Brand Mix

Photo from Brand Mix 2009 book cover

As far as I can see, there's no rhyme or reason to this list of the six most popular Brand Mix posts from last year. It's a mix!

#1: Vive la Difference: Building/Killing brand loyalty (Feb 2009)
A post based on a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research that showed that, if you want to raid brand loyalists from the competition, you should focus on the similarities between your product and theirs. But if you want to keep your fans loyal, you should focus on how you are different.

#2: Summer reading: Watching the English (July 2009)
My favorite book of the year, a book that helps explain the peculiarities and ways of (we) the English. Why do English people always talk about the weather? (Hint: It's not because they are interested in the subject) Why do English people use humor all the time, even at the most inappropriate moments? Why do English people moan incessantly? And more.

#3: The ugliest laptop in the world (May 2009)
Grateful as I was to get a new laptop, it seemed only fair to point out that this Lenovo ThinkPad T500 was one ugly and extremely heavy piece of machinery.

#4: Why do popular brands have such staying power? (May 2009)
This was also one of the longest posts of the year. I looked at the various theories that try to explain why brands hold onto leadership positions long after product superiority has been wiped out by competitors.

#5: Starbucks VIA instant coffee taste test: Is it as good as they say? (April 2009)
The launch of VIA, Starbucks instant coffee product provided a lot of material for me last year. This was my first post on the subject where I set up a taste-off between VIA, regular Starbucks coffee and Taster's Choice (the instant coffee brand I used to manage). Bottom line is that VIA does taste great. Whether this makes it a good product for Starbucks to promote as heavily as it did last year is another question entirely.

#6: What do you think of the Baked! Lays makeover? (May 2009)
Baked! Lays celebrated its 15th anniversary with a design makeover that was interesting from a brand architecture perspective. Although I could see the logic of the new design, I wasn't sure that putting so much focus on Baked! was the right way to go. I'm still not sure. I wonder how sales are going.

By the way, I've put together a collection of Brand Mix posts from 2009 in a book. (Blurb.com makes this surprisingly easy to do.) If you'd like to order yourself a copy, it's available here.