Helping good people build great brands.
It’s with some pride that I announce that my company, Three Deuce Branding, is a recipient of a 2009 Small Business Excellence Award from the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.
Nominees were judged on six categories:
Continue reading “Three Deuce Branding: 2009 Small Business Excellence Award winner!”
That Branding Thing reader Sean Grace asked a great question in the “comments” section of my previous post. He wrote:
“Matthew, what kinds of things do you think Domino’s can do in the near future to begin to win back the trust of customers? What would work in your opinion?”
I won’t claim to be a PR expert, but I’ll offer a few ideas. Continue reading “How Should Domino’s Respond?”
The Microsoft Lauren ad is the tech giant’s latest effort in its war with Apple. In this spot, an Everywoman is given $1000 to shop for a computer that meets her specs. Inevitably, she selects a PC.
The spot is flawed in both concept and execution. Continue reading “The Microsoft Lauren Ad – Another Loser”
The new Tropicana package design is an epic, unmitigated failure.
AdAge reports that Tropicana’s packaging change was not just a customer-relations fiasco. It was also a financial drain on the brand. Dollar sales of Tropicana Pure Premium dropped 19% from Jan. 1 to Feb. 22 of this year. (Category dollar sales fell 5% in the same time period.) On Feb. 23, Tropicana announced that it was pulling the new design and reverting to the old.
Both designs are shown below, with the original Tropicana package design on the left, and the new (recently removed) design on the right.
I can’t think of a bigger design snafu in recent history. And there’s been quite a bit of talk in the marketing community about what exactly went wrong. Consensus seems to be that it’s a failure of marketing research – that research should have kept this design from hitting the shelves. I’ve got a different point of view. Continue reading “Tropicana Package Design: Out with the Old, In with the New, Out with the New…”
Looking for better results from your marketing and branding efforts? The answer may be as simple as digging a little deeper.
Too often, we opt for the fast, easy or cheap choice, when it’s really the accurate choice that we need. As budgets are reduced, this pressure increases. When this happens, we sacrifice long-term benefits for short-term convenience. Continue reading “Want better results? Dig deep.”
Fourteen people, ranging in age from 16 to 60ish, stand in a circle in a large room.
A ball is rapidly tossed across the circle. Our leader, Missy Whitis, instructs us to remember two things: Who threw us the ball, and who we threw it to next.
A second ball is introduced. This time, the pattern is reversed, so that two balls are moving simultaneously in opposite directions. Continue reading “Improv and Innovation”
So the results are in:
Here we go again: More big marketing without a big idea.
By now you’ve probably seen the TV ads for the Whopper Virgins concept. The premise: In a taste test with indigenous people from the most remote corners of the globe – people with no prior knowledge of the existence of the fast-food giants – who wins, Burger King or McDonald’s?
The TV spots attempt to drive visits to the WhopperVirgins.com website. Once there, you’ll find copy like this: Continue reading “BrandSniper: Whopper Virgins”
The scene would be surreal if it weren’t so familiar.
A man sits before a table. He is in the desert, though he is oblivious to this fact; he sits in air-conditioned comfort in a building designed to evoke the city of Venice, Italy. Above him is a chandelier the size of a compact car. A vodka tonic is in his left hand; it was given to him, free of charge, by a leggy blonde in a revealing outfit. Continue reading “Brand Benefits – Beyond the Functional”
It’s the eve of the 2008 presidential election, and this has been an absolutely fascinating campaign when viewed through the lens of brand positioning. I’m not writing today to endorse either candidate, but rather to offer a few thoughts about the strategies and tactics used by each. Continue reading “Positioning and Our Next President”