Cure for ADRD (Attention Deficit Relational Disorder) announced!

Impactiviti Pharmaceuticals today announced the approval of Relativiti (aprillinate oneicus), a unique therapy for treating Attention Deficit Relational Disorder (ADRD).
ADRD is a syndrome that affects approximately 96% of all males, and is characterized by a lack of listening skills, a disinterest in spousal conversation, and an obsession with sports and beer at the expense of [...]

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Brand Impactiviti now StickyFigure

For quite some time, I’ve been contemplating a name change for this blog, and this division of my business. It turns out that I need to create more of a separation between my pharma consulting division (Impactiviti), and my brand consulting work. So, welcome to StickyFigure!
Why that name? Simple – my goal is to figure [...]

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As Heard on The Street

This week, I was surprised to receive a phone call from a mainstream reporter (TheStreet.com), asking for my opinions on small business branding.
I guess I had a lot of pent-up ideas, because I found myself, quite uncharacteristically, letting loose a stream of thoughts and words.
Here’s the article on TheStreet.com website.

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Impactiviti now on Small Business Branding blog

I have recently been asked to be a contributor to the Small Business Branding (SBB) blog. This blog features posts from a group of writers who are devoted to the art and science of branding and marketing, with a particular focus on smaller business.
Here is my first post. I look forward to fruitful collaboration with [...]

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Brand Memories

I was sitting at my desk today, riffling through old memory banks to try to identify brands from other eons of my life (childhood, teenage years, college, young adult) – something has to be very special and memorable to endure the decades.
Then, going to pick up some wine for tonight’s dinner, I saw a name [...]

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Treating workers like adults? What a concept!

From the San Jose Mercury News:
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When it comes to vacation, Netflix has a simple policy: take as much as you’d like. Just make sure your work is done.
Employees at the online movie retailer often leave for three, four, even five weeks at a time and never clock in or out. Vacation limits and face-time requirements, [...]

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No Wimpy Wines, part deux

After my recent post on Ravenswood Winery’s marketing approach, I exchanged a few messages with Becky Carroll, who recently wrote up her (very positive) experience with Ravenswood on her blog, Customers Rock!

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A not-so-regular marketing campaign

The Wall Street Journal’s Marketing section this morning has a very interesting article about P&G’s new marketing approach for Metamucil, the fiber supplement typically marketed for “regularity.”
Now, they want to tap into the endless well of vanity/health/beauty dollars by re-positioning it as a product whereby you can “Beautify Your Inside.”
From the article:
Nowhere do the ads [...]

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Giving Citi some credit

It’s easy to pick on the foibles of various companies when they do something wrong. But it’s always nice to point out when a company does something right.
I recently got a Citibank credit card. I had a minor issue to clear up, so I called the toll-free number shown on the card. From there, FOUR [...]

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New DVD – it’s in the cards

One of my sons just came home with the new James Bond DVD (Casino Royale). Ah, but this was no ordinary DVD packaging. This oversized box contained, not only the 2-disc movie edition, but also 2 decks of cards (with Casino Royale “branding”) plus one high-quality poker chip.
I’ve always been a fan of “enduring” give-aways [...]

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A keen grasp of the obvious

I saw this pathetic example of empty verbal calories in the WSJ today. Read the following sentence and make a mental score, on a scale of 1-100, of the brainpower expended to generate this stellar insight:
“We see consumers as the most important part of the fashion food chain because they are the ones who are [...]

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Chuck talks

Great billboard put up by Charles Schwab, as we approach tax season. Very simple, very effective:
IRA. Or IRS.
What else needs to be said?! Punchy and compelling message, with 8 letters. Fabulous.

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Are your ideas Made to Stick?

This will be the best business book I’ll read all year. I know that already.  And if you need to communicate with other people (who doesn’t?), it may be one of your top picks also.
Made to Stick has the telling subtitle, Why some ideas survive and others die. The main thesis is this: there are [...]

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No Wimpy Wines!

It’s hard to distinguish yourself as a winery. Apart from the wine elite who closely follow ratings and tastings and such, how you stand out among the masses who view a bewildering array of wine bottles on the shelf? How many people just give up and buy a red with an interesting label, because it [...]

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Managing a P.R. disaster

JetBlue hit some serious turbulence with its recent stranded passenger fiasco. But the company that created so much good will and word-of-mouth success learned the best two words to use when you’ve stumbled – I’m sorry.
Something Seth Godin also rightly emphasizes. See post here. And, in a related but broader theme, taking responsibility isn’t a [...]

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