Precedent

In some institutions, what came first is an invaluable guideline. Decisions are based on former decisions. It’s purposely difficult to justify changing course.
Law is probably the best example. Decisions made without precedent are rare and typically left to the highest court to determine… to, y’know, establish precedent.
But too many modern decisions are based on the [...]

The Snuggie phenomenon

From an article I just saw over at AdAge:
Marketing’s New Red-Hot Seller: Humble Snuggie
That’s right.
The blanket with sleeves is one of the hottest selling items these days. Selling more than 4 million units in the past three months, Snuggies has made just under $40 million in retail sales.
There’s even reports of customers swamping stockers and [...]

Just add sleeves!

Have you seen it yet?
Someone created “Snuggies.” The blankets with… sleeves.
Complete with an incredibly cheesy infomercial. Check it:

But when I watch this, I can’t help but have mixed feelings. Honestly, a fair part of me admires the simplicity of the idea. It reminds me of the classic Homer Simpson line after [...]

Simple stories win

So I’ve been exploring this word of mouth marketing world for a few weeks now, and it’s been an interesting journey.
Coming from the branding and storytelling perspective that I’ve primarily focused on here at this blog, I can tell you of one element that spans pretty much everything:
Simple stories win.
Simply, the brands, the marketers, the [...]

The lessons in lyrics

I’m listening to some random music and realized that there’s some potentially significant nuggets of wisdom that could really apply to marketing.
I’m not here to misrepresent an artists intentions, but the best stories are the ones that we can apply to ourselves. Here’s what I mean:
Modest Mouse: Missed the Boat — “…our ideas held no [...]

Remember your reason

The best companies, organizations, groups, tribes, etc. — they’re all guided by purpose.
Things get overwhelming. Markets change. Fads blow over. Opportunities pop up. In reality, this is all you can count on–this landscape of upheaval.
These factors are largely environmental and outside your realm of control.
But you control your purpose, your reason. You create it, you [...]

The myth of more revenue from more stuff

Looking for more revenue?
If you’re a restaurant, it’s easy to expand your menu.
If you’re a law firm, it’s easy to add new areas of practice to your list.
If you’re an automaker, it’s easy to add another car to the lineup.
If you’re a home construction company, it’s easy to dig pools too.
The problem with all these [...]

Being selectively different

Seth shares an important lesson today–a lesson I was circling when I talked about how Domino’s made a brilliant marketing move by creating a remarkable delivery process rather than trying to make a remarkable pizza.
Here’s what Seth says:
Marketing storytelling is not about doing everything differently. You do many things the same, intentionally, because those ’same [...]

Two branding slideshows

If you haven’t had the chance yet, check out these two slideshows on branding.
First, The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier of Neutron LLC (thanks to Jill for pointing me to this one):

Second, Brand U.O by David Armano:

Logo inspiration

Springwise points us to IncSpring–a marketplace of logos for sale. The story goes that often when a designer is pitching a logo, they present around six different ideas. One will get picked, the other five are gone, often to never see daylight again.
The site already has a massive collection of logos (click “all categories”), and most [...]