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Gawker.com fans were in full rebellion over the Gawker brand redesign. Some threatened to never visit the site again. The Twittering class hated Gawker’s redesign launched February 7th. On February 9th, that all changed. Gawker.com broke the story of the “classy” Congressman showing off his flabby torso and traffic boomed. Consumers pretty much always hate
How Half Naked Congressman Saves Gawker Brand Read More »
A good brand reputation is not a service you can buy and can’t be gained by a clever stratagem. Still, reputation managers at companies trying to do damage control or damage prevention always seem to be on the look-out for shortcuts that can shut down any negative conversation about brand. Preventing Negative Conversation Is Impossible
You Can’t Buy a Good Brand Reputation-Negative Conversation Read More »
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
Brands: Fight WikiPanic By Being WikiReady 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
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 »
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 »
Yes, sort of. The old-fashioned document you faxed to a bunch of editors and reporters is dead. The more recent idea of a “social media press release” is also dead—it did more for the PR agency that invented it than it did for people seeking coverage. Yet that doesn’t mean that an evolved press release
Is the Press Release Dead? Read More »
BP’s new Chief Executive Robert Dudley has a long “to do” list. One thing that should not be on that list: Repairing the BP brand. Yes, the BP brand is wounded and they need a strong brand to succeed. Any effort to fix the brand today will fail. BP’s over-focus on its image has been
Repairing BP Brand Should NOT Top New CEO’s To-Do List Read More »
Scott Neuman of NPR asked me about the possible boycotts of the BP brand. I explained that brand is not a driver for people buying gas. Location is most important. People will literally not drive across a median to reach a gas station on the other side of the street if there is one conveniently
Lisa Merriam NPR Interview on BP Brand Read More »