Brand Mix

Here's my summary of some of the most interesting things I read this last week.

1) Take Your Brainstorming from Good to Wicked-Good: Paul Williams
Some nice ideas about how to orchestrate some convergence after some brainstorming divergence. With illustrations. What would we do without post-it notes?

2) The "health halo": Made to Stick
"Do healthy-sounding terms such as “organic” or “trans-fat-free” seduce us into eating more than we would otherwise?" The answer according to new research is "yes." People, especially overweight people, always underestimate calories of items labeled low fat and end up eating bigger helpings and indulging in other foods.

3) 2009: Faith Popcorn's New Rules of Engagement: PR Newswire (via brandeo)
Faith Popcorn predicts 2009 won't be a great year. Really? She adds: "This is not a momentary correction, nor a down cycle -- it's the end of the world as we know it. Now I'm going to have that R.E.M. song in my mind all night. Thanks Faith!

4) Brand drought: Tom Fishburne

This cartoon neatly sums up one way to do more with less which, as Tom Fishburne points out in his post, is the theme of the moment. Try something different.

5) The noise: Seth Godin
As Seth says: "It's noisy and getting noisier" out there. How to strike the right balance between over-reacting to a lot of noise from a vocal but small minority vs. not doing anything until it's too late? Maybe Motrin got it wrong both ways.

6) How do you make sense? Tom Asaker
Tom Asaker follows a similar theme to Seth. At a time when we're all searching for answers about the best way to approach these tough business times, how do we make sense of all the stories, posts and opinions? Tom's advice: "Be paranoid." Great. Now I have the R.E.M song and paranoia to deal with.

That's it. See you next week for more stories from the world of brand strategy.