Branding and Brand Strategy for Growing Companies
Branding for Restless Companies and Driven Entrepreneurs
Smart business people are great to have on your side to help isolate and eliminate fundamental branding mistakes. Why else do you think business line up and volunteer to swim in the potentially scathing and sometimes brutal Shark Tank? It’s to get h-e-l-p from people who k-n-o-w. Here are some facts: I would put this …
Tina Fey is a woman of many talents. Comedian. Actress. Writer. SNL alumna. New York Times Best-selling author. But package designer? Lemme explain. Tina has made mental and emotional disconnects a work of art. Anxiety and quirks as something to be cherished. Politicians as something to be laughed at with friends. So have any of …
Last week, Daymond John of Shark Tank shared some love by tweeting about my latest Fast Company post, “Best article ever written about Shark Tank…” He didn’t say “Best.” No. He wrote, “BEST article EVER written….” as in…. EVER. Now that’s some LOVE. And for any who think I might be embellishing this, here is …
Shark Tank is a hit. It’s where we see Marc Cuban, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran and Robert Herjavec assess, evaluate, admire or cringe over new business opportunities. They are TV’s five wealthy investors with checkbooks as big as their personalities. The Shark Tank Brand For my latest Fast Company post, I documented (from …
A marketing genius once said: “Rules enable one to follow. Knowledge enables one to lead.” Genius Doesn’t Happen By Accident Fact is, not all ideas are created equal. Not by a long shot. I determine if an idea is valuable by a few criteria: Does it help isolate the correct target? Or does it disperse …
“Consumers today have become a cynical mob of buyers who believe the reviews and ratings of complete strangers much more readily than your brand’s promises and distinctions.” The marketing landscape is a consumers’ hell. Rampant in the marketplace, we have ordinary brands parading around and sounding like something special — the next greatest thing — …
“A great brand is a necessity, not a luxury,” stated Scott Bedbury, the brand guru whose work with Nike and Starbucks is legendary. Brands need to—and must—thrive. If for no other reason than it’s the proper reward for when a brand is done well. That reward comes in the form of loyalty, sales, growth, good …
Many entrepreneurs have asked me how I increased sales 300% of Legacy Chocolates. I had to ask myself, “With all the decades of chocolate marketing, how do you attempt to rise above the noise?” The only options I saw were 1) to add to the noise or 2) rise above it. There was no third …
We love Sam Cornwell and his ability to help make any video for entrepreneurs hit a whole new level. He’s our buddy from across the pond and has a wacked-out sense of timing, humor, and style. He makes us laugh. He’s the guy in this video below. What if? The concept was simple: We’ve all experienced …
Branding, while very important and sometimes extremely serious, needs a reprieve with some humor and levity. So, while going along and enjoying a day at the office, I ran across this image you see above. I instantly thought of a scenario of co-workers working in the intense pressure pot of branding. The result — and …
Clients and colleagues know my love affair with the English language. Powerful concepts draped in flowing words leave readers enraptured. In this case, over 14,119,940 have viewed and been moved by this short, remarkable video. So you would figure a blog post entitled, “The Power of Words” would inspire me to write a lot about …
The Wisconsin Department of Tourism announced that in 2010, Wisconsin tourism generated $12.3 billion in revenue. This is a story of how one Midwest city took advantage of this profit center to grab its slice of the tourism pie. Learning To See Again Before I was able to help the town of Osceola rebrand itself …
It’s not always easy to say exactly how to rebrand a non-profit. Yet sometimes, a rebrand comes along that’s a true honor to take part in. In this case, the opportunity arose when we were chosen to rebrand the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Philadelphia (the UCP being one of the most recognized health nonprofits in …
