branding

Marketing Doctor John Tantillo outlines the history of the Academy Awards and how they have helped to build Hollywood's brand. He then draws a sharp contrast with the publishing industry, picking on Henry Holt for its recent fiasco that led to a recall of The Last Train From Hiroshima. He jumps on publishing for playing only "inside baseball."

Tantillo contrasts Toyota's branding strategy with Ford and GM's--which helps them prevent damage from one model (brand) of car from spilling out to harm the others...as has happened with Toyota's recall.

John Tantillo applauds Hollywood, not for Avatar's weak plot, but for doing something truly innovative to bring viewers something new, that they can't watch in their homes.

John Tantillo congratulates Apple for the positive buzz surrounding Slate, although little is known about the actual product, attributing the confidence in this unknown product to Apple's strong track record of designing superior products with customer needs in mind.

John Tantillo names his top 5 brand winners and top 5 brand losers from 2009.

Winners:
1 - Lady Gaga
2 - Apple
3 - Hollywood
4 - David Letterman
5 - Sarah Palin

Losers:
1 - Ciibank
2 - American Politics
3 - Microsoft
4 - newspapers
5 - The Nobel Prize

John Tantillo was among those who thought that Obama should give back the Nobel Peace Prize--but he now says he may have even done one better with his acceptance speech.

The Big Banks, meanwhile, are still not moving in a direction that makes good marketing sense.

E-books seem to be the inevitable future of publishing, but the resistance of traditional publishers to give up the usual profit margins on hardcovers, especially, is paving the way for a whole new business model for book sales--and one that potentially positions authors to have even more control over the marketing of their books.

Paranormal Activity earns great success after smart marketing of a strong brand.
Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman...a branding fiasco of all four brands.

We've just recently elected a Democrat as President. CNN's ratings are at the bottom of the pile. Fox News ratings are soaring, despite, or perhaps thanks to, snubbing of the network by the Obama Administration. John Tantillo points out branding lessons to be learned in all of this.

GM may be doing poorly at home, but in China, now the largest auto market in the world, it's at the head of the pack and beating its own sales records.

GM's sales increase in China. Tantillo attributes success to branding strength and predicts same to follow in U.S.

A unit of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) the world’s largest drugmaker, was sentenced to pay $1.3 billion in penalties for misbranding medicines, including the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S.

In tough economic times, two companies tack very different ways:
Wal-Mart manages to increase profits and successfully meets its Target Market's needs in Mexico through its Bodega Express outlets.

Has Starbucks taken a wrong turn? Not only are they selling instant coffee. Rather than encouraging consumers to compare their instant coffee product (Via) with that of Nescafe, et. al., they are actually encouraging them to compare it to their own.

John Tantillo names Disney the brand winner for acquiring Marvel, explaining how Marvel will be a smart, manageable expansion to the Disney brand that doesn't clash with Disney's core principles (ex. wholesomeness).