The 8 Biggest Branding Mistakes Organizations Make
by Sam Horn
In helping individuals and organizations develop one-of-a-kind identities I've met a lot of people who have spent a lot of money developing brands and slogans that didn't work. In fact, bad brands can cost you customers, income, momentum and market-share. I've kept track of the 8 biggest branding mistakes business make. I share them here so you can do the opposite of these errors and develop a Purposeful, Original and Profitable brand that gets you noticed . . . for all the right reasons.

Your Brand Is Everything
by Joe Calloway
Nothing is more important than your brand, because it’s what defines you, regardless of the work you do. It should be your top priority to build, protect, and represent your brand to the best of your ability in every interaction you have with others. The essence of building a strong brand is simply this: keeping your promises and creating great experiences for others.

Beyond Functionality: Communicating What Your Product Does and More!
by Lynn Altman
Creating the story, the emotion, and the unique promise behind a product is the difference between having and idea and successfully selling a product - which is what the game is all about.

Establishing Meaningful Packaging Communications: Across Multiple Retail Channels and Over the White Noise
by Ted Mininni
Packaging is our last and most formidable communication to the customer as they stand in front of the retail shelf - it had better be our most meaningful and our best.

When Will Google™ Become Generic?
by Naseem Javed
Why is the use of famous trademarked names as 'verbs' in our daily language feared? Google has a big battle ahead of it.

The Solution to Brand Dilution
by Joseph Benson, Rob Levinson, and Drew Allison
How a company can grow through acquisition without losing its identity.

The Eternal Principles for Creating Luxury Brands
by Dan Herman, Ph.D.
This article is about the time proven principles for creating luxury brands in order to attract affluents. Some of these are truly counter-intuitive and surprising.

Who Are The Dumbest People in the World?
by Naseem Javed
Flawed research often aims to satisfy a preconceived need by confirming that a well-known principle is correct, instead of making an objective determination.

Here Comes Circular Marketing
by Naseem Javed
A new level of “micro-nization” of business units, a “wireless-izing” of mass communication and a “voip-izing” of populace conversations in marketplaces, under a massive globalization with highly localized customization to fit the demands of consumers.

The Surprising Secret of Successful Differentiation
by Dan Herman, Ph.D.
A successful differentiation is not imitated by your competitors, even though it brings you unmistakable success with consumers. It seems impossible, but true.

Winners, Losers of Corporate Image 2005
by Naseem Javed
No matter what the corporation does, it must project a sharper personality, something that requires professional and objective assessments -- not just randomly picked, trendy ideas.

Stinky Branding
by Naseem Javed
Any brand can develop any original fragrance, but to say that the smell of the ocean and sea salt is exclusively copyrighted to a tire company is really having the creative noses buried in merde!

Corporate Image Mythology
by Naseem Javed
As e-commerce matures, it opens a great door for smart marketing based on some fundamental laws of common sense, which should address bringing out honest and clean messages to ease the pain of the customers.

True Brand Differentiation - Not New or Improved
by Ted Mininni
True brand differentiation is about one simple, and often overlooked thing: consistently meeting, and exceeding, the basic needs and desires of the consumer.

Use Market Research to Understand Your Markets. Use Brand Research to Understand Your Customers
by Joseph Benson
Brand and market research are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes, by simultaneously employing both brand and market research, you can develop a multi-dimensional perspective of your business and your customers.

Competitive Branding Strategies
by Linda Fisher
In this presentation, we will examine several key points that businesses must implement if they are to succeed in this new global world of business. There are five keys that will unlock your firm's potential.

Heritage: A Master Brand Builder
by Joseph Benson
If there is any one single characteristic and attribute of a brand that provides sustainable competitive advantage, it is heritage.

Al Ries Might be Dangerous to Your Brand
by Dan Herman, Ph.D.
In the business world's hall of fame a special place is reserved for Al Ries. He is without any doubt one of the most prominent gurus of strategic thinking. Regretfully, Ries's continued influence is becoming today a considerable danger to successful brand building and brand management.

Super Advertising Slogans and Super Costs
by Naseem Javed
Advertising slogans or taglines pushing sales are great for getting a customer’s attention as they often tangle and hold them hostage for a second or two. Some taglines catch the user’s attention, but most are simply confusing, causing them to “escape the trap” and run away.

Creating Brand Instrumentality Beyond the Product
by Dr. Dan Herman
The understanding of the different kinds of added value, the ways these values are instrumental to the consumer and the methods by which brands can be means for the consumer for achieving his goals, makes the difference between masterful creations of brands and amateur imitation.

The Black Hole of Corporate Branding
by Naseem Javed
Is this the dawning of the age of branding or just another black hole? The sooner you come out of the bondage of the old fashioned marketing and branding campaigns, the sooner you will see a new dawn. There is certainly light on the other side of this black hole.

Is Your Brand Going to Graduate or Be Stuck in Adolescence?
by Joseph Benson and Bret Kinsella
Brands have a lifecycle that is best understood in stages. Each stage has both a short and longterm impact on how customers view your brand. The five stages of your brand’s lifecycle begin with the brand definition and then progresses through four distinct customer experiences.

Brand! Color! Action!
by Ted Mininni
Color in package design, when effectively conceived and executed, should leverage the assets of brands, and extend brand communications. Color communicates.

Brand Momentum: Speed Can Kill
by Bret Kinsella and Joseph Benson
Few brand managers are trained to understand the behavior or physics of momentum. There is a wide-spread belief that forward momentum is always a positive and desirable state. There is also a belief that once the brand is in motion, it will stay in motion. Neither point is true.

Why is ENRON Now Called PRISMA?
by Naseem Javed
Should we be amused by PRISMA’s name identity as an imaginary, environmentally friendly rainbow that is now arching from their HQ all the way to the big house?

Brands, Millennials, and Universities
by Joseph Benson
Organizations that create successful brands understand their customers well. So how well do you understand the ‘customers’ of your university and what do you know of their lifestyles and buying behaviors?

The 'Marketing Scenario' - A Reality Check on Your Marketing Strategy
by Dan Herman, Ph.D.
The 'Marketing Scenario' is a practical tool designed to help you make sure that you have a winning marketing strategy to support your brand.

Great Brands Just Say “No”
by Claude Singer
Achieving brand differentiation is, to a large degree, a daily exercise in saying no. No to fads and conformity; no to temptations to wander from a brand’s core; no to departures from what makes a brand great.

It’s a Good Thing … Corporate Image is Only a House of Cards
by Naseem Javed
Corporate image is like a house of cards, delicate and fragile, like a crystal palace, it can’t have stones thrown at it. Image is not a fort that you can attack again and again and hope that it will survive.

The Brand Keys' Fashion Index
by Robert Passikoff
Favorite Sports Teams topped the list of apparel brand labels in the 3rd annual Fashion Index however, the importance of logos and brand labels has declined.

How to Brainstorm New Names - with More Brain and Less Storm
by Jeffrey Lapatine
To get the most from a name generating brainstorming session, a clear process, like the one described here, is essential.

The Impact of Cultural Transformation on Brand Marketing
by Cheryl Swanson
Brands can remain relevant only when they remind us of our humanity. Brands need empathy, sensory, simplicity and optimism to make a solid human connection.

The Brand Called You
by Steven Van Yoder
Get Slightly Famous! Building a slightly famous brand is not just about what you do; it's about what you do differently from everyone else.

Rules for Branding
by Dan Hill
An emotional aura, male and female touch points and a signature clue - essential signposts for telling a brand story.

"I Hate That Word Brand"
by Saul Dennis
Rarely, if ever, has our business clearly articulated just what branding is, how it's done, and why anyone should do it.

Branding for Integrity – Going Beyond Ethics
by Larry Ackerman
There are other aspects of this thing we call “integrity” that we don’t normally think about – ideas which are even more basic than ethics and that inform the true meaning of brand.

What your Human Resources Department Can Learn from Fedex: The Power of a Strong Brand
by Joe Benson and Bret Kinsella
Great brands provide a source of identification and an assurance of quality. They simplify decision-making and crisply communicate the value they create for their customers. And great brands make and keep their promises. How does this apply to an HR department?

Can Your Brand Survive Tough Times?
by Lisa Baer
A company's brand is a top asset that quickly gets ignored as the economy worsens, much to a company's detriment. Here's how to utilize your brand's full potential without breaking - and maybe adding to - the bank.

Brands Flunk Loyalty Test - Some Bitter Lessons for College Marketers
by Robert Passikoff, Ph.D.
Based on a recent examination of brands in 17 categories used by students while in college, compared with their post-graduation brand usage, students proved more - not less - likely to change brands when they graduate!

Brand Loyalty Starts and Ends with the Consumer
by Pam Danziger
Brands are far more than just a marketing concept or an asset on the company’s financial statement. The brand is the contract between the company and the consumer with the terms of the contract written in emotions.

Hitting the “Red” Target - The Role of Color in Establishing Brand Identity
by Cheryl Swanson
Color and brand identity are inextricably linked. A brand’s identity is a symbolic representation of it’s reason for being in our lives; a visual distillation of its core marketing message.

Deeper Than Skin: Why Brand Expression Matters
by Julie Newton-Cucchi
Brand expression - how your brand expresses itself from its name, logo, corporate ID, packaging design and copy, web design and copy and all the annoying rules that fill its style guide - is the most tangible manifestation of your brand's essence; intimations before purchase of the brand's soul, validation and reminder of its promise after trial.

Brands and the Importance of Being Visual
by Cheryl Swanson and Kyla Lang
Only in the past decade, has the visual brand presence, what we consider “brand essence,” been approached in anything resembling a strategic, holistic, creative manner.

The Masquerade Ball During the Typing Revolution ...
by Naseem Javed
Corporations, dressed up like Charlatans and Harlequins, have done enough dancing; shareholders are no longer fooled by fancy images, fake identities with silly names, making fun of their investments. Everyone demands honesty from every aspect of the business empire.

Branding Fiasco - Better Be Who You Say You Are!
by Eileen McDargh
Our experience as customers offers great instruction into the concept of branding. Come with me on a recent "experience" and you'll see what I mean.

What's Your EQ? How the Retail Business Became the Emotion Business … Are you Ready?
by Wendy Liebmann
As in all of our lives today, even our shopping lives, we search for an emotional connection that will allow us to differentiate the same from the unrivalled, the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Why Corporate Images Die a Slow Death
by Naseem Javed
When sleek world class corporate images go up in flames like ENRON, WorldCom, GlobalCrossing, and start looking badly charred like ENWRONG, WorldCon, DoubleCrossing or when names become obvious liabilities like, Consignia, Thus, Thales, Xansa, or Uniq ... then it’s time to call the gate-keepers of Corporate Identity on a red carpet.

Color-blind Customers of Today
by Naseem Javed
Think of Blue and what comes to mind is a blue ocean. A blue sky? Sometimes Big Blue, which is IBM. They did truly acquire a secondary meaning and a legendary position of being recognized as such. But it’s time to leave the pretty rainbows in the sky, alone.

The Opportunity of a Movie Title
by Meredith Muncy & Christine Blake
A dialogue between Meredith Muncy & Christine Blake of Vibrato Naming. (Listen slowly - it's about 'naming' and 'branding' and we are all now in the 'hits' business. ed.)

CEO Profile - What I do, Why it's Important, and How it Makes a Difference
Meredith Muncy, Vibrato Naming
Brands have recently moved beyond serving solely as marketing assets that build equity. Today, brands actually interact with audiences, delivering meaning into our lives on a host of personal and cultural levels.

Facing a Brand Naming Initiative?
by Meredith Muncy and Christine Blake
Whether you're naming a new venture or renaming as part of a strategic shift, there are several options available to business leaders. Meredith Muncy, CEO of Vibrato Naming provides an excellent analysis of the options and the strategic steps in the process.

You Know You Need to Revitalize Your Brand Name When ...
by Meredith Muncy and Taylor Standlee
When your brand name doesn’t proclaim your exact brand message, it’s time to take a good look at it and consider making a change.

For a Brand to Pack Punch, the Business had Better Reflect the Brand
by Mary Lou Zievis
What is most critical is putting the brand at the heart of the organization - and then live up to the image that it inspires.

The New Positioning - Minds Can’t Cope!
summarized by Rick Sidorowicz
The New Positioning by Jack Trout is no longer new - but fortunately, it still provides the "clearest path."

Related Topics: Customer Service | Sales & Marketing | Public Relations

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