Brand management

Normally, the Olympic Games are a positive force in marketing. Worldwide marketing expenditures increase as official sponsors and unofficial free-riders attach themselves to the Olympic logo, to particular sports, national teams or individual athletes. Global brands, in particular, see the Olympics and World Cup soccer as the two most important international sporting events; brand linkage […]

Brands are not just names slapped on products by the marketing department; they embody the value those products have for your customers. That may be more true for high-tech products than it is for soap.

Walt Disney, the man, was equal parts technological genius and ancient story teller. He drew upon stories that reverberated with our humanity and told them in sizzling new ways that shaped memorable experiences. Simultaneously he knew how to leverage every powerful method of engaging the consumer and he swarmed them with multiple modes of his […]

A Counterpoint: In "Old Habits Die Hard, but They Do Die," Rita Gunther McGrath argues that although the theory of cumulative advantage makes sense in...

REI leads the pack.

The cautionary tale of CES.

It’s fashionable today to enthuse over globalized markets and cite glowing examples of standardized marketing winners around the world. True, some markets are globalizing, and more companies are taking advantage of them with signal success. But the rosy reports of these triumphs usually neglect to mention the complexities and risks involved; for every victory in […]

In August 2005, Jonathan Coulton quit his job as a software developer, with the goal of conducting an experiment: over the next year, could he figure out a way to earn a living as a full-time musician, leveraging the Web and his small-but-passionate fan base? Coulton isn’t the only artist who is trying to come […]

CEOs need to start taking ownership of their company’s story, and stop passing the buck to marketing.

“There is no excuse. Creativity has to be at the forefront.”

Despite the $11 billion spent on CRM software annually, many consumer companies don't understand customer relationships at all. They aren't aware of the...

Consumers these days prefer authenticity to purity, so brands should capitalize on their flaws, or "shadow" attributes.

Local heroes in small markets may be the key to brand differentiation.

Companies may want to shift a brand's position--to exploit less crowded territory, for example, or grow sales. Companies have long used perceptual mapping...

The founders of Protein Power Plates--a company with the slogan "Let's meat!"--contemplate adding plant-based burgers to their menu. This fictional case...

A changing retail landscape means less time to build loyalty.

Few people outside the supply chain function used to care where products came from. Nowadays, everyone from company leaders to interest groups to consumers...

CEO Peter Walsh faces a classic innovator's dilemma. His company, Crescordia, produces high-quality metal plates, pins, and screws that orthopedic surgeons...

Marketers often worry that performance marketing and its focus on short-term sales is crowding out brand-building activities aimed at enhancing customer...

Successful brands are a paradox: always consistent yet always mutable. One of the best models for that elusive balance is the artisan brand. Artisan brands possess a signature look and feel that seems to be the creation of an individual sensibility yet also permits variations on form and execution within a set of consistent design […]