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Commodities
Yesterday, I was sitting in a coffee shop chatting when I ran into the most interesting issue. The woman at the table next to us was on the phone, and her conversation became a little heated. Since it was a personal call, she decided to excuse herself from the shop and finish the call outside. Turning to our table, she asked how long we’d be there and if we’d be willing to watch and “make sure no one runs off with my coffee.” “Sure, we’ll be here for a while.” Then she ran off with her phone to her ear…
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Brand Managers Anonymous
“My name’s Ralph, and no one knows my brand…” Unfortunately for us, there are quite a few Ralphs in the world. The problem is that they don’t have a Brand Managers Anonymous support group to attend – many are left to fend for themselves. In a market as harsh as today’s, that can be a death sentence for your brand, not to mention your career. Like the better known Alcoholics Anonymous, any B.M.A. would give its members a list of steps to follow to build strength for themselves and their brand: Step 1: Admit we are powerless over our brand…
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Biscuits & Gravy
Biscuits and gravy, biscuits and gravy Get ’em all over your shirt! Biscuits and gravy, biscuits and gravy Eat ’em ’til it hurts! This is a song, well, more of a chant that we used to do at summer camp a few years ago. Every Wednesday for breakfast we would have biscuits and gravy. I loved it. The staff loved it. The campers, on the other hand, complained all week about the fact that something so “gross” would be on the menu later that week. Anyone who’s ever had good old biscuits and gravy will tell you they make a…
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Marketing to Disaster
One of my professors in business school utterly despised marketers. We were responsible, according to him, for every great disaster in business. Ironically, he ended up being one of my favorite professors in the program. Oddly enough, he might have even been right. Gas prices are higher today than any time in history. Sadly, they are also closer to the minimum wage than any time since the 1930s. If you believe the media, global warming and peak oil are to blame for today’s high cost of fuel. In reality, the actual effects of global warming are still several years away…
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Logos and Avatars
Some time ago, I referred to logos as avatars. Since then, many people have asked me why a different term is necessary – isn’t “logo” descriptive enough? A logo, according to Wikipedia for one, “is a graphical element.” That’s it. A logo is just a graphic, a picture, nothing more. In reality, the “logos” we think of carry so much more meaning than this. Seeing the Starbucks “logo” pulls up memories of roasting coffee, conversing with friends, and the warm atmosphere a Starbucks franchise represents. The Coca-cola “logo” likewise has strong links to a myriad of memories and mental associations.…
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Defending the Brand
It came to my attention the other day that Louis Vuitton is seeking damages from an artist who apparently infringed on their brand in a recent campaign to raise money for Darfur through the sale of t-shirts. Instead, let’s spend a minute looking at what happened and why. An artist named Nadia wanted to make a difference. She saw the trend in American media to cover celebrities (like Paris Hilton) and ignore human rights issues (like Darfur) because positive media is more popular than negative media. To fight this trend, she created a piece of art combining the two –…
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What’s in a name?
Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Would a Mac by any other name be as cool? Is Mac just another brand of PC, albeit with superior brand awareness and advertising? I asked several people this question over the past week and I can tell you, to the average consumer, everything is in the name. “If there are two identical computers on the table – same processor, same peripherals, same hard drives – but one is a Mac and one is a Dell, which would you buy?” Hand’s down, all but one person said, ‘Mac.’ I repeated…
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Segmented Advertising
A few weeks ago, I saw a great advertisement for the History Channel at the movie theater. It highlighted most of their major shows and announced the new season for all of my favorite things. The unfortunate thing was that it also upset a LOT of people in the movie theater. Last season, the History Channel ran a TV special about what would happen to the planet if, suddenly, all human life vanished. What would our pets do, how would our buildings survive, and so on and so forth. One of the most interesting segments in the show was the part…
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What’s your worst table?
I was forwarded a post from Seth Godin’s blog this morning about his recent visit to a new restaurant. He reflected on the fact that, despite the relative vacancy of the dining room, his party was seated at the worst table available. The “best” tables were apparently reserved for regular customers. I worked in retail for a short time, and our largest customers (quite often on their fourth or fifth purchase visit) were always serviced by our store manager. As the “new guy,” I was resigned to help the passers-by and the “oh, I’m just looking” crowd. It’s not that…