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A New Playbook for Building Brands - Part 3: Brands with Purpose

Aligning brands with a bigger purpose, well beyond its product attributes, is a great way to build phenomenal brands. Modern brands like TOMS, Allbirds, and Warby Parker have done exactly that. But is this something that is more than a fad? Should traditional brands follow the lead of these young upstarts? As with most things in life, the answer is "it depends." But there is a right way and a wrong way to build brands with purpose. Even Unilever, the undisputed leader in purpose based marketing, has stumbled as often as it has succeeded.

Board Agenda - The Riddle of “Incredible India”

If you are on the board of a company or the CEO, one of the key issue you face is what your India market strategy will be. With the deterioration in US and China relations, it will be a long while before companies can make major investments in China without the fear of sustaining huge losses in the event of a geopolitical event outside of their control. India is the only other country that offers the combination of both a large domestic market and low-cost supply hub. Yet, companies that invest in India need to be clear-eyed about the risks and returns. There is no doubt a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but also pot-holes in the road leading to it. Cerenti's latest executive briefing lays out the questions that senior managers and board members should be asking in their quest for "incredible India."

A New Playbook for Building Brands - Part 2: Brands with Resolve

"Brands with Resolve" can get hesitant consumer over the hump and buy. The "trick" lies in leveraging one of the most significant advances in the field of psychology - SDT. It gets your brand in peoples' motivational DNA. How about that! Amgen, Diageo and US Navy show us how in this blog.

A New Playbook for Building Brands: Part 1 - Brands with Wisdom

Possibly the best strategy for building successful brands is to align them with the learnings and rules that consumers already have deeply etched into their brain. This strategy of tapping into the path of least resistance turned around the fortunes of a faltering McDonalds on one hand, and brilliantly turned KIND bar into a multi-billion dollar nutrition snack star on the other. Could this be a path for your brand?

How to Ace Your Next Business Review

See how even seasoned executives get tripped up during the annual business reviews. This article tells you about some of the tricks in the trade so that you are never again the subject of the "deer-in-headlights" syndrome. Just as importantly, it may actually make your strategic plan better.

The Next Frontier For Governance in Corporate Boards – The Corporate and Brand Values Committee

Corporate boards are playing Russian roulette with the company's corporate and brand values, and failing in their fiduciary duty to safeguard shareholder wealth. Instead what they need is a permanent governance committee that has a clear playbook for steering the company through some of the most challenging social and integrity issues of our times.

Victoria's Secret: Can This Angel Soar Again?

A year or so ago, I wrote a blog called "How the World's Sexiest Brand became a Fallen Angel." I argued that Victoria's Secret, the well-known women's underwear store, had once succeeded like no other by celebrating women's right to be and show sexy. But...

On Being a "Brand with Courage" or "Brand with Empathy"

Ever since the death of George Floyd, my LinkedIn stream has seen a flood of companies pledging to advance the cause of racial justice and "Black Lives Matter."

How the mask became a political brand metaphor

In a recent interview on Fox, a fed up Chris Wallace, turned to his stunned hosts and warned, “The president … is in the most secure bubble in the world…

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