Author Archives: Steve Mckee
The Power of B2B Branding
The results are in–again. B2B branding works. Consumer companies have always known this, which is why brands like Nike, Coca-Cola and Apple engender high regard and sky-high brand valuations. But most B2B brands have been slow on the uptake in believing in branding. That’s changing.
The Good & Bad of Updating Your Website
Is updating your website an evil necessity or an opportunity to strut your stuff? Yes. So, let’s talk about the process of updating a website. Painful, right? Like a college term paper it’s something that comes due and feels like a dead weight on your shoulders.
Perfect Vs. Perfect
The CEO of one of our client companies recently recounted how it took us three rounds of creative execution before we perfected a design approach for his brand. He was not, however, complaining. He was praising the fact that we were willing to spend our time perfecting what everybody knew coming out of the gate [...]
Revenge Of The Bricks-And-Mortar
Remember a decade or so ago when it was all over for brick-and-mortar retailers? When companies that weren’t dot-coms had no hope of hiring talented employees? When the world of business was forever changed? Not so fast. True, giant retailers like Best Buy are struggling with the showrooming trend, but in the past decade Apple [...]
One Secret To VW’s Success
A publication called the Gunn Report tracks honors and awards received by global advertisers. For the 11th year out of the past 14, one company has captured the most major international ad awards: Volkswagen.
Remembering The Good Times
Politics aside, it was quite refreshing to see celebration and genuine smiles in Washington DC during President Obama’s second inauguration. We are surrounded by so much negativity these days [...]
The Best Idea Wins
Another year of Super Bowl advertising is in the books. This year’s ADBOWL® winner was Dodge Ram with it’s iconic “Farmers” commercial.
Built around a 1978 Paul Harvey tribute at a Future Farmers of America convention, the ad shunned common big-game ad tactics of big music, big effects and big hype.
Why Your Company Isn’t Growing [Infographic]
More than one thousand business professionals have completed the confidential, sixty-second self-diagnosis of their corporate struggles at the When Growth Stalls website. While their individual results are, no doubt, instructive, the data in aggregate is also extremely revealing. We prepared this fun infographic to summarize the not-so-enjoyable internal dynamics that struggling companies must find a [...]
Use Fear To Motivate Your Brand
Fear. There’s a difference between fear that paralyzes and fear that motivates. In today’s uncertain economic environment, many companies are afraid and, therefore, hesitant to make any moves. This hesitancy could cost them their business. In a recent survey of marketing professionals that contributed to our 2009 recession-themed blog, FindYourNerve.com, branding consultant Denise Lee Yohn [...]
Sensory Branding: The Next Frontier
Integrated marketing is a topic much in the news these days. My recent Businessweek column on the topic was one of the site’s most emailed and commented-on pieces. Yet there are many, many levels to integrated marketing, and we have only scratched the surface. The first level might be best described as integrated marketing communications. [...]
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