The FDA Commissioner’s Flawed View of Drug Ads
This weekend the NYT ran an opinion piece by FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary attacking direct to consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals. I teach healthcare marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and can’t resist responding. In his article, Makary presents the usual attacks on pharma ads: they promise too much, disclose too little and […]
My Top Ten Case Studies
My post last week about Cracker Barrel received quite a bit of attention. I’m surprised to report that not everyone agreed with me. Cracker Barrel is following some of my recommendations and pulled back from the logo change. There is hope. Today, I’m focusing on a less controversial topic: great business school case studies. A […]
Rebranding Cracker Barrel
People are up in arms this week about Cracker Barrel’s rebranding efforts. Some people are accusing the company of abandoning its history while others claim the brand has gone woke. Here is my assessment. Brand Repositioning The world changes and brands need to change in order to keep up. As people’s interests evolve, a brand […]
Teaching With Cases: My 1H 2025 Usage Report
This week I’m teaching incoming Kellogg students about case studies. Why do we use them? How can you get the most from the discussions? As a result, I’ve been thinking about case studies. Today’s post is the first of three on the topic. Next week I’ll post my top 10 cases and the week after […]
Marketing, Finance and United’s Troubled Plus Points
In my Marketing Strategy class at Kellogg, I spend a lot of time on the critical link between finance and marketing. It is impossible to be an effective marketer and business builder without a deep understanding of financial considerations. United’s Plus Points program is a perfect example of why this link is so critical. United […]
Sweet Green and the Risk of AI Driven Customer Service
Update: About two hours after I posted this, Sweet Green got in touch. They connected us to the gift card and added some extra funds. So the team is indeed monitoring things and that is encouraging. Business leaders are infatuated with the potential of AI to automate interactions, expand creativity and reduce costs. There […]
Branding Advice for Graduates
It is commencement season! Kellogg’s graduation isn’t for a few weeks, but my Facebook feed is full of joyful photos of families celebrating the big day. I am a huge fan of recognizing these positive life transitions; we should take every opportunity to celebrate events big and small. With commencement comes a new reality: a […]
Evaluating 2024 Annual Reports
It is annual report season! If you own individual stocks, your mailbox may well be filling up with mailings from companies. I am a huge fan of annual reports. In today’s post, I want to review why annual reports are important, what makes for a good one, and how some firms have done this year. […]
Tesla’s Cyber Truck Fiasco
At some point, you have to feel bad for the people working at Tesla. I suspect these are driven, smart people working very hard. So, it is sad to see one of their biggest new products potentially heading to legendary status as one of the great innovation fiascos of all time. Cyber Truck Elon Musk […]
Viking and the Power of Not
The key to building a successful brand is clarity. Brands are associations linked to a name, mark or symbol and the best brands have very clear associations. Rolex is associated with some things, but not with other things. The same goes for Apple, Tiffany, Patagonia and Porsche. When building a brand, it is important to […]
Tesla’s Brand Repositioning Problem
Elon Musk and Tesla are in the news. Musk, for leading Donald Trump’s DOGE effort, and Tesla for its weak sales and slumping stock, recently down more than 50% from its peak. Tesla clearly has a sales problem. The scarier part: it has a massive branding problem. Brand Repositioning Brands are the associations linked to […]
Once More: It Is Time to Stop Raising College Tuition
This weekend I had the chance to spend time at Yale and heard a terrific talk by President Maurie McInnis. I was struck by one of her comments: top research institutions are under attack as never before, in large part because they are seen as elitist and inaccessible. This perception is enhanced by the astonishing […]