Volvo Cars, a unit of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.

I haven’t missed the sale of Volvo to Geely, but it wasn’t as momentous as the rebirth of Saab. We knew the deal was coming and the rest were formalities.    The company has said there will be no Geelys badged as Volvos and vice versa. It recognizes the Volvo brand is too valuable to […]

Read More… from Volvo Cars, a unit of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.



The rise of the city brand

I don’t have the other writers’ permission to show their side of this Facebook dialogue, but we had been chatting about growing the creative clusters here in Wellington as one of my mayoral policies.    I wrote: Mostly by focusing on growing creative clusters and taking a bigger slice of the cake. So it is […]

Read More… from The rise of the city brand



Trading identities in the personal branding space

The day the current mayor, Kerry Prendergast, announced her intention to stand for a fourth term, I was asked by a few media colleagues what I thought. The wittiest reply I gave to Salient, as it was an email interview, and I seem to be cheekier in writing than I am in speaking. I won’t […]

Read More… from Trading identities in the personal branding space



Saab promises new generation of cars will have original DNA

Rumour has it that the new Saab—a small car (finally)—will resemble the ur-Saab, the 92. In fact, inside Saab, it has the codename 92.    Where have I heard this one before? I know. Stefan Engeseth’s Detective Marketing, 2001 edition. And from what I understand, since in 1999 I could not read much Swedish, it […]

Read More… from Saab promises new generation of cars will have original DNA



Beyond Branding Blog removed from Blogger today

As of tonight, the Beyond Branding Blog, where I first cut my teeth blogging, is no more.    The posts are still there, but no further comments can be entered on to the site. The nearly four years of posts remain as an archive of some of our branding thought of that period.    The […]

Read More… from Beyond Branding Blog removed from Blogger today



Wellington wants free wifi

While I’ve been a LinkedIn member for many years—my LinkedIn ID has six digits, which gives you an idea of how long ago—I have to confess that I did not browse the brilliant Wellington, New Zealand group till quite recently.    And free wifi is being talked up there, too, as something Wellingtonians genuinely want. […]

Read More… from Wellington wants free wifi



Toyota’s troubles stem from forgetting its principles

I was surprised to learn that Toyota still has not issued a worldwide recall of its troublesome Prius NHW30 model, even though one had gone out in New Zealand.    In layman’s terms, the brakes allegedly don’t work when you want them to. In more complex terms, the software has trouble distinguishing between different types […]

Read More… from Toyota’s troubles stem from forgetting its principles



When Facebook robs you of having a profile pic

I will have more from my Swedish and French tour soon, but I will say that I had a marvellous time in Malmö and Lund on my first day in Sweden (especially getting a feel for Lund’s environmental programmes), Kristianstad and Hassleholm on my second, and on my return to Stockholm. A big-up to Stefan […]

Read More… from When Facebook robs you of having a profile pic



Learned misbehaviours

Preparing for one of my Swedish speeches, I came across this, which I delivered in India in December 2008: If you ever get to read Michael Lewis’s writings about the US financial industry, you’ll learn that a lot of people within there do not know what they are doing or why they are doing it. […]

Read More… from Learned misbehaviours



Medinge announces seventh annual Brands with a Conscience awards

The Medinge Group has announced the 2010 Brands with a Conscience winners, and we’ll be presenting the awards at the end of the month in Paris. The release is below.    Can you believe we’ve done this for seven years now?    I was particularly stoked about the awards going to Selco and Muna Abu […]

Read More… from Medinge announces seventh annual Brands with a Conscience awards