Could Your Brand Use an App?
Friday, September 12, 2008
By developing an application, brands have the opportunity to strengthen their relevance in the daily lives of consumers.
Tag: brand promise
Davis Thinking
The Element of Surprise: IKEA's Brand Experience
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Over the years, I’ve admired IKEA’s ability to consistently create unique experiences that engage consumers in unexpected ways. IKEA has a knack for showing rather than telling.
Little Orphan Andy Drank His Ovaltine
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
If brand abuse was a crime, Ovaltine would be sporting unflattering horizontal prison stripes for a long, long time. The beloved chocolate drink, trusted by parents for nearly 100 years to get nutrition into kids, has squandered its positive reputation in a horrifying 41 seconds.
At Issue } essential reading
Time to Rewrite the Brand Playbook for Digital
Mar 4, 2010
There's a struggle with defining "branding" in digital. Some people claim that brands should be about utility, others that we need to build brand platforms and yet others think that brands should entertain us and give us something to talk about. Yet overall, surprisingly little has changed in the actual branding strategies in the industry. Something is wrong here.
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In Allowing Ad Blockers, a Test for Google
Jan 4, 2010
In a manifesto-like e-mail message sent last month to all Google employees, Jonathan Rosenberg, a senior vice president for product management, told them to commit to greater transparency and open industry standards. Rather than hoard knowledge to exploit it, he wrote in “The Meaning of Open,” share it and watch Google and the entire Internet prosper. With the Chrome browser, however, Google’s inclusive principles are being put to the test: a new version of the browser allows, one might even say encourages, users to stop Google ads from appearing. How Google got to such a position speaks to the inherent dynamism (or is that chaos?) of business on the Internet.
Simple Brand Tools
Nov 12, 2009
Recently I met with the folks in Cisco’s brand group and was delighted to find a few simple brand tools sitting in the place where a person’s business cards are usually found. The first tool is a brand platform “cheat sheet” in the form factor of an i.d. badge. The front spells out the Cisco “Brand Aspirations”. I like the simplicity and digest-ability of this. A succinct sentence conveys the Brand Promise and Position. Three words comprise the Brand Personality and six comprise Brand Behaviors. The use of bulls-eye clearly communicates that the Brand Promise and Position are the core of the Brand. And the background image supports the written concepts well.
Define Your Brand's Purpose, Not Just Its Promise
Nov 11, 2009
Every brand makes a promise. But in a marketplace in which consumer confidence is low and budgetary vigilance is high, it's not just making a promise that separates one brand from another, but having a defining purpose. This point and its implications were made clear to me at the recent Association of National Advertisers conference in Phoenix where CMOs from some of the smartest organizations explained why purpose-driven branding is essential to success in this "new normal" environment. While it may sound a bit like Philosophy 101, a company whose employees can answer the question, "Why are we here?" will be the company that makes stronger connections with consumers in search of solutions to life's new normal issues.
Why a Brand Must Be Built From the Inside Out
Sep 4, 2009
Failure to recognise the value of building a brand internally will cost a company its competitive advantage. Failure to implement internal branding should cost the CEO his or her job. Sustainable competitive advantage can only be achieved by the consistent meeting of customer expectations. In simple terms, this means that the brand has to keep its promise. While the more glamorous application of external brand-building — through campaigns in a variety of visible media and communication channels — is necessary for connecting with customers and other stakeholders, it should follow the brand platform established internally, and not lead it.
A Brand is a Promise
Jun 15, 2009
No, it is NOT. I've made this argument before, but as I watch even more organizations, and entire industries, drown in their own irrelevance - Six Flags being the most notable, recent causality - I feel compelled to say it again. A brand is not a promise; it's an expectation. "But 'promise' is just a word, a definition." Hardly. It's your world view. It conditions your sensibilities and behavior. It represents a much simpler, outdated marketplace model, not today's complex, rapidly changing environment. And it's killing you.
Audi Redefines Dealership Architecture
May 3, 2009
Audi released details today of the brand’s new dealership design created by architects Allmann SattlerWappner of Munich. The concept is called the “terminal” and is meant to provide a shopping experience that reflects the style, performance, and luxury characteristics of Audi automobiles.
Getting Back To Business As Usual
Mar 18, 2009
The biggest challenge in rebranding today is rebuilding consumer confidence.
Can Brands Keep Their Promise In A Digital World?
Feb 26, 2009
Last week, I began the journey by talking about two different types of brands: Brand Promises and Brand Religions. Today, I'd like to paint a hypothetical scenario of where awareness marketing might go for those brands that are implicit promises. Next week I'll tackle religions.
Brand Promises Vs. Brand Religions
Feb 19, 2009
So what is effective brand building in the new digital world? What is the best way to prime the pump? As I started to think about that, I realized the answer depends on the nature of the brand to be built. And, as I was chewing that over, the Microsoft story hit my inbox and I realized that it captured the essence of two distinct characters of brand: promise and religion. These two characters of brand occupy two totally different places in our mindscape, and so have to be treated differently, no matter what branding channel you choose to use.
