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Mar31
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Know More:
One of the basic tools for building a brand is the most obvious. Language. The simpler the better. For marketing language to have optimum durability and tensile strength, it’s got to stand up to time and reality. Especially the words of the elusive “tagline”. You've got to convey a message about yourself that is unique to you, relevant, sustainable, comprehensive, clearly communicate-able, and supportable by key players in the company. Sounds daunting but, like most things "marketing", the key ingredient is common sense.
Try this exercise at the office. Go to a big white board in one of your conference rooms. Down the left side, list the candidate taglines. Across the top of the board, write the categories noted above: Unique, Relevant, Sustainable, Comprehensive, Communicable, Internal Supportable. Gather the team of players you believe most indispensable to the success of your initiative: Product jocks, exec-staff members, anyone and everyone whose opinion is going to matter. Now for the fun. Have each person rate (score) each statement as high, medium, or low. Then, in the space beneath each category, write in the scores assigned to each statement. The ensuing conversation will likely be the most productive one you’ve witnessed in recent memory. At the end of the exercise, you’ll have your winning entry -- and a good tagline. Yep, it was that simple. Which must never be confused with "easy".
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Mar29
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Nothing against Lou Dobbs' strident campaign for tougher immigration laws but don't tell me the front-office suits at CNN aren't pushing it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's a tad disingenuous for them to insist that this...
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Will CourtTV follow this? Record label Apple in a slam-fest with that other Apple. In a classic made-for-Celebrity-Death-Match segment on TV, Monsters of brands go mano-a-mano in the courtroom over music rights. Imagine a Claymation Steve Jobs sticking an iPod into Paul...
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Mar28
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Amanda Chapel, which could be a nom-de-blog, launched her site over the weekend. The lady knows how to get attention. The hits just keep on a-comin'. Which is understandable considering what she describes as having had a hot-shot career in PR. ...
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Mar27
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As much as I crack up at a lot of advertising blogs that amount to variations on the theme of youradssuck, ihateyourdumbassads, and adsby morons4morons, it's refreshing to absorb Jim Riswold's thoughts in the March issue of Creativity (the Ad Age...
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Mar22
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1. We’re not like other companies. This, of course, in interchangeable with the old canard told by agencies, as in: "Hey, we're not like other shops". Except for your business model, the creatives you swap around with your competitors, and...
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Mar20
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I'll raise a glass to Francis Ford Coppola who tweaked the brand of his Niebuam-Coppola winery, giving it not only a new, ahem, appellation (Wineries pouring it on to lure upscale clients ) but a whole new approach to customers. Re-branded as...
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Mar17
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Some years ago, Tom Peters popularized the concept of personal branding -- the notion of "Brand You" as a way to differentiate yourself from other jobseekers, business developers, vendors, and people in general. It bears repeating here because so much...
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Mar15
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Don't for a moment think that inside-out marketing (read: marketing and advertising that suck) is the exclusive domain of high technology. In fact, things are changing for the better in technoland, but that's a subject for another day. The inside-out...
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Mar14
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There are no links in this post. Just a quiz: Quick -- what's the difference between a tagline, a brand platform and a positioning statement? If you don't know, and you're in marketing, don't feel alone. But don't think it's...
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Mar10
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George Parker's sermonette today (March 09, 2006 ) raises an interesting question about why the hell luxury brands advertise. Or, as he might put it, when you put out ten grand for a wristwatch are you being influenced by the...
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Mar 8
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From Good Morning Silicon Valley today: "This is a pretty big miscue for a company that's had some trouble communicating in recent weeks," RBC Capital Markets analyst Jordan Rohan told the Wall Street Journal. "[Google's] communication policy was cute when...
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Mar 7
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The longer you’re in marketing, the more you’re going to hear whining and whimpering from the Sales dudes and dude-ettes about the lack of a cohesive product or company “message”. Translation: “We’re on the hook to sell products we really don’t...
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Mar 5
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I just can't work up a lather of indignance over Bode Miller's bust in Torino last month. The guy is what he is: a world-class athlete whose early training -- I'm talking childhood upbringing -- inspired his "spirit" to be,...
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Mar 2
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Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, hit it on right on the earbud yesterday when he said "I don't think Apple wants to emulate Sony". Bajarin was one of the annointed industry observers handpicked to witness the unveiling of the...
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