RIP USP. All hail the OEQ.

One of the age-old requirements for the sales funnel model, AIDA, was the unique selling/value proposition. The USP is the key to what makes you different. Simple enough. Don’t have one, invent one. Go further into a niche and own a category. And so from there, branding and advertising companies would build strategies and Trojan […]

Branding miscue as easy as ABC.

ABC Television last night put on a brand display that was more than a head-scratcher. It demonstrated immense disregard for the two different audiences that got caught up in their mindless programming. The image went from sweet and adorable to S&M selling sex. Wow. My daughter and I watched as ABC”s programming switched from the […]

“Because” I said so. Uh, no.

Because it works. That’s the new campaign tagline for Weight Watchers. And I remembered it because it doesn’t work. Not for a tagline anyway, not sure about the product. Jennifer Hudson looks good so maybe it does. (Probably easier when you’re a celebrity whose job it is to look good.) Why the because starter set […]

Hey pwc, how and what are you?

It is becoming clear that I like golf, and this weekend there was a big tournament. Really good coverage, at least a lot if it, I’m not a media critic, and it had an exciting and heartbreaking finish all around. But there was one company that seemed to be nice guys sponsoring some feel-good stuff. […]

Mike Rowe: A dirty lesson in branding

Mike Rowe’s recent testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is funny, smart and above all, a lesson in how great brands are born. Read that again, the word is born. Mike Rowe was born to do the job he has now because it runs in his family, according to him. […]

Killing the Al Qaeda brand

Now that the CEO is dead and we can maybe find the rest of their CXO suite and kill them, a harder job is at our feet: killing the brand. It is so ingrained across the world, especially in the places where it can find more “followers’. The question is how do we kill it? What models […]

Killer Biography Channel branding icon

One of my Linked In branding discussion groups asked a question about what you look for in new designer hires. I answered one that can give me branding icons with legs. Not the logo mark, but something inside the mark that is versatile. Last night it hit me how strong the Bio channel brand was […]

Takeaway from Winn Grips unrivaled tagline fail

If you’re not up on your golf gear, know that a grip is the rubber shaft covering where the golfer’s hands meet the club and grip it. It’s the steering wheel. Now, there are about 5-6 types of taglines. One is called “Unrivaled” and stakes that exact claim. For a good example, think BMW’s “the […]

Brands should evolve, not erode

I’m not the world’s most experienced brand strategist in the world, but in my years doing this and as a Creative Director, a pattern of events unfold that are undeniable. It mirrors very much the pattern of the initial brand or campaign presentation itself. Picture in your mind two capital letter Ms. Connect them both […]