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Winner:

Glenn Beck is our winner for the week.

Let’s be frank, no one really expected this man to become the spokesperson for the strong patriotic fervor sweeping the nation.

But he has. This past weekend’s rally has proven everyone wrong. The official estimates pegged attendance at 300,000-plus strong. That is a mighty turnout.

How did he do it?

Continue reading "John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week: Glenn Beck and Barnes & Noble" »

Posted by Elisabeth at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Winner:

Sometimes personal branding is best done by simply being who you are and doing what you do.

This sums up Mitch Daniels, Republican governor of Indiana and a potential sleeper brand for the next presidential election.

Folks, what I’m getting at here is the idea of authentic brand behavior versus mere brand promotion.

There are personal brands in business and politics that become well known for promoting themselves, but there are also brands that become well known because they labor quietly and successfully for years and the world eventually comes to them. Warren Buffet is a standout example of the second kind.

Continue reading "John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week: Mitch Daniels and the egg industry" »

Posted by Elisabeth at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Winner: General Motors

As predicted in this space, General Motors just keeps on getting better…

This past week, GM posted its best quarterly profit since 2004.

All because of government money?

Fuggedaboutit!

It’s all because the company was forced to get back to what had made them strong in the first place: their brands.

Continue reading "John Tantillo's Winner and Loser of the Week: General Motors and President Obama" »

Posted by Piet at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week:

Winner: Ellen DeGeneres

For a brand sometimes choosing not to do something is just as important as doing it.

That’s why Ellen DeGeneres is this week’s winner. She understood that American Idol and the DeGeneres brand were simply not compatible and she made a clean break.

For a celebrity brand, choosing not to do something so high profile is courageous. After all, today’s most sought after celebrities can become yesterday’s news. he Idol job widened DeGeneres profile.

But she probably realized that even though it widened her profile, exposing her to even more people, that it wasn’t necessarily strengthening her brand. For example, fans of the Idol show noted that she didn’t seem to have the edge that judges on the program are noted for –and in a statement DeGeneres said she doesn’t want to have that kind of edge.

Absolutely right. DeGeneres brand is likeable first. She’s funny, but never mean-spirited. The fact that she recognized that her brand strength didn’t connect with Idol and the acted on it should be a lesson for celebrities and non-celebrities alike.

Bottom line, we all have personal brands and if the shoe doesn’t fit, whatever you do don’t try to squeeze in –it will only crimp your style!

Continue reading "John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week: Ellen DeGeneres and the 9/11 mosque" »

Posted by Elisabeth at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Winner: BP

BP is the tentative winner this week with its bold decision to appoint an American as its new CEO.

Finally, the company seems to be taking steps that make sense. This appointment sends the clear message that BP is shaking up the management that helped get it into the Gulf mess.

But, folks, they’re only a tentative winner for two reasons: 1) the change of leadership apparently won’t happen until October and, 2) it was U.S. officials who announced the news, pipping BP to the post and even leading BP to initially deny the news.

Let’s start with #2. Rule #1 of brand crisis management response is to assert affirmative, positive and undisputed control over your response. A news leak like an oil leak reflects lack of control. So the news of the management change might be welcome, but the way that news got out serves to re-enforce the image of a company that is still at loose ends.

As for the delay in the change until October, fact is this too runs against brand crisis management. If a change needs to happen, then making it happen fast–and being seen by the public to make it happen fast— is very important. Again, BP isn’t doing this.

Still, the shake-up at the top is a big one since getting rid of the current CEO, a walking brand disaster, signals a big improvement. Now BP needs to telegraph its seriousness by taking control of the way big company news reaches the media and speeding up the transition process.

Continue reading "John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week: BP and Marco Rubio" »

Posted by Elisabeth at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)