About these Authors
Johnnie Moore is a marketing consultant and facilitator based in London. As well as 20 years of marketing experience he's trained in psychotherapy, NLP and Improv. Find out more at his blog.
Andrew Lark's more than 18 years experience of all facets of marketing, branding, sales and communications spans technology, Internet, telecommunications and consumer sectors. There he has led award-winning programs and teams for brands such as Dell, Sony, SBC, IDSoftware, Nortel, Microsoft and Sun. He is a thought leader and innovator on the convergence of brands, communications and social networking technologies. Find out more at his blog.
Jennifer Rice is a strategist and evangelist for relationship-centric brands. She brings 15 years experience in brand strategy, customer insight and marketing communications, and has worked with companies such as Microsoft, Verizon, Alcatel and Corning. Her current passion is exploring how brands are being impacted by blogs and other social technologies. Her company blog is What's Your Brand Mantra?
John Winsor is the author of Beyond the Brand: Why Listening to the Right Customers is Essential to Winning in Business and the Founder/CEO of Radar Communications, a consumer-centric consultancy. You can find out more about him at Beyond the Brand.
About this Insider
BrandShift explores key trends in branding such as customer
experiences, market conversations and social technologies. Our goal is to
help executives and brand managers evolve their brands to thrive in the new
customer-driven marketplace.
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Category Archives
December 27, 2005
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They Say Things...
to make you laugh and cry... Wired covers hillarious tech exec remarks from 2006, including:
"Screw the nano." -- Motorola CEO Ed Zander
"I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google." -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
"Lightweight, and crank it on, and you shuffle the shuffle." -- President Bush
Via tech.memorandum..
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December 24, 2005
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Lafley On Marketing
Thursday's edition of the FT had some telling quotes from P&G Chief, Lafley:
"Just as I believe the consumer has power in the purchase chain, I think the consumer has the power in the consumption and media and message chain. So she's the boss - or he's the boss. And so the world is shifting from a 'push' to a 'pull'. She and he have a lot more choices."
posted by Andy Lark |
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September 15, 2005
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Rebuilding Trust
EuroRSG just released their 11th Annual Survey of the Media with Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism:
- 51% of journalists use blogs regularly – with 28% of them relying on them for day–to-day reporting, despite only 1% believing they are credible.
- 49% of journalists have lost trust in corporations over the last year, while 45% are less trusting of the professional behavior of their own colleagues – up from 34% in 2003.
- 76% of journalists agree that corporate candidness in times of crisis is poor, and 66% say the same about corporate transparency during a company crisis.
- 93% note that they are less trusting of colleagues, and 79% believe that recent revelations about journalists taking payment from third parties has had quite a strong effect on media credibility.
posted by Andy Lark |
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July 28, 2005
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Don't Insult Us...
I've had many "moments" with analysts - all flavors in fact. These include "moments" where I've recommended companies stop funding certain industry analysts. But that is very different than Altera's moves covered in the NYT this morning. They are cutting a financial analyst out, claiming it is not in the interests of shareholders to work with him. Bad move on their part. No need to do business with them if you don't like their views, but I beleive companies have a responsibility to communicate.
First, this sends entirely the wrong message to shareholders. So you are going to make calls on who gets to ask questions and who gets information? As a shareholder I want you to be entirely transparent. Opacity is a reason to sell, not to buy. Assuming we don't have the smarts to read and interpret research is insulting.
posted by Andy Lark |
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July 21, 2005
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Brandshift...
Samsung has executed a stunning brand campaign that has established it as a worldclass brand. Evidence of that came today in the latest Interbrand rankings. According to AdAge, there has been a historic reversal: (AdAge.com) -- In a reversal of fortunes that has been building for years, Samsung trumped Sony on Interbrand's Top 100 Brands list. On the just-released 2005 poll, published in conjunction with Businessweek, Samsung has taken Sony's No. 20 spot this year, while Sony dropped to No. 28.
Sony, in fact, topped the list of companies that lost the most brand value, dropping 16%, more than any other company in the top 100. On the other side, Samsung, which was No. 21 in the 2004, ranked in the top five of companies whose position climbed highest, with a 19% increase in brand value.
The overall top 10 brands on the list for 2005, in descending order, are the Coca-Cola Co., Microsoft Corp., IBM, General Electric Co., Intel, Nokia, Walt Disney Co., McDonald's Corp., Toyota Motors and Marlboro (Philip Morris USA).
posted by Andy Lark |
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July 11, 2005
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Internet's Influence On Buying
Doubleclick's third annual Touchpoints Survey reveals that the web is the most consistent factor in purchase influence across ten product categories, according to MediaBuyerPlanner.
posted by Andy Lark |
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July 06, 2005
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Worth A Read...
Via John Battelle, Seth's thoughts... Our actions, expressed as Attention, establish networks that connect us, our family, our friends, our colleagues and our affinities.
The net currently has a schizophrenic but unique way of remembering bits and pieces of these attention streams: Not all data is captured; the consumer has no central attention management tool; and most companies don’t want you moving your history between their networks anyway.
Despite these points of friction, more and more applications are being built upon our attention streams.
Innovations in internet media are like handfuls of white flour dropped over the invisible outlines of consumer intention. At times, user behavior drives media construction directly, but at other times the original user behavior evolves beyond the ability of the media to engage it. These hollow shells of former behavior are being swept up constantly by domain, banner, click-thru and lead brokers who recycle the detritus into more usable (aka monetizable) impressions.
The notion of brands that intersect attention streams is an interesting one. It's not just about intersecting demand patterns. Demand patterns reflect later stage attention streams.
posted by Andy Lark |
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May 12, 2005
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Nick Denton of Gawker Media made this interesting comment to NY Times writer Tom Zeller Jr.:
"There are too many people looking at blogs as being some magic bullet for every company's marketing problem, and they're not," he added. "It's Internet media. It's just the latest iteration of Internet media."
posted by John Winsor |
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May 04, 2005
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The Reaction Economy
Great post by Jon Strande at Business Evolutionist:
What we're really in - and have always been in - is the Reaction Economy.
Someone has an Experience.
It produces an Emotion (positive or negative).
They focus their Attention on it.
They have a Reaction.
Experience -> Emotion -> Attention -> Reaction
The goal for a business is to reverse engineer the Reactions that they want.
posted by Jennifer Rice |
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April 24, 2005
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Snapcast on Microsoft debate over anti-discrimination
Rober Scoble wrote a very punchy blog post to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, challenging the way the company backed off supporting some anti-discrimination legislation in Washington State. This struck me as a bit of a step change in corporate blogging - and something that will surely have an impact - one way or another - on perceptions of Microsoft.
I recorded a snapcast (ie a short podcast) with bloggers in Canada and Australia. Details here. Snapcast here: MP3 (12m31s)
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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April 22, 2005
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What's The Most Popular Brand Online?
BBC reports on the most prominent brands online according to Envisional:
MOST PROMINENT BRANDS
1 - Microsoft
2 - Google
3 - Yahoo
4 - Sony
5 - HP
MOST POPULAR BRANDS
1 - eBay
2 - HP
3 - Dell
4 - Mini
5 - UPS
posted by Andy Lark |
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April 18, 2005
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GM Speaks
posted by Andy Lark |
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When A Brand Doesn't Listen..
It dies. At some point it just dies. Is Verizon next on the block? Reading comments by their CEO in the San Francisco Chronicle this weekend you can't help but think so.
""Why in the world would you think your (cell) phone would work in your house?" he said. "The customer has come to expect so much. They want it to work in the elevator; they want it to work in the basement."
Saying this in a market with the most appalling cell phone coverage I've ever encountered is a little rich. When will CEOs realize that they are the most visible face of the brand? And that we now have unbelievable choice and power.
posted by Andy Lark |
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April 12, 2005
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Branding On Blogs
Microsoft has scored Volvo as a sponsor of MSN Spaces... like they really need the money... but I guess there is nothing like a little commercial validation. "As the Web becomes more personal, what is the right way for the advertiser to integrate itself into an increasingly personal experience?" asked Gayle Troberman, MSN's director of branded entertainment and experiences team. "Once a user chooses to go to a branded experience -- the advertiser is not just creating an impression, they are creating an advocate."
I'm not sure that by embracing an offer that uses advertising to make money actually makes us brand advocates... We do by default, but not by intent. Maybe that's a reason not to use MSN Spaces - the fact you don't get to choose who is advertising in your personal space. Or maybe they could make that a feature - in a bizzare way that might actually use some of the power of the blogosphere (self publishing and democracy) to drive - sorry for the pun - better products and ads to the forefront.
According to AdAge: Pushed live as a Beta test in December, the MSN Spaces concept, which provides anyone with an easy way to start a personal Web log, has proven wildly popular. MSN said 4.5 million people -- or more than a million a month since testing began -- signed up to use the free feature.
posted by Andy Lark |
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March 28, 2005
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Social Technology Webinar
posted by Jennifer Rice |
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March 17, 2005
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Democrats Talk About Rebranding
BusinessWeek reports that the Dems are thinking about rebranding. About time.
"Two articles I have read in the last 24 hours--one in The New Yorker about Joe Biden and Nicholas Kristof's op-ed piece in the New York Times today--specifically talk about the Democrats "re-branding" themselves. I have an idea: Dems could stake out being the party for "The Truth" between now and 2008.. David Kiley, BW
posted by Andy Lark |
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March 16, 2005
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Blog Heaven
MIT Tech Review reports on Sun's blogging efforts saying that they are in "blog heaven". Aren't we all...
Suns Simon Phipps, whose job title is chief technology evangelist, says that researchers and developers can swap more ideas, build better software, and meet customers needs faster if they are active in online communities, where blogs play the dual role of soap- and suggestion-box. "In a world where you must speak with an authentic voice," says Phipps, "the obvious way is to let the people you most trustyour employeesspeak directly to the -people you most want to appeal toyour customers." According to Phipps and Schwartz, not only do Suns blogs show customers that the company is paying attention to their concerns, but they have also become a major channel for communicating with programmers outside the company who write crucial third-party applications that run on Suns hardware and operating systems.
posted by Andy Lark |
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March 15, 2005
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Beyond The Bullet
A great blog on how to get beyond the bullets of PowerPoint, Keynote or whatever your fancy might be. And some interesting comments on the opensource presentation project the FireFox team are undertaking. The use of a Wiki to create the presentation is an interesting idea. Could be a great way for brand marketers in large organizations to start accumulating thinking for the next vision pitch or messageboard - so long as they listen to Cliff and start with the story...
posted by Andy Lark |
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March 14, 2005
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Nations As Brand 2
Boston Globe as a fascinating story on the use of Blogs in public diplomacy - and the opportunity they hold to improve Brand America abroad.
posted by Andy Lark |
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March 13, 2005
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Brand Nation Impacts Brand Product...
As a Kiwi I've seen the enormously positive impact that a brand (Lord Of The Rings) can have on a country. And, the same in reverse - clean, green, beautiful NZ on agriculture and biotech. Seems all is not so well in the U.S. A recent GMI poll reported in The Atlantic Monthly flags that it isn't just the US Govt that is taking a hit overseas these days... U.S. brands are in trouble as well.
Roughly 20 percent of people surveyed reported consciously avoiding American products in response to U.S. foreign policy. The brands most at risk, the study noted, are those that have America; or American; in their name (such as AOL and American Airlines) or are considered quintessentially American (such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's). The Atlantic Monthly, April 2005.
posted by Andy Lark |
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Your News As News
The news you watch tonight might just not be coming to you from your fave media outlet... David Barstow and Robin Stein report in the The New York Times today that video news releases (VNRs) have been masquerading as news all over the place. I'm sure the PR folks behind them are just delighted that media outlets are happy to take this prepackaged content and let it run, unleashing on the unwitting public their version of reality. So much for transparency. Given the hole this story has exposed I'm certain plenty of brand communicators are thinking hard about a VNR as part of their next launch...
posted by Andy Lark |
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March 05, 2005
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38 hours and counting
John Winsor is too shy to promote his own website here, so I'd like to applaud his experiment. He's waiting for a reply from Audible.com to a complaint he's made. And he's running a timer in the top right corner of his blog to show how long he's been waiting. At the time of this post, it's showing 38 hours.
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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March 04, 2005
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Seth's into Tolstoy
Seth says All marketing failures are alike; every marketing success is a success in its own way.
Stop looking for case studies and templates and rules.
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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The people are puppets school of marketing
A great post from Evelyn - Neuromarketing: A brave new (branding) world - giving a piece of her delightful mind to those marketers who think of consumers as laboratory rates to probed and prodded, under the ludicrous guise of understanding them better.
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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February 28, 2005
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Conversations are Markets
Evelyn Rodriguez makes a provocative statement:
For innovation's sake, I'd turn Cluetrain on its head: Conversations are Markets. And thus there are plenty of markets being entirely ignored.
posted by Jennifer Rice |
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February 23, 2005
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More on GM
Neville Hobson posts an interview with Michael Wiley of GM to talk about blogs and other new media. Wiley: To get beyond our old ways of communication with a new direct line of communication to all stakeholders. Typical communication is issuing press releases, talking to the media, who re-purpose your messages for you, and there's no way for customers to get their thoughts back to you. We've been wanting to create this direct line of communication so that our various stakeholders aren't going to message boards to talk about us - they have an opportunity to come and talk directly to us. We're big into getting feedback from our customers, employees and others, taking their comments to become a better company and develop better products. We're really getting some excellent feedback. Just about every discussion we have on the FastLane blog, we've had an excellent dialog. Hat tip: Alan Moore
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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February 22, 2005
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What's in a name
Stefan Liute's branding blog is always worth reading. He's got a well-considered post today on the rebranding of J Walter Thompson as JWT. (Prompted by Nick Wreden's on the same topic). Bottom line: That reduces the name change to nothing more than a publicity stunt. And a boon for JWT's stationery and signage suppliers.
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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February 21, 2005
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Counterfeit Minis...
posted by Andy Lark |
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February 20, 2005
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Brand whoredom
Robin Diane: I like to think that I'm a very tolerant, non-judgemental person, but there is a certain kind of person that really irks me: the brand whore. Yes, I wear name brands, but not to define who I am or what I'm worth, as the brand whore does.
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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February 19, 2005
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Health marketing platitudes
Alain Jourdier takes aim: I've been marketing for so long that I've probably seen every cliche there is when hospitals or doctors or new services are marketed. Having written copy for ads, brochures, presentations and news releases I've also been complicit in cliche madness for which I humbly ask for forgiveness. Here are a few of my healthcare favorites See where he fires
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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February 16, 2005
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Brand name bullies
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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February 15, 2005
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Big Brand Move...
Seems Allison Johnson, uber brand marketer for HP is heading to Apple. Of course, a "source" says it's nothing to do with Carly's departure while Allison say's nothing and Apple is probably (and justifiably) overjoyed but saying nothing as well.
posted by Andy Lark |
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February 14, 2005
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Branding or genius?
AJ Hoje suggests People are moved by greatness... by madness,... by beauty and magic and love and terror. Perhaps business people should junk the language and thought patterns of business- and adopt the language of poetry. Instead of "building a profitable business" how about "creating a great beautiful & elegant works of art". Business as a collaborative art project.
Instead of developing your brand.. how about developing your genius (ala Thoreau). Instead of following a mission statement (ugh), why not follow your bliss. [Via Tom Asacker who found it in a comment at Tom Peters' site]
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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Reality and practice
A propos the recent post on whether sponsorship is bunk, Freddie Daniells has a wry observation on B&Q's sponsorship of Ellen MacArthur's round-the-world yachting record.
posted by Johnnie Moore |
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Jennifer Rice
Andy Lark
Johnnie Moore
John Winsor
