The summer of the comeback
What’s in a name?
It is not clear why, of all the things that might concern a business as we enter a year of economic and consumer uncertainty, changing your brand name would be number one on the list of priorities.
Now that’s what I call loyalty beyond reason
Ferret racing in the rain at this year's Innocent Village Fete in London. Image courtesy of fimb
How many companies can get thousands and thousands of people to pay £7.50 to immerse themselves in the brand's experience for a day even when it pours with rain. This brand goes...
As I please – Time to change tack on tobacco
The definition of irony. A British Red Cross ambulance paid for by the workers of the Bristol cigarette manufacturers WD & HO Wills 1914-18. Image courtesy of brizzle born and bred.
As a life long non-smoker and rabid anti-smoker, no one has appreciated and enjoyed the progressive decline in smokers’...
Ecosystems update
Image courtesy of Hans van Reenen
A while ago I introduced the idea of brand ecosystems. These are a group of mutually reinforcing brands, usually from different sectors that co-exist and often co-operate with a high likelihood that a customer of...
Why we love Innocent
The marketing community are often accused of being rather over enthusiastic about Innocent - harbouring feelings about it that aren't perhaps shared by the wider world.
Indeed you would have been hard pressed to find people out side the North London media community at this summer's Innocent Village Fete, I even spotted James Murdoch there.
Every brand needs an ecosystem
I had the great pleasure, along with the entirety of the North London Croc wearing classes, of spending Sunday at the Innocent Village Fete in The Regent’s Park.
All the usual stuff applies about how lovely Innocent are (too lovely perhaps?) but what interested me was the brand ecosystem that Innocent is nurturing around...
Dynamic micro brands – Reggae Reggae Sauce
Time for some good old fashioned brand fawning.
Anyone from our business worth their salt knew that when Levi Roots wrapped up his presentation to the Dragons on the BBC's Dragon's Den in March that his Reggae Reggae Sauce was a sure fire bet.
The sauce, so far made only in Levi Root's own kitchen for...
A tale of two retail experiences
Lots of nonsense is talked about brands.
Especially these days when the entire marketing community seems to have gone beardy weirdy, believing that cosumers and brands are now best buddies. This approach largely ignores the small issue of capitalism - the way that businesses extract a profit from the consumer.
For me the primary service a brand...