What is differentiation?

What is differentiation? Differentiation is as small as something that makes your customers smile to something as big as a new way to listen to and access your music—iPad. I read recently that we need to think about what our customers want by filling in the sentence for them… “I want to _____________.” Such as […]

The paradox of choice.

The paradox of choice. By Dr. Leslie Pitner Americans love freedom of choice — having options and keeping our options open. We believe more choices add to our happiness. But what if it isn’t true that more choices make us happier? In the traditional view presented by economists, people are rational actors who strive to […]

The brand development process-tell me a story so I know your differentiation.

The brand development process-tell me a story so I know your differentiation. If you want advertising to work, tell a story.  I will get the message about your differentiation. What does a story do? It creates a movie for your mind’s eye. A good story will be played and replayed in the mind for days, […]

The Brand Development Process in Four Steps

The Brand Development Process in Four Steps The brand development process is a collection of activities–advertising, marketing planning, creating personas, design, packaging, positioning, SEO, social media, and more.  It is has the answer to our problems. So, what is the single biggest problem affecting business today? Healthcare—nope. Employment—nope. It’s a lack of sales. The NFBS […]

Creative Packaging or Generic

Creative Packaging or Generic Generic plain white labels Do you remember the ‘Generic Brands’ experiment? It was the opposite of creative packaging. It was generally a food product with a white label and a word that described the contents of the can or bottle. The theory was that the manufacturer, distributor and retail store could […]

Image Maker Tip… Use Simple Idea To Convey Message

Image Maker Tip… Use Simple Idea To Convey Message Pink Flamingo Promo Sometimes a simple idea is more effective and engaging than a collection of ideas that try to communicate all of the features and benefits of a service. I should say a simple idea is always more effective.  The problem with the simple idea […]

What is perception and how does it work?

What is perception and how does it work? You have heard that “truth is stranger than fiction.” But did you know that fiction is more readily believed than truth?  We read Harry Potter and have no problem believing in goblins, witches and all sort of magic acts.  We go to movies and cry because the […]

What is perception… decisions, decisions, decisions

What is perception? Decisions, decisions, decisions… How fast is a perception? Malcolm Gladwell describes this decision making process in his book Blink… how fast is a perception? Psychologist Nalini Ambady asked her students to review three ten-second videotapes of a teacher without any sound.  She then asked them to rate the teacher.  She did the […]

A visual of your brand communicates

A visual of your brand communicates 60,000 times faster than print. In a recent blog I was praising the power of the visual to communicate, —“We buy with our eyes”—and a reader, a friend and a Radio Sales Rep, took me to task and said not so fast, radio is a pretty effective medium as […]

Be different, be an experience.

Be different, be an experience. If it were easy everyone would differentiate. I was talking to one of my favorite clients recently and she said “We created a logo ten years ago and we used blue and green as our colors.  This was something very unusual in our profession.  Today, everyone of our competitors have adopted […]