UPDATE: The company has posted a 12 percent decline in profit and a 5.5 percent decline in sales for the fourth quarter 2010.
The December, 2010 recall of Rolaids is more than a new cause for heartburn at Johnson & Johnson. Coming on the heels of a year of unprecedented recalls, this latest problem could tip [...]
More and more Web sites are offering the “Connect with Facebook” option.
It appears Facebook Connect is succeeding where others have failed (most notably Microsoft’s Passport product). They are becoming the default internet ID card, saving users from having to create user names and passwords for every site they interact with.
Facebook Connect’s success is partly due [...]
How much of the Apple brand equity is Steve Jobs? Is the brand at risk with Jobs’ new medical leave? When a major brand is closely tied to a single person (think of Yves St. Laurent, Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump), brand value can rise and fall on the fortunes and failures of that person.
Steve Jobs [...]
It hasn’t been smooth sledding lately for the venerable Flexible Flyer brand. The iconic downhill coaster was invented by businessman Samuel Leeds Allen outside of Philadelphia just over the river in New Jersey. Seems the stern, hard-working Quaker was serious about winter sport. His daughter reports he tested every hill on his property, [...]
Today’s Wall Street Journal Law Blog has an interesting article on naming laws and statutes. This is an area I have covered a time or two from a branding perspective. Naming anything is actually an act of persuasion–your name says something about your company, product or idea for a new law or policy. It’s no [...]
President Obama’s reputation for dignity and style took a step back with his less than decorous vacation pictures. Gawker.com felt it necessary, due to the flip-flop flap, to provide how-to advice . The last time a President so crossed the line into “eew” was when President Johnson lifted his shirt to reveal a bare belly [...]
A good brand reputation is not a service you can buy and can’t be gained by a clever stratagem. Still, reputation managers at companies trying to do damage control or damage prevention always seem to be on the look-out for shortcuts to a strong positive brand reputation.
Preventing Negative Conversation Is Impossible
Some companies use stratagems to [...]
Wikipanic—it’s the new word for the latest marketing threat. What will happen to your brand if Wikileaks attacks it? As Mastercard, Paypal, Visa, and Bank of America are finding out, marketers need to be ready in advance of disaster, whether a plane crash, an oil well explosion or a wikileak/hacktivist attack. Companies can’t risk a [...]
ZD Net is reporting today that China has censored some 60 thousand Websites (really thought it would be more) and over 350 million pages and is “proud of it”. MerriamAssociates.com is honored to be one of them.
The head of the State Council Information Office, Wang Chen says there is no stopping its campaign against offensive [...]
Three years ago, Christmas shoppers were rocked by recalls of some of kids’ most beloved toys from most trusted brands. We talked to consumers back then, but wondered, What is the long-term impact of those recalls on consumer opinion, brands, and “made in China?” Merriam Associates went out Christmas Eve to put that question to [...]
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