Author Archive

Experiential Marketing Offers a Powerful Alternative to Traditional Media

by John Roberson

It was difficult for the Wall Street Journal to write this headline:  Newspaper-Circulation Drop Sharpens (click here for the article).  The article describes how the only and largest gains in the sector were from USA Today (+0.27%) and The Wall Street Journal (+0.35%) {Whew, they made it!}.  Note the zero and decimal points in these […]

Bumper Sticker Advice for Experiential Marketing

by John Roberson

On the way to work this morning I saw two creative expressions on cars that really made an impression.   
First, there was a bumper sticker that said:  “More Wag. Less Bark.”  What great advice to those of us who use exhibits, events and environments to profitably grow businesses!  So often we let our marketing and messaging […]

Experiential Marketing Meets Traditional Media

by John Roberson

What do you do if you need new growth in your industry and are competing against technology? Magazines are turning to experiential marketing. 
The traditional magazine industry is flat to downward at best. An article in The New York Times talks about House & Garden magazine (Condé Nast) spending close to $1 million on event-based marketing.  The initiative, […]

The Equity of a Brand

by John Roberson

Equity holds extraordinary value.  We consider equity in our home to be the value over and above the debt, and we can borrow against that equity. Brands have equity, too. It comes in two forms: customer (external) and owner (internal).
Customer equity in a brand allows customers to purchase with confidence.  We don’t have to know […]

Guidelines for Good Brand Management

by John Roberson

In Brands and Branding (2003 Clifton Simmons, et. al.), a series of authors and experts offer their insights on branding.  In the section “What is a Brand?” Tom Blackett offers the following guidelines for effective brand management:

Protect your brand: Blackett reminds us that trademarks and copyrights can legally protect the brand, but I would add that […]

Perspective

by John Roberson

I did something that I don’t usually do the other day; I sat in the passenger side of my car.  I am usually in the driver’s seat.  I take two of my four sons to school every weekday. On this day, I sat in the passenger’s seat to retrieve something that had fallen on the […]