Why it is essential to know your brand's business By Tom Dougherty Three warning signs of confusing the business of your business with the brand’s business. And why it is essential to know your brand’s business. My wife and I just returned from a hiking...
You are what you eat By Tom Dougherty Success always leaves clues. You find the winning formula for success in Wheaties Cereal. It’s never been a “candy” cereal marketed by a singular spokes figure (like Cap’n Crunch or Snap, Crackle, and Pop). Wheaties sold its...
Woke marketing is not gender neutral By Tom Dougherty Gender Neutral. Woke up. The best marketing never feels like it’s marketing. It feels natural, direct, genuine. We polish the worst marketing with political correctness and ambiguous woke phrases. I am a branding...
Changing Ad Agencies Change Your Ad Agency or Fix Your Brand A powerful brand strategy influences everything that the brand touches. That’s why, if you’re caught in an ad agency carousel, you need to fix your brand. A brand strategy provides focus, clarity...
The mystery of great advertising By Tom Dougherty The mystery of great advertising: The Amazon Super Bowl spot Ever have watched a TV ad you intuitively understand to be great advertising but don’t know why. That’s the great mystery you may feel about Amazon’s...
COVID-19 Advertising: Nothing’s changed COVID-19 advertising: What works and what doesn’t The question many marketers are asking themselves during this time is this: What tone should we adopt in our COVID-19 advertising? Should it be soft and warm? Comforting...
Beyond Meat Ad By Tom Dougherty Beyond Meat ad shows progress, but miles to go A little more than a year ago, I wrote that the new Beyond Meat ad was interesting but failed to include the customer in it. It seems the vegetarian meat producer was listening. “The...
Microsoft and TikTok By Tom Dougherty What would Microsoft even do with TikTok? I’ll admit I knew little about TikTok, other than it’s Chinese-owned and President Trump wants to ban it unless a US company owns a stake in it. Its description says it’s basically...
COVID-19 Effects By Tom Dougherty COVID-19 effects: What lasts, and what doesn’t I’m fascinated by the changes the COVID-19 virus imposes on products as consumer habits change. For example, the COVID-19 effects produce an uptick in hair products (especially hair dyes)...
Burger King TV Ad By Tom Dougherty Strangely, the new Burger King TV ad works in today’s times Amid all the ads we’ve seen of brands telling us that they care and we’ll all get through this, one TV spot actually stands out. And it’s from an unlikely source. A Burger...
American Airlines TV Ad By Tom Dougherty 23 April 2020 American Airlines TV ad dismisses the most important part The new American Airlines TV ad, its first in four years, is quite creative in how the brand was able to assemble it. But it breaks the first rule of brand...
Coldwell Banker Ad in Today’s Environment By Tom Dougherty Coldwell Banker ad fails with today’s human motivators Marketers all over are desperately trying to find ways to impact target audiences during this time of the COVID-19 virus. Few have answers and a new...
