Category: Branding

You Need A Crisis Management Plan

Recently, I have been doing a lot of work with risk and crisis communication. For the most part, it’s a topic people don’t want to think about. There is a very “meta” quality to it: We have so much stress in our current lives that we naturally try to avoid worrying about future stress before… Read more »

Using HBO, Netflix To Build Brands

Those who read my blog on a regular basis know that I don’t get cable. Instead, my family utilizes a combination of streaming services that include Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Sling (and yes, I still save a ton of money). I am part of a growing minority in the United States known as cable cutters,… Read more »

Risky Business: 20 Years Of Anchor

Birthdays are a double-edged sword when you are in the business of branding and marketing. Experience is a plus, of course, but so are new ideas. Anchor Marketing turned 20 this year, and while we’ve come a long way from founder Steve Eickman and I working on desks salvaged from an office fire, I’m proud to say that we’ve… Read more »

Mergers, Acquisitions And Marketing

One of the most complex branding challenges facing any bank is a merger or acquisition. Oftentimes it involves taking two brands – each their own equity – and combining them into a single brand (that may or may not be new). The task can seem overwhelming: Should you use one of the existing brands or create a… Read more »

Time To Change The Channel

I work with distributors in several different industries, and while their products are different, their challenges are oftentimes the same. Specifically, I hear frustration about how much time and money gets spent on marketing and branding to customers with few obvious results. Distributors concentrate a lot of effort on telling business-to-business customers their story only… Read more »

What’s In Your Hot Dog?

I’m not a vegetarian, but thanks to a runaway cholesterol score, I am on the way. I eat very little meat, and no red meat at all. I have learned to adapt, and I can honestly say that I almost never covet the steaks that my wife gets at restaurants now and then. But I… Read more »

The Best Actress You’ve Never Seen

Have you ever heard of Tatiana Maslany? Probably not, even though she finally won an Emmy award in 2016. Have you ever heard of Orphan Black? Probably not, even though it has been in production since 2012. In both cases, you don’t know what you’ve been missing. Literally. So I’ll tell you. Orphan Black is a program… Read more »