Do you really want to be a famous brand?
In a world where popularity is the ‘it’ metric for so many marketers, have you really thought through how your brand would cope if all your wishes came true? If your brand strategy is based on building...
View ArticleReally enjoyed 2015. Hope you did too
So, last day of the year here in New Zealand. Summer’s arrived (something we always welcome in Wellington) and I’ve had a few days to put things in order and get ready for the year ahead. In contrast...
View ArticleThe brands that break the rules
The rules for developing and managing brands are laid out in a range of principles and frameworks developed by extraordinary marketing minds. Time and time again, we’re told brands follow these rules...
View ArticleYour brand must do more than trend
Everything your brand does happens within a context. You can’t ignore that, nor should you. But here’s the irony – if you allow that wider context to drive how you manage your brand, then you risk...
View ArticleLuxury vs premium brands
How should you think of your brand when you have a product that costs a lot to use? Is an expensive product automatically luxury? How should we draw a distinction between luxury and, say, premium? I...
View ArticleShould there always be a brand experience?
It seems everywhere I look in the marketing press these days, someone is advocating the need for brands to deliver experiences. But not everyone can or should deliver a formatted experience, and,...
View ArticleQuestioning brand size
Is flexibility replacing footprint as the new black for global brands? That’s the inevitable question as Walmart announces a major redraft of its stores policy. For years, big box had a...
View ArticlePlanning beyond now
Ever since the GFC, global markets seem to have become more volatile. Oil prices rise and crash; China’s growth soars and slides. When market dynamics are this dramatic, how should you look to...
View Article10 things that break brands (and how to fix them)
There’s a lot of things that brands keep doing that can turn their value south. By way of a checklist, these are the things I see happening far too often. Loss of trust – When brands display a lack of...
View ArticleIs your brand too abstract?
Coke’s new campaign direction feels like a push back towards product-focused advertising. The decision to move away from the more abstract concept of happiness towards a campaign that focuses much more...
View ArticleWhat’s the half life of a digitally-built brand?
There’s some evidence to suggest that brands globally can expect to have shorter and shorter half lives. But do the same dynamics apply to digitally-based brands that have applied to the brands that...
View ArticleHow to effectively manage under-performing brands
Smart brand managers actively manage their brand portfolios for maximum collective and individual brand return. If you’ve recently re-assessed your brand portfolio and identified what appear to be one...
View ArticleRethinking the frontline of brands
Brands are quick to identify customer experience as an area of critical success for them. Yet too often those responsible for its delivery lack the authority or the experience to fully act in the...
View Article5 ways to keep your brand current
One of the hardest judgment calls for brand managers is relevance. Brands must change to stay consistent yet they must also remain recognisable in order to preserve brand equity. So what should you...
View ArticleLosing control of your brand
Apple’s recent stand-off with the FBI refocuses the dilemma of what to do when someone has used your product in a way that was never intended. What should brands do to influence or change how their...
View ArticleHow should you choose your brand values?
The choice of values and the nature of those values comes up a lot in any team looking to change what it stands for. Sometimes it comes up overtly. More often, it comes out in a reluctance by some to...
View ArticleThe many stories of every brand
Much is made of the idea that your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room. However, brands are defined by more than reputation and stories are told and spread by more than...
View ArticleQuiet brands in a world of noise
Everywhere you look today it seems, there are people and brands only too keen to spell out exactly what they think and what they want you to know, in the loudest terms possible. As the volume continues...
View ArticleReading the brand codes
How do we recognise a brand? What do consumers see, and how different is that from the ways brands are structured? Every marketer is familiar with the concept of a brand’s DNA – the strands of strategy...
View ArticleBrand continuity in a world of fads
Every marketer is haunted by fear of missing out. As trends are identified and balloon, the decision to ignore or capitalise becomes more urgent. How do you decide what to pay attention to and what do...
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