Never a Lack of Ideas

I'm noticing a new trend in commercials for electronics: many of them feature very quick cuts of people using the products while music blares in the background. A few of them also feature one word on the screen that doesn't change, while a word before or after changes with the different scenes. Here are a few very recent examples: 1. Android: " And You " Quick cuts of people using the product. Music blaring in the background. The word "and" stays on the screen while other words change around it. 2. Fitbit: " Find Your Fit "  Quick cuts of people using the product. Music blaring in the background. The word "fit" is on each screen while other words change around it. Slight variation:   3. iPad Air: " Change " Quick cuts of people using the product. Music blaring in the background. No words on the screen. Example from two years ago:   4. Chromebook: " For everyone " Perhaps this was the...

Best Brands in the Land Happy Halloween! In what will hopefully become an annual tradition, I present to you my list of the top ten brands in the United States. To create this list, I relied heavily upon my opinion of the general perception of each brand versus its competitors, and how much of a premium the brand can charge because of that perception. I didn't get hung up on revenue data or market share numbers — I just went with what I see and hear every day and threw in my own opinion from a marketer's point of view. Here's my list, starting with the best brand in the land: Victoria's Secret — The brand became a household name by charging a premium for products that very few people see when worn; and then turned that brand equity into a complete line of clothing. Google — Do you use any other search engine? I'll bet you've even used the word "Google" as a verb. Apple — The iPod, iTunes, and iPhone have defined their categories. Facebook — The d...

Coloring Outside the Lines All four-year-old children love crayons. They also love to see their own name in print (“look mom, it says, ‘David!’”). Why not combine the two? My idea is simple: Crayola should offer customers the opportunity to give its standard crayon colors unique names and then buy boxes of those specially named crayons. Just think about the look that would appear on little Billy’s face as he opens a box of eight “Billy Blue” crayons for his birthday. Or, maybe little Pauline’s favorite color is purple so her mom buys her a box of “Princess Pauline Purple” right before her first day of pre-school. Just about every kid in America is required to show up to his or her first day of school with a box of crayons. How cool would your daughter be if she had a standard box of crayons AND a box of Gina Green crayons? If Gina gave a Gina Green crayon to every one of her classmates, she’d be the most popular girl in school. But the customized color names don’t have to ...