Rachel Ray, the CBS TV personality and Emmy-winning chef, has donated 4 tons of her Nutrish brand of wet and dry dog food to the canine victims of Hurricane Sandy. She believes she should give back in the same way as she makes a living. Everybody who makes a product or offers a service needed [...]
Tag Archives: Brand reputation
4 Pillars of Brand Promise
A friend who is a Fortune 500 exec asked us recently, “What really makes a brand?” We knew he was an experienced and knowledgeable guy, and we owed him a thoughtful reply. What initially came to mind were all the elements that affect a brand: its logo, its catch phrase, its positioning, and so on. [...]
Maximize Your Impressions with Strategically Chosen Logo Wear
When we had Barefoot Wines, like many companies, we used logo products to get our name and image out there. These included T-shirts, tank tops, polo shirts, corkscrews and visors. We always chose the best quality, most long-lasting items we could find to put our logo on. We started to get push back from our [...]
When it comes to Brand Development, Reputation Trumps all Else
When the Exxon Valdez spilled crude oil into the pristine Prince William Sound in 1989, years of building their name recognition instantly worked against them. Their high profile brand was a household word and the incident became a daily topic of conversation. Even though Exxon took responsibility and voluntarily committed massive funds to the clean [...]
Building Customer Loyalty is Critical to Brand Survival
Over the life of your business, either you will build an ever-increasing loyal following, or your business will end. There’s no treading water when it comes to building customer loyalty. If you are not constantly growing your customer base, you are losing it. Satisfied customers, singing your praises to their friends, neighbors, co-workers and family, [...]
Product Branding – 5 Keys to Success
The results of successful product branding are all around us every day. Certain icon brands became synonymous with their products, like Kleenex with facial tissue, and Xerox with copying machines. Other brands imply high quality, such as Tiffany and Mercedes. Still others bring to mind speed and dependability like, FedEx and The Bullet Train. What [...]
Branding Your Business is a Multi-faceted Challenge
The cowboys used branding in the old west to identify their cattle and horses. When particularly excellent beef was identified with a brand, the brand itself gained value. After a while it was expected that beef under that brand was going to be excellent. The repetition of quality delivery over time developed the brand “promise.” [...]
Branding Services Abound – Know What You are Looking For
They say the folks who made the most money during the gold rush were selling shovels. The branding “gold rush” of today is no different. If this was written twenty years ago it would be called Marketing Services Abound. As we advance into the twenty-first century, we continue to see the definition blur between marketing [...]
A Great Brand Story is Engaging, Entertaining and Educational
Today people are looking for the story behind the brand. Where did it come from? How was it marketed? And how is it perceived? Unlike a pitch about features and benefits, a brand story takes you to the often humble origins of a product and its founders. It should contain at least one memorable piece [...]
HBS Branding Blog by David Aaker
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“They laughed when I sat down at the piano — but when I started to play!”
When identifying the top print advertisements and best headlines in the last century of advertising, one written in 1926 by a young copywriter named John Caples, only one year on the job, is always part of the conversation. The ad is known by its headline, “They laughed when I sat down at the piano — but when I started to play!” His assignment was to entice […]
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What Can We Learn from the Reframing of Romney?
Brand executives can learn a lot from political professionals who exhibit creative brand building programs and then subject them to huge field tests. Consider the Obama campaign’s early decision to spend a good part of their budget on defining Romney. This money was expended before the conventions and some of it well before Romney wrapped up the nomination. […]
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How to Find External Brand Energizers
Almost all brands need energy in order to gain visibility and support key associations, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. I wrote later that one way to gain energy is with an ownable, internal branded energizer.However, creating and owning an internal branded energizer that resonates with the target segments and energizes and enhances the target brand is […]
Brand Week News And Features
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Three Agencies Vie for Coty PR Account
Coty has entered the final stages of a review of its public relations business in Canada, with a trio of agencies vying for the account. The assignment includes social media responsibilities and encompasses dozens of brands. Account revenue is estimated at $1 million. Coty’s top brands include Davidoff, Marc Jacobs, Rimmel, Calvin Klein, OPI and Adidas. The […]
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Ad of the Day: Cartier
Could someone please explain to me what is going on in any Cartier ad, ever? First, they had the free-associative Russia-elephant-dragon-airplane odyssey (seriously, it was called "L'Odyssée de Cartier"). Now, in its latest animated adventure, there's this beautiful jaguar chasing his friend up a giant Christmas tree to get to a box fille […]
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Citi Concludes Direct Marketing Review
The outcome of Citi’s direct marketing review for North America represents a split decision. Citi awarded direct mail and collateral responsibilities for its retail bank and credit cards to Havas Worldwide, even while assigning online advertising for the bank and its cards to Wunderman, according to sources. The Chicago office of Havas will handle the mail a […]
