Award-winning branding, rebranding and package design
How brands outshine, outlast and outperform their competition
In September 2012, I noticed something: One of my presentations on Slideshare was reaching mid-5-figures in views. By the end of the year, I was starting to get a “social media contact buzz” as it was getting into the higher 5-figures in views. So in early February of this year, I figured I would put …
As many of you know, I see things differently. Like when I wrote my Fast Company post proving how “Design is Like Underwear.” (See the video here). And while I was minding my own business, along comes YouTube with new channel options. In short, I went crazy. YouTube Madness So, I made a new header …
I think we all need a pep talk (thank you Kid President). Social media has become one of the most abused channels of communication currently out there. Partly because everyone and their mother-in-law can post anything anywhere, for whatever reason. Another key reason is, people simply post anything with no quality check, or without any …
It was one of the most talked about commercials of this year’s Super Bowl. I was so moved by it that days later I had an inspiration which has now become a video. A video which features the amazing voice of legendary impressionist Jim Meskimen, with 45 separate images to emulate the incredible Super Bowl …
When I was asked to speak at the American Marketing Association 2 years ago, I decided (following the live presentation) to share my presentation online. That was over 75,000 views ago (nearly doubling in views since that blog post was written less than 4 months ago). I decided it was time to do another one, …
They sell.They alienate.They make friends.They anger enemies.They make some homeless.They make others millionaires. That’s the power of words. “Hey moron!” Insulting. But those words did get your attention. “I love you.” Aaaaah… The most powerful language trio ever to perform on the stage called life. The Right Words Sell. A lot. These powerful tools in …
There are so many awesome products out there waiting to get noticed. With so many small businesses and a dream, few ever graduate to become a true successful brand (or rise to the level of Anne Hathaway, more on that below). Yet, like so many prom dates gone wrong, it was left standing there, waiting …
The Winter Fancy Food Show has been on full display this week. Per their own site, “17,000+ Winter Fancy Food Show attendees discover more than 80,000 products featuring the world’s finest foods and beverages from more than 1,300 exhibitors representing 35+ countries.” Whoa. And one of the most competitive and shameless categories is chocolate. (And …
“Let’s get @#$%&*! creative!” screamed the CEO. Hey, innocent lives are at stake, and all the usual thinking has failed to result in any breakthrough. After all, creativity is the cure-all to everything, right? Dear CEO, I disagree. Collecting the Dots vs.Connecting the Dots Most of us have it backwards: Creativity isn’t the outcome or …
Shark Tank, Friday night’s new vice for entrepreneurs (and anyone interested in business deals, heated negotiations, how the wealthy think and seeing what’s hot) has gone mainstream. Shark Tank has formally hit its stride. As I noted in my latest Fast Company post (number 6 below), “Even though Friday night is typically TV’s death slot, …
Daniel Craig has kicked ass as James Bond. In the 50-year franchise, the 23rd James Bond film Skyfall has become the highest-grossing Bond film for the multi-billion-dollar franchise. This is the exact catalyst that brought this face-off between Daniel Craig and me to a head. (For the record, that’s Daniel Craig on the left and …
Chocolate and branding. They’re my drugs of choice. It’s an obsession, like “50 Shades of Brown”…. So when I go to a city that I’ve not been to before, I find the best chocolatier in town. This past weekend was Portland, Oregon. Lovely city. Made only more lovely by this one purveyor of chocolate: Cacao. …
“You can’t save souls in an empty church…. And you can’t bore people into buying your product.” David Oglivy. (This slightly embellished but true story exposes a tale about a love triangle involving lust, branding and logo design.) “It’s true. Don’t get me wrong, if it wasn’t the logo that had me pissing and moaning, …
Brad Pitt’s TV commercial for Chanel No. 5 has created quite a stir. Ad Age wrote about it and Saturday Night Live did a series of spoofs that echoed this ad’s ambiance for the famous fragrance. Journey. Fate. Passion. These very meaningfully stated words have left too many in a daze of… something reminiscent of …
With the presidential election and political debates on everyone’s mind, this video message has a certain timeliness about it. Committees: Where Good Ideas Go To Get Slaughtered Yes, this video immortalizes something I actually said in public, “Committees — famous for vanilla outcomes, exhausting debates and mindless meetings — have destroyed more good ideas than …
“We’re here tonight with two world-class opponents. “In this corner is the current champion, Social Media, the reigning and defending Champion holding the professional world record for endless wins (and numerous controversial losses) standing at 6-feet-2-inches tall, weighing in at 225 pounds. The Challenger and former World Champion is Branding from the East Coast, standing …
Companies will at some point come to that milestone known as “the rebrand.” For some, it happens early on once they’ve discovered who they really are while with others, it occurs after many years of having grown (or outgrown) their brand. Then and Now You’ll discover that some brands go along an evolutionary track that …
“The luscious aromatic intoxication I held up to my lips warmed my insides like the soft caress of a silk wrap embracing the smooth virgin shoulders of a young starlet at her Hollywood premiere debut….” Yup, I wrote that. And yes, I am obsessed with an intoxicating shot of espresso where the crema slithers down …
Stop blaming words. That just doesn’t fly anymore. Words aren’t to blame for a failure to communicate, any more than the sneakers in an Olympic marathon caused the runner to win or lose. Or the bat caused the winning home run. No. It’s how the originator of those words uses them which gives them power …
I love writing for Fast Company. My editor rocks and is an SEO genius. FC is a great venue because the readers are my public: entrepreneurs, rebels, movers, innovators, geniuses, dot-connectors and leaders who zig when others zag and avant-gartists™ (new made-up word) who can unleash the hidden gems that others overlook and miss. You can …
The sheer volume of impractical business solutions you can find are nearly endless. Too often, I overhear some stupidly shallow conversation or ridiculously useless blog opinion that tries to separate two key functions of business: marketing and sales. They are inherently intertwined. Yes, sometimes, there will be a rainmaker with the Midas touch but even …
A brand has a dialog with the world. Some of these dialogs are smart with excellent ROI while others are fruitless wastes of time and money. Yet brand development is a vital key to establishing a brand’s vocabulary in its ongoing dialog with the world. Brands are known for what they don’t say as much …
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 …
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 …
“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 — …
