2008
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How to execute a brand
Sept 19
A six-step plan for running your brand into the ground: dominate the market, stop advertising, ignore the upstart, then cancel your comeback campaign. Microsoft has followed it perfectly.
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Entitlement and Cynicism
Sept 10
As a kid and a Boy Scout, I waited my turn for the older kids’ privileges. In the workforce, that same reward-for-tenure system (vacation, pay, layoffs by seniority) has turned my peers into a society of cynics.
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Apple – Psystar
Jul 16
I’ve argued the only difference between a Mac and a PC is smart branding. Now Apple is suing Psystar, a small Florida company selling Mac clones, and putting that argument on a national stage.
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Brand YOU
Jul 14
Rewrite your resume fifty times and it starts talking about keywords instead of you. Your job search is a branding exercise. From the cover letter to the handshake, stay on-brand.
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Commodities
Jun 25
A woman at the coffee shop asked us to watch her coffee — and left her brand new laptop on the table. Coffee and computers have traded places between my two categories, luxuries and necessities.
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Brand Managers Anonymous
Jun 18
“My name’s Ralph, and no one knows my brand…” If brand managers had their own twelve-step program, it would start with admitting you’re powerless over your brand, and turning it over to the customer.
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Biscuits & Gravy
Jun 16
Every Wednesday at summer camp, kids complained about biscuits and gravy right up until the song started. Then they ate it all. What a breakfast chant teaches about selling a new product.
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Logos and Avatars
Jun 2
Why call a logo an avatar? A logo is just a graphic. The Starbucks and Coca-Cola marks, and NetZero’s “Z,” carry a brand’s personality, reputation and relationship with its customers. They are incarnations of the brand.
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Defending the Brand
May 21
Louis Vuitton is seeking damages from an artist whose Darfur fundraiser put a designer handbag in a genocide victim’s arms. Ignore, condemn or embrace: L-V chose to condemn, and it did nearly as much damage as silence.
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What’s in a name?
May 19
Two identical computers, same parts, same operating system: one says Mac and one says Dell. I asked people which they’d buy. Nearly all of them picked the Mac.
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Organic or Synthetic?
Apr 14
In the human world, organic is better. In the business world, synthetic is better. So which one is branding? I lay out the dichotomy here; my answer comes Friday.
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Master Brand
Apr 10
Few people recognize Procter & Gamble, but almost everyone knows Charmin and Pepto Bismol. If your products carry their own names, you have a master brand too — and your distributors experience it even if you don’t.