Iconic brands are often in decline for an easily overlooked reason…they have lost their contextual meaning because people have changed but the brand has not changed with them. People have evolved their story but the brand continues to tell its story in the same way with the same message and/or the same voice it has […]
Everywhere you turn these days you hear people talking about Consumer Experience or CX. For a few, it is relegated to the digital or “User Experience” people have with a brand’s digital properties. For many more, it means more broadly tracking and improving the consumer journey through various “touchpoints” with brands. For some others, it […]
By Jim ChastainIt just happened again. Nestle has just bought Blue Bottle coffee. There will be Blue Bottle coffee drinkers who are crushed by this and there will be Blue Bottle coffee drinkers who don’t pay a lot of attention to it. Who knows what will happen with the Blue Bottle brand from here but […]
By Jim WhiteI hear a lot of marketers these days say their companies are “consumer-centric.” I used to think this was a good thing. But I’ve changed my mind. Being consumer-centric is good. But it’s not good enough.To be a truly transformative brand — one that enjoys true loyalty, passionate advocacy and a premium price — […]
If they a made a movie about your consumer, what role would your brand play? Hero? Trusted sidekick? Mentor? Villain? Would your brand even have a speaking part? Or would it be an extra? You know, “Man in crowd #3 played by your brand”. We all have life stories that we create and tell ourselves […]
Not all products connect with people as brands. They don’t stand for anything. That is, they don’t provide any cues to the buyer about who they are. Yes, we humans relate to human characteristics even in brands.The first step to making a product a brand is to examine each of your competitors in terms of […]
I have talked to thousands of people in qualitative research over the years and this truth has always stuck out to me…when people say they “try” to do something it essentially means they don’t do it but would certainly like to think about themselves as someone who would do it.”I try to work out 3 […]
A powerful brand stands for something people care about. It behaves like a person, with ideals, values and personality people want as their own. Building a brand is about conveying a belief system people will be drawn to in spite of the price.In order to define what can make your brand worth it on a […]
