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 [...]

A few weeks ago, I found myself needing to determine where to spend the night in the California foothills of the Sierra Nevada. I could have chosen any of a hundred towns, all of which had interesting gold rush related histories. I chose Angels Camp. Why? Because as a place, Angels Camp has a differentiated [...]

An often overlooked way to differentiate a product is genuine packaging innovation or delivery system innovation. The best new packaging differences, of course create both compelling differences and are patentable. One such example of a new package that should be compelling is the new Giro Gratta package for cheese. It contains 8.9 ounces of Grano [...]

Ernest Hemingway wrote, “The Circus is good for you. It is the only spectacle I know that while you watch, it gives the quality of a truly happy dream . . . ” And he never watched Cirque du Soleil. What could be more of a happy dream than Cirque du Soleil?  I ask because [...]