Warren Douglas website

General

When Premium Brands Crash

Toyota’s recent woes are a stark reminder for any premium brand: bad things can happen to the best performers, and when they do, you must be ready to act quickly, confidently and decisively.
For decades, Toyota has basked in the glow of one of the true gold standards in brand image. Say [...]

Advertising

Premium Tools vs. Social Media

In case you’ve missed it, we at the WD tout our specialization in premium brands as our differentiator among other full-service advertising agencies. In our endeavor to be the experts on premium brands, we’ve developed some proprietary Premium Tools—one of which being our Premium Brand Index ™. Basically, we take up to ten brands within [...]

General

Apple: Inventing a New Wave of “Evil Ads”

Today, I learned the true extent of the growing need to find alternative and innovative ways to engage customers in marketing when I read the US Patent and Trademark Office application submitted by Apple. Their new tool, dubbed as “Evil Ad,” is going to revolutionize marketing and advertising as we know it.
Imagine you are watching [...]

General

Facebook Promotions Go Premium

Last Thursday, the Facebook Marketing page announced new guidelines on running promotions through Fan Pages. Why more marketers aren’t in a frenzy, I don’t know because in one short posting, they basically annihilate 90% of the reason any brand actually has a Fan Page—having something of value to communicate to their customers on the cheap.

Advertising

Wise Branding From the Soda Pop Shop

John Nese is a regular guy who has an irregular love–he adores soda pop. Having worked with his father since he was younger in their run-of-the-mill grocery store, his little establishment was given the opportunity to carry the big brand of soda, Pepsi. After feeling bullied into an agreement he didn’t want, John decided he would start collecting his own selection of specialty sodas—without the help of a big compay. Over the years his little store has become anything but run-of-the-mill.

Advertising

The New York Yankees – A Premium Brand

I was shocked and ashamed of myself this morning when I admitted, out loud, that the New York Yankees were actually a premium brand. Having grown up in New England, I’m a typical die-hard Boston Red Sox fan—anything but loathing for the Yankees is simply unacceptable and worthy of condemnation by one’s very family. My grandfather sold peanuts at Fenway in the 1930s, for goodness sake!

General

2 Keys to Online Brand Conversations

What is the best way to start an online conversation? Once it starts, how do you keep it going? Both the questions and the answers are deceptively simple…

Advertising

Transparency: The New Path to Premium Status

What is a premium brand? The definition we use here at the WD is that a premium brand is one that is recognized as being of greater value than its competition. In fact, when we have new clients take the WD Premium Brand Test we ask the question “does your brand have superior features or [...]

Advertising

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

Social Media. It’s the buzzword of the moment and rightly so. Numerous studies continue to be published, each revealing the depth and value of social media efforts, which pique the interest of even the most timid of interactive users. Regardless of continued success stories, it seems that most brands approach this medium of advertising by [...]

General

Why Sony, You’re Looking Simply Smashing

Ah, the chase for the YouTube phenomenon. We all want it, and it is hard to achieve. But at what lengths should a premium brand go to get such buzz?
This morning the internet is atwitter with the story about Sony Australia’s latest PS3 and Sony Bravia campaign. They decided to basically hurl a PS3 into [...]