US Airways and Kimpton Hotels both compete in very crowded market spaces where price can make the difference in a consumer’s final selection.  But one of them knows how to move beyond price to compete on experience and the other doesn’t. On a recent trip to NYC, I flew on US Air because it [...]

Brand trust is harder to earn in today’s economy? The pressure to cut costs makes delivering day after day on promised benefits more challenging. Social media creates messages that listeners deem more reliable than your own. And retaining meaningful and hard-to-copy differentiation has become more challenging in our copycat global economy. Silicon leader Dow Corning [...]

I feel overwhelmed by the volume of digital messages coming at me from all corners of my life. And I am not alone. My 2013 prediction is that value is about to rapidly migrate once again in technology markets. Over the holidays I met a young woman in her 30s — a former boutique owner [...]

The most powerful brands offer more than a unique, hard-to-copy and relevant value promise embracing both tangible and emotional benefits. They are also about more than the brand’s personality, although I will admit to loving beer brand Dos Equis “most interesting man in the world” personality. The best brands appeal to a shared aspiration that [...]

All I wanted to do was change my Wall Street Journal digital Monday to Friday subscription back to a daily print subscription. Why? Because I found I was not reading enough of the business news as I had when the paper was physically delivered. I also wanted to retain my Saturday delivery subscription. Sounds easy [...]

If you thought that the move from the Industrial Era to the Digital Era was the last major economic transition that your business would have to deal with, think again. We are in the middle of yet another transformation of comparable magnitude. The slow but steady shift of power away from companies and to customers [...]

As an experiment, I followed the world’s twitters during the first Obama-Romney presidential debate.  Amidst the flurry of messages passing by my eyes, I finally understood in my gut and not just my head how social media has changed the balance of power when it comes to controlling brand image. In an era when everyone [...]

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the volume of information, options and messages bombarding your daily life, you are not alone. Enter the curator – a role that I believe will become even more dominant in the decades ahead, creating opportunities for individuals and companies alike. The term curator has traditionally been associated with the [...]

I had occasion this week to look through a number of business-to-business manufacturers’ websites and noted the growing role of services in company offerings. Some services link directly to the products (e.g., financing or warranty services). Others are complementary – e.g., “buy our power generation products and our service team will help you minimize your [...]

I had occasion this week to look at a number of different frameworks containing questions that help you design and innovate business models, each one developed by an insightful strategist and each offering advantages. While they varied in details, there was a singular logic that leaders, charged with ensuring their company is competing with winning [...]