Brands in the News, Defensive Strategy
A Bad Day for the Boy Scouts
The rise of digital media is only making it harder to build a great brand. The problem is that a single person can do something inappropriate that damages an enormous brand. This has always been an issue, of course, but digital technology has increased the risk because information can now travel faster and farther than ever before. This week […]
United’s Good Start
It is hard to miss United’s new branding campaign. It is everywhere. Last night I watched a United spot on TV, this morning I saw about 15 United ads on the train and this afternoon I found all sorts of United digital advertising as I surfed the web. You can learn more about the campaign […]
Frontier Changes Strategy
Frontier Airlines, the Denver-based regional carrier, is about to become very cheap. This week Bill Franke secured an agreement to acquire the carrier. Franke is a seasoned airline leader. Most recently he revived Spirit Airlines, turning it into an ultralow-cost carrier with exceptionally low fares, relatively poor customer service and lots of fees. The strategy […]
The Sochi Games: A Branding Disaster for the IOC
As I wrote several weeks back, the Winter Olympic Games is a branding problem for Russia. Now it is also becoming a branding problem for the International Olympic Committee. Russia, host of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, earlier this year passed legislation banning discussion of gay rights. People found guilty of spreading “propaganda of non-traditional […]
Yoplait and the Hidden World of Defensive Strategy
Defending Yoplait is a top priority at General Mills but you wouldn’t know it if you look at the company’s annual report. Yogurt is an important business at General Mills. The category is growing quickly, which is fairly unusual in the world of food. General Mills recently acquired global rights to Yoplait, one of the […]
Nokia’s Branding Lesson
This week Nokia collapsed into the arms of Microsoft, selling its critical handset division to the software giant. Nokia’s decline was stunning. The stock traded at over $40 per share in 2007. It now trades at about $5. It once had a market share of over 30%. It now has less than 4%. This is […]
Hope for J.C. Penney
Things are looking grim for J.C. Penney. The company’s stock began the year at a price of about $20 per share and recently traded around $13. Earlier this month J.C. Penney reported that it lost $586 million in its fiscal second quarter with sales falling a disconcerting 12%. And hedge fund manager Bill Ackman dumped his […]
Geico, Airshows and Positioning
The Chicago Air and Water Show is going on today. The weather is perfect with clear skies and bright sunshine. The U.S. military is absent this year, since the government decided to cut funding for air shows as part of the sequester negotiations. Government leaders promised the world would end if the cuts took place. […]
Russia’s Olympic Branding Problem
Russian officials are creating an Olympics branding disaster. With the Sochi Winter Olympics just months away, Russia is taking a very public stand against gay rights. The country recently passed legislation banning talk of gay rights and public demonstrations such as parades and gatherings. Today there are reports a senior Russian sports official is associating […]
Individuals, Decisions and Healthcare
The more I learn about marketing the more impressed I am with how people make decisions. We don’t just buy the best product, or the cheapest product, or the most convenient product. We weigh multiple factors; we are skeptical of information and use a wide range of cues to figure out the best course. This […]
Building the Silverado Brand
On July 4 GM rolled out a new advertising campaign to support the launch of the redesigned Chevy Silverado. The first spot is an emotional commercial that focuses on traditional values. The ad touches on strength, power and reliability. As Tim Mahoney, Chevy’s CMO, explained in a recent interview, “What we’re trying to do is emotionalize […]
Apple’s New Campaign
Apple is running a striking new campaign; it is hard to open a newspaper without seeing the two-page spreads. The ads are dramatic, highlighting Apple’s commitment to design. Here is one: This is it. This is what matters. The experience of a product. How it makes someone feel. When you start by […]