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Best Global Brands

Then there are the other guys—companies that refuse to let tough times distract them from their long-term brand-building efforts. Sometimes they see a recession as the perfect moment to get a leg up on a weakened rival. Others strengthen their brands to ward off discount competitors. Still others feel they have a knockout new product that requires support. In BusinessWeek 's annual ranking of the 100 Best Global Brands, several are keeping their U.S. marketing budgets steady, as a percentage of revenue.

BusinessWeek

Getting Inside the Customer's Mind

To help it get there, Macy's recently became the latest sales-challenged U.S. retailer to hire a British research shop called dunnhumby. Co-founded in 1989 by marketing geeks Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby, dunnhumby doesn't help retailers find new shoppers. Rather, by crunching data from credit-card transactions and customer loyalty programs, the outfit reveals hidden and lucrative facts about clients' current customers. It can identify who might jump at a particular sale, or who will ditch the store if a certain product goes away. "I really think it's some of the best intelligence available," says Deborah Weinswig, who follows the retail industry for Citigroup.

Business Week

A Pop-Up Agency Shows Off Emerging Talent

A decision was made that Jack & Bill would concentrate on clients in the fashion field because many of the younger Porter Novelli employees worked on accounts in areas like “fashion and style and art and culture,” said Erin Osher, a partner at Jack & Bill who is an account supervisor at Porter Novelli.

“It was really the chance of a lifetime to create an agency with the support and help of a big organization,” said Ms. Osher, who has worked at Porter Novelli for three years.

New York Times

4 Captivating Companies and What They Share

The SAGA companies do very different things and are of hugely different sizes: Google's market capitalization is about $158 billion; Starbucks is down to about $12 billion. Yet they share some remarkable traits. At the most basic level, each has transformed not only a specific commercial marketplace but also some important aspect of contemporary life -- computing and music for Apple, information and advertising for Google, coffee for Starbucks, books for Amazon. In doing so, each has had an appreciable impact on our daily routines, taken on a looming presence in popular culture, and often engendered an intensity of feeling more often associated with tastes in entertainment or political views. Together, they have created a new model of business innovation, culture and values.

Washington Post

The Plot Thickens

Branding in a New Dimension

First, brands cannot be created and managed in a top-down approach. Gone are the days when branding companies could create a brand identity accompanied by a dense, rarely read instruction manual on how to apply it across media. Brands are no longer static. Today they're fluid, flexible and nonlinear.

Ad Week

Book Club: Make.Love.Brand.

We chose Authenticity as the theme for the first volume in our book series Make.Love.Brand. because we believe that the terms of engagement for business are being redefined. We believe that authenticity is a requirement for any company intending to be relevant. And, we believe that without authenticity, there is no love.

Ziba

Target's Design Scout

Michele Caniato, a consultant on high-performance materials for companies such as Nokia (NOK) and Whirlpool (WHR), founded Culture & Commerce with entrepreneur George M. Beylerian in 2000. They applied the concept of Hollywood talent management to product design. "We're a matchmaker and guardian angel," says Caniato, adding that the firm has negotiated $65 million in designer contracts to date.

Business Week

P&G to sell Noxzema

Sources familiar with the deal told The Enquirer that Alberto-Culver Co. of Melrose Park, Ill., will acquire Noxzema, which P&G has owned since 1989. A sale price was not available. P&G spokesman Paul Fox declined to confirm the deal on Sunday, saying the company does not comment on rumors.

Cincinnati Enquirer

Sweet Revenge

It’s a cliché that the fight for survival brings out the best in business rivals, but a clear rivalry is also useful to consumers — it’s something to latch on to, an opportunity to take sides.

New York Times Magazine

Target to Open Designer-Focused Stores in NY

Target is calling these temporary stores bodegas to convey an egalitarian and very New York shopping experience, said Ms. Tesija. They will be located in vacant storefronts in Midtown, Union Square, SoHo and the East Village, and will open Sept. 12, which is the end of Fashion Week.

“The idea was really generated based on the Target take on Fashion Week,” she added. “This would be a way we could bring affordable design to the masses.”

New York Times

What the Heck?

'Where to' might not be as important as 'how loud'

The alternative is to do your best to pick a direction (hopefully an unusual one, hopefully one you have resources to complete, hopefully one you can do authentically and hopefully one you enjoy) and then do it. Loudly. With patience and passion. (Loud doesn't mean boorish. Loud means proud and joyful and with confidence.)

No flitting, no waiting for proof. Just consistent, overwhelming performance in pursuit of a vision you believe in. That's far more important than which direction you chose in the first place. And yes, I think it's a marketing decision, because the market embraces 'how.'

Seth's Blog