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Wikipanic—it’s the new word for the latest marketing threat. What will happen to your brand if Wikileaks attacks it? As Mastercard, Paypal, Visa, and Bank of America are finding out, marketers need to be ready in advance of disaster, whether a plane crash, an oil well explosion or a wikileak/hacktivist attack. Companies can’t risk a …
Brand disasters happen. And most of the time, brands recover with time. Toyota’s brand reputation is back as strong as ever. BP, if they can stop shooting themselves in the foot, should do likewise. The problem is that it takes plenty of time. Mea culpa doesn’t cut it. Your customer does not care how sorry …
ZD Net is reporting today that China has censored some 60 thousand Websites (really thought it would be more) and over 350 million pages and is “proud of it.” MerriamAssociates.com is honored to be one of them. The head of the State Council Information Office, Wang Chen says there is no stopping its campaign against …
China Censors 60K Websites; 350 Million Pages Including This One Read More »
Three years ago, Christmas shoppers were rocked by recalls of some of kids’ most beloved toys from most trusted brands. We talked to consumers about the Chinese toy recalls back then, but wondered, What is the long-term impact of those recalls on consumer opinion, brands, and “made in China?” We went out Christmas Eve to …
Chinese Toy Recalls–Brand Impact Three Years Later Read More »
The book Doublespeak by William Lutz defines the term as language that: Pretends to communicate but does not Makes bad things seem less bad, negatives appear to be positives, unpleasant things appear to be attractive or at least tolerable Shifts responsibility and hides causes Conceals meaning and prevents thought Language should serve communication, but doublespeak …
Politico reports that the Nancy Pelosi brand has problems, so she has asked Steven Spielberg to help her out. Companies often think they can fix their brands by tinkering at with their image—a new logo, a name change, a new statement of purpose. The problem is that brand isn’t something so superficial as image. Brand …
Nancy Pelosi Enlists Steven Spielberg to Fix Brand Pelosi Read More »
With Michael Vick stepping back into the role of spokesperson, an old blog post “When a Brand Is a Person” is newly relevant. That post was written while Martha Stewart was rebuilding her personal brand. Now, years later, we can look back and consider what drove her successful comeback. We can also look at the …
The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur has some interesting (if sometimes contradictory) observations, tips and advice for businesses and individuals in this post: Things Not to Do on Social Media Sites UPDATE: Since this post was written, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur site stopped publishing. The ten social media mistakes remain social media mistakes, but are now on …
Microsoft brand failure rate is high. Analysts continue to criticize the once high-flying company and consider its prospects as cloud computing and competitive products dim the prospects for the company’s operating systems. A History of Microsoft Brand Failures Indeed, Microsoft has a long track record of failed brands. Here are a dozen examples: Vista: This …
Microsoft Brand Failures: 12 Brand Mistakes with High Costs Read More »
It was just a matter of time before the kinds of people who vandalized brands at world economic summits resorted to brand cyber-vandalism. The Wikileaks hacktivists recognize brands as political symbols, targeting global brands like Mastercard, Visa, Paypal, Amazon, Twitter and Shell. Gone are the days when a brand was a simple guarantee of product …
Wikileaks, Hacktivism and Brands as Political Symbols Read More »