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Paul Friederichsen, Author at Branding Strategy Insider

The Strongest Brands Wield Soft And Hard Power

The Home Depot’s “How doers get more done” is a customer empowerment promise akin to Nike’s legendary “Just Do It.” The brand is itself a “doer” of a balanced use of what we call hard and soft power. Often, power is equated with worth, valuation, stock price, access to capital, growth, market share, category dominance, etc. This is what we define as hard power. Soft power, on the other hand, is the proverbial velvet hammer....

Managing Brand Backlash

As marketers, we want our brands to be loved and admired … and purchased. Everything we do is aimed at selling more goods to more people more often. But sometimes, even the great brands miscalculate, underestimate, or become too ambitious. What seemed like the next big idea becomes the next big dud. Then your loyal customer turns on you and takes their business somewhere else. That coveted relationship, that impressive sales volume, that enviable market...

The Age Of The Sustainable Brand

There has been a lot in the news about “The Great Reset” when it comes to converting from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Brands should also consider another kind of “reset” … one that deals with marketing themselves as sustainable. There’s no doubt that a greater emphasis on sustainability is here to stay and will affect how business responds, especially when it comes to marketing themselves. But the right response is no longer whether your...

Successful Brand Management Requires Context

Very often marketers are called upon by clients or fellow business stakeholders to solve complex issues or chart new paths with new products or markets. In these cases there is a natural tendency to immediately immerse oneself into the numbers and assorted details pertaining to the objective, as if the answer is hiding in plain sight on column G, row four of the spreadsheet in front of you. The numbers and analysis when determining a...

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