For many years, I have meant to visit Columbus, Indiana.  You know that’s the town that is differentiated based on the architecture of its companies and buildings. I went yesterday.
If it is possible to overdo branding for a city, Columbus may have done it.  The reason for the differentiation is real.  The logo is just [...]

I find the techniques used for some internet advertising to be despicable.  For instance, Verizon’s IQ game.  This starts out as an unbranded challenge by an individual chosen to seem like a friend, a challenge for you to take an IQ test, and compare  your score to theirs.   You go through ten different screens [...]

Last night I drove past 32 outdoor billboards in Atlanta and of these, 28 had too many words to be read completely in the time that it takes one car to drive by.  What happened to the old principle of “six words or less” that I was taught in college advertising?   What were you taught?
The [...]

I learned this morning that new products guru Margot Chapman jumped off the Golden Gate bridge ending her brilliant career.  I will miss her.  We were friends for almost 35 years.
Margot first made waves back in the late 60’s inventing Warm Fuzzies, the very first sheepskin bedroom slipper with the wool inside.  Yes, all the [...]

What do you think about Waffle House vs. Huddle House?  Which is your best choice for a sit-down quick meal?
I personally think that Waffle House is best on service.  I can never remember a bad Waffle House waitress although I once had a bad waiter at a Waffle House in Springfield, Missouri.  But never a [...]

Once in a while I see an item in a store that could be a big idea if advertised, at least in my opinion.  Sometimes it is the concept.  Sometimes it is the industrial design as with the photos below.
 
First of all, this is the most functional dust pan I have ever used, and nothing [...]

Awhile back, I wrote about James Bond Island in Pha Nang Bay in Phuket.
Today, let’s look at a different destination that was re-branded closer to home.
In the late 1970’s The Herschend family purchased a small, Smoky Mountain theme park called Gold Rush Junction. It had a steam train ride, a few general store type shops [...]

I gave a speech on the principles of KILLER BRANDING a few years ago at the William Mason business school at William & Mary college, and one of the students whose name escapes me now, immediately branded himself as “the Generator,” someone who generates change, who makes things happen.  He put it on his letters, [...]

I discovered Ira Koretsky today, not a very compelling or memorable name is it?  How about if I said that I discovered The Chief Story Teller™ today?  That is how Ira brands himself.
In fact, if  you go to the website of The Chief Story Teller, you will note that he does not use his name [...]

A few years ago, certain bakeries started selling the top of muffins because so may people prefer them.  Problem was, no one could own the idea.
That brings me to the Edge™ brownie pan, where an entrepreneur figured out how to make a pan that would bake brownies all of which had at least two edges, [...]