Marketers should worry less about their carefully crafted brand image and take more risks because, as brands such as Porsche, Volvo and Ben & Jerry’s show, consumers don’t care about what they stand for.
Interbrand is a respected name in brand valuation, but its proposal to replace brand positioning with ‘iconic moves’ demonstrates a lack of strategic sense.
Sit back, grab the popcorn and enjoy what will surely prove to be the most competitive commercial contest in marketing history.
By unveiling that 007 will be a black woman in the next James Bond movie, the producers of the franchise have learned a lesson all brands should take heed of – brands that want to stay relevant and true to their identity must continue to evolve.
Carlsberg has turned its famous strapline on its head to admit it is ‘Probably not the best beer in the world’, a move that recalls its heritage while achieving a much needed repositioning.
Distinctiveness and differentiation are both integral to brand success so there doesn’t need to be a trade-off between the two.
Time and again companies have proved unwilling to stick to their lofty purpose statements when it costs them money. For purpose to have any meaning, corporations need to put it before profit.
There are two ways to position a brand – ‘about’ something and ‘versus’ something – and the most powerful examples of positioning do both.
Channel 4’s research claiming consumers want purpose-driven ads is the latest flimsy attempt to bolster a morally bankrupt concept that simply covers over corporate indiscretions.
Lush has only alienated consumers with its poorly judged #Spycops campaign, which has nothing to do with the brand as well as being of no benefit to society.
Pret A Manger has built a brand positioning based on serving natural food, yet the E numbers in its bread clearly undermine that, so it has to decide whether to change its processes or its advertising.
After dispensing with chief creative officer Christopher Bailey, new Burberry CEO Marco Gobbetti wants to take the brand upscale, but it goes against its history and traditions.
To succeed professionally you need to be known by your audience and stand out from your competition, but ‘personal branding’ is not a real discipline and if you position yourself to fill a niche you’ll come across as a fraud.
The ASA’s research into harmful gender stereotypes is spot-on, but why do marketers believe lumping millennials together as one makes any more sense?
American marketers have an exquisite dilemma: should they stand against President Trump’s policies and risk alienating half their market, or stay impartial and weaken their brand values?