7 Responsibilities That Distinguish a Brand From a Product
YOU ARE YOUR PRODUCT!
The terms “brand” and “product” are often used interchangeably. This is especially true in the supply and distribution chain where branded products are moved along until they finally get to the consumers, usually on a retail store shelf. You will often hear consumer brand builders say...
The Catholic Brand of Ecology
THE POPE WITH HOPE
Pope Francis made headlines with his encyclical on the climate last week. It’s official! This is the first time a major religion took a public position on climate change, its causes, and what we can do about it. The Catholic religion is the largest religion with...
Powerwall, The New Household Word
ZAP YOUR ENERGY BILL
One of our favorite brands is Tesla Motors. We like it because it has many ingredients of a great brand. The name is only two syllables making it easy to pronounce and remember. The name has historical significance and product relevance. The name Tesla was taken...
At the Customer Experience Level Your Sales and Consumer Care People Know More than Your Marketing and Production People
STAY INFORMED AND STAY RELEVENT
Your marketing people have done a fine job of creating a marketing plan, strategy, and package. They’ve considered the market, the competition and the delivery systems. They have honed the message, dialed in the positioning, and developed the compelling logo, catchphrase, and merchandising materials. But like...
The 3 Critical Relationships that Determine the Customer Experience
DOES MY BRAND LOVE ME BACK?
Today there is a lot of focus on the customer experience. How do your customers feel about their experience with your product? Are they satisfied, confident, and pleasantly surprised? Or are they frustrated, confused, and disenchanted? What are the main elements that determine your customers’ experience?...
Chewy.com Uses Customer Service to Distinguish Its Brand
FEED THE KITTY!
We love to write about companies that are emulating what we call “The Barefoot Spirit.” These are the principles we convey in our Keynote addresses. These are the principles we used to found and build Barefoot, the world’s largest wine brand. Such a company is Chewy.com....
5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 5
Distribution
In this series we have been examining threats from inside your own organization that can kill your brand in the New Year. Now is the time to be on guard against them. As we like to say, brands are not murdered by the competition, but die...
5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 4
Legal and Compliance
In most companies the legal department is referred to as “compliance.” However they do far more than make sure your company complies with the laws and regulations governing your industry. They protect you from liability exposures and potential lawsuits. They protect your intellectual property including trademarks,...
5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 3
ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL
In this series, we have been discussing how to recognize the various ways your own people can inadvertently hurt your brand. Your company is ultimately only as valuable as your brand equity. Your brand equity is based on the likelihood that your branded products and services...
5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 2
PRODUCTION
It’s hard to believe that your own team can damage your brand, but most brands are killed from self-inflicted wounds, not murdered by the competition. As you start out the New Year, be vigilant that your own people don’t take action that inadvertently hurts your brand....
5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 1
MARKETING
We learned a lot about building an international brand during the two decades we grew Barefoot Wines. Most of it we learned the hard way, and that is why today we share our lessons in this blog devoted to brand building. Although we were successful, we...
Renew Your Brand Promise for the New Year
Renew Your Brand Promise for the New Year
This is a great time of year to renew your brand promise. Just like renewing vows in marriage, you recommit yourself to your brand promise. But unlike marriage vows, the promises are not yours. They’re the sum of your customers’ perceptions, expectations and beliefs about your...
The Brand Name That Says It All! Barefoot Bubbly Sells One Million Cases!
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
It was storming that night in 1996 when Michael slowly drove up the long dirt road that lead to his humble farmhouse in the rural hills of western Sonoma County. He was careful not to spin out in the mud nor get grabbed by the treacherous...
Brand Image Suffers When Products are Out of Stock
DON’T PLAY HARD TO GET
We are often asked, “What was the biggest challenge you faced growing the Barefoot Wine brand?” People are always surprised by our answer, “out-of-stocks.” It’s the biggest problem facing any new brand. Some purists try to make a distinction between brands and products, often because they...
Know the Metrics that Make Your Brand an Acquisition Target
WHERE AM I GOING AND WHY
We’ve often said that entrepreneurs are brand builders. Unlike sole proprietors, or even those creating a legacy, most entrepreneurs, sooner or later, want to have a capitalization event. That may take the form of a merger, IPO or cash infusion by a new partner, but it...
How to Recognize Opportunity (and Make It Sustainable)
KNOCK! KNOCK!
We often hear, “Follow your passion” as the universal prescription for happiness and success. But we say “Follow your opportunity, passionately” as a more plausible road to success. Opportunities abound! The key is to find a way to take advantage of them using your passion. So...
Successful Brand Builders Use Representatives to Insure Program Execution at Every Level
SEND MORE MERCHANDISING MATERIAL!
The best brand building signs and merchandising materials we ever saw were in the dumpsters of the very distributers who were expected to use them to sell the products of the brands they represented. What were they doing there? Because the distributers only had a limited...
The Norwegian Brand Promotes a Culture of Environmentalism
NORWAY IS THE CLEAN WAY
We are posting this blog from Norway where we came to support and present at the annual “Mixer” which supports entrepreneurialism at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. This is the largest technical university in Norway and has a robust entrepreneurial program...