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Does Anyone Know Panera Has Premium Meat?

I was recently looking for some more healthy food options when eating out. My friend, Lauren, immediately pointed me toward Panera. I really like Panera, but had never heard that their chicken was all-natural. I went to their website to see what else they offered, and no where on their website could I find any [...]

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Emotional vs. rational benefits: getting the mix just right

When it comes to marketing premium brands, there’s usually no shortage of RTBs (Reasons To Believe) to choose from. Although brands in commodity categories are sometimes challenged to differentiate themselves, the premium brand(s) in any “vertical” should carefully choose which RTBs make it to the front lines of consumer messaging. Whether or not emotional or [...]

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Small Things Show Insight in the Office and With Clients

Tom Peters’s new book, The Little Big Things, communicates the message that sometimes the very smallest gestures reap the best rewards, not only in the office arena but also with your clients. There really are some great tidbits of useful business tactics that he communicates in his book. MY favorite, since I am the office [...]

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Pepsi: Showing Brands How Not to Behave One Misstep At a Time

Pepsi has gone and done it again. If their AMP iPhone App catastrophe wasn’t bad enough–where they completely alienated their entire female consumer population–they’ve gone and offended the public in yet another colossal blunder.
Last Saturday, Pepsi sponsored a concert in Uganda featuring controversial murder performer Beenie Man. An account of just some of the contention [...]

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The Legion of Extraordinary Things

Extraordinary: going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary. — Merriam-Webster
Last night, while watching my recording of Wednesday’s So You Think You Can Dance (yes, I’m one of those people), the show’s host introduced me to a group called “The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers.” While this seems like a fun name, I was hardly going [...]

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Premium Brand Communication 101

Premium brands distinguish themselves from the competition not only in their products, but also in the way they communicate with their customers. One good example of this is in e-mail marketing. Although e-mail is growing and consumers are likely to opt-out if they feel the messages to be irrelevant or impersonal. There are more than 200 billion email messages sent each day, and of the 91% of consumers who opt out or unsubscribe to emails, 46% are driven to brand defection because the messages are simply not relevant.

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Does Macy’s Really Bring the Magic?

Until recently I had never shopped at Macy’s, but I always knew it was a place I wanted to be—kind of like Disney World. I credit the beloved holiday film Miracle on 34th Street for creating in me a loyalty to a place and brand I had never actually experienced—they did have the real Santa [...]

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Microsoft Stores Burst Into Random Line Dancing Now?

At the sake of being repetitive in my love for certain computer manufacturing branding and marketing efforts, and utter disappointment for others, I leave you with a simple video, which I think should speak for itself.
I’m definitely not getting a holiday season job at a Microsoft store …
http://bubble-cast.com [...]

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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.

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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!