Nissan’s Datsun Disconnect

Back in the day, everyone knew the Datsun name as well as the sleek design and low price of its popular 240Z sports car. Strangely, in 1981, the Datsun name disappeared, replaced by Nissan. Caroline Winter at Businessweek wrote: “…the company resolved to...

Grasping IBM’s Smarter Planet

Do you really think IBM’s commissioned salespeople walk into client sites to banter about a “smarter planet”? Not if they want to walk out with purchase orders. But, IBM’s series of TV spots would have you believe so. Can you imagine any board...

When to Tune Your Brand

It is all-too common for a company to create and disseminate its brand, and then let it run like a wild horse. Why? Corporate politics, turf wars, egos, and incompetence. This is my only explanation for GEICO’s unending onslaught of inexplicable, inconsistent,...

JCPenney’s Fair/Square Branding

If you own a TV, you’ve seen nonstop discount campaigns from Joseph A. Bank, the men’s clothier. How does a customer know what value he’s getting at any time? It’s impossible. WATCH HERE. Newly minted JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson, former head of...

iBranding = iBlending = iBoring

When I took a typing class in highschool, my fellow students and I used typewriters with look-alike blank keys: it was incumbent on us to learn — without looking — the identity, purpose, and position of each key. Likewise, when learning to play musical...
 

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