branding
October 20, 2009
- What do cities vying for Olympics hosting rights have in common with shampoo? Or cookies? Cars? How about sneakers? Like any brand, which, yes, cities and countries are, they have to identify something to represent to consumers that’s different and better than any competitive claims. More so, this difference has to be genuinely meaningful to those whose attention these brands are trying to ...
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September 22, 2009
- I’ve always been fascinated by the brand names on machines and other products. Our bathroom scale is a Health o meter (sic). The scale in my health club is a Detecto. The centrifuge for drying swimsuits is a Suitmate. The card-operated lock on the locker is a Safe-O-Mat. The combination locks on the rented lockers are Zephyrs. I have a Swingline stapler and a Parlinda illuminated magnifier on ...
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August 17, 2009
- Like many marketing people of a certain age, in the early days of my career I occasionally ran into some authentic “mad men.” For those of us who had this opportunity, it makes watching the AMC series of the same name all the more enjoyable. The producers and writers of “Mad Men” have captured all the nuances of the ad game back in the days when smoking, drinking, and political ...
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July 6, 2009
- In my forthcoming book, Everything but the Coffee, I talk about the Starbucks value proposition – what it sells and what customers buy. Obviously this turns on more than just the beans or the roast technique. Brands like Starbucks sell values and ways for us to present ourselves to the rest of the world. Starbucks has long sold something I would call innocence by association. The ...
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March 16, 2009
- Is going back to branding campaigns from the good old days going to quell consumer angst? I think not. Consumers want to see initiatives from brands that demonstrate an understanding of what’s here and now. In this article in Forbes, I write about how serving up retro branding may be fun to look at, but it’s not what consumers are looking for.
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March 9, 2009
- In a two-part interview with Career by Choice, a blog run by expat career coach Megan Fitzgerald in Rome, this week I talk about the lessons of Expat Harem in forging my expat writing life. Answering questions about personal branding and career success abroad, I explain how writing about my life overseas and editing Expat Harem connected me to a worldwide band of peers, and gave my career and ...
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March 5, 2009
- Back from another wonderful SleuthFest. The organizers go all out to make everyone welcome. I remember being in awe of authors who would actually talk to me, answer my questions, and not frantically search for a way to escape. This year, I realized that I'm now one of the "authors", and people ask me questions. I still have a tendency to turn around to see who they're really talking to. ...
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January 26, 2009
- I'm a crime writer of the Marine Mystery novels featuring Inspector Horton and of two thrillers. I've just started a new discussion on the Suspense/Thriller Writers Group on Facebook - How important is branding for books? Please feel free to join the discussion on Facebook if you wish, the link is below, or you can comment here. Regards, Pauline ...
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November 26, 2008
- "Branding" has become quite a catch word these days. As nonfiction writers, we, too, need to "brand" ourselves and our work. We even need to go so far as to become a "media brand." In the process, however, we can make our writing more marketable to publishers, and, ultimately, to readers.What exactly is a media brand and how do we as writers go about accomplishing ...
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November 19, 2008
- Just when I get to the point of knowing exactly who the hell I am, I go and find out I should also be a brand. When I think brand, for some reason, I think of Campbell’s soup. The red and white label, the cute Campbell’s kids who aren’t chubby anymore, the time my son said the soup he made was really thick because he didn’t know he was supposed to add water (i.e. he didn’t read the ...
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