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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
Un-Crashing Toyota’s Brand Reputation Read More »
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 »
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
“Net Neutrality” Doublespeak Marketing Read More »
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 »
Interpublic’s hyper-local media agency Geomentum (whose brand name was created by Merriam Associates last year), was selected by MEDIA magazine as a specialty agency of the year for 2010. The awards was based on the company’s strategic vision, innovation and industry leadership. A profile of Geomentum and its achievements will appear in the January issue
Geomentum Is Specialty Agency of the Year Read More »
The days when Madmen sipped and smoked their way up and down Madison Avenue are long gone, but some dead brands of that era (and others) are going on sale December 8th at the Waldorf Hotel in New York. A new breed of madmen have collected and will sell 150 brands from yesteryear. UPDATE: The
New Madmen Auction Retro Brands Read More »
A brand license deal grew a $50 million a year business into a $500 million a year business for Kraft and Starbucks. But problems with the business deal between the two companies threaten to cost billions and destroy a notable brand success. Talk about clouds in the coffee. In 1998, Starbucks and Kraft struck a
Starbucks Brews Trouble Over Brand License with Kraft Read More »
You might not think of brands when in commodity trading. Yet the unprecedented bull market for gold and the fact that my mother, who is otherwise pretty sharp, just bought in at an historical price high, indicates gold is behaving more like an emotion-driven brand than a commodity. As part of my writing work for
Gold: The Commodity that Behaves Like a Brand Read More »
Nestle has announced the creation two new organizations: Nestle Health Science S.A. and the Nestle Institute of Health Science. Nestle says their purpose will be finding “cost effective ways to prevent and treat acute and chronic diseases in the 21st century.” Their idea of finding “a new opportunity between food and pharma” may sound good,
Nestle Seeking “Opportunity Between Food and Pharma” Read More »
The oil spewing from the destroyed drilling-rig off the coast of Louisiana is devastating the environment; it also damages the BP brand. No matter that the oil rig in question is actually owned and operated by Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor. No matter that nine of the eleven victims are Transocean employees. The
BP Brand: Disingenuous Read More »