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Branding
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Most Topular Stories
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Speed Blogging Tips from Chris Record – How to Write a Killer SEO Optimized Blog Post in 30 Minutes or Less!
Building a Brand Online10 Jun 2013 | 12:00 am -
BrandYourself Q&A: Getting Started, the Fastest Way to Improve Results, Do Clicks Matter?, and Optimizing Your Profile Headline
BrandYourself Blog8 May 2013 | 10:48 amEvery week we get tons of questions about personal branding and reputation management from our members. Since we can’t be on call to answer every question at all times, we’re going to start posting answers to some of the most common questions we get. This week we’re covering getting started with BrandYourself, the fastest way to improve results, whether clicks matter in ranking search results, and how to optimize your profile headlines. Can BrandYourself be used for business and personal rankings? Short answer: You need to use a personal name. BrandYourself is a product… -
The Importance of Establishing A Good Online Presence as the Employee of a Small Business
BrandYourself Blog28 May 2013 | 3:06 pmToday’s post is a guest post from small business expert and Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com, Megan Totka: As a business employee, maintaining a good online presence is an absolute necessity. Small businesses are often built or broken by reputation. While larger companies may be able to salvage their business if an employee does something to discredit them, small businesses may not be so lucky. So you may be asking yourself, as an employee, why should I be careful with what I put out there on the Internet? It’s my company’s responsibility to keep track of how they… -
Professional Services Marketing: The Future Is Here
Hinge Branding and Marketing Blog10 Jun 2013 | 6:00 amChange is a funny thing. It happens one day at a time, often in little increments. It’s easy to miss. But then something happens that forces you to look at what has transpired. Suddenly you realize that the future is already here. That’s what recently happened to me. A few months ago, we began collaborating with Mike Schultz and John Doerr on the second edition of their classic book Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines and Cultures of Business Development Success. As the Hinge team (Aaron Taylor and… -
5 Key Factors to Pinpoint Your Technology Differentiator
Hinge Branding and Marketing Blog12 Jun 2013 | 7:54 amYour firm’s brand is arguably its most valuable asset. This is our mantra. We preach this to our own audience. All. The. Time. We are used to hearing that a firm’s most important asset is its people, not necessarily the brand. But people come and go. And unless an individual’s reputation and industry presence is so strong that they impact the entire firm’s marketplace position, “people” only get you so far. Your brand is what prevails over time and beats the competition. Strong brands hinge on strong differentiators. Differentiators are the…
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Tom Asacker
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Is your brand broken?
14 Jun 2013 | 11:31 amTwo researchers once argued that rampant crime in a city is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares. And that no one is in charge.... -
Who controls your brand?
4 Jun 2013 | 3:44 pmJoe Frazier was the first prize fighter to defeat "The Greatest." But he did more than beat Muhammad Ali. He was instrumental in the creation of Ali's brand. Through their epic trilogy of bouts in the 1970s. And likewise, Ali... -
One way out.
1 Jun 2013 | 9:54 amI'm always wondering why people do what they do. I think it's in my DNA. My mind was recently roused by a young guy at the gym. He was punishing his body with a tortuous exercise. So I asked him... -
Stories "R" Us
23 May 2013 | 11:58 amElevator pitches, 30-second spots, viral videos, strategic PR, the brand called "you." Today's conventional wisdom is that great brands are great at telling us their interesting stories. And that may be true. But it's a superficial view. In reality, we... -
Is perfection the enemy?
19 May 2013 | 11:37 amMany people argue that the pursuit of perfection is akin to paralysis by analysis. Or increasing effort resulting in diminishing returns. And what aphorism do they invariably cite to prop up their argument? "Perfection is the enemy of the good."...
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Branding Strategy Insider
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Brand Strategy For Acquired Brands
17 Jun 2013 | 6:39 amBranding Strategy Insider helps marketing oriented leaders and professionals like you build strong brands. This is our reason for being. BSI readers know, we regularly answer questions from marketers everywhere. Today we hear from Robert, a Vice President of Marketing in Chicago, Illinois who writes… “The insurance company for which I work recently acquired a much smaller, established company out of state to allow for geographic diversification into new markets. We don’t want to immediately rebrand everything to the parent company brand, but also don’t plan to keep using the… -
Building Higher Education Brands
14 Jun 2013 | 12:10 amWhile higher education is a very crowded market, there are some colleges and universities that have differentiated themselves in highly compelling ways. Here are some of my favorite examples of this: Naropa University: Transform Yourself, Transform the World The Naropa Experience: Perform in an Indian classical music ensemble. Write a thesis on creativity and social action. Take yoga for credit. Volunteer in a community garden. Study Tibetan. Spend the weekend at a meditation retreat. Intern at the Peace Jam Foundation. Conduct research on the nature of consciousness. American University:… -
9 Marketing Facts About Branded Language
13 Jun 2013 | 12:10 am1. Language is one of the most important definers of any brand.The language you choose, the language you don’t choose and the language you choose to replace are a reflection, and in some senses a definition, of your priorities. 2. Language underpins perspective: it not only reveals how an organization feels about a matter, it also signals how that organization might be expected to approach and resolve that matter in the future. 3. Language defines relationships. Your tone reflects how at ease you feel in your own brand skin. Formal brands use formal language, and that formality rubs off… -
9 Agency Pitch Strategies
12 Jun 2013 | 12:10 amThe purpose of an agency pitch is not to sell what you do. It’s to explain in the clearest terms why someone should look forward to doing business with you. And while you’re explaining your story, you can bet that every other participant in the pitch will be telling theirs. It’s well worth surmising where your story lies and what their story/stories might be: 1. The authority – the trusted source of knowledge. This is a brand and credentials story. It focuses on being the market leader and on the ability to take matters in hand and deal with problems efficiently and effectively. The… -
Big Data: Beyond The Bias
11 Jun 2013 | 12:10 amKate Crawford, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research and a visiting professor at the MIT Center for Civic Media, has written a provocative post on the HBR Blog titled, “The Hidden Biases in Big Data.” She quotes former Wired Editor-In-Chief, Chris Anderson, as saying, “with enough data, the numbers speak for themselves.” Crawford then asks, can numbers actually speak for themselves? Crawford’s answer is a simple no. She states: Data and data sets are not objective; they are creations of human design. We give numbers their voice, draw inferences from them and define their…
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ideationz...a blog from rick s. pulito
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Of gift cards and disappearing value…
10 Jun 2013 | 12:49 pmOnce again, it appears that purveyors of retail gift cards and vouchers for retail gift cards are at it again… Running around to large organizations touting that the gift cards they peddle deliver “full retail value” to the employees or consumers who receive them as a form of employee recognition or as a consumer reward for purchasing something. Looks like yours truly is going to have to interrupt this conversation with a timely dose of something the gift card sellers hate to hear: THE TRUTH. You see, the fact is that retail gift cards are: Very profitable for the retailer whose name… -
Your most important organizational asset…
8 Apr 2013 | 3:57 pmYour company’s most important asset…. Google “your company’s most important asset” and you will find a preponderance of articles, posts, and books with answers such as: Your employees (who hasn’t read that in the CEO’s letter to the shareholders?) Your intellectual capital (alternatively referred to as your intellectual property) Your reputation (within the community of whom? Employees? Investors? Consumers? All three?) Your brands, your brand promise(s), your brand messaging… (to some “it’s all about the brand”) Something termed “Tribal Knowledge” (this one sounds… -
Is engagement enough..?
6 Mar 2013 | 1:49 pmEveryone it seems is focused on engaging some group as a way to perpetuate and grow their business. HR wants to engage the employees, Marketing wants to engage the consumer, Sales wants to engage the channel. But is that enough? I’m not sure it is. I would offer up the notion that engagement is a table stake. It may help you to stay in business, but it won’t necessarily help your company or brand or product category to grow. If every one of your competitors is successful in “engaging” their employees, consumers and channel, then who wins? In my estimation, the leading players in any… -
A collaborative model for employee engagement initiatives…
15 Jan 2013 | 9:37 amOne of the most talked-about challenges in business today centers on more fully engaging your employees. We have discussed this need on ideationz a number of times, and from a variety of perspectives. From increasing key productivity metrics, to reducing unwanted terminations, to improving the customer experience, to building a more nimble, innovative organization, there are myriad ways to measure the benefits of an engaged workforce. Recently, I authored a White Paper, “A model for collaborative design, definition and implementation of an effective initiative to drive and sustain… -
Always, never and the 99% rule…
26 Dec 2012 | 11:25 amNot sure what is expected of you? Receiving mixed signals as to what to do next? By my estimate roughly 99% of all of these are the result of one simple fact: We are really not that great at communicating expectations. How about if we make a simple New Year Resolution that we all can live with? One that will eliminate 99% of our mutual frustrations, disagreements, and disappointments? It’s really quite simple. If we resolve to both listen better, and express ourselves with greater clarity, the vast majority of problems we deal with can be eliminated. Imagine how wonderful our lives will…
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BaskinBrand
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Government Snooping Revelations Should Give The Postal Service A Huge Opportunity
17 Jun 2013 | 10:54 amThe gov snooping crisis creates a huge opportunity for the Post Office. Yes, the Post Office. (Read the complete essay at Forbes) -
Death Cult
17 Jun 2013 | 5:03 amWhy don’t we build more monuments to life? (Read the complete essay at Histories of Social Media) -
Another Name
16 Jun 2013 | 5:53 amPragmatism is a tool for community action. (Read the complete essay at Histories of Social Media) -
Daring Humors
15 Jun 2013 | 6:47 amEven smart crowds aren’t inherently wise. (Read the complete essay at Histories of Social Media) -
Under God
14 Jun 2013 | 5:23 amWhat one community fears, another embraces, and yet another forgets. (Read the complete essay at Histories of Social Media)
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Drew's Marketing Minute
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Guilty of the frantic scramble in your marketing?
5 Jun 2013 | 4:55 amI grew up in Minnesota in the 70s and I love football which meant that back when I was a kid, my world revolved around the Minnesota Vikings and our incredible quarterback, Fran Tarkenton. At the time of his retirement, Fran owned EVERY major quarterback record out there. Fran was known as The Scrambler because he was famous for being able to pivot and run around in the backfield, dodging defensive players and giving his teammates time to elude a defender or get open for a pass. He was something to behold. Off the field, he was articulate, intelligent and called a “thinking… -
Is your marketing making you a rock star?
31 May 2013 | 4:39 amMack Collier has hit a home run with his book Think Like A Rock Star* and I really want all of you to get his message. As consumers get more jaded by traditional advertising and marketing that interrupts rather than connects — this book serves up the answer. Why not be so good, create so much goodwill and treat your best customers like the super stars they are — all so you can unleash the word of mouth power of those best customers? We know that there’s nothing more influential than word of mouth and that an endorsement from a trusted friend/source absolutely influences… -
In marketing the constant is change
29 May 2013 | 4:04 amYou know, the annoying thing about clichés is that they’re based in truth, even though that truth may be a bit worn in places. And lately I’ve been very aware of the idiom “the only constant is change” as it relates to business and especially to marketing. Maybe it’s always been this way and our parents and grandparents had to wrestle with constant change too, but it seems to me that the acceleration curve has gotten incredibly steep over the last 15 or 20 years. For example, when I started my career, computers were certainly a part of the mix but we never showed a client a… -
So you want a career in advertising?
21 May 2013 | 4:18 amI was recently contacted by a college student who asked if he could interview me for one of this classes. One of the questions he asked is one I get a lot, so I thought I’d share my answer with you here. If you aspire to be in our business — I hope it helps. If you’re already in the business — what did I miss? What advice would you give to anyone who was aspiring to enter the field of advertising? Yikes… there are lots of things to know but here are some of the biggies. You cannot do it alone so surround yourself with really smart, good-hearted people who you can… -
Moving your prospects to the next step
17 May 2013 | 4:15 amWhen you’re creating any sort of communication aimed at a potential buyer, you want them to do what? When I ask this question, I typically hear a range of answers like: • Know more about our business • Understand how we’re better than our competitors • Wonder if we’re the right fit for them And of course…. • Buy what we sell! All of that is probably true. But it’s too complicated. No matter how or where we’re communicating with a prospect, what we should want them to do is… take the next step. Your job is simply moving your prospect to the next step. That next step might…
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Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist
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skip this ad
9 Jun 2013 | 12:04 pmIn advertising, there’s no such thing as a captive audience. It’s easier than ever for people to tune out experiences they don’t like (although, sadly, this doesn’t apply to boring meetings). YouTube codified this with the “Skip This Ad” buttons on the ads that run before the content you actually want to see. In one sense, that reinforces the definition of ads as unwanted interruptions. They seem to say, “we know watching this ad is a chore, but you only have to wait 5 … 4… 3 … 2 … 1 second to forward past it.” In another sense, it sets… -
mobile is the new end cap
2 Jun 2013 | 10:08 pmLast week I spoke at Signal P&G, an event put on by P&G and Federated Media that brought a variety of tech thinkers (from Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.) to the birth place of brand management to talk about the future of marketing. Margo Georgiadis from Google shared an insight that struck me in particular: “mobile is the new end cap“. It reminded me of a concept I’d once heard from another Googler, Jim Lecinski, about the “Zero Moment of Truth” (available as an ebook). A.G. Lafley from P&G famously coined the “First Moment of… -
math men and data-driven marketing
26 May 2013 | 1:37 pmThis week, I’m traveling to Cincinnati to speak at Signal P&G. The theme of the event is “winning brand building at the speed of digital”. I’m looking forward to visiting the birth place of brand management to reflect on all of the seismic changes happening in marketing. One of the biggest shifts is data-driven marketing. Increasingly, today’s marketers have to be data-savvy. This means performance tracking, analytics, and using data to create better marketing that the right consumers actually want to see. This can also mean programmatic marketing, where… -
word-of-mouth marketing
19 May 2013 | 10:00 amBrand owners never really own the brand. Consumers do. I recently spoke at two events for Destination Marketing Association International. Their members are marketers tasked with driving tourism to their regions. I came across a tourism case study about who really “owns” a brand. The Kentucky Department of Tourism invested $600,000 to “brand” the state of Kentucky. They came up with the slogan, “Unbridled Spirit”, and drafted the following positioning statement: “Kentucky is a place where spirits are free to soar and big dreams can be fulfilled. We… -
crowdsourcing ads
12 May 2013 | 7:00 amMarketers are increasingly crowdsourcing aspects of their campaigns and bringing fans into the creative process. Over 20% of the ads in the last Super Bowl used some form of crowdsourcing. In February, Hasbro let a Facebook survey pick which Monopoly piece would replace the iron. Surprise, surprise, the Internet picked a cat. Crowdsourcing can bring higher levels of engagement to a campaign and extend the buzz before and after the actual media buy. But there are different flavors of crowdsourcing. And different tactics may work for some brands better than others. Before marketers leap on the…
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Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel
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Seven Ways to Drive Your Ideas Upward
17 Jun 2013 | 10:30 amBeing able to influence upwards allows your ideas to be heard and implemented. This directly enhances your value because you are the owner of that idea. Yet how do you break through the layers of bureaucracy to find advocates for your ideas? Diane McGarry, Xerox’s Chief Marketing Officer, says, Success at a big company such as Xerox requires an understanding of the many layers of office politics as well as the confidence to put your best ideas forward. You have to know which people you need to get your ideas in front of in order to get those ideas advanced… Here are the seven ways to… -
Personal Branding Weekly – 17 June 2013
17 Jun 2013 | 2:30 amToday kicks off Small Business Week! I’m grateful to have opened my business nine years ago and have always looked back. It’s been an adventure of a lifetime! So, I’ve never understood the saying “and, I’ve never looked back” except to express that you jumped into something and just fully immersed yourself in the present. As a small business owner, I always look back to grow, learn, tweak, evaluate and enjoy the journey and the challenge. It’s true that there’s “no net to catch you” as a small business owner yet there’s also… -
10 Traits of Great Leadership Figures
16 Jun 2013 | 10:30 amWhen hiring companies come to our executive recruiters in order to find them a great sales or marketing employee, leadership is always a quality that our clients ask for. Though, for the job seeker, to best be able to give the hiring company what they want, they need to be able to define leadership. Therefore, for your next interviewing gig and to help you obtain a better career, our headhunters have compiled a list of 10 traits of great 44 leadership figures: 1. Leaders know how to deal with adversity. They know that each adversity brings with it the seed of an equivalent advantage. Instead… -
Personal Brand and the Baby Boom Generation
16 Jun 2013 | 2:30 amPersonal Brand? Many Baby Boomers struggle with this new term. I have to admit I did not understand it for a long time. In the olden days this was your reputation. When I graduated from an engineering school in the late 1970′s, I went to work for IBM as a computer programmer developing word processors. (This was before the IBM PC existed!) A small number of us on the project were fresh out of college. We soon learned who was in charge, who knew what they were talking about, and who to avoid. All of these people had reputations both good and bad. This was the beginning of understanding… -
Use Humor Safely During Your Next Talk
15 Jun 2013 | 10:30 amMany people advise new speakers to avoid using humor during their talks. “It’s not a safe subject,” they say. “It will almost certainly backfire, and you could cause yourself a lot of trouble.” Sure, if you have all the self-awareness of Michael Scott in a coma, yes, it will backfire. If you’ve been told to be afraid of humor, because it’s a two-edged sword made out of a cobra, it will bite you. (Of course it will! What do you think will happen when a parent tells their child learning how to ride a bike, “I think you’re going to fall and…
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CoreBrand News and Views
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The cost of brand favorability
17 Jun 2013 | 10:39 amI recently took a trip to Alaska. During our two-week stay we experimented with a wide variety of transportation options. Every segment of the trip had staff go out of their way to ensure our comfort and satisfaction. There was one glaring exception: The airlines and airports. Read more... -
Lost in translation: Borrowing brand equity
12 Jun 2013 | 10:05 amA well-managed message and identity can be muddled when a brand redefines, reimages, or otherwise recreates itself. Retaining brand equity through brand evolutions is a challenge. Read more... -
Transforming data into insight
12 Jun 2013 | 7:00 amMaking sense of data can be overwhelming - and the challenges only become increasingly compounded in this age of “Big Data” as more sources, bigger data sets, and less-structured content continues to be made available. But developing meaningful findings out of data is a highly thoughtful human exercise that no algorithm can ever replace. Read more... -
Diplomas and branding
11 Jun 2013 | 9:00 pmHaving recently attended my son’s high school graduation and witnessing 269 diplomas being awarded, I couldn’t help but allow my professional career to invade my personal life even during this momentous occasion. Read more... -
Managing your client relationship for long lasting success
9 Jun 2013 | 9:00 pmSuccessful project management equals a happy client. A happy client equals business longevity and everyone lives happily ever after. This is very simple concept that at first glance is as tranquil as enjoying a fairy tale. But fairy tales are in the realm of fiction, and it takes hard work to keep everyone blissful. Read more...
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Igor
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Double Dutch
4 Jun 2013 | 7:48 amWhen you are in Holland you are always in The Netherlands, but when you are in The Netherlands you are only in Holland about half of the time. Most people use the two names interchangeably – but not you, not anymore. Besides, using the names incorrectly is considered an insult to the locals, depending on the circumstance, as is clearly explained here: Calling the Netherlands “Holland” is like calling Great Britain “England”. Holland is the old name of the western provinces North-Holland, South-Holland and the small province of Utrecht. About half of the Dutch… -
The Ultimate Computer Workstation
4 Jun 2013 | 6:56 amVia ars technica: Science fiction is filled with cherished seats of power, workstations that put the universe a finger-touch or a mere thought away. Darth Vader had his meditation pod, the Engineers of Prometheus had their womb-like control stations, and Captain Kirk has the Captain’s Chair. But no real-life workstation has quite measured up to these fictional seats of power in the way that Martin Carpentier’s Emperor workstations have. The latest “modern working environment” from Carpentier’s Quebec City-based MWE Lab is the Emperor 1510 LX. With a retractable… -
Ironically, USA Today misspells “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” in Spelling Bee article
28 May 2013 | 8:42 amWe are certain you already caught this: “People think that a word like humuhumunukunukuapuaa, the state fish of Hawaii, is hard to spell,” Bailly said. “It’s not hard to spell. It’s got a particular pattern. It’s unique. That makes it particularly easy. “I think recede is a good example of a word that’s hard to spell. Because you’ve got the -ede or the -eed, you’ve got the C or the S. It’s a common word, but people can’t spell it.” Full article here -
The marketing money pit of the descriptive name
28 May 2013 | 7:45 amAn important first step when naming a business, product or service is to figure out just what it is that your new name should be doing for you. The most common decision is that a name should explain to the world what business you are in or what your product does. Intuition dictates that this will save you the time and money of explaining it, which actually turns out not to be true. Why not? The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support, which, when you think about it, is impossible. The name will appear on a… -
Brand Identity Evolution – From Kinky to “Smile & Wave”
24 May 2013 | 1:46 am
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Hard Knox Life
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Midwest Reboot
29 May 2013 | 8:27 amOn Thursday June 6, I’m headed up to Detroit to take part in Brand Innovators Made in America conference. Fittingly taking place in the Ford Motor Company Conference Center, the conference will look at iconic American brands and their impact on the world. While the day is going to be packed with great sessions, what I’m most excited about is the panel that I’m hosting entitled Midwest Reboot. As we described the panel: When the recession hit in 2008, there were fewer places hit harder than the “Rust Belt” of the Midwest and Detroit was at the epicenter of this… -
The Modern Marketer [Infographic]
19 May 2013 | 1:24 pmThrough my posts on Brand Manager 2.0, I have written quite a bit about how technology is changing the job of a marketer today. Of course, that means I was quite a fan of this infographic from Pardot which talks about a Modern Marketer being part artists and part scientist. In their words, a modern marketer must master: Written Content Visual Assets Social Media Email Marketing Performance Tracking Budgeting and Operations Analytics Campaign Performance Courtesy of Pardot, an Exact Target Company -
A Merging of 19th Century and 21st Century Entrepreneurship
29 Apr 2013 | 9:55 amWhen the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati opened its doors in 1835, the 19th century institution stood in the middle of the fast-growing nation’s busiest startup community. It was a community that would give birth to some of the largest companies in the country including names like Procter & Gamble, Kroger, and E.W. Scripps. A group of 45 young, energetic, and confident merchants came together to organize the Library and put themselves on track to become the entrepreneurial engines of the growing city’s future prosperity. Mercantile LIbrary – Courtesy of Urban Cincy This… -
Business Is About Motion
7 Jan 2013 | 5:30 amOne of my favorite books of 2012 was Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business, which was written by the co-founders of Get Satisfaction. Get Lucky shows businesses how to succeed by fostering the conditions for serendipity to occur early and often. One of the principles in the book is “Motion”, the skill of putting yourself in unfamiliar situations, but within familiar environments, in order to engage with previously unfamiliar people and ideas that are connected to your job, your projects, or your interests. Motion is the reason that… -
Kincast makes it easy to video share moments with your family
12 Dec 2012 | 11:18 amEarlier this summer, the guys at Sproutbox introduced me to one of their newest investments, a company called Kincast. In their words, “Kincast is a fun and special way to engage loved ones in a worry-free environment. Chatting, sharing video, sending video messages and creating video cards get everyone involved.” Today, Kincast launches their version 2.0 with a new app that has completely reworked the user experience. The below video does a great job of capturing the value proposition of the company. More importantly, the video captures a key insight that all consumer…
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GIRVIN | Strategic Branding Blog
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THE SOUND OF SILENCE, THE QUIETUDE OF THE MOMENT
13 Jun 2013 | 8:38 amTHE DELICACY OF SOUND, VOICING THE STORY, AN UNKNOWN TELLING — PURE SOUND. The most powerful point of sensuality, will be about love, and the intimacy of connection — the closer you are to feeling, the more intimate the power of that sharing. I was thinking about the character of sound in experience — how do you design sound, in making place and memorable experience? I was in in a place that I’d been working on — and what was in that place wasn’t a sound “track” it was tracking sound — storytelling in sound, alone. There was shuffling, the… -
The Insight of Experience
11 Jun 2013 | 8:29 amUnderstanding Experiencer Journey Working with Nabisco I studied the sequencing of packaging arrangements on shelf, of baked goods. What we looked at what a kind of rolling circle around the aisle walker, looking at how a person traverses a place that represents a kind of wheeled circle of perception. In the Japanese tradition of Bushido, there is a notion of space, a energetic circle around the warrior — in a manner, the center point, that samurai ring, is a place of absolute focus — nothing crosses that line without him being aware of it; it’s an energetic zone. But in a… -
A Perfume of Everything
6 Jun 2013 | 8:22 amBuilding a Scent That’s Made of Every Scent. When I was young, even back then, I was into fragrance; I explored the idea of taking various fragrances and mixing them together — to get what I wanted. What came of that experience, generally speaking, was a fat, unrecognizable and obnoxious layering of scents that was a hammer-headed approach to the delicately artful layering of fragrancesthat I admired. Later, I looked for a classic underlayment — a scent foundation. What I explored was the character of Guerlainade – the scented secret fragrance DNA of the house of… -
The Sound of the Brush
4 Jun 2013 | 8:01 amThe Stroke of the Idea, in Sound, Found. When I was in Seoul, looking at, and working on Korean retail design, I stopped and watched a street calligrapher, who was writing phrases on newspaper. In the midst of the noise and flurry of the streetscape, I stood and watched him — and listened. I could hear the draw of the horsehair on the rough stock of the wrinkled paper. In the sensation of writing, there is a deeper holism of sensation. Speaking to a group of students, I talked about the idea of translation, interpretation, illustration as a layering of a more engage and enlarged… -
The Layering of the Message
30 May 2013 | 7:41 amThe Light of Brand, the Voice and the Tiering of Message Messaging and stair-stepping access in community Given the entirely human nature of brand, the enterprise of humanity, the idea of thinking about brand as a poetic expression, isn’t entirely without relevance. But, for me, and the Girvin teams, the idea of this framing of brand experience lies at the heart of how I think about everything: poetry. And beauty. In the beginning and the end, it’s all about people — thinking allegorically about brand ideas rightly aligns. I led a workshop recently where our teams were…
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The Engaging Brand
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How Smart Marketing is about Help Not Hype
17 Jun 2013 | 7:04 amThis weeks Engaging Brand podcast saw me talking with the wonderful Jay Baer who discussed with me the 'Baer necessities' of smart marketing. I know how listeners love it when Bob put's pen to paper and captures the essence of the podcast interviews so here is a Bob-o-graphic on the elements of smart marketing - and what makes content marketing useful. -
Show 439 - Smart Marketing is about Help not Hype
15 Jun 2013 | 10:09 amThe Engaging Brand podcast covering social marketing, business ideas and brand marketing tips has a new episode but first... The listener winning an Engaging Brand goodie bag - picked from all the people who share, like, tweet about the show to say a BIG thank you from me! - is Christina Lattimer who wins some Harvard Business Gifts as well! Anna Farmery discusses with Jay Baer - "a hype-free social media and marketing keynote speaker, author, and consultant" about how social marketing is all about Youtility the concept that Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype Stop trying… -
Engagement Starts with the Why not the How
15 Jun 2013 | 6:09 amRemember as a child how you asked "But why?" and how as we grow up and learn that it can irritate people we change to "What do you want to do?"So for this weeks Bab's Booster we explore the power of why and how it creates both personal growth and brand engagement The fact that we change our words doesn't mean that we change our feelings....the why always stays critical to us. If we explain why... we provide the inspiration for the 'how' and the 'what'. If you read any books from prisoners or war survivors then they say it is hope that kept them alive...when you lost hope you lost the will to… -
The Digital Marketing Streams Of 2013
13 Jun 2013 | 6:54 pmOver the past couple years there’s been a huge increase in the amount of buzz surrounding certain types digital marketing. Companies are spending more money now on key digital marketing streams than ever before and it’s clear that this is only the beginning. 3 of those key components are as follows... Social Media Marketing For those of you who aren’t familiar with social media, it’s simply a way of sharing, communicating, and networking via specific online outlets. A few examples of these outlets include websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. As a business owner, social… -
Can your brand benefit from uncertainty?
13 Jun 2013 | 5:15 amThe principle of uncertainty seems to automatically assumed to be a business problem, yet uncertainty can create the environment for business opportunities. Uncertainty about economic outlook, uncertainty about marketing trends or consumer confidence can lead to brands defending their position. When we are unsure human nature looks for security and protection. But here is my problem...standing still with business ideas will mean falling behind the market...so defending is actually self defeating. Uncertainty is all around but uncertainty should not mean Stop doing things but maybe doing…
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Greteman Group » Blog
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NBAA Regional Forum: The Differences Add Value
11 Jun 2013 | 3:30 pmYou might call it Baby BACE. Or NBAA Junior. But the NBAA Regional Forum – held last week in White Plains, NY – offers advantages that set it apart from the big show next October. More than 2,000 attended, a … (more...) -
Southwest Airlines: “Here’s to blue skies.”
5 Jun 2013 | 9:06 amFor anyone without access to privation aviation, it just got easier to wing your way into Wichita. You might think the Air Capital of the World would have some of the best connections, well, in the world, but that hasn’t … (more...) -
EBACE, ABACE – How About VBACE?
15 May 2013 | 3:02 pmAs in Virtual Business Aviation Convention and Exposition. While there’s still no substitute for actually being there, these days you can pull a lot of value out of a major aviation gathering even if you can’t make the show. Take … (more...) -
Why Paying Attention to the Media Is a Good Thing
9 May 2013 | 7:22 amMedia relations is a lot like flying an aircraft. Much of the time it’s routine. You go down your checklist. Gather your facts. Craft your message. Secure necessary approvals. Release, monitor and respond as needed. Other times, like a pilot … (more...) -
FlightSafety Continually Invests in Aviation Safety
24 Apr 2013 | 3:54 pmI’ve never been more proud to be the agency of record for FlightSafety International than I was earlier this week. I was privileged to take part in the grand opening of the company’s brand new Cessna Maintenance Learning Center. Looking … (more...)
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The "NEW" Business Card
5 Jun 2013 | 7:16 amUse traditional 3.5" X 2" business cards to promote new services, products, specials or whatever is new at your business. They would still have your contact information. Use them to drive business to your website or location. Treat them as promo cards with a personal circulation. A clever new way to celebrate your brand. When you go to a networking event in your community, you can take -
5 Steps To The Motherlode!
20 May 2013 | 6:51 amThat next telephone call or email could be the mother lode of opportunities. If you're anything like myself, you're fiercely proud of what you've accomplished to date. The relationships built over the years have not only delivered happy customers but rewarding business friends that have turned into advocates for you. Of course, if the mother lode is to fall into your lap, it would come -
Five Ways To Brand Like The Fortune 500's
12 May 2013 | 3:08 pmBranding can be daunting at the best of times. As small to medium size enterprises, budgets to address brand initiatives are just a fraction of what a Fortune 500 company may apply. If you're anything like myself, you're constantly educating yourself on ways to fine tune your brand. Books on the subject is a great way to discover nuggets of information that can be applied to your situation. -
Gawd Brand It!! Do As I Say Not As I Do!
30 Apr 2013 | 5:56 amI came across an interesting article today that smacks the face of good branding. It speaks to authenticity. Colby Sambrotto, the founder of 'for sale by owner' recently sold his home through a real estate owner. He even paid full commission. What does that say about his authenticity? The negative press will certainly hurt the DIY market. Read the story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ -
Is Your Brand Image Up To The Challenges To Come?
24 Apr 2013 | 6:09 amYour brand image is the face of your brand. It is the first thing your target audience sees when first introduced to you. What do you suppose goes through their mind when they see your brand image? Are the colors and imagery resonating by correctly representing your brand values and personality? How about consistency, are you showing one message? At the first introduction everything is
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Adweek : Advertising & Branding
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What's So Good About 'Dumb Ways to Die'?
17 Jun 2013 | 8:20 pmThis is a periodic installment that asks an agency guru to highlight a project from Google’s Creative Sandbox, an online gallery of standout campaigns that blend creativity and technology. Matt MacDonald Chief Creative Officer, JWT New York My Pick: Dumb Ways to Die, for Melbourne Metro Rail McCann Worldgroup  In a Nutshell: A public service announcement on Metro Rail safety that turned into a global viral phenomenon Why I Wish I Did It: If there’s one thing Don Draper has taught us over six seasons of Mad Men, it’s this: Every great ad is secretly about death. -
The Genius Who Produces ‘Pure’ Television
17 Jun 2013 | 8:17 pmFor reasons that are not immediately apparent, the girl with the vodka tonic is taking pictures of the actress on the Embassy Row TV monitor, even though the real thing is, at this very moment, perched on a chair inside the studio that lies just on the other side of the wall. Every time she captures a shot with her iPhone, the girl glances at the palmed screen, and in the owl-inflected argot of her generation, lets out a little “Woot!” before walking over to show the latest photo to her two equally excitable friends. It’s the Tuesday before Memorial Day weekend and… -
FTC's Privacy Guru Named Head of Bureau of Consumer Protection
17 Jun 2013 | 1:10 pmJessica Rich, a 20-year Federal Trade Commission career attorney and expert in privacy, data and identity protection, and new technologies was named the new director of the agency's bureau of consumer protection. FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez announced Rich's appointment today along with six other senior staff appointments. Since January 2012, Rich was associate director in charge of the division of financial practices. She also served as deputy director of the BCP under David Vladeck, who left his mark on the bureau with a series of high-profile deceptive advertising cases, extracting… -
Ogilvy Brazil Scores Promo Grand Prix for Soccer Team's Organ Donor Campaign
17 Jun 2013 | 12:30 pmCANNES, France—Ogilvy & Mather in Brazil, which had an enormous success this spring with its "Real Beauty Sketches" campaign for Dove, picked up a Grand Prix here tonight in the Promo & Activation Lions contest for a completely different campaign. The winning work was an organ-donor campaign called "Immortal Fans" that targeted supporters of Sport Club Recife, known to be among the most passionate in the soccer-rabid nation. The agency recruited real patients on actual transplant waiting lists to make their appeal to the fans directly. "I promise that… -
'Dumb Ways to Die' Kills With 2 Grand Prix—in Direct and PR
17 Jun 2013 | 12:30 pmCANNES, France—Dying never felt so good. McCann Melbourne's super-viral "Dumb Ways to Die" train-safety video for the Melbourne Metro stormed the Cannes Lions festival on the first day of awards here, picking up two Grand Prix and narrowly missing out on a third. The three-minute, animated music video—in which adorable blobs make the stupidest decisions and gruesomely pay the ultimate price—took the Grand Prix in the Direct Lions and PR Lions contests. It also added a Gold Lion in the Promo & Activation Lions category. The ad is closing in on 50 million…
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Brains On Fire Blog
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Do Better
17 Jun 2013 | 5:25 am“You do better when you know better.” Some wise and comforting words recently shared with me by my mother-in-law. It was in response to a situation I wish I handled differently. In retrospect, I should had done A, B, and C…yada yada. But at that time, I just didn’t know. I didn’t have the information or the experience. It made me feel better at the thought that we just keep getting better. Keep doing better. The post Do Better appeared first on Brains On Fire Blog. -
When Can’t Means Won’t
11 Jun 2013 | 6:30 amA kayak parade? SURE! Who needs water?! Just last week we had a lovely little pow-wow as a team. It was so refreshing. We reminded one another, and all the new-ish faces (mine included), about why we’re at Brains on Fire. As Robbin mentioned, we got back to our roots. The WHY behind why we do WHAT we do. It was a “stop. collaborate and listen” kind of afternoon for all of us. One of the stickiest phrases from that afternoon has been on my mind since then. Can’t means won’t. (Thanks, Cordell). I dare you to go a week with the mindset that can’t does in fact… -
Get on a plane and go to LA
10 Jun 2013 | 4:44 amMe and Mike, many years ago…That scrappy yellow dog on Mike’s shirt was the logo for our company at the time. We have some shiny smart new faces around Brains on Fire in case you haven’t noticed. So we took a couple of hours to remind everyone of our roots last Wednesday. And share some awesome tacos from Local Taco. Thanks Mary Susan! While we were talking and sharing stories, one of my favorite memories popped in my heart and my head. Years ago, when I first began my journey as an entrepreneur with Mike Goot, we hired a headhunter to help us find a much needed additional art… -
Seize the Day: Newsies Edition
6 Jun 2013 | 2:00 amHello, my name is Katie. And I love musical theater. From start to finish, my toes are tapping and my face hurts from smiling. There is nothing like a live performance. In honor of the upcoming Tony Awards (one of the most exciting nights for those on- and off-broadway), I’d like to salute Newsies. If you’re new to this scene: welcome. If not: you know what I’m talking about! Newsies is the story of teens fighting for their place in the world. They sell newspapers, or papes, on the tough streets of New York. It’s 1899, and the big newspaper owners, Pulitzer and Herst,… -
Start somewhere.
5 Jun 2013 | 6:43 amI love this photo of Libby William’s son. It reminds me that we must always be asking questions. Just think of what we might miss… I love my job. I get to talk to some the most remarkable people on the planet when they call inquiring about Brains on Fire’s services. A lot them read this blog or hear us speak or have read our book. So they call or they write and then they tell me their amazing stories. Its really interesting stuff. Out of consideration of their time (and mine too) I almost always get the “money talk” out the way quickly. For many folks who are…
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Unbound Edition
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Rewards-Based Mobile Ads Perform Best, Per Study
17 Jun 2013 | 6:40 amData shows that consumers demand value -
Supreme Court Ruling On Gene Patenting May Be A Boon For Biotech Startups
17 Jun 2013 | 6:32 amThe Supreme Court ruled this week that naturally occurring genes can’t be patented, which should be a boon for the host of emerging gene testing and patenting companies that are coming out of the Valley. -
The World’s Most Famous Logos, Organized By Visual Theme
17 Jun 2013 | 6:24 amA brand is more than a logo. But a company’s mark is its calling card, a shorthand for all that other stuff--the quality of the product, the level of service, the history of the company--for its composite brand. -
Calculate The Pathetic Amount Your Personal Data Is Worth
14 Jun 2013 | 6:54 amThe NSA might be able to tap into your electronic data just like every other company, but it turns out that your personal information isn’t worth much at all--and you can calculate it just to make sure. -
Yes, There Is Such A Thing As Too Much Integration
14 Jun 2013 | 6:51 amThe key is to integrate what matters, and only what matters -- the defining ideas and the experience of the customer.
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Movéo: Get There
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Return on Acceleration: Get The White Paper
17 Jun 2013 | 6:15 amThis month we’ve discussed how B2B marketers should approach a relentlessly evolving world. Technology is not going to slow down anytime soon, and we want a return on this acceleration. We have noticed that many marketers, in the onslaught of information, are suffering from Perpetual Novice Syndrome. Having new information thrown at you at such alarming rates feels threatening, and we suggest that you cope with Positive Adaptation. We believe the cycle that leads to Perpetual Novice Syndrome is maladaptive, and we suggest you respond with these steps: Accept accelerated change. Decode… -
Bonus Positive Adaption Tip: Learn Without Intent
14 Jun 2013 | 6:05 amOver the past week, we have shared three tips from our white paper on Positive Adaptation. Today, we want to share an additional tip that is not in the white paper, for your added benefit. Here’s a question: When you decide to learn about something new, is it more often in reaction to an experience you have already had, or is it to openly explore new trends and developments? We have noticed that most often, research is conducted as a response to a decision that has already been made, but we believe it can be more helpful not to wait that long. Be proactive in your learning, rather than… -
Positive Adaptation Tip #3: Process Accelerated Change
12 Jun 2013 | 6:00 amThe first two steps towards Positive Adaptation in the midst of rapid change are to accept and then to decode change. The third step is just as important: change must be processed. As information is received, it is crucial that marketers draw a distinction between everything that is coming in and everything they should actually use. We believe that the processing overload often leading to Perpetual Novice Syndrome can be viewed as “skeptical underload.” The problem is more often an inability to distinguish what is important than it is the sheer volume of information. Because it is… -
Positive Adaptation Tip #2: Decode Accelerated Change
10 Jun 2013 | 6:00 amRecently, we have been sharing steps for marketers to adapt positively to our fast-paced, accelerating culture. Instead of racing to learn every new tool with the risk of using none effectively, it is important to develop new behaviors that will enable you to keep up and succeed. As you strive to accept accelerated change, work also to decode it. Military aircrafts can spread bits of aluminum, known as chaff, to avoid being spotted by an enemy. It appears as clouds or as small secondary targets on a radar screen. Today, companies must be able to recognize which trends need to be targeted and… -
Positive Adaptation Tip #1: Accept Accelerated Change
7 Jun 2013 | 7:20 amOur rapidly accelerating culture is one in which marketers feel the need to constantly learn, adopt, and master each new tool that becomes available. This behavior leads to an inability to use any of them to their utmost potential. The first step towards Positive Adaptation – our best shot at “keeping up” – is to accept accelerated change. Get Comfortable with Short-Range Plans Buddhists believe that because everything is in a state of flux, attachment becomes cause for future suffering. The same applies to marketing. The old 3-5 year high-level marketing plans with strict, 12…
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Live from Your Core
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Inspiration from the Core: Ji-Hae Park
8 Jun 2013 | 2:20 pmAs I made more space in my life, I looked for ways to fill it with with more of what I value and love. In this case it was inspiration. After enjoying a pretty hearty lunch one day, I knew that the food coma would would hit me, and I would loose momentum and productivity that afternoon. I went on a mission to find something to counter it. I decided to browse through videos on TED Talks for something to inspire me. I came across Ji-Hae Park: The violin, and my dark night of the soul. It was one of the most passionate performances I have every witnessed. Watching Ji-Hae Park play… -
The Power of Space
30 May 2013 | 3:14 amAs I return back from a life-changing journey lead by Dr. Robert Holden in San Diego on Coaching Happiness, I feel transformed and take with me great insights and tools that have positively shifted my state of being during the many days and nights away from home. On that journey, I discovered true happiness, the kind of happiness that exists even while riding the roller coaster of life’s emotions. I also experienced the healing of my heart and found a way to express the purity of unconditional love that exists within me. On my flight home, I began to explore the challenge of how I can… -
What is Live from Your Core?
20 May 2013 | 12:34 pmHave you had moments in your life where you surprised yourself and said “Wow, where did that powerful, connected, confident me come from?”, or have you ever marveled at something that you accomplished or created that resulted from your deep focus and connection with yourself? Maybe it was a time in your life where you felt so in tune with who you were, and you had the courage and freedom to freely express your truth and your gift to the world without shame. It could also be an experience where you were able to connect deeply with someone important in your life from an…
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CreateWOWmarketing, LLC
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An Enterprise Social Network That’s Sweet As Honey
6 Jun 2013 | 11:53 amAre you in a business where it’s next to impossible to keep everyone on the same page? Maybe you need to invest in enterprise social networking. It allows for a private online environment where you can share, discuss and keep everyone up to date on projects. Honey, a new enterprise social network is free for business of 10 people or less. If you have more than 10 employees, check out their reasonable pricing options. Honey is different from some of the other social enterprise networks because you can choose how you want information to come to you. If you want to know what’s happened… -
How Technology Is Impacting Humanity
3 Jun 2013 | 2:47 pmTechnology has been integrated into our daily lives thanks to smartphones, tablets, and social media. A new era has begun and could drastically change the landscape again. Wearable technology provides a way to extend the user experience and put even more data around your wrist or on your head. The line separating the lives we lead and the technology we use has become thin. It has enabled us to do even more with less. A View From Google Glass With the advancement of tools like Google Glass, a wearable computer that rests on your face like a pair of glasses, there seems to be no limit to the… -
CreateWOW HD Web Video – “Behind The Curtain”
30 May 2013 | 3:02 pmCreateWOW went down to Winterset, Iowa yesterday and shot some great HD web video for a new client of ours. The trip was wet and wild, but the shoot went really well. Interviews, talking head and testimonials are easy to capture in HD video for web when you have the right team on your side! Thanks to the folks at Madison County Medical Associates for allowing us to take up your facility manager’s office for the afternoon. We appreciate your time, your patience and your SWEAT! Maybe next time the air conditioner will be working? -
Social Media Marketing CAN Help SEO!
5 Apr 2013 | 11:20 amThe argument continues about the value of your social media marketing on SEO. I’m here to say it once and for all, Social Media Marketing CAN Help SEO! Having accounts in FaceBook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest et al., isn’t the end all and be all for your social media marketing efforts. That, at best is a “Level 1″ effort of a good 4-Level potential program. With strategy, content and the right marketing communications partners (yes, you need help and CAN NOT do it alone), the integration of social media into your marketing plans can boost Search Engine Page… -
Marketing 101 – Testing Is Imperative
25 Jan 2013 | 9:15 amOne of my colleagues recently asked me,”…out of all the categories of marketing, including online marketing, marketing strategy, ‘Web 2.0,’” yes he used “Air Quotes,” “…market research, etc., what was the most important?” Without hesitation I burst with, “Man, it’s Marketing 101 – Testing is imperative!” Many of my marketing friends might argue and profess that if you don’t have the right positioning statement, reach the target audience, timing, or have the right offer, you won’t succeed. And to…
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Metropolis Creative
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Put your best face – and service – forward…EVERYWHERE
17 Jun 2013 | 1:39 pmA contractor I talked to the other day said something interesting. Not that contractors can’t be interesting or even have revelations, but the topic we were discussing was online marketing. And his point was that even in a business where word-of-mouth marketing used to be the standard, the first ‘touch’ for his company is now the Internet. Think about it. Over the course of a day, a week, a month, we’re all bombarded by messages that have been created to soften us up to make a purchase. Celebrities pitch fashion lines, billboards reinforce brand names, movies use product placements,… -
Brand Association — Choose Wisely
3 Jun 2013 | 7:30 amUsing movies and pop culture to help promote a product isn’t a new idea. The reason why it works so well is because there is an immediate brand recognition with popular movies. It’s really the same principle as using celebrity endorsements, only in this case, the movie tie-in is the celebrity. But just like you have to be careful in choosing your celebrities, you have to be careful in your movie associations. I saw two commercials this morning and felt like one hit a home run while the other fizzled. Chrysler has partnered with Syfy and Trion Worlds for “Defiance,” the… -
Why I Mentor Startups
21 Apr 2013 | 7:18 pmI would define graphic design as visual communications. It’s the art of communicating a message or idea in an easy-to-understand and attractive manner. I used to really enjoy both designing the visual and learning the technical side of graphic and website design. As Metropolis grew, I had to let go of that side and focus on larger picture things like business development, brand building, marketing, creative problem solving, and of course — making money. I also learned that at its core, my business decisions needed to fall in line with what I believed in. I received advice from many… -
Nurture Your Leads Through Content
17 Apr 2013 | 7:35 pm“These leads are gold.” Most people have seen Alec Baldwin from the movie Glengarry Glenross. Baldwin plays a hotshot trying to fire up a group of real estate salesmen. He shows them a stack of new leads and says, “You don’t get them” because “giving them to you is just throwing them away.” If you’re like most organizations, you have a robust Content Marketing plan that drives traffic to your web sites and generates leads. What do you do with those leads when you get them? Are you “just throwing them away?” The best way to ensure leads is by implementing a structured Lead… -
Ask and Ye Shall Receive – Marketing Your Business Clearly
25 Mar 2013 | 9:36 amWe’ve all run into the sales person who takes forever to get to the point. They’re either unsure that their product or service has value to us or are unclear on how to close a sale. But the funny part of this circumstance is that closing the sale is sometimes as easy as asking for a check or a ‘yes’. Bearing that in mind, marketing your business and its services comes down to being clear in your company’s goals, its communication and methods. If you want to deliver a memorable, valuable and clear message to potential clients and partners, just do it. While that might seem like a…
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Celebrity Branding Agency » Blog »
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Every Entrepreneur's Biggest Mistake (And How To Avoid It!)
22 May 2013 | 5:09 amThis post was originally featured on FastCompany.com. The original blog, written by Nick Nanton and JW Dicks can be found here: Every Entrepreneur's Biggest Mistake (And How To Avoid It!) In 2006, Salemi Industries thought they had a surefire moneymaking product. It was something totally new that (a) had an obvious need and (b) could be sold worldwide. Anthony Ferranti, the man behind the innovative product, had noticed that with the widespread usage of cell phones in public areas, callers needed a private place to have their conversations--and to not disturb others in, say, a restaurant. -
Personal Branding: Confidence is Key to Making a Great First Impression
17 May 2013 | 1:18 amCreating a strong first impression is important when it comes to creating a strong personal brand. The first impression you give sticks in the mind of the people you meet—for better or for worse. And one of the most important things you can do to create a powerful first impression is to project confidence. But this is often easier said than done. I have worked with plenty of business owners who struggled to project confidence—even though they were very successful and highly intelligent individuals. Here’s a secret: you don’t have to actually be confident to project confidence. And… -
Boost Your Personal Brand… in Ten Minutes or Less
17 Apr 2013 | 1:58 amI talk to a lot of business owners every year. Between speeches, seminars, conferences, and similar events, I am blessed to have the opportunity to get to know business owners from all over the country in a wide variety of industries. And over time, I have come to identify a number of common “themes” that business owners often use during our conversations. One of the most common is something like this… “Nick, I really like what you have to say about personal branding – I just don’t have the time.” So today, I’m going to cover several steps you can take to strengthen your… -
The Critic, The Mouseketeer, And The Iron Lady: Three Giants In Personal Branding
16 Apr 2013 | 5:57 amThis post was originally featured on FastCompany.com. The original blog, written by Nick Nanton and JW Dicks can be found here: The Critic, The Mouseketeer, And The Iron Lady: Three Giants In Personal Branding Recently, the world mourned the passing of three very different and unique personalities--Margaret Thatcher, Annette Funicello, and Roger Ebert. Each member of this high-powered trio left a mark on those who loved and admired them. They also enjoyed fame for the vast majority of their lifetimes, and all three were even the subjects of movies (Meryl Streep won an Oscar last year… -
The Kanye And Kim Kardashian Lesson In Personal Branding: Combining Audiences For Impact
27 Mar 2013 | 11:22 amThis post was originally featured on FastCompany.com. The original blog, written by Nick Nanton and JW Dicks can be found here: The Kanye And Kim Kardashian Lesson In Personal Branding: Combining Audiences For Impact Hip-hop star Kanye West may be a musical genius--but he’s definitely not one of the most liked celebrities around. He’s infamous for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009, as well as other public displays of bad behavior. When even the president of the United States goes out of his way to call you a jackass, you know you…
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Latest Thinking
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Crisis Communications Steps to Forefront
14 Jun 2013 | 11:04 amIn this June 13 article, The Wall Street Journal features the pioneering crisis communications work that LEVICK provided Heartland Payment Systems, the victim of what remains the largest data security breach in history. Reporter Christopher M. Matthews focuses on how communications firms like LEVICK have stepped to the forefront as cyberattacks grow ever more frequent, and how the steps taken by Heartland and LEVICK to reach and inform its customers, quickly and transparently, enabled the company to preserve and ultimately enhance its brand. Read it here. Specialty Data Privacy… -
Winning The Anti-Corruption War: Go After Bribe Takers
10 Jun 2013 | 9:37 amIn this article published on Forbes.com, we examine a shifting focus in the global battle against corporate corruption. Western governments have largely fought just half the battle because they’ve only targeted the multinational corporations that tolerate bribery. But there are promising efforts afoot, as local enforcement personnel are trained to mount and win cases against the predators who take those bribes. Click here for the full story. Specialty Anticorruption Government Investigations White Collar -
Monsanto Further Complicates the Biotech Foods Debate
7 Jun 2013 | 1:54 pmMonsanto Co. made news, and some new enemies, recently when it was discovered that the company’s experimental genetically modified wheat – planted in several states between 1998 and 2005 – was found to have escaped containment. The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed that the strain growing in an Oregon field is indeed a genetically modified strain that is not approved for human consumption. When the story broke, grain futures plummeted as governments in Europe and Asia halted U.S. wheat imports and began examining earlier shipments for contamination. Now… -
Bangladesh and Beyond: Walt Disney’s Leadership
6 Jun 2013 | 1:58 pmIn this article recently published on Forbes.com, we delve into The Walt Disney’s Company’s actions in response the disaster that befell Bangladesh in late April when a structure housing five garment factories collapsed, killing 1,127 people. Disney’s decision to cut product production in five countries until labor standards improve not only underscored its concern for – and attention to – an issue of increasing importance to stakeholders and activists around the world; it set an example that others are likely to follow. Click here for the full story. Industry Sports… -
Does Apple’s Holy Grail of Tax Avoidance Runneth Over?
5 Jun 2013 | 12:00 amIn this article recently published on Forbes.com, we examine the uproar in Congress over Apple’s tax avoidance strategies and the potential ramifications. While all of Apple’s actions are perfectly legal, the courtroom and Court of Public Opinion are two different entities altogether. As such, Apple CEO Tim Cook’s testimony before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations was an opportunity to share Apple’s “holy grail” of tax avoidance as a rising tide that does indeed raise its share of ships. Click here for the full story. Specialty Government Investigations
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The Fresh Peel // Ripe Brand Strategy. Juicy Insights and Trends.
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Future of Global Digital Retail [Infographic]
17 Jun 2013 | 7:24 pmKey takeaways: 21% of consumers conducted a mobile search before making an offline purchase A retailer using data to its full could increase its operating margin by more than 60% 10-25% of social media users use their social networks to make purchasing decisions ExactTarget’s Kyle Lacy also identifies 4 key consumer trends identified in the infographic: Purchase Journeys Evolution: In the future, the retail customer’s purchase journey will likely put more stock in online reviews and social recommendations. Just take a look at the current state of a customer lifecycle to get an… -
Creative Marketing for a New Generation
11 Jun 2013 | 5:33 amCreative Marketing for a New Generation With the introduction of smartphones, social media, and real time information, smart consumers and business owners are finding new ways of reaching clients. New or established, if a business isn’t willing to change their marketing strategies to meet the changing times, they’re unlikely to survive. Why the Need for Branding and Marketing It’s true that if you have a great business, that word-of-mouth marketing can bring you a fair amount of new customers. But you can’t rely on that being true for your company, because that is the exception,… -
Women Continue to Lead Men in Adoption of Social Networks
11 Jun 2013 | 5:02 amNot surprising. According to a March 2013 survey conducted by Burst Media, Women continue to lead men in the adoption of social media sites. 65.4 percent of American adults have at least one social media account for personal use Women are more likely to have an account with six of the top 7 social networks Women are especially more likely to have an account with visual services such as Pinterest and Instagram LinkedIn however, sees a higher adoption rate from men than women Via: Statista -
Tablet Shopping Behaviors Infographic
10 Jun 2013 | 6:00 amThis speaks volumes of why optimizing your eCommerce experience for tablets should be a top priority. 87% use their tablet to browse products online 71% purchase products on their tablet 41% buy an item on their tablet at least once a month 12% make a purchase more often than once a week 49% of tablet shopper’s biggest pet peeve is that retailers’ websites and apps aren’t optimized for tablets 35% say the checkout process is not always optimized on tablet devices -
Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends May 2013
9 Jun 2013 | 7:13 amAs always, the go-to source for online trends.
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Celebrity Branding Agency » Blog »
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Every Entrepreneur's Biggest Mistake (And How To Avoid It!)
22 May 2013 | 5:09 amThis post was originally featured on FastCompany.com. The original blog, written by Nick Nanton and JW Dicks can be found here: Every Entrepreneur's Biggest Mistake (And How To Avoid It!) In 2006, Salemi Industries thought they had a surefire moneymaking product. It was something totally new that (a) had an obvious need and (b) could be sold worldwide. Anthony Ferranti, the man behind the innovative product, had noticed that with the widespread usage of cell phones in public areas, callers needed a private place to have their conversations--and to not disturb others in, say, a restaurant. -
Personal Branding: Confidence is Key to Making a Great First Impression
17 May 2013 | 1:18 amCreating a strong first impression is important when it comes to creating a strong personal brand. The first impression you give sticks in the mind of the people you meet—for better or for worse. And one of the most important things you can do to create a powerful first impression is to project confidence. But this is often easier said than done. I have worked with plenty of business owners who struggled to project confidence—even though they were very successful and highly intelligent individuals. Here’s a secret: you don’t have to actually be confident to project confidence. And… -
Boost Your Personal Brand… in Ten Minutes or Less
17 Apr 2013 | 1:58 amI talk to a lot of business owners every year. Between speeches, seminars, conferences, and similar events, I am blessed to have the opportunity to get to know business owners from all over the country in a wide variety of industries. And over time, I have come to identify a number of common “themes” that business owners often use during our conversations. One of the most common is something like this… “Nick, I really like what you have to say about personal branding – I just don’t have the time.” So today, I’m going to cover several steps you can take to strengthen your… -
The Critic, The Mouseketeer, And The Iron Lady: Three Giants In Personal Branding
16 Apr 2013 | 5:57 amThis post was originally featured on FastCompany.com. The original blog, written by Nick Nanton and JW Dicks can be found here: The Critic, The Mouseketeer, And The Iron Lady: Three Giants In Personal Branding Recently, the world mourned the passing of three very different and unique personalities--Margaret Thatcher, Annette Funicello, and Roger Ebert. Each member of this high-powered trio left a mark on those who loved and admired them. They also enjoyed fame for the vast majority of their lifetimes, and all three were even the subjects of movies (Meryl Streep won an Oscar last year… -
The Kanye And Kim Kardashian Lesson In Personal Branding: Combining Audiences For Impact
27 Mar 2013 | 11:22 amThis post was originally featured on FastCompany.com. The original blog, written by Nick Nanton and JW Dicks can be found here: The Kanye And Kim Kardashian Lesson In Personal Branding: Combining Audiences For Impact Hip-hop star Kanye West may be a musical genius--but he’s definitely not one of the most liked celebrities around. He’s infamous for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009, as well as other public displays of bad behavior. When even the president of the United States goes out of his way to call you a jackass, you know you…
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brandchannel.com
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Nissan Leverages Lower Yen for Aggressive US Price Discounts
17 Jun 2013 | 4:46 pmJust when things seemed hunky-dory in the US auto industry, Nissan wants to threaten the situation by sharpening its price edge. At least that's how other car brands look at Nissan's aggressive move to grab US market share by cutting prices on seven models and boosting incentives, taking maximum financial advantage of the weakening yen that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made a central plank of his "Abenomics" strategy to boost the island nation's economy. Nissan's marketing moves "strike me as a scorched-earth policy of going for market share and sales volume at seemingly all costs,"… -
Kroger's New Stripped-Down Grocery Brand Testifies that Value is the New Norm
17 Jun 2013 | 4:02 pmIf there's one thing that American CPG brands and retailers have learned over the last three years, it's that there definitely is a new normal when it comes to the attitudes of US consumers about their pocketbooks. The economy may be slowly coming back, but there doesn't appear to be much change in the recession-borne dedication of grocery shoppers to getting the absolute most out of their supermarket dollars. That's the bottom line being addressed by food-industry brands in various ways these days. Kroger's latest move has been to open a stream of stores, mostly around the… -
Gilt to Open Pop-Up Shop as Flash Sale Sites Fight Consumer Fatigue
17 Jun 2013 | 3:12 pmGilt, the innovative fashion flash-sale site is opening a physical outlet in Louisville, Ky. for one month beginning June 28th. The pop-up shop, dubbed Designer Outlet, will house thousands of products for men, women and children as well as accessories and housewares from Zac Posen, Vera Wang, Badgley Mischka and Missoni, among others, for up to 90 percent off. "The exciting new concept store is a unique addition to our local retail market. We're fortunate that Gilt's presence in Louisville affords us the opportunity to dress high-style at great prices and I'm sure it will be… -
Netflix, Amazon Even the Playing Field with New Streaming Content Deals
17 Jun 2013 | 2:08 pmThe streaming race between Netflix and Amazon is neck and neck again as both service providers have inked new streaming deals for in-demand programming. The news comes just a week after Netflix suffered a blow as it relinquished its deal with Viacom and saw Amazon quickly scoop up its rights to popular kids programming like Dora the Explorer, Blue's Clues and others. But now, Netflix is back on the horse thanks to a new deal with DreamWorks. The long-in-the-making deal with DreamWorks Animation will supply Netflix with 300 hours of original programming inspired by much-loved DreamWorks… -
Ford Finally Agrees to Buttons as It Revamps MyTouch System
17 Jun 2013 | 12:57 pmFord has finally given in to the primordial leanings of its customers and decided to put more old-fashioned knobs and buttons on its infotainment controls. But the move—arguably, belated by two years—still might not be enough to save Ford this week from another poor third-party evaluation that got the brand into trouble in the first place. Ford will reprise tuning and volume knobs for the radio as it redesigns existing models and introduces new ones, Raj Nair, Ford's global product-development chief, told the Wall Street Journal. That's because the company finally gave in to…
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Drew Schiller
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Hello world!
9 Jun 2013 | 8:33 amThis is a reboot of my old consulting blog. New posts will feature topics on startups, technology, mHealth, a few things of personal interest to me.
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Big Marketing for Small Business
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Expand Your Small Business Abroad Through eCommerce
11 Jun 2013 | 10:58 amAsia-Pacific is set to surpass North America in B2C eCommerce, making it the world’s number one market. The explosion of online shopping has revolutionized not just the way in which consumers make purchases, but also the way in which retail bigwigs develop their plans for global expansion. For any discerning small business owner, the main priority is creating new ways to grow and, as developed markets struggle to push through the recession, for many organizations this has meant building routes into developing markets through eCommerce. Expanding into a developing market is far more complex… -
How Multilingual SEO Can Improve Your Business
31 May 2013 | 10:39 amIf You Want to Grow, Translate The Internet allows businesses of all kinds to step into people’s homes and pockets with a degree of intimacy marketers couldn’t have dreamed of in the past. Since over 50 percent of web users don’t speak English as a native language, foreign language SEO is a vital ingredient in connecting with new audiences and growing your business. You can try to reach businesses in your own language without bothering to use multilingual SEO at all. But the name of the game is competition, and if you want to compete you need to speak to your prospective customers in… -
How to Write a Job Advertisement That Attracts Talented Employees
30 May 2013 | 8:00 amA dry and dull advertisement is going to attract dry and dull candidates.With the unemployment rate shaping up, it makes sense that job candidates are taking their time and considering all of their options when looking for work. With more employment opportunities to choose from, employers have to do something in order to stand out from their competitors, and it helps to start selling a business from the second capable job seekers are beginning their search; if you’re having trouble getting talented employees to apply for your open positions, first make sure your job advertisement is sending… -
Infographic: The Social Media Marketing Explosion
29 May 2013 | 11:56 amHere is an infographic put together by the folks at the University of Florida that quantifies just how massive the activity level is on the most popular social media networks, and what it means to marketers. 850 million monthly Facebook users and 500 million registered Google+ users is just the start. Check out the explosive growth of Pinterest. University of Florida Online Masters in Social Media -
Affina Hotels Celebrates Small Business Week with Amex Gift Offer
22 May 2013 | 3:50 pmNational Small Business Week is coming up June 17-21, and Affinia Hotels is showing support for small businesses with a $100 American Express gift card for guests who sign up for the Business Perks program during that week. The gift card will be given out to each new member when they check in for their first two-night stay at one of the boutique hotel collection’s six hotels (five in New York City and one in Washington, D.C). The Business Perks Program makes it easier for small companies to take their business on the road with a commitment of only 25 nights per year, and features: 10% off…
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Logo Design Blog
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Father’s Day Special!
14 Jun 2013 | 5:55 amIt is very important to have a father figure to grow up with. A responsible father looks after and cares for his family I which he makes sure that his wife and kids are properly taken care of, both in terms of health and wealth. A father (head of the family) also makes sure that [ Read More ] -
Business Logo Design – A History or Mystery
23 May 2013 | 5:15 amOnline portals are flooded with numerous businesses and promotions these days, so promoting your business in the right way is extremely important. Even if your business is not all that competitive, your overall appearance on the web (business logo, website, social media interface) has to be clean, unified and compelling. If you want your business [ Read More ] -
Mother Day Special
13 May 2013 | 5:29 am12th of May, is a day that we celebrate in honour of our great mothers. It is really a blessing that we have such great mothers because they are a only source of unique comfort and love. They play a major role in our upbringing when we don’t have the sense of anything and make [ Read More ] -
Incorporation of logo designs into business strategy
6 May 2013 | 6:20 amIf we go back into history and study the human life in Stone Age, we would get a clear indication that it was the signs that worked as a vital source of communication medium. Signs were made and used to interact with those cultures or languages that were unfamiliar or uneven in nature. Signs have [ Read More ] -
Importance of a Video Animation
30 Apr 2013 | 1:33 amYou cannot express or educate everything in plain words even if you want to. The year was 1928 when Mickey Mouse, a one of a kind animation that was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks was to fascinate children, but now animations are all in a new phase of development process. An animation is [ Read More ]
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yinkaolaito.com - the branding gavel, brand communication expert, nigeria brand consultant, social media expert
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Oprah Winfrey @ Harvard 2013: What technology and New Media professionals can learn
11 Jun 2013 | 2:50 amOprah Winfrey has remained an enigma. She has been a star for over twenty five years and she had remained there. With over thirty five thousand interviews and more, success seems good. But as she maintained in Harvard University Commencement Speech 2013, one needs to get to a level where one will have to recalculate [...] -
Best ways to handle Social media communication crisis: CBN’s Governor (Sanusi Lamido) case study
10 Jun 2013 | 4:39 amOnce a while in life we run into trouble not because we are looking for trouble but because troubles and challenges are co-travellers in the journey of life. No matter how hard we try, some will misconstrue brand’s intention and pick a hole in it. In certain instances, some issues may be blown out of [...] -
Social/Digital Media success:5 hard truths you can not ignore.
7 Jun 2013 | 4:37 amEvery hard work should have a reward. Every seemingly difficult task must has a better and easy way to do it when compare to other routes. Labouring hard may not justify result. Knowing how to do it smartly may guarantee lifelong happiness. In a recent conversation with some social media and content Managers from varied [...] -
Digital media: How to shape the new world
4 Jun 2013 | 6:51 amWe live in a digital age. It is an age that allows no excuse. Anyone who gives excuse for not acting on their dreams and passion must be examined. It is true we are not in free for all worlds. But the age has provided enough capacity to start from where you are to where [...] -
How to justify further investment in Social media project funding
23 May 2013 | 4:31 amMany Social and digital media managers are still having big trouble with budget allocation. C-suite has not seen any reason to increase their budget allocation. In most cases, the marketing Communication/corporate communication is usually the umbrella department where Social media is located. This department in itself is often underfunded. So before anything will reach this [...]
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We First Blog
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Why the best way to grow your brand is to focus on “We”
14 Jun 2013 | 9:47 amI wanted to share some insights from a recent interview I did for Speaker magazine about how to develop effective branding strategies and enhance engagement by focusing on “we.” We First has helped many organizations — from Global 500 companies to nonprofits — to effectively pursue “the art of inspiring customers to champion your brand.” The funny thing about Fortune 100 companies and associations is that they are not so different: they are both groups of people connected around shared values or a common purpose. You can listen to the full interview, but here are the key… -
Monsanto, Abercrombie & Fitch, And The Greatest New Threat To Your Brand: Your Customers
4 Jun 2013 | 8:59 amAt the end of 2010 I wrote about the ‘Coming Decade of Radical Transparency.’ My prediction for 2012 was the ‘Rise of Consumer Activism.’ We now find ourselves in mid-2013 and these two issues have combined, leaving brands facing a well-informed, media-savvy and mobilized audience intent on punishing behavior that does not serve the greater good. This challenge did not emerge out of thin air. Emboldened by the citizen and consumer activism of the Arab Spring Revolutions and #OccupyWallStreet, these customers (especially Millennials and Gen Z) have grown up in a… -
Making Your Business the Best In the World and For the World
23 May 2013 | 10:46 amWith the ability for people to tune in and ask questions from all over the world, G+ Hangouts are a certainly a powerful social technology worth exploring for your brand and community building efforts. We recently kicked off the first in a series of G+ Hangouts we’ll be hosting throughout 2013, and our featured guests were Dave Cobban, Citizen Mobilization Director of Sustainable Business & Innovation for Nike, and Jay Coen Gilbert, the Co-Founder of B Lab. Our topic was From Profit to Purpose: How Business Can Build a Better World. During this hour, we discussed not only the theory… -
Sustainable Brands Istanbul: What brands must do to ensure their sustainability initiatives succeed
20 May 2013 | 10:16 amLast week I had the privilege of speaking at Sustainable Brands Istanbul, and I wanted to share some of the insights from the event. We heard several fascinating presentations from speakers such as Marc Mathieu at Unilever (lower image) and Christiaan Maats, the founder of OATS shoes that both highlighted how sustainability has become a way of being rather than doing business. Among the discussions several key issues stood out: 1. What is Sustainability? As the conversation around the role of sustainability in business matures at different paces around the world, the definition of… -
LIVESTRONG is #StillStrong and Sharing Its Story
17 May 2013 | 8:29 amToday is LIVESTRONG Day and the anniversary of the launch of their now iconic LIVESTRONG wristband. Since 2004, the Foundation has recognized one day each year as LIVESTRONG Day to honor the 28 million people living with cancer. Yet this year marks a special opportunity: to drive the conversation past the Lance Armstrong controversy and shine a refocused light on the incredible ways the organization impacts thousands of lives every day. Many people will probably find the actual breadth of contribution by LIVESTRONG both surprising and inspiring. While most people are aware of the foundation,…
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Executive Resume Branding
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Annoyed with Personal Branding Nonsense?
5 Jun 2013 | 5:28 amAnnoyed with Personal Branding Nonsense? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding The other day, a member of one of my LinkedIn Groups, Knock em Dead Secrets & Strategies commented about a post of mine on my Executive Career Brand blogsite, that I had posted as a Discussion to the Group, You Are Not a Brand. You HAVE a Personal Brand. Along with stating how annoyed she gets with all this personal branding nonsense, the commenter noted that branding is “dated, presumptuous and uninformative”. I’m used to getting this kind of response when I write about personal branding. -
10 Personal Branding, Job Search and Career Blogs
22 May 2013 | 7:12 am10 Personal Branding, Job Search and Career Blogs is a post from: Executive Resume Branding The theme for May’s Career Development Carnival — a showcase of the best blog posts from career experts — is reflected in the title of this blog post. The blogs I’ve chosen here are by no means the only ones I read regularly – and not necessarily my top 10 favorites. But they are ones I come back to frequently and always find value in reading. I hope you do, too. I often tweet these blogs, and they also inspire many of the blog posts I write. There are actually 12 in my list. Two… -
Are You an Executive?
15 May 2013 | 5:47 amAre You an Executive? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding There seems to be confusion on the part of some executive job seekers as to whether they actually are “executives”. I receive many emails from prospective clients who are obviously executives, by most any definition — Directors, Executive Vice Presidents and even General Managers. They reach out to me to see if I’d consider working with them, even though they’re “not yet at the executive level”. It makes me double-take every time and re-read the career background they’ve sent me. -
How to Get Your Personal Brand into Your Email Signature
9 May 2013 | 6:26 amHow to Get Your Personal Brand into Your Email Signature is a post from: Executive Resume Branding The email signature in most business emails I receive contains just one line . . . the person’s name. Sometimes, when executive job seekers reach out to me via email, their signature is the default they use in doing business through their employers. I can only assume that they also use this default for everyone else in their job search communications, which may not be appropriate. Instead, their email cover letters to potential employers should include a potent, branded email signature. -
Here Come the New C-Suite Jobs
1 May 2013 | 4:43 amHere Come the New C-Suite Jobs is a post from: Executive Resume Branding C-suite jobs have advanced to meet rapidly-changing workplace needs in the digital age and new economy. Although the new c-level job titles may sound superfluous or too touchy-feely: Chief Listener Chief People Officer Chief Happiness Officer . . . they’re cropping up in diverse corporate settings and seem to be here to stay. We can assume that more, fresh c-suite roles will appear, in response to future corporate and workplace demands. Signaling the new trend, in February LinkedIn Jobs ran this listing: Chief…
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SimpliFlying
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Airbus A350 First Flight on social media – an analysis of #A350FirstFlight
14 Jun 2013 | 8:43 amNew plane launches do not happen very often. And when they do happen, the first flight is one of the most important. Today was one such important day in history, as Airbus launched the first A350 flight, ahead of the Paris Airshow. Like RedBull’s stratosphere jump by Felix Baumgartner, today’s first flight of the Airbus A350 was one of the best executed ones we have seen from a social media and online marketing perspective. Go crazy with videos, photos and tweets! What differentiated it from past plane launches was an increased focus on the Live sharing of the event that not only… -
[Free Report] The State of Airport Marketing: 7 Key Trends & Case-Studies
9 Jun 2013 | 11:30 pmAfter publishing a hugely successful State of Airline Marketing Report last month, which was downloaded over 1000 times, we’re back with another free report, this time aimed at the good folks leading marketing at airports! Airport marketing is finally waking up to the immense opportunities in the age of the connected traveller. Airports are not just engaging travellers and providing customer service online, but also gaining real-time, location-specific customer intelligence, while driving revenues. Moreover, traditional, offline airport marketing campaigns themselves are becoming ever… -
[Presentation] The emerging retail experience in the age of the connected traveler
9 Jun 2013 | 7:38 amThe internet is all about cats… or at least that’s what some people seem to think. In the past year we have seen the re-emergence of theories claiming that the internet and the social networking revolution of recent years was just a bubble of little importance fuelled by the novelty of these new media. Thankfully however, both empirical data and direct observation of consumer behaviour have proven that this “social revolution” is here to stay. The reason behind the success of social networks however may not be the one that most people expect. While it is true that… -
The June 2013 Edition of the Airline Marketing Benchmark Report has 15 fresh case-studies from Etihad, Virgin America, Lufthansa & more!
6 Jun 2013 | 1:22 pmLast month, we published a free report on the State of Airline Marketing in 2013, which postulates 8 key trends (along with accompanying case-studies) that define the transformed face of airline marketing today. Trends range from Social Loyalty to Crowdsourcing to Experiential Marketing. It received a humongous response and has been downloaded over 1000 times already! If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can do so right away by clicking here. For those who have already read the report, we bring to you, as usual, our premium monthly Airline Marketing Benchmark Report featuring the… -
A Statistical Analysis of how major Airlines in the Middle East perform on Social Media
6 Jun 2013 | 7:18 amEditor’s Note: Here’s another guest post by Peter Claridge of Unmetric, an exclusive aviation partner of SimpliFlying. Unmetric is a social media benchmarking company that helps brands analyse how well they’re doing on social media by including in-depth insights into numerous metrics as well as information on what kind of content “works” and how competitors are faring. Among Unmetric’s list of illustrious clients are Toyota, Subway and Cisco. Social Media has been a great channel for companies to exhibit a personality, seem more approachable and to reach out to present and…
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Unbound Edition
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Rewards-Based Mobile Ads Perform Best, Per Study
17 Jun 2013 | 6:40 amData shows that consumers demand value -
Supreme Court Ruling On Gene Patenting May Be A Boon For Biotech Startups
17 Jun 2013 | 6:32 amThe Supreme Court ruled this week that naturally occurring genes can’t be patented, which should be a boon for the host of emerging gene testing and patenting companies that are coming out of the Valley. -
The World’s Most Famous Logos, Organized By Visual Theme
17 Jun 2013 | 6:24 amA brand is more than a logo. But a company’s mark is its calling card, a shorthand for all that other stuff--the quality of the product, the level of service, the history of the company--for its composite brand. -
Calculate The Pathetic Amount Your Personal Data Is Worth
14 Jun 2013 | 6:54 amThe NSA might be able to tap into your electronic data just like every other company, but it turns out that your personal information isn’t worth much at all--and you can calculate it just to make sure. -
Yes, There Is Such A Thing As Too Much Integration
14 Jun 2013 | 6:51 amThe key is to integrate what matters, and only what matters -- the defining ideas and the experience of the customer.
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jkr
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Sagmeister – art or design?
17 Jun 2013 | 2:01 amIs it art or design? That’s the question D&AD judges debated, first rejecting Sagmeister & Walsh’s film Now is better for being art, then reinstating it and awarding it a Yellow Pencil for typography. Creative Review has the full story. Does it matter? For judges and winners, probably. For the rest of us, perhaps less so. One could argue that D&AD gives out so many awards these days that it’s not quite the Everest it once was. Neither is Everest mind you and many of us have not climbed that either. For the judges the debate turned on their definition of a valid entry… -
As simple as it can be
14 Jun 2013 | 2:48 amThis week we have mostly been using a new buzzword – ‘skeuomorphic’ – as a result of Apple unveiling its new iOs 7. Much of the interest in the design world has focused on the redesign of the interface and apps. Apple invented the bevel edged, high gloss hyper real detailing that characterised its apps; a style that quickly became absorbed by the competition and transmuted into an industry design standard. But with iOs 7, they have moved to a simpler and perhaps braver styling and in so doing, they have apparently parted ways with skeuormorphic design. Skueomorphism is the styling of… -
Prism PowerPoint
13 Jun 2013 | 5:04 amNo doubt the security scandal around Prism has plenty of important ramifications. But from a design point of view, what was eye opening was the sheer awfulness of the ppt document in question. Not exactly like the work of a super amazing security organisation as depicted by Hollywood is it? More like a regional sales manager’s crib notes. There are some 500 million ppt users in the world. That’s a lot of potentially dreary presentations. But as software it gets where water can’t. Why? I guess because of its convenience – it offers users the ability to ‘bung it all on there’ rather… -
Our relationship status with sustainability: ‘It’s complicated’
12 Jun 2013 | 3:07 amI attended an interesting D&AD White Pencil event yesterday on the relationship between sustainability and creativity. I would observe that there has been a slight shift in this relationship, for the potential better. Broadly, companies and brands are less looking for creatives to offer solutions and more calling for them to offer ideas. Thoughts that can turn the worthy but dull into the engaging and enjoyable. I think this plays to what we are good at – the art of making the possible into the irresistible. This is a shift from a couple of years back where ‘ideation sessions’ run… -
Champions of Design Asia – Singapore Airlines
11 Jun 2013 | 3:08 amCan people be part of a brand’s visual identity? The ‘Singapore Girl’, brand icon of Singapore Airlines since 1972, would suggest they can. Part of great branding is defining a unique and ownable visual asset and celebrating it consistently. Singapore Airlines has done so for over four decades, showing unswerving faith in the immensely powerful and almost mythical allure of their brand emblem. The Singapore Girl, created by local Singapore ad agency Batey in the1960s, isn’t just part of the brand – she is the brand. A symbol of Asian hospitality and feminine grace and elegance.
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Brandtelling
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Who does your brand serve?
27 May 2013 | 7:20 pmYou may be a business man or some high degree thief They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed You’re gonna have to serve somebody, Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you’re gonna have to serve [...] -
Can you tell your brand story in the shadows? (video)
16 May 2013 | 12:53 pmThis video from Britain’s Got Talent is making the rounds in email links and Facebook posts, but I wanted to share it with you here. It tells a powerful story – without words, without faces or expressions. The story is told through dance and shadow ~ and maybe a little puppetry. Take a few minutes [...] -
What Does Milk Have To Do With PR?
5 May 2013 | 9:33 pmImage via Wikipedia Do you remember the “Got Milk” series of ads? The thing that was so great about those ads was their udder (couldn’t resist) simplicity. The commercials always offered a serious problem that could only be solved with milk. And the ads drove the message home with their ending line – a simple [...] -
Is your brand hard or soft?
29 Apr 2013 | 6:51 pmWhen we think about brand storytelling, hard and soft are not the first descriptors that come to mind. But these two categories often make a huge impression in a customer’s or prospect’s mind. A hard brand isn’t necessarily solid or tough, but it may be perceived as selling “hard goods” or having some type of [...] -
Brandtelling is Killer Content Marketing
23 Apr 2013 | 5:00 amContent once again proves to be king when it comes to establishing thought leadership, generating demand and nurturing sales leads. What I discuss here at Brandtelling is the way that brand storytelling can help companies make real connections with customers, prospects, employees and the community they share. Today I am proud to announce that our [...]
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Karen Kang's BrandingPays
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Branding for Entrepreneurs: When and How Should You Start?
28 May 2013 | 8:30 amAs an entrepreneur, you have to prioritize your time and money because you have precious little of both. Many entrepreneurs place developing their product and getting funded as their top priorities. They don’t realize that branding will help them reach these goals faster. Entrepreneurs who don’t actively brand themselves and their companies face lower company valuations and delays in market adoption. I won’t name names, but look at the huge disparity between valuations of companies that essentially do the same thing. The difference is brand perceptions. One company is hot, and the other… -
From Italy with a Smile: How I Reinvented My Personal Brand
26 Apr 2013 | 8:30 amI saw my dental hygienist this week. Not an earth-shattering event but significant because it made me think about reinventing one’s brand. Not hers, mine. As she peered in my mouth, she told me that she is amazed at how successfully I have rebranded myself (in addition to keeping my pearly whites healthy!). She remembered how in 2005 I was known as an Italian vacation specialist with the company tagline, “Savor the Real Italy.” Today, I am a book author and recognized branding expert. My book, BrandingPays, has been featured in national media like Businessweek, WSJ Radio, Fast Company… -
Branding From the Inside Out: Hawai‘i Style
27 Mar 2013 | 8:15 amI often talk about branding from the inside out—that is, from your core values to how you represent your brand. But, it never quite hit home until I was in Kona, Hawaiʻi, running enterprise branding workshops with 22 social entrepreneurs. Despite overcast skies, our Sheraton Kona hotel was resplendent with flowers, the sounds of Hawaiian chanting and the tastes of the Sam Choy Annual Poke contest. The enterprises in the workshops ran the gamut from non-profits protecting Hawaii’s fragile ecosystem to for-profit restaurant and food service organizations. All had this in common: a love for… -
Best-Selling Author Geoffrey Moore Talks About the Need for Personal Branding in the New Economy
6 Feb 2013 | 8:30 amI’d love for everyone to watch this short and compelling video from Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm and most recently, Escape Velocity: He talks about why changing business models make strategic personal branding essential for career success. We have moved from a “command and control hierarchy” to a collaborative management model where we are all “free agents” interplaying across an ecosystem. In the New Economy, it is our job as an agent or “company of one,” to market ourselves. Moore, who wrote the foreword to my book, BrandingPays™: The Five-Step System… -
Go For It: How I Faced My Fears and Wrote a Book on Personal Branding
4 Jan 2013 | 10:00 amThis year, I did something I have been wanting to do for years. I published a book called BrandingPays™: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand. For more than 20 years, I have been a positioning and branding expert. Six of those years were spent as a principal and partner with Regis McKenna’s legendary marketing consulting firm that put many iconic Silicon Valley brands on the map, including Apple, Intel and Genentech. One can reasonably say that I had the experience and credentials to write a book. So why did it take me so long? I had a truckload of excuses. I don’t have…
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Storytelling To Create Impact Brands
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Demonstrating the Simplicity of Storytelling
14 Jun 2013 | 5:39 amLev Kuleshov edited a montage of pictures together to tell three different stories. The Russian was praised for his film and the actor for the way he was able to express different emotions. What the audience didn’t know was that … Continue reading → -
Making Up Stories
13 Jun 2013 | 5:29 amMany books have described our nature to create meaning, through stories out of randomness. Heider and Simmel showed this in a classic film starring a triangle and a circle. Tell me the story you told yourself. -
Storyshowing and storytelling
12 Jun 2013 | 4:08 amStorytelling has become popular across many different media in the last few years and a lot has been written about both the story and the telling parts of storytelling. One potential problem in the overuse of the word storytelling (am … Continue reading → -
Pharma Marketing 3.0
21 Apr 2013 | 1:02 pmThe Brand Storytelling Marketing Manifesto: Repost 3 Years on! When I started writing about storytelling I wrote the Storytelling manifesto. I still like that post most and I keep coining back to it as I launch my latest brand at … Continue reading → -
Building Brand Fans with Storytelling
21 Apr 2013 | 3:48 amAt the center of all marketers’ brand ambitions sits the hope of creating a fan base. All brands have customers, the people that buy the brand, but few have a substantial fan base. The difference between fans and customers is … Continue reading →
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GIRVIN | Strategic Branding Blog
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THE SOUND OF SILENCE, THE QUIETUDE OF THE MOMENT
13 Jun 2013 | 8:38 amTHE DELICACY OF SOUND, VOICING THE STORY, AN UNKNOWN TELLING — PURE SOUND. The most powerful point of sensuality, will be about love, and the intimacy of connection — the closer you are to feeling, the more intimate the power of that sharing. I was thinking about the character of sound in experience — how do you design sound, in making place and memorable experience? I was in in a place that I’d been working on — and what was in that place wasn’t a sound “track” it was tracking sound — storytelling in sound, alone. There was shuffling, the… -
The Insight of Experience
11 Jun 2013 | 8:29 amUnderstanding Experiencer Journey Working with Nabisco I studied the sequencing of packaging arrangements on shelf, of baked goods. What we looked at what a kind of rolling circle around the aisle walker, looking at how a person traverses a place that represents a kind of wheeled circle of perception. In the Japanese tradition of Bushido, there is a notion of space, a energetic circle around the warrior — in a manner, the center point, that samurai ring, is a place of absolute focus — nothing crosses that line without him being aware of it; it’s an energetic zone. But in a… -
A Perfume of Everything
6 Jun 2013 | 8:22 amBuilding a Scent That’s Made of Every Scent. When I was young, even back then, I was into fragrance; I explored the idea of taking various fragrances and mixing them together — to get what I wanted. What came of that experience, generally speaking, was a fat, unrecognizable and obnoxious layering of scents that was a hammer-headed approach to the delicately artful layering of fragrancesthat I admired. Later, I looked for a classic underlayment — a scent foundation. What I explored was the character of Guerlainade – the scented secret fragrance DNA of the house of… -
The Sound of the Brush
4 Jun 2013 | 8:01 amThe Stroke of the Idea, in Sound, Found. When I was in Seoul, looking at, and working on Korean retail design, I stopped and watched a street calligrapher, who was writing phrases on newspaper. In the midst of the noise and flurry of the streetscape, I stood and watched him — and listened. I could hear the draw of the horsehair on the rough stock of the wrinkled paper. In the sensation of writing, there is a deeper holism of sensation. Speaking to a group of students, I talked about the idea of translation, interpretation, illustration as a layering of a more engage and enlarged… -
The Layering of the Message
30 May 2013 | 7:41 amThe Light of Brand, the Voice and the Tiering of Message Messaging and stair-stepping access in community Given the entirely human nature of brand, the enterprise of humanity, the idea of thinking about brand as a poetic expression, isn’t entirely without relevance. But, for me, and the Girvin teams, the idea of this framing of brand experience lies at the heart of how I think about everything: poetry. And beauty. In the beginning and the end, it’s all about people — thinking allegorically about brand ideas rightly aligns. I led a workshop recently where our teams were…
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Sparks
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Healthcare marketing that matters: BBH’s brilliant, captivating, boundary-less work
17 Jun 2013 | 11:30 amKudos to BBH for producing this brilliant, captivating, culturally boundary-less healthcare PSA — which just happens to be the only healthcare-related advertising up for a Cannes Film Festival award. It’s work that every healthcare marketing person – whether you’re working for a health system, hospital, service line or specialty physician group – has the opportunity to [...] -
What healthcare marketing can learn from the golf industry about relevance and differentiation.
13 Jun 2013 | 11:07 amFACT: Customer’s don’t care about your company and your products. What they care about is themselves and what you can do for them (in ways that others can’t) to better their lives. If you agree with this (it is a fact, after all), then healthcare marketing should take a cue from the seemingly worlds-away golf [...] -
Lifestyle Brands…All the Buzz in Fashion and Beauty Marketing
11 Jun 2013 | 6:32 amAre you a fashion marketer, beauty marketer or senior executive setting your sights on lifestyle-brand status? As I comb daily through WWD for the latest and greatest in leisure, lifestyle and beauty marketing and branding, I’m struck by a recurring theme – or should I say dream. It seems like every high-end consumer brand – [...] -
Beauty marketing launch: Trajectory’s new TV for SensatioNail Gel Polish
2 Jun 2013 | 9:34 amTrajectory’s new TV work for California-based beauty marketer Pacific World’s SensatioNail Gel Polish is now on the air. These Hands Can’t Wait is the new campaign that puts SensatioNail in the midst of its customers real lives – giving them the ability to do their own at-home (salon-quality) gel manicure in a way that seamlessly [...] -
The first healthcare marketer to grow an avid and active fan base
16 May 2013 | 9:56 amOur community-building is a virtuous circle of inspiration between our healthcare system and our communities. These are not the typical words of a healthcare marketer. We don’t expect them to be talking about avid fan bases and active participants in co-creating new value. We don’t expect them to be comparing their brands to Kiehl’s, Lego, [...]
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Profitable Growth
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What Do You Stand For? Convert Your Company Conundrum Into Its Manageable Mission.
27 May 2013 | 11:59 amHow many lofty company mission statements have you read promising the kitchen sink such as? “We are a family business that maximizes profits and wealth, as well as a meritocracy that is focused on social responsibility.” Is your wealth goal competing with your goal of creating your legacy around social entrepreneurship? If you are wrestling with these conundrums, you are one of the 1000’s of owners who are trying to do the right thing(s). With demands from your family, employees, customers and financial advisors, it all falls on your shoulders to decide what to do. Recently, I analyzed… -
Manufacturing, Marcellus & Money
20 May 2013 | 6:04 amThe Shale Gas Boom is Kicking BTU! What’s new in the shale gas business? Gas prices have inched up and no drilling-related seismic disasters have happened just yet. However, the overall impact of labor shortages, safety needs and environmental regulations are creating problems that smart manufacturers are leveraging into opportunities. Ever since ISNetworld (a group that assists companies and organizations with contractor and supplier prequalification, management and monitoring) became the dominant third-party data administrator helping Tier 1 companies hire better and more intelligently,… -
Birol Growth Consulting Helps Jeffrey J. Morella and the Complete Captive Solution, LLC Grow Quickly and Profitably Toward Long-Term Success.
20 Apr 2013 | 2:13 pmBackground: In 1991, Jeffrey J. Morella opened Morella & Associates, A Professional Corporation and has built it into a successful practice focused on meeting the legal and tax planning needs of business owners. Over the years, Jeff’s expertise continued to grow as his clients faced increasingly sophisticated tax, insurance and business planning challenges. In 2005, Jeff began assisting his business clients in creating captive insurance companies as a cost-saving vehicle and to provide more flexibility for their companies. Then in 2010, as Jeff watched the Federal Government’s… -
Drive Your Business Despite Obamacare: Six Steps to Avoid the Pileups.
20 Apr 2013 | 1:01 pmIt seems every decade a new “roadside accident” appears to distract you from driving your business down your highway. In the 1990’s it was Y2K, in the 2000’s it was Sarbanes-Oxley. Now, with the help of our government, lawyers, accountants and healthcare experts, Obamacare will be the epic 500-car pileup of the century. Make no mistake; I am not challenging the merits of universal healthcare; just the burden it will place on business owners everywhere. After attending three healthcare briefings, I am convinced that in addition to the added costs of conforming to the thousands of… -
Three Key Signs Your Shale Gas Opportunity is Growing
24 Mar 2013 | 11:16 amThere’s an old saying, “It takes 20 years to become an overnight sensation.” Our confusing shale gas opportunity is a great example of this. Every day we hear “shale-chatter rants” on low gas prices, nagging environmental concerns and passive-aggressive government resistance; it’s easy to dismiss the opportunity. But there’s no doubt of three new signs of progress and many local firms are seizing their days now. Here are the three inarguable signs and examples of local business exploiting these: * It’s a Demand-Side play: Additional polyethylene Cracker plants are coming.
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BrandSTOKE
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Das Auto vs. Made in USA
12 Jun 2013 | 1:15 pmWaving the made-in-U.S.A. flag is a no-brainer for marketers these days. Over 80% of Americans are willing to pay more for made-in-USA products, according to a recent survey by Boston Consulting Group. Ninety-three percent say it’s because they want to keep jobs in the U.S. However, voting their colors is a little tricky for auto consumers, because there are no cars from major manufacturers made completely in the U.S. According to Consumer Reports, “Most vehicles are multinational, even those with iconic American nameplates, and many imports are surprisingly red, white, and blue. -
Heineken: a brand that parties
30 May 2013 | 8:29 amA common strategy for brands is to borrow equity from positive life experiences by claiming ownership of them. Omaha Steaks is “The Official Sponsor of Tailgating,” for example. UPS stakes out “logistics,” Corona “beach” and Coke “summer.” It appears Heineken intends to own the “party.” And not just any party. Heineken’s parties take place in exotic locales where exotic people wearing exotic costumes dance wildly to exotic music. The venues are cavernous, yet crowded. Revelers include spies, musicians, gamblers, magicians, showgirls and… -
Jack Daniel’s rocks its brand
22 May 2013 | 6:33 amRock ‘n’ roll and substance abuse share a long and intimate history. Umm … so lift your glass of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey high and toast this remarkable codependent relationship. Why Jack Daniel’s? Because in its new campaign, the brand claims to have been “with the band since 1866.” Beverage brands often attempt to associate themselves with good times — parties, sporting events, special occasions. Once up a time, “weekends were made for Michelob.” More recently, Corona Extra took the “beach.” And Coke, in its… -
Smartphone brand positioning gets smarter
17 May 2013 | 8:00 amGrab a cold one and pull up a chair. You’re witnessing a case study in the making — a battle for market share, featuring classic brand positioning moves. Brand positioning is the art and science of establishing and articulating a meaningful point of differentiation between a brand and its direct competitors. In the smartphone category, Apple iPhone was the early leader. Known for its innovative technology and design, Apple commands worldwide attention with every new release. Historically, its competitors have had to play catchup. Apple has sustained an intangible competitive… -
Repost: Brands with higher callings
9 May 2013 | 6:22 amI’m taking a short break from BrandSTOKE. In the meantime, here’s a reprint of a popular post: The essence of some brands ties directly to a cause, a tradition or a set of values. Such brands stand for something perceived by their followers as meaningful. The result is often deep loyalty. Here are some examples of branding with a higher purpose: Affinity brands inspire a community of diehard evangelists, drawn together by a shared goal or belief system. Consumers identify with affinity brands because they represent something other than profit-making. Examples include Patagonia…
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The Brand Ascension Group » Blog
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Afraid of Recruiters Stealing Your Employees?
7 Jun 2013 | 12:13 pmBrand Ascension - Brand Secrets Blog Posts Afraid of Recruiters Stealing Your Employees?Look Inside Your Brand’s Culture for the Secret Weapon One of my clients that I do some online work for asked me to remove the email links to the pictures and name of some of their employee teams that are displayed on several of their site pages. She explained that the CEO was concerned that the email links made it an easy target for recruiters to communicate with his teams. (Forget about the convenience it provides the client, or prospect to inquire about their services, right?) Hmmmm, this got me… -
The Fallacy of “Re-Branding”
11 Apr 2013 | 8:45 amBrand Ascension - Brand Secrets Blog Posts The Fallacy of “Re-Branding”Debunking the ‘external’ effort to re-position the brand. “Oh, you’re a brand consultant? Our company just went through a re-branding effort 6 months ago. We’ve all got new business cards, a new logo, and new ad campaigns coming out.” I cannot tell you how many times I hear this and like statements from those I meet on a daily basis. And I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to hear how much time and effort is literally wasted in creating new marketing materials, calling it ‘re-branding’, and not… -
How to Build Your Business from the Inside Out
5 Mar 2013 | 2:10 pmBrand Ascension - Brand Secrets Blog Posts How to Build Your Business from the Inside OutMoving from a ‘push’ to a ‘pull’ strategy. I just read a white paper entitled Internal Branding; What is that exactly? By Allan Steinmetz, CEO of Inward Strategic Consulting, Inc. And felt compelled to add to his insights and hit on a couple of key overlooked areas of the process. First, I’d like to begin by addressing one of his opening comments in the paper where he says “Everyone knows what a brand is, and everyone knows what advertising is.” Unfortunately, many companies are out of… -
Be, Do, Have—the Zen of Brand Success
5 Feb 2013 | 2:06 pmBrand Ascension - Brand Secrets Blog Posts Be, Do, Have—the Zen of Brand SuccessElevating Your Growth through Ancient Practices By Suzanne Tulien, Principal Brand Architect, Founder Don’t you just love the word ‘Zen’? It just feels good to say it. ZZZZEEEEEEENNNNNN – you almost automatically take a deep breath and relax. It’s just weird. Anyway, the other day I came across this word again and started thinking about how it related to building a business brand. And started thinking about an Eastern philosophy—the Buddhists’ way-of-being and a powerful phrase I’ve heard many… -
It’s Your Brand, Manage It! A ‘Must’ for Brand Elevation.
26 Nov 2012 | 8:42 amBrand Ascension - Brand Secrets Blog Posts It’s Your Brand, Manage It! A ‘Must’ for Brand Elevation.When consulting to companies, it never ceases to amaze me how some business owners feel that their brand could be so much more, but it is not reaching its potential because they aren’t sure how to get the employees to be more ‘on-brand.’ “Oh, they’ll never do that,” or “We spent $X last year on that and it didn’t work,” or worse, “I cannot seem to get them to comply.” Wait a minute….who owns the company? Who writes and signs the paychecks? And who…
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Executive Career Brand
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How to Use the New LinkedIn for Executive Personal Branding – Part 1
17 Jun 2013 | 4:22 amThis 3-part series on LinkedIn, personal branding and executive job search includes: Part 1 Why All Executives Need to be on LinkedIn Getting Your Personal Brand Into Your LinkedIn Profile Customizing Your LinkedIn Profile URL for Better SEO Part 2 Why You Really Need to Include a Photo Taking Advantage of the Skills & Expertise Section Expanding Your Network with Quality Connections Benefitting from LinkedIn’s Company Follow Updating Your LinkedIn Network Part 3 Getting and Giving Great Recommendations Getting Busy With LinkedIn Groups Tapping into LinkedIn’s Jobs Pages LinkedIn and… -
Executive Job Search: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
3 Jun 2013 | 5:32 amBefore first speaking to prospective c-suite clients, I email them a few questions to answer, to help me determine whether we’ll be a good fit to work together on personal branding and content development for their job search. One of my questions is: “What road blocks or challenges do you feel you are facing in your job search?” Often, their answer sounds something like this: “I’ve never had to look for a job before. They always came to me. I don’t know what I don’t know. I need help understanding how to conduct a job search.” These people are the… -
You Are Not a Brand. You HAVE a Personal Brand
28 May 2013 | 5:05 amSome people take it too far. They take the “personal” out of personal branding, and refer to themselves as a “brand”. They think of themselves – and ruthlessly market themselves – as a product. And they speak and write about “Brand Them” incessantly. Along with referring to themselves in the third person, being a brand somehow gives them license to shamelessly self-promote their product . . . that is, themselves. They feel that having a brand automatically makes them an expert at something. This tiresome self-promotion shows that they don’t really… -
Best Kept Secret to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
20 May 2013 | 7:33 amExecutive recruiters and hiring decision makers at your target companies search LinkedIn using relevant keywords to locate good-fit candidates. Your LinkedIn profile offers several choice locations to insert the right keywords to help elevate your search rankings – or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – and the likelihood you’ll be found and considered by them. The professional headline and summary section are two prime examples. But there’s another powerful, and often overlooked, above-the-fold spot to add in a keyword phrase. Your LinkedIn profile URL. Take a look at your… -
Martin Yate’s New Strategies for First-Time Job Seekers
13 May 2013 | 6:02 amThe eighth in Martin Yate’s Knock Em Dead series, Secrets & Strategies For First-Time Job Seekers focuses on job seekers entering the market for the first time. He begins the book with “some little known facts about the world you face”: You are at the beginning of what will likely be a fifty-year career. The statistics say you will probably change jobs (not always by choice) about every four years. You will probably have three or more distince careers over the span of your professional life. These realities of the new world of work may be news to seasoned professionals…
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Stealing Share
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ESPN 3D forgot the brand
14 Jun 2013 | 7:18 amA lot of companies get what is most important about its brand wrong. They lead with features and assume that consumers will rationally see and choose based on these data points. The problem is that the first connection to a product or brand is emotional, not rational. I’m reminded of that after reading that ESPN is shutting down its ESPN 3D channel by the end of 2013. There’s a reason for that: ESPN, once a pretty strong brand, gave viewers no reason to watch the channel other than the technology (i.e., the feature). Consider this. If instead a brand claimed what was emotionally valuable… -
Amplify understands what eduction needs
12 Jun 2013 | 6:33 amJust about everywhere I look, the seed of technology has blossomed. Take my life as example. My phone, computer and tablet are vital tools that keep me connected, informed and adept in my profession. Strangely, of all the places the tools of technology have hit, there remains one place they continue to miss: the classroom. Our schools carry on by way of archaic processes. Take textbooks, for example. As is, schools buy set after set of these, only to have old copies sit unused in workrooms. It’s a waste of space and millions of dollars. I think of my kids coming home with backpacks on the… -
It’s bound to happen: GameStop becoming the new Blockbuster
11 Jun 2013 | 10:26 amNews from the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is in. The upcoming PS4 and Xbox One will allow used games to be played on their systems, a rumor that would have laid immediate repercussions on the nation’s top gaming reseller, GameStop. Nonetheless, it’s only a brief reprieve before the oncoming onslaught of digital downloading turns GameStop into another Blockbuster. Think of it like this. Blockbuster sold tangible copies of media and scoffed at online streaming services. It had (or, in a few cases, still has) brick and mortar stores that sit empty with archaic merchandise. -
Understanding the Millennials the McDonalds way
10 Jun 2013 | 8:38 amIn the world of fast food, the recent battles have been over expanding into other day parts. For years, for example, there were only a few that offered breakfast, but you now see traditional burger places like Wendy’s taking a crack at it, Taco Bell is even testing it and the rest of the market is advertising breakfast more than any other meal. Now, McDonalds, the market leader, is taking advantage of another day part: Late night. And we’re talking very late night, from midnight to 4 am. Many McDonalds remain open 24 hours a day, but the fast food giant will add breakfast items during… -
How about this Swiffer ad strategy?
6 Jun 2013 | 9:02 amI just read this and needed to share it… Swiffer Pulls Ad Showing ‘Rosie The Riveter’ Icon Doing Chores By Laura Stampler from Business Insider Swiffer got in trouble for its reinterpretation of WW2 symbol Rosie the Riveter by recreating her image in an ad for house cleaning supplies. News outlets noticed when Heather Beschizza tweeted the ad she found in a Sunday newspaper insert. As Emma Gray at The Huffington Post writes, ” When Westinghouse Electric told U.S. women, “We can do it!,” to boost worker morale in 1943, we’re pretty sure they…
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InterbrandBlog
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Interbrand Study: To Win Over Consumers, Make Your Green Credentials Visible
17 Jun 2013 | 1:50 pmToday, most companies—driven chiefly by a practical need to reduce operational costs—are making efforts to “go green.” While the usual areas of focus like energy efficiency and water conservation remain key components of a greener business, these measures don’t always leave a strong impression on consumers. If a brand’s idea ... -
Consumers Look to Favorite Brands for Sustainability Without Compromise
14 Jun 2013 | 9:31 amAs part of the Best Global Green Brands 2013 (BGGB) launch this week, Interbrand hosted an event at The Guardian newspaper's headquarters in London. With luminaries from the world of sustainability and branding in the room, and a panel-based format, the debate was always likely to be engaging and interesting. ... -
Sustainability and the Culture of Excellence
12 Jun 2013 | 3:06 pmAs the world of luxury has turned its attention more seriously to the imperative of sustainability, continued initiatives of a number of leading brands demonstrate how their culture of excellence is fostering a more responsible business model, from the early stages of the supply chain through to the more ... -
Is green the new black? Are luxury brands becoming truly sustainable?
11 Jun 2013 | 6:47 amWith the opening of the 2013 EcoChic Design Award, a sustainable fashion design competition, talent from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, UK, France, Belgium and Germany will be “cutting the waste out of fashion.” Spotlighting sustainable sourcing, the competition is open until August 15. Prizes include an educational trip ... -
Welcome Home: How a Truly Authentic Brand Continues to Stay Relevant
7 Jun 2013 | 5:55 amRecently my wife and I returned from a road trip through Florida. Planned beforehand, of course, was a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando. Something you just have to do, right? Upon arrival at the Disney resort, we were greeted with the magic words: Welcome Home. With that, we ...
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STAND out by doing OUTstanding stuff
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How They Take Away Your Freedom
12 Jun 2013 | 8:41 amIt’s funny – I wanted to write a blog post about creativity & freedom, and then the surveillance scandal leaked through. Rather than ranting about it, I want to show you the importance of (creative) freedom and how easily it can, and WILL be taken away from you. Let me make this claim : Freedom is essential for creativity. In order to create anything innovative, you must have the opportunity to express yourself freely in every way. You must be permitted to form unpopular views, be wrong, and swim against the stream. If you don’t have that ability, you will never create… -
Why the Good of Today are the Homeless of Tomorrow
17 Apr 2013 | 9:50 amThere’s a disturbing trend going on, and I don’t think you realize how it much it will affect your creative career. Most (digital) creatives, including me, have a distorted view on how creating good work leads to equally good pay. That’s a myth as real as Santa Claus, the story of the Bible and other famous fairy tales. Good work doesn’t give you good pay. Anymore. Here’s what I think is the reality, based on the experience of me and my peers : You do shit work = you get no pay. Good work = shit pay. Excellent work = good pay. Remarkable, one of a kind, blow me away till I piss all… -
You Suck
6 Mar 2013 | 10:46 amNot just a linkbait headline. I seriously mean it. If you’re not wealthy by your chosen profession, if you’re not regarded as a top leader in your field, if your peers don’t want to lick you alive, you suck. Because there’s no middle-ground anymore. There’s no good enough anymore. I know, this sucks. I know this, because I suck. Here’s where I’m coming from : I talk with a lot of passionate, creative peeps. Either through my consulting or meeting them in offline life. And although they come from different nations and backgrounds, they almost always share the same delusion : They… -
Why You Must Predict the Near Future If You Want to Survive and Thrive
13 Feb 2013 | 5:30 amIn this post, I’m going to tell you how I think you can predict ze near future, and why it’s super-important if you want to survive and even thrive as a creative content producer. Here’s where I’m coming from : In 2012, I did a lot of mistakes, 99% of which I did not regret, because I was experimenting like a mad scientist (no animals were harmed ). But there’s one thing I DO regret : The inability to spot emerging trends. And to be clear : The lazy syndrome of following what my peers are doing instead of seeing where the online game heads next. I was reacting instead of acting,… -
5 Essential Podcasts That Help YOU Become a Successful Storyteller
9 Jan 2013 | 11:13 amI don’t care. I don’t care whether you are an author, marketer, mom, designer, biz owner or rebel leader – if you want to succeed in today’s environment, you have to be a grrreat storyteller first. And it doesn’t even matter if it’s the verbal or the written way – if you can’t capture or engage your audience, whatever you’re trying to accomplish will crash and burn. Brzzzzzzzzzzzzz (the sound of fire engulfing your crash) Storytelling is one of the most essential skills you have to master in today’s age that can help you… getting your message across make…
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The Online Community Guide
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Does the Community Manager Need To Be An Expert?
17 Jun 2013 | 11:30 pmPatrick writes you don’t need to be a subject expert to run a community for that topic. Patrick is right. Sometimes you don’t need to be an expert. However, it helps if you are. It helps if you have a large number of existing relationships, a huge passion, and a wealth of expertise on that topic. If you don’t have these, it’s far more difficult to manage a community. This has two implications. First, if you’re hiring a community manager look for evidence of expertise, relationships, and passion. Look for the community managers which have: Existing relationships in that topic General… -
Adding and Subtracting Behaviour
16 Jun 2013 | 11:30 pmLet’s divide community behaviour into two (oversimplified) categories. There is behaviour that adds to the community and behaviour that subtracts from it. You can judge whether behaviour adds or subtracts from the community by judging what would happen if everyone took the same action. If everyone voted in a poll, submitted content, or participated in discussions, that would probably be a good thing (albeit, with the good-to-have problem of managing that level of activity). If every member spammed the community, tried to siphon traffic for their own activities, posted provocative comments,… -
Pre-Launch: Awareness and Relationship Building
13 Jun 2013 | 11:30 pmThe first people that join a community will do it through a commitment to you, not a commitment to your mission. For this to happen, people need to know and trust you. This means increasing awareness and building relationships. It’s hard to launch a community for an audience that doesn’t already have strong relationships with your team. You can’t launch it and hope for the best. You need to begin building awareness and trust months before you open up the platform. Begin this process at least three months before the platform is ready to go live. The more time you… -
Motivation Appeals For Great Community Feedback
12 Jun 2013 | 11:30 pmRead this sentence carefully: “We find no evidence for the influence of customers’ altruism, nor of customers’ desire for improving and enhancing existing firms’ products by submitting ideas” In short, your customers don’t care about you or your mission. Using appeals related to improving products or broader sense of purpose doesn’t work well. What motivations do work well? There are three: Demonstrate personal capabilities and skills (show off/increase standing) Receive recognition of third parties for ideas (recognition) Have fun developing ideas If you want great quality… -
Possibly The Last Posts From FeverBee
12 Jun 2013 | 4:23 amAbout 70% of you read this blog through Google Reader. On July 1st, Google is shutting Google Reader down. This means we need to persuade you to take one of two actions. 1) Click here to subscribe by e-mail (best option) 2) Move your Google Readers feed to Feedly (it takes about 2 minutes) We’re going to repeat this message over the next few weeks. Apologies in advance for the annoyance. I wish there was an easier way.
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Personal Branding TV
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Michael Port Interview – Reach Personal Branding Interview Series
9 Jun 2013 | 2:08 pmBook Yourself Solid Illustrated Visualizing the fastest, easiest and more reliable system for getting more clients than you can handle Date: Thursday, Jun 20, 2013 9:00 AM Los Angeles | 12:00 PM New York 5:00 PM London | 6:00 PM Paris Name Email They say a picture is worth a thousand words; in this case it may be worth thousands of dollars! You’ve probably seen a lot of infographics and cartoons being used to illustrate marketing concepts, but the bar has been raised—really high. How about a whole book on marketing and selling (for people who don’t like marketing and selling) that is… -
Personal Branding: Valerie Sokolosky Speaking on Image
20 May 2013 | 4:24 amExecutive Coach and Master Personal Branding Strategist, Valerie Sokolosky, speaks about image at the Wells Fargo group in Phoenix, AZ. Bio: Valerie Sokolosky founded Valerie & Company in 1981, an international leadership development consulting firm focusing on people skills. Her executive coaching and training in Fortune 500 companies has motivated their employees which has resulted in significant profits for these organizations. -
CC Chapman Interview – Reach Personal Branding Interview Series
8 May 2013 | 9:15 pmLiving An Amazing Life Click on the microphone to download the audio replay >>> Where are you going? Sounds like a simple question but can you answer it in the context of your life? Where are you taking your career? Your family? Your community? What do you want to accomplish in every facet of your life? To the peril of many, these thought-provoking questions are often avoided or ignored altogether. But if you don’t know where you are going how will you ever know when you get there? Realizing that you are unhappy with your job, relationships or community is not… -
9 the Video – Build Your Brand in Nine Minutes a Day
30 Apr 2013 | 10:50 pmIn their book, Ditch. Dare. Do!, William Arruda and Deb Dib say all you need is 9 minutes a day to build your brand so you can advance your career. This video tells with you how they came up with nine and shares some fun facts about the number 9. This video comes to you from William Arruda and Reach Personal Branding. -
Personal Branding: Professionalism in the Workplace, Clothing Part 2
29 Apr 2013 | 10:39 pmExecutive Coach and Master Personal Branding Strategist, Valerie Sokolosky, speaks about acceptable clothing in the workplace. Bio: Valerie Sokolosky founded Valerie & Company in 1981, an international leadership development consulting firm focusing on people skills. Her executive coaching and training in Fortune 500 companies has motivated their employees which has resulted in significant profits for these organizations.
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Beneath the Brand RSS News Feed
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Vine: Who's Using It and How
17 Jun 2013 | 10:39 pmSummary: There are a gazillion social media applications. Yes, a gazillion. Okay, maybe not that many, but to a brand it feels that overwhelming. Which ones to focus on, should new ones be added once they are introduced, what's best for the brand, etc.? It's a conversation every brand is having, both big and small, because the worst thing would be to have a presence on all social medial applications, each with little success. Vine is a Twitter application, so essentially a spin-off of the social media giant... -
Co-Branding, the Jay-Z Way
17 Jun 2013 | 10:14 amSummary: During Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it was Jay-Z who really scored a slam dunk of a deal. We all learned that his new album is coming out on the 4th of July and it's already gone platinum! Guess who bought a million copies? Samsung. Yes, it's good to be Jay-Z. Getting a cellphone company to buy you a platinum album? Genius. -
Two Essential Emotions that Compel Moms to Buy
17 Jun 2013 | 8:12 amSummary: Want moms to love your brand? There are two essential emotional motivators every marketer should have in her toolbox. In this three-minute emotional marketing lesson video, emotional marketing speaker Graeme Newell reveals the psychological triggers that compel moms to buy. Learn the tactics that make mom feel great about herself and your brand. -
Check the Facts, Always
16 Jun 2013 | 11:58 pmSummary: As brands it's important that content is relevant and makes sense to the audience. Seems pretty obvious, right? Well, maybe not. But no matter what, brands need to make sure their relevant messages are actually correct, current, and will attract the audience. One of the biggest opportunities with audiences is to "speak their language." -
Apple vs. Samsung: The Smartphone Wars
14 Jun 2013 | 10:18 amSummary: Having competition has always been the thing that has kept the best businesses performing at the best levels. So when you have two tech firms boxing it out for market share in the real world, product innovations become awesome. People rave about the "Spartan Race;" an army of geeks working to out-geek another army of geeks is Clone Wars on steroids.
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Deep Ad Thoughts
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Welcome to our summer intern,Caity!
14 Jun 2013 | 12:09 pmMy name is Caitlyn but I go by Caity. I recently graduated from Anne Arundel Community College with an associates degree in Business Management and >> The post Welcome to our summer... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
If Franchisees Need Marketing Tools, Give it to Them – or Else!
5 Jun 2013 | 11:44 amIt’s hard to say no to your owners. If they think they need a new brochure, email campaign, social approach – whatever – if you >> The post If Franchisees Need Marketing Tools, Give it to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Creatively Leveraging Existing Interactive Technology and Frameworks
31 May 2013 | 10:53 amWe in the creative world often ask ourselves, “Where do I begin?” We find inspiration through agency blogs or through stumbling on agency work through >> The post Creatively... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
5-Minute Brand Gut Check
24 May 2013 | 11:51 amMuch in the world of advertising has shifted over the years. The way we interact with customers is completely different from 5 years ago – >> The post 5-Minute Brand Gut Check appeared first... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Skin Care Case Study: Branded Packaging Gets Product on Shelves
17 May 2013 | 7:40 amChallenge This revolutionary skin care line sought to break into the market and compete against well established, national brands. Armed with a truly effective product, >> The post Skin Care... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Dwayne Flinchum
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Marketing EDGE
15 Jun 2013 | 6:58 amI had the privilege of attending the RISING STARS dinner this past week, an event that honors the “under-40 stars in marketing,” all courtesy of the former DMEF — or Direct Marketing Educational Foundation. Our firm has been collaborating with the organization for several months as they worked toward launching a new name, new brand, and entering into a new chapter in their 47 year history. With the new name, Marketing EDGE, the group announced its new brand and celebrated its honorees this week. Over 400 people attended and the energy in the room was palpable. It was apparent… -
South Street Redux
2 Jun 2013 | 5:51 amSouth Street Seaport, November 1994. Before IridiumGroup, before divorce, before turning 50 — or even 40, before my son was born, when my daughter was just one year old, I used to come to sit where I am today. I was employed by white shoe investment firm Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette and not very happy about it. Working on marketing literature for Pershing, creating logos for new funds, or designing an annual report for Equitable Insurance, I arrived at the office around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. and worked long hours in a community of financial analysts that worked even longer hours. Lunch hour was… -
Cool is Never Declared
25 May 2013 | 6:37 amFor all our desire to be an insider, to feel part of an exclusive club, Americans never seem to take to elitism. As soon as we see it, we reject it. As a consultant once told me, “Cool is the one thing you can never declare.” As soon as someone declares it, everyone immediately understands that they are decidedly not. Abercrombie and Fitch is a retailer that is learning that lesson the hard way. Exclusivity is, and can be, a successful marketing position. But recently, they began pushing that concept even further, refusing to donate damaged or old inventory to thrift shops and homeless… -
Memorials and Market Milestones
21 May 2013 | 10:26 am“It’s the end of the world, my friend.” The voice came from a man sitting at the bar, just a few feet away as we watched the devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. I was waiting to meet someone for dinner and couldn’t help but find myself engaged by the video news feed and his comment. Peter, as I came to know him, had lived through Hurricane Sandy and had lost his home and all his belongings in the Rockaways. He could be forgiven for assuming the worst. With so many epic tragedies playing out so often — mass shootings, giant killer tornadoes, super storm hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes… -
Advertising Goes Cray-Cray
11 May 2013 | 1:46 pmMountain Dew recently dropped this controversial ad that featured a battered waitress trying to pick her assailant from a lineup of black suspects and a goat. One could be forgiven these days for turning to the astrology section of their local paper, or a curious nod to the evening sky to see whether a full moon was in effect. Everything just seems more random, lacking any ability to forecast or predict. Today’s front page of The New York Times reports that the level of carbon dioxide has passed a long-feared milestone. Gas concentration in our atmosphere has not been this high in at least…
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mymagneticblog.com
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Can Info Products Help Your Business Thrive?
12 Jun 2013 | 2:04 amMany business owners setting up their presence online keep asking the same questions: Is the info product creation the right step for me or is it a waste of my time and resources? How do I start making money online without making a mess? I’ve heard arguments justifying both – starting and not starting with [...]The post Can Info Products Help Your Business Thrive? appeared first on . -
Info Product Creation Secrets
31 May 2013 | 8:09 amChances are you’ve already heard about info products. You might have even purchased one (or more) to learn, get inspired or expand your business or personal life. But have you ever thought about creating one yourself? If yes, you are at the right place. What is an info product? This term stands for “information product”. [...]The post Info Product Creation Secrets appeared first on . -
How Setting Priorities Can Change Your Business …and Life
28 May 2013 | 1:05 amCan you imagine living a life where everything you ever start gets finished, gets noticed and succeeds? A life where you have enough time to get everything on your list checked off and done? I’m tempted to say, “Welcome to Utopia!” In reality, entrepreneurs think much faster than anyone can implement (just ask my team… [...]The post How Setting Priorities Can Change Your Business …and Life appeared first on . -
How To Innovate: Are You Afraid of Change? Part 2
22 May 2013 | 2:06 amLast week I started to talk about change and its place in business. I gave you examples of the companies which didn’t handle change so well. If you missed the article, click here to access the information and catch up. As John Maxwell once said it: “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” In other words, [...]The post How To Innovate: Are You Afraid of Change? Part 2 appeared first on . -
Are You Afraid of Change?
14 May 2013 | 1:11 amChange is inevitable, someone once said. Yet, look around and you’ll see businesses, organizations, families and individuals who resist change. We like same old and easily get comfortable staying in the same jobs, same houses, driving same cars, watching same shows, living same daily routines. Unknown scares us, as it invades our security and pushes [...]The post Are You Afraid of Change? appeared first on .
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Labbrand Brand Innovations blogs
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The Battle between Adidas and Adivon, a brand that represents the grass-roots of China?
2 Jun 2013 | 9:22 pm -
Dog vs. Cat? 360buy’s New Visual Identity, Brand Mascot and Expansion Plan
13 May 2013 | 3:59 am -
PPR Renames to Kering for Transformed Brand Identity
11 Apr 2013 | 12:04 am -
Branding with Chinese Zodiac: The Year of Snake Embraced by Global Brands
14 Mar 2013 | 8:04 pm -
Not a Simple Name Change: RIM Becomes BlackBerry Means Shift in Brand Architecture
31 Jan 2013 | 11:06 pm
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Audacity
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Illumina and Oxford Nanopore ending exclusive partnership
17 Jun 2013 | 9:45 amIllumina and Oxford Nanopore Technologies have decided to end their distribution partnership. The commercialization agreement between the two genetic sequencing companies will terminate in 2016 as part of a resolution to Illumina’s recent arbitration demand against Oxford Nanopore. Since its formation in 2005, Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) has made its mission clear: develop disruptive technologies that both democratize and drive down the costs of genetic sequencing. To help carry out that mission and bring their technology to a wider audience, ONT entered into a special… -
fight doctrines. achieve brand supremacy. (the German way)
24 May 2013 | 3:00 pmWhen we launched our revolution-themed poster series last November, Audacity set out to help health and science brands find inspiration for creative growth and radical differentiation. By spotlighting significant events in revolutionary history, the campaign aimed to capture the essence of these events in a way that helped health and science brands see themselves in these moments. This original illustration—the third piece in our collection of three—focuses on the fall of the Berlin Wall. The decision to enter a new market never comes lightly for any brand. For tightly regulated… -
fight doctrines. achieve brand supremacy. (the Tiananmen way)
24 May 2013 | 10:36 amWhen we launched our revolution-themed poster series last November, Audacity set out to help health and science brands find inspiration for creative growth and radical differentiation. By spotlighting significant events in revolutionary history, the campaign aimed to capture the essence of these events in a way that helped health and science brands see themselves in these moments. This original illustration—the second piece in our collection of three—focuses on the events at Tiananmen Square and its infamous Tank Man. If history has taught us anything, it is this: never underestimate the… -
Audacity reigns supreme at Dx Awards
8 May 2013 | 4:21 pmAt the 2013 Annual Dx Creative Communication Awards, Audacity took home two awards for both its client and self-promotional work. Since 1989, the Diagnostic Marketing Association (DxMA) has hosted a yearly awards program to recognize the “best of the best” in diagnostics marketing. This is the Dx Creative Communications Awards! At this year’s ceremony, held in Philadelphia, dozens of agencies and well-known health and science brands went head-to-head across a multitude of categories. Names like Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics, and more were vying for… -
Introducing BrainSpores—comprehensive analytics to guide your team dynamics
6 May 2013 | 9:43 amAudacity is pleased to announce the website launch for life science research performance analysis and consulting group, BrainSpores. Have you ever pondered the answers to questions such as what separates the “good labs” from the “bad labs”? How about why some researchers seem to win more grants than others? BrainSpores knows the answers to these questions and many more. Now, with the launch of its official website (designed and coded by Audacity) BrainSpores aims to help laboratory communities understand the answers to these questions too. Thanks to the website’s clean and…
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Hinge Branding and Marketing Blog
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Accounting Marketing: 3 Trends that are Re-shaping the Industry
17 Jun 2013 | 5:30 amEvery once in a while I like to step back and consider the factors that are impacting the industries we serve. One of the best times to do that is after attending the Association of Accounting Marketing Summit held in conjunction with the AICPA Practitioners Conference in Las Vegas. The Challenge I’ll admit that it is always somewhat of a challenge to distill all of the presentations, discussions and new perspectives down to a small number of major trends. But distill I did, and in the end I was able to identify three major trends that are impacting accounting… -
5 Steps to Develop Your Website Offer Strategy
14 Jun 2013 | 9:32 amIf you’re designing or updating your website, or even just thinking about how to make it better, it's critical to develop a strong offer strategy. Setting up a visual hierarchy on each page that will guide the visitor to take a specific action will help realize the lead generation goals you set for your website. Check out the five steps below to walk through the process of developing a successful offer strategy. 1. Find Out What Your Audience is Looking For We’ve all heard the saying “knowing is half the battle.” When it comes to online marketing, knowing… -
5 Key Factors to Pinpoint Your Technology Differentiator
12 Jun 2013 | 7:54 amYour firm’s brand is arguably its most valuable asset. This is our mantra. We preach this to our own audience. All. The. Time. We are used to hearing that a firm’s most important asset is its people, not necessarily the brand. But people come and go. And unless an individual’s reputation and industry presence is so strong that they impact the entire firm’s marketplace position, “people” only get you so far. Your brand is what prevails over time and beats the competition. Strong brands hinge on strong differentiators. Differentiators are the… -
Professional Services Marketing: The Future Is Here
10 Jun 2013 | 6:00 amChange is a funny thing. It happens one day at a time, often in little increments. It’s easy to miss. But then something happens that forces you to look at what has transpired. Suddenly you realize that the future is already here. That’s what recently happened to me. A few months ago, we began collaborating with Mike Schultz and John Doerr on the second edition of their classic book Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines and Cultures of Business Development Success. As the Hinge team (Aaron Taylor and… -
Hinge’s Fab Five: May 2013
7 Jun 2013 | 7:53 amTop Professional Services Marketing Content from May 2013 Each month, an enormous amount of content is published on marketing. This monthly column will help you keep up with the best marketing articles on the web. Enjoy! The Hubspot Culture Code By Hubspot Your brand should tell a story. If you attended our webinar this week, you’ll know that your firm’s story should be full of strong differentiators. HubSpot’s “Culture Code” slide share is a great example of how one company embraced their brand. Why It’s So Important to Have a Strategy…
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A Visual Identity
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How Often Should You Redesign Your Website?
10 Jun 2013 | 6:31 pmA question that frequently gets brought up is, how often should we redesign our website. If you talk to 7 different people, you would get 7 different answers. None of the answers that you would receive would necessarily be wrong, but you would be left without clarity, still asking yourself that question. Now, what is our answer to this question? Simple. You should redesign your website when the time is right. Now you may be scratching your head, thinking “great another round about answer” but its true. The time may be right a year, 2 years or even 3 years out, but a good… -
Why Online Website Builder Wix Is a Bad Choice!
1 Jun 2013 | 3:01 pmA Facebook friend of mine recently posted “Wix is AWESOME, if you need a website go with Wix” and i thought it was a joke, was he kidding? Really…Wix, awesome? I think not. There templates look like something created with Microsoft Word, there customization is lackluster, and there sites don’t generate traffic. Really. How many times, have you done a google search on a company, and its a “designed by Wix site.” NEVER. Instead of starting a Facebook war with some guy who claims to be my friend. I decided to use his post as ammo, and inspiration, for this blog… -
Website Content – The Great Delay
24 May 2013 | 9:42 amI don’t know about you, but our projects can get delayed more often than not, waiting on content from the client. Clients who want their websites design done in a hurry often underestimate the time it takes for them to gather and write content. They sometimes think it will take less than a week, to research and write, but the reality is, if they want good content, it can take months. Sometimes clients are so behind, and so stuck, they think it’s a good idea to lift content from a competitors website, in which a whole other article can be written about. However with a few rules to live by… -
Award Winning Web Designs of the Week – 05/20
20 May 2013 | 9:58 amClick any of the images below to view the award winning web design. Let us know which designs are your favorite! -
Parallax Scrolling, It’s Not For Everyone
16 May 2013 | 11:47 amTo scroll or not to scroll, that is today’s question! When the topic of parallax scrolling comes up, you’ll get mixed opinions. Some love the concept; others hate it, especially anyone who is a web copywriter, or a SEO ninja. From a designer’s perspective, parallax scrolling sites can be marvels, if implemented correctly. They are captivating, original, and can really make an impact, making you stand out from your competition. If you are new to the industry, or a potential client, who may not know what parallax scrolling is. Parallax scrolling allows images on a website to…
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Katz Marketing Solutions' Brand Triumphs & Tragedies
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Samsung’s Strategic Apple Smackdown
31 May 2013 | 2:46 pmSamsung continues to brilliantly challenge, and deposition, the Apple brand in its newest Galaxy S4 advertising campaign. Reminiscent of Apple‘s classic “I’m a Mac. I’m a PC” strategy, in which Apple strategically portrays IBM as inferior, old, and tired, Samsung contemporizes that idea by showing itself as the superior, younger, and cooler option. This continues Samsung’s successful strategy of demonstrating wins on brand performance and image vs. Apple that it has employed for several years. It’s working beautifully, particularly at a time when… -
Marketing Innovation: How to be among the Successful 5%
11 Apr 2013 | 12:57 pmMarketing innovation is a key source of revenue and profit growth, as well as a great opportunity to strengthen your brand and competitive advantage. Most companies’ annual plans rely on marketing innovation. According to Ernst & Young and BASES, only 5% of U.S. new products are successful. These are the seven Best Practices, including the avoidable common mistakes, among successful innovation companies: 1. Set Innovation Goals and Accountability – This is a simple idea, but it is often overlooked. Successful innovators consistently set clear innovation goals, specifically: •… -
12 Valuable Tips for Video SEO Beginners
6 Feb 2013 | 1:28 pmSee on Scoop.it – Marketing Strategy Tips from Katz Marketing Solutions Excerpted from article on Search Engine Watch: “If you aren’t optimizing your videos to match what people are searching, your videos are likely to get lost and not reach their intended audience. Without reaching their intended audience, they serve no purpose. Use the following 12 valuable tips to get your video to reach the first page of Google and YouTube, but most importantly build visibility to a large niche audience that is interested in what you have to offer. 1. Content Quality… -
Brand Marketers Totally Miss Social Media Influencers
6 Feb 2013 | 8:54 amSee on Scoop.it – Marketing Strategy Tips from Katz Marketing Solutions Tammy Katz ‘s insight: Brand Marketers underspending on influencers, overspending on Facebook ‘acquaintances.’ Are you strategically identifying influencers? Do you have an influencer strategy? Are you measuring social media conversion (vs noise?) See on www.cmo.com Filed under: Brand Management, Integrated Marketing Communication -
Super Bowl XLVII Ad Winners and Atrocities
4 Feb 2013 | 11:41 amNo spectacular ads last night (except for the Beyonce brand), but several excellent ads that were well worth the $4.0 million investment for the ad time, pre- and post-game public relations and social media legs. Super Bowl advertising with strategically sound brand communications that focused on persuading consumers to buy and garner a return-on-investment, rather than sophomoric – or just lame – humor at the expense of a selling message. Budweiser, Tide, Doritos, Skechers, and Milk Processors most of the car ads were particularly effective at keeping their products…
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Aaker on Brands
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How to Become an Innovative Organization
12 Jun 2013 | 12:00 amBecoming an innovative firm capable of engaging in substantial and transformational innovation that will create new categories or subcategories requires an enabling organization. An innovative organization is difficult to create because it really requires three characteristics that are inconsistent with one another. The organization needs simultaneously to be “selectively opportunistic,” to have “dynamic strategic commitment” and to have an organization-wide resource allocation system. Selective OpportunismThe organization practicing selective opportunism actively but selectively… -
Creating New Subcategories is the Path to Real Growth: More Data
5 Jun 2013 | 12:00 amIn my book, Brand Relevance I argue that the only path to real growth, with rare exceptions, is to engage in transformational or substantial innovation that creates “must haves” that define new subcategories (or categories). In virtually any product arena that you examine over a long period of time, from water to banking to computers, any growth spurt, (again, with rare exceptions) can be associated with such an innovation. For example, in the Japanese beer market the market share trajectories changed only four times in over 40 years. In three of those instances new subcategories were… -
Is Your Marketing Team Tough Enough? Lessons from Basketball
29 May 2013 | 12:00 amTop athletic teams create exceptional levels of performance of people and teams. They aspire to move beyond competence to excellence. Their concepts and methods provide lessons to those that would build excellence in marketing teams. In that spirit, I was attracted to the new book entitled Toughness: Developing True Strength on and off the Court by Jay Bilas. Jay was a top level basketball player for four years under fabled Coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, played professional ball in Italy and is now an ESPN basketball analyst. He explores the value of toughness in a basketball player and team,… -
Pampers Reframes Disposable Diapers In China
22 May 2013 | 12:00 amP&G’s Pampers completely reframed the diaper category in China, and in doing so created enormous growth for the category and for the brand. It is a good example of how focusing on category competition is a better route to growth than trying to win the “my brand is better than your brand” battle. The story is fascinating and informative, not only with respect to framing a category but to entering a new country with a different culture.Pampers entered the China market in 1998 with a strategy of making a cheaper version of their Western product. The result was indeed cheap, and also was of… -
Red Bull: The Ultimate Brand Builder
15 May 2013 | 12:00 amA pioneer in energy drinks three decades ago, Red Bull is now the world sales leader with estimated 2012 fiscal sales of over $3 billion, profits over $400 million, and a 43% leading US dollar market. To establish a new category in the face of Coke and Pepsi and then hold it for decades is very impressive. Four quick observations about Red Bull’s unique approach to brand building: Red Bull’s brand building is largely based on associating its brand with an amazingly wide range of people, teams and events.Red Bull believes in owning teams and events rather than being one of several…
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Karen Kang's BrandingPays
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Branding for Entrepreneurs: When and How Should You Start?
28 May 2013 | 8:30 amAs an entrepreneur, you have to prioritize your time and money because you have precious little of both. Many entrepreneurs place developing their product and getting funded as their top priorities. They don’t realize that branding will help them reach these goals faster. Entrepreneurs who don’t actively brand themselves and their companies face lower company valuations and delays in market adoption. I won’t name names, but look at the huge disparity between valuations of companies that essentially do the same thing. The difference is brand perceptions. One company is hot, and the other… -
From Italy with a Smile: How I Reinvented My Personal Brand
26 Apr 2013 | 8:30 amI saw my dental hygienist this week. Not an earth-shattering event but significant because it made me think about reinventing one’s brand. Not hers, mine. As she peered in my mouth, she told me that she is amazed at how successfully I have rebranded myself (in addition to keeping my pearly whites healthy!). She remembered how in 2005 I was known as an Italian vacation specialist with the company tagline, “Savor the Real Italy.” Today, I am a book author and recognized branding expert. My book, BrandingPays, has been featured in national media like Businessweek, WSJ Radio, Fast Company… -
Branding From the Inside Out: Hawai‘i Style
27 Mar 2013 | 8:15 amI often talk about branding from the inside out—that is, from your core values to how you represent your brand. But, it never quite hit home until I was in Kona, Hawaiʻi, running enterprise branding workshops with 22 social entrepreneurs. Despite overcast skies, our Sheraton Kona hotel was resplendent with flowers, the sounds of Hawaiian chanting and the tastes of the Sam Choy Annual Poke contest. The enterprises in the workshops ran the gamut from non-profits protecting Hawaii’s fragile ecosystem to for-profit restaurant and food service organizations. All had this in common: a love for… -
Best-Selling Author Geoffrey Moore Talks About the Need for Personal Branding in the New Economy
6 Feb 2013 | 8:30 amI’d love for everyone to watch this short and compelling video from Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm and most recently, Escape Velocity: He talks about why changing business models make strategic personal branding essential for career success. We have moved from a “command and control hierarchy” to a collaborative management model where we are all “free agents” interplaying across an ecosystem. In the New Economy, it is our job as an agent or “company of one,” to market ourselves. Moore, who wrote the foreword to my book, BrandingPays™: The Five-Step System… -
Go For It: How I Faced My Fears and Wrote a Book on Personal Branding
4 Jan 2013 | 10:00 amThis year, I did something I have been wanting to do for years. I published a book called BrandingPays™: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand. For more than 20 years, I have been a positioning and branding expert. Six of those years were spent as a principal and partner with Regis McKenna’s legendary marketing consulting firm that put many iconic Silicon Valley brands on the map, including Apple, Intel and Genentech. One can reasonably say that I had the experience and credentials to write a book. So why did it take me so long? I had a truckload of excuses. I don’t have…
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Do You Have A Disastrous Internet Identity in need of an Internet Identity 911?
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Not Getting Found Online? Turn To Dr. Marc and Charlie
13 Jun 2013 | 4:10 amhttp://TheVideoMarketingGuys.com How's your bottom line? Are you making all the money you want? Ever wonder why people can't find you online just at the moment they really need you?... You only get the full impact at our site: http://CreateYourOwnLegendNow.com -
Bottom Line Sagging? Discover Dr. Marc and Charlie Method
12 Jun 2013 | 4:16 amhttp://TheVideoMarketingGuys.com How's your bottom line? Are you making all the money you want? Ever wonder why people can't find you online just at the moment they really need you?... You only get the full impact at our site: http://CreateYourOwnLegendNow.com -
Video Marketing Gino Nardy Testimonial by Dr. Marc and Charlie
12 Jun 2013 | 4:10 amhttp://TheVideoMarketingGuys.com How's your bottom line? Are you making all the money you want? Ever wonder why people can't find you online just at the moment they really need you?... You only get the full impact at our site: http://CreateYourOwnLegendNow.com -
Video Marketing How To Establish Your Powerful Online Identity Through Video by Dr. Marc and Charlie
6 Jun 2013 | 4:16 amhttp://TheVideoMarketingGuys.com How's your bottom line? Are you making all the money you want? Ever wonder why people can't find you online just at the moment they really need you?... You only get the full impact at our site: http://CreateYourOwnLegendNow.com -
Video Marketing How To Define Your Niche Through Video Podcast Promo by Dr. Marc and Charlie
5 Jun 2013 | 4:12 amhttp://TheVideoMarketingGuys.com How's your bottom line? Are you making all the money you want? Ever wonder why people can't find you online just at the moment they really need you?... You only get the full impact at our site: http://CreateYourOwnLegendNow.com
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Strategy & Brand
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Backend of Sea World
14 Jun 2013 | 7:44 amPosted in Uncategorized"It smells like the backend of Sea-World in here" ~ Heard In The Office Share and Enjoy: -
@BrandMother: The Road Less Travelled
10 Jun 2013 | 8:35 amPosted in Brand BuildingMotherlode Share and Enjoy: -
Lorem Ipsum Dolor?
3 Jun 2013 | 1:19 pmPosted in Brand BuildingBrand IdentityBrand ImageBrand NarrativeBrand PhilosophyDifferentiationPositioningStrategic BrandStrategyWe’ve all bumped into Cicero’s Latin placeholder in templates, websites and other draft work pieces. It serves to give a sense of shape, text or typography without confusion “by removing the distraction of meaningful content”.(1) Unfortunately, the same is true for much of the results of “branding” projects, or “re-branding” initiatives. They remove the distraction of meaningful content, stand out messaging, or specific differentiation. … -
Grab With Gusto
31 May 2013 | 9:27 amPosted in Good Citizen Share and Enjoy: -
More Guts!
28 May 2013 | 7:20 amPosted in Brand BuildingBrand DevelopmentBrand ImageDifferentiationYou Don't Need More Money, Just More Guts! ~ Brand Mother Share and Enjoy:
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brandsalsa.com
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Brands We Love: Kia
13 Jun 2013 | 1:07 pmEarlier this week while I was perusing Twitter, I noticed a large number of tweets surrounding an unlikely brand, Kia, and being a strong advocate of the brand, I was immediately intrigued. Though I hold it close to my heart and tell anybody who wants to listen how much I love Kia, I also know [...] -
The Latest Apple Buzz
11 Jun 2013 | 11:52 amWWDC. Worldwide Developers Conference. Why in the world would I care about a developer’s conference if I’m not a developer? Well, did I mention that it’s Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference? And that the keynote address was yesterday? And they unveiled yet another major operating system improvement (among other things)? Okay, I’ve [...] -
Netflix vs. Hulu vs. Amazon- A Streaming Showdown
6 Jun 2013 | 1:35 pmRemember when you were limited to watching what was live on television? And the most you could record was on your VCR? Forget on-demand; you had to be home at a certain time if you wanted to catch a favorite show. Renting movies meant driving to your local Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, and even then, [...] -
Branding Pharmaceutical Drugs in China
4 Jun 2013 | 11:29 amDid you know according to the Chinese Association for Pharmaceutical Equipment group that the Chinese pharmaceutical industry has been growing at an average annual rate of 16.72% over the last few decades? And that growth isn’t going to slow down anytime soon. China stands at the cusp of a modern society with an increasingly affluent [...] -
Neuromarketing: You don’t know what you don’t know
30 May 2013 | 10:15 amNeuromarketing, an upcoming discipline, is directed towards a detailed attempt in understanding the consumer decision making process. Unlike traditional market research methodologies, which are dependent on a respondents’ ability to accurately describe their thought process, neuromarketing is a process that analyzes a person’s sensorimotor, cognitive and affective response to marketing stimuli. By monitoring parts of [...]
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Brand Touchpoints
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Sales lessons from a Cambodian girl
21 May 2013 | 11:15 pmLast summer I went backpacking in Cambodia. Out of all the wonderful experiences, this is one I absolutely have to share. The ruins of Angkor (Siem Reap) are dotted with small souvenir shacks. As I made my way to the royal pool, I heard a little girl’s voice behind me. “Hey Lady, are you from India?” It was my third day and by then I had learnt to ignore the many hawkers who try to sell you stuff. But this girl’s question stopped me in my tracks. She wasn’t trying to sell me anything. She seemed to want a simple conversation. So I obliged. I turned and said, “Yes. Why?” She… -
So your brand is trending? Big shit!
16 May 2013 | 11:30 pmNotice the sudden increase in twitter and Facebook contests? It’s convenient, simple to create and requires no investment. And with the million tweets and RTs you can watch your brand skyrocket to the most trending topics. So what? Memory of this epic moment is only remembered by the marketing and brand employees of the company, definitely not by the people who might buy your brand. But to be fair to these platforms, they do create a powerful opportunity window for the brand to build a meaningful relationship with the customer. It’s not their fault that this window is hardly utilized … -
Photos of You on instagram
14 May 2013 | 10:26 pmInstagram introduces a new feature – Photos of You. Now you can tag everybody and almost everything on the pic, much like Facebook. Your profile will collate all the tagged pictures for you to review. We’re excited to introduce Photos of You and bring you a new way to share and discover stories on Instagram. When you upload a photo to Instagram, you’re now able to add people as easily as you add hashtags. Only you can add people to your photos, so you have control over the images you share. And it doesn’t stop at people—you can add any account on Instagram, whether it’s your best… -
CANALI gets an identity makeover
7 May 2013 | 12:40 amAlmost eight decades after its inception, Canali the giant Italian luxury menswear gets a new identity. Probably one that does justice to its strong brand philosophy. The new identity has a stylised “C” as a symbol with a needle intersecting the monogram like a tailor’s tack placed above the existing Canali logo. The slickness and fine craftsmanship that this brand stands for is definitely brought alive through the new identity. In fact it also distinguishes this brand from the other heritage luxe brands. To support the new identity, their website also has a fresh… -
Gone Superdry yet?
6 May 2013 | 2:40 am“A cult brand takes years and years of consistent value delivery before it can achieve its iconic status.” Or so we’ve been told. Meet Superdry – a brand that fast tracked its way to a cult status in less than 10 years. Built by Julian Dunkerton and James Holder, Superdry has its own unique story. Dunkerton was just 19 when he took his first tentative steps in the fashion business. A year later he set up his “Cult” boutique on a Cheltenham market stall, selling London fashions to the bored teenagers of the genteel Cotswold spa town. Cult grew slowly and steadily, and…
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Mark Di Somma
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The no-go brand strategy
15 Jun 2013 | 10:41 pmBy Mark Di Somma My favourite brand strategy is one that takes a brand where the competitor can’t go or wouldn’t go. Even better, the strategy is a Venus fly trap. It may look inviting from the outside but if a competitor did dare to venture there, doing so would be to their disadvantage. Finding such an approach isn’t easy. It requires a deep examination of a competitor’s business model to see where they are most awkward or feel most vulnerable – and then making that very thing the focus of your own brand strategy. Highlighting as your own strength what your competitor is reluctant… -
Agitation: Step 1 in building a purposeful culture
7 Jun 2013 | 9:25 pmBy Mark Di Somma You can’t and shouldn’t change a culture just for the sake of it. Obvious, right? And yet managers often announce change programmes without referencing and quantifying specific motivations. There’s little doubt that people act more positively and decisively when they are presented with a context for actions. A real context. A pain point they can feel. An opportunity that stares them in the eye and says “Come get me”. So often, the reasons given for changing a culture are far too broad. They’re couched around concepts or theory – productivity gains or the… -
Fighting the “fadar” …
3 Jun 2013 | 12:58 amBy Mark Di Somma We now have greater access to ideas than ever before, but the ideas themselves, it seems to me, have a much shorter half-life. New thinking, new people, new everything are presented to us at a dizzying pace – in editorial, feeds, slide decks, talks, videos, articles, almost everywhere one cares to look. In an age of instant celebrity and content marketing, thoughts and variations of thoughts are being championed from every social soapbox. Ideas have become fashion – because they are marketed to us as fashions. And like fashion, most will barely outlive the press release… -
9 factors that help anchor your brand price
29 May 2013 | 1:47 amBy Mark Di Somma Behavioural economists refer to the decision making process brands use to set a price in the minds of consumers, especially when those buyers are dealing with something that is unfamiliar to them, as “anchoring”. Anchoring provides a reference point from which to perceive and negotiate “worth”. Brands looking to set a high value on what they offer anchor highly; brands looking to position themselves as accessible and everyday do the opposite. De Beers anchored the value of their rings around “two months’ salary”. The message to purchasers – in this case, men… -
Brand language is volatile
24 May 2013 | 2:52 pmBy Mark Di Somma Linguists will tell you that language is constantly evolving and that a number of factors drive the speed and extent of those changes. Language changes as it is passed on; it adapts to movements in society and technology; it reflects shifts in social attitudes as a result of social, economic and political pressures. In the shorter term, words are volatile. New words are invented to describe new technologies, industries, products and experiences. Changes in the ways that individuals speak also fuel language change. And of course words themselves change meaning – but more…
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The Bullet | Branding Blog
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“Going Digital” Misconceptions: Part #3
12 Jun 2013 | 4:01 am*You are now reading Part #3 of our “Going Digital”: Misconception series. If you haven’t read Part 1 and 2, we suggest you do so. In this week’s “Going Digital” Misconception series, we would like to address a sentiment that many brands seem to share: “I see no point in going digital. There will be too much money spent and not enough sales to justify the cost.” Sounds familiar? Here are a few things to bear in mind. Firstly, understand that “going digital” doesn’t immediately translate to sales. Especially if the brand hasn’t got an online store to cater to that… -
Is There Really No One Else For Your Brand?
5 Jun 2013 | 2:22 amThere is an issue I would like to address that has plagued the screens and papers for too long now. It is a growing problem in the advertising world, which I would like to appropriately label: the easy-way-out epidemic. I am referring to the recycled brand ambassadors that are currently plastered around town, who seem to jump on board the ‘thumbs up’ billboard bandwagon for a quick buck, as well as the slack approach the brand’s creative team chooses to pursue by effortlessly structuring taglines that denote something along the lines of, ‘BAGUS’ and/or ‘HEBAT’. Though less… -
10 Malaysian Ads That Are So Bad, They Are Good.
29 May 2013 | 9:13 amAt The Bullet, we believe that no good ads should go without recognition. “Good” as in being so bad, they do a pretty “good” job at catching your attention. Here is our list of 10 local ads that have made the cut: 1. Good at Being Annoying “Why You Should Buy The Gold Disc” Way before Torrents and YouTube pre-rolls came into existence, Malaysians had this to deal with. Most still do, actually. But at least we know better than to buy purple discs instead of gold ones. 2. Good at Being Effective “Old Newspaper, Paper Lama” If you want something, you ask for it. That’s what the… -
Rebranding On A Mythical Scale
22 May 2013 | 4:19 amBeing in the branding business, we’ve seen a lot come and go. While some are expected – some still come as a shock. But we stand strong on the belief that you’ve got to give credit, where credit is due. And this week’s branding credit goes to none other than Tan Sri Vincent Tan. The Malaysian businessman, investor, former Chief Executive of Berjaya Corporation Berhad and first time football fanatic, has made the impossible happen by winning Cardiff City a place in the English Premier League; the first time this has ever happened in 51 years. Three years ago, Tan admitted that he… -
What Has Been Seen, Cannot Be Unseen
15 May 2013 | 2:19 amUnless you’ve been completely disconnected from the social media world (or newspapers for that matter), you must know that late last week, billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson FINALLY made good on his promise to dress up as a cabin crew on AirAsia. Yes – tight-fitting skirt, bold red lips, shaved legs and all. The stunt raised over $300,000 for the Starlight Foundation and needless to say, immense viral and media publicity for both Air Asia and Virgin Group. But do all publicity stunts soar to such great heights? And how far down can one crash and burn? You’ll soon find out, for…
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The Frager Factor
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A Good Name Does Not Need An IF And COULD. A Good Name Says I AM
17 Jun 2013 | 5:53 pmI think this discussion on names will be ongoing between lots of groups. I do not think the issue is just between SEO and domainers and extensions. I actually think this is the same issue for end users and domainers. I feel it is smart for a company to own the category or product they are in and maybe some other key domains. However, every domainer thinks they have gold and asks....when will -
"Massage / Dominatrices" Domainer: Prostitution Is Dying
17 Jun 2013 | 4:41 pmSummary of Business Insider Economist article by Wes: “George McCoy, a domainer, who runs a .CO. UK website reviewing over 5,000 massage parlours and individuals, says that many are struggling. Sex workers tell him they have been forced to hold down prices. Like other businesses, massage parlours and private flats are suffering from rising rents and energy costs. Even Mr McCoy’s website is -
Now Anyone Can Build A Website For Free
17 Jun 2013 | 1:38 pmIt's pretty clear why KKR moved into GoDaddy and is stressing web development while it's a no brainer why a web development company, Web.com, bought both Network Solutions and Register.com. Now, here comes Demand Media with Designs.com wrapping new TLDs in a beautiful site (another reason they bought Name.com who is now pushing site building too). Of course domain and websites are loss leaders, -
Getting The Right Domain Name; What iOS 7 Will Look Like On The iPad; Google: Increase Click-Through Rates 100%; Facebook Made Me Do It
17 Jun 2013 | 4:44 amHat Tip to: Domain Bell, Andy Hilliard and Dave Kerpen. All about Morgan Linton's new toy: Medium. Steve Davies likes being proactive when it comes to securing domain names related to his brand and affiliated companies. He's registered about 20 domains that incorporate his name or related... Plus Google is working on a new plan that would help to wipe child porn from the web. As Google works to -
To Fathers...
16 Jun 2013 | 7:09 amMy father gave me his brains and belly. Miss you Dad! Someone once said "young andpretty is good. But Rich is BETTER!" FATHERS DAY William B. Franklin has penned the following ‘definition” of a dad: “If he’s wealthy and prominent and you stand in awe of him, call him father. If he Sits in his shirt sleeves and suspenders at a ball game and picnic, call him Pop: If
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Savage Brands & Marketing Communications
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The Advantages of a Strong Company Culture to Employee Engagement
21 May 2013 | 8:00 amA company with engaged employees is easy to spot. In these organizations, the culture is clearly defined and employees understand the purpose and goals they are working toward. Simply put, there is a feeling of shared success. The benefits of engaged employees for the company are proven. Companies that engage their employees are 18% more productive and 16% more profitable. It pays to make your company a place your employees want to work. To fully engage an employee, a company must satisfy the individual’s need for success, fulfill their desire to be part of something larger than themselves… -
Need More Effective Communications? Start by Aligning Your Brand with Your Culture
16 May 2013 | 8:19 amYour company is sending out communications every day, but do these messages paint an accurate picture of your customers’ experience with the company? If your customers see a disconnect between what you say you do and what your employees actually do, then that creates a “credibility gap” for your brand. When your employees' actions are in alignment with your brand messages, you have the opportunity to create credible communications that drive action by reinforcing your customers' relationship with you. -
Ask the Expert: The key to becoming a top brand – Purpose
14 May 2013 | 8:00 amCreating an authentic brand is all about being consistent: your vision and messaging need to align with employee behaviors. That's why having a clear purpose is so critical to branding. Robin Tooms, Vice President of Strategy at Savage, talks about how purpose makes it easy to spot a top brand. -
Coding is a Design Tool: SXSW Takeaway
9 May 2013 | 8:24 amHow can developers and designers better work together? Do they each stay in their separate silos, or is there overlap in the two functions? Savage Obi Okogbue talks about a statement from one of the speakers at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin that made an impact on his interactions with team members. “Coding is a design tool.” -
What You Can Learn about Recruiting from America’s Top 5 Places to Work
26 Apr 2013 | 7:38 amWhat makes a company a great place to work? Each year, Fortune magazine releases a list of the top 100 Best Companies to Work For. We’re taking a closer look at the top five, and what their methods can teach you about improving the working environment in your company.
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BrandYourself Blog
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How to Submit Your Facebook Page to BrandYourself
12 Jun 2013 | 8:32 am“How do I submit my Facebook page?” This is definitely one of the most common questions we get regarding submitting links, so let’s take a second and walk through how it’s done. The first thing you need to know is that Facebook pages aren’t actual accounts/profiles, so you can’t connect them directly. If you select that the link is your “profile” that will only end up linking to your personal account. Instead you’ll need to follow the steps below: To submit a Facebook fan page, there are a couple steps: 1. Copy your Facebook page URL The… -
The Importance of Establishing A Good Online Presence as the Employee of a Small Business
28 May 2013 | 3:06 pmToday’s post is a guest post from small business expert and Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com, Megan Totka: As a business employee, maintaining a good online presence is an absolute necessity. Small businesses are often built or broken by reputation. While larger companies may be able to salvage their business if an employee does something to discredit them, small businesses may not be so lucky. So you may be asking yourself, as an employee, why should I be careful with what I put out there on the Internet? It’s my company’s responsibility to keep track of how they… -
We’re Hiring an Assistant Product Manager Intern in NYC
24 May 2013 | 1:12 pmHOW TO APPLY: Scroll down and fill out the contact form below. We’re looking to hire an Assistant Product Manager intern in the next few weeks! You’ll work directly with me (I’m a co-founder and the Head of Product Design) to help release new features every two weeks to hundreds of thousands of active users. It’s a fast-paced and exciting position, and you’ll be playing a pivotal role here at BrandYourself. Logistics: Location: Our office is an awesome co-working space called Fueled Collective, located in SOHO (568 Broadway, at Broadway and Prince). Besides… -
BrandYourself Q&A: Getting Started, the Fastest Way to Improve Results, Do Clicks Matter?, and Optimizing Your Profile Headline
8 May 2013 | 10:48 amEvery week we get tons of questions about personal branding and reputation management from our members. Since we can’t be on call to answer every question at all times, we’re going to start posting answers to some of the most common questions we get. This week we’re covering getting started with BrandYourself, the fastest way to improve results, whether clicks matter in ranking search results, and how to optimize your profile headlines. Can BrandYourself be used for business and personal rankings? Short answer: You need to use a personal name. BrandYourself is a product… -
Brand New Version of BrandYourself is Launching Today! What You Need to Know
6 May 2013 | 8:19 amI’m excited to say that our team is hard at work today releasing a completely new version of BrandYourself, which will make it even easier to improve your own search results. This post is a guide to all the awesome new improvements. 1. Submitting, boosting and tracking links is now easier: We wanted to make sure you know where your important links rank and make it even easier to submit and boost them, so you can now do all that right from your home screen. All the recommended profiles that used to be in the “Submit Links” tab in the past are now on your home screen – to…
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Semantic Argument
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Interviewing eBay’s CMO for Interbrand IQ
9 Jun 2013 | 5:48 pmI had the really exciting opportunity to speak with eBay’s CMO North America, Richelle Parham, as part of Interbrand’s IQ publication and Best Retail Brands report. The videos are below. Click here, here, or here to see them in context. -
Startup names don’t have to be terrible. Here’s the proof.
26 May 2013 | 4:08 pmThe Bay area gets a bad rap when it comes to names. No, I’m not talking about your friends’ babies, Namaste and Venture. I’m talking about brand names — especially the names of startups. Here in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and the rest of the Bay area, we’re home to plenty of brand names that [...] -
UPS Store’s website imagery is creeping me out
27 Apr 2013 | 10:14 pmJust saw this on the website of my local UPS Store and am now wondering if they cater mainly to ex-chemistry teachers who’ve turned to meth manufacturing.
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Fresh Sprouts
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Shaping the New Sales Cycle
13 Jun 2013 | 7:55 amAs customers – both B2B and consumer alike – take more control of the buying process, the power of a brand relationship is more compelling than ever. Use this to your advantage and stand out from competitors. The New Sales Funnel Before people were empowered by digital access to product information, online discounts and easy comparison shopping, the universe of choices was tightly controlled and carefully managed by sellers. Companies decided which products or services they wanted to promote, then their Sales and Marketing teams went to work to build awareness, create interest and… -
Silly or Smart? Internal Business Policies Can Help – or Hurt
30 May 2013 | 7:55 amI recently decided to make a change in the service that provides my garbage collection. I took advantage of a special offer with a great price, one that was too hard to resist. When I spoke to the sales representative on the phone about the specifics of the offer, she explained that I would be getting a letter in the mail confirming the details of the new service. Three weeks later when the letter had not arrived I made a call to the main office to be sure everything was on track for the switch the following week. As I was talking with the customer service representative, she said, “Oh… -
When Counterintuitive Marketing Works
23 May 2013 | 7:50 amIn business, the quest to move forward and be progressive is endless. Successful executives are always looking for the next great thing, pursuing new product innovation, fresh marketing channels and untapped opportunities. This drive to forge ahead creates growth and fuels progress. And sometimes, it leads us to lose sight of what works. All this forward motion makes it easy to overlook – or even shy away from – tried-and-true techniques. They become old school, passe, so yesterday. Take Off the Blinders When you catch yourself dismissing a tactic simply because we’ve… -
5 Ways it Pays to Have Passionate Brand Advocates
18 May 2013 | 12:09 pmA strong brand can mean the difference between winning a sale or losing it, commanding a premium price or selling at a discount. While this has been proven time and again through research, many executives (maybe you?) still question the value of branding, especially at budget time. Building brand equity takes a long-term commitment and consistent investments in intangibles like relationships and awareness. Because influence, affinity and advocacy can seem ethereal, it’s easier to allocate scarce financial resources to new equipment, facilities, hiring or technology. Brand love is not… -
Why It Pays to Know Your Customers
25 Apr 2013 | 7:55 amHow well do you know your customers? If you’re like most executives, you probably feel that you have a pretty good handle on who buys from you and why. But do you really know who drives revenue growth for your company, and which customers have less impact overall? The answers to these questions can have a profound impact on your profitability, so it pays to dig deep to understand your buyers. Arby’s Knows Today I had the opportunity to listen to Arby’s President Hala Moddelmog as she described Arby’s recent efforts to get an up close and personal look at their best…
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Annemarie Cross
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Lost the sale? What NOT to do when a prospect says “No”
12 Jun 2013 | 11:47 pmHearing ‘no’ from a prospect can be difficult. Especially for a heart-centered coach and entrepreneur who wants nothing more than to be of service to her clients. In fact, a ‘no’ can be a devastating blow to her self-value and self-worth as she perceives the ‘no’ to be a rejection, not only to her services, but also – to herself. What then follows is a barrage of negative emotions and strengthening of unhelpful beliefs, such as: “I’m not worthy”, “No-one will hire me”, or “I’m just not cut out for this”, to name a few. Can you relate? If so, and you’re a… -
Words: they can help or hinder your success. Which are you using?
5 Jun 2013 | 2:08 pmRespect the power of words. Choose them with care. – Unknown Last week here in Australia the media had a field day. Plastered all over the t.v., radio and newspapers were two incidents that sparked community outrage, with anyone and everyone sharing their rather ‘heated’ opinions. One of the incidents occurred at a weekend football match where a 13-year old girl’s choice of words (aimed at one of the players – who was from Indigenous decent) was quite distasteful. Naturally, the player took offense. She was marched out of the auditorium by security officers and subsequently… -
How to Build Credibility, Visibility and Profitability FAST with this one-to-many method!
29 May 2013 | 11:33 pmWant to know one of THE BEST ways I use to communicate my brand? A one-to-many method that enables me to consistently (and exponentially) build my credibility, visibility and profitability so incredibly efficiently, which is why I recommend all my clients incorporate this into their Brand Communications Wheel? And, why I recommend you do too? <Drum roll> Speaking. I realise that for some people (maybe even you) the fear of speaking outweighs the fear of death. So right about now you may be thinking “Nah – there’s no way I’ll EVER speak in front of an audience, Annemarie!”… -
Building Your Visibility and Authority in three simple steps
23 May 2013 | 3:32 amBuilding visibility so you become a well respected and trusted authority in your field is something every ambitious entrepreneur should be doing on a daily basis. After all, how can you build a successful business doing what you love when no-one knows about you – right?! I’m reminded of a saying my friend and Twitter Guru – Keith Keller will often share: “There’s no point in being a Mona Lisa in a paddock,”which is sadly what many passionate entrepreneurs experience (and struggle with) on a daily basis. They have an incredible desire to support clients and have life-changing… -
Are you letting fear shatter your dreams of building a successful business?
16 May 2013 | 3:55 amBuilding a successful business can certainly bring with it many challenges. While there are practical steps you can take to overcome some of the more common business obstacles (such as marketing, planning and setting up key business systems), it’s the inner challenges that are often the most difficult to overcome. Especially when it comes to fear, like: Fear of success Fear of failure Fear of not being liked Fear of being judged And the list goes on Left unchecked, fear can cause all sorts of issues for us including three common things that can potentially shatter your dreams of building a…
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Bulldog Drummond - Uncommon Sense
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Impacting Your Personal By Dani Fankhauser
17 Jun 2013 | 9:03 amWhile I still consider myself to be at the beginning of my career, I’ve had a chance to work in several unique workplaces, from college internships in San Diego to the Manhattan headquarters of the publication for which I work now. The workplace is a product of the space itself, but also of the people who are there. There are no bad ideas in our office. We brainstorm across departments, and as sub-departments. Our interns join the meetings and although some might take time to sit back and observe, others are ready to contribute on the first day. I am proud to say that we never had to… -
Live Life
13 Jun 2013 | 9:03 amLive Life Cosas Cool is a brilliant site dedicated to curation of art, design, architecture, typography, photography, and more. It’s Uncommon Sense really. -
Personalization on Two Wheels
11 Jun 2013 | 9:03 amPersonalization on Two Wheels Urban Outfitters offers customers over 100,000 color and component combinations to design a custom bicycle. -
DISTANCE CAN MAKE THE STARTUP HEART GROW STRONGER
10 Jun 2013 | 9:03 amI’m fortunate to meet and work with a wide range of industrious and passionate founders of early stage businesses, and I’m always fascinated to hear about new and unique challenges they face when starting a new business. I met the founders of Sneakz Organic about six months ago while working with one of our other early stage ventures. I was inspired by their vision and the challenge of starting a business with the two founders based in different locations. Sneakz’s goal is to help kids (and adults) who aren’t getting enough veggies in their daily diet by sneaking… -
Nature Calls
5 Jun 2013 | 9:03 amNature Calls Janet Molchanko, Amy Pon, Sarah Jensen and Morgan Smith have designed the ultimate camping companion using only a two-liter bottle, a freezer bag, some reflective tape, and a bit of twine.
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We design legacies.
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Is Coworking for You?
11 Jun 2013 | 7:17 pmYes, and for more reasons than you’d imagine possible. Of course, I’m no expert. In fact, I’m a total newbie—I’ve been working out of Mercury Studio for exactly 12 days now. After flirting with all of the coworking places in town, past and current, I finally broke down and splurged for a membership. 7 weeks after I moved out of my apartment/office that I had for the last several years, I found myself squatting in an empty building, sneaking around and completely isolated, and said to myself: Enough is enough. You need to get a proper desk. Mind you, I’ve been a… -
Up in the air: DK makes a brand design for Aerial Treeworks
21 May 2013 | 2:07 amA new brand identity for Aerial Treeworks. It isn’t often you get to go tree climbing with the pros. But that’s exactly what four year-old Kush Morita, aka DK’s “boss-man”, got to do. Wrapping up the project to come up with a new brand identity design for Erica Strein and Cormac Nagan‘s company, we got to go on what they called a “recreational climb.” For DK, it was an incredible chance to see what we’d been learning was the “office space” for Aerial, the tree canopy itself. On a lovely day in a cordoned section of the Forest… -
Seek and you shall find it
11 May 2013 | 12:25 amTwo weeks into travel around the coast and to four major cities in Viet Nam, and I’m ready to tell you a little bit about it. Yes, it really looks like this. Buses and trains around the countryside have shown me a thing or two about natural beauty again, something I’ve missed while living in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Also, two weeks for the first time in four and a half years of being the only one to hang around and take care of my son. Trying something. An expermiment. It’s about what it feels like to travel with a young child as a single woman. Trying something new A… -
The power of words to transform us
16 Apr 2013 | 5:53 pmSometimes you have to go with it. Your gut. That’s why about two years ago Design Kompany set up an offshoot to simply focus on the art of conversation. Dialogue, great dialogue, is THE key ingredient in any well-orchestrated creative process. They have all kinds of words for this, but the big idea is that you have to come to the table ready and open to sharing. And that doesn’t mean sharing just what YOU think. Most of the work is in listening. The grand experiment To get better at it ourselves, in 2012 we did a “Year of Dialogue,” dedicated to making space for… -
How to kill the creative process: pander
22 Mar 2013 | 12:39 pmDo you make art so people buy it, or so you can say something you want to say? Once upon a time I was a reporter. I worked for a trade journal, a daily, and I was trained to write fast, and in concise, clear sentences. The point was to put all the important bits at the top, since almost no one reads an article from start to finish. Sure, you write it all, but that’s not the point. The point better be right up at the start. And for this post, it’s this: that’s boring. Why do we write or publish, anyways? For about eight years I’ve held onto an 8.5″ x 11″…
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ROKRIOT
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Anything To Become A Myth
11 Jun 2013 | 2:00 amWell designed website and user interface for “Anything To Become A Myth”—an exclusive interview from Radio France featuring Joy Division guitarist, Peter Hook. Check out the website by clicking here. Designed by ultranoir. More from FWA. -
The Simonsound
10 Jun 2013 | 2:00 amThe Simonsound have just released a very limited edition “Pilot Pack” version of their latest album, The Beam. More from Bandcamp. -
Professor Kliq
7 Jun 2013 | 2:00 amNew music video from Professor Kliq takes simple elements-wire and paper-and animates them with great effect. More from Boing Boing. -
OK GO Have Their Way With Words
4 Jun 2013 | 2:00 amIt’s no secret that OK GO have a knack for viral marketing—just take a look at the videos for “Here It Goes Again“ or “This Too Shall Pass“. Now the band has moved beyond music videos—as well as the traditional band app—and released an iPhone/Android app called Say The Same Thing. In OK GO tradition, it’s a quirky game with a very quirky introductory video (above). More from FastCo Design. -
The Black School
3 Jun 2013 | 2:00 amDen Sorte Skole (Danish for “The Black School”) is a DJ group based in Copenhagen. They have just released their third album, appropriately titled, III. More from Mr. Cup.
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Soydanbay Strategic Brand Consulting and Design
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The addiction to innocence
3 Jun 2013 | 11:59 pmUnfortunately, this week I cannot write about my passion, branding, as the extreme violence against peaceful protestors in Turkey has left me worried… It is all because a child wanted to raze a park and put in its place a shopping mall, in order to sustain a cancer-like growth. Children cannot grasp that others don’t want what they want as they don’t have the cognitive capacity to see others as real and separate people. And to this date, a child continues to deny the reality, blame everyone but himself and show infantile rage… Our only addiction, is the addiction to innocence. -
The evolution of private label brands
21 May 2013 | 6:24 amDid you know that private label brands (PL) have been around for almost a decade? Back in 1928, the Swiss introduced the PL concept and since then it has been spreading like wildfire. Actually, we should point out that PL is not only spreading but also “evolving.” We are witnessing a quiet renaissance, which deserves to be analyzed. This is the first installment of a series of essays on private label branding. Migros eliminated the middleman, inventing the private label concept. Let’s start by reviewing PL’s origins: It was invented during tough times, sometime between the WW1 and the… -
When do people support change?
7 May 2013 | 6:15 amDid your key project fail to deliver expected result? Did your organization undergo a massive restructuring process, yet nothing has changed? Did your city spend a fortune to brand itself, but in reality nobody has cared? Don’t feel bad, because you are not alone: Turns out 75% of organizational change projects do not yield the promised result. Let’s start with the root cause of this problem. Then we will discuss how to fix it. I remember vividly what a high-ranking military officer once told me: “If you give three orders to a soldier, he’ll forget two of them, while mismanaging the… -
Branding luxury
23 Apr 2013 | 6:12 amAt first, this article might sound like a book review, but actually it is about a miserable experience of mine and a much-welcomed solution. Here’s how the story goes… Luxury is in the eye of the beholder. Years ago, my then-employer wanted to publish a sector-specific “best brands” survey. Our plan was to choose a couple of sectors (or verticals), determine the top 10 brands in each vertical and then conduct interviews with industry experts. We decided that luxury should be one of our verticals. So, my job was to determine the best luxury brands in Canada. All I had to do was to come… -
The Canadian Archetype
9 Apr 2013 | 6:14 amI am an immigrant living in Canada. Years ago, I decided to move here, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. If you are like me, which means if you are someone who enjoys observing and analyzing his surroundings, then living abroad is great fun. As an outsider, sometimes you see things that the locals simply won’t. Purely based on my personal observation, I think Canadians often have difficulty explaining what makes them unique. They intuitively know that they are special, but they can’t put it into words. Have you ever wondered why? Patriotism, or something greater? I see…
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Branding Business with RiechesBaird
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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. Don’t Let Them Be The Wrong Ones.
13 Jun 2013 | 10:34 amYou see the photo above? Yeah, don’t use that — ever. Unless you’re trying to prove a point. Good photography is more critical than marketers and brand managers may want to believe. Say for example you’re sending out a direct mail piece to prospective clients. I don’t care how much time and effort you put into the creative messaging, the 100% recycled packaging, the contest rules you set for that Hawaiian vacation giveaway — if you feature stock photography this terrible — you, your offering and your brand will look cheap. But the reality is you see… -
Content: The New Brand Hero
11 Jun 2013 | 12:09 pmIf you’re in the world of B2B marketing, you know the game changed when search ranking became the number one strategic challenge to solve. General awareness was replaced by the new search criteria driven by customers “keywords” and primarily Google. No longer do B2B marketers have the luxury of pushing and controlling the message to the marketplace. Sure you have an influence, but what was once delivered is now “found”. Today, it’s all about being ranked at the top. Bottom line — being found, or more importantly being found and known for something. -
Stories “R” Us
6 Jun 2013 | 12:00 pmTom Asacker writes and teaches about radically new practices and ideas for marketplace success in times of uncertainty and change. He is the author of critically acclaimed books including The Business of Belief, Opportunity Screams, and A Clear Eye for Branding. He is a former General Electric executive, recipient of the George Land Innovator of the Year Award, and a former high-tech business owner. A popular speaker, Tom lectures to corporations, associations, and university audiences around the world, and works confidentially with executives and management teams at a number of top… -
Yahoo! Captures Tumblr, The Sweet Bird of Youth
4 Jun 2013 | 11:50 amWhy is Yahoo! buying Tumblr? CEO Marissa Mayer has to do something to rejuvenate Yahoo! In Internet years, Yahoo! is ancient.. She wants to shed the well-earned image of Yahoo! as a fading Web 1.0 player. Tumblr skews young, and Yahoo! needs young. But in truth, no one knows for sure why Yahoo! craves Tumblr enough to part with $1.1 billion. Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman once famously remarked about the entertainment industry: “Nobody knows anything.” It turns out it’s pretty much true of the Internet as well. The digital landscape is littered with the casualties of… -
The CEO: A Brand’s White Knight or Detractor?
30 May 2013 | 9:42 amThe recent headlines about the 87-year-old grandmother who sued Donald Trump made me think about the CEO’s role in corporate branding. In the week-long trial, Jacqueline Goldberg claimed fraud involving investments she made in a Chicago skyscraper the Trump Organization built. Although she lost the lawsuit, Goldberg said “I exposed him for what he is.” On the other side, Trump’s people concluded “The Trump brand is stronger than ever.” Or is it? Earlier in the week, Trump made headlines by turning the courtroom into a reality show by preaching from his own…
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Building a Brand Online
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Speed Blogging Tips from Chris Record – How to Write a Killer SEO Optimized Blog Post in 30 Minutes or Less!
10 Jun 2013 | 12:00 amVisit http://socialmediabar.com/chris-record/ for more Internet Marketing Tips & Tutorials for Entrepreneurs in 2013! -
Top 5 Viral Posts and Why They Were the Most Successful
5 Jun 2013 | 8:30 amThis is a training tutorial Guest Post from Facebook Fan Page Expert Chris Hughes. Chris has stumbled upon a secret to building fan pages ranging from 500,000 fans and above. Today he’s going to share with you the top 5 viral posts and why they were the most successful! Why do Some Facebook Posts [...] -
Instabuilder Review: Create Awesome Squeeze and Sales Pages in 5 minutes
13 Feb 2013 | 6:17 pmIf you’re involved in Internet Marketing in any capacity it’s likely that you’re no stranger to the creation of Squeeze and Sales Pages… Or maybe (if you’re like many aspiring Internet marketers) you look at all the pros’ squeeze pages and sales page and wonder how the hell they build them. I personally create dozens of [...] -
[VIDEO] Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk on Building an Online Brand.
3 Jan 2013 | 8:03 pmToday I did a nearly random interview with the famous Gary Vaynerchuk on skype. This was a VERY spur of the moment interview. Basically, I commented on Gary’s facebook status and within 15 minutes we were talking via video chat. Being from New York City, I’ve been a fan of Gary’s for years, and had [...] -
INFOGRAPHIC: Your Facebook Timeline is like a Storefront
23 Aug 2012 | 10:41 amCollectively our team admins dozens of pages totaling over 100,000 fans across Facebook! Some are popular, some are on their way. When Facebook launched Timeline a few months ago we designed, tested, learned, and hosted many webinars on the topic. With all of our learnings combined we’ve created this infographic comparing your Business Timeline to a Storefront.
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Imagemme
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Think Small, Act Big
17 Jun 2013 | 8:15 amEvery brand, no matter how successful, has big problems. Whether that means reaching new markets or simply occupying their existing market more profitably, every brand has large issues to contend with. To solve these problems, the natural inclination is to think of big solutions. The right approach, however, as demonstrated by Alex Cabunoc and Ji A You, two students at Art Center College of Design’s Design Matters program, may be to think small. In 2011, Ji A You and Cabunoc traveled to Cerro Verde, a very poor area outside Lima, Peru, where they spent two weeks with a host family,… -
A Refreshing Campaign from 7UP
14 Jun 2013 | 8:00 amCreated by BBDO Argentina, “The Melting Machine” – a vending machine exclusively made of ice which, as it melted, gave away free 7UP to passersby – is yet another excellent example of a creative, cost-effective, internet-driven campaign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7gacvVLCVxk While internet-driven campaigns were considered ancillary efforts only a few years ago, they are being focused on more and more as cost-effective, high-yielding campaigns. A recent Pepsi commercial, in which a car dealer (who was, in reality, probably an actor) was tricked by an… -
Nice Guys Finish First
10 Jun 2013 | 8:00 amThe phenomenal success of Toms shoes and its revolutionary model, in which for every pair sold the company donates one to an impoverished community, was a dramatic illustration that nice guys can finish first. In an interview with Oprah magazine, Toms founder Tom Mycoskie said: “Giving feels good, but it’s also good for the bottom line. Charity is a viable growth strategy for a lot of companies. Our customers get excited to be a part of what we’re doing. If you ask anyone wearing Toms how they first heard about us, most won’t mention an advertisement; they’ll… -
The New Language is Wordless
7 Jun 2013 | 8:00 amMost people don’t like reading instructions. That’s why Katie Shelly, writer of Picture Cook: See. Make. Eat., has made a cookbook where you can see them. In her book, all of Shelly’s written instructions have been replaced with simple infographics, making the process of learning a recipe arguably simpler and definitely more fun. The infographics are only “arguably” simpler because, while the gist of the recipe is certainly more digestible (cough cough) than a page of monotonous text, some specifics may be lost. This doesn’t seem to worry Shelly, who said: “So what if you mess… -
Competitive Brands Don’t Fight Competitors
3 Jun 2013 | 9:34 amIn a new spot created by Crispin Porter & Bogusky and directed by Roman Coppola, Microsoft takes an innovative and super-sly approach to negative advertising by attacking the negative advertising of, or at least the ongoing feud between, Apple’s iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy. By dramatizing Apple and Samsung loyalists as bickering guests at a wedding, Microsoft accomplishes multiple things at once. First, they sidestep the unfavorable perceptions of running a negative campaign by dramatizing Microsoft Lumia 920 users as peaceful bystanders to the fight. So, while Microsoft is really…
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John Morgan
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How To Get The Most Out Of Your Ideas
12 Jun 2013 | 8:02 amIdeas are a dime a dozen. You probably think of new ideas weekly if not daily. The process is usually the same. Inspiration hits you in the form of an idea while you’re in the shower or driving down the road. You immediately fall in love with the idea because you’re brilliant and there’s no way your idea stinks. The next step is usually nothing. No action. No strategic thought. Most great ideas die in the mind. They never see the light of day. The reasons why people don’t act on their ideas are numerous, but this post isn’t about why people don’t take… -
Why You Should Spend More Time Writing Shorter Blog Posts
23 May 2013 | 8:50 amIn a letter President Abraham Lincoln wrote to a friend he included an apology that read “I’m sorry I could not have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have the time.” He wanted the time to make sure his letter was informative, yet concise. Are you doing the same with your writing? Some people seem to write blog posts like there’s an award for the post with the most words. That’s an award I’m happy I’ll never win. If you can’t make your point in less than 1,000 words then you don’t have one. Every word counts. Don’t fill… -
What You Need To Know About Public Speaking
8 May 2013 | 7:25 amIs public speaking an art or a skill? Most people will tell you that it’s an art. They’ll explain that some people are born with charisma, a charming personality, and the gift of gab. These are the same people however, who are too afraid to speak in public themselves. The reality is that no one is born a public speaker. Speaking is a skill that anyone can develop IF you’re willing to put in the work. Having the skills to speak will advance you greatly in life. Even if you aren’t speaking on stage, the ability to speak is a must. You’ll be more confident and… -
One Simple Way To Build A Loyal Audience
2 May 2013 | 1:02 pmIt’s a noisy world that is becoming increasingly hard to stand out. You’re probably reading this because you want to stand out or get your business noticed. Well, do you know who else is desperately looking to stand out? Your audience. Your customers, prospects, email subscribers, social media following, and neighbors are all seeking recognition. They feel like they are a drop in the ocean that is likely to never get noticed. When you show interest in someone, they become a fan for life. There is no greater compliment than giving someone your un-divided attention when they seek… -
How To Sharpen Your Problem Solving Skills
18 Apr 2013 | 9:13 amEvery single successful person I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting is highly skilled in problem solving. Your creativity in solving your problems is an essential factor in determining your level of success. Depending on how big the challenges are that come your way, there’s a certain level of panic that kicks in. This is a problem because panic leads to a closed mind. An open mind is critical to creative problem solving. So how can you improve your problem solving skills? I’m so glad you asked, otherwise this post would have been awkward. You have to change your approach…
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AYTM
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Shopping Habits Survey: Certain Aspects Vary By Location
17 Jun 2013 | 6:59 amSome recent studies have shown that geography may have an impact on people’s shopping habits. Consumers in different countries around the worlds have shown varying degrees of interest in things like coupons, bargain shopping, shopping as a social activity, and online shopping. How might geography impact shopping habits with consumers within the US? By Community In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 29% of those who described their area as urban said that they are brand conscious shoppers, while just 24% of suburban dwellers and 21% of rural residents said the same. Just 47% of urban… -
Hashtags Survey: Most Social Media Users Never Search Hashtags
14 Jun 2013 | 6:54 amFacebook is getting hashtags. These brief searchable terms have been used for years on other social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, but Facebook has never enabled users to perform clickable searches with hashtags until now. How many social media users already take advantage of hashtags? And how many plan to do so on Facebook? Social Media Users In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 95% of social media users said they currently have a Facebook account. 62% said they use YouTube. 50% use Twitter. 30% use Pinterest. 11% use Instagram. 9% use Tumblr. And 9% use other sites such… -
Grocery Delivery Survey: Few Have Taken Advantage of Delivery Services
13 Jun 2013 | 6:22 amAmazon is debuting its grocery delivery service in Los Angeles this week. These types of services haven’t taken off quite as well as some experts thought they would years ago. But there may still be some potential for grocery delivery as Amazon plans to launch the service in even more cities over the coming years. What do Americans think about the possibility of grocery delivery? And how many have already used similar services? Grocery Delivery In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, just 8% of respondents said that they often get groceries delivered to their home. Another 13% said… -
iOS 7 Survey: iPhone Owners More Satisfied Than Other Smartphone Owners
12 Jun 2013 | 6:13 amApple just unveiled some new features in its latest operating system, iOS 7. Those using iPhones and other Apple mobile devices can have access to a whole new design, photo options, and a new music streaming service. It’s already one of the most popular mobile options, but could these new features lead to any new customers for Apple? Smartphone Users In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 48% of respondents said they currently own a smartphone. 5% said that they definitely plan to buy a smartphone within the next year. 8% said they might buy one soon. And 39% said they don’t have… -
Google Survey: Nearly All US Consumers Use Google Products
11 Jun 2013 | 6:21 amIt’s no secret that Google is a huge and successful company. With the most popular search engine, a whole array of other web and mobile products and services, and even a new movie (The Internship) that completely revolves around it, you could say that Google is about as dominant as a company can be. What do consumers generally think about Google as a company? And how many use its products on a regular basis? Google Opinions In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 43% of respondents said they have a very positive opinion of Google as a brand. 31% said they have a somewhat positive…
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Clear Ideas Blog
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How Nike turned a fashion faux-pas into a badge of honour
14 Jun 2013 | 4:20 amWearing a single brand head to toe is usually deeply uncool. But last month, I took part in the London leg of Nike’s first female-only 10k run, dressed head to toe in (yep, you guessed it) Nike. So how did Nike get me and several thousand other women to happily break the fashion rules? -
Surfing the Indian Youth Wave
31 May 2013 | 3:13 amby Morgane Gaubier, Senior Consultant India has the largest youth population in the world, almost 20% of its 1 billion + citizens are aged between 15-24 years old.... That’s not insignificant. For this reason I wanted to deep dive into what it means to be “young” in India and what it means for brands. -
Make Way for the Millennials
29 May 2013 | 3:32 amBy Anastasia Shephard, Consultant Step aside, Baby Boomers. There’s a new influential generation in town; the millennials. Generation Y or the ‘Me Generation’- those born between 1980 and 1994, are the subject of much research recently. This age group is the largest generation alive (currently 101 million) and have been accused of having an unwarranted sense of entitlement, giving them the nickname the ‘babied boom’. -
Is the future cashed out?
17 May 2013 | 3:25 amBy Anastasia Shephard, Consultant Earlier this year, global financial groups gathered in Barcelona to grapple control of what many will call our future. ‘Mobile money’ allows people to use their smart phones to purchase goods instead of cash or credit. Yet surprisingly, the conversation wasn't entirely on a positive note. -
A researcher, a cabbie and a dominatrix walk into a bar…
14 May 2013 | 9:14 amby Dr. Russ Wilson, Senior Qualitative Consultant I've always felt privileged being a researcher. From helping develop services for some of the most vulnerable people in the country, to bringing something extra to people's lives through the products and brands they interact with on a daily basis, I sometimes think that working in research gives me unique insights into people's lives, emotions and needs.
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Laurence Vincent
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Mark Twain on his way around the world in 1897. Happy Mustache...
17 Jun 2013 | 9:17 amMark Twain on his way around the world in 1897. Happy Mustache Monday. Photo from NYPL Digital Gallery. -
"The consumer isn’t a moron; she’s your wife."
16 Jun 2013 | 9:32 pm“The consumer isn’t a moron; she’s your wife.” - David Ogilvy -
I wish to encourage the reader not to be intimidated by the...
16 Jun 2013 | 5:00 pmI wish to encourage the reader not to be intimidated by the Zone System. It really is only a refinement of the concepts [of exposure]. Furthermore, the Zone System can be usefully applied by all photographers, even those using automated 35mm cameras, in black-and-white and color photography. With an automatic camera, the Zone System at least provides a framework for understanding when a departure from “normal” exposure and processing will help achieve the desired image. Without the Zone System, only years of trial-and-error experience can develop a similar comprehensive understanding of… -
William Carlos Williams
16 Jun 2013 | 3:00 pmWilliam Carlos Williams -
Proof that coffee continues to inspire design interpretation.
16 Jun 2013 | 1:16 pmProof that coffee continues to inspire design interpretation.
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Clear Ideas Blog
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How Nike turned a fashion faux-pas into a badge of honour
14 Jun 2013 | 4:20 amWearing a single brand head to toe is usually deeply uncool. But last month, I took part in the London leg of Nike’s first female-only 10k run, dressed head to toe in (yep, you guessed it) Nike. So how did Nike get me and several thousand other women to happily break the fashion rules? -
Surfing the Indian Youth Wave
31 May 2013 | 3:13 amby Morgane Gaubier, Senior Consultant India has the largest youth population in the world, almost 20% of its 1 billion + citizens are aged between 15-24 years old.... That’s not insignificant. For this reason I wanted to deep dive into what it means to be “young” in India and what it means for brands. -
Make Way for the Millennials
29 May 2013 | 3:32 amBy Anastasia Shephard, Consultant Step aside, Baby Boomers. There’s a new influential generation in town; the millennials. Generation Y or the ‘Me Generation’- those born between 1980 and 1994, are the subject of much research recently. This age group is the largest generation alive (currently 101 million) and have been accused of having an unwarranted sense of entitlement, giving them the nickname the ‘babied boom’. -
Is the future cashed out?
17 May 2013 | 3:25 amBy Anastasia Shephard, Consultant Earlier this year, global financial groups gathered in Barcelona to grapple control of what many will call our future. ‘Mobile money’ allows people to use their smart phones to purchase goods instead of cash or credit. Yet surprisingly, the conversation wasn't entirely on a positive note. -
A researcher, a cabbie and a dominatrix walk into a bar…
14 May 2013 | 9:14 amby Dr. Russ Wilson, Senior Qualitative Consultant I've always felt privileged being a researcher. From helping develop services for some of the most vulnerable people in the country, to bringing something extra to people's lives through the products and brands they interact with on a daily basis, I sometimes think that working in research gives me unique insights into people's lives, emotions and needs.
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JON-MICHAIL, The ImageMaker
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Politicians in blue ties, earning their stripes
17 Jun 2013 | 5:00 pmThe ‘men in blue ties’ in politics are getting a lot of attention these days especially since Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised them again as an issue in a speech last week. During that time I was conducting a seminar on this hot media topic and the audience members queried me… why was the focus on blue ties and not red for example? From a media angle there may be different views but from a professional image perspective, the answer is clear; blue ties represent safety, security and establishment; think ‘blue blood’. The psychology of blue creates an honesty… -
Which colour makes for the perfect sleep?
16 Jun 2013 | 5:00 pmPeople who have decorated their bedrooms in hues of blue have better sleep than anyone else, new research has found. A UK study of 2000 bedrooms found that people who slumber in a blue room enjoy an average seven hours and 52 minutes of sleep a night. The colour also seems to play a role in lowering blood pressure and the heart rate. Other favourable bedroom decor colours that help people achieve a good night’s sleep include certain shades of yellow, green, silver and orange. These shades help people enjoy close to the recommended eight hours’ sleep a night, while also increasing their… -
A professional & street smart approach to your Linkedin Personal Brand Image
12 Jun 2013 | 5:00 pmBy Jon-Michail You read all sorts of adverse comments online about the pro’s and con’s of LinkedIn, some of the negative I have come across are normally from people that have limited experience using LinkedIn or worse still not even been connected. LinkedIn is a valuable source of professional information. At the very least, LinkedIn provides searchers with a wide-ranging summary of your education and qualifications, your work experience and your achievements, whether personal or professional. When others view your profile, your headline and introduction should encourage them to further… -
Does your business have a social media policy?
10 Jun 2013 | 5:00 pmThe following illustration from the Department of Justice (Victoria) is an excellent introduction on the Do’s and Don’t's: Social Media Policy © 2013 State of Victoria, Australia -
Perseverance, Resilience & Courage – an MS fighter’s story of survival
6 Jun 2013 | 5:00 pmI have had the pleasure for the last couple of years of working with Bobby Bajram, an extraordinary human being, that reminds me of how lucky I am to be fit and healthy, living a life without physical pain. Not that Bobby, a survivor of MS for over 30 years complains about his predicament; his life has been a challenge after challenge – suffering Multiple Sclerosis though at times if you met him you would know it due to his unwavering self-belief. The brief interview that follows is an introduction to a guy that does not know the meaning losing – and his journey to climb Mt.
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Blade Creative Branding | Blog | Marketing, Design, Trends
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6 Differences You Need to Know Between Google AdWords and Bing Ads – Part 3
17 Jun 2013 | 6:41 amThis is the final installment of a three-part blog about The Key Differences between Google AdWords and Bing Ads. If you haven’t read part one or part two, you can check them out here: The Key Differences Between Google AdWords and Bing Ads – Part 1 and The Key Differences Between Google AdWords and Bing Ads… Read More -
Blade Reads
14 Jun 2013 | 6:30 amIn an effort to continuously update and improve our practices as an agency we are once again hitting the books. Various members of the team will be reading and reporting on eight books that we anticipate will help us to assess our current practices and outlook on everything from marketing to talent to leadership. In… Read More -
Weekly Re-Brand #29: Stanley
13 Jun 2013 | 6:44 amWelcome to the Blade Weekly Re-Brand, a place for us to take a quick look at some of the rebranding going on in the world and give a quick impression of what went right and what went wrong. This week, Stanley updated their look as they move to consolidate their many divisions into a unified… Read More -
The Type is Right
12 Jun 2013 | 7:20 amHey TTIR players! We’re back. The T shown here is one chunk of a particular wordmark. With its rich colours and bold font, it’s fairly distinctive. However, what really sets this product apart on the shelves and helps make the brand memorable is its unique packaging. Do you know it? Thanks for playing! We will… Read More -
The Case of the Super Fans
10 Jun 2013 | 6:00 amToronto has been experiencing a Foodie craze. Distinctive restaurants, pubs, gastro-pubs, taverns and bars have been popping out of every available store front. The distinguishing feature of most of these gastro-adventures lies in the unconcerned ambiance, mixed with up-and-coming young chefs cooking up “cool” dishes. Increasing the cool factor, these restaurants vow to cater to… Read More
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Peter Sterlacci | Believe. Become. Be Your Brand
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Personal Branding in Morocco: I love it! But can I?
17 Jun 2013 | 10:12 pmPersonal Branding Across Cultures Blogathon – Day 10 / Malak Oussidhoum When I first started talking about Personal Branding in Morocco, 3 years ago, the major feedback was: this concept looks amazing but do you think it would work here in Morocco? I wondered what caused this reaction in a society where people are great followers of north American and French cultures, both countries being the main destination for university education since the 70’s. Proximity to these 2 cultures, along with the Spanish one, impacted their lifestyles in fashion, luxury, musical tendencies and trends… -
Personal Branding Perception and Adoption in Thailand
16 Jun 2013 | 1:44 pmPersonal Branding Across Cultures Blogathon: Day 9 / Donn Pjongluck Consistent brand personality maintenance could prove to be difficult when a certain brand has an identical marketing style across the globe. The values and norms that seem most important to a given society vary across cultures (Chritton, 2012). This has the potential to bring out several brand personality interpretations. To make an amendment to this, slight tweaking of the marketing style of a certain brand for different cultures; seem to be advocated for by some companies. This should result to consistent representation of… -
Personal Branding Slowly Finding it’s Place in The UK
15 Jun 2013 | 2:44 pmPersonal Branding Across Cultures Blogathon: Day 8 / Paolo Feroleto Over the last few years the UK has seen a steady rise of interest in the subject of personal branding. Whereas it was once deemed ‘too American’ for the reserved Brit mentality, understanding it’s not all about self-promotion has led many people to take notice of the benefits of working on their personal brand. There is real evidence showing areas such as leadership, recruitment and coaching having embraced personal branding. Graduates and job seekers are being encouraged to ensure their CV contains all the… -
The Colombian Personal Brand, not What You Think!
14 Jun 2013 | 3:12 pmPersonal Branding Across Cultures Blogathon: Day 7 / Marcela Reyes Drug trafficking, violence, guerrilla warfare, and kidnappings. These words and images are probably some of the first that come to mind when someone mentions the country of Colombia (not to be confused with Columbia, a city in South Carolina). All over the world, people view Colombia as a country laden with drugs and corruption, a reputation made popular by the media’s exploitation of the reality of decades past—a reality that is no longer true. The Happiest People in the World While this perception makes for… -
Indians Embrace Personal Branding, but Don’t Hug it Tightly Yet!
13 Jun 2013 | 1:31 pmPersonal Branding Across Cultures Blogathon – Day 6 / Dr. Amit Nagpal In spite of the increasing westernization, Indians are clinging to their cultural roots and community centric attitudes. The joke doing the rounds is that, “Indians don’t talk about sex, now they are opening up to talking lovemaking. Indians don’t talk about personal branding, now they are opening up to storytelling (for inspiring others & branding as a byproduct). Passionate knowledgepreneurs & early adopters are taking the lead and demonstrating to the fellow countrymen, the power of personal…
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Media Panther
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Are brands still relevant?
13 Jun 2013 | 10:00 pmLife has become a blur. Speed is in. And as we all get swept away by the digital revolution, the one question that seems to be on everyone’s mind is: are brands still relevant? The world we see around today is so diametrically different from the world I grew up in. The two biggest differences were that everything was just so much slower. And of course, there were far fewer brands then. Today, not only has the pace of everything picked up, but even the number of brands has exploded. So with all of us lost in this chaos, does it even make sense to indulge in branding? So the situation looks… -
The dynamics of pricing
6 Jun 2013 | 10:00 pmPricing is one of the most difficult aspects of marketing. The higher the price, the greater the profits. There is of course the danger of losing customers. The lower the price, the greater the sales. In this case, there is the possibility of leaving money on the table. So how to get to that optimum price? And do keep in mind that pricing is not something that happens in a vacuum. The competition is always playing its moves, changing prices proactively as part of its strategy or reactively to counter the market conditions. So how does one go about developing a pricing strategy? There are… -
Thought should precede action
30 May 2013 | 10:00 pmThis would seem like an obvious statement. But when we look at it within the context of marketing, it translates into the fact that strategy should precede tactics. And this is something that doesn’t happen that often, especially in an intensely competitive scenario characterized by continuous change in the marketplace. In their desire to stay afloat, companies often indulge in tactics to stave off the competition. While action is always necessary, it more often than not leads to temporary short term benefits unless it occurs within the framework of a cohesive marketing strategy. A lot of… -
The perils of a reactive approach
23 May 2013 | 10:00 pmIt is not advisable to mix chemicals without knowing how they will react. At best, nothing will happen, but when things go wrong, there can be toxic fumes and even flames. The same applies to companies that adopt a reactive approach to building brands. There are times when nothing happens or even instances when it appears as if the gambit has paid off, but when things go wrong, they really cause a big mess. And just as chemical reactions go, at times this may be irreversible. A reactive approach is passive. It allows other companies to set trends, to dictate terms. A lot of people may argue… -
Copy (still) rules
16 May 2013 | 10:00 pmThe Internet has revolutionized the world in many ways. But when it comes to copywriting, it has had a negative impact. Now while there is no doubt that this medium has significantly increased opportunities when it comes to this field, it has also had a detrimental effect upon its professional aspects. Before the widespread proliferation of the Internet, copywriting was an art that entailed a lot of thought, and therefore time. However, the Internet completely turned this dynamic upside down the moment there was a downward shift in the inclination to pay for information. There was a time when…
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Glocul Mag
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How to Build Raving Fans
17 Jun 2013 | 6:24 pmFans for an artist are what votes are to an election candidate. I’ve heard so many of you struggling to develop a passionate fan base. Therefore, I thought I should speak with someone from amongst us and discuss how he is developing raving fans. The name of today’s guest is Jesse Terry. Although he doesn’t [...] -
Creativity is the Norm; Let’s Talk Commerce
10 Jun 2013 | 8:13 pmBy Sharmeen Akbani Gangat Kill me, sue me… whatever. But, I maintain that a creative idea is nothing if it is not in tune with the commercial needs or expectations. Especially, in the publishing and entertainment industries where creativity is the norm, a given. It is your idea’s commercial feasibility that makes others sit up [...] -
Why a Television Animation Director Started Blogging — and How She is Finding Success with It
3 Jun 2013 | 8:00 amBefore starting the interview with JC Little (the co-creator of the Disney-syndicated kids TV show, My Life Me), I knew I would focus on her 30-year-long relationship and romance with the world of television as an animation artist. But, during the interview, I realized that she has developed a new crush and obsession, in discussing [...] -
Community Building: The New Process Of Film Making (And Marketing)
28 May 2013 | 4:08 pmIn 2005, after I studied the craft of filmmaking at the New York University, I remember reading an article in The New York Times that compared a film degree to an MBA. In appeal and applicability. That article single-handedly divided my perspective into a before-and-after category. For instance, as a film student, I believed that [...]
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BRAND IDENTITY, REBRANDING AND PACKAGE DESIGN
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My First Google Hangout Interview: “Branded Alive”
11 Jun 2013 | 7:48 pmMarketing today is filled with so much double-talk and corporate marketing-speak that it makes the DaVinci Code look like a simple crossword puzzle. So, when I was asked by Randy Bowden to be interviewed about branding and other marketing-related questions in straightforward conversation, I was thrilled (though a little hesitant since I find some of these online video-based services to be less than ideal. Clunky. Non-intuitive. Glitchy.) But through his persuasive charm and gracious help, Randy oriented me nicely so we could get this Google Hangout interview done. Branding is a Cost of Sale,… -
Turning Clients Into Rock Stars: 4 Who Made It
10 Jun 2013 | 7:25 pmClients look to branding professionals to make them and their brands look good. As in, rock star good. Don’t actors catapult their careers on the recognition factor of their work well beyond the box office with such tools as the Oscars and the Golden Globes? Or the Grammys for musicians? Or the Tonys for Broadway? Or the Emmys for TV? Each of those “recognition milestones” helps build more of that aura of “awesomeness” that followers, fans and customers seem to enjoy being part of. For those familiar with the dynamics of social media, it falls into that realm of… -
Live from Hollywood: The David Brier Interview on Branding
27 May 2013 | 7:14 pm“What is branding?” is one of the most common questions I get asked. I will answer this and many more questions about marketing, standing out, getting heard, rising above the noise and gaining new customers this Thursday which you can hear live and raw, with nothing pre-recorded. Hollywood has “called” before with James Bond, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey and Anne Hathaway. I’ll explain. Unplugged. Unscripted. Opinionated. A couple of weeks ago, I’d received this email asking if I’d be willing to do a radio interview. The program host, Wendi Cooper, is a… -
The Impossible Brand Formula (New Slideshare Presentation)
15 May 2013 | 12:16 pmAfter being alerted this morning by Slideshare that my presentations have collectively been viewed over 459,000 times (with two more of those nearing the remarkable 100,000 landmark), I decided to do a celebratory dance in the form of a new Slideshare presentation. I took one of the most popular posts on Rising Above The Noise and repurposed it with new insights and visuals. Why “The Impossible Brand Formula”? The title was inspired by a stunning quote from the fighting legend Muhammad Ali: “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in… -
Is Your Business Using the (Ethical) Science of Persuasion?
3 May 2013 | 10:21 amJames Bond. Ferris Bueller. ET. They all had a certain type of persuasion and influence. Persuasion. Even though it’s not a 4-letter word, people have strong opinions about it. Used well, it defines the skill of someone who rapidly engages others, gains near-instantaneous adoption of ideas and seems to get faster support when needed than the average Joe. There’s also the abused, dark side of persuasion, as demonstrated in movies like Wall Street, Body Heat or the Godfather. Persuasion. It Isn’t How Far to Go, But Knowing What to Do That Matters Somehow, this just came on my…
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Landor Blog
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Packaging that delivers—literally
17 Jun 2013 | 4:08 amIt has become increasingly difficult to differentiate your product from those of your competitors. One method to encourage consumers to select your brand over others is to use a package that helps deliver the product. Although gimmicks abound (vortex bottles and punch-top cans help drinks flow right out), there are viable solutions that provide inspiration. The Fage sidecar yogurt tub is not only an attractive package decorated with high-quality, in-mold labeling, but it also employs a hinged cup with honey or fruit dispensed by tipping the articulated package to pour the sweet treat into the… -
Mad Men’s worst practices for brand engagement in a merger
14 Jun 2013 | 3:16 amSpoiler Alert: This article covers key moments of past episodes in Mad Men season six, including last week’s episode 11, “Favors.” With all of the shocking moments we were treated to in last Sunday night’s Mad Men episode, one that captured my attention as a branding expert was the deal Don makes with Ted. In exchange for Ted securing an Air National Guard spot for Sylvia’s son, Don agrees to finally stop the internal battle he has been waging with Ted ever since the merger of SCDP and CGC. If their bargain sticks, this could be good news for the freshly merged agency, because thus… -
Can BlackBerry do what RIM couldn't?
13 Jun 2013 | 8:43 amA brand is more than a name. It is a set of associations with products or services that get built up in the mind of the customer over a period of time. These associations imbue the name with meaning. Strong brands are not built on great names but on differentiated and relevant brand experiences that they deliver to all their stakeholders. Therefore, a name change cannot save a brand. Neither can it shield it from a tarnished image, especially if the product or service fails to live up to customer expectations. Let’s take the recent case of Research in Motion (RIM) changing its corporate… -
Brand color: Close is not good enough
13 Jun 2013 | 3:47 amThe bullseye on the latest Tide laundry detergent label is “pretty close” to the official Tide Orange. That’s okay, right? The Hershey Brown on the new promo pack is in the general neighborhood of the approved spec. Not a problem. Think again! For brand managers, equity colors are sacred. Design directors demand accurate, exact color reproduction— every time! As brand stakeholders, we have an obligation to ensure consistency in our brand palette. Variant colors are important as well. Shopability depends on sufficient differentiation and consistency of flavor colors. -
Lessons from the “lemonade wars” in Apple's courtroom drama with Samsung
11 Jun 2013 | 5:38 amForget Apple’s patent drama with Samsung. Forget Apple’s ebook pricing problem. Forget Apple’s current share price concerns. These are issues, for now. But they’re not what consumers, or the media, or Wall Street, or most importantly, Apple, should be concentrating on when it considers the future of its brand. These issues are minor parts of the bigger challenge—whether Apple can provide the best total user experience in the years to come, which is ultimately what is required to keep it the reigning category leader. It’s not only the headlines on the business pages that got me…
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TRAY creative
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New study: Seattleites love “local”… but many need more incentives
6 Jun 2013 | 2:36 pmA new consumer study has revealed that Seattle-area residents care about local, independent businesses: 88% say that supporting these businesses is either very or somewhat important in their purchase decisions, and many are willing to pay more for the privilege. The love, however, is not without limits: Two-thirds of these consumers need more incentives to “think local” – presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for local businesses. The study’s main findings were unveiled at an event titled “What Seattle Really Thinks About Local,” held at HUB Seattle, and jointly presented… -
New study to reveal insights about Seattle-area consumers
20 May 2013 | 9:05 amIn the battle for economic supremacy in the United States, the Goliaths – the big box stores, the discount retailers, the fast food chains, the massive corporations – appear to have a lot of advantages over truly local, independent businesses, thanks in part to sheer buying power, availability of resources, and favorable government regulations and policies. There’s one area, however, in which the big players simply can’t measure up. Their locally owned competitors have a much deeper knowledge of – and a much more personal bond with – the communities they serve. That kind… -
Announcing the ADVANTAGE: LOCAL event series for Seattle businesses
2 May 2013 | 9:15 amIf you run a locally owned and independently operated business in the greater Seattle area, we’ve got some exciting news. TRAY Creative is partnering with the nonprofit Seattle Good Business Network and Seattle-based customer insights agency Hemispheres to present ADVANTAGE: LOCAL — a new event series offering marketing and branding strategies for Seattle’s local, independent businesses. It’s all about sharing best practices and translating your locally focused values and practices into loyal customer relationships. Tickets are on sale now for the premiere event, “What… -
Sure, you can cancel. But first, a sad flute.
25 Apr 2013 | 9:05 amWhen it comes to consumer perception of brands, it’s the little things that count. Things as small, in fact, as the hold music. Recently I decided to cancel a particular service I’d been using through Register.com, the domain registration provider. I was hoping to handle this quickly and efficiently online, but as is the case with so many service providers, I wasn’t allowed to do that. To cancel, I had to pick up the phone and speak to a sales agent. To his credit, the agent I spoke to was extremely professional and entirely willing to let me cancel, no questions asked. None… -
Niche marketing goes barking mad: a TV channel for dogs
10 Apr 2013 | 10:08 amIn an age where seemingly every niche market gets its own cable TV network, you knew something like this was coming: DirecTV has just announced the addition of DogTV, a premium channel targeted exclusively to dogs. Not dog owners. Dogs. DogTV features images and audio claimed to be specifically calibrated for canine sensitivities. According to the DogTV website, the channel’s programming “helps stimulate, entertain, relax and habituate dogs with shows that expose them to various movements, sounds, objects, experiences and behavior patterns, all from a dog’s point of view.”…
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The Finch Post
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Acela – Picking the Right Battle?
12 Jun 2013 | 7:04 amWe don’t generally use this space to criticize other firms’ work and I won’t start today – Draftfcb's ad campaign for Amtrak’s Acela is very appealing on the surface. The question is whether or not Amtrak and its ad agency picked the right competitor to target. The campaign blends sleek, beautiful train imagery with snappy headlines taking direct aim at the inconveniences of air travel. It effectively targets the business traveler in the copy, making a clever and compelling case for taking the train versus flying the northeast corridor. And they have a point – from cost… -
A Giant Awakens - Nike Sharpens Its Focus
5 Jun 2013 | 11:03 amThe degree to which Nike has become part of the larger athletic narrative is a sign of its reach and influence. Yet several recent corporate decisions have suggested that the company may be refocusing on durable brand and business building. The company is taking action in two specific areas – at the athlete endorsement level and in the maintenance of its wholesale channel – that suggest we may see a sharper, more focused Nike moving forward. The company’s close associations with athletes (and the ever-changing way in which those athletes relate to the public) has become more than an… -
The Soul of An Entrepreneur
29 May 2013 | 8:15 amOn Wednesday, I had the privilege of moderating a panel focused on building retail brands. The two panelists could not have seemed more different. On the end sat Nick Bayer, the polished, Cornell-educated, Founder and President of Saxbys Coffee, a coffee café business of approximately 30 stores with solid funding, a rapidly maturing brand and an aggressive growth plan. Saxbys is a company on the rise; delivering a personal touch ‘big coffee’ can’t match, with operational excellence the mom-and-pops’ can’t promise – as its thousands of enthusiasts will attest. Beside me sat… -
Creating and Presenting Your Portfolio
21 May 2013 | 12:06 pmTomorrow night I'm heading to Portfolio Night (PN11) in Philadelphia with some of the Finch Brands team. In preparation for the event, it has occurred to me that I give the same advice every time I interview a candidate for employment or an internship. And funny enough, many companies we meet with are also recipients of the same advice given to interviewees. No matter the quality of the work, there always seems to be the same misstep. Don't forget to take a step back and SEE YOURSELF THROUH THE CUSTOMER'S EYES. It's simple; so simple that most people and businesses… -
Penn State in Philadelphia?
25 Apr 2013 | 7:30 amAn energetic ad campaign for something called ‘Penn State in Philly’ received heavy run during March Madness (alas, more than the University’s perpetually disappointing men’s basketball team). This is a smart strategic move and, based on our experience, an extraordinary organizational achievement. Penn State consists of 24 campuses across the Commonwealth. There is no physical Penn State undergraduate campus in the City of Philadelphia – the largest campus is several hours northwest of here. This campaign is actually a joint effort of several smaller, suburban campuses – including…
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Brandful Workforce
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America’s Not Got All The Talent
14 Jun 2013 | 11:20 amThis week I was in Las Vegas speaking at a conference on workforce planning. This topic explores how organizations can best plan for the right mix of talent competencies they will need in the next ten years to achieve success. Not easy with the retirement of many baby boomers. It was interesting to note which skills will be needed and where there are voids – for example: computer programming. We have to bring in computer programmers from outside the country right now to fill this gap. Some organizations are already beginning to take action to address the need for more computer… -
Should Every Employee Be a Brand Ambassador?
7 Jun 2013 | 9:18 amI’ve seen organizations designate certain employees (over others) to be brand ambassadors. They have a set of criteria and if the employee lives up to it, he is chosen. This doesn’t make any sense to me. What message does this send to the employees who are not brand ambassadors and doesn’t every employee represent the brand anyway? Don’t worry about the potential bottom 5-10% of your staff who are underperformers or “problem employees.” These folks already suck way too much time and attention from your managers and should be held accountable. It’s like the problem… -
A Photo Is Worth More Than Just Words
30 May 2013 | 6:57 amLast week, someone asked me to describe what a brandful workforce actually looks like. I hesitated to answer as I needed to clarify the question: “You mean, visually?” My colleague nodded. I hadn’t actually thought of it before, but my mind immediately came to an image of photos. I had heard that the lobby of Southwest Airlines corporate headquarters was plastered with photos of cabin crews, airplanes, gate agents, families, managers, friends, and office employees that were taken throughout the history of the airline. When I worked at JetBlue, I could walk up to any office… -
Cream of The Crap
23 May 2013 | 8:44 amThis week I was speaking on a panel at The Cleveland Clinic’s Patient Empathy and Innovation Summit – how to build and sustain a culture of service excellence. Quite an important topic in the healthcare industry, where the top performers in patient experience are known as the “cream of the crap,” according to Dr. David Feinberg, CEO of UCLA Health System. Part of the foundation for building a brandful workforce (one that works FOR the brand, not against it), is first having a product or service that employees are proud of – quite difficult at a hospital where one… -
Patagonia’s Business Changed Because They Listened to Employees
16 May 2013 | 11:02 amThis week, I came across a great story from Patagonia. Prior to using organic cotton in their clothing, Patagonia had opened a new store in which employees were suffering headaches. They listened and brought in an environmental engineer to investigate the problem. The engineer found that the air in the work environment had toxins due to the materials being used in making the clothing. From this, Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s CEO, took it upon himself to research what all goes into clothing and could there be another way? From his journey, he is now not only a proponent of organic cotton…
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places | brands
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Twin Cities: St.Petersburg Learns from Barcelona’s Example
11 Jun 2013 | 6:47 amBy Viola Serdyukova The city branding technique is a relative newcomer in Russian government strategy. Moscow and St.Petersburg have always been tagged as Russia’s ‘best tourist choices’, since they have the strongest images in the outside world. Nevertheless, this doesn’t decrease the need for Russia to adapt and apply techniques from the world’s best city branding projects to the Russian reality. For the sake of this comparison, one of St. Petersburg’s twin cities, Barcelona, is cast in the role of ‘elder brother’, by demonstrating a strong example for city… -
Brand Colombia Resurgent: Interview with Marca País Colombia
3 Jun 2013 | 12:16 amDaniel Reyes is the Chief Communications Officer for Marca País Colombia, the official Colombian country branding agency. PlacesBrands chats to him about the recent resurgence of Brand Colombia, overcoming past challenges, innovative social media use, and the city of Medellín. —– PlacesBrands: Hi Daniel, thanks for doing this interview. I’ve been following Colombia’s branding efforts for some time now, and I’ve been impressed with the innovative use of social media to communicate new branding messages to a global audience. I’ve noticed a positive patriotic… -
Belgrade: Barcelona of the Balkans?
29 May 2013 | 4:25 amphoto credit: Tal Bright via photopin cc According to Monocle magazine, Serbia has a ‘serious image problem.’ If people know anything about Serbia at all, they tend to associate vague and blurred images of war and massacre. That’s sort of understandable, because the last time Serbia became well-known was during the late 1990s Kosovo war. News reports from that era definitely didn’t paint the country in a glowing light. Regular coverage of Serb army brutality against the Kosovar Albanian population cast Serbia in the role of heartless enemy led by crazed Communist… -
Rebuilding Brand Boston After The Marathon Bombings
23 May 2013 | 12:45 amphoto credit: Stuck in Customs via photopin cc By Sabrina Caserta (With special contribution by Dr. Hume Johnson) One month after the tragic Boston marathon bombing of April 15, 2013, where three people were killed and 264 injured, the city of Boston is picking up the proverbial pieces and Bostonians are moving on with their lives. The great city of Boston, birthplace of the American Revolution, home to some of the world’s finest educational institutions, headquarters of world-renowned sports teams, a pivotal cornerstone in American politics and a major metropolis of commerce has been… -
Will the European Union 2020 Strategy Bring New Opportunities for Place Branding Projects?
17 May 2013 | 7:21 amBy Eduardo Oliveira Setting the context Some time ago I wrote my own thoughts about the European Union 2020 Strategy and its implications for the practice of place branding. This is my follow up of the ideas I shared. There are various interconnected reasons that motivated me to keep exploring the European Union (EU) policy and place branding, which I will now explore here. Firstly, the European Union opened the formal talks on the European Union budget for the coming seven years (2014-2020) on a meeting on Monday evening (May 6) between the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso,…
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denise lee yohn: brand as business bites™
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trust truths and other bits from summer brand camp
17 Jun 2013 | 6:19 ambrand as business bit: What do you get when you bring together Human Resources, Marketing, and Ops people for an event featuring best-selling business book authors, a talent show, a community service project, and lots of stickers, beads, and trail mix?! Summer Brand Camp, an annual “conference” for the restaurant industry staged by People Report / Black Box Intelligence — it’s a mash-up that’s fun, thought-provoking, and well, a little campy. I had the privilege of speaking at the event a couple of weeks ago — I also learned a lot from the other… -
social media smarts
12 Jun 2013 | 6:09 amIn my latest QSR Magazine column, I lay out keys to social media success. Frankly it was a difficult column to write — not only because there are so many media options and new ones are emerging daily (I just learned about Ban.jo and Muuver this week), but also because there are so many ways to use these tools. In the end, I decided to start with the basics, outline my take on the most popular social media sites, and emphasize the importance of an implementation plan — planning the who, what, when, and how of your social efforts. One point that didn’t make the edit is… -
change happens
10 Jun 2013 | 5:41 amChange, like sh*t, happens – but unlike its inevitable parallel, change doesn’t have to be messy and unpleasant. In fact, I recently heard Joni Doolin of People Report/Black Box Intelligence make an important distinction that clarified the upside of change: change is passive, but transformation presents an opportunity for you to play an active role and create a better future. Change takes many forms: a competitor introduces a breakthrough innovation, new company leaders replace established ones, new channels emerge, a customer or key strategic partner shuts down, a new technology… -
how to pick a marketing agency
7 Jun 2013 | 5:27 amWhen you’re ready to make a significant investment in the future and engage outside marketing resources, take care to make a smart decision. To pick the right marketing agency for your firm, there are a few things you should consider. Take a listen: -
leadership lessons from the national restaurant association 2013 show
5 Jun 2013 | 6:46 amIn May, 2013, business leaders from the restaurant industry gathered in Chicago for the 2013 National Restaurant Association Show. Here are the best sound bites about leadership from the presentations and discussions by the CEOs of leading and emerging restaurant chains including Firehouse Subs, Corner Bakery, and Argo Tea. Leadership Lessons from the National Restaurant Association 2013 Show (by Denise Lee Yohn) from Denise Yohn related: Whole Foods for Thought Steve Jobs on Brand-Building 2012 National Restaurant Association Show Highlights (video)
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Siegel+Gale
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A brand gone postal
17 Jun 2013 | 4:00 am“I love your jacket, who are your wearing?” “Oh this? It’s USPS.” This conversation may not seem so odd come next year. That’s right, the United States Postal service is now in the clothing business. Together with Cleveland-based apparel manufacturer, Wahconah Group, Inc., it’s introducing the “Rain Heat & Snow” collection of men’s outerwear in 2014. -
Yoda, the brand (and ultimate mentor)
13 Jun 2013 | 4:00 amAt the recent Silicon Valley Brand Forum, the topic du jour was “Building Brands through Storytelling.” Siegel+Gale’s Jason Baer led a panel and insights abounded throughout the day. -
The days of brick and mortar are over. Or are they?
11 Jun 2013 | 4:00 amWith US e-commerce spending set to hit $262 billion this year, how do traditional retailers keep attracting customers’ hard-earned dollars? -
Brand self-awareness
10 Jun 2013 | 3:00 amBack in December, I decided that 2013 would be a year of self-awareness. Since then, I’ve attended meditation retreats and yoga classes in various disciplines. I’ve watched countless documentaries, sought out peaceful places around the city and read books by such realized beings as Ramana Maharshi and Ram Dass. -
3 unreasonable things you should expect from your content strategist
7 Jun 2013 | 10:39 amWhen I tell people what I do, their first question is usually, "What the heck is a content strategist?" In many ways, content strategy is a field that's still being defined. One of the best definitions out there is from Kristina Halvorson, who says, "Content strategy plans for the creation, publication and governance of useful, usable content."
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Logo Design Blog >> Logo Designer and Consumer Resource Portal
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Things A Husband Should Do For a Graphic Designer Wife!
17 Jun 2013 | 5:17 amIn one of my previous posts, I explained how in small ways, graphic designers’ wives can play an important role in making life comfortable for their creative husbands. But like all other fields, there is no dearth of women (read: highly successful) in graphic and logo design industry. There is a possibility that your graphic designer wife maybe one of them too – the like of Paula Scher or Laura Smith, etc. If she’s just getting started in her career, it needs lots of patience and generosity on the part of the husband to help her out in times of need. Even as an established… -
How Can Logo Designers Manage Their Time Effectively?
13 Jun 2013 | 8:38 amManaging time could be a problem. Time issues have been with people since a long time and majority of them are not able to manage it properly. What do you mean by saying, “my time is not managed”? It means that you are probably eating your time, it means spending time at things when you are not supposed to. When situation like this comes then others things are at stake. For instance, you are driving to your office and suddenly get stuck in a traffic jam. Now the time at which you are supposed to reach your office will run out. You will get late and your time for work got wasted. -
How Graphic Designers’ Wives Play An Important Role.
4 Jun 2013 | 2:40 amIt is time for wives now to play their parts. It is true that whatever men earn is a collective effort and whatever they do is for the family but wives will have to realize how much stress men sometimes take to get things done. Now, they will have to think about ways to encourage their men to be more productive at work. When it comes to graphic designing, the work is all about putting brains to bring out something creative. On the other hand, there are time issues as well as a sturdy routine which make it very difficult for most designers to focus. Especially those who are… -
“Love Letters – Hand Drawn Alphabet”: A Typography Treat!
28 May 2013 | 11:33 pmThere is a method used to rearrange language in such a way that it becomes prominent. It is called typography. It is a form of art which specifically includes techniques of arrangement of type through line length, typefaces, leading, point size and adjustment of letters. Typographic letters are made by practitioners such as typographers, designers of graphics, directors of art, compositors, graffiti and book artists. The use is not only limited to these people but anyone who has the requirement of arranging type for a product will make use of it. Now the digital industry has a drastic… -
How is Brand Marketing affected by the use of Warm & Cool Colors?
20 May 2013 | 2:29 amThe primary motive of people who run brands is to attract people to buy their products. To achieve that end, they invest not only their time but also a lot of money. They try different marketing and advertising approaches and apply methods to make their businesses profitable. Apart from targeting a successful business, they have to be clear about their work objectives. If above mentioned things are important for a business survival then equally important is the medium they choose to market their products. Business selling food products will not think about marketing t-shirts (unless…
