Open a New (Wireless) Window

By Robert Passikoff
News from the GSMA Mobile World Congress, Spain, the largest wireless industry event so far this year.
Microsoft made quite a push to make its Windows mobile software as ubiquitous as its PC operating system. LG announced that they were going to significantly increase the number of handsets that will carry the new Microsoft [...]

Brands Now Responsible for Providing Value, Meaningful Differentiation

By Robert Passikoff
Brand Keys’ annual Customer Loyalty Engagement Index presents some interesting findings for the new economy, in particular that shopper-consciousness has shifted from one of personal responsibility to ferret out value, to a brand’s responsibility to provide it.
For the 441 brands surveyed in 62 categories in the 2009 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index [...]

Wally Olins - Old School Thinking about Brand Valuation?

by James Gregory, CEO Corebrand

I was stunned to read Wally Olins’ recent article, denying that brand measurement and valuation isn’t an important part of brand building.
I thought the days of brand value ignorance were twenty years in the past. Yet, in this article he said, “The brand valuation process ignores tempest, turbulence and volatility.” Sorry, [...]

Academy Awards: “The Super Bowl for Women”

by Robert Passikoff
The Academy Awards are called “The Super Bowl for Women,” but female ratings have been on the decline. And while it’s the second-most viewed TV event after the Super Bowl, these days if you’re looking for winners, it’s better to bet on engagement than it is on eyeballs.
Viewership this year is likely to [...]

Are you Trustworthy?

by Glenn Geisendorfer, Gabe Goldman
Do you act authentically for your brand? Honestly…sincerely? And importantly, does what you do instill consumer confidence?
In light of hard economic times, consumers need to trust brands now more than ever. They need to be confident, assured in their purchases — particularly if they had to sacrifice to get them. Trustworthy [...]

Real You: It feels good to feel good

     Ok, face it. It’s been a magical week. Whether you voted for President Obama or not, the feeling, the mood, the excitement has been palpable. Everywhere. I had the fun of watching the Innauguration with the entire Jones Middle School where two of my four are students. Mind you, we were in the auditorium [...]

Brands Enter Here

by Glenn Geisendorfer & Gabe Goldman
The economy has now redefined accessibility for the global brand. In the past, to access a brand was to understand price and availability. In the coming year you’ll see a flood of “innovations”, new categories of products and all sorts of other methods, severely hampered by this old method, to [...]

The Brand Bubble - Fact or Fiction? Book Review by CoreBrand

by James Gregory - CEO CoreBrand
Thank you for sharing the proof of the book, The Brand Bubble, The Looming Crisis in Brand Value.
From my perspective, this is an extremely dangerous book. The authors, John Gerzema and Edward Lebar, have taken threads of truth and have tried to weave a dialogue about the impact of brand [...]

Consumer Loyalty & Engagement Trends - Nine for ‘09

By Robert Passikoff

Predictions are hard to make, especially about the future. Fortunately, loyalty and engagement metrics are leading indicators of what consumers think and, more importantly, how they are going to behave - in categories, toward brands, and in the real-world marketplace.
If it helps, think of these insights as a loyalty and engagement version of a [...]

Bankrupting the Brand - General Motors

By Robert Passikoff
Questions have been raised this week regarding a rescue package for General Motors. The choice seems to  be a government bailout or a bankruptcy sale. But not everyone thinks that a Chapter 11 filing would be a bad thing.
While painful for GM, it may be preferable to another government bailout, which might further [...]