Brand Mix

It was one year ago on Monday that I snapped my achilles tendon which indirectly led to me starting this blog. Here's my weekly summary of interesting and entertaining posts and articles. More posts at the bottom of the page in "Martin's Shared Items":

1) Attitude, Behavior and Brand Loyalty: Branding Strategy Insider
Brad VanAuken points to an NPD Group study that explores the link between attitude and behavior in brand loyalty. Knowing whether you have more "vulnerables" (people who haven't gotten round to leaving you yet) vs. "prospects" (people who haven't got round to joining you yet) leads to different marketing approaches

2) Economy Changes Customer Value Perceptions: MarketingProfs
Leigh Duncan Durst explores how customer needs are changing in these tough economic times. People are in the mindset of saving money and looking for things to cut back on to balance the books. Companies most at risk are those like Starbucks that offer an easy way to save $20 plus bucks a week--helping offset the extra gas charge.

3) Abercrombie's XXL-Sized Problem: Branding Strategy Insider (again)
There's been quite a few stories recently about brands attracting customers they don't want. Mark Ritson talks here about Abercrombie & Fitch that's now launching in the UK and how, despite its best intentions, it's attracting "An army of fat men in their late 30s ... squeezing into the brand's very recognisable clothing."

4) Packaging vs. reality: Pundo3000
A German site that shows branded meals, how they look in 100 different packages vs. how they look when they're actually prepared. (via Brand Strategy)

5) The limits of meta: Seth's Blog
Seth points out the limits of "blogging about blogging" or "websites that make money by teaching you about making money by using the web."