Next month’s issue of the Harvard Business Review features a great case study on branding.  It’s about a motorcycle brand called Hunsk and it’s struggle to maintain a coherent brand image.  I find it interesting that this is the second brand-related HBR case study in a row, but I am even more interested in the increasingly furious discussion I hear about branding.  People are finally catching on to its importance, as reflected by this case study and the four analytical pieces following it. [Read more...]

Whenever I tell people I’m in marketing, they frown.  A lot of people even go as far as asking if I like lying to people.  For the longest time, I never understood where this disdain for marketers came from.  I’m an honest person, all of my co-workers are honest, and everyone I know in marketing would never lie to their customer.  Then again, I hold people I associate with to very high standards and would never spend time with a person who knowingly misleads their customers. [Read more...]

An individual’s brand can be just as important as a corporate one.  Most corporations start with an idea of what they want their brand to be and build off of that.  The issue is that goals and reality rarely coincide in the market.  We end up instead with out-of-touch executives and ineffective corporate hierarchies. [Read more...]

Everyone wants their brand to be distinct, but most people are too afraid of failing to step far away from their competition.  This is the essence of ‘fear-based branding,’ discussed in an incredible article I was emailed yesterday: http://www.editorialemergency.com/content/view/181/51.

Does your company suffer from a fear of unique branding?  What do you think you can do to fix the problem?

First of all I want to thank everyone who responded for their thoughtful remarks.  I especially want to thank Rodger Cook for including the “Brand Strategy Insider” article.  I thought it had some great insights and I want to address them as well as everyone else’s comments. [Read more...]