work and some savvy career moves, Clooney is now the man with whom you want to work and connect. Now it’s time for your site to go from Mullet Man to Leading Man. Make your website the George Clooney of its targeted keywords when you use the best link building strategies. Want to learn more? Make Your Page…

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  Brand Champions

• Robo Calls Dilute Political Brands

  Rex Whisman

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:00 am

  Yesterday at about the time I was wondering what I would post for today I checked my voice mail. Low and behold a candidate for the U.S. Senate in my state gave me all the information that I needed for today's post. In a hurried, read from scripted kindergarten level message, this candidate ensured that he would not be getting my vote.Between now and November this candidate might want to read Seth Godin's book on permission marketing. Yesterday's voice mail was a classic case of what Godin refers to as interruption marketing. I did not give this candidate my phone number, nor am I…

• Brand Champion of the Day-Grover Cleveland

  Rex Whisman

  6 Sep 2010 | 5:00 am

  Today is a federal holiday in the United States. Known as Labor Day, the first Monday in September is devoted to people like you and me who spend most of our days working. The first Labor Day in the States was celebrated in New York on September 5, 1882. It became a federal holiday in 1894 due in large part to the efforts of the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, Grover Cleveland.Making peace with labor was one of Grover's top priorities. You might know that at that time there were many labor movements including the Pullman Strike and the Haymarket Affair. Creating a day…

• Blackwater Worldwide (Xe Services) Needs a Lesson in Branding 101

  Rex Whisman

  5 Sep 2010 | 5:00 am

  Apparently Blackwater Worldwide, now known as Xe Services, the much maligned security firm created more than 30 shell companies in attempt to get millions of US dollars in government contracts after its helter-skelter way of doing business in Iraq. It is estimated that since 2001 Blackwater was awarded nearly $600 million from the CIA.Ok, Blackwater, here is a lesson in branding. A brand is your name, what your name stands for, the associations that people make with your name when they hear or see your name. Whether your brand is Blackwater, Xe Services or whatever other names you have used,…

• Is Your Brand in Alignment with the Class of 2014?

  Rex Whisman

  4 Sep 2010 | 8:24 am

  If you are an organization like a college, university or other business that markets to Gen Y then you might want to take note. A few weeks ago Tom McBride and Ron Nief from Beloit College came out with their 13th annual Mind-Set List for the college class of 2014. Every year the two remind us of the age in which we live in and for those of us who are a little older, the remind of us of how old we are.For every organization it is an ongoing challenge to honor our traditions while at the same time placing it in a 21st century context. In other words, answering the question of how do we remain…

• Brand Champion of the Day-Staples

  Rex Whisman

  3 Sep 2010 | 5:00 am

  Staples is one of those organizations that is easy to take for granted. I mean that in a good way. Whether I am in Denver, Philadelphia, Washington, DC or wherever my travels take me, I know I can rely on Staples to deliver. While the layout of the store might be slightly different and different employees work at each location, the experience is going to be consistent.As a brand consultant I am always thinking about what an organization says they are going to deliver and then assess if they do what they say they are going to do. Staples positions itself in a very competitive category of…

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  BRANDING NEWS - Google News

• Kaleidoscopic festival brings top TV writers to Wrexham - BBC News

  8 Sep 2010 | 2:05 am

  Kaleidoscopic festival brings top TV writers to WrexhamBBC NewsThe festival will also feature a debate devoted to "Adapting Branding Wales" and will ask if a country can be a brand and if so how has 'Brand Wales' been and more »

• “Brand management is like looking after a baby” - JoongAng Daily

  8 Sep 2010 | 12:55 am

  “Brand management is like looking after a baby”JoongAng DailyIt is its core asset and the most important element of its branding strategies. It affects corporate value and customer response.

• DeSantis Breindel Debuts on the 2010 Inc. 5000 - PR Newswire (press release)

  8 Sep 2010 | 12:08 am

  DeSantis Breindel Debuts on the 2010 Inc. 5000PR Newswire (press release)7 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate branding and marketing communications firm, DeSantis Breindel, was named to Inc. Magazine's Fourth Annual Exclusive List of and more »

• Park51, in New Branding Effort, Revamps Its Website - Wall Street Journal (blog)

  7 Sep 2010 | 3:13 pm

  Park51, in New Branding Effort, Revamps Its WebsiteWall Street Journal (blog)The purpose of the new site is to have “new branding” to distinguish it from fake Twitter accounts and to have a formal blog, said Oz Sultan, and more »

• Saucony(R) Appoints Chris Lindner as Senior Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer - MarketWatch (press release)

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:16 pm

  Saucony(R) Appoints Chris Lindner as Senior Vice President/Chief Marketing OfficerMarketWatch (press release)In this role, Lindner will be responsible for providing strategic development and execution of Saucony's global branding initiatives, including brand and more »

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  MisEntropy

• On the lost art of argument

  blaiq

  7 Sep 2010 | 4:46 am

  E.J. Dionne : "It’s an approach to argument we’ve lost. What you have so often now on so-called argument shows is simply parallel assertions, competing sound-bites. That’s different from argument where, as Christopher Lasch put it, you have to enter imaginatively into the ideas of your opponents if only to refute them – but in the process you put your own views at risk."If you haven't risked losing your own views, you haven't argued at all.

• Chief Not Listening Officer

  blaiq

  6 Sep 2010 | 5:17 am

  The obvious - and rightful criticism - to the current fashion for Chief Listening Officers is that everybody in the organisation should be listening, not just one designated person or department.But as this report suggests, Chief Listening Officers aren't really performing the touchy-feely task enshrined on their business card but instead bringing hard data-analysis skills to the torrent of online chatter about the brand. In fact, Susan Beebe - CLO at Dell - describes her job as building "complex queries."I am in no doubt the need for such a role exists. What I question instead is the need…

• When not to use Foursquare

  blaiq

  6 Sep 2010 | 5:13 am

  [Original cartoon by Geek and Poke]

• Ready-made social media strategies

  blaiq

  2 Sep 2010 | 5:27 am

  Can't get a fix on your social media strategy yet? This site helps you make one up so you don't have to. [Original Illustration by Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig]

• Plannersphere Top 20 - September 2010

  blaiq

  2 Sep 2010 | 5:05 am

  The top 20 blogs in the plannersphere as of 2nd Sep. 2010 are: 01. We Are Social 02. Noah Brier dot Com  03. Nick Burcher 04. The Curious Brain 05. advertising lab  06. What Consumes Me 07. Only Dead Fish 08. The Musings of An Opinionated Sod 09. adliterate 10. russell davies 11. brand new  12. Get Shouty 13. Servant of Chaos 14. positive disruption by: Tom Martin  15. Influxinsights 16. The Hidden Persuader 17. Herd - the hidden truth about who we are 18. 180/360/720 19. Adspace Pioneers 20. Make Marketing History a. The top 20 blog list winnows out the planning/strategy blogs from the…

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  Bringing Brands to Life!

• 4 New Articles for Content Marketing Institute

  Thomas R. Clifford

  6 Sep 2010 | 7:23 pm

  Oops. I was so busy writing articles for Content Marketing Institute I forgot to share them with you here. Without further delay, here they are. 1. How Ringo Starr Can Help You Create Rockin’ Blog Content I've seen Ringo perform eight times ever since he launched his All Starr Band in 1989. As I was driving home after the concert, I got inspired to write this article. 2. Is Your Content Missing This Often-Overlooked Ingredient? We learned about using summaries way back when in school but we often forget to use them. Here's why they work so well. 3. Stuck for Content Ideas? Here’s How to…

• Celebrating Four Years of Blogging

  Thomas R. Clifford

  23 Aug 2010 | 5:19 am

  It's hard to believe but, yeah, it's been four years of writing articles on a variety of business communication topics, including: My 22 best-ever on-camera interviewing techniques Why precise email subject lines are like diamonds Why freewriting is an excellent idea for new bloggers How to stop email ping pong madness Employee engagement lessons from Fast Company's 30-Second MBA series My Interview with Author and Communications Coach Nick Morgan I honestly couldn't have done come this far without you and your support. Thank you for being part of the journey. I truly appreciate it. Tom PS.

• Comfort Zones: How to Nurture Your Communications in 60 Seconds (or Less)

  Thomas R. Clifford

  9 Aug 2010 | 4:52 pm

  Your clients won’t say it. Your vendors won’t say it. Heck, even your blog readers won’t say it. They’d love to tell you this, that and the other thing. But they can’t. Or won’t. They’re, um, uncomfortable Uncomfortable? Yup. They’re uncomfortable speaking their mind. And there’s a ridiculously easy way to solve this little bug-a-boo of a problem. You create a “comfort zone.” What’s a “comfort zone?” A comfort zone is an atmosphere that is created to let people know their thoughts are welcome any time during your communications process. A comfort zone allows people…

• How to Let Your Articles Breathe

  Thomas R. Clifford

  26 Jul 2010 | 4:23 pm

  You’re breathing, right? Good! Now carefully watch your breath. Did you feel that tiny pause? The pause in-between your breaths? No? Let’s try another example, then. Take your favorite CD. Notice what’s in-between the songs? Canyouimaginelisteningtoyourfavoritecdwithoutanybreaksinbetweensongs? Neither can I. That’s the power of the “pause” And your articles are no different. Articles need pauses, too. Pauses help your content to “breeeeeathe.” What does it mean to let your article “breathe?” Letting your article “breathe” means inserting periodic pauses throughout your…

• How the 10-20-30 Principle Cures Chaotic Writing Schedules

  Thomas R. Clifford

  20 Jul 2010 | 6:27 am

  Ever get a song stuck in your head? Sure you have. Ah, yes, but have you ever tried to stop it? And you can’t? What makes that song so memorable? The song’s got rhythm, my friend, rhythm! But wait a minute. Is your writing schedule as infectious as that rhythm in the song? If not, then how do you throw some of that good ol’ rhythm into your writing day? Actually, it’s pretty darn easy. Just use the 10-20-30 Principle. What is the 10-20-30 Principle? The 10-20-30 Principle is a simple schedule to help build up your writing discipline. If you struggle with a disciplined writing…

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  Brains On Fire Blog

• Lesson Eleven | Movements Move People to Believe

  Robbin

  7 Sep 2010 | 11:11 am

  Today’s Lesson Eleven is written by John Moore, our dear friend and a part of our amazing extended tribe. Enjoy. BTW, check out John latest project, Tough Love, a business book masquerading as a screenplay. Let’s face it, BRAINS ON FIRE is an odd name to call a company. Odd that is until you understand what it means. As an outsider who has been embraced by the Brains on Fire family, I’ve come to understand what their oddball name means. The Brains on Fire name is best explained from their internal company manifesto, creatively titled, Tequila Shots… “Brains on…

• Geno’s iPad Thoughts

  Eric Dodds

  3 Sep 2010 | 6:39 am

  First, a big, happy Friday from Brains on Fire. We’re excited because we’ve got some great coffee brewing, some great tunes cranking, and a long weekend ahead. If you’ve spent any time with Geno, you know he’s a hands-on, visual thinker. He’s been on the road a good bit lately, but I was able to wrangle some thoughts he’s been cooking up on his iPad. Today’s post is a simple statement, but hopefully it’ll encourage you to think about how companies relate to their customers. Do your customers hum with you, or sing with you? This could apply in…

• Looking Up and Moving Down…Stairs!

  Eric Dodds

  1 Sep 2010 | 9:22 am

  It’s been a big few weeks at Brains on Fire. We’ve met a handful of great new people, have already heard great stories from people who are reading the book, got a team on the ground getting dirt underneath their fingernails with some Insight work, and Geno got a new tweed jacket in the mail. If that’s not enough Firesphere awesome-ness for you, we’ve got another piece of exciting news: Brains on Fire is moving the creative spaces our Pirates work at to the lower deck! You read that right. Things have been getting bigger and better around here, so we’re bringing…

• Lesson Eleven: The First Post - It’s About People, Stupid

  Eric Dodds

  31 Aug 2010 | 1:22 pm

  It’s good to be back on the blog. You know, I really miss being here when things get busy - but you’re looking good, as always, and we’ve got some exciting stuff happening around here. And with that, we’re off: If you’ve been following the Firephere over the last few months you might have heard that Brains on Fire has been furiously thinking, typing, editing, sketching and publishing a love story. And that story happens to be inked on the pages of a book we’ve named after the state of mind we seek for ourselves, our clients and our kindred spirits: Brains…

• The book is here! The book is here!

  Robbin

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:10 am

  For the last year in addition our wonderful day jobs, we have been working overtime @brainsonfire —I mean triple time — to craft a book of lessons learned in igniting powerful, sustainable, word of mouth movements. And geez, we hope you like us enough to want to read it. So guess what? TODAY August 30, 2010 is the official release date of Brains on Fire; Igniting Powerful Sustainable Word of Mouth Movements. We’re so excited and I am frankly a little bit nervous for some reason. It reminds me of my college days in art school. When we’d put our finished art work up for critic.

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  Unbound Edition

• The Problem With Brand Valuation

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:21 am

  We’re about at the midpoint between the release of Forbes’ “The World’s Most Valuable Brands” report back in last July and Interbrand’s “Best Global Brands” report which is due out on September 15th (it usually gets picked up by Businessweek.) You know those studies which report, for example, that Coca-Cola is the world’s top brand, or that Google’s brand value at $39.7BB is still way off from Apple’s at $57.4BB. So I thought now would be a good time to raise a concern I have about these methodologies.

• Marketing Fanciful Items in the Lands of Make Believe

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:12 am

  Intrigued by the willingness of millions of consumers to pay real money for things that do not exist, some large companies are testing whether they can raise awareness of their brands — and sell more actual goods — by creating and offering their own pretend merchandise. Volvo Cars of North America, the clothing retailer H&M and MTV Networks are among the diverse brands entering the market for virtual goods — the make-believe items offered on social-networking games, smartphone apps or fantasy Internet sites.

• A Virtual Counter-Revolution

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:28 am

  The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it.

• Maturialism

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:23 am

  As the busiest time of the year is about to kick in for many of you, we thought we’d keep things lighthearted this month. Check out the rise in 'mature materialism': experienced, less-easily shocked, outspoken consumers who appreciate brands that are more daring, outspoken, even a bit more risqué.

• Some Newspapers, Tracking Readers Online, Shift Coverage

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:21 am

  In most businesses, not knowing how well a particular product is performing would be almost unthinkable. But newspapers have always been a peculiar business, one that has stubbornly, proudly clung to a sense that focusing too much on the bottom line can lead nowhere good. Now, because of technology that can pinpoint what people online are viewing and commenting on, how much time they spend with an article and even how much money an article makes in advertising revenue, newspapers can make more scientific decisions about allocating their ever scarcer resources.

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  Expert in the Rough, Brian Monahan

• Buy a Rubber Duck, Feed The Hungry, Win a Car!

  Brian Monahan

  31 Aug 2010 | 7:28 pm

  Buy a Rubber Duck, Feed The Hungry, Win a Car! Make a Difference in the World! Direct and to the Point Request: Getting to the Point – I just spent some time at the Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati learning about how they feed the hungry.  It is my hope that you will take the time to visit their website and help them feed the hungry.  RubberDuckRegatta.org – The Upcoming Rubber Duck Regatta is the easiest way you can contribute in the short term. Long Version: A few years ago I stumbled onto the “Cincinnati Battle of the Blogs.”  I am not sure it was a formal battle…

• Rekindle Your Passion

  Brian Monahan

  23 Aug 2010 | 4:30 am

  The Personal Passion Project is off and running. 6 fantastic people have chosen a different path, an authentic path of passion. I am so grateful for this group of people. One of the greatest gifts I find from teaching is the “Quantum Feedback” you get from others lessons and insights. During the most recent class the group was sharing their experiences outside the class engaging their passion. Being a firm believer in “the perfect storm” a number of the class members have overlapping passions and interests but are at different points on the journey. One of the group…

• The Passion Bus – All Aboard

  Brian Monahan

  3 Aug 2010 | 1:00 pm

  All ABOARD! No this is not the “Magic Bus” but I wouldn’t blame you for confusing the two. I am talking about the “Passion Bus,” a vehicle that will carry you to your PASSION.  You might be thinking Brian you have really outdone yourself a vehicle for your passion. Humor me for a bit and let me play with this BUS metaphor. What is the definition for a vehicle anyway? “A medium through which something is transmitted, expressed, or accomplished” Sounds good to me.  I would love to transmit, express and/or accomplish my Passion.  Hence the…

• Stick Your Neck Out – My TEDx Cincy Proposal

  Brian Monahan

  30 Jul 2010 | 3:14 pm

  “Stick Your Neck Out”……AKA “Get a Pair,” is one of my favorite success strategies.  I have always been a firm believer that the “World” is presented on a silver platter for those willing to take a risk and put their spirit on the line. As many of you know, one of my dreams is to be a keynote speaker.  I have been training with Toastmasters for the last 2 years and continue to hone my speaking skills.  With that being said, I still have a long way to go.  Since joining Toastmasters I have had numerous opportunities to speak and have taken on…

• Passion on Pause, Press Play

  Brian Monahan

  27 Jul 2010 | 8:44 pm

  Is your Passion on Pause, Press Play? Play is a funny word if you think in terms of VCR’s and DVD players versus the act of playing.  It is even funnier when you pair it up with a concept like Passion. I think a lot of people suffer from a misdiagnosed passion problem. Most people as they get older lose touch with their passion and believe their passion has become a lost cause. I am suggesting possibly their passion is merely on pause. Being my day job is in the audio visual production industry this metaphor should be a slam dunk for me. Were talking about Passion being like the media…

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  ID-ology

• Strategy Opening – Brand Strategist needed

  brandstrategist

  2 Sep 2010 | 10:43 am

  ID Branding http://www.idbranding.com has an immediate need for the role of Brand Strategist. ID Branding pulls together the best and brightest people from advertising, design, interactive, and branding to work together under one roof. We help our clients grow meaningful and enduring brands. To do so, we have a multidisciplinary, media agnostic approach that demands that each employee work in cross-functional, flexible team-driven environment. The ideal Brand Strategist candidate should have a minimum of three to five years of experience in a branding agency working with clients in a variety…

• When is marketing not just marketing?

  douglaslowell

  25 Aug 2010 | 11:38 am

  How about when it’s used as an expression of affection, like in the picture above?  Or how about when someone else uses it to propose marriage? This June, we worked with Powell’s Books, the great Portland institution of higher reading, to create a brand experience that would deepen customers’ relationships with Powells, and guide the in-store customer to consider using the online store, Powells.com. The idea is fairly simple on paper (execution was not quite so simple): we create a photobooth-type experience inside the store that lets customers have their picture taken in…

• Brand Inferno, Brand Paradiso

  joshuaberger

  9 Aug 2010 | 2:22 am

  We’re taking a page from Dante, who gave himself permission to put anyone he wanted into Inferno or Paradiso. Likewise, we invite you to do the same with brands. Tell us which brands you think are the best and which are the worst. You’ll be able to see how others have voted once you’re done. We think its an interesting exercise in analyzing how brands affect us and how we think of them. So get all judgmental and make your picks.

• Powell’s photo booth up and running

  douglaslowell

  15 Jul 2010 | 11:56 am

  Now’s your chance to go to Powell’s City of Books (the downtown store) and get your picture taken with your name on the Powell’s marquee — an honor usually reserved for great authors and other luminaries. It’s fun. It’s free. It’s digital, so you can share it with your friends. And you won’t have to risk your life by standing in the middle of Burnside to do it. As a nice bonus, you can sign up to get a 20% discount on your next Powells.com purchase (online only). That doesn’t hurt. The photo booth will be up till September 25. - Doug

• You need kevlar undies these days

  douglaslowell

  2 Jul 2010 | 4:59 pm

  It’s looking like branding as we come out of the recession is still not for the faint of heart or weak of bowels. Good Lord. I sure felt the truth of this over the last several weeks. And it looks like the new Forrester report called The Future of  Agency Relationships confirms it. We recently started working with a new client and straight out of the gate we’re launching an important promotion and ongoing brand experience that no one either here at ID Branding or there at the client has ever done before. In fact, the more experts I talk to in hopes of smoothing the process a bit,…

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  Bhatnaturally

• Seen and noted: Breast Cancer Foundation

  bhatnaturally

  29 Aug 2010 | 10:06 am

  One of the campaigns that caught my eye both for what it said and how it said, is the one from Breast Cancer Foundation, Singapore. Agency: DDB, Singapore. Via: Ads of the World I think it brings alive the importance of regular breast checkups by cleverly juxtaposing it against things women typically obsess about. I thought the insight was bang on and the art direction was superb. But like so many such public service ads, I wish the call for action was a bit more definite & stronger: ‘show support for the women in your life by purchasing a Pink Ribbon’, says the last line.

• ‘Papa, should I join advertising?’ – Part 2

  bhatnaturally

  27 Aug 2010 | 12:01 pm

  So what advice do I give my daughter if she considers advertising as a career? I have enough time (about 15 years) to think of a response but if I were to do so based on the industry of today? The positives of joining the industry are quite a few. What about the negatives? Maybe I should just point her towards AdScam who will tell her what’s wrong with the industry in a manner only he can, expletives and all. Or maybe I can list some points that come to mind: Get paid less for what you enjoy doing: the entry level pay in advertising is poor compared to say Banking, FMCG marketing, media…

• Nissan (and Volkswagen) Innovation for all

  bhatnaturally

  26 Aug 2010 | 10:07 am

  I liked the insight here: however much you love your gadgets or possessions, parenthood prepares you for sacrifice. And Nissan helps you have your cake and eat it too. The ad is part of the new ‘Innovations for all‘ campaign from TBWA/Chiat Day for Nissan. Closer home, Volkswagen India has been running the ‘Innovations for everyone‘ campaign with pretty much a similar idea – focusing on the little features that make a big difference. Which one works for you? Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

• Volkswagen makes head turn in a print ad

  bhatnaturally

  26 Aug 2010 | 9:43 am

  I love print advertising. Especially when they create an impact by using the medium cleverly. Here’s one such from Volkswagen in the UK. Lovely use of the physical space, integrated beautifully with the central message. And seems like a collaborative effort from both the Copy & Art teams. Who said you need a full page ad to create impact in a daily? Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

• ‘Papa, should I join advertising?’ – Part 1

  bhatnaturally

  22 Aug 2010 | 10:25 am

  My daughter, all of 4.5 years old seems to have artistic tendencies. She and I squabble over who gets to use the iPad (she wins invariably) and more often than not, she ends up drawing or colouring in the various drawing apps (Color & Draw for Kids, Drawing Pad) I have installed. She has also taken to crayons, water colors and clay models. It got me wondering about the kind of career she will pursue when grown up. Yes, I know, we are talking 15 years from now – who knows what will happen then? But just in case she considers Advertising as a career, what kind of advice am I likely to…

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  Integrated Branding Blog | Movéo

• Your brand + local search

  Jeff Swanson

  17 Aug 2010 | 11:38 am

  Integrated branding requires delivering a consistent message across all marketing channels. An incomplete local listing (think Google Maps, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Yellow Pages, etc.) not only decreases your visibility in search results, but it sends a less than satisfactory message to users about your brand. And sometimes the listings are inaccurate. I can speak from experience. One of my clients - through no fault of their own - had an incorrect address in infoUSA's database. It so happens that infoUSA supplies data to many Online players, so the incorrect address was listed all over the…

• Brand Transparency in a Social Media Age

  Jeff Swanson

  23 Jul 2010 | 8:51 am

  Internet access provides consumers with endless amounts of information at their fingertips. To put this in perspective, let's compare our process of collecting information today to that of 15 years ago. Imagine a grade school student in mid-90's. If this person needed information they would probably start out by asking their parents or another family member. If that proved insufficient, the next stop would an encyclopedia or perhaps a trip to local library. Image courtesy of flaivoloka on stock.xchng Now compare that to today. You want to know how to tie a knot, cancer research, book reviews,…

• 3 Simple Ways Non-profits Can Promote a Cause Through Social Media

  Jeff Swanson

  13 May 2010 | 2:56 pm

  1. Tweet. Find people who are interested in your topic by searching conversations on search.twitter.com. Reach out by following them and sending them a personalized message. You'll be surprised by how many follow back or find you by searching through conversations. Once you've built a following. Share your important announcements and hopefully some of your followers will Retweet it to their followers. Just make sure that you're not only tweeting about yourself. Converse with your followers by answering or asking questions that pertain to them. Be active within your online…

• Query Parsing Explained

  Jeff Swanson

  29 Mar 2010 | 7:30 am

  If you're running a geo-specific AdWords campaign you may have wondered why you sometimes receive, and thus pay, for clicks outside of the area you are targeting. For example, you may be running a campaign for a local business in downtown Chicago. And to make sure that your ads only reach local searchers, you've indicated exactly which ZIP codes you want associated with your ads. However, when you sift through the analytics, you see that some of the users that are clicking on your ads are from outside the pre-determined ZIP's. They might be coming from New York or San Diego or…

• Building From the Inside Out

  Moveo

  23 Mar 2010 | 11:39 am

  Many brand-building efforts begin with development of the strategy and then proceed directly to an external launch. The most important step is ignored — communicating the essence and relevance of the brand among all internal stakeholders — making it the fabric of the organization.The most successful organizations understand that if employees are aligned with the brand strategy, including the brand promise, they will deliver a consistent expression of the brand to its customers.Powerhouse brands such as Mayo Clinic and GE are prime examples. Each has dedicated itself to helping its…

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  spatially relevant

• The ROI of Brand: Top 25 Innovators 2010

  Jon Gatrell

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:32 am

  BusinessWeek recently announced the Top 25 Innovators for 2010 in a slideshow on their website and it’s interesting which companies bubbled to the top and which companies didn’t/never do in these types of surveys.   The Top 25 is part of a broader unit of work which looks at the Top 50 innovators globally. The survey of “global senior executives” is an annual activity which is done in partnership with Boston Consulting Group and has been tracked since 2005.    The methodology purposefully did not define innovation, which in and of itself is difficult to…

• Relevant Reading – September 5rd

  Jon Gatrell

  5 Sep 2010 | 3:19 pm

  here you go, been slacking for a couple of days or more: After the brainstorm – Tom Fishburne 104 Social Media Case Studies – See how they did it. Who Writes Write? A Little Bit Of Different Go ahead raise your price if you want more profits.

• 6 Approaches to market research without an analyst budget

  Jon Gatrell

  2 Sep 2010 | 1:02 pm

  Market research is tough stuff and the availability of data online sometimes makes it tough to sift through all the data. Due to the massive amount of data out there, many marketers rely on analyst for synthesizing marketing data and providing the lion share of data used in research projects.  While this approach can be helpful if you have a subscription, most of us need more context than high level numbers from an analyst firm to baseline our understanding of a market.   It’s not that the analysts are off, they all have their own take on the market.  Often analyst market…

• Is your B2B marketing boring?

  Jon Gatrell

  29 Aug 2010 | 12:10 pm

  Doug Kessler thinks it just might be, since it can be really easy to slip into content as a chore. Why B2B Marketing is so Boring View more presentations from Doug Kessler.

• Relevant Reading – August 22nd to August 25th

  Jon Gatrell

  25 Aug 2010 | 9:00 pm

  here you go, been slacking for a couple of days or more: Product Names aren't just sorta important, they are like really important and stuff. Why should brands bother with Twitter? The 5 NEW Rules Of Social Media Optimization (SMO) Social Media – is it really mainstream in B2B Marketing? Ask Better Questions: The Starting Point for Creating Effective B2B PR & Marketing Content Want Better Feedback? Be More “Brain-Friendly”

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  Lies, damned lies and statistics

• The Fading Glory of the Television and Telephone?

  dirktherabbit

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:35 pm

  Tweet Despite the decline of print media, it’s generally a given that TV still forms the foundation of the average consumer media diet.   For example, the results from the recent (UK) Ofcom Communications Market Report were clear.   When asked to choose one can’t live without medium, 50% of consumers chose TV with the PC+Internet in a distant second place at 15% and mobile phones at 11% (print scored 4%). However a Pew Report from the US (via the NY Times) provides a slightly different take on the role of TV.  The title of the report – ‘The Fading Glory of the…

• 77% of Brits online – more than half the online population now on Facebook?

  dirktherabbit

  6 Sep 2010 | 10:17 pm

  Tweet According to the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS), 38.3 million of us – or 77% of the population aged 16+ – are now online (via emarketer).   If we tie those into the recent Facebook stats, that would mean that with 27.8 million accounts,72.5% of the UK Internet population is now on Facebook..sounds very high and some of it must be due to duplicate or more likely dormant accounts but it would be realistic to say that it is 50%+ if not 2/3. Some highlights from the table above:   Reading or downloading online news and newspapers is as popular among 16-24…

• 2663 years of online video streamed live

  dirktherabbit

  5 Sep 2010 | 12:52 am

  Tweet According to research group Comscore, almost 1.5 billion minutes or 2663 years of online video were streamed live last year.   As Mark Raby of TG Daily says, that is ‘nauseatingly incredible.’ The 3.2 million views in July netted by USTREAM (the other two main players being Livestream and Justin.tv) is still fairly modest – YouTube gets two billion views a day after all. However, people watch live video streaming for 7% longer than static clips on video sharing channels, and video streaming services are better at netting the 18-34 male gadget fanatic audience (social…

• Facebook marches on and on – Mexico, India, Brazil lead the way

  dirktherabbit

  3 Sep 2010 | 10:16 am

  Tweet Recently there has been some discussion about whether Facebook has hit its ceiling in both the US and UK and whether penetration could move much above 40%.   Apparently it can as the August figures from Inside Facebook show.   The August stats seem to suggest that early summer dips for Britain and the States were at least in part due to seasonality with the US showing 3.9% month on month growth and the UK 2.9% US penetration now stands at 43.8% in the UK it is 45.9%.   Canada is also on track to become the 1st country where more than half the population uses the service (currently…

• Sales still an important factor behind brand social media efforts

  dirktherabbit

  31 Aug 2010 | 2:47 pm

  Tweet Despite well documented examples of brands maintaining Twitter feeds, and using them to respond to customers, customer service is by and large not the biggest motivation behind brands setting up social media profiles. This is according to social media monitoring service Alterian (via MarketingProfs) which found that fairly standard marketing objectives lay behind branded social media efforts. “Acquiring new customers”…or rather plain old sales was the number one objective for 30.1%, followed by awareness raising (26.5%), and using it as a communications channel for…

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  The Brand Chef

• The Interview… Who IS The Brand Chef?

  Andrew

  13 Aug 2010 | 9:20 am

  Have you ever wondered how I became The Brand Chef? It’s not a story I tell often, but in a recent  interview with Johnny Wright (Twitter: @unsecretshopper), better known as The UnSecret Shopper the TRUTH was revealed. The request came out of the blue (proof of building a good personal brand), but after a few Twitter direct messages and a phone call-or-two, I decided Johnny had some great things to talk about and was very interested in learning more about The Brand Chef, marketing strategies and generally what I do… (go figure). In 19 short minutes, we covered everything from…

• Marketers – You Need To SPEND!

  Andrew

  4 Aug 2010 | 1:11 pm

  Economic times are tough for marketing and advertising agencies. Businesses are backing off marketing budgets. Some are folding their hands and letting fate take their brand into the abyss. Heck, some are closing the doors all together. And that directly affects the marketing and agency professionals that depend on them for their own livelihood. So what do you do in hard times? What do you do when times require tightening the belt or cutting back? Hopefully you do what we all tell our clients to do… “For God’s sake, keep marketing!” Without constant visibility, people (even customers…

• The 8 D’s Of Successful Marketing

  Andrew

  29 Jul 2010 | 8:24 pm

  If I include my college internship, this September will be my 20th year working in, on and around marketing. I’ve seen some successful campaigns. I’ve seen some pitiful campaigns. Fortunately, I’ve learned something from them all, but the most important thing I’ve learned is how to tell them apart. (Trust me, some can’t…) So what IS the difference between a successful and a pitiful marketing campaign? STRATEGY. All Marketing Strategy Is Not The Same If you walk through any marketing department or advertising agency, without a doubt, you’ll see computers, printers, scanners,…

• We Don’t Need Another Hero – A Rebuttal

  Andrew

  23 Jul 2010 | 9:54 am

  This morning, one of my Des Moines social media cohorts wrote a post about the recent onslaught of social media companies, consultants and “Superstars” that have recently dotted our fine city. Troy Rutter hasn’t hidden his distaste for the trend of social media consultants popping up out of nowhere (here, here, and here). But in this morning’s post, he created a correlation to other markets and specifically to the hotbed of social media action that is Boston – calling names like Chris Brogan, CC Chapman and Chris Penn as the benchmark to which all social media “Superstars” would…

• Can We Treat Our Customers Like Children?

  Andrew

  22 Jul 2010 | 12:52 pm

  Yep, it’s coming. Christmas. Sure, right now it’s 93 degrees (in my neighborhood) and Christmas is a whole 156 days away, but I can almost see all of the commercials now. Don’t they start airing some time in September?!? And shortly after, my kids start communicating with every sentence starting with, “I NEED…” It’s as predictable as the tides. What do you do? The Child’s Mind And The “Want vs. Need” Paradigm About mid October, when the kids finally succumb to the hypnotizing din of “New and improved this…” or “Now with 3D and smell-o-vision that,” I stop…

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  Brand 3.0 activities

• cristian.saracco and a non-registered user posted 2 comments on Masstige brands or the problem of being the ham of the sandwich  

  Brand 3.0

  8 Sep 2010 | 2:54 am

  cristian.saracco and a non-registered user posted 2 comments on Masstige brands or the problem of being the ham of the sandwich  

• askdavidchalk became a member of Brand 3.0  

  Brand 3.0

  5 Sep 2010 | 10:14 pm

  askdavidchalk became a member of Brand 3.0  

• jausoro became a member of Brand 3.0  

  Brand 3.0

  31 Aug 2010 | 3:30 am

  jausoro became a member of Brand 3.0  

• VPANIZZO became a member of Brand 3.0  

  Brand 3.0

  22 Aug 2010 | 9:28 pm

  VPANIZZO became a member of Brand 3.0  

• cristian.saracco posted a comment on Brandtopía... o la necesidad de apretar el botón de 'Avanzar' hacia el pasado  

  Brand 3.0

  20 Aug 2010 | 6:32 am

  cristian.saracco posted a comment on Brandtopía... o la necesidad de apretar el botón de 'Avanzar' hacia el pasado  

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  StickyFigure

• Test-Driving Paper.li

  Steve Woodruff

  31 Aug 2010 | 4:02 am

  As you may already be aware, I’ve recently transitioned this blog from the name StickyFigure to my updated identity, Connection Agent. The major reason is that I’m intent on exploring new ways to connect people and networks, and build new business structures based on Networked Communications. As part of that effort, The Connection Agent blog and Twitter account (@ConnectionAgent) will be places where we experiment with stuff. New technologies and approaches to tie people together. In the past few weeks, I’ve been test-driving paper.li, which automagically curates a daily…

• Networked Communications (part 6): The New Digital Neighborhoods

  Steve Woodruff

  27 Aug 2010 | 5:18 am

  Your community used to be your extended family, your neighbors, your schoolmates and members of various community groups. The ties were physical and, by and large, local. They still are – but now we take part in whole new neighborhoods. Communities built around shared interests and common causes, all brought together with digital tools. The new neighborhoods are found on digital networks. They’re local, global, temporary, permanent, rooted in the past or purpose-built for the present and the future. And businesses that don’t recognize this sea change – people who…

• Networked Communications (part 5): Someone Took Down the Fences

  Steve Woodruff

  26 Aug 2010 | 3:46 am

  Brief technical lesson: If computers are linked via a central computer, that’s a client-server setup. If they are linked directly, that’s peer-to-peer. OK, lesson over. The Internet runs on thousands of servers, lashed together to provide information. Businesses have run on client-server architecture for a long time. And throughout many years, there were many walls and fences between free access to people and information. No more. Social media is all about peer-to-peer communications – that is, people directly having access to one another. Unmediated. LinkedIn lets you reach…

• Someone Please Make This

  Steve Woodruff

  25 Aug 2010 | 5:23 pm

  Backstory: A lot of what we do in social networking really ends up NOT being conversation. So…here’s the real-time, conversational social networking platform I want: - I can be inside a wide open area (the Lounge), or grab a Room with a few friends for a more private chat. - I can lurk quietly and observe, or make my presence known and interact. - In the Rooms, I can engage using text/chat, audio, or video. With 1-10 people. - I can classify my contacts by level of intimacy, so that I can more quickly and easily connect to closer friends (knowing when they are present) - I can set…

• Networked Communications (part 4): The Incredibly Shrinking Middleman

  Steve Woodruff

  25 Aug 2010 | 8:12 am

  Disintermediation (Wikipedia link). That’s what we’re talking about. When the people and processes and barriers between point A and point B shrink or disappear. Making things faster, cheaper, more direct. This week, Seth Godin announced that he was “done” with publishing traditional books. This was actually a logical progression – the book industry has been undergoing disintermediation for years, and the fact is, we can now reach audiences without all the overhead (and cost) of the traditional publishing and distribution process. Digital technology, including…

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  Branding Matters

• 3 Misconceptions About Branding for Small Business

  Jason VanLue

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:00 am

  I firmly believe that the best thing small businesses and organizations can do to become more successful is to embrace and implement a focused brand development strategy. Unfortunately, there are too many businesses and organizations that either don’t understand branding, undervalue branding, or have misconceptions about how branding can help their specific situation. I find myself many times, when discussing creative needs with a client, that these misconceptions about branding are some of the first hurdles we need to address. Because unless you understand the importance, value, and…

• Branding for Small Business – An Overview

  Jason VanLue

  29 Aug 2010 | 1:05 pm

  Definitions Before we get too far along, I’d like to provide some definitions to help us understand what we’re talking about. Small Business – According to the US Small Business Administration, a small business is defined as “one that is independently owned and operated and which is not dominant in its field of operation.” Additionally, the SBA offers ranges for the size of small businesses, which varies across industries, but usually employs less than 100-150 employees. For the sake of argument, when I mention small business, I am referring to organizations that…

• Branding – Cost or Investment?

  Jason VanLue

  28 Aug 2010 | 12:26 pm

  I’ve had several clients and small business owners tell me lately that they can’t start any new branding initiatives because they are cutting costs and streamlining their operations to help navigate the economic challenges. While I’ll be the first to admit that the current economic situation should cause all of us to take a good, hard look at our business model, and that cutting costs and reducing expenses is a wise endeavor – I think there’s a fundamental mistake in that line of reasoning. Branding shouldn’t be considered a cost – and therefore be…

• 3 Keys to Succesful Branding for Small Business

  Jason VanLue

  28 Aug 2010 | 10:35 am

  In an information-soaked world, it is more important than ever for any business or organization to employ an integrated and focused brand strategy in order to be successful. And this is no different for small businesses – in fact, it might just be more important for small businesses. In a small business or organization, rarely do you have the financial support, time, or recognition in the marketplace to simply “plod” along. In a world where thousands of companies and products are vying for consumers’ attentions, it is vital to make sure you are positioning your product…

• Branding Barrier: How to Brand with a Small Budget

  Jason VanLue

  20 Aug 2010 | 2:08 pm

  Let’s face it, times are tight. It’s hard enough for small businesses and organizations to keep the cash flow going in a thriving economy, let alone in a difficult one. I’ve covered the importance of viewing branding as an investment, rather than a cost, but when finances are strained, your expenses and your investments seem like the same thing. After all, it’s all coming out of the same place right? So how do you continue to view your brand strategy with an investment mindset, when you have little to know money to throw at brand development? Is it possible to grow…

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  BrandDigital | BrandSimple

• Experiential branding is a whole new experience for some companies

  Allen Adamson

  23 Aug 2010 | 6:52 am

  Ever notice that the word “ambulance” is printed in reverse on the front of the vehicle? It’s so drivers can look in their rear view mirrors and know to get out the way quickly (as if the screaming sirens weren’t enough of an indication). I noticed the same reverse printing on the front of a Whole Foods delivery truck while I was out doing errands the other day. It was a brilliant branding tactic as it immediately got me to think about the first-rate food products and personal service associated with the brand name. In fact, it made me think about the actual experience…

• Good Brands Focus and Deliver

  Allen Adamson

  9 Aug 2010 | 6:51 am

  Even in Hollywood, the script for building great brands starts with focus. News of sightings of great white sharks off beaches this summer was as disconcerting as these stories always are. But for me, there was an added level of agita. I was reminded of how lousy this summer movie season has been. Where’s a “Jaws” when you could use a little distraction from the generally disconcerting news of the day. In my recent column in Forbes Online I write about how and why Hollywood’s lost its way and what I think the moguls need to do to get back on track and get movie buffs…

• What do Playboy, the 2011 Corvette, and Martha Stewart have in common?

  Allen Adamson

  21 Jul 2010 | 6:11 am

  Okay, wait a second. It’s not what you think. I’ve never been good at telling jokes and I’m not about to start. No, as a branding guy, what I noted over the last few weeks relative to the names in the above headline is that there was a common brand-building, or more specifically, re-building challenge. When I read that Hugh Hefner wanted to buy back outstanding shares of his Playboy empire and revitalize it and then saw that Chevrolet had launched a campaign for the sexy, 2011 Corvette with the same objective for its hero brand, it occurred to me that to succeed these two…

• TV advertising is still hot, if it follows the right recipe

  Allen Adamson

  9 Jul 2010 | 6:00 am

  Come on, admit it. Every once in a while you see a television advertising spot that makes you chuckle. Maybe you even spend a few moments chatting about it with colleagues at the water cooler. Perhaps you’ve even been known to send an ad link to friends and family in order to share the laughs. The fact of the matter is that good television advertising still exists, and people still pay attention to it, despite the cluttered digital environment. Notice I said “good television advertising.” While lots of it deserves to be Tivo-ed out of the picture, the spots that succeed do…

• Going back to move brands forward in tough times

  Allen Adamson

  21 Jun 2010 | 8:00 am

  Did you know that Kellogg’s Corn Flakes has been around for 104 years? I picked up this little bit of breakfast trivia when I picked up a newspaper and saw an ad touting the fact that the cereal has been “fat-free and cholesterol-free since 1906.” Now, I’m pretty sure folks back in 1906 didn’t pay as much heed to dietary requirements as folks today. But the folks at Kellogg’s being the great brand professionals they are, know what it requires to keep a brand healthy, including the need to keep it relevant. In my recent article in Forbes Online I write about…

• 

  The Brand Show

• Unlock the Social, Mobile, Local Badge with Foursquare

  26 Aug 2010 | 3:23 pm

  As of January 2010, Foursquare was averaging more than one check-in per second.All aboard! We’re hopping back on the SoMoLo (social-mobile-local) train. This week, we’re chatting it up with Foursquare, the go-to mobile application for your inner-social circle and retail therapy needs. Beyond the social status perks Foursquare gives to its users, it also beefs up the bottom line for local retailers by creating new and loyal customers. Eric Friedman, Director of Client Services at Foursquare, shares his perspective on shopper conversion, Facebook Places and the privacy debate. Check out the…

• What's The Deal With Groupon?

  19 Aug 2010 | 1:53 pm

  Groupon is the largest deal-of-the-day business in the world, relying solely on the virality of social media, email, mobile and world-of-mouth.This week, it's on with Groupon, the localized, deal-of-the-day website. Forbes.com recently named Groupon the fastest growing business in history based on a valuation of more than $1 billion not even 16 months after startup. Today Groupon truly demonstrated its market power with a nationwide Gap offer that may exceed well over 500,000 purchases. Julie Mossler, Consumer Marketing Manager at Groupon, talks to us about her company's rapid growth,…

• Designing Your Way Through the Recession

  12 Aug 2010 | 2:32 pm

  Jay Howard started I.O. Metro after purchasing his first home and discovering a need for high quality, contemporary furniture at a reasonable price.The Brand Show is excited to introduce a new format, customized for busy marketing professionals like you. Enjoy our condensed 3-minute takeaway from our interviews with some of the most fascinating and successful brands.The Brand Show spoke to Jay Howard this week, CEO of I.O. Metro, a fast growing furniture retailer that prides itself on being different. The company has opened 21 stores in the U.S. within the past five years and saw an 80% sales…

• A Natural Fit: Burt's Bees and the Conscious Consumer

  5 Aug 2010 | 1:57 pm

  John Replogle is President and CEO of Burt's Bees.The Brand Show is excited to introduce a new format, customized for busy marketing professionals like you. Enjoy our condensed 3-minute takeaway from our interviews with some of the most fascinating and successful brands.In the hot seat this week was John Replogle, President and CEO of Burt's Bees, a leader in natural personal care products. The company has notably grown 40% internationally within the past year and was recently named the #1 Green Brand according to ImagePower. Tune in as John discusses the Burt's Bees brand story, The Greater…

• Who's Kathy Ireland's Real Boss?

  1 Jul 2010 | 2:26 pm

  Kathy is the CEO and Chief Designer of Kathy Ireland Worldwide.The Brand Show is excited to introduce a new format, customized for busy marketing professionals like you. Enjoy our condensed 3-minute take-away from our interviews with some of the most fascinating and successful brands.This week we interviewed global home-fashion icon, Kathy Ireland from Kathy Ireland Worldwide (KIWW), to speak about her philosophy in leading a successful retail empire. KIWW currently ranks above brands such as Harley, Sony and Coca Cola on the Top 100 Global Licensor List. Check out the 3-minute insight where…

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  Landor.com: Blog

• Advertising is the cost of being boring?

  2 Sep 2010 | 3:52 am

    Hugh MacLeod created this poster for Andy Sernovitz's recent Supergenius conference in New York. It's a popular point-of-view. Here's a variation on the theme from David Taylor: "Great brands are all about the product 'sausage.' And if that product is brilliant it advertises itself." In this view of the world, there's a a pecking order and advertising is being pecked. The net benefit construct I talked about in this post is less judgmental. It says that brand value is determined by the difference in what people are willing to pay its benefits versus what it costs a company to…

• Differentiating your brand cost effectively

  31 Aug 2010 | 3:52 am

    It takes time, effort, creativity, and money for brands to successfully differentiate themselves from the competition. It takes brilliance in innovation or design or advertising creativity or customer service or a combination of these and other factors to develop a brand that stands out from the crowd. All this effort has its reward. Differentiation translates into products and services that are worth more to people. They will pay more for them and be more loyal to them. If the products are really differentiated, people may even queue all night for them. But will consumers pay enough…

• Airlines and the Gen Y traveler

  30 Aug 2010 | 3:52 am

  We spend a lot of time in our office debating the ins and outs, and many challenges a brand faces today. What can I say? We're sorta geeky that way. And between the United and Continental merger, the JetBlue slip 'n slide incident, and all the general summer traveling (and griping) going on, airlines have been a hot topic and one of my personal favorites around here for a while. Which led one of our interns from Boston College, Harvey Simmons, to put together his thoughts on how airlines can appeal to Gen Y as they climb up the corporate ladder and become more of a market force to be reckoned…

• Day five of a week's journey through Australian beers: irreverent attitude

  27 Aug 2010 | 3:52 am

  After a week's worth of exploring beers with real authenticity, left-field thinking, maverick appeal, and passionate language now we will take a look at an Australian beer brand with an irreverent attitude. After a week's worth of exploring beers with real authenticity, left-field thinking, maverick appeal, and passionate language now we will take a look at an Australian beer brand with an irreverent attitude. Irreverent attitude It was rather fitting to be in Bondi when I first stumbled across Skinny Blonde’s cheeky and irreverent personality. It was a breath of fresh air in an…

• Day four of a week's journey through Australian beers: passionate language

  26 Aug 2010 | 3:52 am

  Yesterday we discussed the importance of stand-out left-field thinking and maverick appeal in beer brands that I'm familiar with in Australia, today we will look at one brand's approach through their passionate language. Yesterday we discussed the importance of stand-out left-field thinking and maverick appeal in beer brands that I'm familiar with in Australia, today we will look at one brand's approach through their passionate language. Passionate language Across the Tasman, Mac’s brewery has a history that stems back to 1981, although its relative lack of history does not preclude it…

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  Rocketseed

• Rocketseed announces National Sponsorship of the National Small Business Chamber of South Africa

  admin

  2 Sep 2010 | 2:03 am

  Rocketseed is the official email marketing and communications sponsor of the NSBC effective August 2010. With offices on four continents, Rocketseed is the major supplier of integrated everyday, transactional and broadcast email marketing solutions to thousands of businesses across the globe. Leading the charge in assisting the NSBC in the development and empowerment of the small business sector of South Africa is Managing Director of Rocketseed South Africa, Johan Huisamen, who admits: “Because our solution was originally developed and patented locally, we have a natural affinity…

• Email that packs a two fisted punch

  admin

  17 Aug 2010 | 12:05 am

  Everyday email proves to be the most valuable asset for harnessing your trusting client relationships and adding value by propositioning customers with relevant and timely marketing messages. The medium has remained vastly anonymous and underutilized in marketing circles, despite the quality, size and personal nature of the audience it addresses. By supplementing employees’ everyday email with interactive marketing software as part of the organization’s outgoing communications strategy, Rocketseed is mobilizing entire staff complements as an extension of the business’…

• Can Sending Email Make You Money?

  scott

  11 Apr 2010 | 1:23 pm

  If you’re thinking of someone paying a dollar for every email you send then the answer is an absolute and emphatic ‘no!’ But that doesn’t mean your email should be regarded as a necessary evil. It is the MacDonald’s multi-billion dollar line “Would you like fries with that?” that clarifies the power of the up-sell and together with Rocketseed’s ability to embed actionable sales messages it introduces the potential of email to perform this role inside your company. It can be tricky business to propose a change in marketing strategy, and I reckon even more so when considering a…

• Put the ‘email’ back into ‘email marketing’

  scott

  2 Mar 2010 | 7:42 pm

  My favorite online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, defines email marketing as follows: “E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses email as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience.” Usually, this form of marketing employs bulk mail (typically referred to as newsletters) with lists of user email addresses obtained through newsletter sign-ups, lists bought from (un)trusted sources, or through meticulously accumulated email addresses of current / past / potential customers. Wikipedia goes on to explain the workings of bulk mail marketing in depth,…

• Rocketseed South Africa appoints Managing Director

  admin

  1 Mar 2010 | 5:25 am

  Johan Huisamen is appointed as Managing Director of Rocketseed South Africa. Visit his profile on LinkedIn to connect.

• 

  cometbrandingblog

• The Importance of Strategic Design for Social Media Engagement

  Laura Gainor

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:28 pm

  There are a lot of creative elements that go into a strategic social media engagement plan. The creativity behind a successful campaign draws my attention to a particular brand and it is what I enjoy most about social media. Without creativity, it is not possible to reach an audience. The representation of your brand must be cohesive, aesthetically pleasing and explain what it is you’re trying to tell your audience. Luckily for brands, there are a lot of ways to get creative with social media. Social media gives you a loud voice and an open creative channel to advertise your company,…

• Arcade Fire, Google, & HTML5 – The Music Video Experiment

  Mike Wisniewski

  30 Aug 2010 | 3:53 pm

  Music ties us emotionally to experiences in our lives. There are certain songs that evoke memories from childhood, special events and specific places. With the way music and technology has evolved in recent years, fans are looking for ways to connect with bands in real time is now more prevalent than ever. The landscape of music has changed. The way we are introduced to music today is completely different than five years ago. More now then ever bands are coming up with innovative ways to introduce their music to fans. Bands have to fight Internet piracy with innovative marketing techniques to…

• Vlingo is a life saver.

  Sara Meaney

  30 Aug 2010 | 8:21 am

  My friends and family sometimes accuse me of being distracted by shiny objects. Often those shiny objects are mobile technology applications or cool new gadgets. The latest addition to my shiny object arsenal is the @Vlingo voice recognition app. And I’m told that admitting you have a problem is an important step in getting help. So here goes. Ahem. <clears throat and raises right hand> I acknowledge that foursquare check-ins while walking into a five-star dining experience may be a bit off-putting. I am fully aware that Twitter hashtag trending means nothing to the majority of the…

• Comet Branding is Hiring a PR + Social Media Intern [VIDEO]

  Laura Gainor

  16 Aug 2010 | 3:56 pm

  The Comet Branding team is looking for a qualified and creative PR + Social Media Intern for Fall 2010. To help you understand just what it is that we need, we asked the team to tell us what they were looking for in an intern. Hear from the team what professional qualities make the perfect intern. Can you see yourself sitting in the Comet Branding chair? To apply for the internship, please review the job listing HERE. Send your qualifications to radjobs@cometbranding.com. We also enjoy those entries that go the extra step to do something creative to get our attention. You can find the team on…

• Comet Radio #75 – Chris Ruder of Spikeball

  Mike Wisniewski

  16 Aug 2010 | 2:22 pm

  On Wednesday, August 18th at 11am Central, Comet Branding Radio will explore the world of Spikeball with our guest Chris Ruder. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN. Chris is the President/Co-Owner at Spikeball Inc. So what is Spikeball? It is a game that is kinda/sorta like volleyball, but then again not at all. I was introduced to the game a few summers ago and have been hooked ever since. Spikeball is becoming more and more popular not only on the beaches of California but here in the Midwest, especially Milwaukee and Chicago. While it is mostly played on the beach, Spikeball is adaptable enough to be…

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  Brand Experience 360

• A Wellness Marketing Strategy That Works Well

  David Rich

  2 Sep 2010 | 10:13 am

  Wellness is alive and well in consumers’ minds, but what does that mean for retailers? And what do consumers mean when they shop with wellness on their mind? According to research firm The Hartman Group, people have a broad view of the definition of wellness. When polled, 67 percent of participants defined wellness as “not being ill” and “being able to deal with stress.” More than 70 percent described wellness as “being physically fit” and “feeling good about myself.” In an interview with Adweek, Shelley Balanko, VP of Ethnographic Research at The Hartman Group explains what…

• Target Sells a Service Experience with its Electronics

  David Rich

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:10 am

  Even during the recession, the electronics business continues to be hot as customers consider things like cell phones a necessity. As the electronics business gets more competitive with discount stores like Target and Walmart fighting specialized stores like Best Buy for a larger customer base, stores realize they need to do a lot more than just stock shelves with the products customers want–and need. In an effort to become more of a destination electronic store, Target announced new services for electronics shoppers. Among the new offerings, Target is adding a free telephone technical…

• Women Pay Full Price at Ann Taylor

  David Rich

  27 Aug 2010 | 12:10 pm

  It’s no secret customers like a good sale, but a recent finding from Ann Taylor shows items can still sell–even with a full-price sticker. Ann Taylor reported a second-quarter profit and rising sales that even bested their lower-priced namesake Loft chain, which used to be a superstar during the recession. MarketWatch quotes the company saying gross-margin comps “dramatically outpaced” sales performance because of “the strength of the full-priced offering.” It’s an encouraging report for women retailers. Often, women retailers feel the effects of a…

• Recession Resets Consumers’ Priorities

  David Rich

  24 Aug 2010 | 12:41 pm

  What does the customer want? It’s a question retailers ask themselves all the time. According to a recent study done by the Pew Research Center, consumer needs aren’t the same as they once were. According to the study, just 42 percent of Americans say they consider a television set a necessity, down from 52 percent just last year and 64 percent in 2006. The landline telephone also saw a dip in numbers. Of those polled, 62 percent still consider the landline phone a necessity, down from 68 percent in 2009. “It’s true that in the digital era, consumers know they can…

• Consumers Procrastinate Back-to-School Shopping

  David Rich

  18 Aug 2010 | 10:23 am

  Retailers, take notes. American families are putting off their back-to-school shopping in an effort to make sure they’re getting the best deals. Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with the NPD Group, told msnbc.com, “The consumer is not in any rush.” An earnings call from Walmart indicated more shoppers are making their school supply purchases closer to their schools’ start dates. The National Retail Federation also predicted a quarter of school shoppers won’t begin their back-to-school shopping until one or two weeks before school begins. In some cases, families may…

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  Wheatley Timmons: BrandTrailblazers

• POWERFUL, SUCCESSFUL PR CAMPAIGN ILLUSTRATES DRAMATIC MEDIA SEACHANGE

  Bob Wheatley

  31 Aug 2010 | 2:21 pm

  A backwards glance shows seismic shift in the PR world By Robert Wheatley It was without a doubt one of the most powerful PR campaigns I’ve ever been associated with. An entirely new product category created from scratch off a compelling, dynamic public relations strategy. Yes, I said PR — not advertising or sales promotion. Over $100 million in sales (and that’s in 1994 dollars) was achieved and an 84% share of market within 16 months of launch. It was the introduction of First Alert brand carbon monoxide alarm products. Recently we heard from the Wall Street Journal that futurist…

• What if PR agency/client relationships were handled like Wal Mart category vendors?

  Bob Wheatley

  16 Aug 2010 | 12:31 pm

  Ok, which is more important, price or big ideas… By Robert Wheatley Many years ago I had a client who literally shopped every project among their current stable of agencies. It was a calculated effort to keep everyone grinding the budget pencil ever harder. Kind of like a bidding contest. Or perhaps the sort of challenge posed by Wal Mart buyers in a packaged good category pricing throw-down between competitors vying to retain in-store shelf real estate. In our business (a strategic and creative endeavor) however, less is never more. And that pricing agenda drove out the passion for…

• FOOD PRODUCTS BORN FROM PR-SAVVY FORMULAS??

  Bob Wheatley

  4 Aug 2010 | 3:15 pm

  Marketing can move from assertions of goodness to tangible proof points By Robert Wheatley There’s an interesting trend emerging in branded food products, one that’s about “inherent goodness, freshness, wholesomeness and balanced nutrition,” rather than vague assertions of good or better for you. This is just a great edible bandwagon and we hope to see more and more of it. Here’s why… We operate today in the era of transparency and authenticity. Thus the product itself is front and center in the marketing. So genuine claims absolutely will trump any attempt to concoct a story more…

• AGENCY/CLIENT PARTNERSHIP IS AN OBLIGATION AS MUCH AS AN OPPORTUNITY…

  Bob Wheatley

  29 Jul 2010 | 7:48 am

  Agencies that lead bring more value than order takers By Robert Wheatley Hugh MacLeod is a creative and insightful expert who regularly exposes the soft underside of the marketing world — and helps us laugh at ourselves. His thoughts, expressed as graphic images, can be down right powerful. Today’s post in some respects is a perfect foil for a few of his engaging ideas. (Check out gapingvoid.com – and subscribe to his daily image emails). Great work falling from great ideas can transform the future direction and growth of business. Yet more often than not, by definition, it will…

• Where’s The Listening Strategy in the Brand Communications Outreach Plan?

  Bob Wheatley

  27 Jul 2010 | 2:01 pm

  Can we really fly blind and expect to be effective? By Robert Wheatley There are those great moments of clarity when something hits you. Often it can be something you already know, but your perspective and its horsepower (importance) will get injected with an entirely new level of “amen” when understanding adjusts or elevates a bit. Sorry to be oblique – this happened today while reading Brian Solis’ great book, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.” Yes, there’s a point here and a recommendation. The emergence of social media has changed the game for PR communications,…

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  BenjaminWarsinske.com

• Marketability is the Name of the Game

  Benjamin

  2 Sep 2010 | 10:46 pm

  The product based business model is fairly straight forward. A product has a set life-cycle within the market, so to continue that product’s existence, a new version of that product is created and launched. In the technology industry, that is about every 12 to 18 months. For the auto industry, that is about every 7 [...]Post from: Benjamin's BlogMarketability is the Name of the Game Related posts:SBI: A Total Package Solution Web hosting and web design can be daunting tasks... Case Study: MailChimp A Successful Brand Over the course of the last few years, I... How to Create a Branded…

• Small Victories Can Amount to Big Change

  Benjamin

  18 Aug 2010 | 11:13 pm

  Image by law_keven via Flickr There is something to be said about accomplishing small tasks and small goals and as they add up together can create more momentum than getting one big win or accomplishing one big goal. Usually, to accomplish a big goal, a series of smaller goals must be set. An Overwhelming Goal Can Create [...]Post from: Benjamin's BlogSmall Victories Can Amount to Big Change Related posts:Top Leadership Characteristics For Successful Entrepreneurs Image by dullhunk via Flickr I am always after... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

• Crashing Waves on Oahu [Flickr]

  Benjamin Warsinske

  31 Jul 2010 | 11:26 am

  Benjamin Warsinske posted a photo: Posted via email from Benjamin Warsinske's Posterous

• Understanding Cashflow vs. Capital Gains

  Benjamin

  25 Jul 2010 | 12:30 pm

  Image via Wikipedia Part of being an entrepreneur is understanding the financial aspect of running a business. Being an expert in finances is not necessary as you can add team members who are experts to fill in the gaps for you. Knowing the basics and understanding the rules are important in order to develop your business, [...]Post from: Benjamin's BlogUnderstanding Cashflow vs. Capital Gains Related posts:Business from 30,000 Feet: What You Need To Know Image by Denis Collette…!!! via Flickr Have you ever... Intertwining Yourself Into Your Company’s Brand: How to Avoid It So…

• Intertwining Yourself Into Your Company’s Brand: How to Avoid It

  Benjamin

  24 Jul 2010 | 3:02 pm

  So often, small business owners end up becoming their brand. In other words, they develop a reputation within their industry as the go-to person to deliver the best goods and/or services. The reputation is great, however, what happens when that person wants to scale up the business, or replace themselves so that they can focus [...]Post from: Benjamin's BlogIntertwining Yourself Into Your Company’s Brand: How to Avoid It Related posts:Secret Ingredients: How Selling Hours Can Hurt your Bottom Line, Company and Brand All companies, service-based or product-based have secret ingredients…

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  Celebrity Branding You

• Personal Branding Tip: Choose To Be Different!

  admin

  26 Aug 2010 | 3:03 pm

  I love when I come across a story that shows a business thinking outside the box when it comes to their marketing. I recently heard an interview with one of the members of the band Cheap Trick. The band was preparing to do a string of 9 shows in Vegas where they will play the entire album of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, along with some of their own popular hits. This is interesting enough on it’s own, but what really stood out to me was a little interesting and humorous exchange at the end of the interview. When asked about their new album, front man Robin Zander…

• Personal Branding Tip: Forget What YOU Know

  admin

  26 Aug 2010 | 7:33 am

  This blog was originally posted and featured on FastCompany.com. The original post can be found here: http://www.fastcompany.com/1682547/personal-branding-expert-tip-forget-what-you-know Watch the Video Blog from Nick here: Personal Branding Tip: Forget What YOU Know In my last blog for Fast Company, I explained to you that you have to display your expertise and all the ways you could do that. But I’ve had a bunch of emails and posts that have asked me, “But, Nick, where do I begin?” And here’s where you’ve got to begin. You have to forget what you know. Now…

• Personal Branding Goes Gaga

  admin

  23 Aug 2010 | 10:37 am

  This blog was originally posted and featured on FastCompany.com. The original post can be found here: http://www.fastcompany.com/1679211/personal-branding-goes-gaga Not satisfied with the small screen any more, reportedly Lady Gaga is looking to move to the big screen in what she hopes will be the next blockbuster music movie even though there is no script, producer, director, or plan. The slight negative tone to this blog is not to diminish the music star’s ability to keep her career in the news and everyone guessing, “what’s next”? Does anyone know, may be the better…

• Are You a One-Hit Wonder?

  admin

  10 Aug 2010 | 6:12 am

  Many of you know that I have been involved with music my whole life. I’ve learned that the music business is pretty much like any other industry. A lot of the same strategies we use with our branding agency, I used in one way or another managing bands and artists over that last several years. I’ve always tried to help others, whether it is in music or other areas of business where developing a personal brand is key to long-term success. I’ve always asked if they want to be a “one-hit wonder” or a “hall of famer.” Remember these gems? 1974 – “Kung Fu Fighting” Carl…

• Tony Robbins’s Personal Branding “Breakthrough”

  admin

  2 Aug 2010 | 2:10 pm

  This blog was originally posted and featured on FastCompany.com. The original post can be found here: http://www.fastcompany.com/1675170/tony-robbins-perosnal-branding-breakthrough By Nick Nanton, Esq. and JW Dicks, Esq. If you missed Tony Robbins’s new mainstream premiere of Breakthrough, his new reality TV show, you missed the evolution of the blending of infomercial, reality TV, and soap opera. While these adjectives describing Tony Robbins’s new show could be viewed as negative, we don’t intend them that way. It is the representation of the re-launch of Tony’s…

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  Bulletproof

• Six@Six: Six “Under-the-Hood” Tricks to Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  Andrew Stoltzfus

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:55 pm

  The top six social media tips to know before you leave the office. By now, you’ve likely heard the term “Search Engine Optimization” (or its abbreviation, SEO), and you may even be familiar with some basic optimization tips. If you aren’t familiar with the term, SEO refers to the practice of developing and optimizing website content that is easy for search engines to find and index, which in turn exposes your messages to wider audiences. With search engines serving as 21st Century gatekeepers of information – the initial portals through which today’s Web user accesses trillions of…

• What’s Next: The Bulletproof Interview – Skip Miller on the Changing Legal Landscape

  Larry Smith

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:46 am

  Each week, Bulletproof Blog features exclusive interviews with thought leaders on issues of critical importance to companies and countries. This week, with current economic conditions forcing corporate law departments to fundamentally change their approaches to legal services outsourcing, we talk to Skip Miller, a Partner in the law firm of Miller Barondess, LLP in Los Angeles, to discuss how law firms can best conform to meet the evolving needs of corporate clients. With more than 38 years of experience, Mr. Miller is an accomplished litigator and top trial lawyer who has tried cases in…

• Weekly Web Wrap-Up for September 3, 2010

  Patrick Kerley

  3 Sep 2010 | 8:51 am

  Bulletproof’s Weekly Web Wrap-Up offers a compilation of key discussions regarding social media’s increasing relevance to business. We often focus in this space on social media’s marketing and consumer engagement benefits – but there’s far more to digital media strategy than that. For instance, yet another new survey proves once again that email marketing continues to be one of the most successful methods of encouraging consumer purchases. And when it comes to internal communications, social media provide particularly effective tools for CEOs and other corporate leaders to connect…

• Dodd-Frank Act Applies Added Pressure on Executive Compensation

  Michael Robinson

  2 Sep 2010 | 12:32 pm

  Two key provisions in the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill that became law on July 21 are likely to provide activist investors with greater leverage in setting executive compensation – further tipping scales away from historical management-led control. The first is a measure that requires U.S. companies to disclose the ratio between CEO pay and that of their average employee. The second will provide shareholders with a mandatory, non-binding “say on pay” – or an advisory vote on top executives’ pay packages – by the 2011 proxy season. From a compliance standpoint,…

• Johnson & Johnson Takes a Cue from its Own Playbook

  Gene Grabowski

  2 Sep 2010 | 8:49 am

  Three decades ago, Johnson & Johnson wrote the modern crisis communications playbook with its response to the Tylenol tampering scare. Soon after that crisis erupted, the company voluntarily recalled all of their over-the-counter pain medications – not just those in the affected area outside Chicago – at great cost to its bottom line. While J&J and law enforcement worked together on the case, the company communicated often with all its stakeholders to keep them informed of all significant developments. And once the crisis abated, the company created the tamper-resistant packaging…

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  BRANDOPIA

• England's Vineyard: England's Newest Regional Destination Brand

  brand

  2 Sep 2010 | 10:20 am

  England's Vineyard: England's Newest Regional Destination Brand, comprising the counties of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Berkshire

• Problem Park @ Imaginacres: Home of the Nation of Innovation

  brand

  14 Aug 2010 | 4:09 am

  Problem Park @ Imaginacres: Home of the Nation of Innovation

• Brand Sussex: England's Festival County

  brand

  7 Aug 2010 | 11:18 pm

  Brand Sussex: England's Festival County Home of the greatest concentration of international festivals than any other English County

• Brand Britain: The Innovation Isle

  brand

  25 Jul 2010 | 1:25 pm

  Brand Britain: The Innovation Isle. From 'Manufactured in Britain' to 'Innofactured in Britain.

• English County Slogans: Seven of the Best

  brand

  24 Jul 2010 | 8:55 am

  English County Slogans: Seven of the Best

• 

  brandSTOKE

• Vote for the most annoying insurance spokes-character

  Kirk

  1 Sep 2010 | 12:23 pm

  In the insurance industry, characters are multiplying faster than claims. And not all of them are crowd-pleasers. Joining the lizards, ducks and dogs are: Mayhem, a reckless new character, who has shoved perennial Allstate spokesperson Dennis Haysbert into the backseat Actor Mike McGlone, playing a tough-guy reporter who asks rhetorical questions for Geico The guy with the blue phone strapped to his body, comedian Bob Wiltfong, who hams it up for Nationwide Justin Case, a fictional SafeAuto employee, played by Tim McCarthy Now’s your chance to vote for the one you find most irritating…

• Top ten posts out of first 100

  Kirk

  30 Aug 2010 | 6:00 am

  For me, it is informative and sometimes intriguing to see which posts you are most interested in reading. Following are the top ten posts since the launch of BrandSTOKE, according to page views: 9 criteria for brand essence and the accompanying SlideShare deck #1 by a landslide Best branding & marketing books Mayflower’s giant marionette: cute or creepy? Wow! The traffic to this post surprised me. The marionette deeply polarized opinion. P&G brands … itself? G, I don’t get Gatorade’s line extension. Since the post, the Gatorade lineup has changed yet again: G01…

• Polaroid: The brand that won’t die

  Kirk

  25 Aug 2010 | 8:21 am

  The photos are grainy and often out of focus. The colors look faded. You can’t zoom and you can’t make extra prints without scanning. And the film is expensive. Digital, the new instant photography, does it all better, faster and cheaper. So why won’t Polaroid, which filed for bankruptcy in 2001, just go away? One reason is that people love its imperfect look. Photographer Larry Fink says, “The color combines with soft focus to create images existing in the suspended time of a dream. The everyday appears to us as if from a great distance.” At Fink’s blog,…

• Do artisan brands lose their fans when sold to conglomerates?

  Kirk

  17 Aug 2010 | 6:24 am

  Burt’s Bees was started in Dexter, Maine, in 1984 by Burt Shavitz, a beekeeper, and Roxanne Quimby. Their lip balm and other natural products were an offshoot of Burt’s backwoods honey business. Similarly, Tom and Kate Chappell decided to make and sell the first natural toothpaste, Tom’s of Maine, in rural Kennebunk in 1975. They started with a $5,000 loan and the philosophy that their personal care products would not harm the environment. (See post.) In Santa Cruz, George Steltenpohl and two fellow musicians, Gerry Percy and Bonnie Bassett, launched Odwalla from a shed in…

• Does mocking its target customers sell cars for Toyota?

  Kirk

  10 Aug 2010 | 8:23 am

  When my kids were very young, I read a book by Hugh O’Neill called Daddy Cool: How to Ride a Seesaw with Dignity, Wear a Donald Duck Hat with Style, and Sing “Bingo Was His Name-O” with Panache. The stories helped me through puréed carrots and sleep deprivation. O’Neill also wrote A Man Called Daddy and Here’s Looking at You, Kids: The Crowded Romance of Mom and Dad. “Welcome to a world where apple juice is the nectar of the gods,” he wrote. “Welcome to a slow dance of night-lights and snow pants. Welcome to what would be a look at family life…

• 

  Celebrity Branding You

• Personal Branding Tip: Choose To Be Different!

  admin

  26 Aug 2010 | 3:03 pm

  I love when I come across a story that shows a business thinking outside the box when it comes to their marketing. I recently heard an interview with one of the members of the band Cheap Trick. The band was preparing to do a string of 9 shows in Vegas where they will play the entire album of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, along with some of their own popular hits. This is interesting enough on it’s own, but what really stood out to me was a little interesting and humorous exchange at the end of the interview. When asked about their new album, front man Robin Zander…

• Personal Branding Tip: Forget What YOU Know

  admin

  26 Aug 2010 | 7:33 am

  This blog was originally posted and featured on FastCompany.com. The original post can be found here: http://www.fastcompany.com/1682547/personal-branding-expert-tip-forget-what-you-know Watch the Video Blog from Nick here: Personal Branding Tip: Forget What YOU Know In my last blog for Fast Company, I explained to you that you have to display your expertise and all the ways you could do that. But I’ve had a bunch of emails and posts that have asked me, “But, Nick, where do I begin?” And here’s where you’ve got to begin. You have to forget what you know. Now…

• Personal Branding Goes Gaga

  admin

  23 Aug 2010 | 10:37 am

  This blog was originally posted and featured on FastCompany.com. The original post can be found here: http://www.fastcompany.com/1679211/personal-branding-goes-gaga Not satisfied with the small screen any more, reportedly Lady Gaga is looking to move to the big screen in what she hopes will be the next blockbuster music movie even though there is no script, producer, director, or plan. The slight negative tone to this blog is not to diminish the music star’s ability to keep her career in the news and everyone guessing, “what’s next”? Does anyone know, may be the better…

• Are You a One-Hit Wonder?

  admin

  10 Aug 2010 | 6:12 am

  Many of you know that I have been involved with music my whole life. I’ve learned that the music business is pretty much like any other industry. A lot of the same strategies we use with our branding agency, I used in one way or another managing bands and artists over that last several years. I’ve always tried to help others, whether it is in music or other areas of business where developing a personal brand is key to long-term success. I’ve always asked if they want to be a “one-hit wonder” or a “hall of famer.” Remember these gems? 1974 – “Kung Fu Fighting” Carl…

• Tony Robbins’s Personal Branding “Breakthrough”

  admin

  2 Aug 2010 | 2:10 pm

  This blog was originally posted and featured on FastCompany.com. The original post can be found here: http://www.fastcompany.com/1675170/tony-robbins-perosnal-branding-breakthrough By Nick Nanton, Esq. and JW Dicks, Esq. If you missed Tony Robbins’s new mainstream premiere of Breakthrough, his new reality TV show, you missed the evolution of the blending of infomercial, reality TV, and soap opera. While these adjectives describing Tony Robbins’s new show could be viewed as negative, we don’t intend them that way. It is the representation of the re-launch of Tony’s…

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  BIG marketing for small business

• How Best Buy Uses Twitter to Deliver Excellent Customer Support

  Rajan Sodhi

  3 Sep 2010 | 2:34 pm

  Great example of how Best Buy is using Twitter to deliver excellent customer support! The writeup appears on Marketingprofs.com and outlines the success of Best Buy’s Twitter-based customer support program which has agents available around-the-clock to answer technical questions from customers throughout Twitterverse. The support team uses the handle @TwelpForce and also runs a separate landing page that streams live questions and answers for anyone to see. This high level of transparency and technical assistance garners Best Buy a lot of credibility and can only enhance their brand in…

• How to Write Press Releases that Drive More Traffic to Your Website

  Rajan Sodhi

  31 Aug 2010 | 4:13 pm

  Tommy Humphreys of BCBusiness Blog offers simple tips for small and medium size businesses on how to use public relations and press releases to help promote your business. Today’s press releases can be done far more cost-effectively than ever before with all the different online tools and services available. And don’t forget the SEO and organic search relevance generated by well-crafted press releases that include your most important keywords. Remember, most press releases these days get re-published online rather than in print, so they can be advantageous in driving far more…

• Changing Buying Behavior Means Sweating The Small Stuff

  Rajan Sodhi

  17 Jun 2010 | 5:17 pm

  Fantastic keynote from Rory Sutherland at TED about “Sweating the Small Stuff”. This is a must watch at 12min 30sec that goes by fast. He makes a compelling case that the world we live in wants to believe that big, important problems require big, important, and expensive solutions. However, the reality is that what changes our behavior is disproportionate to the amount of force and expense we apply to it. In other words, the more resources and money we use to change buying behavior, the less real impact it actually has. Take for example Virgin Atlantic Airways, who brings a salt…

• Getting a Phone Presence Abroad With a DID Number

  Rajan Sodhi

  15 Jun 2010 | 10:58 am

  A DID number (also called DDI / virtual number) is a local telephone number in a selected area code that is forwarded to a landline,mobile, VoIP software or hardware, SIP, H.323, IAX, Skype or Google Talk anywhere in the world. For small businesses  operating internationally with limited resources and a limited budget presents a major challenge. To that end, the use of DIDs provides a multitude of advantages: DIDs covering numerous destinations worldwide can be acquired online. Through the use of a DID your customers will be able to call you at local call rates. This is particularly…

• Cloud Storage An Affordable Place to Store All Your Web Files

  Rajan Sodhi

  2 Jun 2010 | 12:46 pm

  PEER 1 Hosting just launched CloudOne Storage, a very affordable, pay-as-you-go unlimited online storage product for all your web files and media. Starting at just $0.15 per GB per month, you can upload, store and manage unlimited data through an easy-to-use control panel or via the standards compliant Application Programming Interface (API) – the web-based interface for file management. This type of storage allows you to move your files off your web hosting server, which can dramatically increase the speed and performance of your website – which now impacts your Google quality score…

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  LogoInn

• Logoinn on Tracks of Formula One

  joey

  7 Sep 2010 | 4:42 am

  At logoinn we believe in competition and we love sports. Remember a few months back we shared our enthusiasm about the football world cup with you. Just like any exciting sporting event, we believe in working hard towards achieving goals … Continue reading →

• Most Commonly Used Logo Design Styles

  joey

  4 Sep 2010 | 5:18 pm

  Clients often come to us with logo design ideas of their own. Sometimes we get customers who are totally clueless about what kind of logo design they should have. At logoinnTM we are proud of our sales and support team. … Continue reading →

• Symbolism of Zodiac Signs – Virgo The Virgin

  joey

  29 Aug 2010 | 10:05 am

  For hundreds of years people are looking at these zodiac symbols to understand themselves and others better. Whether or not these horoscopes have any effect on human behavior is a topic of much debate among those who believe in it … Continue reading →

• Facebook Ads vs. Google Adwords – Which one is better?

  joey

  26 Aug 2010 | 6:44 pm

  It is often predicted that Facebook is going to beat Google down by becoming world’s number one website. I don’t know why would people say such a thing, I clearly don’t see the point. I think Google has much more … Continue reading →

• How to be a Better Friend on Facebook

  joey

  16 Aug 2010 | 8:01 pm

  Facebook is a very powerful social tool. With its huge user base, growing capabilities, and general popularity, Facebook offers you a chance to be truly influential. As a facebook user, you must have seen marketers, bloggers, small and large businesses, … Continue reading →

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  The Branding Gavel

• Personal Branding: Living at Installed capacity

  yinkaolaito

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:11 am

  Living below capacity does not only frustrate an individual but also the society. When an individual lives below his/her capacity, many people will be affected namely the individual involved, his associates and the society at large. Every underutilized potential robs the society a vital ingredient that would have aided the development of another generation. Living below installed capacity slows down any system. Just look at any factory and examine all the engines installed to produce at a certain capacity. When one of the engines is not doing well, it has tendency of slowing down the maximum…

• Choosing and developing brand element

  yinkaolaito

  27 Aug 2010 | 4:32 am

  Over the years I have seen some brands fall and some rise. Reasons for the positive part of this assertion can’t be farfetched from the abilities of brand builders to effectively create an appealing perception for their brands in the mind of consumers. This is however created not merely through product identification and creation alone, but through an all-round creation and development of meaningful brand elements. What then are brand elements? Brand Elements are brand equity drivers. They are those ‘trademarkable’ devices that identify and differentiate the brand in the market place.

• Personal Branding: How to make your brand a showpiece

  yinkaolaito

  26 Aug 2010 | 7:20 am

  Recently I was reading an interview in the latest edition of Personal Branding Magazine by Dan Schawbel. The interview is centred on Monica Von Neumann giving initiative. Some of the points  I gained from the interview informed the creation of this piece. A peculiar trait issue I have noticed  in many people is  that they want every situation to be suitable before they make a commitment to go ahead with their dreams. There is no such time when everything will be at that peak. Even when we think that exist, who says there is a guarantee that things will work out as planned. But some, in the…

• My social Media activities, itinerary/Diary

  yinkaolaito

  19 Aug 2010 | 8:47 am

  Things are looking up today. It is no longer news that social Media is gaining a lot of ground in Nigeria. Many people are now looking for news around social Media because it is an open truth that these web-based communication tools are helping start up and corporate entrepreneurs  in no small way. Because of the excitement around this, many people are diving into the river without necessary skills that will help them to scale through. In the last two months we have had the privilege and exposure from the regular media to expound, open the eyes of Nigerian audience to the potentials and…

• Branding: How to turn on the green light

  yinkaolaito

  16 Aug 2010 | 2:44 am

  We live in an age and time when attention is becoming a highly priced item. Nobody seems to care any longer about what you have to say except when it hits the right cord with them. Many wonder why their brands’ consistent efforts have not gotten proportionate returns. One of the issues I have noticed with such brands is that they  doing a solo run without knowing. They have been flexing muscles, flaunting their powers without consideration for what their clients want to hear and how that will help the target audience to  achieve their goals. In my research recently on why many brands…

• 

  RadiantBrands Blog

• What Does Local Mean? and Who Values it?

  Steven Donaldson

  17 Aug 2010 | 9:19 am

  The local movement which includes buying locally grown food, shopping from local vendors and stores and focusing on small rather than big business has become an enormous movement in the U.S. as well as much of Europe. The sense of “indigenous” sourced items is now a big part of what consumers everywhere are looking for. Many consumers want something uniquely branded, one of a kind and from their town. The motivation to protect what’s unique to a specific community, a region, or a particular street has come as a reaction to the mass influx of generic chain stores in the last…

• Fiat Get’s the Brand Right with New Dealerships

  Steven Donaldson

  6 Jul 2010 | 9:30 am

  Do you think the same guy who’s selling you a Chrysler Le Baron or Jeep Wrangler can sell you a Fiat 500? Not on your life and even more importantly the some customer would most likely not be even thinking of buying the same two vehicles. Fiat’s announcement this week that they are looking to open 200 new dealerships that sell only Fiat cars is a very smart move and as I said in an earlier posting on the Fiat acquisition of Chrysler, this gives Fiat’s brand’s access to the American market again, with  small, nimble, fun cars that represent a new mix in the American…

• Why the Palm Pre Flopped - a girl on a mushroom

  Steven Donaldson

  23 Jun 2010 | 9:48 am

  The Palm Pre launched to much fanfare in 2009, with good reviews for the most part. The smart phone had excellent features, was easy to use with a slide out keyboard, good color and contrast on the screen. So many things that made it a viable competitor to the iPhone and Blackberry, not to mention the Google Droid phones. And, it already had a substantial customer base from Palm, eager for a little prompting to convert to this new product that was priced right and positioned for success. The Pre launched and Palm continued to loose market share and customers to the Blackberry, iPhone and the…

• Why the Toyota Brand Won’t Sink

  Steven Donaldson

  21 Feb 2010 | 12:28 pm

  Although Toyota has taken a media beating in the last few weeks because of two recalls on popular models, In my opinion they will not fall permanently from grace. From Toyota’s initial entry into the American market over 40 years ago with tiny, under powered, sub compact cars they’ve done nothing but refine and build their product line into some of the best and most popular cars in the world with that a powerful sense of brand loyalty and reliability. When you read all the hype about the damage to Toyota it’s really about the saintly giant among automakers having the…

• Are Chain Store Brands Authentic Local Businesses?

  Steven Donaldson

  31 Dec 2009 | 3:43 pm

  The city of San Francisco, and now the town of Sausalito, across the Bay, have passed ordinances controlling or outright banning “formula retail” or “multiple chain store” operations in their neighborhoods. The claim is that they are taking away from the truly “authentic local businesses” and creating more duplication of the same cookie-cutter bland chain stores anchoring malls across the vast American suburban plain. You know, the massive Walmarts, the Macaroni Grills and Rite Aid’s we all know and often dislike across the retail landscape in America. People fear that…

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  SIMON MAINWARING: BRANDING, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL MEDIA

• Top ten reasons why BP’s advertising is a disaster

  Simon

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:39 am

  Credit: AP BP’s handling of the Deepwater Horizon disaster demonstrates a lack of understanding as to how technology has changed the consumer marketplace. Their PR efforts have effectively pitted traditional media (such as TV and newspaper ads) against social media (such as the Boycott BP page on Facebook that has received close to a million ‘Likes’ or the BP logo competition run by Greenpeace). Not only does this mean that their ad spend on traditional media is largely ineffectual, but it allows the negative conversations around their brand to continue unresolved. If a…

• Pure Process: An insider’s guide to the business of advertising thinking

  Simon

  1 Sep 2010 | 8:01 am

  If there’s one quality that defines Deborah Morrison Phd and W. Glenn Griffin Phd, it’s a passion for creativity. It’s a passion for ideas, how they are generated and how to put them in the service of marketing. So much so they asked a bunch of us to try and explain how we come up with ideas to help our clients. The result is a wonderful book that celebrates the diversity of approaches to the business of thinking. The Creative Process Illustrated is full of hard won lessons and insights from ad vets (greats like David Kennedy, Glen Cole and Hal Curtis) who have created…

• Where to start if your brand wants to build an online community

  Simon

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:58 am

  One of the most common mistakes brands make is the goal they set for themselves once they engage with social media. “How do we reach 1 million followers in 12 months” or “What’s the fastest way to get to 200,000 Facebook fans?” Brands do this for several reasons. They are competitive – as they have to be. They see other brands with large numbers of community members. They make the mistake a treating social media as another broadcast medium. While it can be argued that social media is broadcast word of mouth marketing, to treat it as such is to overlook the…

• How social gaming uses virtual giving to get real results

  Simon

  27 Aug 2010 | 6:52 am

  One of the most encouraging and exciting applications of social gaming is the ability to leverage its massive popularity to generate contributions to causes and humanitarian crises. We saw this in January this year when Zynga created limited edition items in FarmVille, FishVille, Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker that were purchased by users from 47 countries with proceeds going to victims of the Haiti earthquake. This was the first time Zynga gave 100% of the proceeds from the sale of virtual goods to charity, in this case the World Food Program, and it should serve for a model for social gaming in…

• “The products are original. It’s the brands that are fake.”

  Simon

  25 Aug 2010 | 10:20 am

  The title for this post paraphrases a quote from a Chinese salesman featured in a story on counterfeit products in the New York Times magazine last weekend. While the salesman was speaking directly to accusations regarding the legality of selling counterfeit sneakers, he touched on a much larger issue for marketers. Since the birth of modern advertising, in my mind the 1950’s, there’s been a false and expedient separation between a corporation or product and its image or brand. Obviously this made mountains of advertising sense as companies used media monopolies and television to…

• 

  Art & Business of Motion

• Promo Batch: Urban Channel, Cityvibe

  Denny

  3 Sep 2010 | 9:32 am

  Latin American premium channel Cityvibe has released a big delicious batch of promos touting its lineup of carefully selected programming which includes independent film, acclaimed series, horror and adult movies, short films, anime, concerts and documentaries. Cityvibe is described as “the other side of mainstream television”. The promo style is based on the change, re-interpretation and overlapping of stimuli. You’ll notice that these promos have the style of a VJ session (responsive AV) or one of a live cinema piece. Interestingly, as the channel’s advertisements…

• Discovery Presents, TLC Asia-Pacific Launches in 1 Week

  Denny

  25 Aug 2010 | 2:14 am

  Two quick bits of DCI related news to enjoy with your coffee this morning. As you probably know, I only have good things to say about Discovery Networks International President/CEO Mark Hollinger. If you’ve worked with Mark, you know that he encourages the very best out of creative teams and roster agencies, pushing for the best brand work for Discovery around the world. "Discovery Presenta" That said, here’s a new spot from Discovery Channel Latin America, designed by agency Totuma. Titled “Discovery Presents”, a visual metaphor of the history of the planet…

• A Glimpse at the New ‘Male Dedicated’ TV Channel: Nitro

  Denny

  20 Aug 2010 | 12:36 am

  Spain’s Antena 3 has just given us a glimpse of Nitro, a new channel dedicated to the male audience. Featuring shows including Southland, 24, Third Watch, and Boston Legal, the new channel expects to expand coverage to 90% by August 23. Nitro Channel Launch Nitro joins channel stablemates Nova (female targeted) and Neox (youth targeted). I have to say the names are quite catchy in a futuristic, Total Recall sort of way. Nitro Channel Launch Nitro Channel Launch The new Nitro look (designed by Madrid based Toch) is presented in a quite striking yellow contrast, which sort of reminds of…

• CBS to Launch 3 New TV Channels in India

  Denny

  19 Aug 2010 | 7:22 am

  US broadcast giant CBS is planning on launching 3 new English language pay channels in India. The venture (in partnership with Reliance Broadcast) is codenamed ‘Big CBS Networks’ and will leverage CBS’ vast library of english language shows including new CBS shows such as Hawaii Five-0 and The Defenders, syndicated programs like Entertainment Tonight and favourites like Everybody Loves Raymond, CSI, and NCIS. India is the world’s second-largest pay TV market by viewers after China, with 105m households signed up to terrestrial analogue cable, satellite and digital…

• FOX Latin America Presents MOVIECITY

  Denny

  17 Aug 2010 | 6:48 am

  When Buenos Aires based VP Creative Services Corina Capuano reached out to share a bit of creativity from her 80-strong team at FOX Latin American Channels, I couldn’t help but take notice at the sheer scope of work within her oversight. While the Creative Services department supports channel work in the region, a lot of it has been applied to campaigns worldwide for brands including National Geographic Channel, FX, Fox Life, Fox Horror, Next, City Family, The Film Zone, and City Vibe.  The work is impressive in scope, and in particular, harmonizes a sleek creativity seen recently in…

• 

  Executive Resume Branding Blog

• Using Twitter to Build Your Executive Brand Online

  Meg Guiseppi

  2 Sep 2010 | 4:36 am

  Using Twitter to Build Your Executive Brand Online is a post from: Executive Resume Branding I love Twitter. It’s one of my favorite brand communications tool – the perfect complement to my blogging routine. I advise my c-suite clients that the Twitter strategies I leverage are basically the same ones that will work for them in executive job search. Here are 3 ways I use Twitter to communicate and build my brand online: 1.  My Twitter bio contains my relevant keywords and an abbreviated version of my brand statement. See my post, Does Your Twitter Bio Pack an Executive Brand Punch?

• C-suite Job Search: Blogging? What’s There To Blog About?

  Meg Guiseppi

  26 Aug 2010 | 12:39 pm

  C-suite Job Search: Blogging? What’s There To Blog About? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding Some kind of blogging is an important part of any executive job search campaign — even if it’s only guest blogging or regular commenting on blogs relevant to your industry and niche. But starting your own blog is one of the best ways to position yourself as a subject matter expert, and build credibility and evangelism for your brand and ROI value. Maintaining your own blog could be a good-fit strategy for you if you like to write and you have something to say that will resonate…

• C-suite Job Search: Brand and Master Your Job Interviews

  Meg Guiseppi

  18 Aug 2010 | 5:58 am

  C-suite Job Search: Brand and Master Your Job Interviews is a post from: Executive Resume Branding Does the very idea of job interviewing fill you with dread? Many, many c-suite executives, although cool and calm on the job as leaders, quake when they have to market themselves to interviewers. Research, strategic planning, preparation and rehearsal are the keys to success. Empower yourself for your interviews by preparing to do the following: Demonstrate Your Industry and Company-Specific Knowledge Break the Ice Brand the Interview Tell Your Story Rehearse Your Answers to the Tough Questions…

• C-suite Brand Resumes: What NOT To Include

  Meg Guiseppi

  11 Aug 2010 | 6:47 am

  C-suite Brand Resumes: What NOT To Include is a post from: Executive Resume Branding Maybe you’ve never needed a resume to get a job. Or maybe you haven’t looked at and updated your resume in several years. If it’s been even a few years, you may not realize how much resumes and today’s executive job search have changed. Are you attempting to update your resume for your search campaign, or starting from scratch? Learn what things to avoid, that could possibly sabotage your chances, and once eliminated will help you cut down on information overload, in my post at…

• C-level Executive Job Search: Are Cover Letters Really Necessary?

  Meg Guiseppi

  5 Aug 2010 | 4:57 am

  C-level Executive Job Search: Are Cover Letters Really Necessary? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding The quick answer — YES! Although some recruiters and hiring authorities may skip over your cover letter and dive right into your resume, there are others who expect a covering letter or email message introducing yourself. They judge candidates by what’s in that letter or message, and may dismiss you if you don’t send them one with your resume or other career documents. Err on the side of caution and include personalized cover letters targeting each specific employer every…

• 

  SimpliFlying

• Why every visionary airline executive needs to fly Virgin America this year – to get a glimpse of the future

  Shashank Nigam

  30 Aug 2010 | 3:27 pm

  ***This is an article written and published from scratch at 35,000 ft, in-flight on Virgin America flight 342 from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale. Made possible by Gogo Wifi. A first on SimpliFlying** In a recent conversation with a South American airline executive, we were talking about the state of commercial airlines in the US. And the consensus we reached was that the travel experience  within the US is just bearable at best, often frustrating and most noteworthy innovations are actually taking place in other regions around the world. Then I took my first Virgin America flight. And I…

• American Airlines rocks on Twitter during the AA24 security threat, while passengers tweet from the plane

  Shashank Nigam

  19 Aug 2010 | 7:01 pm

  Thanks to David Parker Brown, I was alerted to a security situation on American Airlines flight 24 (AA24), bound to New York from San Francisco as someone had called in a threat to the jetliner. Thankfully, within a few hours all passengers had de-planed and gone through security checks and no one was hurt. Crises Management 2.0 – Live on Twitter! While the situation was unfolding, there were at least two passengers (@cmckella & @jaysears) on board the airplane who were tweeting away regular updates of the situation from their perspective, which included photos of the cabin and cops…

• SimpliFlying Hero July 2010: Todd Blecher, for helping move Boeing towards social media excellence

  terra

  18 Aug 2010 | 10:49 pm

  As the sun set over Farnborough 2010, it became clear that Boeing emerged a clear winner. Not just by beating all expectations in getting new orders, but also by shaking off the dust in terms of excellent social media work to engage the community. Farnborough was the epitome of work that Todd Blecher and his team has put in over the last year. Todd is Boeing’s Communications Director and has spearheaded the organization’s ascent into a new level of statusphere, where better engagement through blogging, use of Twitter and ‘the personal touch’ are a major factor. And for this, Todd is…

• SimpliFlying and Airline Business launch social media conference for airlines and airports [Plus: how you can win two passes]

  Shashank Nigam

  17 Aug 2010 | 7:59 pm

  Update: airBaltic has kindly agreed to fly in the winners of this contest to London for FREE, from anywhere on their network! All you have to do is fulfill the conditions below, and follow airBaltic on Twitter. Social media is increasingly becoming a tool of strategic competitive advantage for airlines. Delta Airlines now sells tickets on Facebook. Virgin America uses Twitter to launch new routes and save on marketing. And airBaltic [Disclosure: SimpliFlying Client] probably has a bigger presence online than in the real world. So how can other airlines learn from the likes of these successful…

• Re-birth of the Virgin Blue brand – will it work?

  Shashank Nigam

  2 Aug 2010 | 8:06 am

  This is a guest post by Jonathan Haysom, who is a respected marketer and business development strategist. Currently working for Australia’s number 1 telco and number 1 company by brand value, he is responsible for maintaining and growing a multi-billion dollar product portfolio focused on next generation products. He has recently received awards for innovation in marketing and accolades for his social media campaigns and brand strategies. ——— Virgin Blue, after fighting hard as a “renegade” brand for a slice of the Australian carrier market is tipped to undergo a…

• 

  Unbound Edition

• The Problem With Brand Valuation

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:21 am

  We’re about at the midpoint between the release of Forbes’ “The World’s Most Valuable Brands” report back in last July and Interbrand’s “Best Global Brands” report which is due out on September 15th (it usually gets picked up by Businessweek.) You know those studies which report, for example, that Coca-Cola is the world’s top brand, or that Google’s brand value at $39.7BB is still way off from Apple’s at $57.4BB. So I thought now would be a good time to raise a concern I have about these methodologies.

• Marketing Fanciful Items in the Lands of Make Believe

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:12 am

  Intrigued by the willingness of millions of consumers to pay real money for things that do not exist, some large companies are testing whether they can raise awareness of their brands — and sell more actual goods — by creating and offering their own pretend merchandise. Volvo Cars of North America, the clothing retailer H&M and MTV Networks are among the diverse brands entering the market for virtual goods — the make-believe items offered on social-networking games, smartphone apps or fantasy Internet sites.

• A Virtual Counter-Revolution

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:28 am

  The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it.

• Maturialism

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:23 am

  As the busiest time of the year is about to kick in for many of you, we thought we’d keep things lighthearted this month. Check out the rise in 'mature materialism': experienced, less-easily shocked, outspoken consumers who appreciate brands that are more daring, outspoken, even a bit more risqué.

• Some Newspapers, Tracking Readers Online, Shift Coverage

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:21 am

  In most businesses, not knowing how well a particular product is performing would be almost unthinkable. But newspapers have always been a peculiar business, one that has stubbornly, proudly clung to a sense that focusing too much on the bottom line can lead nowhere good. Now, because of technology that can pinpoint what people online are viewing and commenting on, how much time they spend with an article and even how much money an article makes in advertising revenue, newspapers can make more scientific decisions about allocating their ever scarcer resources.

• 

  JKR Blog

• Mad Men and the art of the pitch

  admin

  8 Sep 2010 | 2:12 am

  So Mad Men is back on BBC4 tonight. Lots more stylish clothes, great lighting and smart one liners. Clearly there is plenty to relish in the characters’ anachronistic behaviour, even if one has nothing to do with marketing. But I wonder if it is especially popular with creatives for the nerdy reason that Don Draper gets to have a dramatic flash of inspiration about once a season, where he emotes on a pitch idea in a way that would be laughable in our real world. Season four focuses on the Lucky Strike account. As Draper puts it, “This is the greatest advertising opportunity since the…

• Software that produces ads

  admin

  7 Sep 2010 | 3:37 am

  Does this ad look so much worse than many you encounter? The New York Times reports that BETC Euro RSCG has developed software that can produce basic advertising, spitting out quick solutions when given data on brand, target, insight and strategic objectives. Cue howls of wounded anguish from creatives, and attacks on the results. Even the software creators are not sold…“After this first reaction, they get a little scared when they see that a software program can create the same (mediocre) results in just 10 seconds as several hours of strategic meetings and production” the RSCG…

• Peter Saville’s England shirt

  admin

  6 Sep 2010 | 3:03 am

  Peter Saville’s design for the England shirt came out to play against Bulgaria last week. They look white, but close up one can see multi-coloured crosses of St George. Creative Review has all the gen here. It’s taken a bit of barracking from the terraces (looks like a sprinkling of hundreds and thousands, can’t see it from row z etc.) Saville stands by the work, believing it to be “potent…a vehicle of cultural provocation”. What do you think? For me, the “reclaiming of the cross of St George” is not massively original, and seeing our full union flag re-interpreted in…

• Foxing the Supermarket copycats

  admin

  3 Sep 2010 | 2:58 am

  Supermarket own label offerings are increasingly being seen as “true brands” in their own right (with essential Waitrose leading the charge). Nevertheless, the passing off approach of imitating lead brand’s equities shows no signs of stopping. M&S were getting flak just last week for the structural similarities between their own vitamin water and the one spending a fortune promoting its distinctively branded bottle. I hear that one – ahem – discount supermarket has a specific process to avoid litigation: copy the leader, but design in seven points of difference. So that in…

• Strongbow’s refreshing pint

  admin

  2 Sep 2010 | 2:20 am

  From a design agency point of view, it’s always great to see one’s work put at the heart rather than the periphery of the communication idea. So it was with glad hearts that we saw Strongbow’s “most refreshing pint” webpage, featuring our new glass design for the brand (see below). The creative, by Lean Mean Fighting Machine, is brilliantly simple – a giant pint which slowly drains as cider drinkers click on it, taking virtual sips by hitting refresh. Their motivation – the chance to win prizes with each click. The simplicity of the idea matches the straightforward and…

• 

  Oculus

• Yeo’s Soy

  5 Sep 2010 | 8:56 pm

  I’ve been travelling and apologize for not updating the blog for a while...Yeo’s, a large Singaporean drink manufacturer with expanding interests across the region, is aggressively promoting its range of Soy drinks.In SE Asia this category is said to be worth over US$300m at retail prices.Soy is a market which most of the larger western food companies are playing catch up to the local brands which dominate.

• Price matching

  10 Aug 2010 | 12:46 am

  When I last worked in the UK, I don’t recall much comparative price advertising at the point of sale.Times have clearly changed.This is a sign I saw last week in a Budgens.It was especially significant as the nearest Tesco store is at least 5 miles away.Perhaps they have some unique shopper insights?

• Kirin, F&N Breaking news...

  26 Jul 2010 | 3:02 am

  Courtesy of Yoshihiko Hani, Editor of Beverage Japan, we have breaking news that 14.7% of F&N stock has tonight been acquired by Kirin.Temasek holdings, the Singapore Government’s sovereign wealth fund, was the owner of the shares.According to the Japanese press release the deal is part of Kirin’s strategy to grow its business internationally especially as growth in the domestic market is increasingly difficult.F&N has is a major player in the drinks business in SE Asia but recently has decided to walk away from its bottling contract with Coca Cola.Kirin has paid S$1.34 Bn dollars…

• EPPCO UAE

  25 Jul 2010 | 9:21 pm

  In a trade mission organised earlier this year, we took one of our clients to meet EPPCO, the Emirates Petroleum Products Company as they have a strong and growing convenience store business.Based in Dubai, EPPCO has a network of over 170 service stations featuring convenience stores, car washes, ATMs and fast food outlets. Our client had some delicious pastries which he was keen to see served in their service stations.Last week, EPPCO was again awarded with the Superbrands accreditation, the fifth year in a row.Given the heat in the Middle East, and the convenience of drive in shops, one can…

• Vegetable Gardening Boom

  19 Jul 2010 | 5:04 pm

  Perhaps home gardening is going through a mini boom in Tokyo.On top of JR Ebisu one stop down from Shibuya station there is a small roof garden that can be rented out by aspiring vegetable growers and horticulturists.Soradofarm, which literally translates as “sky-earth-farm” has received quite a bit of press coverage since it opened last Autumn.A few months ago there was news about some enterprising university students, fresh back in Tokyo from a summer’s labour in the wilds of Shimane prefecture (I know it well and it’s beautiful) saw unshapely veggies being discarded as “non…

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  designdamage - Strategy + Design: Social Branding

• The 6 Habits of Highly Effective Marketers

  Eric Tsai

  13 Aug 2010 | 12:59 am

  Most business owners, experts and professionals understand the importance of providing non-promotional, educational content during the beginning of the relationship with a customer. In essence, content marketing is information marketing, and information marketing is the new currency on the Internet. The challenge is how to translate your information into products with high perceived value. It’s indicative that every business can now be called an information business because we all need some kind of information to make our decisions, learn how to solve our problems or to help us get what we…

• The 3 Most Effective Content Marketing Principles

  Eric Tsai

  29 Jul 2010 | 6:25 am

  It will be increasingly difficult to grab attention from anyone on the Internet or in person. You may spend hours writing a great blog article, creating a high-value video or designing your marketing slicks only to find that people just aren’t interested in consuming them. Why? Because we’re being bombarded by messages, alerts, and feeds every second. We’re constantly distracted and interrupted when we invest our time on the Internet. As a result, our brain essentially reconfigures itself. This is what Nicholas Carr, the author of the book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our…

• How Social Will Change Everything In Business

  Eric Tsai

  7 Jul 2010 | 1:12 am

  I saw a video on the State of Social CRM post on Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang in which Paul Greenberg talks about how companies are having difficulties with cultural changes internally to execute against the new bread of customer, the social customer.  In case you don’t know what CRM is, it’s Customer Relationship Management as described in Wikipedia as a “technology that allows companies to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find,…

• 10 Reasons Why You Are Not Getting The Results You Want Out Of Your Marketing

  Eric Tsai

  29 Jun 2010 | 8:00 am

  You spent countless hours crafting your marketing campaign investing money and hiring marketing experts to help guide you through the process. You get ready to push the launch button, waiting for emails and phone calls come pouring in, then… Nothing happens. But what could go wrong? You did the things that the marketing “experts” said you should do with your keywords, putting up blog articles day after day, uploading videos and sending out email newsletters. Why? Here are 10 reasons why you’re not getting the attention, buzz and most importantly – the sales conversion. Oh, and…

• Awareness to Action: 4 Steps to Sell More By Getting Inside the Minds of Your Customers

  Eric Tsai

  18 Jun 2010 | 2:47 am

  Over the past months I wrote about how to find your customers in order to improve your customer segmentation and gain better understanding of your niche market. Everything goes back to connecting with your audience so you can craft campaigns utilizing tactics such as email marketing, SEO and social media. Then as more businesses learned the tools of the trade, I brought up the point of adding value on my last post because ultimately knowledge will be commoditized similar to most disruptive technologies. The trick is maximizing the use of your knowledge (when it’s still valuable) to help…

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  Storytelling To Create Impact Brands

• Brand Storytelling- Building A Fan Base

  Mark

  5 Sep 2010 | 6:30 am

  Land Rover tell a great brand story. They have built a brand around the archetype of the EXPLORER offering the Land Rover audience the potential to act out this role as protagonist in their own Explorer stories. I’m one of those protagonist that recently converted from the plain world of normal cars to Land Rover. [...]

• Tension and Conflict: Marmite Love it or Hate it

  Mark

  17 Jun 2010 | 5:16 am

  To capture the attention of an audience you need to stand out. Seth Godin writes this so well in the Purple Cow and lately the Linchpin. Both these great books show why being not just different but remarkable is the way forward. Seth Godin is supported in this mission to release peoples inner greatness by [...]

• Six Brand Building Stories

  Mark

  20 May 2010 | 4:25 am

  I have just landed in New York on a business trip. We are working on defining the personality and essence of two brands I’m responsible for at work. In preparation with the advertising company I’m working with we discussed how to use archetypes to  help get at the brand personality. Part of the discussion led to where [...]

• The Go Giver- Success Stories

  Mark

  2 May 2010 | 1:51 pm

  I have just finished The Go Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann. This tale takes a the lead character and the reader through five laws that generate stratospheric success. Each of these laws speaks to stories successful people build around themselves or their work. These stories define the way people are known. It seems that [...]

• Negotiations, Storytelling and Brand Planning

  Mark

  16 Apr 2010 | 1:32 pm

  I recently went to  a great course on negotiations. If I boil what I learnt down to one key learning it would be that negotiations rely on our ability to create trust, be authentic and create value for each party involved. The first two are part of my Brand storytelling manifesto but the third, value [...]

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  Girvin Strategic Branding Design Blog

• RAVENS, TOM FORD, EYEWEAR AND BRAND MYTH: THE LEGACY OF THE CORVID IN RETAIL BRANDSTORY AND MERCHANDISING.

  Tim Girvin

  3 Sep 2010 | 11:58 am

  The raven as the icon of black beauty, primordial intelligence, mystery and the old ones. RAVENS AS THE DARK STORYTELLER, THE MYTHIC BLACK RAINBOW. Is the etymology of corvid derived from the ancient Proto-Indo European seed sound kos, for shout? That would seem appropriate — ravens for shouting. Marketing as the shout, raven-style. But it’s the sound of the kraaak and croak that reaches to the heart of the word and the story – and running the linguistic gauntlet for several thousand years, the sounds of the black one, the ravening clan, that first bespeak the legend.

• SEEKING INSPIRATIONS | CREATIVE MENTORS: HAROLD BALAZS

  Tim Girvin

  30 Aug 2010 | 8:19 am

  SEEKING INSPIRATIONS | CREATIVE MENTORS: HAROLD BALAZS: THE DEFINITIONS OF DESIGN SPIRIT: A CHILDHOOD, RECALLED GROWING UP CREATIVE | WHO’S THE TEACHER THAT PLANTS THE SEED? Creative [V I B E] is juice, it’s jazz, it’s fire; unquenchable — it’s not dying, it’s not going out. Harold Balazs | Porcelain enamel Creative comes from family — and what they teach you, what comes of exploration, what comes of gifts, what comes of being in the school of being open, learning more, risking, failing, loving and learning more. Once it starts, like any solid…

• REMOTE WORK:

  Tim Girvin

  25 Aug 2010 | 4:51 am

  Seeking beauty, active focus, and contemplative strategy in remote locations: working someplace other than where you’re supposed to be. Found in the dirt, as a reminder of something special, recalled in a remote place of work. I’ve thought about — and practiced — the idea of working, roving, writing, designing, building strategy or tactical planning somewhere other than the office(s) downtown, or around people. Being with people is critical, being away from people is equally important. The verse of conversations are counterbalanced in the silence of directed attention.

• Fire and Smoke as Design Elements | the conception of the ultimate transformation

  Tim Girvin

  23 Aug 2010 | 5:24 am

  Designing things to be altered by fire. Girvin Smoke principles, brands and the waft of fire. Firebrands. I’ve been thinking about fire and smoke a lot these days, as you might’ve noticed. But like the proverbial A persona, I can’t relinquish the affection. It runs in the Girvin family. I like fire because of my father. I’m not sure about all of my brothers, but there’s a link. Fire, heat, passion, perfection. Girvin It’s nothing new, really, I’ve been writing about smoke for a long time. …

• THE SCENT OF BIRCH TAR

  Tim Girvin

  20 Aug 2010 | 9:19 am

  An exploration of trees, their saps, the resinous outcomes, the essences and their fragrances. And Birch bark — a visit to the Early Buddhist Manuscripts Research Project in the palaeographic laboratories at the University of Washington. Scent, script and scripture, story and history: mystery from the ancient forests. How could these be possibly aligned? The story deepens still… Sometime back, a couple of years ago, I was traveling in Firenze, along with Dawn Clark, Karen Dubin, Karen Adams and a team from the Sniffapalooza crowd. Meandering back into the recesses of the shelves…

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  More Than A Logo

• The Island of Misfit Launches

  3 Sep 2010 | 8:45 am

  One of my favorite sites to follow is PSFK. It is filled with the latest trends and innovations. I find it always exciting to see what's happening around the world and how it's changing based on those trends.This morning, while scanning PSFK, I came across this cartoon and figured I have to share it on my blog. Too much fun! Below the cartoon is a great list of brand strategy and advertising stories that I would recommend you all to check out. Click here for the listHappy Friday everyone.

• Branding Continues to Evolve

  29 Aug 2010 | 11:01 pm

  At the beginning of the year, I featured a write-up by Paul Worthington, from Wolff Olins, regarding the evolution of branding. Since then, I feel the increasing adoption of smartphones and other mobile technologies has influenced the continued evolution of branding.The initial three phases of branding, begin with the introduction of TV advertising and its ability to communicate to mass audiences in a visual manner. This was the 'product age' were brands differentiated on a unique product feature - creating the unique selling proposition.However, product features can be easily duplicated by…

• Nike on Brand = The Ultimate Quick Fix

  12 Aug 2010 | 1:00 pm

  Having just finished my afternoon run, I came across Nike's new ad for the Nike Trainer One, which read "This shoe works if you do." My first thought after reading it, "Brilliant!"Today, BrandWeek wrote about this ad and its retaliation to the popular toning shoes introduced by companies like Sketchers and Reebok. These toning shoes have generated considerable increases in revenue for these organizations, and the article suggests that Nike missed the boat and should have created a toning shoe to meet women's needs, and the ad was in defense of them not creating one of these shoes.Well, I…

• Build up from the foundation: Branding is like solving a Rubik's cube

  1 Aug 2010 | 10:57 am

  The other day I was playing around with my Rubik's cube, and I began to think that managing a brand is very much like solving a Rubik's cube. There are several billion ways to solve a Rubik's cube and, for that matter, to manage a brand. But, like a Rubik's cube, there are few ways to efficiently manage a brand.The way I solve a Rubik's cube is similar to how I approach branding - I start with the foundation. I like to align the base of the cube and build up from there. This is similar to branding in that I believe great brands start with a strong foundation, rooted in their brand purpose -…

• Avoiding Flakey Brand Shit

  18 Jul 2010 | 10:32 am

  How will you avoid brand strategies as flakey as the PC character who is confused on who he is suppose to be?The other day, I heard a colleague refer to a brand document as "flakey brand shit". At first, being a brand enthusiast, my heart sunk and I began to think, "how could someone refer to a brand strategy document as 'flakey brand shit' when it's this document that defines how a brand will position itself to stimulate premium pricing, attract top talent & create brand evangelists (both internally and externally)?"But then it occurred to me - ya some brand documents ARE "flakey brand…

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  Healthy Conversations

• What health brand marketers can learn from The Grateful Dead

  Eric Brody

  26 Aug 2010 | 4:57 am

  Zig (meaningfully) when others Zag. This is the one overriding lesson for health brand marketers to take away from David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan’s book “Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band In History.” Early on in their careers, The Grateful Dead decided the best way to grow a religion-like following and legacy was to jettison the traditional rock band business model. While others focused on selling albums, they made their money from concerts. This led to a cascade of business-model breaking/money-making…

• The importance of your blog to your healthcare social media strategy

  Eric Brody

  22 Aug 2010 | 6:56 pm

  Companies are finding that blogs fill a specific niche that other forms of social media do not, says eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna in this article appearing in CMO.com. eMarketer forecasts continued growth in company use of blogs for marketing purposes. While just over one in three companies today have a public-facing blog used for marketing, that will rise to 43% by 2012. “Studies have shown that marketers perceive blogs to have the highest value of any social media in driving site traffic, brand awareness, lead generation and sales—as well as improving customer service,” said…

• Orlando Health calls on its patients to create e-scrapbook on Facebook

  Eric Brody

  16 Aug 2010 | 5:50 am

  I was proud to see this article from a couple weeks ago in HealthLeaders Media, because we are fortunate to be the agency working with the Orlando Health corporate marketing team on this “Family Is” campaign. You can read about the specifics of this campaign by clicking on the above link. But here’s a summary of the characteristics that have made this effort successful: 1. grounded: in corporate brand strategic direction 2. relevant: starting with the theme of the effort itself, “Family Is”, to their primary female target audience 3. internal engagement: staff…

• The benefits of your blog to your healthcare organization (and your audiences)

  Eric Brody

  10 Aug 2010 | 4:14 am

  The future of marketing is about doing things and saying things with people. Building relationships that are collaborative, helpful, personal and honest. Requiring your healthcare organization to expose a lot more of its humanity, because customers trust each other/trust people more than they tend to trust your organization. Blogging gives you that ability. The ability for a searcher to enter a keyword phrase, land on your post (written by a real person), which can lead to dialog, and a connection beyond what other social vehicles can provide. Here are seven specific benefits of your blog to…

• Entering the blogosphere: the nucleus of your healthcare social media strategy

  Eric Brody

  3 Aug 2010 | 5:42 am

  How can you contribute to making a meaningful difference in the daily lives of your communities and patients? Your blog, through your content, your insights, your stories, your solving of problems, is a means to do this. I had the pleasure of delivering this presentation – Entering The Blogosphere: The Nucleus Of Your Healthcare Social Media Strategy – at IQPC’s recent Strategic Social Media for Healthcare Summit in NYC. Given the feedback (fortunately very positive) and the follow-up conversations I’ve had, I thought it would be of value to socialize the presentation. It…

• 

  brandcowboy

• Counting crows.

  20 Aug 2010 | 12:08 pm

  If there is one thing that unites marketers and consumers into a single strident, stubborn voice, it’s the firm belief that the social meaning of brands is an irrelevant mirage. Marketers resist it because there’s nothing to count, it’s hard to win at, and it makes for lousy PowerPoint presentations. Consumers resist it because they fear it makes them look vain and shallow, and foolish with their money. And this congruence is matched, if at all, only by the fact that both are egregiously and abjectly wrong about that. Branding is all about social meaning. Over the last century, one by…

• Gather the horses.

  22 Jul 2010 | 6:34 am

  It’s the name of a song by a musician called Charlie Mars. It’s about battles that must be won. I was turned on to the singer by Lance Armstrong, who mentioned him on Twitter a few months ago. Lance Armstrong doesn’t know me from a lamppost, but I follow him anyway. A sometime cyclist myself, I was stirred by the heroic image of Armstrong suiting up to race, set to Charlie Mars singing “there’s fighting here to be done.” It’s on my iPod. Because you never know. In ten weeks, I will walk out of the firm I co-founded 14 years ago for the last time as its CEO. I’ll remain a…

• The name of the beast.

  18 Jun 2010 | 7:43 am

  Far be it from me to jump on the BP dogpile. If punditry were Pampers, that hole would have been plugged weeks ago. I have nothing to add to the discussion about whether BP’s brand – or its business - is going to be a casualty of this mess, or even whether they’re handling it intelligently. There’s a colloquialism for this, of which the first two syllables are “cluster,” and the only unfolding media story that’s getting anywhere close to this attention and analysis right now involves grown men kicking a ball (a ball made, ironically, mostly of petroleum products. Leather, even…

• Hope floats.

  21 May 2010 | 10:37 am

  Spare a thought for the mightiest beast from the Age of the Great Lizards, the seminal 20th century marketer Procter & Gamble. Against any sensible bet, P&G is lumbering away from the mass media tar pit it helped to create, and apparently into a future that is every bit as bright as its past. I read this piece yesterday about their e-commerce play, and for about the sixth time this year found myself marveling at their dogged capacity to evolve. P&G doesn’t just exemplify old school branding, they invented the game. So you’d think they’d have the deepest commitment to that old status…

• Out on a limb.

  28 Apr 2010 | 9:53 am

  One of the first things they tell you in strategy wonk school is, “Correlation is not the same as causation.” It’s great advice, heeded too seldom in our business and rarely if at all in the popular media. We all know, for example, that peanut butter and jelly are frequently found together, but only an over-caffeinated headline writer would make the leap to “Peanut butter results in jelly outbreak!” But that’s not to say that correlations should be ignored. Where there is smoke, fire isn’t usually far away, and here’s an example I thought was pretty interesting. Far away in…

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  Synergist

• Visual Metaphors For Memorable Communications

  Cathy Cotter

  29 Aug 2010 | 7:36 am

  Metaphors are representations. They represent an idea but are not the idea itself. We use visual metaphors in design to create a familiar experience for people by focusing on ideas and objects they understand. The metaphor associates two objects that appear unrelated at first but unconsciously, the mind makes the association almost immediately. So people stop and take a second look. You get more than 4.7 seconds with this creative strategy. The strength of a successful visual metaphor is that it dramatizes the underlying benefit/risk thus encourages customers to create positive thoughts about…

• Happy Logos

  Cathy Cotter

  16 Aug 2010 | 8:50 am

  From swish to smile. The swish inspired by the Nike “swoosh” has been a visual element used in logos for about 20 years now, and it seems it has finally seen its day. Make way for the rise of the “happy and friendly” smile! And then a frown can turn it upside down. What happens when we turn that smile upside down? We get a symbolic frown with an underlying subliminal message just the opposite of “happy and friendly”. When using an arc consider the intended meaning. Most often it is best to keep the upturn smiling. Just as in how we prefer seeing a graph travel an upward trend,…

• Show-Stopping Tradeshow Graphics

  Cathy Cotter

  4 Aug 2010 | 12:05 pm

  Four seconds! That’s the amount of time you have to engage a prospects attention as they walk by your booth. How do you achieve this? Show-stopping graphics are a great place to start. Here are 10 Successful Strategies for Seizing Visual Impact. 1  A picture is worth a thousand words Use photographic images. Images that evoke emotion engage people. Read post on visual images. Customers like to see people like themselves. 2  Showcase your corporate identity prominently Your booth should be visible and legible from down an aisle on the showroom floor. A large booth header is always…

• New BP Logo

  Cathy Cotter

  3 Aug 2010 | 4:47 am

  As a follow-up to our BP logo post last month, Greenpeace has chosen the new BP logo from more than 25,000 votes online. Read their post here. And the winner is….

• Visual Brand Synchronicity

  Cathy Cotter

  26 Jul 2010 | 6:07 am

  Are you using easily identifiable visual communications that connect uniquely and quickly back to your company? Are you paying attention to the way your visual brand is used across mediums? Do your website, Twitter account and Facebook profile use the same overall visual features so viewers know it is your company they are experiencing? How can you build a memorable visual brand appropriate for print, web, trade shows, signage and social media? We call it visual synchronicity… the recognition that develops when common visual elements are used across all media consistently and…

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  Razor Branding Blog

• Place Your Brand

  Jaci Russo

  6 Sep 2010 | 7:16 pm

  Facebook launched their Places application to much hand-wringing and consternation.  People are very worried about privacy issues.   And the potential to get caught in a white lie if you weren't forthcoming about where you would actually be tonight. There are, however, some positives starting to emerge with Facebook places.  By encouraging people to share where they are, the name of the place is appearing in newsfeeds with regularity.  It's word of mouth marketing with frequency. One college is already realizing the benefits of that and is encouraging their students to…

• Brand Buzz: Branding with Collateral

  Jaci Russo

  30 Aug 2010 | 5:57 am

  Tune in every Monday at 5:25pm to KPEL 96.5 for another exciting episode of Brand Buzz. Today's topic is the Branding Power of Collateral materials. A mainstay of direct marketing, collateral materials are the most important tools for B2B companies.  Whether it is a standard like trifold brochures and pocket folders or one of the newer incarnations like pURLs and interactive pdfs, collateral materials are the best way to deliver your message and establish your brand in a B2B world. If you market your products and services to the masses, then mass media is for you.  If, however, you…

• Effective Advertising Builds Brands

  Jaci Russo

  27 Aug 2010 | 6:23 am

  London Businessman, Thomas Smith, wrote a guide called Successful Advertising in 1885.  His writings established the Theory of Frequency that is still applicable today. The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.  The second time, he does not notice it. The third time, he is conscious of its existence. The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before. The fifth time, he reads it. The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it. The seventh time, he reads it through and says, “Oh brother!” The eighth time, he says, “Here’s that…

• 4food's W(hole) Burger Builds Brand

  Jaci Russo

  25 Aug 2010 | 6:36 am

  4food is a quick service restaurant concept that is launching in New York in September.  Sure, it's burgers.  But with a twist.  The biggest difference is the food.  They are super focused on healthy natural food, you can check out their Credo to learn more about the do's and don'ts of how healthy the food is.  But its not just the ingredients that make the difference.  The 4food burger isn't shaped like anyone else.  The meat pattie is built like a donut and the center is filled with a scoop of vegetable goodness.  Inside the restaurant is a large…

• Is Snooki Building Gucci's Brand?

  Jaci Russo

  24 Aug 2010 | 4:41 am

  It has long been a custom for companies to gift celebrities with their products in the hopes that there will be a picture of it that will make the press.  This approach to 'free pr' has generated an entire business of gift bags at awards shows and gift suites during press junkets.  One of my favorite branding practices is "borrowed glory".  The theory, proven true time and time again, that if a consumer has an emotional connection to a product then they will develop an emotional connection to another product that is connected to it.  If an athlete wears a particular shoe…

• 

  Profitable Growth

• You Can’t Be Serious!

  After last month’s piece in the Pittsburgh Business Times,  (read it HERE), a Pittsburgher challenged me; “You can’t be serious!  Topography can’t be why Pittsburgh has thrived relative to Cleveland!” Seriously, I believe Western PA is mostly thriving because it’s mustering energy, creativity and commitment to keep climbing out of its valleys and avoid falling [...]

• A Shout Out for Razi Imam: Pittsburgh Entrepreneur, Author of “Driven”, and Teacher of “Junoon”

  Recently, I’ve had the chance to work with a most interesting entrepreneurial and thought leader here in Pittsburgh, Razi Imam. Imam is the founder of both Landslide Technologies and now, 113 Industries, an incubator for Nano technology-based material science companies. In addition to his entrepreneurial success, Razi has created some breakthrough work on how CEO’s [...]

• Do Your Sales & Marketing Dollars Work for You?

  Six Ways to Tell if You’re Getting Your Money’s Worth: Despite many experts who insist that “Sales and Marketing are different,” why aren’t they just as accountable as Finance is for accurate results and Production is for working products? When good products and services are well marketed and sold smart, profitable growth happens. But when [...]

• Innovation! Don’t Stress Me But Tell Me What Kind You Need!

  I am sitting here facing a deadline to write this article on innovation!  Isn’t it ironic yet obvious how innovation, stress and deadlines always seem to go hand-in-hand! Everyone needs and craves innovation, yet the more we chase it, the more elusive discovering the next “it” or “thing” seems to be. Most of us have [...]

• Pittsburgh vs. Cleveland: Why business in the ‘Burgh beats Cleveland.

  “So, Andy, why is business better in Pittsburgh than in Cleveland?” After repeatedly being asked, I wrote an article for today’s Pittsburgh Business Times answering this question.  While I can say the answer has to do with topography you can click HERE to read it now if you are a subscriber, or send me an [...]

• 

  soundlounge sonic branding blog

• Inspired by the Sound of Halo: Reach

  soundlounge

  7 Sep 2010 | 11:27 pm

  In video games, like in blockbuster movies, the visual effects usually hog all the attention. Gamers often judge a game on how “realistic” the graphics look. But as any experienced film producer could tell you, sound is equally (if not more) important in creating a visceral, realistic environment. So it’s always interesting to see how top-notch game designers approach sound design. The SoundWorks Collection has just released their sound profile of the new Halo game, and the video has some fascinating insights from the Bungie team: “Games definitely have a set of…

• Fiat and Faithless: The World’s First “Prommercial”

  soundlounge

  31 Aug 2010 | 6:01 am

  While Coca-Cola’s marketing team is slowly and steadily reaping the subliminal advertising benefits from injecting their sonic logo into K’naan’s World Cup hit, other brands have been going for quicker, less subtle band and brand linkups. Take the latest partnership – Fiat and Faithless, who have teamed up to create an advert/music video they’ve dubbed a “prommercial”. It seems Fiat has intentionally distanced themselves from the sponsorship route (think Seat and Shakira). And notably, the three-minute video they’ve produced has no Fiat references aside from the image of…

• soundlounge – the music supervisors behind the UNICEF/Radiohead/AMV BBDO Campaign

  soundlounge

  10 Aug 2010 | 1:07 am

  To any rookie filmmaker, adding music to a great piece of footage might seem easy and fun, but any serious commercial production team knows the headaches, heartaches, and often cheque book-aches in getting exactly the right track for a film. When it comes to permission from big bands in the league of Radiohead – it can seem an impossible task. For over 30 years soundlounge have been persuading artists like The Beatles; Madonna; David Bowie; Duran Duran; The Who; Iggy Pop; Cream and many, many others to say yes – some for the very first time – for their music to be used in a TV…

• Audi: The Richard Wagner of Brands

  soundlounge

  3 Aug 2010 | 10:58 pm

  Last week we brought you Coke: The J.S. Bach of Brands. Time now to highlight Audi, who have certainly been taking a few notes from the master of Romantic opera: Richard Wagner. Wagner, arguably one of the most brilliant and insane composers of his time, built his reputation on epic operas that lasted well beyond the attention span of most listeners today. His infamous Der Ring des Nibelungen, which took him 26 years to complete, clocks in at around 15 hours of performance time! You might imagine audiences would drift off after the first few hours, but how could they with ballistic themes…

• Why Inception Sounds So Cool

  soundlounge

  1 Aug 2010 | 11:19 pm

  It’s easy to get swept away by Inception’s stunning visuals, but it seems the music and sound design are getting just as much press. The Guardian revealed last week that Hans Zimmer’s entire epic score stems from one old French tune – Edith Piaf’s recording of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien”. In the film, the dreamers use this song to “kick” themselves awake. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll hear that the main Inception theme is basically a remix of Piaf’s song. Very clever! Zimmer apparently had some fun as a musical prankster: “Just for the game of it, all the music in…

• 

  brandSTOKE

• Vote for the most annoying insurance spokes-character

  Kirk

  1 Sep 2010 | 12:23 pm

  In the insurance industry, characters are multiplying faster than claims. And not all of them are crowd-pleasers. Joining the lizards, ducks and dogs are: Mayhem, a reckless new character, who has shoved perennial Allstate spokesperson Dennis Haysbert into the backseat Actor Mike McGlone, playing a tough-guy reporter who asks rhetorical questions for Geico The guy with the blue phone strapped to his body, comedian Bob Wiltfong, who hams it up for Nationwide Justin Case, a fictional SafeAuto employee, played by Tim McCarthy Now’s your chance to vote for the one you find most irritating…

• Top ten posts out of first 100

  Kirk

  30 Aug 2010 | 6:00 am

  For me, it is informative and sometimes intriguing to see which posts you are most interested in reading. Following are the top ten posts since the launch of BrandSTOKE, according to page views: 9 criteria for brand essence and the accompanying SlideShare deck #1 by a landslide Best branding & marketing books Mayflower’s giant marionette: cute or creepy? Wow! The traffic to this post surprised me. The marionette deeply polarized opinion. P&G brands … itself? G, I don’t get Gatorade’s line extension. Since the post, the Gatorade lineup has changed yet again: G01…

• Polaroid: The brand that won’t die

  Kirk

  25 Aug 2010 | 8:21 am

  The photos are grainy and often out of focus. The colors look faded. You can’t zoom and you can’t make extra prints without scanning. And the film is expensive. Digital, the new instant photography, does it all better, faster and cheaper. So why won’t Polaroid, which filed for bankruptcy in 2001, just go away? One reason is that people love its imperfect look. Photographer Larry Fink says, “The color combines with soft focus to create images existing in the suspended time of a dream. The everyday appears to us as if from a great distance.” At Fink’s blog,…

• Do artisan brands lose their fans when sold to conglomerates?

  Kirk

  17 Aug 2010 | 6:24 am

  Burt’s Bees was started in Dexter, Maine, in 1984 by Burt Shavitz, a beekeeper, and Roxanne Quimby. Their lip balm and other natural products were an offshoot of Burt’s backwoods honey business. Similarly, Tom and Kate Chappell decided to make and sell the first natural toothpaste, Tom’s of Maine, in rural Kennebunk in 1975. They started with a $5,000 loan and the philosophy that their personal care products would not harm the environment. (See post.) In Santa Cruz, George Steltenpohl and two fellow musicians, Gerry Percy and Bonnie Bassett, launched Odwalla from a shed in…

• Does mocking its target customers sell cars for Toyota?

  Kirk

  10 Aug 2010 | 8:23 am

  When my kids were very young, I read a book by Hugh O’Neill called Daddy Cool: How to Ride a Seesaw with Dignity, Wear a Donald Duck Hat with Style, and Sing “Bingo Was His Name-O” with Panache. The stories helped me through puréed carrots and sleep deprivation. O’Neill also wrote A Man Called Daddy and Here’s Looking at You, Kids: The Crowded Romance of Mom and Dad. “Welcome to a world where apple juice is the nectar of the gods,” he wrote. “Welcome to a slow dance of night-lights and snow pants. Welcome to what would be a look at family life…

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  Samir Balwani - Internet Marketing Strategy

• Get Googley and Keep it Simple, Stupid!

  Samir Balwani

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:00 am

  Aaron Goldman is the founder and principal at Connectual, where he puts lessons learned from Google to good use in digital marketing consulting and matchmaking. This post is part of a blog tour celebrating the book launch, which has Aaron “appearing” at 30 blogs in 10 days. In a post last week titled, “Don’t Make This Mistake: Social Media in Advertising,” Samir points out the challenges with using Facebook URLs as calls-to-action in TV and other ads. As Samir wisely observes… “Users with the intent to find you on Facebook could just as easily get lost into…

• Don’t Make This Mistake: Social Media in Advertising

  Samir Balwani

  1 Sep 2010 | 5:30 am

  Lately, there’s been this growing trend of including a link to the brand’s Facebook fan page in TV advertising. It’s really something I don’t understand – it is definitely a huge branding failure. Here’s an example – Unilever’s Lynx product. Instead of using their brand name and inviting users to connect with the brand – they drive potential consumers to Facebook to connect with the brand. Herein lies the problem. Facebook boasts about the amount of time users spend on site and number of pageviews – Facebook Users Average 7 Hours a…

• Why You Need a Social Media Hub

  Samir Balwani

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:00 am

  The social media hub centralizes a brand’s digital communications, connecting social media profiles with the business website. As more social media platforms begin to emerge, the need for a central branded social media hub grows. Bring People to Your Branded Site Many brands use their individual social media profiles as their central communications hubs. For example, some businesses focus their attention on Facebook and continue to direct their consumers there. Instead of capturing the community on their own brand site, the business is losing potential consumers to Facebook. Although a…

• Mess With Your Friends Using Facebook Places

  Samir Balwani

  23 Aug 2010 | 7:30 am

  On August 18th, Facebook unveiled their features for tapping into the mobile “check-in” world. In regular Facebook fashion, they seemed to have forgotten about how people like their privacy, kinda… What many people don’t know about Facebook Places is that instead of just letting me check-in to a place, I can also tag my friends. Where we are, shows up on both our Facebook wall and life stream. So, why not spoof my geo-location and start checking in my friends into random dirty places? A Day With Kenny Looks like Kenny went to Babeland, the sex toy shop in Soho. Next…

• The Three R’s of Social Media

  Samir Balwani

  18 Aug 2010 | 7:00 am

  Everyone know’s the three r’s: reading, ’riting (writing), and ’rithmetic (arithmetic) or reduce, reuse, and recycle. Now, there’s one more – ratings, reviews, and recommendations. These are three important aspects for marketers looking to make their products, content, or brand more enticing to consumers. Ratings: The Community Filter The first step is understanding the importance of ratings. Consumers continually rate everything they do. They’re used to rating music on iTunes, products on Amazon, and restaurants on Yelp. The simple action helps us filter the…

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  PeakBiety branding + advertising

• The Joshua Bell/Metro Station Experiment and the Power of Perception

  PeakBiety

  31 Aug 2010 | 8:21 am

  Edited from The Washington Post article by Gene Weingarten He emerged from the metro station at the L’Enfant Plaza Station and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play. It was 7:51 a.m. on a Friday in the middle of rush hour. In the next 43…

• PeakBiety Welcomes Fall 2010 Art Interns

  PeakBiety

  24 Aug 2010 | 1:19 pm

  PeakBiety welcomes art interns, Triston Thomas and Maria Boutzoukas, this fall. Triston Thomas attends The Art Institute of Tampa and is majoring in Graphic Design. He describes himself as “a passionate designer with knowledge of editorial, packaging, and branding design, one of humble temperament, and having an unmatched enthusiasm for creating new things.” Maria Boutzoukas is a student at the International Academy of Design and Technology. Born and raised in Clearwater, FL, Maria enjoys expressing her creativity in many ways—including graphic design, photography and DJing. Maria is…

• The Future of Agency Relationships: Is it Time to Rethink Your Agency’s Role?

  PeakBiety

  24 Jun 2010 | 7:32 am

  In the latest issue of Marketing News, Josh Bernoff (VP, Forrester Research and coauthor of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies) asks the question—Is Your Agency Relationship Past Its Expiration Date? He says it’s time for marketers to rethink your agency’s role, and then rethink your own. Based on a new Forrester report titled “The Future of Agency Relationships”, his premise is that in a stable media era, agencies can specialize. As a result, many marketers have a silo-driven approach to their agency relationships—an advertising or…

• Healthcare Branding Week: Why a “Traditional” Agency Makes Sense For Healthcare Marketing

  PeakBiety

  18 Jun 2010 | 6:42 am

  Part 5 of 5 Too often today, corporate marketing will look to “specialists” to solve problems. A design firm may be hired for logo development, a website company will be hired for an online presence, television may end up getting station-produced, and the list goes on. The risk with this approach is mainly waste and inconsistency. And too often, messages lack both strategy and integration. As a result, the organization finds itself having spent a lot of money only to end up with misdirected and mediocre communications. How does this happen? Sometimes the problem is lack of or conflicting…

• Healthcare Branding Week: Complexities of Healthcare Advertising Online

  PeakBiety

  17 Jun 2010 | 6:40 am

  Part 4 of 5 Despite a down economy, online advertising in 2009 saw steady growth according to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers published in April 2010. “Search revenue accounted for 47 percent of 2009 revenues, up from the 45 percent reported in 2008. Display advertising also showed solid growth, accounting for 35 percent of 2009 revenue up from 33 percent in 2008. Digital video, which is a component of display advertising, increased 38 percent from 2008 to 2009.” (PWC 2010) But along with this phenomenal growth come phenomenal complexities. Following and targeting consumers…

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  The B2B Brand Debate

• B2B Brand Debate Topic — Brand Audit

  admin

  26 Aug 2010 | 11:38 am

  As the curator of great B2B brand debates, we want to bring your attention to a conversation unfolding over at Gigabrandblog.com. The blog is focused on technology brands, but often provides good fodder for us to consider, contemplate and comment upon right here. Right now, a post on Brand Audit has caught our interest. First of all, the piece brings to life one of the best movie courtroom scenes of all time. Secondly, the author really holds nothing back in clearly calling out executives and their ability to “handle the truth”. Audit is not a term that ignites warm and fuzzy feelings,…

• B2B Brand Debate Topic — Why Brand Development Fails

  admin

  15 Aug 2010 | 11:34 am

  Even before David Letterman made it a late night staple, Top 10 lists have always been a great place to start an entertaining conversation. Think of all the movie, sports and celebrity moments that grace our televisions daily in some sort of countdown to the most memorable or infamous. How often do these lists get debated at home, in the office or with friends over drinks? Well, what Letterman helped elevate as a national TV icon, bloggers have done similarly across the web. After all, nothing is easier to consume, discuss and debate than a good old Top 10 list. It is arguably the most shared…

• The Great BP Brand Debate

  Guest Blogger

  11 Aug 2010 | 9:31 am

  The BP brand is struggling as the company deals with the Gulf Coast disaster. Across America BP stations are seeking ways to rekindle business while others go to extra lengths to ensure their separation from the brand. In fact, a recent NPR story reveals a desire to return to the Amoco brand that extinguished soon after the merger with BP back in the 1990s. Would a name change salvage the tarnished image? Or should BP fight on to rebuild consumer trust and loyalty? RiechesBaird co-founder Ray Baird was brought in to discuss the merits of a re-branding effort during an interview on NPR’s All…

• B2B Brand Debate Topic — Brand Council

  admin

  20 Jul 2010 | 1:56 pm

  Compelling series regarding the role and importance of a Brand Council unfolding over at Gigabrandblog.com. Part two of the three part series covers the Who, What and How of a successful Brand Council.  Interesting angle being taken to focus on the particular challenge facing brands in the technology sector. “Technology companies in particular struggle to enhance the value of their brands by aligning their activities to deliver a fulfilling customer experience beyond the functional and/or technological benefits they offer.“ Regardless of specific verticals or market, a critical…

• B2B Brand Debate Topic — Category Definition

  admin

  20 Jul 2010 | 1:54 pm

  Category definition is an issue paramount to all successful businesses. As our friends over at Gigabrandblog.com point out, it’s a strategic decision that can stifle some brands. “Each technology brand shares the same business challenge: defining what category best describes their business, and how to position themselves within the competitive environment.” The ever-evolving nature of technology forces executives in this field to think more in terms of audience confirmation as it relates to Gartner or Forrester category definition. So often technology companies get caught up in the…

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  Executive Career Brand

• The Roots of Personal Branding

  Meg Guiseppi

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:21 am

  The Roots of Personal Branding is a post from: Executive Career Brand A friend and colleague Galen Tinder, senior consultant and manager for Ricklin-Echikson Associates, wrote an excellent article, The Promise of Personal Branding, in the August Worldwide ERC (Workforce Mobility Association) Mobility Magazine. He describes personal branding as “a means by which a person establishes a consciously crafted and public professional presence and status in his or her field and the world at large.” Describing the historical context of personal branding, he explains its evolution from the…

• Executive Branding and the New Rules of C-level Job Search

  Meg Guiseppi

  1 Sep 2010 | 4:25 am

  Executive Branding and the New Rules of C-level Job Search is a post from: Executive Career Brand Have you been thrust into an executive job search and finding that things have changed drastically since the last time you looked for a gig, even if it was only a few years ago? Suddenly the game plan looks and feels completely different, and no one told you about it. You don’t know what you need to do to get a handle on and accelerate your search – what to do first, what not to do, who to turn to for help, how to best invest your time and funds. You may be wondering what all the fuss is…

• Choosing the Best Resume Writer

  Meg Guiseppi

  26 Aug 2010 | 4:17 am

  Choosing the Best Resume Writer is a post from: Executive Career Brand Alina Dizik recently wrote quite a provocative article for the Wall Street Journal, Hiring a Résumé Writer? Ask These Questions First, that triggered over 25 comments. Some came from people I know – my colleagues in the careers industry – and some came from people attacking professional resume writers in general, questioning the validity of professional credentialing, and demeaning them for defending our profession in their comments. Some of the disparaging comments align with what I said in a post last year over at…

• 10 Ways I Use Twitter to Build My Personal Brand

  Meg Guiseppi

  23 Aug 2010 | 5:09 am

  10 Ways I Use Twitter to Build My Personal Brand is a post from: Executive Career Brand Twitter is one of my favorite brand communications tools. The strategies I use are ones I advise my c-level executive clients will also work for their job-hunting and career management efforts. Here are 10 ways Twitter helps me communicate and build my personal brand: 1.  My Twitter bio contains my relevant keywords and an abbreviated version of my brand statement. See my post, Does Your Twitter Bio Pack an Executive Brand Punch? 2.  My tweets and retweets are consistent with my brand, and reinforce my…

• C-level Job Search: Blogging? What Am I Going To Write About?

  Meg Guiseppi

  19 Aug 2010 | 4:43 am

  C-level Job Search: Blogging? What Am I Going To Write About? is a post from: Executive Career Brand I encourage my clients to get involved with blogging in some way. Even a focused strategy of regular commenting and guest blogging on relevant blogs can have value and significant impact. If they like to write (and perhaps have a number of articles or white papers under their belt) and have something to say about their industry and areas of expertise, starting their own blog is a good-fit strategy for their brand communications plan. Why blogging? Top-level executives (and other job seekers)…

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  Rebranding Branding Blog

• Distility CEO Axle Davids on BusinessCast, the podcast for entrepreneurs.

  24 Aug 2010 | 8:44 am

  Last week Distility CEO Axle Davids had the privilege of being the featured guest on Businesscast, the podcast for entrepreneurs. The BusinessCast Entrepreneurs Podcast is an iTunes-featured podcast developed to help entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized businesses across all industries address their strategic and day-to-day business issues.Listen to Distility Branding’s own Axle David share his story behind the growth and success of his growing business

• Distility Branding receives angel-led funding

  22 Jul 2010 | 5:51 am

  1day1brand system delivers an innovative and collaborative process for building brands TORONTO, ONTARIO (July 21st, 2010) -- MaRS, a Toronto-based not-for-profit innovation centre, is pleased to announce that one of its clients, Distility Branding, has closed a round of angel funding totalling $350,000. Proceeds of the investment will provide operations support and allow Distility to further its marketing and sales efforts. The Distility team is comprised of self-titled “brand technologists” with a passion for inventing new workflows that make branding quick, collaborative and…

• Add Your Quote for Brand Scammed!

  21 Jul 2010 | 6:37 am

  We're delighted by the response so far to Brand Scammed! Have a look in the comments section below for some of the quotes we've received by some of the best minds in business. And please add your quote to theirs. You'll be in great company! Please provide your quote below...

• Brand Scam: Buying Too Little.

  6 Jul 2010 | 9:23 am

  By Axle Davids, CEO & Brand Technologist, Distility Branding This scam is by far the biggest of all Brand Scams and leads to the worst brands of all. The typical story is a client who needs a branding deliverable like a website or lead generation campaign. They ask their internal resource or a vendor to do a logo, tagline, or “figure out our brand” while they are at it. The vendor may be well intentioned but ignorant about brand analysis, strategy or standards. They may be overconfident, a branding wannabe who figures that since they have worked “on a brand” they…

• Apple Brand Strategy Leaked in Microsoft Slide!

  29 Jun 2010 | 8:40 am

  Hours ago, CNET and other tech sites featured a purported leaked Windows 8 document. It looks real. Especially convincing is the sad "How Apple does it: A Virtuous Cycle” slide. (image above from leaked document above)The Virtuous Cycle:A strong brand promises "That it will just work"It does "just work" and soThe brand gets stronger.There's nothing funny about the content. Just that Microsoft with Windows, still so typical of most companies, can't help but complicate, rather than distill.It is easy to bash Microsoft, but their Windows brand represents the typical vicious cycle:A weak…

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  Online Branding Blog - reactorr.com

• Most Viral Brands of 2010

  Mark Nicholson

  6 Sep 2010 | 10:18 am

  A look at how of different brands online performance this year (so far) in terms of how they were shared across popular social spaces.

• Internet Branding Is Key To Today’s Marketing

  Mark Nicholson

  27 Aug 2010 | 11:09 am

  Internet Branding may still be in its infancy, with social media attracting most of the attention and buzz. But its an integral part of the online brand building process, and only one aspect to a larger picture. While its a separate channel than offline marketing, its critical to include with the web being what it is now. Many companies are slow to move, figuring a website, twitter page, and possibly one on Facebook is enough. Unfortunately, the laggards will have to work 3 times as hard to catch up. Social media and Internet branding is not a fad. Building brand equity online can take…

• Must Read Roundup

  Mark Nicholson

  19 Aug 2010 | 10:22 am

  A few articles worthy of sharing on social media, online branding and advertising… 5 Reasons Why Your Interns Are Better At Social Media Than You Are If you’re hands aren’t dirty from being inside your company, then you shouldn’t be blogging. Thinking like an intern means remembering that passion you used to have about every day business and bringing it to the blog. Interns share how excited they are about new products. - businessinsider How to Manage Your Online Advertising Lucky for even the most luddite entrepreneur, a new wave of ad management and placement software and…

• Eroding Site Equity With A Brand Strategy

  Mark Nicholson

  17 Aug 2010 | 8:48 pm

  For many ad agencies, building a mini site for a client is often the answer to a new campaign. It allows creative control, a chance to grab a cool domain, and to create something fresh as an extension instead of being tied to the brand identity guidelines. What most advertising agencies and businesses don’t realize is when they build a mini site, they’re giving up some of their brand’s equity by doing so. Links are like an Internet marketing currency of the web, and the equity they build also builds the brand online. Rather than creating mini sites, which can be cool, its of…

• Creating Influence Online

  Mark Nicholson

  9 Aug 2010 | 11:03 pm

  Possibly the shortest Internet marketing conference ever, the Influence Project involved 60 speakers for 60 seconds. Some of the speakers included Brian Clark, Guy Kawasaki, Mitch Joel, Muhammad Saleem, Brian Solis and more.  MP3 recording and transcript  available through the above link.

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  Your Brand Plan, personal brand strategy for business and career tips - Blogs - Personal Brand Blog by David Sandusky

• Experience Pros Unmistakable Brand

  David Sandusky

  28 Aug 2010 | 3:56 pm

  Angel Tuccy and Eric Reamer are starting a Revolution in How People Treat People in Business. As co-founder and c-author Eric Reamer said today on a special Saturday Your Brand Radio, "treating customers well is common sense, but it has not been common practice." Angel and Eric are on a mission to change that through their Experience Pros business, radio show, meetup events and books. This book and the conversation is a good brand lesson. It is about the experience, not the marketing or words we use. Lists That Saved My Business: From the Best Selling Author of "Lists That Saved My Life" is…

• Neil McKenzie Pounding the Creatives and Business Drum

  David Sandusky

  12 Aug 2010 | 10:33 am

  One of the sure signs you have an unmistakable personal brand is when buzz and conversation about you is consistently on brand and often. That is the case with Neil McKenzie. I will never grow tired of someone telling me they met Neil and talked about supporting the creative business economy in Denver and beyond. Neil adds value online as a regular contributor on places like Colorado BIZ Magazine, #brandchat and Your Brand Radio. With his mission fully in place, Neil started his own blog community called and about Creatives and Business. Online is one thing but Neil hits the streets and…

• "The Y" Experiencing the Name

  David Sandusky

  12 Jul 2010 | 4:42 pm

  Any time an organization changes a name there will be questions around the strategy for the brand. In some cases the expansion of a brand is a legitimate reason. Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. is the first to come to my mind. Others change names to end the memory of a bad brand. Today in the non-profit world a 160 year old institution officially changed their name from Y.M.C.A. to The Y. My immediate thought was, sure, other than the popular song by the Village People, I don't recall anyone referring the to Y.M.C.A. as the Y.M.C.A. Kids and others say things like "I'm going to the Y".

• Heidi Ganahl - It’s all about the dogs!

  David Sandusky

  22 Jun 2010 | 12:32 pm

  Heidi Ganahl is an unmistakable personal brand. This Denver / Boulder based entrepreneur is a remarkable example of how to start a business based on a passion and a need you feel should be filled as a customer. For Heidi, caring for dogs is the mission and innovation keeps her positioned for success. Heidi's mission is delivered through Camp Bow Wow which provides the highest levels of fun, safety and service for its Campers, and peace of mind for their parents. Building a successful business model which values fun, safety and service for the client (dogs), the other client (dog owners or…

• Pinkberry Culture Creates Lines of Groupies

  David Sandusky

  5 Jun 2010 | 11:14 am

  I have heard of Pinkberry, but it was not until a franchise owner opened a Pinkberry a block away from our studio / office in Denver, CO that I realized this place is a BIG deal. Before they opened, we noticed cars and people pulling up and revolving around the parking lot in anticipation of opening day. Soft opening day resulted in lines around the corner of the building, maybe 100 people? Opening day, same thing. Over a week later, same thing, every day, open to close. My wife, Julie, and I literally pass by everyday and look forward to the opening buzz to die down so we can see what the…

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  Ben Wise on Branding

• Google’s All Encompassing Brand

  benwisebranding

  7 Sep 2010 | 11:17 am

  BrandChannel has an article explaining that Google is making more of an effort to monetize YouTube through advertising. To anyone familiar with Google, this should come as no surprise. While the company continues to add more products to their expanding empire, they are at heart an advertising company. Everything they create is done in an effort to sell more ads. Somewhere north of 90% of Google’s revenues come from their highly successful AdWords program. While these often cost less than $1 per click, for a brand with Google’s reach, all of those individual clicks quickly add up to tens…

• Your Culture and Your Brand – A Vital Link

  benwisebranding

  3 Sep 2010 | 1:10 pm

  Sorry for the long dry spell on this blog, but I have been travelling for the past 4 weeks and am just now returning to my regular routine. While away, I read ‘Delivering Happiness’ by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com. I would strongly recommend reading this book if you haven’t yet, but would like to elaborate on one key aspect that rings especially true for me. Hsieh believes that the Zappos employee culture is one of the most important contributors to the company’s success and they go to great lengths to continually build upon and strengthen their culture. The amazing part of their…

• Building a Brand Takes Time

  benwisebranding

  27 Jul 2010 | 1:55 pm

  I sometimes worry that people read this blog, make a few changes to improve their brand, then expect to see the results right away. Marketers and brand managers are often used to running promotions where you can see the ROI within days of its launch. Unfortunately, building a brand takes time. And anyone expecting quick results will be frustrated. A traditional marketing campaign is designed to elicit a specific reaction within a specific time horizon. If someone buys your product when it is on a limited-time special offer, than you have achieved your goal. When building a brand, loyalty is…

• Despite All the Buzz, Email Still Trumps Social Media

  benwisebranding

  21 Jul 2010 | 1:24 pm

  Much to my dismay, I found myself spending much of my Sunday afternoon in a mall. While I don’t love shopping, I am always amazed by the positioning of brands at this crucial touch point in their relationship with me as a consumer. After stopping at a few stores, it became abundantly clear that brands are still placing much more emphasis on email marketing than social media. Four of the five stores I stopped at were offering discounts if you signed up to their email list. Only one of the five prominently displayed their social media channels (ie ‘check us out on…

• Advertising on Social Networks Doesn’t Work

  benwisebranding

  12 Jul 2010 | 2:16 pm

  ComScore has just released data showing that social networking websites still charge much less for digital advertising than traditional websites. D’uh! This should come as no surprise. People find social networking addictive. They spend hours checking the latest updates on the Facebook wall. For many it is the first thing they check in the morning and the last thing they check at night. People find social networking unbelievably engaging. One can assume from this that the actual content must be pretty interesting. So why would anyone expect people to notice small ads on the side when the…

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  Marques inspirantes et déprimantes - Par Jevto Dedijer

• Est-ce que votre voiture fit avec votre marque?

  Jevto Dedijer

  17 Aug 2010 | 4:27 am

  La semaine dernière un de mes clients, un conseiller financier, m'appelle et me dit: ''Bonjour Jevto, je te mets en main libre, je suis avec ma femme. Allo, tu nous entends? On a une question à te poser, on doit changer de voiture et on voulait savoir quelle marque acheter?'' Au début je pense à un canular mais je me rends vite compte qu'il sont très sérieux et qu'ils veulent s'assurer que le signal ''voiture'' de la marque soit en synergie avec l'essence de la marque.Hummer - Non, Mini Austin - Non, Smart - Non, Cadillac - Non, BMW -…

• La brasserie Brewdog sait faire parler d'elle sans dépenser beaucoup, et vous?

  Jevto Dedijer

  27 Jul 2010 | 1:46 pm

    Brewdog, une petite micro-brasserie d'Écosse vient de lancer la bière la plus forte au monde, la The End of History qui tire à 55% d'alcool. Ils sont peu nombreux dans l'équipe et ils n'ont pas de gros moyens, mais ils ont réussi à faire parler d'eux dans le monde entier grâce à trois choses: La réflexion, l'audace et la créativité.  Voici comment: La bière est exclusive, seulement 12 bouteilles ont été produites, le prix est ... élevé,  500-700 (livres sterling) et ....chaque bouteille est insérée dans…

• Le veau de Charlevoix ou comment détruire sa différenciation

  Jevto Dedijer

  20 Jul 2010 | 7:27 am

  Le veau de Charlevoix ne vient plus de ....Charlevoix et ça c'est très dommage pour les consommateurs et pour la survie de la marque à long terme. Aujourd'hui, on assiste à la croissance de l'unique, du local, du spécifique et Jean Robert, le propriétaire de l'entreprise, était un précurseur dans ce domaine. Lorsqu'on entend le mot Charlevoix on voit des images des montagnes verdoyantes qui surplombent le fleuve St-Laurent, le parc des Grands Jardins, Baie St-Paul, Port au Persil, le massif de la Petite-Rivière St-François etc. Le veau de…

• Mango, une banque qui n'est pas une banque ...

  Jevto Dedijer

  30 Jun 2010 | 1:40 pm

  Aux États-Unis, un foyer sur quatre n'a pas de compte en banque et avant l'arrivée de Mango sur la scène, ces personnes étaient contraintes de faire affaires avec des centres d'encaissement de chèques, ce qui coûte très cher et dans lesquels on se sent comme une merde.  Mango a opté pour une approche différente, tant au niveau des services, que du design des boutiques, qui ressemblent plutôt à un mélange de magasin Apple et à l'entrée d'un hôtel boutique. La stratégie d'affaires est bonne et la stratégie de marque est axée sur la…

• Huggies brise le carcan des publicités nuls...

  Jevto Dedijer

  29 Jun 2010 | 7:05 am

  Depuis 25 ans, les publicités pour dentifrice, produits nettoyant, et couches etc. n'ont pas ou très peu évolué. C'est toujours la même histoire, l'on propose un avant et un après. Avant les dents sont pourrîtes, après elles sont magnifiques, avant la casserole est carrément dégoutante, après elle brille plus fort que le soleil. Mon collègue Michel Nadeau vient de m'envoyer cette publicité pour les couches Huggies... Pour une fois ce n'est pas une comparaison stupide de deux marques de couches, l'une qui aspire trois gouttes de liquide en 1 h et l'autre 3 litres en 3…

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  Tom Dougherty Blog

• Don’t blame Facebook for bad grades

  Tom Doughterty

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:23 am

  With school now in session, including for two of my children, parents are once again aware of the influences technology has on their children’s success (or failure) in the classroom. That’s one reason why a recent report out of the UK is gaining some media traction, and has been reflected by other studies in the US. The study reported that students who use Facebook while studying have grades 20 percent lower than those who do not. The conclusion is that today’s youth are no better at multi-tasking than their parents, we should keep them focused on the task at hand and reduce social…

• Blockbuster is down but maybe not out

  Tom Doughterty

  1 Sep 2010 | 9:25 am

  As I’ve mentioned before in a different context, Blockbuster is filing for bankruptcy. Honestly this comes as no surprise to me, I had been expecting it for a while now. In fact, I’ve been talking about this for more than year. So now, as the stock is trading for pennies ($.08 as of this morning), the hope is that the bankruptcy filing will allow Blockbuster to get out of existing leases and close brick an mortar stores. Analysts believe the filing will allow Blockbuster to concentrate more on convenience vis-a-vis their kiosk business and digital downloads, thus making its brand…

• Automobile insurance companies are all trying to claim the same position

  Tom Doughterty

  31 Aug 2010 | 6:25 am

  Most outsiders (and even analysts) believe that the auto insurance market is driven by price and that the competition for customers is cost driven. After all, they reason, insurance coverage is quantifiable and, therefore, it is possible to compare (rationally) apples to apples. Think about the television advertising “leader” in the auto insurance category. It is nearly impossible to watch any TV these days without seeing a GEICO ad. It might be the old familiar caveman or the ubiquitous gecko. The, usually, 15-second spots are often bought in back-to-back lots so you get a double dose of…

• Precision Tune among those who need to redefine themselves

  Tom Doughterty

  27 Aug 2010 | 11:52 am

  Over the last few years, we’ve all seen several companies and brands pass quickly from market leader to irrelevancy, especially with technology moving so fast now we’re already thinking Apple is taking too long for its next announcement. Top among them at the moment is Blockbuster, which announced today it is filing for bankruptcy as iTunes, Netflix and the Internet have scorched it to the ground. Looking ahead, there are other companies that could falter in a similar way, even in terms of everyday lingo. Take Precision Tune. Its category of oil change is a highly competitive but…

• The Dos Equis drinker is only as interesting as a Budweiser drinker

  Tom Doughterty

  27 Aug 2010 | 7:06 am

  Based on the persuasive idea that effective brands tell the customer or prospect more about who the customer is when they use the brand than about the product or company, you would think that Dos Equis really nailed it. After all, promoting the brand by claiming “the most interesting man in the world” as the brand spokesperson would make sense.  It seems a lot more meaningful than the simple “cool” and “irreverent” brand espoused by the Bud franchises or the “COLD” erroneously claimed by Coors.  But, there is something very wrong with the campaign and brand promise. The…

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  Online Guide For Promotional Products

• Business tip for using eco-friendly promotional products

  Dave Sarro

  5 Sep 2010 | 3:12 am

  There are different innovative ways of doing promotion activities to expand your customer reach. On the occasion of the World Environment Day, you can use eco-friendly promotional products to approach your customers in a creative style. Here are some tips to make your brand more prominent in the promotional industry space.Reinforce the environment-focused themeThe 2010 theme for the World Environment Day is “Many Species… One Planet… One Future...” and the focus is on conserving the biodiversity of the planet Earth. Keep your brand message and campaign theme consistent and let people…

• This September, make sure you target the youth!

  Dave Sarro

  1 Sep 2010 | 5:50 am

  September is here and that means that millions of students are either starting out or returning back to school and University. What does this mean for your business? An opportunity to acquire customers for life.Gifting Promotional products to students is a great way to garner awareness in schools and colleges. The reach that educational institutions offer is extremely high. In fact, nearly 49.7 million students enroll in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States ever year and more than 5 million students attend private schools across the nation.Orientation or Freshers’…

• 5 ways on how to please your customers

  Dave Sarro

  29 Aug 2010 | 2:59 am

  Your customers are the backbone of your business. If you are a new player in the market, the first and most important factor that will help you determine your future goal is the strength of your customer base. You need to develop and execute different strategies to expand and stabilize your customer base. Once your customers start following your brand name, the next step towards achieving greater results is to delightfully gratify your customers. We offer you five ways to successfully please your customers.Satisfy their needsYour products and services should satisfy the requirements of your…

• 8 ways on how to take great care of health

  Dave Sarro

  27 Aug 2010 | 12:02 am

  Good health is a precious gift that needs to be taken care of. It is important to make a health promise to yourself and follow it with diligence. Moreover, it is essential for you to create a daily health schedule if you have a family to look after. We offer you some useful guidelines to help you stick to the promise you have made to yourself and keep you healthy throughout the year.Modify daily habits First of all, you need to break some old, unhealthy habits that do not benefit you anymore. You need to adopt new healthy habits in order to achieve better results for your health. Gradually,…

• 5 Questions Small Businesses Should Determine Before Commencing

  Dave Sarro

  22 Aug 2010 | 5:16 am

  If you are thinking to start a new business, you might have also thought of determining a business plan. It is important to set up a focused business plan to attain an overall picture of what needs to be done next. Every successful organization crafts a strong base of planning before execution. So can you; by answering 5 simple questions to yourself.Following are 5 questions you should determine before commencing your small business:Who are we?Determine your company’s individuality clearly. This will help you establish an accurate direction for the future and will also signify your current…

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  POLAR

• Great Agencies Make Great Work

  2 Sep 2010 | 8:11 am

  The belief system of an agency reveals their commitment to developing great work that creates measurable changes. For every great agency, there are probably a handful of agencies that truly aspire to greatness, and are creating processes, models, barometers, and waypoints to help them find their way. One of the best ways to create a process of your own is to explore, synthesize and improve upon models out there that are clearly working.  From clients like Volkswagen, to HTC, Johnson + Johnson and more, Deutsch certainly qualifies as an agency that creates measurable change. Here are some…

• Never Underestimate the Power of Television

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:50 am

  The combination of moving pictures and sound might be the most exciting medium of the 21st century. Indeed, more exciting than augmented reality or social networking, and something that looks very similar to what we know and (mostly) love today: Television, or more accurately streaming television. The HTC EVO 4G from Sprint features HDMI Video Out While “digital” as a medium is hot, digital people should not dismiss TV-led thinking. As broadband speeds increase, we will see video content driving everything from websites to interfaces. Even mobile phones are boasting exceptional screen…

• Now it's personal: Facebook and FourSquare

  20 Aug 2010 | 8:48 am

   and With Facebook's new "Places" feature, mobile users can say where they are and track friends. Of course, privacy concerns are being addressed already, such as the ability to remove "tags" or disable the feature altogether. To those that are worried about how Facebook plans to use the data it collects, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says, "The main thing we are doing is allowing our users to share where they are in a really nice and social way. You can see who is around you and connect in the real world." This sounds remarkably like FourSquare. And they aren't worried. FourSquare CEO Dennis…

• Parlez-vous "rapport"?

  10 Aug 2010 | 11:16 am

  The word "rapport" sums up the Holy Grail for marketers. It is taken from the French verb rapporter, meaning "to bring back, or refer." To marketers, it means a lot more. Rapport is defined as a relationship of mutual trust and respect. The very notion of "bringing back" as is described by the French definition, closes what is hopefully a vibrant, continuous, and even infinite loop of shared experiences. Rapport is one of the most important features of subconscious communication. It is commonality of perspective: Being "in sync" with, or being "on the same wavelength" as the person with…

• Stop. Collaborate. And Listen.

  22 Jul 2010 | 10:28 am

  Stop. Collaborate. And Listen. Who knew that Vanilla Ice was a marketing genius when he released his one hit wonder  so many years ago? Let’s look at reality: Everyone is busy. The pressure to perform is high, and the demands of using fewer hands to operate today’s more advanced tools have also increased. The agility required of today’s marketers calls for a deep understanding of strategy.Over at his blog, Bud Caddell is crowdsourcing a definition of strategy. Here is my favorite: “Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when…

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  Brand Communication Tips

• How to Generate Leads For A Fresh Business Idea

  Kwame

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:29 pm

  Are you launching a product soon? Well, I am and I’ll be taking you through the product I will be launching and how it will help you in launching new businesses and profit avenues for your existing business. But first, let me take you through some lead generation lessons. Some time back, I wrote an article about how to generate leads with social media and it is my most read article to date. After seeing the success of that post, I saw the need for an easier and better way of generating leads. So I came up with an idea to develop a product that will make it easy for businesses to…

• 18 Tips Every Social Community Leader Should Remember

  Kwame

  5 Sep 2010 | 6:43 pm

  Are your followers on the social web for real? I ask this because sometimes it seems no one, out of thousands or tens of thousands of followers, is paying attention to anything you say or do. We hear stories of businesses with just a few hundred followers closing sales whiles others with thousands of followers are not able to leverage this and close a single sale. If your primary aim of using social media is to help and direct people, then you’re qualified to be called a social community leader. That’s the only reason people will pay attention to you; if you lead them. If you want to…

• New Digg copied Facebook and Twitter Too Much!

  Kwame

  26 Aug 2010 | 5:52 am

  Yesterday, I went to Digg’s website and saw a beautiful new look. The design however, looks and “feels” like Facebook’s design. I logged in to my account and found also that the features there closely resembled Twitter. All of this is what they call Digg 4. The service now has a “follow” and “unfollow” feature. I thought that was cool. I also noticed that when you log in to your account, you are taken to a page where you see all the submissions and diggs of the people you follow. It also has a suggestion page that shows you a list of people and brands to follow. Just like…

• How To: Tips for Youtube Video SEO

  Kwame

  25 Aug 2010 | 12:47 am

  Online video marketing is one part of content marketing that needs to be taken seriously if you really want to effectively communicate your brand online. The best advice most experts don’t give about online video marketing is, “learn to use SEO techniques in your online video marketing campaigns”. Video is getting big and some businesses have been able to go viral with videos shared around the web, especially on Youtube. We’re going to look at how to achieve a similar fate using video SEO techniques. Even though we will be focusing on Youtube, the process can be applied on other…

• How to Convert Your Blog or Newsletter Content into PDF, Audio and Video

  Kwame

  17 Aug 2010 | 2:59 am

  There are a number of ways you can reuse your blog and newsletter content. It doesn’t matter how old or new it is. It just needs to be relevant at the time you’ll be reusing it. Converting your content to various formats allows you to reach many content consumers, thus, boosting your traffic level and conversions. It’s like killing two birds with one stone; in our case, getting more leads with one content. I’ve divided this article article into three parts: How to Convert your blog and Newsletter articles into PDF; How to Convert Your Blog and Newsletter articles into Audio;…

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  Mars Dorian

• How to Make People Remember You

  MarsDorian

  7 Sep 2010 | 10:01 am

  Let’s be honest here – it sucks to get ignored. Whether it’s in the offline or online world, getting ignored is the kiss of death. If no one is paying attention to you, you are dying both in life and business. Some people say criticism is worse than getting ignored, but it’s not. Criticism means “they”… A) …want to help you become better B) …hate your guts and want to make sure you know it Either way, they care enough about you that they take the time to communicate with you. A year ago I was a sleepwalking zombie. I was alive, but in a way, I wasn’t. My body was there,…

• Small Biz killed the Corporate Star – How to Make It Big by Being Small

  MarsDorian

  3 Sep 2010 | 8:07 am

  Oh A-aho- oh Small business killed the corporate star Oh A-aho oh Small business killed the corporate staa-aaar Those are the lyrics from a song that doesn’t exist, but they show one true fact: The online world has given small business amazing opportunities – incredible power to do successful biz without having to compete with big corporations. The only problem is: small businesses still act like the biggies, when in fact that’s the thing that kills them in the first place. They use faceless branding, try to appear big and professional. And use stiff language. Check out the lines below…

• Want To Dominate an Overcrowded Niche ? This Post Will Help You

  MarsDorian

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:31 am

  Help ! I’m a social media consultant /slash/ internet marketer ! Oh boy ! How many do we already got – thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions ? Shit ! Should you now kill yourself because you are entering a niche that’s fuller than Amy Winehouse at a public concert ? Of course not ! There’s something to be said about so-called overcrowded and overused things. Let me give you a few examples: Self help. Buddha, the bald guy with the big smile, pretty much summed up the whole principle of internal happiness. If you read a decent book about his teachings, you will know everything…

• The Mindset and (free) Programs You Need To Be Super-Productive Online

  MarsDorian

  27 Aug 2010 | 9:14 am

  Being productive online is hard work. I sometimes get lost in tweeting my soul off, or deleting emails that offer me penis enlargements. A 30 % increase in size seems seductive, but I need to get my stuff done ! Here’s the mindset that helps me stay on task, followed by the free programs that back me up. Get inspired and become super-productive ! I force myself to do it I used to be a huge fan of self-discipline, but then I switched to “do what feels right you for!”. Well, filling out my tax report never feels right for me, but I have to do it anyways. Sometimes you have to force…

• How I Built a Notorious Online Presence in Less Than 5 months (and You Can Too !)

  MarsDorian

  24 Aug 2010 | 3:56 am

  Hello my fellow Digital Crusaders, I did a quick recap of my digital crusade so far and want to share you the results. In less than than 4 months, I kicked myself into the top 1% of the Alexa ranking (the top 100,000 sites in the world), currently residing at 82,000. I have also been featured on several ass-kicking digital platforms. Some of my notable riots : featured in Jade Craven’s famous top 50 Netsetters list SocialMouths named Marsdorian.com one of the 15 Blogs To Follow If You Want To Kick Ass Online featured in Alltop’s marketing section listed on livesimp.ly : 21 Simplicity Tips…

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  FeverBee - The Online Community Guide

• Promoting Your Stars

  Richard Millington

  7 Sep 2010 | 11:30 pm

  Your community probably has star members. These are people with the most knowledge, most authority, most experience. These aren’t just the high contributors, they’re the experts. You should be promoting them. You should promote them inside and outside the community. Get them interviews in relevant trade magazines, get them guest-post slots on top blogs, pitch them to speak on behalf of the community at events. Act as their PR agents. Good publicity for them is great publicity for you. It gives fellow members something to aspire towards.

• Adopt a 24 Hour Response Rule

  Richard Millington

  6 Sep 2010 | 11:30 pm

  You should try to ensure every post in your community gets a response within 24 hours. Members that don’t get a response to their posts, especially their first posts, don’t return. In addition, single-post threads is the community equivalent of boarded up houses on the street, it shows a lack of engagement in the community. Why would a member post on a forum when so many aren’t getting replies? It’s a downward spiral. Set two times a day when you respond to posts without any responses. You don’t have to have all the information, you can ask for others to help e.g. reply with…

• A Simple Online Community Reputation System

  Richard Millington

  5 Sep 2010 | 11:30 pm

  Identify the positive contributions you want members to make and reward them with points. Points highlight the top members, points establishing an element of competition. Points let you create awards like newcomer of the month, member of the year etc… Points should lead to levels. Levels like newcomer, member, regular, expert and VIP. Levels give members specific motivations to earn more points. A member that needs just 10 more points to move up a level is likely to be active. Levelsbond members within their community groups. These levels should be clearly visible on every member’s…

• The Best Time

  Richard Millington

  3 Sep 2010 | 12:25 am

  What time is your online community most active? Is it 8am? 1pm? 6pm? Perhaps 9pm? If you run a community for insomniacs it might be 3am. Work out what time your online community is most active and plan for stuff to happen at that time. Be active personally, organize events, initiate discussions and respond to others. Being highly active for the hours when your community is most active is far better than moderate activity throughout the day.

• Settings Targets For Your Online Community

  Richard Millington

  1 Sep 2010 | 12:28 am

  You should be measuring your community manager’s work. Establish clear targets, especially for engagement, that they need to hit. Take a measurement today, how many members are joining per day, how many newcomers are becoming regulars, how many regulars are becoming top contributors, how many top contributors are becoming volunteer helpers. For recruitment, growth by 1% per week might make sense.  For engagement, you might aim to convert 75% of newcomers into regulars and 10% of regulars into high contributors and 1% of high contributors into volunteers. Offer performance bonuses to…

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  Personal Branding TV

• Reach Personal Branding Certification

  robin

  7 Sep 2010 | 10:05 am

  Learn from William Arruda about the three Reach Personal Branding Certification Programs. Do you want to become certified to deliver the Reach personal branding methodology to your clients?

• Propel Your Career To The Next Level by Personal Branding Strategist Kim Batson

  robin

  2 Sep 2010 | 6:50 am

  In this video Kim Batson outlines how Senior Technology Executives can propel their careers to the next level. She outlines how she can help move executives in technology move their careers forward, and accelerate job search, through the creation of a powerful Executive Brand. Kim, a Reach Personal Branding Strategist, is known internationally as The CIO Coach, partnering exclusively with CIOs, CTOs and other Senior Technology Executives to position them for extraordinary career and business success. To find out more, visit: Kim’s: website Kim’s blog Kim’s CIO Coach Facebook…

• Don’t Try to Please All The People

  robin

  31 Aug 2010 | 8:19 am

  Strong brands often repel as many people as they attract. Personal Branding Guru William Arruda reminds you that trying to be all things to all people is the opposite of branding and will work against you. Take a stand and be a brand!

• Commodity vs. Brand

  robin

  26 Aug 2010 | 9:29 am

  Are you a brand or a commodity? Personal branding means knowing what makes you unique and valuable. William Arruda helps you understand the difference between being a brand and being a commodity.

• Make Your Competition Irrelevant by Personal Branding Strategist Phyllis Shabad

  robin

  23 Aug 2010 | 8:11 am

  Phyllis Shabad is an Executive Brand Coach based in the metro-NYC area. She helps executives move to the next stage. She helps them overcome career challenges and get to their goals. She’s a creative and dynamic story teller. She brings that talent with her to help C-level executives secure board directorship, make transitions, continue being successful serial entrepreneurs and more. She helps her clients plot out their career roadmaps by helping them: supercharge old networks engage and ignite new networks secure board directorships get media coverage and a lot more She has a clear and…

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  Beneath the Brand RSS News Feed

• American Express Expands 'Booming' Campaign

  Jeff Louis

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:08 am

  Summary: American Express recently announced their "Booming" campaign, a salute to -- and aid for -- American business owners. The concept highlights inspiring real-life stories of large and small business owners who differentiate themselves through innovation and their ability to adapt to and adopt business practices to the fluctuating economy.

• Will MySpace Take Note and Rebrand?

  Jeff Louis

  3 Sep 2010 | 8:54 am

  Summary: "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few," notes the website promoting one of the most discussed movies of the fall, "The Social Network." Based on Mark Zuckerberg and the rise of Facebook, the movie debuts in theaters Oct. 1. As Xerox with photocopy, Facebook has become synonymous with social network for many Americans. Just a couple years ago, Facebook made headlines as MySpace's strongest competitor. Last year, Facebook catapulted to the top spot, and MySpace disappeared from view, becoming an also-ran.

• Corporate Blogging for Search Index Gains

  Abdul Fattah Ismail

  30 Aug 2010 | 6:14 am

  Summary: 2010 undoubtedly has been the year of social media, as Twitter, Facebook, and Google look to expand their applications and compete will all involved. All business sectors are turning to social media for instant distribution of content as opposed to traditional blog applications. The strategy is sound depending on your initiatives and personnel, but corporate blogging still maintains credibility. According to eMarketer, 43 percent of U.S. corporations will be blogging by 2012. The nature of blogging is a healthy method of communication for firms that have a solid consumer-purchasing…

• Transmedia: A Marketing Concept to Capitalize On

  Patricia Handschiegel

  27 Aug 2010 | 7:00 am

  Summary: The world before the Internet was a familiar place with previously established, bulletproof business models and practices created years (sometimes decades) before and operated as the status quo. It didn't mean it was easy, but a new, disruptive platform in the market (like the Internet) didn't exist to contend with, as everyone experiences today. Most media companies now are being forced to do business over two platforms, their legacy platform and the Internet. For brands and marketers, the challenge proves even greater.

• Marketing's New Arena for Brand Ambassadors

  Brendan Kane

  26 Aug 2010 | 7:02 am

  Summary: The social Internet created a brand and consumer connectivity like nothing seen to its degree. It was as if the customer service line was blared through the loudspeakers of corporate business, and without a doubt, marketers and executives heard it loud and clear. This newfound touch to the market reshaped how brands market products to consumers. Marketers, who once put their cards at the top to trickle down their brand's message to audiences, flipped the switch, leveraging smaller crowds and "influencers" to bubble it up in addition (and in some cases, instead).