Recently came across a website where many major companies like Ford, Glory or Microsoft have listed that they would provide everything you need to host a house party in support of their brand. Wow, what a concept of sponsoring house parties to brand your business.
I found out about this website via an invitation from a major company to host a house party, invite 10 of my friends and be willing to share with others via a special website about how the house party was working out. This is an interesting concept because the company branding their business gives special gifts …read more

As you develop your brand to make it become a household name, one of the things that you to do is use corporate gifts to brand your business and build loyalty. For instance, when you go to a trade-show or corporate event, it’s always a good idea to have corporate gifts handy to give other attendees.
You give the gift that keeps giving like a corporate gift so that you can build brand loyalty with them. Building brand loyalty can not only when you new customers but it can also help your keep current ones. As mentioned, using corporate gifts is …read more

When you see the golden arches, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Or what about when you see Ronald the clown, what comes to your mind? Finally, what has 2 all beef, special sauce, lettuce on a seseame bun? Hmmm… Sounds a lot like McDonald’s knows how to capture your attention.
One of things that McDonald’s has proven is that it is good at building its brand loyalty. Even young children know that when you see the golden arches that you are close to a McDonald’s. With its international expansion efforts, McDonald’s has become one of the …read more

If you haven’t heard about the Oprah Branding Effect then let me share with you what it means. Just as the Midas touch means that whatever he touched would turn to gold, the same could be said about Oprah. Many businesses, books and organization have seen tremendous growth once she either mentions it or is seen using it.
Although Oprah is a unique person and brand, other businesses can have a similar effect but it may happen in smaller quantities. On May 28, 2009, CNBC released a show that discussed the Oprah Branding Effect and shared how many businesses had experienced …read more

Later this month, the House of Lords in the UK will be voting for proposals in a debate on the Health Bill. The proposal suggests removal of all cigarette branding in stores to prevent young people from taking up smoking.
The Times Online claimed that the “glossy tobacco displays” that are under attack are “designed to attract youngsters.” Simply removing them from sight, and keeping cigarettes themselves hidden from display does not infringe on the rights of smokers to choose their favourite brands. The article says, “ninety per cent of smokers already know which brand of cigarettes they will buy before …read more

You know that you have a really successful brand when you see things like this:

This Fuji apple has actually been ‘tanned’ with the Apple logo by putting a sticker on it in the last phase of growth.
There are also apples with iPod logos an ‘Apple hearts’:

It would be an interesting tactic if it was run by Apple, but it was actually the brainchild of a Japanese Apple fan.
So this is what you should be aiming for: a brand which is so involved in people’s lives that they create promotions for you.
Source: Nobon (translated)

Let’s face it, the Mac vs. PC commercials are brilliant.  They’re simple yet communicate so much in terms of differentiating Macs from PCs and hyping the cult brand status Macs have come to represent.  They’re also consistent and nothing helps branding more than consistency. 
Check out the Mac vs. PC commercials from the U.S. and the U.K. to see for yourself.  Each YouTube video below includes a compilation of Mac vs. PC commercials.
U.S. Mac vs. PC commercials

U.K. Mac vs. PC commercials

Back in February, I wrote a post about Frank Oresnick and his 1991 Chevy Silverado that had over 1 million miles on it.  The million mile Chevy Silverado is now up for auction on eBay, and the current bid right now is just under $24,000 with one day left for bidding!
Back in February when I first wrote about Frank and his million mile truck, I mentioned that it’s this type of customer that companies should reward as the ultimate consumer brand champions.  Read Frank’s eBay auction page to see what I mean.  Here are a few quotes to demonstrate …read more

My fellow b5media blogger, Rachel Clarke, from Behind the Buzz (a blog about digital and interactive advertising and marketing) wrote a great post today where she’s asking people to share their opinions on their favorite brands and brands they are truly loyal to.
She asks, “do you have any absolute brand loyalties or do other factors come into play?”  I thought this is just the type of post Brandcurve readers would like to weigh in on.  Stop by Behind the Buzz and leave a comment with your opinion on the Brand Loyalty post.
Image: b5media
Technorati Tags: behind the buzz,behindthebuzz.com,brand loyalty,brand preferences,branding …read more

Today at Brandcurve, I’m happy to publish a guest post by Herbert Ong of Genuosity Inc.  Herbert is an expert in word of mouth marketing.  You can read more about Herbert at the end of this post.  Without further ado, following is Herbert’s post, “Word of Love(TM) Marketing.”
Our team at KudosWorks has known and has evangelized for a while now that the most ideal word of mouth unit is the testimonial. When you think about it, testimonials from your customers are really the “positive word of mouth units” that are then spread from friend to friend. If you as a …read more