Monthly Archives: December 2008

A shocker

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

CBS News reported today that even though the Fed and other government entities have succeeded in getting money back into the economy, consumers aren’t willing to spend it because they are scared. Why are they scared? Because all they hear … Continue reading →

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It’s all relative

Posted on December 28, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

Headlines yesterday stated that retail sales had “plummeted” 4% over the holiday season. Not quite as bad as the 20% drop that MasterCard allegedly reported the day before. As I said in the immediately prior post, we’ll see how it … Continue reading →

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Retail sales this holiday season … what’s the real story

Posted on December 27, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

While I have no doubt that this holiday season’s retail sales will not have been great, I will look forward to hearing the actual numbers. And I suggest you look at them in detail. Since the report will come out … Continue reading →

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Destroying brand value … and the company

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

Rich Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes, had an interesting commentary in the December 22, 2008 issue (reprinted from his blog). He opined that Detroit’s US automakers had made a fatal brand positioning mistake many years ago (and I say one of … Continue reading →

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A new take on long form commercials

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

Long form commercials (usually longer than one minute, but not an infomercial) have been around for many years, and come and go in popularity. We recently ran across this video, which, as you will see when it is over, is … Continue reading →

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They just don’t get it

Posted on December 8, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

Ted Reed posted an article today on TheStreet.com about Southwest Airlines that misses the point. His article, The Mainstreaming of Southwest Airlines, suggests that Southwest is becoming like all the other airlines because they are now going to serve Minneapolis … Continue reading →

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The power of brand identity

Posted on December 7, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

Walking in Terminal 8 at JFK I see a sign for the Juan Valdez Cafe. What else did I need to see to know what that cafe was all about. Now that is the true power of a Brand.   … Continue reading →

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Love the focus

Posted on December 6, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

I was walking near NYU today and I noticed a cookie shop (I always notice cookie shops) called Insomnia Cookies. The signs indicated they offered “late night delivery of fresh baked cookies. Love the focus. Turns out they are not just … Continue reading →

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Self-destruct mode, is it part of the process?

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Mitch Gooze

The U.S. auto industry is in melt-down mode, that’s not news. The root cause problem(s) depend on who you ask, but the need to sell cars and trucks … now … is not in dispute. And there lies a problem. … Continue reading →

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