Distinctiveness vs. Differentiation vs. Bonding
Branding aims at de-commodification: getting the customer to see you as the better, worthier option. And there are three ways of pursuing this goal.
“Emotional” Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means
“Emotional campaigns are 30% more likely than rational campaigns to show large profit effects" — Binet & Field, The Long and Short of It
Magical Thinking, Branding, and Chevy’s Christmas Ad
Your love for this small piece of commercial art, which you’ll likely share with others, can’t help but partially rub off onto Chevy.
Persuading Individuals vs. Persuading the Crowd — Why Not Both?
We are social creatures, and what others think and believe profoundly affects what we think and believe.
Winning the War for Talent – An Advertising Strategy for Service Companies
This is why character and story-driven advertising not only accelerates branding success, but recruiting success as well.
7 Modern Marketing Myths & Why They’re Dangerous Even When You’re Not Falling for Them
Following the zeitgeist is easy. Good branding is hard.
The Most Bizarre Brand Mascot (That Worked) In the Last Twenty Years — And Why You Should Care!
It permanently impressed itself on the tender psyches of millennials and they still whine about it decades later.
Learning From the Legends: The Ronseal Phrase
Don’t be deceived by the apparently artless, “just tell it like it is” nature of the ad. The slogan even made it into the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms and was repeatedly used by then-Prime Minister David Cameron.
Two Marketing Lessons From William Shatner and Blue Origin
Hell, before this event I hadn’t even heard of Blue Origin. I knew Bezos had a private space program, but never knew the name.
SEO-ing the Search Engine in the Customer’s Mind — Association Design for Fun & Profit
You must create and cultivate a rich network of mental associations linked to your brand. It starts with three elements...
The Most Important Search Engine Isn’t Google — And Why Local Businesses Need to Be Optimizing For It
It’s actually an “omnipresent” rather than online-only search engine.
Iron Chef Branding — 2 Practical Steps that Work in the Real World
Whip up that gourmet message, not from scratch, and not by following a predetermined recipe, but by making use of whatever ingredients are already on hand.
Ad Templates
According to the published research, 89% of award-winning ads could be classified into 6 basic templates. And the use of these templates boosted subjects' abilities to positively affect audience perception by 55%.
Ira Glass Part 4: Ditch Your We-We
If you ask Ira Glass, he’d tell you the two biggest mistakes are: (1) Using an inauthentic, over-hyped “voice” or presentation style, and (2) Keeping the focus on yourself instead of the customer.
Ira Glass On Advertising, Part 3
Ira’s third video on storytelling is by far the most popular. He's describing the positive side of the Dunning-Kruger effect. I think this video speaks to: Linear, no-threshold thinking, Minimum Effective Dose, and Cumulative Effect.