Cardinal George’s Branding Lesson
Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George recently provided a vivid lesson in the power of branding. Several weeks ago, organizers changed the route and start time of Chicago’s gay pride parade. Cardinal George was concerned that the new schedule would result in the parade interfering with the morning worship service at a neighborhood church. On Christmas, a […]
The Sears Endgame
This week brought more bad news from Sears, with the company reporting weak holiday sales and announcing that it would close more than 100 stores and take a $1.8 billion charge. Sears is a fading enterprise. Sales are down from $53.0 billion in fiscal year 2007 to $43.3 billion in 2011. The stock is trading […]
Hilton Recovers
Last week I wrote a post about my stay at the Minneapolis Hilton and how the front desk team didn’t respond when I informed them that my visit was rather disappointing. I used it as an example of a missed opportunity in service recovery. Several hours after I put up my post, however, I heard from […]
Hilton’s Missed Opportunity
Service recovery is incredibly important, especially in a world with blogs, Facebook and Twitter. An unhappy customer can do a lot of damage. Sometimes there isn’t much you can do; the person is unsatisfied for one reason or another but you don’t find this out and so can’t address it. It is hard to deal […]
Dunder Mifflin Paper
Quill, an office supply company owned by Staples, announced today it was introducing Dunder Mifflin paper. Dunder Mifflin, of course, is the fictional company featured on NBC’s popular show The Office. So is this a smart move? I think so, for three reasons. First, it will create enormous PR buzz. The news is already showing up in […]
Black Friday Fades
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is a day unlike any other. It is the one day of the year when everyone in the United States is expected to go shopping. And many people do. Stores feed the frenzy with aggressive deals, encouraging people to get out early and line-up for the biggest savings. The […]
Three Notable Articles
Today’s Wall Street Journal has three notable articles about branding. All three are worth a read. The first article is one about the challenge of creating a powerful brand experience when shipping items through the mail. This is a significant issue; when a customer purchases a product at a high-end retailer, the buying experience is an […]
Walmart’s Healthcare Opportunity
This morning NPR reported that Walmart was planning to become a major player in healthcare in the United States. This afternoon Walmart denied the story, saying the document NPR saw was real but “overwritten and incorrect.” Reuters quoted Dr. John Agunobi, president of Walmart U.S. health & wellness as saying, “We are not building a […]
A Thermostat’s PR Triumph
Thermostats are not the most exciting devices. I would put them right up there with water heaters and door hinges in terms of overall interest, things that fall in the category of “items you need but don’t think much about.” This is why I am so impressed with what Nest pulled off this week. Nest […]
Groupon’s Problem
Groupon is gearing up for an IPO. My advice to the team planning the offering is quite simple: move quickly. Andrew Ross Sorkin has as an interesting article on Groupon in today’s New York Times. He notes that Groupon has a number of rather significant issues, including a fairly low cash balance and a working […]
Losing a Brand Builder
Yesterday we lost one of the great brand builders of our time. Steve Jobs was a master in terms of design and technology. He was also an exceptionally gifted brand manager. Jobs did four things incredibly well in terms of branding. Perhaps most importantly, he believed that branding and marketing mattered. Under his leadership Apple consistently invested in […]
Did Amazon Get the Price Right?
Last week Amazon announced the launch of the Kindle Fire, a tablet device targeting Apple’s very successful iPad. One of the most debatable parts of the launch is the price: Amazon set the price at $199, significantly below Apple’s cheapest iPad, which sells for $499. Many people have attacked Amazon for the pricing move, declaring […]