George Tannenbaum: They get it right.

October 19, 2010

Steve Jobs, you’d have to say, is the greatest marketer of the last thirty or so years and early this morning I just got another example of his prowess. My Mac’s hard drive died. So I went, more than a little agitated, to the Apple Store near me for help. I got more pissed when, [...]

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The brand manifesto. The ad behind the ad.

October 14, 2010

I like writing manifestos. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, it depicts the brand core as something you can relate to, preferably a drama of some sort. Second, a manifesto is the backbone of the brand, a plot that gives people a clear sense of meaning and direction. Third, it’s an arcehtypal [...]

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Don’t blame your shortcomings. Use them.

October 10, 2010

Being able to challenge your shortcomings is what creativity is all about. Even if you suffer from a severe disability, as this short film demonstrates in a beautiful way. I found it on Evelina Wahlqvist’s blog thanks to Dr. Spinn.

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Trainee sålde bäst av alla.

October 7, 2010

Här kommer lite mer om kundvård och försäljning. Vissa tycks ha förmågan att övertyga folk från födseln, andra kommer inte inte i närheten, hur mycket de än anstränger sig. Det får mig att tänka på en bekant till mig som var nyskild och hade just flyttat över halva amerikanska kontintenten för att få en ny [...]

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Vad säger folk om dig?

September 26, 2010

Det finns två sätt att få folk att ta aktiv ställning till dig och ditt varumärke. Antingen genom att de blivit besvikna och fly förbannade på din vara eller tjänst. Eller genom att bli överraskade av att du överlevererar. Klippet ovan är från Southwest Airlines, ett flygbolag som ofta överleverar och får folk att prata [...]

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Gästinlägg, The Brand Man: Reklam, nej tack!

September 22, 2010

Tänk om du arbetade med en produkt som de flesta människor ogillar. En produkt som de inte tror på och som de kan tänka sig att vara utan – om det inte vore för konsekvenserna, vilka de så klart inte har några som helst skäl att fundera över. Hur inspirerande skulle det vara att gå [...]

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The lesson: the end?

September 19, 2010

Now that the book is in the printing press, I can point out that the story has marched on in the same erratic style that it had begun. New problems have occurred. New improvements have been made, and new members have joined the team. There is a long way to go and new chapters will, [...]

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The lesson: chapter eleven.

September 15, 2010

Let’s imagine that you are at a cocktail party. A new guest walks into the room. Heads turn. The conversation twists in a new direction. Everybody talks about the new guest and suddenly nothing is as it was a moment ago. Now there are new conditions. The new guest has taken the initiative from someone [...]

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The lesson: chapter nine.

September 10, 2010

(Continued from »Hate me, but don’t ignore me.«) We don’t want to look upon the consumer as a passive idiot. On the contrary, she is an intelligent and well-informed person who trusts the judgement of her friends more than commercials. The heyday of the adjective is over, and with it a huge part of positioning [...]

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What if he f*cked the bear?

September 9, 2010

Subservient chicken is probably one of the most widespread viral videos ever. How can I top that?, I’ve asked myself over and over again. Now here’s an ad that easily outperforms the famous Burger King-ad and makes the rest of us look pretty stupid. It’s the new ad for Tipp-Ex made by the french agency [...]

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The lesson: chapter seven.

September 6, 2010

(Continued from »I’m Dirty Harry. Who are you?«) There are occasions when the brand gets in the way of communication. These exceptions depend on how we seek and prioritise information. Ask yourself these three questions:

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The lesson: chapter five.

September 1, 2010

(Continued from Spock vs. Gump.) We usually call rational marketable qualities USP, the unique selling proposition. And the brand’s emotional qualities we know as ESP, the emotional selling proposition. But the contextual, cultural connection is still unknown to many, so let us provisionally call it ASP, the affinity selling proposition. It is understandably the group, [...]

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The secret behind the Old Spice success.

August 28, 2010

David Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer writes today in AdAge about what made the Old Spice campaign such an earth-shattering success. David starts with probably the most important factor: »It is creative”, he says, and points out that »making advertising videos that consumers want to watch is, in truth, very, very difficult.« Mind  you, [...]

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The lesson: chapter three.

August 27, 2010

(Continued from »Not nice. Gorgeous«.) Once upon a time an old, bearded Greek by the name of Plato wandered the streets of Athens. He was convinced that truth had more dimensions than the objective, which wasn’t really at all especially objective. It is just something that we have in our heads. His view was that [...]

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Why social media campaigns fail.

August 25, 2010

Dan Landin’s little tweet caught my eye this morning. Dan highlights an interesting study from Brand Science Institute. This is too good not to blog about. It deals with a german study on corporate social media projects during the past 7 months. It was conducted in order to understand why most social media campaigns backfires. [...]

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The world’s first branding blog relay?

August 23, 2010

Is this the world’s first blog relay? Me and The Brand-Man (a.k.a. Micco Grönholm) will publish parts of my book Let’s get gorgeous on both my blog and his blog, by turns. Starting today. The book is a branding case book about Camitz Sparkling Vodka, founded by Mattias Lindberger and Peter Camitz. Here’s the background: [...]

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