Category Archives: Brand

College rankings and the dark matter of reputational precision

Earlier this week, the New York Times published a disturbing piece entitled Gaming the College Rankings, exposing how Claremont McKenna, an elite college in California, had misrepresented data in order to climb up in the US News & World Report … Continue reading

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Social Media Decision Making

Last week I joined the team at New Kind. I could not be more excited to get to work with everyone here. They are community builders, writers, designers, and brand experts who see where the world is going and work … Continue reading

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Branding tip: Calling a duck a duck, Bahamas-style

One of my favorite branding rules is a very simple one that I’ve written and talked about a lot over the years: Call a duck a duck.

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HP: How to (accidentally?) launch a new brand identity the right way

There’s some craziness going on in the branding world today. As reported on UnderConsideration, TechCrunch, and Design Week, a new brand identity for HP, one of the largest and most powerful brands there is, has just been unveiled to the … Continue reading

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How to connect to key communities with the help of brand ambassadors

Once you’ve identified the key communities you think it is important to engage with, the next step is to identify the people you’d like to represent your brand within these communities. For simplicity, I like to refer to these folks … Continue reading

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Greg DeKoenigsberg’s Law of Institutional Idiocy

Every organization has people who act or work in ways that are detrimental to the brand. Often, if these people get results (meaning they make financial targets or otherwise achieve the goals that have been set for them), they are … Continue reading

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Hey, oil companies. Stop using advertising to tell us you don’t suck.

From a public relations standpoint, oil companies have it tough these days. The price of gas in the United States is hovering between $3.50 – $4.00 a gallon while oil companies continue to report record profits. Environmental troubles also continue, … Continue reading

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I hate (most) taglines. There, I said it.

Nothing drives me nuts more than a bad tagline. And by bad tagline, I mean most of them.

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What is a brand story and why does it matter?

There is no more important tool for rolling out brand positioning than a great brand story. The best brand stories can create gravity around a brand and also help build a strong brand community. They show the concepts behind the … Continue reading

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Seven great books for people interested in branding their small businesses

I tend to read a lot of business and marketing books (stop laughing at me) and over the past few years, I’ve noticed one important group that I don’t think is being served well by the existing books out there: … Continue reading

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