Hangouts, Eats, Experiences– what shapes a great place-brand?

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”4px|0px|28.3281px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|14.1562px|0px|false|false” admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”] The Unique Mix of Temescal Alley. What draws you somewhere? What makes that place special? What suddenly turns an ordinary location into a hot, buzzing focus of activity? Creating a brand for downtown, a neighborhood shopping area or…

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The Demise of the Department Store: Think Dinosaurs

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″] Shopping is an experience, retail brands are beginning to adapt  The apocalyptic news of one mall after another losing flagship stores such as Macy’s, JC Penny’s and Sears, is like reading panic newscasts during a massive Hurricane. You just look for the next victim, the next destroyed mall. Does anyone understand this…

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Forget Brand Loyalty: Brand Experience Is How Consumers Connect

We make consumer choices constantly. When you go to a great restaurant, or a happening urban center like Oakland’s UpTown, or even Home Depot, what you remember is the experience. It’s how our minds work. The choreography of the interaction sets consumers up for a great time, disappointment, or sometimes plain confusion. We remember and…

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Marketing to Millennials: It’s Not What You Think

What’s the spin on millennials? How do you market to them? They don’t seem to like advertising or being “sold to.” Well, does anyone? When you’ve grown up in a world where the technology is always on, where you control your newsfeed and media, you ignore content that’s broadcast at you. They are a much more sophisticated…

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Amazon Go, a Store with No Checkout and No Customer Engagement

Amazon launched an amazing idea: a retail convenience store with no checkout. No cashier takes your money; you just get your stuff and walk out the door. As of now, you have to be an Amazon employee so you have access to the store, and the sensors know what you bought and charge your account.…

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Why the Shake Shack brand isn’t Shaking it

  HELLO Shake Shack was a really cool place. A few years ago I went to one in New York with my kid Zachary. It had reinvented the burger experience around a simple menu–well prepared food with higher quality ingredients–and they had beer and wine, which beckoned to parents like me.  The developers of the concept had it down and expanded all…

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Vegan Nuggets: Consumers Like Things Their Way

The world of the customization is moving quickly. It used to be easy enough to satisfy a consumer just by offering a standard brand in a category of food or product they like: you’re a beer drinker or a wine drinker, you eat meat or don’t. Now we can customize, specialize and provide almost exactly what each customer desires. The…

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Ask a 10-year-old what your brand is about

I was driving my 10 year old son to school one day when he piped up and said that MacDonalds was a company that sold crappy food that made people unhealthy. I asked him why. He said that’s what everyone at school says—his friends, teachers, everybody. You see, we don’t go to MacDonalds, but he still has…

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Customers’ values: the new branding tool

You may be paying more but look at all these cool things Whole Foods is supporting! You get the feeling that the extra amount you may be spending is going to something worthy and good, something that you may be connected to or are committed to and is a part of your local community.

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