How brilliant -- a tagline database service that will help you create and refine your own tagline while avoiding "awkward conflicts" with your competititors. AdSlogans.com's services include: BizCheck, wherein you research all the taglines in your brand category; MissionStatements, which provides all the mission statements and strategic intent of key players in your category; PosCheck, (short for PositionCheck) which compares and contrasts the brand positioning of your competitors to spot weaknesses and overlap; TermCheck, which checks usage of specific terms, concepts or ideas; LineCheck, which checks prior or current use of a proposed new tagline; and Sloganalysis, which assesses the content of your slogan against a series of branding benchmarks. Some of the tools, such as Sloganalysis, are of no cost to you. Others, such as LineCheck, are available for a fee (this one runs $500(US) and promises a 24-hour turnaround). Bookmark this gem.
This site is a branding information resource published by New Zealand-based DNA Design, a design and branding firm. Incidentally, this firm understands the power of search engine optimization as it relates to branding, as their site consistently ranked in the top 5 results for 'branding' during our preparatory research. Topics are divided into action verbs -- Creating, Communicating, Living, Measuring, Managing and Extending -- your brand, of course. You are likely to find more cutting-edge and topical articles about current Internet tactics and trends and their impact on brands here, because these people live and breath the business. Of special interest are articles on how blogging builds your brand and the constant struggle to attach ROI to a brand's value.
"How do you feel about that?" is a loaded question that many of us like to avoid, but it's comScore's bread and butter. This research firm provides insight into consumer behavior and attitudes by industry sector, as well as Media Metrix, their Internet audience measurement reports. All of this fabulous research is proprietary and available for a fee, but comScore regularly releases reports on Internet measurement and behavior that are a must-read for all marketers. Should you wish to evaluate how search engines and search behavior impact your brand, the company also offers a service called qSearch, which is an analysis tool that objectively quantifies consumer search activity. It can tell you your strengths and weaknesses by keyword and keyword vertical, how you stack up against your competition and more. Pricing is not disclosed at the site.
What makes people believe your website is credible? This study, conducted by the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab in partnership with Consumer WebWatch, shows that the average consumer paid far more attention to the superficial aspects of a site, such as visual cues, than to its content. For example, nearly half of all consumers (or 46.1%) in the study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on the appeal of the overall visual design, including layout, typography, font size and color schemes. Surprised? Don't be. Check out the report to learn how to make the most of your site's first impression.
Why do we brand? Bottom line, for financial reasons, and the better you can measure and leverage the effectiveness of your brand, the better off you (and your company) will be. This company has been tracking the advertising, financial and brand performance of the world's best-known companies for more than a decade. Does your most valuable corporate asset -- your brand - measure up to the competition? Find out with excerpts from CoreBrand's BrandPower Rankings and Directory of Brand Equity.
What's the buzz on your brand? A growing breed of "sentiment survey" technologies such as Cymfony scan all online and offline media and broadcast mentions, message board and blog postings and the like to capture and track not only what journalists and consumers are saying about your brand (and how often) but also how they feel about it. While the Cymfony system is quite sophisticated, basically your online toolbox allows you to access brand/media intelligence reports to measure your brand's share of voice, visibility, buzz, impact and media citations with standardized metrics. Customized brand Watchlists enable you to track multiple brands (ie., your own and your competitors). Cymfony's system also displays a "buzz box" that highlights hot-button topics such as what industry analysts are saying about you. All coverage is rated as to its positive or negative impact, and the rise or fall of overall sentiment about your brand is charted over time. Pricing is not disclosed at the site.
Domain name hijacking is an increasingly serious business issue, and should you be the victim of one the results could be disastrous for your online brand. This report, published by ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee, tells you how you can protect yourself. First off, make domain name protection a priority -- perform a risk assessment and develop a contingency plan and an "urgent restoration of domain name and DNS configuration" strategy. Now is a good time to investigate whether business interruption and losses related to a hijacking are covered by your insurance policy. There's tons more good advice, case studies and industry insight in this complimentary 48-page PDF, which should be required reading for all online marketers.
How do people feel about your brand? At this site you can check out "The List" of thousands of brands and the comments that consumers have made about them. "Lovemarks" is a popular branding book written by Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi. It is based on the premise that most brands are no longer meaningful, and that the brands with legs are those that create an emotional connection with customers. Those special brands have earned "Lovemarks" status and that special cachet that inspires loyalty beyond reason. You can learn more about the concept at the site, and you'll also find a "Lovemarks" test that you can apply to your own brand, recaps of "Lovemarks" speeches given around the world and more.
This site is the online home of the Greatest Brands series of books. Published by the American Brands Council, it covers the history, innovations, and achievements of the world's most admired companies. The benefits of this site are 1) There are Greatest Brands books published by country, so should you have international interests you can explore them here; and 2) You can read complimentary case studies on dozens of companies that have been featured in the books, from Absolut Vodka to GEICO to the NFL to Western Union, which will tell you how they achieved brand success.
This branding blog is written by Laura Ries, president of Ries & Ries, a marketing consulting firm that Laura founded with her dad, branding veteran Al Ries. Together they have consulted with many Fortune 500 companies and have also written four books on branding, which many consider to be bibles of the industry. In her blog you'll find branding advice and principles as well as some interesting commentary on popular topics. At the time of this writing, she was taking on Britney Spears' behavior and overexposure in the media, where she opines, "Too much is too much. I’m afraid that the Spears brand will ultimately pay the price..." Interesting read.