I recently watched a TED talk by Julie Taymor, a brilliant film, theater, and opera director. Among the vast array of her works, she translated The Lion King from film to the theater production on Broadway. I’m paraphrasing a bit, but one of the profound things she said was, “You must be true to who […]
Ah, politics, our finest example of power masquerading as public service. Anthony Weiner wants to be the next mayor of New York City. Bob Filner would like to remain the mayor of San Diego. Both of them are smart, politically savvy and experienced. And if integrity were money, they’d both be flat broke. Weiner can’t […]
On Sunday, July 21, 2013 Chris Froome, from Great Britain, won the 100th Tour de France. The significance of his victory lies in the way in which he addressed the issue of illegal doping and how it has devastated the sport of cycling’s Brand. In order for cycling to regain its luster and Brand strength, […]
It’s difficult to create great Brand Ambassadors when 70 per cent of your employees hate their jobs. A recent Gallup study finds that 70 per cent of American employees either hate or are totally uninterested in their jobs. Of that group, 18 per cent are actively disengaged. They’re looking for new jobs on the Internet […]
Don’t worry about Paula Deen. She’ll be just fine. People will forget about the racial slurs in a short time; they will fade into irrelevance. Paula’s apologies appear to be more genuine than anything that Martha Stewart had to say when she was convicted of insider trading. The big reason that Paula and her Brand […]
This little story of Brand Ambassadorship took place early this week, when my wife went to the Ralphs market near our home in Manhattan Beach, CA. It was a quick trip to pick up some almond yogurt, something we eat regularly and that Ralphs always stocks. Her thorough search of a newly reorganized refrigerated section […]
It took a while, but they listened. They finally understand that customers buy experiences, not products. They understand that they’re not just selling the latest package of mobile communication technology. Last week Samsung announced that they are quickly putting a “store-within-a-store” at 900 Best Buy locations around the country, with plans to add another 500 during the […]
Have you noticed that the floodgates have opened and articles about Values are pouring down on us like rain from a Texas thunderstorm. Why now? Perhaps it’s the culmination of anger and frustration impacting all of society over our pathetic lapses. It stretches from Congress and the Administration, to Wall Street and the banking industry, […]
What is your Brand? What do you deliver and how do you deliver it? What experiences and results are your customers looking for? The answers to those two questions provide insight into how and how badly J.C. Penney confronted its challenges: declining Brand strength, falling market share and lackluster earnings. The bottom line is this: […]
The other shoe has dropped. This morning Tim Pernetti, the now former Athletic Director presented his resignation letter to Robert Barchi, the president of Rutgers University. That was the whistle that started the “Blame Game.” According to a news article, Pernetti said that he wanted to fire Mike Rice back in November 2012 when he […]