A Better Course

In case it doesn’t come across clearly enough on this blog, I’m a complete geek about branding, particularly the idea that a brand can come to “own” a single word. One of Nader Tavassoli‘s exercises in presentations is asking everyone in the room to say the single word they think of when they hear the […]

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There’s been a lot written and said recently about brand engagement – essentially, the idea that if someone uses something related to your brand, they will be more likely to trust (and by extension buy) your product further down the line. Even more problematically, this has frequently been with reference to brand’s Facebook applications. I’ve […]

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There have been a series of interesting posts on viral marketing recently – advergirl on ElfYourself: this was not just a random great idea from some creatives loopy on spray glue fumes. It was a the winner of a very well-funded test of over 20 holiday sites – each of which was intended to be […]

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Seminar at work today by Nader Tavassoli on “mere exposure” versus “mere neglect” in advertising and brand liking. We are used to blocking things out given the constant competition for attention. Does the act of ignoring something mean that we are biased against what is ignored – in other words, is the statement any exposure […]

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Only days after I posted about last.fm and the squeezebox, both my and my father’s sales pitches become a lot more compelling as last.fm announce their partnership with Logitech, makers of the Squeezebox – we’re excited that one of the announcements at the [Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas] … is our shiny new partnership […]

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Ann Handley on Marketing Profs Daily Fix writes about confirmation emails as a means of building a brand. Her example (quoted there in full and here in part) is a confirmation email from CDBaby: We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the […]

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Lovely IKEA adverts (via swissmiss) I like the way IKEA are (or seem to be) responding to the perception of their furniture as entirely generic by placing the home as a site of creativity; as well as the above, the UK “Not For Sale” campaign puts their products in a similar space. It’s an well-timed […]

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A Photo Editor shows the new adverts for Getty Images today. The comments on these ads are so far negative, but I think they’re wonderful. Getty seem to be referring directly to the fact that they’re seen a sinsiter brand and that this is a function of their being a huge corporation. There’s no question […]

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Stanford GSB’s library blog had a piece on the Nokia Flagship store in Shanghai today. The store allows its users to interact with the products and services before buying them. So far, so Apple Store, but there’s a good quotation; “In an age of experience-driven consumption, retailers must do more than simple advertising and product […]

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Following yesterday’s post I’ve been thinking a lot about narrative; both the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and the stories we tell our (potential) customers about our products. Some marketing or advertising seeks to fit their stories into existing narratives – innocent do well at marketing to those who already identify as “a healthy […]

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