In marketing and branding it’s all about the target audience and how you get your message across. Who will you attract? What will be the value they see? It’s not always easy when you have a place called Fred’s diner or Maria’s Taco Shop.

We say that an iconic, recognizable label needs three things: a clear visual that represents the name – an icon like the bison, the brand name and lastly the style of beer. This is what consumers are cruising for as they cover the shelves.

It’s easy to pick a brand color, right? Not as easy as you think. Depending on your industry, the message and focus of your brand everything can change. The color look and feel not only establishes what you are but who you are. This is why trade dress is so important. It’ happened several times [...]

Large companies and even mid size to smaller can now get tons of data on you. How you shop, what you buy, what your age group does, what your neighborhood does – but do they really get you?

Linking your cause with the Nabisco brand can’t possibly hurt. There is a new cause marketing campaign launched recently with boxes of Triscuits, the wheat crackers in the snack isle of your grocery store.

You can have a GroupOn activity that happens an hour from now and done by the end of the day targeting a self-selected group of customers who are actually interested in your offers. This is the maximum use of incentives to the right motivated customers. It’s just another way to create opportunity in the marketplace– a reason for customers to buy now.

When you go into a store, whether it’s a Safeway, a Macys or a Trader Joe’s, the signage immediately sets the tone. Is the place fun? Is it formal? Is it “hip”? And lastly, does this place communicate that they have what you want? Beneath the simplicity of hanging signs or shelf talkers can be [...]

The motivation to protect what’s unique to a specific community, a region, or a particular street has come as a reaction to the mass influx of chain stores in the last 30 years.

I don’t think all multiple store chains are killers of authenticity. Fundamentally, what do they provide that’s not being served to the consumer? And is it real in how it connects to consumers’ experience?

Target’s entry with P-Fresh will add substantially to the already glutted grocery store square-footage in the United States where more and more retailers are competing for the same number of consumer dollars.