Branding
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Photographer Recommendation in New York
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1 min read
I splurged on a new headshot recently and was lucky to find Carla Coria, a photographer here in Brooklyn, New York who does amazing work with a simple studio and a digital camera. She made prep easy and effective, the shoot as fast and painless as possible, and a week later had a final shot…
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The Cost of The Ferrari Brand? At Least $390 Million
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1 min read
Ezra Dyer puts Ferrari’s brand-production decisions in perspective: Ferrari had 1,000 orders for the $650,000 Enzo after the car was unveiled in 2002, but the company stuck to its decision to build only 399 cars (plus one for the pope). By my math, that means it left $390,000,000 on the table in the name of…
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The opposite of bad PR
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1 min read
If the huge oil profits caused PR and political problems for energy companies recently, it’s only logical that taking the reverse action could have the reverse effect, which is what Citgo (U.S. arm of Venezuelan oil) did, and is getting big media attention here this morning… Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez added New York City to…
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Opportunity for handling a crisis: Guidant
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3 min read
Barry Meier of the NY Times reports the Guidant recall story… The Guidant Corporation said yesterday that it was recalling about 29,000 implanted heart devices because of flaws that might cause them to short-circuit when they are supposed to deliver a potentially life-saving shock. What makes the product flaw so important in this case is…
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Authentic Brands
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1 min read
My recent post about brand layering reminded me of something Kevin Fong mentioned at the ID Design Strategy conference. Companies like Polaroid and Westinghouse are now renting out their brands to other manufacturers, while the parent company puts an ironic layer of marketing frosting on top: “You can be sure… if it’s a Westinghouse.” Um,…
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Brand Layering vs. Customer-Made
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2 min read
Last Saturday I sauntered into Urban Outfitters to see what they were selling these days. Their inventory is pretty edgy and feels like a bellweather of what fashion is moving from the lead users to everyone else. I was drawn to this line of relaxed suit jackets, which mix business and design in a way…
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Same product, new attitude
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1 min read
Irreverent online outfitter Moosejaw Mountaineering‘s homepage currently reads: “The person who wrote this text just started at Moosejaw. He is not funny. But we’ve got softball season coming up and he’s a ringer.” NYT Magazine says, This is not your standard outdoor-brand message, which tends to go something like this: Our stuff is strictly for…
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There’s a juicy internationalization problem
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1 min read
Hindus in Europe want to take back the swastika because to them it’s a symbol of luck and peace which the Nazis stole. Meanwhile the European Parliment is considering banning the symbol throughout Europe after Prince Harry of Great Britain wore a mock Nazi uniforn to a costume party.
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The ‘fend for yourself’ brand
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1 min read
Gerber makes pocket knives and tools, but not the kind of knives I’d feel comfortable pulling out in an office to adjust a screw on my laptop… these are serious knives. Their branding is a direct extension of the products, summed up in the words Fend for yourself… When did we decide campgrounds needed laundromats?…
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Product naming as lifestyle signal
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1 min read
A product named FreeStyle Flash is…? Take a guess, then look at the answer.
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What does your concept car look like?
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1 min read
The concept car is a phenomena of the automobile industry. At the beginning of the auto show season, manufacturers will show prototype cars of the future, vehicles that illustrate their best ideas and excite people about the future of the company. (Incidentally, there’s been an interesting trend, starting with the VW New Beetle, where manufacturers…
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YWCA Identity
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1 min read
The power and effectiveness of the new YWCA logo is worth reading about, in Speak Up, Design Observer, and Landor.
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Testing Second-Order Effects of Branding
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1 min read
Jared Spool offers some interesting advice when it comes to testing an institution’s branding: Under the direction of Walt, Disney built the brand quality that they are ‘magical’. Adults interacting going to a Disney resort see the ‘magic’ in the design of their products, both in the direct interaction with the elements of the resort…
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Monday
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1 min read
Introducing Monday. I can hear it now: ‘Monday we’ll meet with Monday…’ That PWC could pull a MarchFirst says to me either the management has as much taste in names as Accenture or that they’re really embracing new economy ways. Suddenly Razorfish doesn’t sound so ground-breaking anymore. We’ll have to push further out. Maybe Emmanuel,…