Above: Simon Anholt, giving a talk at TEDSalon Berlin. Out today: my friend Simon Anholt’s Good Country Index, with the Netherlands taking the top spot from Sweden, which drops to sixth. New Zealand is in 17th, failing in prosperity and equality, and in cultural contribution (previously we had been 5th and 12th). On the plus […]
Read More… from New Zealand slips to 17th in latest Good Country Index
Above: Brand Kate Moss was probably seen by more people when the model collaborated with Topshop. In 1999, the late Wally Olins sent me his book, Trading Identities: Why Countries and Companies are Taking on Each Other’s Roles, a fine read published by the Foreign Policy Centre that argued that countries were trying to look […]
My complaints about Google over the years—and the battles I’ve had with them between 2009 and 2014—are a matter of record on this blog. It appears that Google has been making enemies who are much more important than me, and in this blog post I don’t mean the European Union, who found that the big […]
Read More… from Google collects more enemies—we haven’t been critical enough of it
A week ago, Avon found an inventive way to get its brand noticed in peak-hour traffic. I could make this about how people don’t know how to drive these days, or about the media fascination with Asian drivers when the reality does not bear this out, but let’s make it all about Avon—since they […]
Tonight, I had the sad and solemn duty to announce publicly the passing of my friend Thomas Gad. I’m still waiting for someone to come out and tell me that I have been severely pranked. Thomas was the founder of what we now call Medinge Group. After working for 17 years at Grey […]
Read More… from Farewell to Thomas Gad: a friend, a colleague, and a uniter
Above: The Mitsubishi eK Wagon, one of the cars at the centre of the company’s latest scandal. One thing about creating and running Autocade is that you gain an appreciation for corporate history. Recently, I blogged about Fiat, and the troubles the company is in; it wasn’t that long ago that Fiat was the designers’ […]
Above: Facebook’s latest move: ensuring that notifications for messages go to its own app. If you choose not to install it, tough. (Actually, you can reach your messages if you had bookmarked your old message index, and through some digging you can still get there. However, your old habit of clicking on the number won’t […]
Read More… from No surprises as Facebook slips to third in Alexa, but tech press misses it
Above: The current Fiat 500. A year shy of its 10th anniversary, is it still cool in 2016? The Detroit News reports that Fiat has been having trouble Stateside, with dealers now permitted to sell the cars alongside Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram instead of at stand-alone showrooms. It’s been worrying seeing Fiat’s plans […]
I’ve always been surprised when I see Google or Facebook appear on any “top brands” lists. It’s branding 101 that a strong brand must have loyalty, awareness, positive associations, perceived quality, as well as proprietary assets, based on the model from David Aaker, and implicit in this, I always thought, was trust. You can neither […]
How interesting to see a silly Tweet of mine make the Murdoch Press and lead an opinion column—I’m told it even hit the news.com.au home page. It’s a very old joke that I’ve told since 2002, when I walked along Bay Road in Kilbirnie and saw a locksmith sign in Futura. Back then, Dick […]
Read More… from How can we help those fooled into believing what their local brands are?