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To Sip, Or To Suck: That Is The Question

John Malmo — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:40:00 +0000

Soda straws have been with us for a hundred-and-twenty-five years. The first patent was issued in Eighteen-Eighty-Eight. And you used to get one at soda fountains for fountain Cokes and milk shakes.

How is it that all of a sudden, even in nice restaurants, a glass of ice-water comes with a soda straw stuck in it? I don’t ask for a straw. Yet, every cold beverage arrives with a soda straw. Why is this?

Without Trust, Brands Lose Equity

John Malmo — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:36:00 +0000

We spend our lives in a branded environment. We buy branded products and services. We work for companies that are trying to build their brands. Some of us work in a brand-building role.

At the very least, we spend our money with a keen awareness of brands.

Why? What is it about a brand that influences us so? What makes a brand worth billions? What makes one bar of soap worth twice as much as another?

The brand.

What is a brand, anyway? One word: trust. The definition of a brand is trust.

The Name's The Game On The Internet

John Malmo — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:38:00 +0000

The effects of the Internet continue to astound me. As simple an asset as a killer web site name – and knowing what to do with it - can turn a nothing business into eight-figures in no time.

Serial entrepreneur Jesse Stein bought the name SportsMemorabilia-dot-com in 2006 for twelve-thousand-five-hundred dollars. At the time, the site was doing business of a few hundred dollars a month.

Fisher-Price: The Classic Innovator

John Malmo — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:05:31 +0000

Toy-maker Fisher-Price is, in my opinion, the classic example of a company that develops new products the right way. Its customers, young kids, are said to be the most finicky of all consumers.

Fisher-Price sends its people into homes and playrooms. They want to see what play areas look like. What’s in them. How existing toys are being used. They look particularly for things that moms have adapted for children’s play. Necessity is the mother of invention, they agree, and moms are very inventive.

First: Identify Your Personal Assets

John Malmo — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:34:00 +0000

True marketing is a process of maximizing a company’s assets. It begins with identifying the company’s assets, and that’s not always as obvious as you might think.

The genius chief marketing officer at Delta Airlines was the first to identify Delta’s customers as an asset two years ago. The result included new sales opportunities that have accounted for over $1.5 billion in new revenue.

You can go through a similar marketing process in your own behalf, and you begin the very same way.