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Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood sent Toyota stock into a nosedive two years ago when he told a congressional House Appropriations subcommittee, “My advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it.” Jay Leno quipped, “Things are not looking good for Toyota. In fact, today, two crash test dummies refused to get …
Owning your brand name is critical for your business, but what many people don’t realize is that owning a trademark on your brand name is not the same as owning a unique name. In fact, shared brand names are more common than you might think. Facebook raised a ruckus last year when it applied to …
Brand Twins: Shared Brand Names for Different Products Read More »
Greyhound’s negative brand made headlines when Alec Baldwin went on a rant. He “apologized” for his boorish behavior on a recent American Airlines flight by slamming the airline’s service, claiming: “Filthy planes, barely edible meals,” making “air travel experience as inelegant as possible,” and making “flying a Greyhound bus experience.” Predictably, a Greyhound representative has …
Greyhound’s Negative Brand: When Your Brand Is a Symbol of Awfulness Read More »
Overstock.com fixed a huge brand blunder today when they announced they were abandoning the rebranding attempt to change their name to O.co. Here are the top five reasons why the rebranding was doomed to fail: There was never a strategic reason to change the company name. Name changes are expensive and risky in the best …
When ABC debuted its new show “Pan Am” this fall, reviewers mentioned the long-gone glamour of jet travel when people dressed up to take flight. Flying today is about as chic as traveling by bus. Now new advertising programs like those being offered by Spirit Airlines and Ryan Air make the bus analogy all the …
Overhead Ads: Flying Is More Like Riding a Bus Than Ever Read More »
The “Occupy Wall Street” movement has spawned a brand: The Occupy brand. Since the start of demonstrations a month ago, we’ve seen “Occupy Times Square,” “Occupy Atlanta,” and “Occupy San Francisco” spring up. We also have “OccupyTogether.org” as an unofficial hub for other “Occupy” activities, and “OccupyEverything.org” with its “militant research…and mediatic (sic) intervention.” Key …
We were on the Brand Money show on Atlanta’s Business Radio talking about how licensing can build brands and how brands can profit from licensing.
David Boorstin, a noted expert on brands and society, politics, culture and business, has an interesting take on the rise of Herman Cain’s personal brand and the 9-9-9 brand. We’ve had candidates who have effectively used marketing principles, but this is the first time we have a candidate who is himself a master marketer. Read …
David Boorstin on Herman Cain Personal Brand and the 9-9-9 Brand Read More »
We talked about naming challenges, how to name, pitfalls to avoid in this online radio interview on CDTV.net, the online broadcasting network providing stock market news, financial, business, nasdaq, nyse, earnings, and daily dividend reports. Merriam’s Guide to Naming is available from most major booksellers, including Amazon.
Last May in a Marketing Daily commentary, Beau Fraser commented on the phenomenon on “marketing tragedy,” companies doing a tie-in with natural and man-made disasters. The danger is coming off as self-serving or, as in the case of Kenneth Cole’s tweet about the revolution in Egypt being all about shoes, downright offensive. On a day …