Brands in the News, Career Advice

Branding Lessons from Jay Z

28 Oct 2013  

This week rapper Jay Z is dealing with some difficult branding challenges. Later this month Barneys will start selling a new line of products designed by Jay Z. The collection includes a watch, raincoat, shirts and other expensive items. Last week, however, two people accused Barneys of racial profiling. The stories hit the front page and received a […]

Career Advice

Kellogg Commencement Remarks

22 Jun 2013  

Yesterday I spoke at the Kellogg School of Management Commencement Ceremony; it is tradition for the winner of the L.G. Lavengood Professor of the Year Award to address the graduates. Here are my remarks. *    *    * Thank you so much for this award. I’d like to share with you one of my secrets to […]

Career Advice

Advice for the Graduates

14 Jun 2012  

Tomorrow more than 500 students will graduate from Kellogg. Many of them are my students; I’ve had the joy of teaching almost half of the group in my marketing strategy and biomedical marketing courses. I’ll be at the ceremony but I won’t be addressing the students tomorrow; I was a finalist for professor the year […]

Career Advice

Some Marketing Insight from Kellaway

1 May 2012  

Lucy Kellaway, columnist at the Financial Times, had a terrific column in yesterday’s paper. The article has some important insights about marketing and influencing. It is also highly entertaining. I recommend you read the article. Here is the link: https://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ab3795b8-8ef3-11e1-ab32-00144feab49a.html#axzz1terwY5fM ***** I’ve heard from a number of people that they’d like me to do more frequent blog updates, so I’m now planning […]

Career Advice

Lessons from Losing a House

21 Jan 2011  

Over the past few weeks, my wife and I have been bidding on a rather nifty house in Chicago.  We finally reached an agreement with the sellers but at the last instant another buyer showed up with a significantly higher offer and got the house. This was a huge disappointment for me. When I look back on how […]

Career Advice

Learning from a 4-H Market Pig Auction

17 Aug 2010  

You can learn a lot about marketing at a 4-H market pig auction. Last week I went to the Northwest Michigan Fair, a charming, old-time county fair, complete with the corn dogs, snow cones and “The World’s Biggest Alligator.”  My kids and I had a grand time inspecting farm animals and studying the newest Massey […]

Career Advice

A 2010 Resolution

1 Jan 2010  

I am not big into resolutions, but I think we all could benefit from this one: do not repeat Tiger’s mistakes.  It is now becoming quite clear that the Tiger brand machine is coming apart and it will be a long time until it recovers.  Yesterday AT&T announced that it was dropping Tiger Woods, following the lead […]