In my lifetime, I don’t think that I have seen a brand rise and fall to the extent as has CNN. Ted Turner did the world a favor when he conceived of and supported the development and success of CNN. It is reported that it took CNN 14 years to turn a profit. Turner stuck [...]

Ever called a Yellow Cab?  Can you name another cab brand?  Yellow Cab seems to have everything absolutely right and brilliant except the product and service itself. Yesterday on three different calls, Yellow Cabs in San Francisco failed to show up for yours truly.  I was located in a part of town where cabs do [...]

Deutsche Bank has a new campaign that is a perfect of example of “empty” advertising with no chance for compelling differentiation or success. Ads feature artistic surrounding shots of a physical prototype of their logo. Nice photography. But meaningless. Tag line is “Deutsche Bank, A Passion For Performance.” NO exampless, no permission to believe. Just [...]

I never thought I would live long enough to see what I just saw, a :60 second commercial that did not mention or show the brand name even once. It was for a new anti-depressant drug and encouraged you to go to a webpage address to learn if it was time for you to change [...]

In the advertising world, puffery is using phraseology that sounds good, but does not have to be legally supported. Words like “finest,” “best,” and “quality” are examples of puffery. One example in Atlanta makes me groan every time I drive by. It is a dated building. The name of the company is York Furs. The [...]

I am writing this post now because there is another new product along the vein of Fizzy Fruit.  I have seen the advertising at least six times.  But I cannot remember the name. The concept seems promising, hiding vegetable juice in fruit juice so children will drink it.  Why can’t I remember the name?  You [...]

What has happened to tooth paste? There are so many options to each brand. Is this category also guilty of over-innovation? I found a certain SKU (stocking unit) of Arm & Hammer toothpaste a couple of years ago. If my memory is correct I have returned to the store for toothpaste seven times since I [...]

This is one of several posts on the subject of whether a category or brand can be guilty of too much innovation. Let’s take golf balls as a first example. Every major company introduces at least one new golf ball each new season. And almost always the new balls replace the previous season’s balls. I [...]

Whole Foods has been a smashing success and continues to cash in on the health conscious subsegment of America. For the most part, Whole Foods stays on strategy. But Whole Foods has a line of Soy Protein Powders for mixing drinks that only the health conscious among the health conscious drink. That line of products [...]

No business that understands the difference in value between a light user, a regular user, and a heavy user should ever mistreat their heavy users. But they do. It is even more difficult to believe for a business like airlines who know their heavy users by name. Take Delta Air Lines for instance with two [...]