WORDS ARE SO IMPORTANT.  Never forget that the difference in one word in a headline or in copy can sometimes spell the difference in success or failure. My wife and I received a direct mail piece last week that just left us stunned and cold-feeling.  It was from a group of financial advisors.  The headline [...]

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Wilson’s, the Leather People, beginning to show non-leather goods in their stores.  A reader has informed me that Wilson’s is changing all of their stores over to Studio branded stores and will carry a range of non-leather products. Regardless of the business need to move away [...]

I passed by an auto body shop today called Pro Collision. It had a sign with a very clever line, “We meet by accident.” I am sure that the agency and the client really were excited about this line. Admit it. It’s cute. But does it set up any expectation, compelling or differentiating about Pro [...]

Prudential has a new campaign that follows the principles of Killer Branding pretty closely. Prudential always had good Linkage with “Own a piece of the Rock,” but the story was a little generic, not that differentiating or compelling.  I have always liked the mnemonic device of the Rock of Gilbralta.  It shows how a brand [...]

I heard a woman say something the other day that really resonated with me when it comes to making your brand stand out from the crowd. She said, “Sometimes you just need a Tiara!” Isn’t that a fabulous line, and thought? First, it differentiated her forever in my mind from other women. Second, think about [...]

As a people we are not just ethnocentric we are chronocentric.  We actually think that technological disintermediation is a thing of our times.  Long distance being replaced by cell phones, etc.  Well think about this. The Pony Express, an American Icon, a true Killer Brand in its time, was introduced in April of 1860.   It [...]

Fifty years ago on Easter Sunday, Gerald Holtom, a graphic artist in England concerned with nuclear proliferation created a symbol based on the semiphore signs for “n” and “d”. Some accounts also credit Bertram Russell with encouraging Holtom. At any rate, the symbol that we all know now to stand for “Peace” originally stood for [...]

I am constantly amazed by things we dreamed about as boys that are now available on the market.  I have already talked about tin can walkie talkies morphing into today’s cell phones. How about a backpack that collects solar energy to charge your computer, and all devices carried therein?  Here it is: I don’t really [...]

On the last calendar day of 2007, I would like to give kudos to a KILLER BRAND. It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno. Market research probably showed that consumers thought that fresh delivered pizza, no matter the brand, was better than any brand of frozen pizza from the grocery store. So instead of focusing on an [...]

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, [...]