Archive for Martin Lindstrom

Martin Lindstrom

Showing 253 items

  • Consumer Power in a Flash
    Brand building in the age of consumer control. Mar 27, 2007
  • The Secret to Standing Out
    If you want to get ahead of the leader, don't follow in his tracks. Feb 27, 2007
  • Brand-ish Opinion
    Does your brand provoke conversation? Go ahead -- give people something to talk about. Jan 23, 2007
  • Is Your Brand A Ticking Time Bomb?
    How to find out -- before the explosion. Dec 26, 2006
  • All Brand Power to the Consumer
    Five years from now, almost every successful marketing activity will be created and driven by the consumer. Three tips to prepare for it. Nov 28, 2006
  • Brand Marketer, Storyteller
    It's not enough to be a product promoter. You must also be a gifted teller of intriguing tales. Oct 24, 2006
  • Life on the Edge With Generation Tomorrow
    Mass-market audiences are a thing of the past, and no brand can afford to be friends with everyone. Sep 26, 2006
  • Web Site Branding: Go Global or Stay Local?
    Should your Web site be global or adopt your nationality? Aug 22, 2006
  • Keeping Brand Identity in a Customized World
    What's the brand's role in a world of customized products and services? Jul 25, 2006
  • Brand Archaeology: Dig Up Your Past
    Excavate your brand's past and recover its most significant signals. Jun 27, 2006
  • Sounding Your Brand
    Use the power of sound for an innovative way to build your brand. May 23, 2006
  • The Story Of Branding
    The value of stories. Apr 25, 2006
  • Sticky Branding
    Sticky branding is one of the most desirable branding techniques. A sticky component can be the glue between your online brand and consumers. Mar 28, 2006
  • Brand Citizens: Take a Stand
    Brand ethics: when should a brand take a stand? And how do you deal with the fallout? Feb 28, 2006
  • Instant Branding: Viral E-Mail, Part 2
    Getting viral with one part humor, one part daring, and a finely-honed sense of timing. Conclusion of a two-part series. Jan 24, 2006
  • Instant Branding: Viral E-Mail, Part 1
    Getting viral with one part humor, one part daring, and a finely honed sense of timing. Part one of a two-part series. Dec 27, 2005
  • Smash Your Vision Statement!
    Any self-respecting company has a vision statement, but is it worth the paper it's written on? Three tips to help make your vision statement mean something. Nov 22, 2005
  • How to Find a Perfect Brand Partnership
    Partnerships have been around forever. Yet few brand Web sites leverage this basic business concept. Oct 25, 2005
  • Passion, Dedication, and Care
    Brand building inspiration from the East. Sep 27, 2005
  • The Branding and Mapping Mash-Up
    Mapping and the Internet have teamed up to deliver a wondrous new world of community relations. Brand marketers, listen up! Aug 23, 2005
  • Community Brand-Builders: Join 'Em
    Is your brand ready to join the community of your future customers? Jul 26, 2005
  • Getting a Brand Talked About
    Does your site over-promise and under-deliver? Jun 28, 2005
  • Fast and Fearless: Brands' Blogging Future, Part 2
    The marriage between blogs and brands is no longer a vision, but exploiting this avenue takes commitment. May 24, 2005
  • Fast and Fearless: Brands' Blogging Future
    The marriage between blogs and brands is no longer a vision. Exploiting this avenue takes commitment. Apr 26, 2005
  • Absolut Branded Language
    Integrate specific language into your brand and own those words. You may just achieve 'Absolut Perfection.' Mar 22, 2005
  • Indelible Branding
    Would your brand's most loyal fans tattoo your logo on their arms? Feb 22, 2005
  • Now Hear This!
    Identify your branded sound. It makes sense. Jan 25, 2005
  • The Moral of Collaboration
    Few brands can survive alone on the World Wide Web. A strategy for finding online partners and allies. Dec 28, 2004
  • Playing the Brand Game
    Are you a brand manager inclined toward safe solutions? Then stop reading now. Nov 23, 2004
  • Balance SEO With Brand Clarity
    Top search rankings are tempting, but optimizing for search can blur a brand. Some help to keep the brand clear to consumers and visible to search engines. Oct 26, 2004
  • The Living Brand Manual
    Give up trying to resuscitate that dry, lifeless brand manual. Search for a living, breathing, human version instead. Sep 28, 2004
  • Brand Bending
    Brands no longer reside in marketing departments. Aug 24, 2004
  • Phishing for Brand Value
    In a high tech era, don't abandon high touch. Jul 27, 2004
  • Brand Your Navigation
    Can your navigation pass the smash test? Jun 22, 2004
  • Branding Volume: Turn It On
    There's a good reason why customers aren't hearing your message. May 25, 2004
  • Bank on Knowledge
    Build a brand bank now, or risk deflation of uninvested brand knowledge. Apr 27, 2004
  • Not 100 Percent Perfect
    Project a perfect image and the world expects perfection. Mar 23, 2004
  • Not by E-Mail Alone
    Combine e-mail with good old-fashioned letters. Messages won't be deleted in fear but greeted with cheer. Feb 24, 2004
  • Choose Brand-Building, Not Bland-Building
    Let your brand strut its stuff. Jan 27, 2004
  • A Ghost of Christmas Past
    Martin confesses the worst brand debacle of his career. Season your holiday greetings with sense! Dec 23, 2003
  • Relating Cause to Marketing
    Meshing cause-related marketing with a brand. Who will be first to take its potential to the Web? Nov 25, 2003
  • Unorthodox Brand Alliances
    Thinking beyond the obvious can expose your brand to a whole new world. Oct 28, 2003
  • Small Spending, Big Branding
    Australia's fastest-growing juice brand hit warp speed in five months with no TV, radio or print. The alternative? Go alternative! Sep 30, 2003
  • Brand Survival Techniques
    Generate sales in hard times and bond customers with your brand. Sep 23, 2003
  • Future-Proofing Your Web Site
    A future-proof test for your Web site. Is it ready for the consumers who conduct the most online transactions? Sep 16, 2003
  • Branding a URL
    Three simple rules for promoting a Web site. Sep 9, 2003
  • The Demise of Long-Term Planning
    Short-term is the approach when mapping strategy. Sep 2, 2003
  • Brand Conversion: Passive to Interactive
    Human contact and dialogue are about to go wireless. How do brands adapt to such a reality? Aug 26, 2003
  • What's Your Brand Up To After Hours?
    Employees are ambassadors for their companies. How well do your employees represent your brand? Aug 19, 2003
  • Meaningful Merchandise
    How far should brand builders go with merchandising? Aug 12, 2003
  • Online Dating -- for Brands
    Single no more. Brand alliances are the new trend. How to find a mate for your brand. Aug 5, 2003
  • Branded Language
    Imagine not needing to display a logo to achieve brand recognition. That's what branded language can do for you. Jul 29, 2003
  • Creating a Brand Personality
    YellowPages.com: a case study in brand personality. Jul 22, 2003
  • Brand Checkup: Where's the Human in Your Brand?
    How sympathetic to the human condition is your brand's online presence? Jul 15, 2003
  • Brand Checkup: Relevance and Intuitiveness
    Martin continues the online brand health checkup. Are you closer to brand heaven? Jul 8, 2003
  • Three-Step Brand Checkup
    A three-stage checkup to assess a brand's online fitness. Jul 1, 2003
  • Word of Mouth
    Exceeding customer expectations is the most powerful branding tool. Jun 24, 2003
  • The Situation Placement Game
    Make your product the hero of the situation. Jun 17, 2003
  • Center Stage Branding
    Product placement is out. Situation placement is in. Jun 10, 2003
  • Tell the Truth, Honestly
    Telling it like it is can be refreshing -- and incredibly effective. Jun 3, 2003
  • MSP: Slow, Steady Progress
    Four steps to put the 'me selling proposition' into action. May 27, 2003
  • MSP: Don't Fake It
    Either you're listening to your customers or you're not. Don't think they can't tell the difference. May 20, 2003
  • Your New Brand Managers: The MSP Generation
    It's not about your brand anymore. A new generation creates a new selling proposition. May 13, 2003
  • Good, Old-Fashioned Online Brands
    Who could have predicted it? Old values are in fashion again. May 6, 2003
  • Crisis Control
    Worst case scenario: How would your brand respond to crisis? Apr 29, 2003
  • Turn Customers Into Marketers
    New twists on P2P marketing for a new generation of customers. Apr 22, 2003
  • Fish Streaming: Targeting Kids
    How do you target kids? First, forget everything you learned about appealing to a sense of individuality. Apr 15, 2003
  • The 24/7 Marketing Department
    Kids expect to be in touch with their brands at will. Even at 3:00 a.m. If you can't be there for them, the Web can. Apr 8, 2003
  • Tweenspeak: The World's Newest Language
    To influence the folks who are influencing major purchases, you've got to speak their language. Apr 1, 2003
  • The Real Decision Makers, Part 1
    Eight-year-olds don't buy cars or furniture, but they play a bigger role than you'd think in determining which ones their parents buy. Branding to adults... and their kids. Mar 25, 2003
  • Five Steps to Online Trust for Your Brand
    Trust is a brand's greatest asset -- especially in troubling times. Martin tells you how to create brand trust and credibility online. Mar 18, 2003
  • Does Your Brand Have a Sense of Humor?
    A smile couldn't hurt your brand. It could even help. Mar 11, 2003
  • Is It a Boy or a Girl?
    As your site grows, brand identity can wither. Martin offers four steps to ensure online brand integrity. Mar 4, 2003
  • Do You Provide Customer Disservice?
    Go undercover. Visit your brand as if you were a customer. Feb 25, 2003
  • Bring the Background Forward
    Desktop wallpaper is more than an overlooked branding element. A good execution could elevate your entire brand strategy. Feb 18, 2003
  • The Emotional Tie
    Emotions are ties that bind -- to your product and brand. Feb 11, 2003
  • Goodwill: Good Thinking
    The right move at the right time can result in financial growth and help a worthy cause. Feb 4, 2003
  • Real-Life Branding
    Your brand image isn't about abstractions; it's about true stories of people's interactions with your brand. Jan 28, 2003
  • The Art of Asking the Right Questions
    You want to engage in a dialogue with your customers? Query them. Jan 21, 2003
  • Branding Your E-Mails, Part 2: Find Brand Loyalty Close to Home
    Tap into loyalties of individuals and communities and shed the image of a huge impersonal brand. Jan 14, 2003
  • Branding Your E-Mails, Part 1
    Martin offers five steps toward e-mail that reflects your brand. Jan 7, 2003
  • Give Your Brand Away, Part 3: Community Building, Step by Step
    You're sold on the idea that your brand needs a community. But where do you start? Dec 31, 2002
  • Find the Passion (Give Your Brand Away, Part 2)
    Brand communities arise out of a passionate involvement between brands and their users. How do you foster such a relationship? Dec 24, 2002
  • Give Your Brand Away, Part 1
    A brand's ultimate achievement is to no longer be owned by a company, but by communities of consumers. How can brand development become Brand Nirvana? Dec 17, 2002
  • Non-Bland Brand Building
    Making customers smile (or even laugh) is hardly the worst thing that could happen to your brand. Dec 10, 2002
  • Multichannel Planning Equals Maximum Brand Awareness
    Results are in from Europe: Add the Web to the media mix, boost brand awareness. Dec 3, 2002
  • Once Upon a Time, There Was a Wonderful Brand
    There's a story around your brand. Tell it! Nov 26, 2002
  • Put Your Index in Order
    You don't need a customized search engine to ensure customers find what they want. Nov 19, 2002
  • Unity, Fraternity, Loyalty
    Loyalty isn't just about the way your product tastes, smells, or feels. It's about how using it makes your customers feel. Nov 12, 2002
  • Why a Traffic Retention Strategy Matters
    Promoting your site like there's no tomorrow? If your customers aren't coming back, they got the message. Nov 5, 2002
  • A Personal Recipe for Branding Success
    Your brand is about your customer. Oct 29, 2002
  • Brands Equal Unique Promises
    Build traffic by promising... and delivering. Oct 22, 2002
  • Aim for Who, not What
    Why would anyone want to do business with a company led by technology? Oct 15, 2002
  • Brands Suffer From Search Dysfunctions
    Your site search engine isn't a toy, and you shouldn't treat it like one. Oct 8, 2002
  • Webogram Power, Part 2
    Map your strategy for upselling and cross-selling customers on your Web site. Oct 1, 2002
  • Webogram Power, Part 1
    Map your strategy for upselling customers on your Web site. Sep 24, 2002
  • Sensory Brand Management: It Makes (Five) Senses
    Why does most brand building concentrate on two senses when appealing to all five is likely to double brand awareness and strengthen the impression a brand leaves on its audience? Sep 17, 2002
  • Give Away Giveaways
    Think twice before you order those T-shirts! Digital merchandising is cheaper, cooler -- and attracts way more attention to your brand. Sep 10, 2002
  • Perils of One-to-None
    One-on-one or flying solo? Sites should adapt to their customers, not the other way 'round. Sep 3, 2002
  • Danger! Jargon
    What language does your brand speak? Do your customers understand it? Aug 27, 2002
  • Do Your Brand a Favor: Misspell It!
    No one spells or types flawlessly. Smart marketers take human foibles into consideration when developing a URL strategy. Aug 20, 2002
  • Context: We All Love a Story
    Just because you're selling a 'boring' product doesn't mean your marketing has to be stale and stuffy. Aug 13, 2002
  • Big Brand, Zero Bucks
    Put away that wallet! Build a brand from zero -- on a near-zero budget. Aug 6, 2002
  • Don't Think Too Different
    Don't reinvent the wheel on your Web site -- or change the rules of the road. Jul 30, 2002
  • Brand Games: Your Move
    Do you trust consumers enough to put your brand's fate in their hands? Jul 23, 2002
  • Branding With Passion
    Build a better brand. Do the right thing -- with the right charity. Jul 16, 2002
  • Build Your Brand, Legally Speaking
    Would you hire a lawyer to build your branding campaign? Then why let them write copy on your site? Jul 9, 2002
  • How to Undermine Your Brand and Tax Resources With an E-Newsletter
    Think your customers are at the edge of their seats, breathless with the anticipation of your newsletter's arrival in their inboxes? Reality check: They're not. Jul 2, 2002
  • Overdue for a Brand Tune-Up?
    You launched four or five years ago. Is your site still in synch with your brand? Jun 25, 2002
  • Pushing Sponsorship
    Ever thought of naming your child after a corporation? A new era of sponsorships is dawning, so you'd better grab the opportunity. Jun 18, 2002
  • Cross-Channel Synergy? Where?
    A little channel integration goes a long way -- boosting conversions 35 percent. Why aren't marketers bothering to do it? Jun 11, 2002
  • Creating Traffic With Creative Branding
    A pizza joint needed to boost its Web site traffic. Mission accomplished. The one restaurant is now a franchise, and most of its competition is out of business. Here's what it did -- and how you can apply its strategy to your business. Jun 4, 2002
  • Linking: To the Brand Or to Bewilderment?
    There's a signpost up ahead. Does it point straight into a branding Twilight Zone or enhance your visitors' experience? May 28, 2002
  • Cross-Channel Branding
    Think your brand should have the same tone of voice across channels? Martin disagrees. May 21, 2002
  • Brand Alliances Put to the Test
    Here's evidence that a co-branding alliance may be something you should consider. May 14, 2002
  • Trust: The Internet Comes of Age
    Brand trust can be built online, according to a recent study. Does that mean the advantage of traditional media is finally over? May 7, 2002
  • Click-and-Mortars Finally Click!
    The Web can't appeal to human senses like a real-world retail store can, which hinders upselling and impulse buying. Martin finds evidence this is changing. Apr 30, 2002
  • www.what?
    A company's URL is an extension of its brand. Keep is simple, keep it consistent, and your customers won't have to guess where to find you online. Apr 23, 2002
  • Microsite Focus
    Successful branding isn't about being everything to everyone. It's about making it clear you can do one thing -- the thing the user is searching for. Apr 16, 2002
  • Home Page Monotony
    What's the point in having an entire site if you plunk everything on the home page? Why do dynamic brands feature stubbornly static home pages? It's the first brand element the world sees when it visits your site. Your home page deserves some extra planning. Apr 9, 2002
  • Your Own Brand Custodian
    Make your site stand out by engaging your customers in a dialogue. Apr 2, 2002
  • Stop Guessing
    You can measure some aspects of your promotions, but do you know if your brand message is getting through? Mar 26, 2002
  • Web Branding: Take It Personally
    Corporate site not conveying your brand's personality and essence? Take a look at what teens are doing online: branding done right. Mar 19, 2002
  • Brand + Brand = Success, Part 2: Brand Marriage Failure
    Fifty percent of marriages fail; 90 percent of brand marriages fail. Why? Mar 12, 2002
  • Brand + Brand = Success? Part 1
    How much of a benefit is co-branding, really? In this series, Martin defines the topic, looks at the hype and the reality of co-branding -- and defines ground rules for successful co-branding for both parties. Mar 5, 2002
  • One Voice?
    Much has been said about the need for a company's communications to speak with one voice, but there are reasons for your brand to learn a variety of different languages. Feb 26, 2002
  • B2B = Boring to Branding?
    Think B2B brands are a bore? You don't know one of the best corporate sites on the Web is about ball bearings. Yes, you read that right: ball bearings. Feb 19, 2002
  • Language 4U?
    Are you speaking your customers' language? As you answer this question, here are a few things to consider. Feb 12, 2002
  • Your True Competitors
    You think of your competitors as companies offering similar products or services as yours, but your real competitors may be in a completely different field. Feb 5, 2002
  • Brand New Branding
    To brand successfully, you need to understand the new instant-gratification consumer mindset arising in the world today. Jan 29, 2002
  • See Your Brand Vision?
    If your company is hiding behind a timid mission statement, it's time to inject some personality. Jan 22, 2002
  • It's the Detail That Counts
    Are you guilty of sending out plain, undifferentiated emails to your customers? Jan 15, 2002
  • Instant Gratification
    More than ever before, brands need to instantaneously reward their customers for loyalty. At a time when consumers have learned that the whole world can change in a day, long-term rewards just aren't as meaningful. Jan 8, 2002
  • Permanent Brand Visibility
    Satisfied with getting your target audience's attention for just a few seconds? Take a look at tools that can solidify your brand's image in a consumer's mind. Dec 18, 2001
  • Can Loyalty Survive Recession?
    Frequent-flier and traveler loyalty programs have been rousing successes in engendering brand loyalty, but how will they perform in a recession? Dec 11, 2001
  • Is Harry Committing Suicide?
    The Harry Potter brand seems to have cast a spell over kids (and their parents) the world over. But how long will he hold sway over his target audience? Dec 4, 2001
  • Get Closer to Reality
    The Web's advantage is interactivity. Use it wisely, and you'll be competing with brick-and-mortar retailers on their own turf. Nov 27, 2001
  • Wireless Power
    The wireless messaging channel known as SMS is ripe for exploitation. But Martin says few advertisers are taking advantage of the opportunity. Nov 20, 2001
  • The Direct Mail Virus
    Message over medium. The threat of anthrax could deter people from opening direct mail pieces, even from brands they've trusted all their lives. If marketers chose mail, email, or even SMS, sensitivity is more important now than ever in maintaining brand value and restoring confidence. Nov 13, 2001
  • Where's the Real Risk?
    Are marketers looking at today's realities or simply following a popular perception of the "right" way to do branding? Nov 6, 2001
  • The Red Cross: First Aid for the Swiss National Brand?
    Can a country's reputation be marred by the demise of its national airline? Martin thinks Swissair's bankruptcy may have left the Swiss national brand as riddled with holes as its eponymous cheese. Oct 30, 2001
  • Trust and Security: A Brand's Most Esteemed Values
    Marketers need to realize that customers' outlooks have changed. What was true for your marketing plan two months ago might be irrelevant today. Oct 23, 2001
  • Brand Games: Are You Ready to Play?
    Grab your joystick and hold on tight, because a promising new marketing medium is emerging, and it shows all the signs of delivering an intense ride. Oct 16, 2001
  • Differentiation: It's in the Detail
    Just because navigation conventions have become quite conventional, there are still plenty of opportunities for your site to distinguish itself -- and enhance your company's brand identity. Oct 9, 2001
  • Cutting Back Without Cutting Yourself Off
    In these difficult times of belt-tightening, you may think you know the tried-and-true ways to slash costs -- but the most obvious ways may be fraught with danger. Oct 2, 2001
  • Back to Basics
    With stock prices falling, jobs being cut, and salaries being renegotiated, even some of the world's most-recognized brands are struggling. In this atmosphere of insecurity, we need to see brands expressing secure values. Sep 25, 2001
  • Think Fast, Be First
    Within 24 hours of the attack, Amazon had reconfigured its home page. In demonstrating its human face, it has garnered kudos that might otherwise have taken years to establish, at a cost of millions of dollars. Sep 18, 2001
  • Be Direct
    On the Web, most members of you audience are likely not marching to the beat of the same drummer. So how come most content on most Web sites is written the same way on most every page? A brand can have many faces and still be strong and clear. Sep 11, 2001
  • Double the Branding for Half the Price
    How effective are banner ads in brand building? Can they really work? It depends. But if designed well, banner ads intended for branding can in fact contribute to achieving campaign goals normally associated with click-through banner ads. Sep 4, 2001
  • Brand Brother Is Watching You
    It is possible to measure the real value of online brand building, as long as you have something to measure against. The trick is, of course, determining what the appropriate performance criteria should be. Aug 28, 2001
  • ROI: RU OK?
    It has been almost impossible to measure the results of long-term branding campaigns that are often run over several years and across multiple channels, handled by multiple agencies, and managed by multiple departments. But times are changing. Aug 21, 2001
  • Another Channel, Another Challenge
    Just as the whole world was thinking "WAP," the honors have gone to SMS. But the really interesting issue for the world's marketers is that of building and controlling brands in the medium. Aug 14, 2001
  • T-Commerce: The Net/Teen/Consumer Equation
    The fastest growing of market segments, which also happens to be the largest online audience segment, the quickest-learning online segment, and the segment likely to become the biggest spending group in consumerdom, is now able to purchase stuff online. Aug 7, 2001
  • A Brand Health Check, Part 2
    In part 2, Martin offers five more questions for an online self-examination. If your answers are yes to all of the questions, your brand is well on its way to being able to sustain, and hopefully increase, its level of health. Jul 31, 2001
  • A Brand Health Check, Part 1
    How can you take care of your brand's health? Well, the answers are obvious -- and certainly easier said than done. But the fact is that the brand builders often appear to be systematically forgetting some fundamental brand-health issues. Jul 24, 2001
  • Negative Product Placement
    Have you been noticing the emergence of negative product placement -- on TV, in movies, and on the Web? Martin has, and he thinks that the trend sadly parallels U.S. electioneering practices. Jul 17, 2001
  • Instant Branding
    Ten years ago, you had to plan a TV campaign at least a year ahead. You had to book it at least three months ahead, and you had to start production at least four months prior to airing. Now, the months of preparation have been reduced to hours. Jul 10, 2001
  • Optimize Your Branding Touch Points
    In an era of communications growing more complex daily, Martin asks, "Have you optimized all your consumer touch points, or are your touch points relying on haphazard coincidence?" In other words, what's your channel strategy? Jun 26, 2001
  • E-Children: Come Home
    It's tough enough to live with your parents even if you get along. Imagine, though, that they kicked you out of the house when you were just a toddler, and now that you're an independent teenager, they want you to move back in. Yikes! Jun 19, 2001
  • Smash Your Web Site
    Imagine we smashed your Web site by searching through every page and deleting the brand and any references to it -- and then asked the consumer to visit the site without knowing what its brand was. Jun 12, 2001
  • Brand Version 1.1
    Just as manufacturers change toys and games to satisfy evolving play preferences, brands must also keep pace with social evolution if they are to preserve their relevance in the marketplace. Jun 5, 2001
  • Retailers: No Rest for the Weary
    Retailing concepts are dramatically challenged every decade. Even though retailers have won the first three rounds of the latest fight, they can't rest on their laurels. The heads of e-tailers may be bloody, but they are unbowed. May 29, 2001
  • E-Tailing's Critical Success Factors
    There are five e-tailing success factors. They are simple, but critical. Yet they are neglected and mismanaged, which explains why only 5 percent of e-tailers survive. May 17, 2001
  • Broad Branding
    Broad branding refers to a 360-degree view -- a total branding plan that should aim to secure links between media channels, promoting positive synergy between all communication channels used in your broad-branding strategy. May 3, 2001
  • An E-Lesson From Hans Christian Andersen
    Many a dot-com story is a fairy tale gone awry. Why? Because not many sites have what it takes to be as sticky as one of Hans Christian Andersen's stories. Apr 19, 2001
  • E-Male? No More
    Most Web sites look like index pages from the New York Stock Exchange. Soon, though, women will be making their mark, and the male-dominated view of cyberspace will be no more. E-male, make room for f-e-male. Apr 5, 2001
  • Opportunity Clicks
    There's a world of communications technology out there, often in places you might least expect. It may seem a chaotic world, but there's a message in the madness: Brand opportunity is just clicks away, and it's time to make your mark. Mar 22, 2001
  • Click With Brand Synergy
    So you reckon a click-and-mortar strategy is for you? Ask yourself this: Why? In the end it should be about adding value to your customer's relationship with the brand. Mar 15, 2001
  • The Internet, on Sale
    In the case of the Internet, do most expect something for nothing -- or at least more for less? The answer is yes. The question is, Why? Higher expectations of lower prices, that's why. Maybe it's time for a change. Mar 8, 2001
  • M-Gambling: What Are the Odds?
    M-commerce's biggest headache right now isn't how to make graphics look better, the sending frequency stronger, or the reach better. It's about how to make money in the future. Is gambling the solution? Mar 1, 2001
  • Generally, Generic Generalizes
    "That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done..." Yet not all songs are written, not all brand names are taken, and not all URLs are gone. Feb 22, 2001
  • Baby.com: Time to Grow Up
    It was once a novelty, it was hip, it was in. And although a ".com" address is still a must, ".com" in a company name is a bust. It's simply out of fashion. But it's also more than that. Feb 15, 2001
  • Brand-New Kids on the Block
    How many times have you heard it? "Children are the future." It's no surprise, then, that our youngsters have been quietly dragged along in the brainwashing wake of branding, creating icons, and engendering loyalty. Feb 8, 2001
  • Users Might Pay, but They Don't Come Free
    Advertising revenue is decreasing, as is investor faith in many dot-coms. The result is a return to the commercial world's tried-and-true revenue-earning model: The consumer pays. But will your introduction of a fee result in empty traffic reports? Feb 1, 2001
  • Country of Origin as a Branding Statement
    A product's country of origin constitutes an important piece of branding that, in many cases, can be so influential it overtakes the brand's other reputation builders. A product label says a lot more than "Made in..." Jan 25, 2001
  • Branding: It's All About Focus
    What's the secret formula for successful branding? There's no hidden magic in the process of building a brand. Here are three simple principles to ensure successful brand building. Jan 18, 2001
  • Shhh... The E-Tailing Infant Comes of Age
    Remember the turbulent years of e-tailing's infancy? Now it looks as if e-tailing has already weathered its teenage years -- and, showing signs of maturity, may be safely leaving home. The quiet of this holiday season confirms to Martin that this is so. Jan 11, 2001
  • Contextual Branding
    Martin would like to see advertisers become more creative, thoroughly examine consumer behavior, and figure out when the need for a particular product peaks. You can put your brand in a logical context by understanding consumer behavior and need. Jan 4, 2001
  • The Emergence of Luxury E-Tailers
    Luxury products attract the prices they do because of their brand names. It's easy to see how being able to buy the right brand of product at the right store appeals to consumers. But how is this going to play out online? Dec 28, 2000
  • Benchmarking
    How good is your brand, and when can you afford to be truly satisfied that it's at the top? Martin tells you how to measure your brand with benchmarking. Dec 21, 2000
  • Five Easy Lessons for Holiday Selling
    Here are five simple points guaranteed to make the difference between e-tailing's 1999 and 2000 holiday seasons. This year is e-tailing's last chance to regain consumer confidence. Dec 14, 2000
  • Bye WAP... Hi-Mode
    Ask programmers about i-Mode, and they'll laugh! But consumers understand it because it's user-friendly. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), on the other hand, isn't the answer to everyone's wireless dreams. Martin tells you why the most advanced technology isn't always widely accepted. Dec 7, 2000
  • .Com: The World's Most Expensive Address
    We've got seven new family members to supplement ".com" domain names. So the problem's solved, right? Think again. These new address structures are likely to be no more popular than the ".net" address. Nov 30, 2000
  • Global Branding Versus Local Marketing
    The exposure of local brand building in the international arena contributes to difficulties in global branding strategies. We know local marketing can't be centralized. So it's vital for the strategic group to work hand in hand with the tactical group. Nov 23, 2000
  • The Trust Business
    E-tailers must establish consumer trust if consumers are going to buy online. Maintaining consumer trust in your brand requires respect for consumer privacy and restraint in email marketing. Nov 16, 2000
  • The Brand Catch-22
    The Internet isn't for everyone. Some brands are more successful online while others fare better in TV or print. Hence, the brand Catch-22: Going online is dangerous, yet avoiding an online strategy can create criticism as well. Nov 9, 2000
  • Page Clicks Versus Page Flicks
    Martin ponders the difference between real books and e-books, between retailers and e-tailers, and between the real world and the virtual world. Nov 2, 2000
  • Wireless Hype Phase 1
    As wireless technology hype builds in the United States, it instills every dot-com company with the conviction that it must include wireless commerce in its operating strategy. Just as the web underwent a posthype period of calm and reflection on the part of users, marketers, and retailers worldwide in 1998 and 1999, the wireless Internet will do the same. The protocol's name might alter, but you can be sure there is a role for wireless technology in the Internet's future. Oct 26, 2000
  • E-tail-Retail Battle: And the Winner Is...
    Martin wrote a couple of articles on the battle for supremacy between retailers and e-tailers. At that point, it seemed the first round went to the retailers, as online shopping was justtoo new for the average consumer to feel comfortable with. Then the second round seemed to be going the e-tailers' way. A Forrester Research report on e-tailing now predicts almost all pure e-tailing will be dead by 2002. Martin revisits the situation to report on the third and final round. Oct 19, 2000
  • Does a Brand Blast Work?
    You've no doubt heard about the Pizza Hut rocket. Talk about a brand blast! Marketers are always looking for new ways to give a brand a big liftoff. But is the big-splash, big-blast campaign a good branding tactic? Oct 12, 2000
  • Branding by Communication Channels
    Riding in a taxi in Japan, Martin discovered the GPS monitor, a device with targeted ads for a captive audience. Forget TV and print media marketing plans, it's time to focus on channel branding strategies. Media plans can include the Internet, the mobile Internet, the GPS taxi monitor, and the Palm PDA. Every message uses a channel strategy that knows minute by minute where to find your brand's target consumers. Oct 5, 2000
  • Rebranding the Olympics
    Martin lives Down Under, upside down, and in the center of the world's biggest-ever branding exercise. It's called Sydney 2000. Being so close to a world event is fascinating from a brand-building perspective. Martin explains how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) faced major crises over alleged bribery at the Atlanta Games and athlete doping at the Sydney Games. Learn what the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) did to restore trust to the Olympics brand. Sep 28, 2000
  • Can Coke Put the Fizz Backin Its Brand?
    Coca-Cola's recent megadeal with AOL signals a new marketing strategy that includes more online visibility. Coke also teamed with NTT DoCoMo in Japan, giving away mobile phones and plans to do the same in Europe. Its new decentralization strategy enables individual markets to develop localized products. But this branding strategy is nothing new as far as dot-coms are concerned. Can Coke possibly be a market-leading brand by following the leader? Sep 21, 2000
  • Eat Dust, Dot-Coms
    Last week Martin discussed how the great superbrands have become anachronisms in the face of dot-com brands' meteoric rise and how the brand pioneers seem to be languishing in offline limbo, gathering dust on supermarket shelves. This week he looks at how we can dust these great entities off and restore their lustre. Sep 14, 2000
  • Superbrands Face a Superchallenge
    The technology companies Microsoft, IBM, Intel and Nokia are four of the top five most valuable brands. For every new dot-com brand that appears on the cyber horizon, the classic superbrands seem to recede a little more from the consumer's notice. Classic superbrands face a superchallenge. The development cycle they've pursued over the decades is just too slow to keep them from gathering dust. Sep 7, 2000
  • The Only Way to Build Brand
    Internet real estate prices have increased dramatically, resulting in sites squeezing more and more information into less and less space. Martin tells you how to get the best out of small and costly space by focusing on interactivity, the Internet's operating asset. Forget banner ads, one-to-one communication and targeted messages are the only way to build brand. Aug 31, 2000
  • Leave No Test Unturned
    Before a television commercial is aired, it undergoes thorough testing to ensure every second is effective and the advertiser's message is understood by viewers. Market testing is an obvious prerequisite to commercial success, so why is it that less than 1 percent of every web site goes through any market testing? Aug 24, 2000
  • Where Are All the Sexy Surprises?
    Why is much of the stuff we see on our screens so boring? Open up Microsoft Outlook and you see gray on gray, clip- art icons, and a hint of blue. Open up Word, and you fall asleep before you can start writing. Many of the tools we use and the sites we visit are very businesslike and incredibly boring. The sites that offer surprise and creativity will capture consumer attention and brand loyalty. Aug 17, 2000
  • M-Branding
    How can you build a brand on a canvas smaller than a matchbox? What if you could use only one color (say black on a green background), you had no scope for graphics, and the consumer was paying for every second it takes for you to send him or her a commercial message? Welcome to the new world of m-branding, as WAP-enabled cell phones become bigger than the World Wide Web. Aug 10, 2000
  • Brand Crisis Management
    Last week Yahoo! got some negative publicity over its online auction site in France offering Nazi paraphernalia for sale, which is against French law. This was not a predictable crisis, even for the most experienced brand experts. But it ensnared the well-respected Yahoo! brand, which suddenly had to deal with a public relations nightmare. Martin explains how brand crisis-management programs can protect your brand from potential crises. Aug 3, 2000
  • Branding Without a Brand
    Most marketing professionals still believe that true branding is based on the logo. But branding is much more than developing a familiar consumer image. Consumers should recognize your brand without even seeing your logo. Jul 27, 2000
  • Full 360-Degree Branding
    Strong branding is all about creating a story or, if a story already exists, making it spin off the product and the brand. Fascinating stories quite often create the foundation for the whole brand its philosophy, its direction, and its ethos. Martin explains 360-degree branding and why you need more than just a nice-looking web site to build a brand. Jul 20, 2000
  • Asia: New Wireless M-Generation
    Did you know that more than 600 million people are projected to have mobile or cell phones within three years? Most will have WAP (wireless application protocol) access. Most will be in Asia. And once these forecasts see fruition, the days of Internet dominance will be over because there will be more wireless Internet users than fixed-line users. Martin tells you about the birth of wireless in the Far East and the implications of the first m-branding generation. Jul 13, 2000
  • Will Advertising Learn to Speak Web?
    Ever try to learn a new language as an adult? Some succeed, but most don't ever manage to speak the language fluently; they simply came to it too late. There's an analog to this in the advertising world. Avertising agencies are struggling to belatedly learn a whole new language. Millions of people are currently attending the lessons five years too late and at the same time competing with a group that was born and raised with it as a mother tongue. The language? Interactivity. Jul 6, 2000
  • The Future of Copyright
    We've all heard about the battle between the music industry and Napster, and few of us doubt that we'll see more of the same. What does copyright actually mean in a digital age? How will it evolve? The way Martin sees it, Napster might just turn out to be the music industry's best friend. Jun 29, 2000
  • Retailers Versus E-Tailers: Know Your Strong Suit
    The race for most retailers today is getting online. But theyre on the wrong track with a focus on beating the online competition. Can retailers really compete against price, product selection, and unlimited information? Martin thinks its a battle thats lost before its begun. Retailers will have to rethink their focus and may find success all comes down to being the best at what youre good at. Jun 22, 2000
  • The Feminine Net
    It's time to quit all the rational talk, the clichid graphics, and the "techie" look on today's web sites. The feminine side is starting to dominate the Internet, and we'll soon see the same purchasing trends online as we are used to seeing offline. Jun 15, 2000
  • B2B Sites Need Branding, Too
    There's a misconception in some quarters about B2B branding. It contends that the principles of brand building suddenly don't apply or aren't needed once B2B communications replace B2C messages. It seems that B2B communications are governed by a "Why should I bother?" mentality. Businesses aren't emotionally driven, they're not brand-conscious, they buy on price. Because of this erroneous assumption, most B2B web sites look alike. Martin's advice is to remember one thing: We're all human beings. Jun 8, 2000
  • The Narrow-Line to Success
    As retailers cut back their outlets and reduce their floor space, e-tailers are re-evaluating their true market position. Martin explains the trend toward successful niche selling online and offline. Jun 1, 2000
  • To Each His Own Web Site
    Toss the 2,331 business cards you just accumulated at your last cocktail party. Cursory acquaitances could soon change, especially if everyone had their own web site. Martin paints a picture of this likely scenario. May 25, 2000
  • A Web Site for Everyone... and Everything
    Let's consider how the web might look a year or two from now. First, get used to the idea that every consumer will soon have his or her own web site. In Europe and the U.S., for instance, we all have a personal identity number; well, transfer this to the Net. But it doesn't stop there. Every product, everything we buy, will also have its own web site. Take cars: Every car that's every single vehicle will some day have a unique site with layers of information of interest to everyone from potential owners to the police. May 18, 2000
  • What Do Online Points Add up To?
    As consumers in the offline world, we're addicted to spending money to earn points. In the online world, the most common way to earn points is you guessed it by spending money. But you can also earn points for handing out your email address, reading your emails, surfing, recommending a product, placing ads in your email client, reading ads, and even finding stuff. But what do these points add up to? Martin weighs the pros and cons of online points programs and their impact on branding. May 11, 2000
  • Star Branding
    These days, any Hollywood star with a shred of self-respect has his or her own web site. In most cases, these sites support fan-club activities. But more and more, they are becoming revenue centers. Martin shows us yet another way that the Internet offers brand building a new life. Something to keep in mind when building your own brand platform. May 4, 2000
  • The Myth of Free Branding
    We all recognize special offers like "Buy three for the price of two" or "Buy one and get one free." Most B2C Internet businesses weren't slow to adopt these tricks developed by marketers over decades. But in the Internet world, the word "free" took on another meaning. Suddenly everything's free. It's turning the consumer/retailer relationship upside down with consumers asking "Why pay for anything anymore?" Martin tells you what can happen if this trend continues. Apr 27, 2000
  • Will Advertising Learn to Speak Web?
    Ever try to learn a new language as an adult? Some succeed, but most don't ever manage to speak the language fluently; they simply came to it too late. There's an analog to this in the advertising world. Avertising agencies are struggling to belatedly learn a whole new language. Millions of people are currently attending the lessons five years too late and at the same time competing with a group that was born and raised with it as a mother tongue. The language? Interactivity. Apr 20, 2000
  • E-tailers: Only One Chance to Survive
    Research studies show that e-tailers only have one chance to survive. One bad experience almost guarantees a customer won't return for more. Not so for bricks-and-mortar businesses, which can sometimes get away with bad service repeatedly without losing a customer. Martin explains the relationship between off- and online branding the clicks- and-mortar synergy a factor that could diminish or improve the harmonious synergy between the brand off- and online. Apr 13, 2000
  • C-Commerce Calling
    Europe and Australia are already well down the track, but the U.S. is still lagging behind. But probably not for long. We're talking about WAP (wireless application protocol), the next generation to follow the Internet. WAP will probably change everything we thought we knew yet again! And the new trend is likely to be called c-commerce (for "cell commerce"). Martin sketches out a scenario not unlike that of Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story," in which every product has a life of its own. Apr 6, 2000
  • An Old-World Gimmick for the New Media
    What role should brands like Pepsi, M&M's and Palmolive have on the Internet? You can't buy, sample or play with the product online. What would you expect to get out of visiting these sites? Not every brand is suited to life on the Internet. In fact most FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) brands face huge challenges just finding an online niche for their products. Martin has a great solution from old-world marketing. Mar 30, 2000
  • Who Can You Trust on the Internet?
    Real-world brands versus online-only brands: Which do you think consumers generally have more trust in? One of the problems the Internet world faces today is the lack of trust consumers are demonstrating in web sites and online brands. Not only is it apparent that users don't trust the information they are being exposed to on the Net, they resent and fear an invasion of their privacy online, and they doubt the security of online purchasing systems. Martin tells you how to develop consumer trust for your online brand. Mar 23, 2000
  • Media Exchange Rate
    What's a banner ad worth? It depends, compared to what a television commercial, billboard ad, store display sign or radio spot is worth. It seems that worth depends on the comparative success of each of these media. As more online ad forms are introduced, this question arises: "What is the true value of online media compared to its offline counterparts?" Martin envisions a "media exchange rate" that would make every brand marketer's life easier. Mar 16, 2000
  • Knowledge-to-Knowledge: New Brand Platform
    Time for a new buzzword. How about "K2K"? A takeoff of B2B and B2C, K2K can change the way we perceive brands, and the way we build and evaluate them. Martin tells you how traditional brands can exploit the leverage from new brand platforms created by reliable users. Users will create branding content themselves by becoming an interactive testimonial source. This year may be the last in which we'll see users prepared to share knowledge with other users for nothing. Mar 9, 2000
  • Mini-branding Comes to the Net
    Remember your first miniature bag of M&M's? You know, the baby bags that held only 30? Bet you liked them. Most of us harbor a fascination for miniature things. And manufacturers notice this predilection. Mini-products have proven to be a huge success, despite the fact that these smaller products sell at proportionately higher prices. Mini-branding might just prove to be the next-wave branding trend on the Internet. Mar 2, 2000
  • Dot-Com Branding Dilemma
    Dot-com hopefuls vie for media, investor and potential partner attention wherever they go. On average, newdot-coms spend $25 million per year on marketing. The battle for consumer recognition via the Superbowl backfired when dot-coms failed to obtain brand identity. Will something dramatic happen to halt this desperate trend? It's likely that alternative communication channels will be used for promotion. Guerrilla marketing could be the next big thing. Feb 24, 2000
  • The Race to Map Shopping DNA
    We've all been impulse buyers. How often do you go to the supermarket for milk and bread and come out with a cartload of groceries? The overflowing shelves inspire product purchases: almost 60 percent of products bought at the supermarket are not premeditated purchases. It's no accident, but rather the result of a well-known methodology called space management. You can't browse, choose and buy on the web, but this kind of planning is needed. The race for mapping the human "shopping DNA" is on. Feb 17, 2000
  • Global Brands: A Matter of Time?
    Going international with your brand can be like starting from scratch. Successful national brands establish their image over time, an image that relates to their local market. The Internet has made worldwide brand building easier. But don't let this fool you. Net users are human beings. They don't suddenly adopt a worldwide preference by upgrading to version 2.0. Cultural change is needed, and that takes time. But the Internet may offer a chance to telescope that time, bringing global brand building closer than we thought. Feb 10, 2000
  • Auction Sites on the Block?
    With e-commerce growing exponentially and e-tailing sites mushrooming around the globe, the consumer is faced with an infinitely swelling array of choices. The result is a growing need for shopping assistance tools to help consumers navigate their way through the maze. Martin ponders the effectiveness of auction sites versus these new shopping agents that roam the Net, investigate against consumer criteria, and recommend solutions to consumers that they probably would never have found themselves. Feb 3, 2000
  • The Future of Retailing
    What's the role of retailing in the Internet marketing future? Martin envisions big entertainment centers - the "Disney Worlds" of shoes, cars, and so on. The retailers' earnings won't depend on sales because they won't make any. Their existence will be determined by the number of visitors they attract, the number of repeat visits those consumers make, and the length of time they spend in the showroom. Jan 27, 2000
  • Customization: Does It Really Fit?
    Finally Nike has done what many observers expected the company to do last year. Nike Retail Services, Inc. introduced Nike iD, an interactive site that allows visitors, professional athletes and everyday consumers to design and order customized shoes. Almost at the same time that Nike offered this new service, Levi's deleted its customized service from the Levi's site because of disappointment in the response it generated. So who is on the right track, Nike or Levi's? Jan 20, 2000
  • Product Placement: The Interactive Choice
    Product placement: a concept familiar to us from the movies. In one story, James Bond will be driving a Lotus. In the next, he might be behind the wheel of a BMW. In "Back to the Future 2," Pepsi logos were ubiquitous. Theoretically, the Internet, too, could be one big product placement opportunity. Jan 13, 2000
  • Offline Tweens
    Just when most people would have sworn that offline toys were dead, Pokemon appeared on the toy scene with paper-based toy cards - and, within a few weeks, almost killed online toy sales. Most toy products went the other way: LEGO introduced LEGO Mindstorms, Disney offered Disney Blast, Mattel went for CD-Barbies. These companies went for toys on the Net or on CD. But Nintendo did the unexpected and introduced a truly interactive concept: An offline toy. Jan 6, 2000
  • E-tailer Testing Season
    This Christmas season it's finally happened: The first real test for e-tailing. This has been the first Christmas in which e-commerce has offered bricks-and-mortar businesses serious competition. The first Christmas where online hype has been replaced by educated consumer intention as user after user chose to buy Christmas gifts via the Net. But it will also prove to be many e-tailers' last Christmas. Dec 30, 1999
  • Users Do The Branding
    Imagine someone approached you on the street, opened his coat and, displaying his pendant range of Rolexes, said, "PSST! Wanna buy a watch?" Would you buy one? Probably not, even at a discount. Why? Because you don't know the guy. There's not a lot of difference between this example and everyday e-commerce dealings. Martin tells you about the uTOK concept, based on giving private people a public voice. It offers a way of branding products that lets the users do the branding. Dec 23, 1999
  • Who?.com
    You're probably among the 90 percent of people who've tried registering a domain name and been rejected. That's a catastrophe if the name you tried to register was your brand name. The value of dotcoms has inflated in the wake of the panic this dilemma has caused, with domain name prices now in the million-dollar class. So, will prices keep inflating? And what is the trend? Will dotcom disappear, to be replaced with a more flexible domain structure? Dec 16, 1999
  • Brand Building Now A Small Company Reality
    Amazon was one of the first dotcoms in the world to recognize the value of affiliate programs, starting a flurry over similar programs. The key problem is that affiliate programs promote the affiliate owner, not necessarily the "affiliatee." But you shouldn't promote other sites unless you really stand to gain. Martin tells you about a new concept that offers web sites a neutral shopfront and all products relevant to the site. You promote your own brand name rather than an affiliate owner. Dec 9, 1999
  • Rat Race Scurry
    Today, 40 percent of the web development budget goes toward marketing, thanks to a growing opportunity for web sites to drown in over two billion pages of Internet competition. As a result, marketing activity is frenzied, with more than 80 percent of all television commercials in the USA featuring a web address, and 30 percent promoting an individual web site. Can this trend continue? Dec 2, 1999
  • Information Poor Vs. Information Junkies
    The Net is set to become the media that for the first time seriously splits people into groups based on their economic status. A recent AC Nielsen study shows that an American white family is 25 percent more likely to have access to the Internet than a non-white family. Economically- restricted access to the Internet compares with living in Los Angeles without a car. It's not necessarily life threatening, but in LA terms, you're cut off from the real world. Nov 25, 1999
  • My Very Own Brand
    Mass market brands are dead, if you can believe a range of new surveys that say the new generation's faith in "old" classic brands is vanishing rapidly. Forrester concludes that some of the best known brands are steadily losing marketshare to new upcoming brands on the Internet. Teenagers prefer sites like Kasparov vs. The World, Quokka and Bolt. What does this mean for the future of brands? Is the basic Procter & Gamble philosophy of one-brand-per-million consumers slowly dying? Nov 18, 1999
  • Orchestrating The Brand
    Marketers will need to become sense generators for consumers, as the Internet increasingly dominates consumer purchasing, and sight becomes the key vehicle for decision making. Think about it. All the senses we used previously to determine if a product was worth buying or not won't work any more. In cyberspace, the rows of products are gone. Holding a product in our hand isn't possible. Smelling a product belongs to the past. And tasting a sample? Forget it. Nov 11, 1999
  • The Intimate Brand
    The Internet has become much more than search engines and bookstores like Yahoo! and Amazon.com. A range of new online dating sites have appeared in the last few months that communicate with people in very personal ways. These dating sites open the door for brands to communicate with their consumers in situations that were never possible before. Brand building on the Internet has not only become more targeted - it has also become more intimate. Nov 4, 1999
  • The Death Of Portals
    The portals we know today will probably not exist 12 months from now, thanks to the appearance of true Internet-based one-to-one communication. Consumer infomediaries are a third party search engine collecting data about its users and acting on the user's behalf to gain benefits on the Internet. This technology can capture and handle the tons of data necessary to create true one-to-one communication. Oct 28, 1999
  • Retailers vs.The Net: Round 2
    Retailers need to know what they do best if they're going to survive. The Internet has already created many upheavals for them, and it's still causing trouble. The high investment in infrastructure is a key problem for traditional retailers. As are the incredible efficiencies of selling over the web. Oct 21, 1999
  • Clicks, Brands And Mortar
    Firms that use traditional marketing techniques rather than Internet strategies are known as "bricks-and-mortars." And they've been dubbed the true losers of the '90s as more and more cyber-born e-commerce sites have captured marketshare. Barnes & Noble, Toys R Us and HMV were shocked that Internet-based businesses could capture several percentage points in their industries in five short years -- something that usually takes many years to establish. But it looks like the real winners will be those bricks-and-mortars, afterall. Oct 14, 1999
  • The Integrated Brand
    The role of the brand will change dramatically in the next couple of years. Try to imagine a world where products talk together, coordinate their actions and act before you're even aware. Too futuristic? Nope. Many inventions that began as futuristic concepts have become commonplace. The telephone was meant as a hearing device for deaf people. The first television news segment was read from a newspaper. If today's Internet is like black and white TV, what will color be like? Oct 7, 1999
  • Can Truth Kill Brands?
    A free voice has always been sought-after. Just think about the Second World War and the resistance movements' creation of independent radio. Each time freedom has been squeezed into a box - it has triumphed. Now it's become a business. A new generation of Internet sites have geared up for what could be the most interesting race for market share in months. It all started with ThirdVoice and its "sticky notes" system. Sep 30, 1999
  • Online Brands Move Offline
    Two years ago, most companies began to realize the importance of having an online strategy. Disney's Donald Duck became interactive, Mattel's Barbie can be designed on- screen, Levi's can customize your perfect pants, and Swatch offers a worldwide Internet watch. But just as many companies were beginning to master online branding, those at the head of the pack were already moving their online brands offline. Sep 16, 1999
  • The Talking Brand
    When the computer controlled Furby was launched in 1998, many people were surprised that a soft toy could sell more than 1 million units in five weeks. For parents it was perhaps not so surprising - they had already witnessed the invasion of interactive toys. The days when brands based all communications on a monologue are long gone. The only brands that survive will be those that not only talk, but listen, learn and react. Sep 9, 1999
  • Today’s Teens, Tomorrow’s Net Consumers
    For the first time since making its way into our living rooms, television has had to share viewing time with another medium: the Internet. 25 percent of prime television viewing time has been replaced by Internet surfing. Today's teens and kids are leading this communication and entertainment revolution, embracing Internet shopping as the norm and researching school assignments by surfing the net. Sep 2, 1999
  • Morphing Offline Into Online
    Strong online brands have built customer loyalty and captured market share, proving that cyberspace success is within reach to those properly armed and ready. Meanwhile, offline brands are quick to realize that an online presence is not only desirable, but critical to meet customer expectations and stay competitive. Martin tells you how to reevaluate your marketing strategies to attract customers via the Internet. Aug 26, 1999
  • Be Global - Act Local
    Even though the web makes every site global, the need for localization is stronger and more important than ever. On one hand you have to be local, but you also have to be global and loyal to your brand. Leveraging on the millions of dollars spent yearly on worldwide brand marketing is essential for local brands to survive. Let your brand walk, talk, learn, listen and react! Aug 19, 1999
  • Transferring Your Brand To The Web
    Potential new revenue is one of the main reasons for businesses to go online. But transferring your brand to the web doesn't guarantee higher earnings. It takes more than the strength of the brand, the quality of the web site, and the size of the marketing budget. Martin tells you the common success factors that appear time after time. Aug 12, 1999
  • Today’s Special: The Push For Loyalty
    Like many of you, Martin got a $10 voucher from Amazon.com for future book purchases. But his friend got one for $16. A more valuable prospect? Until now, it's been about selling online at a low price. But we're entering the second phase of e-commerce - where knowledge about a customer can be translated into real sales. A new chapter on the Internet with the aim to create more loyal customers. Aug 5, 1999
  • The Role of Retail in the Internet Age
    Shop till you drop? No way. Say good-bye to long lines, congested parking lots and the turmoil of tugging your tikes from store to store. Instead, just park your car in your driveway and get online while cruising 24-hour one- stop shopping malls. It's what's hot, and it's forcing retailers to redefine their roles while capturing a global audience in this vivid, new Internet age. Jul 1, 1999
  • Offline Versus Online Brands - The Winners and Losers
    It took more than 50 years for Coca-Cola to become a worldwide market leader, but only five years for online search engine Yahoo! to gain market dominance. The role of the brand has changed dramatically -- and has created a vacuum between offline and online brands. Jun 22, 1999

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