by Marc H. Rudov | January 6, 2011 | Article
By now, I’m sure you’ve seen Microsoft’s series of “to the cloud” commercials. These spots, as demonstrated in the clip below, make two fundamental branding errors: 1) selling “the cloud,” yet another generic, nebulous form of...
by Marc H. Rudov | July 26, 2010 | Article
The other day, I caught a rerun of the iconic 1987 hit Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen. Always one to glean a fresh insight with every repeat of a great movie, I found in this screening a branding gem. Bud Fox (Sheen), a trader in a brokerage...
by Marc H. Rudov | June 22, 2010 | Article
As oil in the Gulf of Mexico continues to gush, many Americans have ceased gushing over President Obama, mysteriously surprised he is functioning as a left-wing ideologue with no management competence. Why the surprise? This is akin to being shocked that Miami in July...
by Marc H. Rudov | June 4, 2010 | Article
The barcode transformed supermarket checkout in the ’80s. Its primary benefit: increasing sales while decreasing the cost of sales. What a coincidence! That’s the same benefit — and objective — of a unique, compelling brand. We know what...
by Marc H. Rudov | April 13, 2010 | Article
Almost every company has a chief of marketing mulligans (CMM), the person responsible for its indecipherable value proposition, or brand. Who’s your CMM? The CMM is the exec who habitually treats marketing like a second cousin to sales, the one who believes any...
