Think of your favorite big city.
Chances are it has a brand, due in part to history and icons:
New York (Statue of Liberty)
London (Big Ben)
Paris (Eiffel Tower)
Beijing (Tiananmen Square)
Prague (The Castle)
Rio De Janiero (Cristo Redentor)
Sydney (Opera House).
For each branded destination city, there are dozens of microbrand cities like Bend, Oregon.
Bend draws visitors from Seattle, Portland, Eugene, [...]
Now that the economy is officially bad, nostalgia and consumer packaging that give us a warm feeling seem more attractive and suddenly less out of step.
Here are two examples that caught my eye this a.m.
Sharps in NYC, which offers up a bevy of personal grooming products for men.
And then Kiehl’s, “founded” in NYC’s East Village [...]
Much has been made of Starbucks getting back to what it does best. It’s a lesson for any business that delivers service. Yes, Starbucks stores are everywhere, but the company earned success by providing what people want, then gave them a reason to come back.
I never left. I took the latest Starbucks online customer survey [...]
Rob Walker’s Consumed piece in the NYT today explores creatives and their fascination (or inspiration) regarding presidential candidates. A very low-key website featured is www.barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com (no idea what bicycles have to do with it).
When you go to the website, simple clicks on the large text take you through a series of nice things the candidate [...]
Oil is over $100 a barrel. Reducing your carbon footprint is good. Google went dark to support Earth Hour.
So why not use video conferencing more and save travel for the only the most crucial business?
SightSpeed is a Berkeley, California-based company that provides VoIP communications for reasonable rates. The company serves everyday folks at home, as well as businesses large and [...]
One of the strongest branding symbols for companies and organizations is color. It makes speaks to us, makes us feel, helps form perceptions. This free online tool at Color Blender is extremely handy for selecting and matching colors when building websites — or creating a new brand. Match, email, save in .EPS, .ACT, RGB or HTML. Try random. Or [...]
I just happened to see an ad for alli during a morning news program this week. The logo immediately made me think another prominent one that features the same primary colors. I thought of online search, not weight loss. Here are this week’s logos that seem too coincidental.
Font with serif in red, blue, yellow, green. Double [...]
Once upon a time, all you needed was a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers to block the sun and look cool. Audrey Hepburn wore them in the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Cary Grant wore an early version of Wayfarers in North by Northwest. Others photographed in the iconic sunglasses include Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, James [...]
Do you like dining out on Italian food? The restaurant business has a reputation for high failure rates. I’m not sure whom to believe on the statistics, but I believe cabbies who recommend Italian eateries.
And they’re never chains.
Which brings me to Cafe Luna in San Diego. You’d think a quaint place in a shopping center [...]
