If you were marketing a brand, would you not use a color palette? Would you not select a type font in which your messaging would appear? Of course not. You would be robbing the brand of some essential assets it needs to get recognized and esteemed by your customers—not to […] keep reading
Change for change’s sake: putting ego above the brand
Having loaded the newest operating system onto my iPhone 5, I—as many others—couldn’t help but notice all the changes. Did it make the phone faster? No. Did it make the phone more customer friendly? A big NO. Did it make it “easier” to do certain functions? Debatable. So what do […] keep reading
Five ways healthcare branding differs from consumer goods branding
I often find myself in competition for healthcare assignments against some very fine consumer branding companies. However, while such stellar agencies excel with clients like American Express, Virgin Airlines and Chanel, they are ill-equipped to call themselves experts in healthcare branding. Here’s why. 1. Healthcare customers do not celebrate the […] keep reading
Branding and the UX: are you listening to the stereo or the music?
In my experience working with digital agencies over the years, the central goal of my involvement was to help explode the perception among clients that they—the agencies—were excellent at digital projects, but unable to market brands in a full-service capacity. And clients have good reason to see things this way. […] keep reading
The Private Lives of Doctors: Who are you really talking to?
One of the classic misunderstandings that keep healthcare manufacturing and service clients from connecting better with their audiences is the reductivist practice of assuming that all doctors are relatively alike. Strange as it seems, clients spend a significant effort in researching “It Beliefs”—what doctors think about their product/service (It)—when they’ll […] keep reading
Is Bigger Better? Thoughts on the Omnicom/Publicis mega merger
Reading the announcement in the NY Times today about the merger of “equal partners” Omnicom and Publicis brought a smile to my face. Not because I own stock in either company, nor because I think it is a good idea, but rather because I am continually amused at how these […] keep reading