Most branding pros will attest to the importance of the USP, but before we just accept it as a necessity to the brand, let’s be clear about the what it means to be “unique” and determine how unique a quality has to be before it really makes a difference to...

This answer isn’t clear-cut. For brand developers, it's an issue can be tricky, because the truth is that the brand personality needs to take many variables into consideration. On the one hand, because the personality of a brand is the key to creating an emotional connection with the audience, it...

The brand promise is the benefit the brand will deliver to consumers - and keeping that promise is one of the most important things a company can do. The brand promise can be expressed directly, made crystal clear, or it can be subtle and unspoken; either way, a promise is...

Recently, I had a 40-minute layover at a train station in Philadelphia and decided to hit the food court rather than sit alone on an empty train. I got in line at the Cosi counter, because I’ve always liked Cosi, and hadn’t had it in awhile. (If you ever get...

So the other day I was interviewing a guy for a project manager position, and asked him how he would define a brand.  His reply: "It's a logo."  Nothing frustrates me more than when someone - especially someone who is applying for a job with a marketing agency - says...

Somehow, the news didn’t surprise me all that much. At the same time that police released the 911 call of a panic-stricken guy careening down the highway because the gas pedal on yet one more Prius got stuck, Toyota announced that for the first eight days in March, sales were up...

One of the hardest parts about marketing is determining whether or not a campaign has been successful.   Even more difficult is determining how success will be measured.  Should it be product sales? Gross revenue? Brand awareness? Coming up with the wrong benchmarks could ultimately lead marketers to the wrong conclusion...

During the years I’ve worked with various brands and brand managers, and have studied other brands to see how they’ve been developed, I’ve spotted some mistakes that brand managers make on a regular basis, which can often be the difference between failure and success: Relying too much on data and...

Creativity.  Has the word or concept lost its meaning? Recently, I've found myself scratching my head over this.  As more and more of my agency peers express frustration with their clients' lack of appreciation for creativity in marketing - apparently, brand managers increasingly define "creative" as "not strategic" - I've started...