Brand Notes

This section of the Brand Ranch web site is dedicated to educators and executives who are pushing the envelope or paving the way with new thinking and strategies to make branding a more powerful business tool.  I will continue to add new notes, articles and book references so that you can keep up to date with branding and it's evolution. 
 
If you have any questions or would like to write me a note, question or find out more about the subject of branding please contact me at: MJBLANCK@BRANDRANCH.US

Newsletters:

October 2009 – Brand Differentiation & Relevance - Customer Closeness

June 2009 – 8 Common Mistakes - When Starting a Business

February 2009 – What Marketers can Learn from Obama's Campaign

November 2008 – Business Model & Brand Audit

July 2008 – Get Help!

April 2008 – Vision-A Key to Successful Brand Development

January 2008 – Ten Tips for Building Your Brand in 2008

October 07 - Newsletter – Brand Packaging

July 07 - Newsletter – Branding – Customer Service Experience

May 07 - Newsletter – Seven Deadly Sins of Branding Branding Key for Small Business

March 07 - Newsletter – Brand Model & Audit Process

January 07 - Newsletter – Information Metrics

September 06 - Newsletter – Truth’s in Branding

Articles:

Cult Brands
Business Week/Interbrand Report
www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04 31/b3894094.htm

Chief Executive Magazine
"Building on the Brand" by Bill Leigh
Fall 2002 Issue, Page 10.
www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4070/is_2002_August-Sept/ai_91568344

The McKinsey Quarterly
"Leading Change: An Interview with the CEO of P&G
July 2005 Issue
www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_print

Brand Architecture
"Brand architecture: Managing Large Brands at Retail
www.brandpackaging.com/content.php

Simon Williams: The 10 New Rules of Branding
http://chiefmarketer.com/cm_report/10_New_Rules_of_Branding_11152005/index.html

Books:

A must read – The World is Flat
                        By:  Thomas L. Friedman

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
By:  Al Ries and Laura Ries

Building Strong Brands
By:  David A. Aaker

Positioning:  The Battle for Your Mind
By:  Al Ries and Jack Trout

A New Brand World
By:  Scott Bedbury

Emotional Branding
By:  Marc Gobe

Notes/Quotes:

Can you answer the following "key" questions:

• What is your current brand awareness/image among key target segments?
• What are your brand feature/benefits that differentiates you from your competitors?
• Why are users of your brand buying your products/services?
• Why are non-users NOT buying your brand?
• What differentiates you from competition?
• What makes your brand relevant to your target segments?
• What business/brand factors are restricting you from reaching your maximum potential?
• How are you defining your business?  And how are your customers defining the business?
• What are your company/brand vision, mission statement, values and core competencies?
• Do you know (demographically/psychographically) who your customers are?

If you can't answer these questions, you could be headed for trouble?