Helping good people build great brands.
“Manipulating the masses into buying stuff they don’t need! That’s what I do! That’s marketing!”
That’s an actual quote I once heard from a marketing director. This was during an inventing session, the goal of which was to create new products that would make his customers (in other words, people) happier.
I’ve also been in a conference room when an executive flat-out called his customers (also people) “stupid.”
Continue reading “If Nothing Else, Start With Respect”
Here are ten resolutions I propose for leaders of brands – a set of reminders to help guide your success in 2020 and beyond. Read them, live them, laminate them!
Continue reading “Ten Resolutions for a Better Brand in 2020”(Reading Time: < 1 minutes)Why is consumer trust of marketers at an all-time low?
Because, in part, of crap like this. Continue reading “More Dirty Marketing Tricks”
(Reading Time: < 1 minutes)J.K. Rowling is a hack.
I don’t believe that, but some people do. Devotees of Hemingway think she uses too many adverbs, probably. And some call her stories “derivative.”
Many, many others love Rowling’s vividly imaginative worlds and the lessons of her stories. More than a few people even have Harry Potter tattoos. And, as Roy Peter Clark notes, Rowling’s gift for naming characters is virtually unparalleled. Continue reading “J.K. Rowling Is a Hack”
(Reading Time: 2 minutes)There’s a terrific scene in the movie “Big,” in which Paul, the rival of Tom Hanks’ Josh, shares his silver-bullet idea for the upcoming year.
In the spirit of toys that transform, it’s a robot that turns into a… building.
“I don’t get it,” Josh famously says. “There’s a million robots that turn into something. This is a building that turns into a robot. What’s fun about playing with a building? That’s not any fun!”
“This is a skyscraper!” Paul insists. Continue reading ““This Is a Skyscraper,” and Other Lies We Tell Ourselves”
(Reading Time: 2 minutes)Be selective.
This is not a suggestion or an empty mantra. It’s one of the very few brand-building imperatives I’ll propose to you.
As a leader of a challenger brand, you’re starting from behind, and with fewer resources than your competitors. And limited resources must be focused if they are to have maximum impact.
Here are five important ways you can be selective: Continue reading “Be Selective (To Do More With Less)”
(Reading Time: 2 minutes)If growing your brand is among your priorities, at some point you’ll face a choice:
Would you rather grow rapidly, even if it means sacrificing the quality of your experience?
Or would you rather grow more slowly, while maintaining or improving the quality of your experience?
In other words: If you had to choose, would you rather be bigger or better? Continue reading “Standing at the Crossroads: Will You Choose Bigger or Better?”
Your brand is not your logo.
Your brand is not your website.
Your brand is not your color scheme.
These are elements of your brand. But they’re not your brand.
Continue reading “Stop worrying about your branding.”
(Reading Time: 2 minutes)In this case, advertising imitates art.
AdWeek reports that Heinz has approved ads that were originally presented on the TV series Mad Men.
In season 6 of that show, set in 1968, Don Draper pitches a series of print ads to Heinz execs. The ads are novel in that they don’t show ketchup at all – only foods that are wanting it. As Don tells the Heinz execs, “The greatest thing you have working for you… is the imagination of the consumer.” Continue reading “Heinz Just Approved Ads From “Mad Men,” and That’s a Good Thing”
(Reading Time: 2 minutes)It’s easy to sit on the sidelines, lobbing grenades at those who have done the work and put something out there.
I’m guilty of this myself at times. I do my best to frame the mistakes of others as lessons for the rest of us, though sometimes I can’t resist making a dig at the truly awful stuff. It’s not like there’s a shortage of bad branding out there.
But focusing only on the negative won’t make you a better leader. And it doesn’t work as a philosophy of life. Continue reading “On the Practice of Active Positivity”