Contact:
LDM (at) MerriamAssociates.com
(917) 596-8011
Bloomberg News is reporting that the KFC brand is defeating all other fast food brands for dominance in China. By getting in early, tailoring its menu to local tastes (hamburgers are foreign, while fried chicken is well accepted), and hiring local decision makers, KFC stores in China contribute 36% of parent company Yum’s global operating …
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 …
I’ve posted an article or two on funny names, on political names that are hard to pronounce, but effective, and also posted an analysis of candidate names in the midterm elections. I just had to share this link to some truly funny, real political names. Funny names can be effective if they make your brand …
With the midterm election results in, Brand Obama faces big challenges. We talked to Barry Silverman who defined what made the brand a success in 2008. On Election Day morning, we had breakfast and talked about what to do to fix the brand in the run-up to 2012 (plus some thinking about Brand Hillary). <object …
A brand name that is remembered is a brand name that wins in the marketplace—and possibly the polling place. The candidate brand matter. What Makes a Name Memorable? Many factors create name that is easy to remember: great features and benefits and effective, frequent advertising chief among them. In politics, things like party, platform, personality …
Mr. Smith Doesn’t Go to Washington? Predicting Which Candidate Brand Wins Read More »
Merriam Associates doesn’t often cover politics, but since we visited the Glenn Beck Restore Honor Rally, we couldn’t miss the John Stewart Restore Sanity Rally. What we saw was a crowd that was every bit as white, every bit as political and festive, and every bit as polite. We asked participants why they came, what …
Jon Stewart Restore Sanity Rally–Participants Talk Read More »
The Ralph Lauren brand performs a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, it represents $3000 dresses. On the other, it is stacks of merchandise piled high on sale at Macy’s. Revenue from Ralph Lauren stores ($2.3 billion) is about equal to revenue from wholesale sales to other retailers ($2.5 billion). Yet the company stores …
Political pundits are tossing around opinions about Obama’s brand and McCain’s brand, but what do people like Morton Kondracke know about branding? We went to the proverbial Madison Avenue to talk to real brand experts to talk about the candidate brands. Part One: Comparing the Candidate Brand Strategies of Obama and McCain Barry Silverman has …
Business has long been enlivened by vivid and powerful brands inextricably tied to real people. Such brands enjoy unusual benefits, but also face risks. Real people do good things as well as bad; they make good decisions but also devastating mistakes. Thus brands tied to people rise and fall with the fortunes of the people …
When a Brand is a Person–Personal Brand Considerations Read More »