Getting noticed on a store shelf is almost impossible these days. You don’t have many choices: Pay for special placement, pay for gobs of advertising … Or be fantastically interesting. Anti-Monkey Butt anyone? What do you need to do to get noticed?
Tag Archives: branding
Did you notice that bit.ly is now bitly.com?
I blogged last year about how dumb it is to base your brand on a domain controlled by the Libyan government — or any other country where you don’t have a presence or a practical way to enforce your rights. And we all know that Libya hasn’t been what you’d call a great place to [...]
When fan videos go nuts
Watch this. It’s great. The big dilemma for brands: What do you do when a fan video is not quite the brand message you were hoping to convey? (I’m not talking about negative attack videos. Just weird or off-message.) What do you do?
What does your motto say about you?
Hopefully, more than nothing. Nucor is a great turn-around story in the steel industry. But their mission statement tells us nothing. They want to take care of their customers, while being the safest, highest quality, lowest cost and post profitable — while taking care of the environment and their community. Admirable, but it violates two [...]
Why tech gurus will never understand the Kindle
All the tech bloggers are comparing the new Kindles to the iPad. Which isn’t the right analysis at all. The Kindle isn’t targeted at techies and power users with money. It’s for moms. I doubt the techie community can get their heads around the ad below. But Better Homes and Gardens outsells Wired 10 to [...]
Have a personality
Show that you’re human. Share a little humor. Your customers will love you for it. Bonus: Competitive advantage. Most companies are completely unable to stop the corporate speak or keep their lawyers out of the communications. You win if you’re the company that your customers can relate to.
A rose by any other name … might be a more successful sales pitch
Saks is offering a free gift card based on how much you spend. Sounds great, and I bet people are talking about it. But when you think about it, it’s just a 5%-15% discount. How you phrase an offer makes all the difference in how people respond. Free money sounds exciting. But a discount is [...]
No spreadsheet tells you when you’re being an ass
My wife calls one of the biggest investment firms to ask about rolling over her 401k. She asks a bunch of questions — but doesn’t give her name or phone number. She didn’t fill out any forms. And then we start getting phone calls from a high-pressure salesman. There is an official program at this [...]
When is a dick joke appropriate for your brand?
Ben & Jerry’s got a huge pile of publicity by naming an ice cream after an old SNL skit called Schweddy Balls. Of course, the challenge is doing it right and doing it well. When is a dick joke appropriate for your brand? Assume never — this is a fluke. Leave it to the professionals. [...]
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