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Nila Nealy

Nila Nealy's Blog (13)

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Some Brands Are Just a Blur

What’s the difference between Petco and PetSmart? As far as I’m concerned, these two retailers are guilty of a little thing I like to call “brand blur.” If you stripped the name off of both retailers and walked both stores, I think you’d find little difference. The color schemes are the same. The stores feel the same. Unless I’m missing something, they carry essentially the same product mix. Maybe PetCo has saltwater fish and PetSmart doesn’t. So what? Brand blur is the resulting effect when th… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on June 23, 2009 at 10:11am — 1 Comment

Financial High Anxiety

I wish I hadn't turned on the radio yesterday. Or today. But I did. I heard about the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and how AIG is experiencing difficulties. Over the last two days, I heard multiple references to The Great Depression. I heard the phrase "run on banks." I heard about how the stock market fell 500 points yesterday. I heard how other countries' markets and governments are reacting. I feel anxious. Intellectually, I know that there are safeguards in place. I also know that I can't con… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on September 16, 2008 at 11:13am — 2 Comments

Remember this?..."People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It."

Remember the Keep America Beautiful public service announcements showing the "Crying Indian?" If you don't, you must have been born past the early 70s. Anyway, the message was "People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It." This morning, I flashed back to this PSA. I was driving the two mile stretch of four lane road between my house and my office when I noticed a Dollar General Store bag containing unident… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on September 8, 2008 at 5:29pm — 2 Comments

What has happened to common courtesy?

On Wednesday morning I parked my car in the Tiger lot, as I do on every business trip originating at the airport. I was among the last three passengers who boarded a standing-room-only bus so full it had to pass up 3 other shelters. The other two who boarded with me were an elderly couple. So, here's where I started feeling disappointed in my fellow humans. The 80-something woman was standing holding only a vertical pole while not more than 8" from her sat a 20-something man and his female compa… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on May 10, 2008 at 8:29pm — 7 Comments

Brand Development isn't a Marketing Initiative - Clarification 3 of 3

I'm still working my mission: clear up misconceptions about brand, brand development and branding. #1: Brand is your "evidence of distinction. #2: Brand development is not branding. #3: Brand development isn't a marketing initiative. Yep, you read it correctly. Apologies to all my marketing friends. But, brand development is a corporate initiative because it is a key business strategy. For a distinctive brand to be deliverable, defensible and relevant, it must be unearthed and… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on May 2, 2008 at 9:00am — No Comments

Brand Development vs. Branding - Clarification 2 of 3

Some of you who know me know that I'm on a mission: clarify the concepts around brand. So #1 was "your brand is your evidence of distinction." What's #2? Brand development is not branding. Brand development is the process of unearthing your brand and the development of brand signals and strategies to communicate that distinction. Branding is the tactical application of that distinction in all of your communications and advertising, internal and external. Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on May 1, 2008 at 9:00am — No Comments

Net Promoter Score

We at Element Three have been very interested in the Net Promoter Score concept for a few years now. Don't know what it is? The NPS is essentially a method of measuring satisfaction by asking if a customer would refer (promote) your service or product. The respondent is asked to rate the likelihood on a scale from 0 to 10 with the higher end of the scale being yes. The percentage of 0 through 8 answers are subtracted from the percentage of the 9s… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on April 29, 2008 at 7:00pm — 1 Comment

Brand - What is it? - Clarification 1 of 3

This word "brand" gets tossed around a lot. In some ways, I think it has become meaningless. As a Certified Brand Strategist, that thought dismays me. So I've decided that part of my mission in business is clarifying the meaning of brand. I have three basic clarifications, the first being a discussion of what "brand" means. Let's start with what brand isn't. Brand is not a name, a logo, a tagline or slogan, a set of colors, a jingle, how you put your logo in the same place every time, or a spok… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on March 6, 2008 at 8:20am — 5 Comments

I love books! (there's some brand stuff and some resource stuff in this one)

I do. I love to read. Not just anything, though it's darned close. And because I can't get enough of the print on paper variety of reading, I listen to books on CD in the car. Right now I'm just finished up the audio for the PBS Bill Moyers series with Joseph Campbell based on the book The Power of Myth. I must say that as I'm driving down the r… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on February 20, 2008 at 8:00am — 3 Comments

Blogging and Brand

I've probably written a total of 12 blog entries for public consumption over the past two years. It's one of those things on my to do list. You know, the list that keeps getting longer. I'm sure you all have one. Apparently, those few little entries have done something for my brand. Thankfully, what little I've done online I've done with intent and care - care to be consistent about who I am and what I do. I am now recognized (by at least one person) as an "international hands-on brand expert."… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on February 5, 2008 at 3:12pm — 2 Comments

Brand Swarm

In the December 17, 2007 issues of Advertising Age in an article titled "Trends to Watch in 2008," Bob Liodice President-CEO of ANA said:

"Marketers will move decidedly in the direction of DDB CEO Chuck Brymer's 'swarm theory'–the notion that people and their opinions coalesce to form critical forces that massively influence marketplace ideas and concepts. 'Swarm theory' will elevate social networking to new levels, confirming the immense impact that consumers have on each other. Mar… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on January 29, 2008 at 1:12pm — 1 Comment

Three Books


Last night at Barnes and Noble, a handful of "new to me" books caught my eye. I took note of the titles and upon reviewing them today, I realized that 3 of the 5 support my last post and philosophy in brand: that you have to both be true to who you really are and understand the emotional

… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on January 27, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Social Networking and Brand Management

Yesterday I was interviewed by the American Marketing Association's Marketing News for a story on how social networking is affecting control of a brand. I told the interviewer that managing a brand is like dancing. As a marketer you have to let your customer lead. But, the dance takes two. Assuming you've done the right foundational work, you'll be dancing step-by-step to the same song.

In other words, do this:
  1. Discover the essential truth about your company or produ
… Continue

Added by Nila Nealy on January 23, 2008 at 1:14pm — 3 Comments

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