Drinking the Pepsi Kool-Aid

I’m not a big fan of naming rights for sports stadiums. From a branding perspective, the name of the venue ought to be about the team, or at least the community. It ought not be about which corporation ponied up the most money so that its brand can intrude on...

My Own Private .idaho

Some good news out of Paris last week. Internet regulators convened to discuss opening up top-level domains to companies, organizations and governments who can afford to buy them. For a price tag ranging from about $40,000 to $400,000, you can buy your very own...

Love Hurts

The reliably clear-thinking Laura Ries goes off on a tear in her blog today over the positioning and naming blunders of the company that makes her favorite athletic shoe. MBT shoes are a classic example of a marketing myopia. It’s a condition found in clients...

The Ford Fiesta, Refried

The Ford Fiesta is making a return to the American market. Company officials announced that a new version of the Fiesta, which has been selling well in Europe, Asia and Latin America for the past 30 years, will be launched globally within the next two years. And in a...

Jawbone Goes for the Jugular

We have long admired Jawbone headsets from Aliph, not only for their sleek design, but also for their spot-on brand name. Now Aliph is showing some additional positioning prowess with the introduction of the personality-driven Jawbone Limited Edition “Jawbone...

Apple’s Brand Fanaticism

Joshua Weinberg of Digital Life Consulting Group has a fascinating and thorough account of Apple’s product launch methodology. Well worth a read. I was struck by Apple’s laser focus on the smallest details and how much effort is put into maintaining...