Aristotle in his Principles of Rhetoric explained that persuasive communications are best contructed from three priciples, Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Ethos consists of giving the audience permission to listen to you.  Pathos consists of giving the audience an emotional reason to agree with you.  Logos consists of giving the audience points of logic to support [...]

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, [...]

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.

This week I saw an ad at the movies that got it all right, the medium, the target, the message, the delivery. It was a :120-180 sec spot for the National Guard built around the idea of the Citizen Soldier.  It mixed the history of the National Guard, America’s first organized militia which I learn [...]

In my book KILLER BRANDS, I sugggest that focusing your brand’s differentiation on a compeling expectation is more powerful than focusing on the traditional ideas of benefit and/or attribute, because the concept of “expectation” interprets benefit from the “prospect’s point of view.”  What expectation will cause a prospect to choose my brand? Men’s Wearhouse is [...]

The new Rubbermaid FastTrack organizing system is a great example of making a new item in a branded line of products behave like a brand itself.  The advertising shows a man with everything in his garage organized on the walls with the FastTrack system.  You immediately sense the benefit of organization and that you too [...]

A few years ago, we predicted that the skin care business would be driven by packaging and delivery system innovations over the next few years rather than solely by formula and ingredient innovation. Never once did I believe that anything as cool as the SK II Air Touch Foundation product would be introduced.  There are [...]

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 [...]

Just saw a Pamper’s line extension called Cruisers, developed to give extra room for learning to walk without leeking.  Just great.  Pamper’s Cruisers.  Does that set up a compelling expectation? At the same time, consider Rubbermaid’s new line with bottoms designed to stack into both tops and bottoms for easier storage.  Could they have chosen [...]

I passed a store rather quickly the other day, but the whole concept and name stuck with me. KaBloom, The Power of Fresh Flowers. Several things about this new flower shop appealed to me as a brand. The premise of power in fresh flowers is an interesting way to think about sending flowers, and of [...]