This year marks the celebration of the 100th birthday of Nieman-Marcus. Unlike many of our department store brands and specialty store brands, Nieman-Marcus has stayed on the same strategy for 100 years. The orginal partners created it to be a high-end specialty and fashion store. It still is. They have survived four generations of owners, [...]

You buy a new Maserati. Parking lot attendants treat you differently. The electric window on the driver’s side has a quirk in and doesn’t always work properly. You have it repaired. It breaks again. You have it repaired. What do you think of the car? Compare this experience to the following. You buy a new [...]

I discovered this store in Barcelona, Spain. It was a very well explained and merchandised homeopathic medicine store. Happy Pills Stores are a great example of focus, alignment and linkage. Every one who has seen this store has probably walked into it at least once. I did.

My book, KILLER BRANDS, makes the point over and over that you do not have to be blessed with a massive budget or dominant resources to compellingly differentiate your brand. You just need to choose a focus that creates a differentiated and compelling expectation for your brand, align everything to deliver that focus, and make [...]

It’s about time to send some Killer Brand Kudos towards SPLENDA. Splenda introduced into a category of chemicals with a “made from sugar” differentiation, a more natural, or at least less artificial formula in an artificial category without harping on either claim, focusing instead on “made from sugar so it tastes like sugar.” The brand’s [...]

We talk a lot in this blog about strategic consistency and staying on focus.  Now and again we see a brand do something out of character that actually works because it adds emotional dimension and differentiation to its focus rather than confusing its audience. An example was Malcolm Forbes.  His motorcyling exploits and hot air [...]

I thought I had heard of every possible pricing strategy in the Universe, but today a friend sent an email about a 10 day course in meditation that she just returned from. There is no charge for attending a 10 day session for Vipassana Meditation, not even for accomodations and food. Rather all costs are [...]

The cool waterproof shoes, Crocs are an excellent example of getting Focus, Alignment and Linkage right all from the very beginning. I don’t know how many pairs of Crocs they have sold, but it looks like every child and teenager has at least one pair.  I am neither a child nor a teenager and I [...]

Hats off to VELCRO. The brand is 59 years old this month, plenty of time to wander off strategy, but the brand has not. Velcro sticks with its original focus as a re-fastenable fastener, and has resisted the urge to introduce form factors or sku’s that are off strategy. The hook and loop technology that [...]

Engineering a Killer Brand can certainly be a puzzle, but Stave, a company in Vermont has proved that a “puzzle can be a Killer Brand.” Stave Puzzles are known within their target audience of puzzle junkies as the highest quality, most interesting and most difficult puzzles of all times. In this case, Stave Puzzles represent [...]