From the category archives:

Brand Strategy

Has HP Trashed Its Printer Brand?

January 9, 2010

So here we have two small business owners actively disenchanted with our HP printers, and talking to each other about what the quality decline must be doing to HP’s printer brand. And the time we’re both wasting as a result. What makes this story so disheartening is that both of us worked for HP earlier in our careers. As former employees (and former shareholders), we’d like to feel better about the brand. So how did HP lose its way?

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Learning from Parisian Shop Windows

November 13, 2009

I love strolling and window shopping in Paris. There’s a special mystique that window dressers in Paris employ that brand teams and marketers everywhere would do well to emulate.
Shop windows in Paris do a wonderful job of conveying the idea of what’s being sold — of conveying the brand essence, helping you envision how you [...]

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A Marketer’s Nightmare

October 14, 2009

This must be a painful time to be a marketer at Dell Computer. Dell has just introduced a svelte, feature-packed premium laptop aimed at execs, status seekers and “impression makers.” Thanks to their PR team (or influencer relations), Dell secured a high visibility blog posting at the NY Times discussing the product and its aspirational positioning. Unfortunately, it backfired.

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It Takes Patience to Build a Trusted B2B Brand

September 30, 2009

How many times have your executives (or your clients’ executives) directed you to focus on the “quick wins,” the quick fixes, or go for the “silver bullets?”

Yet as B2B marketing experts know, it takes patience to build a trusted brand. Marketo asserts in their blog, Modern B2B Marketing,

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“Brands in Public”: A Forum for Conversations

September 25, 2009

I love the idea of conversational marketing, and applaud the innovators who are trying to figure out more scalable ways to put it into action. A tweet today from Jeremiah Owyang led me to an interesting new offering from marketing pundit Seth Godin, one that puts brands in a social media context.

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Is Your Company an “Apple Wannabe?”

July 7, 2009

These days it seems everyone wants to imitate Apple, but few really know what it takes. This post examines some of the key factors that set Apple apart, from the perspective of a person who has worked with or for Apple since 1983. From design to product strategy to brand and employee values, it’s a hard act to follow.

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Business Purpose – Brand Context

July 3, 2009

Earlier I blogged on the purpose of a business and the problems that can arise when organizations lack a clear sense of purpose, or when they define success narrowly in financial (shareholder-centric) terms. Today’s post focuses on business purpose and its links to corporate brand strategy.
In the context of brand strategy, purpose energizes the organization’s [...]

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