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Tag Archives: Branding Strategies

Incongruity in Advertising?

By on Posted in Advertising

My post from a couple of days ago, commenting on Chick-fil-A’s EAT MOR CHIKIN slogan and the associated Cow Campaign and advertisements, neglected to discuss an issue – one so important — that I’m compelled to raise it now, as it appears to have disturbed my otherwise healthy cognitive system. It has disturbed me as much as one of my amphibian-loving sons was… Continue Reading

What is G?

By on Posted in Branding

Welcome to another edition of AlphaWatch. In addition to the prominent use of capital letter G on the front of these energy drink cans, the last line on them reads: "IT’S GAZZU!! HEY, GIMME A G."  I thought that Gatorade’s "What is G?" question already had been answered here?

Congratulations on the Acquisition…Now About That Brand…

By on Posted in Branding, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers

Matt Kucharski, Senior Vice President, Padilla Speer Beardsley It looks like Forbes was right when it reported in late 2010 that 2011 would be a year of mergers and acquisitions. We’ve seen a significant number of clients announcing mergers with and acquisitions of both competitors and complementary players, and while the motivations are varied – expanded… Continue Reading

lower case branding & visual identity

By on Posted in Branding

Just so you know, it about pushed me over the edge to have a blog post title with no capitalization. Not even one letter. In other words, all minuscules, no majuscules. It doesn’t seem right – to me anyway, as a trademark type. Just like the first letter in the first word of a sentence must be a… Continue Reading

A Red (& White) Letter Day for Branding

By on Posted in Branding

We’ve noticed and commented on a variety of branding techniques and trends over the past couple of years: Less formal brand names; Single letter brands; Non-verbal logos; Verbing of brands; Dan saw lots of blue ovals; Question mark brands; Touchmarks; Emoticon brands and trademarks; Single color brands; Lightning bolt branding; My branding; and Back to the basics branding…. Continue Reading

Whip Me Please. Don’t Ask.

By on Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing

—Aaron Keller, Capsule How do you feel when you’re being a bit indulgent? Guilty, perhaps. Sometimes it’s just something small, something you can enjoy without too much of an afterthought. The whipped cream atop your favorite coffee house (low fat) drink might be one of those treats. It is for me. But recently I’ve noticed… Continue Reading

Budweiser: Not The King of Generation Y

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers, International, Marketing, Television

—David Mitchel, Norton Mitchel Marketing Budweiser, the self-proclaimed King of Beers, announced a marketing initiative this week to broaden its appeal to drinkers ages 21-30. Although Budweiser is an immensely popular global brand, it has had difficulty in the United States market in recent years. In the US, Budweiser sales volume was down 9% in… Continue Reading

GeeWhiz: Another Edition of Trademark AlphaWatch

By on Posted in Advertising, AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Trademarks, Truncation

In this edition of AlphaWatch, it appears another major brand owner is flirting with truncation and wants to be g too (of course, not to be confused with G2 or even G for that matter), despite the fact that the products associated with each brand might be considered complementary (assuming you’re looking to break a sweat): So,… Continue Reading

Exposing Two-Face Brands

By on Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Trademarks

I’m not talking about brands that say one thing and do another. I’m not talking about brands that don’t live up to their promise. I’m literally talking about brands with two faces. One face may be confident, complicated, technical, professional, and/or formal. Let’s call him, Stephen. The other face might be friendly, simple, approachable, engaging, and/or informal… Continue Reading

Managing The Legal Risk of “Verbing Up” Brands and Trademarks

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Domain Names, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

Trademark lawyers need to face the facts. Despite decades of ardent counseling to the contrary, business executives and marketers are not only testing the waters with the treatment of their most valuable brands as verbs, in some cases, they are diving in head first, committing substantial resources and effort toward the clearly stated goal of "verbing up" and having their brands used as verbs by… Continue Reading

Goodbye, Process of the Past; Hello, Trust and Engagement

By on Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing

by Jodi Petrich, Senior Director at Fast Horse More brands are turning to social media to engage consumers. Social media are a great tool for launching new products or services, sharing promotional offers, hosting contests or simply connecting with loyal fans. One big challenge is that the approval process in many companies doesn’t lend itself… Continue Reading

The Long and Short of Name Development

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Keyword Ads, Marketing, Search Engines, Social Networking, Trademarks

by Mark Prus of NameFlashSM Some of my name development clients are fans of long, keyword-rich names. Obviously the appeal of a search engine spotting your website is driving this approach. Some of my naming clients are fans of short names that can be easily shared on Twitter. Which approach is better? I will confess… Continue Reading

Tiger’s Personal Brand of Apology?

By on Posted in Branding, Marketing

Putting aside the questions of whether Tiger Woods needed to or should have made a public apology, the timing of it, and even the content of it, now that Brand Tiger made the decision to do so and did so last Friday, I’m interested more with how Tiger conveyed it and the likely impact it will have on his personal… Continue Reading

Brand Signals: The Building Blocks of Brand Identity

By on Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Packaging, Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch, Trademarks

Brands communicate with the world through a series of message delivery systems such as broadcast advertising, web sites, company representatives and product interaction. These systems utilize brand signals to communicate. While these signals commonly take the form of brand names and logos, they can also extend into sight, sound, touch, taste, smell or even action… Continue Reading

The Roar of Tiger Woods in Branding

By on Posted in Advertising, Agreements, Branding, Contracts, Guest Bloggers, Marketing

The impact of the Tiger Woods scandal in branding can be viewed from two different perspectives. The first perspective comes from the point of view of the companies that paid Woods to endorse their products. The second perspective is how the personal brand of Tiger Woods will be impacted as the smoke clears from this… Continue Reading

G Doesn’t Grasp Successful Marketing

By on Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Product Packaging, Trademarks

In November, I wrote about how Gatorade’s 2009 re-branding as G has been a complete failure. G was an ill-conceived approach to slowing sales in 2007 and 2008. It damaged brand equity, confused consumers and didn’t reverse the trend of falling unit sales. In the final paragraph of my last blog, I noted that PepsiCo… Continue Reading

Getting Familiar With the Basics: A Planning Primer

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing

It’s the last quarter of the year, and if you haven’t done your planning for 2010, I’ve got two things to say to you: 1) you’re late (you undoubtedly know that), and 2) you’re not alone. But whether you’re in the middle of developing your 2010 plans, directing planning input from multiple sources, or reviewing… Continue Reading