In one of my favorite all-time marketing books, Macy’s, Gimbles and Me, Bernice Fitzgibbons (“It’s Smart to be Thrifty” for Macy’s, and “Nobody, But Nobody Undersells Gimble’s”) is interviewing a new writer for one of her copy departments, probably back in the 40′s or 50′s, at least during the heyday of Department Store advertising before [...]

Rustoleum Universal is to me an under-marketed potential Killer Brand. The promise of “covers any surface universally even” is new in the spray paint category, and the actuator over-cap on the aerosol can is just down right cool. The commercial does a good job of demonstrating that the canister can be sprayed at any angle, [...]

An associate, Rhonda McHardy sent us this new ad campaign for Air New Zealand. Is it clever, or is it brilliant?   What do you think? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elD38pJX7iE&feature=related

I guess when we are looking at ways to create compelling differentiation, we have to include in our mental check lists, “upside down.” I am of course speaking of Topsy Turvy, the new tomato plant that grows upside down out of the bottom of a hanging basket.  Everything about this product fits the principles of [...]

Animal crackers with which we are all familiar were not a brand.  Animal crackers are a commodity with many different manufacturers over the years, even a few now, but the niche category has been all but owned since 1902 by Nabisco with its Barnum Animal crackers.  WHY?? In 1902, Nabisco created a special package of [...]

Why not? Can you differentiate a drinking glass in a compelling and ownable way, and become famous for it? Well, the Tervis Tumbler™ is just that.  Except they are not a Killer Brand, because as successful as they are, very few people know about them by name, even when they are drinking from one.  Are [...]

The American Dream may be born in the fact that to create a Killer Brand here does not require the resources of a giant, just the talent of a giant. Consider.  Delta with giant resources starts a new airline named Song.  Millions later Song is gone. While during the same years, in the very toughest [...]

Here is a new and very definite KILLER BRAND that I recently discovered.  How can one company own a 62% share of a highly fragmented category? Meet Vic Firth.  Every heard of him or his company?  If you play the drums you probably have. Vic Firth drumsticks are the undisputed Killer Brand in the drumstick [...]

As we watch the demise of the newspaper in America amid the rise of blogs, it should be noted that the first newspaper published in America, “Publick Occurrences” in the year 1690, WAS BOTH A NEWSPAPER AND A BLOG. Publick Occurrences consisted of 3 pages of print articles with a blank back page for readers [...]

This is a day late but the Macintosh computer was born yesterday, 25 years ago with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch">the famous "George Orwell, 1984" TV advertising</a>. I was thinking that we ran Bullfrog on an Apple II, and we ran my first consulting company on an Apple III, both of which preceeded the Macintosh.  Seems like just [...]