the art of the brand

Brands are about intent as well as presence. Underneath it all a brand delivers, or it fails. There can be long discussions about what it delivers, morally, ethically, or as an unintended consequence, as with many of the brands of the chemical industry.
   One of the interesting brands of the last decade has been e-bay, […]

It was months ago that i began blogging about the dangers of the datamining
at FaceBook.
Recently, a new trend has emerged…which may sound odd to those who don’t have a FaceBook account…aps started lying to people. Specifically about relationships, the very basis of social networking. In the rest of the Web, it is normal to see […]

Recently, as a result of a discussion with a client about empowering children through rewarding thinking, i got sent a copy of the highlights of a book about the failures of the American lifestyle. The sender thought I would agree.
I don’t. Effective branding involves effective understanding of what people want–and what they want is a […]

 The COO of FaceBook has announved he is leacing–to become a CEO of something else, as yet to be determined.
He gets credfit for making solid the relationship withg Microsoft, and came from a position at Amazon. CEO Zuckerberg, being like…22ish when fb exploded, had an “adult” handed to him as COO as part of the […]

Does it matter to you whether Microsoft owns Yahoo! or not?
A while back i commented on the irrelevancy of taking brand loyalty sides in Microsoft vs Apple.
Now that Yahoo! has temporarily rejected the opportunity to be eaten, it’s time to review the future.
Yahoo! was once a dominating force on the internet (full disclosure, I am […]

Recently FaceBook dropped a number of its add-on “aps.” This made room for others. In mail over the weekend i was told that 3 of my woman friends needed some help. People wanted to date them, and only I could make it happen. Now, one of the women friends is specifically involved with somebody […]

no, it;s not 42. the question is will anybody actually get value from a Superbowl spot.
The most famous example of arty advertising is the 2000 Superbowl “cat herding” commercial. at this point, the sponsor of the message is so disgusted at being taken for a ride that they have killed the webpage devoted to exmplaining […]

last month’s wired mag had a satire on the fact that u can play “Scrabulous” at FaceBook,and employee a scrabble playing machine ap to max your scores. With a few more add-ons, your FaceBook account can be fullly automated, letting you check in once a day to see how you rank as a person. (That […]

Here’s the state of the art,
from the “push” side, as reported today by AdAge.
“(the client’s agency) erected a billboard
in Manhattan that uses technology to project voices at passers-by. The billboard
uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an “audio spotlight” from a
rooftop speaker so that the sound seems to be contained within your cranium.”
AdAge wanted to […]

Here’s a precautionary tale for brand image harmony.
One of the world’s larger corporations, an outfit not many consumers have heard of although they use products from it every day, is Unilever.
Unilver makes Knorr soups, Slim-Fast, and Hellman’s mayonaise, Country Crock, and Becel. Some may see a contradiction between making mayonaise and foods to protect the […]