Re-Branding SF, CT And U.A.E.
Branding is commonly associated with consumer products, corporate images and even personalities (e.g. Trump), but this discipline is also essential for creating an identity for a geographic location. The basic positioning approach is the same – define your target audience, identify your unique strengths, develop a compelling promise based on these strengths, and ideally create a name and/or a catchy slogan that communicates this promise and emotionally captivates your customers. Here are three different situations, a city, state and...
read morePerception Is Reality: Branding And Politics
In any communications, it is essential to first understand fully everything about the other person (e.g. a customer or voter), especially their perceptions and emotional biases. Their attitudes may be based on doggedness or falsehoods, but they exist and cannot be ignored. Whether it involves brand marketing or political campaigning, it will ultimately be perceptions and human feelings that will determine a purchase or a vote. Unfortunately our society and political climate has devolved into a divisive culture highlighted by extensive...
read moreIs The Republican Brand In Trouble?
Winston Churchill supposedly said: “If you are not a Liberal when you are 20, you have no heart, and if you are not a Conservative when you are 40, you have no brain”. The assumption is that as you get older and gain income, buy property and start a family, preferences for security and stability become more dominant. Personal values and attitudes do change over time, and strategic brands must adapt to these evolving desires by fine tuning their promises, especially for their primary customers. The risks of not staying current with the...
read moreWhy Friendship Is Also Essential For Good Branding
Successful branding is all about connecting to your customer. A brand must make a promise to a person that is relevant, credible and emotionally inspiring. It is a highly personal process. People respond to people, not things. This is why a brand must define itself like a human personality with personal traits and values that also mirror those of the targeted customer. Basically branding is like developing and sustaining trustful friendships, and this requires ongoing support. How Friendships Evolve and then Dissolve In September David...
read moreIs It Time For New Guardrails On Social Media Algorithms?
A key reason for the rise of advertising on social media is the ability of algorithms to identify priority customers, message them with more relevant content and ultimately build a strong, emotional bond with them. Good marketing starts with in-depth research on the customer to ideally find those “hot emotional buttons” that excite them and sustain their loyalty to a brand. Nothing is more effective for learning more about customer nuances and behavior than what these algorithms can uncover, although privacy has become a big issue,...
read moreTwitter To “X” – Will The Re-Branding Succeed?
Recently Elon Musk announced a total re-branding of Twitter, which has stirred up a slew of critical responses. The immediate focus has been on the brand name, “X”. But a re-branding involves much more, especially the impact on the Twitter brand value and its loyal customers, plus what “X.com” will promise to ensure success going forward. While Musk has accomplished so much and is worth billions, this re-branding venture puts him into new territory where there are many critical risks and challenges ahead for re-positioning Twitter as an...
read moreHow Creativity Can Overcome Declining Fertility Consequences
Creativity is considered by many business leaders to be the most important skill set to meet the growth challenges of the future, whether it involves branding, advertising or worker productivity. The global decline of birthrates will decrease the number of younger workers who account for the most imaginative innovations, but there are also opportunities to counteract these challenges. The Profound Consequences Of Lower Fertility The Economist recently focused on this problem of fertility and aging economies. Basically there are three...
read moreBranding Opportunities For A New “Summer of Hope”?
It seems the world situation has never been more depressing– e.g. bitter polarization of our politics, Russian atrocities in Ukraine, dangerous competition with China, the sad revelations about Trump’s latest corruptions, more mass shootings, and now pollution in the Northeast from climate change fires in Canada. But the summer is about to start, which is traditionally a season of hope, optimism and adventure. And with this comes opportunities for brand marketers to identify new flavors and microtrends to emotionally connect with...
read moreHow Our Toxic Culture Is Negatively Impacting Gen Z Youth
American culture remains in constant flux. Over the years, each generation has experienced changing values and behavioral traits shaped by wars, economics, new innovations and especially technology. These cultural upheavals are important for brand marketers as trends and emerging values require careful adaptation. In her new book, “Generations”, the psychologist Jean Twenge states “technology has completely changed the way we live, and the way we think, behave and relate to each other”. Twenge summarizes the special characteristics of each...
read moreThe Evolution Of “Woke” In Political Branding
In March I mentioned to a friend that my daughter recently spoke at a global UNESCO conference in Abu Dhabi on “safeguarding cultural heritage”, mainly relating to climate change. He asked if that was an anti-woke message. I was confused as I hear so many interpretations of what “woke” means today. Did my friend infer that this message was a positive or a negative? I asked myself, how could anyone question climate change or the importance of country’s cultural heritage today. The term “woke” is being used often these days,...
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