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Branding When Times Are Tough

(Reading Time: 4 minutes)

It’s not pretty out there.

Recent economic events do not paint a rosy picture for anyone trying to grow a business. Credit has tightened. Consumer confidence is down. Bad news has rippled through every segment of the economy, and what happens next is anyone’s guess.

Call me crazy, but I believe these down-cycles are actually net-positive. Why? Because they teach us to do more with less and to evaluate every dollar that we invest. These are lessons that will serve our brands for years to come. Continue reading “Branding When Times Are Tough”

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Microsoft, Seinfeld & Gates: Less Than the Sum of the Parts

(Reading Time: 2 minutes)

Let’s say you’re Microsoft.

Your nemesis, Apple, has been running a highly visible and effective campaign in which your brand is personified as a clueless dolt.

Your product-performance shortcomings (and there are many) have been systematically exposed and attacked.

As a result, Apple’s share is growing, particularly with younger users, which does not bode well for your future.

What do you do?

Try this: Launch a new campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, in which Seinfeld helps Gates shop for shoes in a cheesy mall store, and then asks Gates if computers could be made to taste like cake. Continue reading “Microsoft, Seinfeld & Gates: Less Than the Sum of the Parts”

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How to Kill Your Brand – 40 Easy Ways!

(Reading Time: 5 minutes)

Pointless advertising. Unresponsive customer service departments. Convoluted buying processes. If I didn’t know better, I’d think some companies were actually trying to kill their brands.

Since so many companies seem determined to destroy their brands through boneheaded moves and bad decisions, I thought I’d lend them a hand.

If you’re serious about killing your brand, I’m pleased to offer 40 tips and tricks – guaranteed to set your brand on the path to miserable, abject failure! Continue reading “How to Kill Your Brand – 40 Easy Ways!”

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Brand Cincinnati – Readers Speak

Brand Cincinnati Downtown
(Reading Time: 4 minutes)

Some weeks ago, I challenged readers to step into the imaginary role of Cincinnati Brand Manager. We on my Agenda 360 team had been discussing the Greater Cincinnati brand idea, and we thought it a good idea to engage as many minds as possible.

To that end, I asked for your perspective regarding the building blocks of “Brand Cincinnati”: Its character, assets, differences, benefits and overall equity. Continue reading “Brand Cincinnati – Readers Speak”

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Three Kinds of Brand Consistency

(Reading Time: 4 minutes)

Meet Stan. Stan works over in accounting. He is, you might say, a little buttoned-up. His shirts are so well-starched that they deflect bullets. On Casual Friday, he lets loose by wearing jeans – with crisply ironed pleats. He has a picture of Rush Limbaugh in his office, which is so immaculate it makes his co-workers anxious. And a hair out of place? Not on Stan’s head.

But one Monday morning, Stan arrives looking like he missed the bus to Bonnaroo. He’s wearing baggy hemp clothing, his hair resembles a bird’s nest, and he hasn’t seen the working end of his razor in days. Barack has replaced Rush in the frame on his desk. Continue reading “Three Kinds of Brand Consistency”

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The Do-Say Ratio

(Reading Time: 4 minutes)

“What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say.”

So said Ralph Waldo Emerson back in the 19th century. Could it be that ol’ Ralph had something to offer the modern-day brand-builder?

Two Brand “Buckets”

I submit that every brand has two conceptual “buckets” – a Say bucket and a Do bucket. Every marketing and branding decision, plus a number of operational, managerial and cultural choices, fall into one of these two buckets. Continue reading “The Do-Say Ratio”

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Two Kinds of Companies

(Reading Time: 3 minutes)

It’s happening, and it’s happening right now. At this very moment.

It’s happening in board rooms, in grocery stores, online and a million other places: Companies are either getting better at making customers happy, or they’re getting worse. None stay the same.

Somewhere, there’s a VP of finance who convinces her CEO to reduce staff in the customer service center to hit the annual budget. Both execs are aware that doing so is good for their stock options, at least in the short term.

Somewhere else, there’s a CEO who recognizes just how critical his customer service department is. He knows that, in many cases, that department provides the only human point of contact between the company and its customers. So he hires carefully, trains thoroughly, rewards properly and defines jobs intelligently. Continue reading “Two Kinds of Companies”

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“Brand Cincinnati – How Would You Define It?”

(Reading Time: 3 minutes)

Up for a challenge? Read on.

A few months ago, I was honored to have been asked to join the Livable Communities team of Agenda 360. Agenda 360, as you may know, is a rather bold initiative, with the mission of “transforming Cincinnati USA, by the year 2020, into a leading metropolitan region for talent, jobs and economic opportunity for all who call our region home.”

The work of Agenda 360 will be merged with initiatives already underway in Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana, in order to create a cohesive agenda and action plan for the entire Tri-State. (You can find out more at Cincinnati360.com.) Continue reading ““Brand Cincinnati – How Would You Define It?””

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The Brand Experience Map

(Reading Time: 4 minutes)

In my last post, I took to task a local chain of fitness centers for announcing a “re-branding” but delivering only a “name change.” Because your brand is everything you do, I argued, you can’t truly re-brand by simply slapping on some paint and putting up a new sign – or redesigning your logo, website or whatever.

If you want to re-brand, you have to change the experience you provide. That’s because your experience creates perceptions in the minds of your customers. Those perceptions, in turn, define your brand. Continue reading “The Brand Experience Map”