Marketing and Copywriting Blog » Branding

Interview with Branding Expert- Pt 2

laltman — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:21:55 +0000

Here, in Part 2 of my interview with branding expert Whitney Vosburgh, we talk about the elevator pitch, how to craft one, what makes a good elevator, the power of taglines, and much more…

For guidance in branding your business, visit:
Branding Workshop

The Rebranding of NYC and Spitzerâ€™s Downfall

laltman — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:05:46 +0000

Not too long ago a walk along New Yorkâ€™s lower east side was aÂ walk down immigrant history. The tenements and discount stores where Italian, Jewish and then Spanish immigrants lived and worked were still abundant. But walk there now and much of that is fading. Now glimmeringÂ architectural experiments, luxury condos, and high priced boutiques are plentiful. The lower east side, like many other parts of the city, has been rebranded.

So what has that to do with Eliot Spitzerâ€™s hooker escapades and swift downfall? Follow this logic. It may be a bit farfetched but it leads to a larger point.

The hooker involved, â€œKristen,â€ is a Jersey born girl who is now living in the flatiron district of Manhattan, another area that has transformed into very high priced real estate. In fact, her rent was something like $3,500 a month. In other words – outrageously expensive. By all reports, she was desperate to live in Manhatttan with its high life, glamour, and wealthy men. Seeing that she was not an executive type, she turned to a different high-priced career thatÂ took advantage of her assets, and afforded her way to live in Manhattan.

If it wasnâ€™t Kristen, Spitzer couldâ€™ve turned to someone else, you say. Yet, apparently Spitzer didnâ€™t want hooker looking types. HeÂ wanted a brunette who looked like aÂ Â regular, good-looking girl in NYC. After all he had her come down from NY on Amtrak (like there arenâ€™t enough hookers in D.C).Â But the larger point here is that now many young people are willing to go to extremes just to be able to afford living in Manhattan. Parts of Manhattan, like the Lower East Side, The East Village, and Meatpacking district that were formerly dangerous combat zones are now seen as the places to be. Quite a branding makeover in the past few years.

A recent article in the NY Post Sunday magazine pointed out the dilemma high-priced real estate presents to people on the career ladder. One young exec noted the expensiveÂ rents and and condo prices, and said there are only so many high paying jobs that enable you to afford Manhattan. According to him, career climbers are doing things like sleeping with bosses just to get those high-priced jobs.

Others take a more socially-approved route and work insane hours to land the executive suite. But with huge layoffs looming in the financial sector, NYâ€™s biggest industry, the fight for economic survival in the Apple is about to get very interesting

Interview with Branding Expert – Part 1

laltman — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:00:32 +0000

This is an interview with Whitney Vosburgh, a branding expert who has worked with IBM, 3Com, quote.com, and Autodesk, among others. Much of what he talks about is applicable to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Â In part 1 we talk about:
-Key to creating a brand
-Why create a brand
-Brand personality
-The concept of an Authority Brand
-and much more.

For guidance on branding your business, click
Branding Workshop

What Rachael Ray and the Food Network can Teach You About Branding

laltman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:20:16 +0000

The Food Network had done a stellar job of creating star brands within its lineup. In some cases, such as Rachael Ray, the star brand outshines the Network. In this article, you’ll see how 2 stars in the network appropriate essentially the same positioning, yet clearly and powerfully differentiate themselves.Â

Â A Branding Lesson from Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee
by Leon Altman

The Food Network is built on smart branding – for the Network as a whole, as well as for its individual celebrity chefs/hosts.

Two of its biggest brands are Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee.
These two, in particular, provide an interesting branding lesson: you can occupy the same positioning within a niche, yet still have a brand that sets you apart.

The positioning these two stars occupy is one of authority in home-making convenience: quick and easy, quality meal preparation for busy women (mostly). Yet each has been able to carve out a separate and distinct brand within that same space.

Rachel Rayâ€™s empire is build on the foundation of her very emphatic tagline â€“ â€œ30 minute meals.â€ The name says it all. Sandra Leeâ€™s tagline is â€œsemi-homemade mealsâ€ – preparing meals with the aid of pre-packaged ingredients. It is essentially the same positioning, but without the exact time period that Ray uses. The implication is the same: youâ€™ll be able to prepare quality meals at home faster.

While both have been able to establish a sense of authority within the convenience field, interestingly, their authority does not come from industry credentials. The sense of authority they have been able to build comes from their unique personalities and presentation, as well as their individual stories….

To read the whole article, click>> Â Â http://www.yourmarketingroadmap.com/RachaelRayBranding.phpÂ

For more info, click Branding

Selling Online – Double Your Price

laltman — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:42:57 +0000

One of the best ways to make more money online is to raise your prices. Whether it’s for products or services. But how do you do that?

The key is increasing the perceived value of the products and services.
This is not a matter of making empty promises, but real things you can do without a huge effort to actually increase both the real and perceived value – you need to do both. The Thud Report details 20 different ways to do that.

While you may know some of these, I’m pretty sure you’ll find some new added value techniques that you could use today.
Click> Get Report

James Brown – The Godfather of Soul – is Gone

laltman — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 15:47:14 +0000

I suppose I could justify noting the passing of music legend James Brown in a marketing blog: After all, few people everÂ matched his branding and positioning skills. At first, he established himself as “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,â€ as Bobby Byrd would try to put a cape on James to an end performance, but James kept shrugging it off so he could continue to dance and sing. Then when Al Pacino was assuming his place as the Godfather, James became â€œThe Godfather of Soul.â€

Both positioning lines worked exceptionally well because they were colorful encapsulations of the truth, and continued to enhance the James Brown Brand.

And of couse I could further justify writing about him here by noting how many times his music has been played on commercials in the past 10 years or so.

But the truth is I just wanted to pay tributeÂ to theÂ passing of a great figure in the history of popular music. Years ago, myself I and my friend â€œBullâ€ Bromberg went up to Harlem to see a James Brown concert.

I had never seen or heard anything like it then and havenâ€™t seen or heard anything like it since. No matter how good his early and midcareer albums are, they cannot begin to capture what it sounded like to there live and seeing JB and his band (when James was still somewhere near his prime.).

So thatâ€™s it. Bye James. Heaven just got funky.
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James Brown

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