Pharma Web Branding, Part 3 – J&J

This is the third in a series on home page design for pharma companies (an industry where I have a lot of interest and involvement). Today – J&J. A company with many admirable qualities. Though, the home page is not necessarily one of them!
The Johnson & Johnson home page simply has too much going on. [...]

Read Full Post »

Some Great Branding Posts this Morning

Head on over to John Moore’s Brand Autopsy site for a very interesting article, with links, about Wal-Mart’s perceived brand difficulties (from a “leaked” brand positioning report).
Then, from Mike Wagner’s Own Your Brand, a striking tale about how one broken brand promise can have very immediate, negative, multiplied consequences.

Read Full Post »

Logo Trends – Take a Look

Very cool spot to see the latest trends in logo design (LogoLounge). You can also see the trends from past years. Pretty neat stuff!
Here’s another interesting site. If you know of other good “let’s look at logos” sites, please add them to the comments!

Read Full Post »

Getting it Done

I have a new post up on the Small Business Branding site, focusing on a new marketing campaign by Citi (“Let’s Get it Done”). Your comments and insights would be welcome…

Read Full Post »

Blogroll Updated After Long Neglect

After putting together the Marketing Bloggers portal, which contains over 100 feeds from bloggers spanning the marketing/branding/advertising field, I realized that I had thoroughly neglected my own blogroll on StickyFigure. Some of you have kindly linked to me, and I have been negligent in reciprocating – mea culpa!
So, as of today, here’s my updated list [...]

Read Full Post »

Give Me a Break, Sheikh

There it was, on the back page of the first section of this morning’s Wall Street Journal.
A very colorful, visually “grabby” full-page ad from a sheikh announcing his new foundation. Now I don’t know how much it cost to put a full-page ad in the WSJ, but I do know that if the goal was [...]

Read Full Post »

Behind the Curtain

Drew McLellan recently posted a photo that captures something less “formal” about himself, based on the meme started by David Airey, encouraging bloggers to let others see more of the “face behind the blog.”
As one who grew up in New England, my default setting is to generally have a curtain between my professional and personal [...]

Read Full Post »

A Little Friday Fun

From one of my favorite marketing campaigns.
It’s amazing how much you can differentiate yourself in an undistinguished business with a little humor.
Go to their site and you’ll see what I mean…
Have a great weekend!

Read Full Post »

Latest Posts from Small Business Branding blog

I’ve been contributing to the Small Business Branding blog for – I guess – almost 2 months now. The site has a growing lineup of marketing bloggers, and the content keeps getting better and better.
Some of my more recent posts:
Re-branding Chrysler: How would you re-brand this “in transition” company if you had the chance?
How to [...]

Read Full Post »

News and Improved

The Marketing Bloggers portal now has a new tab, with feeds from various marketing News outlets (not necessarily bloggers).
Just go to the site, and scroll on over to the right, just before the “About” page.

Did you know that the portal now has over 110 feeds? For folks involved in Branding, Marketing, Advertising, Social Media, PR, [...]

Read Full Post »

Names: Bad, Bad, Bad

From the fine folks over at NameWire, a great post on bad brand names (The Bad Hair Days of Product Naming).

Read Full Post »

Building a “LifeNet”

Very interesting article from Success magazine, by a hard-driving entrepreneur who came to recognize the incredible value of a personal/professional network in building success. Highly recommended read!

Read Full Post »

9,496 Days and Counting

That includes six February 29ths (leap years). 1,352 Monday mornings. 227,904 hourly trips out of the cuckoo clock.
Today, my bride and I have been married for exactly 26 years. This July will be my first blogging anniversary – a wonderful milestone! But it pales in comparison to knowing and loving my best friend for over [...]

Read Full Post »

Pharma Web Branding, Part 2 – GlaxoSmithKline

In my continuing series on how pharmaceutical companies engage the public with their brand on their website homepages, this week we’ll take a look at www.gsk.com (last week was Pfizer’s turn!)
Glaxo became a Top-5 pharma company through a merger strategy. SmithKline Beecham joined Glaxo Wellcome to create…well, you know the tale. Merger mouthful. Most people [...]

Read Full Post »

Sweet Success

From an article in Entrepreneur magazine (print, not yet on-line) with the above title:
When Lori Karmel bought We Take the Cake, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida bakery with lackluster sales, she wasted no time turning it around. Her strategy: Amp up its image…She set out to add what she calls the “wow” factor. “We had very [...]

Read Full Post »

How to Make Friends and Influence Bloggers

In the middle of last year, when launching my new business, I decided to use WordPress to host my initial blog (impactiviti.com). I had used another service in the past but was very impressed with WordPress, and have enjoyed it for many months.
Soon I launched a second blog (which evolved into StickyFigure.com), focusing on branding [...]

Read Full Post »

The Silent Revolution

A brief read, sponsored by the folks at ChangeThis, on the radical ideas of Peter Drucker, and how our business environment has forever changed. I especially enjoyed the concept of filling the “white space” of the marketplace. Take a few minutes and let your mind be stretched – highly recommended!

Read Full Post »

Zzzzzz…Oh, was that a Tagline?

The Wall Street Journal ran an article on Thursday about Lenovo’s new campaign to sell the Thinkpad laptop (Lenovo purchased the PC business from IBM a while back).
The thrust of the campaign is to show that the Thinkpad is tough and durable. OK, that’s a workable angle, I guess – although I wonder if that [...]

Read Full Post »

A Weird Weekend Marketing Challenge

What is it?
How would you brand it?
Then, how would you market it?
Let your imagination fly in the Comments!
(from the What is It? blog)

Read Full Post »

Disruptive Innovations

Great post by Rob Marsh over at Brand Story, about how companies enter the market and disrupt it with innovations that address unmet needs. Highly recommended!

Read Full Post »

Guy, Truemors, and Being…Stupid?

Guy Kawasaki today launched his new web 2.0 application, Truemors, which focuses on something important to all – well, to some – I guess to a few: rumors.
Taking a glance at the site, I can immediately conclude that it won’t be part of my daily diet (Guy’s blog, on the other hand, is a regular [...]

Read Full Post »

Pharma Web Branding, Part 1 – Pfizer

I’ve spent a good portion of my career working with pharmaceutical companies on training and marketing initiatives, often including elements of web design.
Since a public website is a major opportunity to express one’s brand, I thought I’d examine the websites of a number of the larger pharma companies and critique how effectively they brand themselves [...]

Read Full Post »

Thanks, Mom

…from a 40-something son who is glad to be part of your legacy!
(image credit)

Read Full Post »

The Best 2 Minutes You’ll Spend Today

If you haven’t yet seen the brief video clip of an autistic high school boy who gets his moment in the sun during a basketball game, then click here. It will be the best 2 minutes of your day – guaranteed!

Read Full Post »

The Most Ludicrous Product Ever

H2Om. Words fail me. Well, almost.

Somebody please tell me this is a joke. A bad dream, perhaps. A spoof – yes, please tell me it’s a spoof!
Water “infused with the power of positive energy through words, music, colors, symbols and you.”
A quote from the astonishingly silly website (which, by the way, is infused with misspellings, [...]

Read Full Post »