Category: Brand Mindset

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What Challenger Brands Can Learn From Ronda Rousey’s Stunning Loss

Ronda Rousey Holly Holm Challenger Brands
(Reading Time: 3 minutes)

It was the greatest upset in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) history.

Rousey entered Saturday night’s fight as the bantamweight champion. She was undefeated – 12-0 with 9 arm-bar submissions. Her prior three fights had lasted 34, 14 and 16 seconds. (Those aren’t typos.)

By the end of the night, the belt belonged to Holm, about a 10-to-1 underdog before the fight began. Holm knocked out Rousey less than a minute into the second round with a vicious kick to the head. But Rousey was losing the fight badly before that.

What can challenger brands learn from this shocking upset? Continue reading “What Challenger Brands Can Learn From Ronda Rousey’s Stunning Loss”

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8 Lessons for Challenger Brands From the Top 100 Global Brands

(Reading Time: 4 minutes)

Earlier this week, WPP and Millward Brown released the annual “BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Brands Ranking.” The news this year is that Apple jumped Google for the #1 spot; the top ten is rounded out by Microsoft, IBM, Visa, AT&T, Verizon, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Marlboro. (The press release, with links to more information, can be found here.)

The Top Ten – according to Millward Brown.

Such lists can serve merely as conversation-starters, like discussing with your friends the top five live albums of all time.*** But for those of us who didn’t make this ranking, there’s much to be learned. Below, I offer eight lessons, inspired by this list, that challenger brands can apply. Continue reading “8 Lessons for Challenger Brands From the Top 100 Global Brands”

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Dove, Bud and the Quest for Real Brand Values

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Budweiser debuted one of this year’s most-discussed Super Bowl ads. Called “Brewed the Hard Way,” it’s still running. I saw it twice on CBS yesterday.

In this spot, Bud declares, in screen-filling block text, that it’s “proudly a macro beer.”

“It’s not brewed to be fussed over,” the text announces, as a bearded, bespectacled hipster inhales deeply from a tulip glass filled with a stout-like brew. “It’s brewed for a crisp smooth finish.”

“It’s brewed for drinking, not dissecting,” it continues. We see more hipsters, this time sampling a beer flight.

“Let them sip their pumpkin peach ale,” it proclaims. “We’ll be brewing us some golden suds.”

Why the broadside against craft brews and those who drink them? Continue reading “Dove, Bud and the Quest for Real Brand Values”

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Make 2015 a Year of First Principles

First Principles Challenger Brands Emerson
(Reading Time: 3 minutes)

“As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I once came across a website that sold manuals for creating Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) to small businesses. Among the preposterous sales claims for this manual was the following: Continue reading “Make 2015 a Year of First Principles”

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“Would You Rather Have a Better Brand or Better Product?”: A Response to Al Ries

Better Brand or Better Product Al Ries
(Reading Time: 3 minutes)

Recently, marketing guru Al Ries published a piece in Advertising Age, with his thesis right there in the title:

“Having a Better Brand Is Better Than Having a Better Product”

Here are a few excerpts from Mr. Ries’ piece:

There are no facts. Everything in life is “perceptions.” There are no superior products. There are only superior perceptions in consumers’ minds.

What else do we know about perceptions? They are very difficult to change. Once a person holds a strong perception about a specific brand, it’s extremely difficult to change that perception. Continue reading ““Would You Rather Have a Better Brand or Better Product?”: A Response to Al Ries”

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Dirty Marketing Tricks

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Three weeks ago, I received an email from a local business publication I subscribe to. The subject line read:

“Action Required on Account No. ###”

The body of the email included the following copy (all caps theirs):

“Your print and digital access will expire if you don’t ACT NOW!”

“Don’t let your subscription end! RENEW IMMEDIATELY!”

Screen Shot 2014-09-05 at 2.32.59 PM
Part of the offensive email.

Continue reading “Dirty Marketing Tricks”

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Radio Shack’s Super Bowl Fumble

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Radio Shack ran an ad during this year’s Super Bowl. It was essentially an acknowledgement that their stores have been horribly out-of-date.

After establishing the premise of “The 80’s called – they want their store back,” a stream of retro characters poured into a Radio Shack store and began to dismantle it.

Hey look! It's Hulk Hogan! And Erik Estrada! And the guy from Cheers! Let's go buy electronics!
Hey look! It’s Hulk Hogan! And Erik Estrada! And the guy from Cheers! Let’s go buy electronics!

Some people liked it. “Funny!” they said. Or, “Look at all these characters I recognize!” Or, “I’m in my mid-forties, and I equate these warm pangs of nostalgia with quality advertising!” Continue reading “Radio Shack’s Super Bowl Fumble”

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“The Experiment So Far Has Been a Success.”

Experiment So Far Has Been a Success
(Reading Time: 2 minutes)

During the Discovery phase of a recent project, I was fortunate to spend some time chatting with the company’s founder.  Though he’s no longer very active in the business, he clearly conveyed the values on which the company was founded three decades ago. The employees live these values to this day.

He’s a wise, charming fellow, full of character, and I could really see why his customers loved him.  Among the dozens of kernels of wisdom that I gathered in that conversation, one really stuck with me.  When I asked him about the history of the company, he wrapped up a story of impressive growth by saying simply:

“The experiment so far has been a success.”

The more I think about this statement, the more I like it, and it reflects an excellent attitude for business-builders to adopt.  Let’s break it into pieces:

Continue reading ““The Experiment So Far Has Been a Success.””