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About Positioning

Characteristics of the Best Names for Companies

A company’s name has a lot more to do with its success or failure than you might think. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and in most cases, your business’s first impression will be made when people hear its name. There’s no single method for figuring out the best name for…

Branding is just like life: Play a little hard to get

If people were like companies, we’d all be drunken sailors–telling our stories to anyone who would lend us an ear, and probably a lot of people who aren’t even paying attention. Companies are so eager to make friends that they violate the most basic rule of human engagement, which is: make sure the other person…

Lean startups need lean branding

If you talk to people starting companies, you’ll notice a four letter word that’s rocketing its way to ubiquity. That word is “lean.” This is primarily because of Eric Ries’ New York Times and Amazon bestseller “The Lean Startup.” The book has been lauded by everyone from Mitch Kapor to Tim O’Reilly to Dustin Moskovitz….

What is Branding?

Ever wonder: what is branding? The truth is you already have an intuitive sense of what branding is, because it’s actually something that comes quite naturally. See, branding is just like life. In life, as a human being, your brand as an individual is the clothes you wear, how you talk, who you associate with,…

Rebranding: Companies that Succeeded

There are many things to consider when rebranding companies. A rebrand might simply consist of a new logo, or even just updated colors. Or it could be a new company name and an entire visual makeover. Truly successful rebranding means understanding your company’s situation well enough to judge what level of rebranding is right for…

Branding is Just Like Life: The power of “I don’t know”

Do you know anybody who has to be right all the time? If so, you probably don’t make a habit out of spending a lot of time with them. Being wrong is part of being alive. If you can’t make mistakes, how can you learn? If you can’t say, “I don’t know, I’ve been wondering…

The future is always in motion

Everybody wants to see the next best thing. They want to be there for genesis. Which is why car companies build concept cars — as an opportunity to electrify their audience and show off their most radical thinking. If the car is a winner, some or all of it will make it to production. If…

Creating Taglines That Stick

The poet David Clewell jokes that the greatest line of poetry in the 20th Century is “Raid kills bugs dead,” the tagline for the popular insecticide. Considering the line’s ability to implant itself in your memory, and its staccato sound that makes it fun to repeat, some marketing consultants would most likely agree with him….

Rebranding process: Don’t let the crowd scare you

Let’s get the aphorisms out of the way: Change is hard, change is inevitable, and change is constant. When it comes to designing a smarter rebranding process, one that keeps these fundamental truths in mind, companies still have a lot to learn. Because people are more engaged with brands than ever before. And if they…

Branding is Just Like Life: Don’t squeeze the bloody life out of it

I grew up in a little beachfront enclave called Sea Gate, which was at the entrance to New York harbor.  My mother would take me in the stroller down to Nathan’s Hot Dogs in Coney Island. The hot dog was probably for her because I was still breast feeding. She told me later that she…