Brand Mix

My weekly summary of interesting and entertaining posts. More at the bottom of the page in "Martin's Shared Items":

1) Do the test: London Transport (via John Winsor)
An awareness test. I got it right, yet oh so wrong. Brilliant.

2) Playboy Energy, Baby... : Dim Bulb
Jonathan Salem Baskin talks about how Playboy has missed a positioning opportunity with its new branded energy drink. It has gone for luxury where something a little spicier might have been more on the money .

3) Buying Organic: Good magazine
A chart that summarizes which major manufacturer owns which organic snack company. Many of these smaller companies still look like the independents they used to be but are, in fact, owned by General Mills etc. This points to the challenge of keeping brands with incompatible positionings at a distance in a digital era where knowledge flows freely.

4) Help someone with B.S.O.S.: PromoLive (via Logic + Emotion)
It's clear that only the synergistic adoption of the new digital paradigm can build a win-win. We'll need to all be on the same page if we are going to put together a viral, customer centric, value added campaign. Let's take this offline for further discussion because it is what it is. (Ah, that felt good!)

5) Borders Reducing Its Borders: Brand Autopsy
John Moore comments on the news that Borders has decided to "front-face" lots more of its books requiring an inventory reduction of about 10%. When they tested this out, sales actually grew by 10% and customers perceived that there were actually more books for sale.