A branding blog of practical advice, ideas and examples.

Every week the Brand Insight Blog offers deep, insightful articles you can use to launch a new brand or improve your existing business ... read more →

Branding in a skeptical world — Two Trends For 2k10

January 4, 2010

Magazine editors and TV journalists love year-end lists. And when it’s the end of a decade, there’s even more interest in rehashing the top 10 things in every category from celebrity scandals to the most trusted brands.
I prefer to look forward, and I suspect many of you are with me on that. So here are [...]

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The difference between a new product launch
and the birth of a brand.

December 28, 2009

The Mt. Bachelor ski report for December 20th was delightfully promising: Ten inches of new snow, 18 degrees, calm winds. Not only that, the storm was clearing. Blue skies beckoned.
It was the kind of day ski bums live for. The kind where they’re queued up before the first lift and you hear a lot of [...]

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Better survey questions — Avoiding the common pitfalls of market research.

December 21, 2009

I’m a big proponent of market research.
I’ve seen, first hand, how it can be integrated seamlessly into the operations of a rapidly-growing start-up. (They tracked customer satisfaction every week, in every new store, and grew into a billion-dollar brand.)
I’ve seen how research insight leads some brands in profitable new directions, and others back to their [...]

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The 4 P's of Internet Marketing. Plus one.

December 13, 2009

Every year, hundreds of thousands of businesses are started with nothing more than a whim and a prayer and website. Most will fail. Some will muddle through, doing nothing particularly amazing, beyond staying afloat. But a few will rise to meteoric success and become iconic brands. (Think Zappos)
What’s the difference? Why do some e-biz start-ups [...]

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Iconic brands — what they have in common.

December 6, 2009

Simon Edwards, Brand Manager at 3M, recently started a lively online discussion around this question: “What are the common attributes of iconic brands?
He opened it up on Brand 3.0 — a Linkedin Group that includes 4,363 branding consultants, practitioners, creative directors, gurus and wannabes. It was an intelligent, worthwhile discussion that hit all the hot [...]

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One easy way to differentiate your e-commerce business.

November 30, 2009

You’ve heard of Black Friday… the mayhem-loving bargain hunter’s favorite day of the year. Well today’s “Cyber Monday.” The online equivalent.
The Wall Street Journal predicts there will be ninety six million online shoppers today. That’s almost one-third of America’s population Googling for bargains. And there are probably nine million shopping sites to choose from.
Every e-commerce [...]

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A bad idea for brands: The logo contest.

November 21, 2009

Sometimes the most powerful case studies fall into the “what NOT to do” category. Take, for instance, a new branding initiative from the Australian Ministry of Tourism.
It’s a big deal down under.
This isn’t some neighborhood non-proft looking for a new logo for their newsletter. This is a multi-national marketing effort for a nation of 21 [...]

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