Xerox recently unveiled their new identity. They've hopped on the lowercase bandwagon. This they hope will allow Xerox to appear a bit more casual or approachable.

It seems the bigger you get the smaller you want to appear. And the smaller you are the bigger you want to appear. This is because the smaller guys have to compensate for their size by talking and looking big and the bigger guys dont want to scare you away with the reputation that precedes them.

It'd be great if a company would just accept who it was and brand itself as that. It's hard to try and create something that you are not. It's easy just to be who you are.

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We had a bet at the office several months ago about who would win the next generation format War; Blu-ray or HDDVD. Well the results might have come sooner than we thought.

On one side you have a well known name ,"DVD", added with the illustrious "HD", married together to make an easily recognizable (but BORING) name.

On the other side, you have something totally different and sticky. At first glance, I didn't really like the name Blu-Ray (seemed like some sort of oceanic creature from a USA original starring Lou Diamond Phillips), but as I hear people talk about it I noticed one thing in particular… it STANDS OUT! Blue Ray sounds exciting, tekky, new, and exciting. My vote was definitely for Blu-Ray, based on mere branding principles.

Well, some recent news is starting to prove my blink reactions were true, but is it the battle of the brands thats winning it for Blu-Ray or something else?

Regardless, Universal has leaked it will no long exclusively support HDDVD, just weeks after Warner Brothers and Paramount defected from the dying format. That makes the list; Sony, Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Warner, New Line and HBO all behind Blu-ray. Not good news for HDDVD.

That could be, Game. Set. Match.

Read the original article here.

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You love your business. You love your brand. You are in it every day, talking about it every day. Your brand and value to your customers becomes so much a part of you that it is as natural as breathing.

But just because it makes sense to you doesn't mean the rest of the world understands. You aren't preaching to the choir. They don't understand. Don't assume they do.

In Made to Stick, the Heath brothers teach us a lot about how to tell your story in a way that others will understand. Here is a great article on it from the New York Times.

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I stumbled across Logo Lounge's design trends of 2007 website today and really enjoyed looking through the trends from past years as well.The fact that design trends change just as rapidly as fashion is interesting thought. Take at&t for instance. They recently updated their logo for the new millennium, trading the all caps for the more personal lower case at&t. It's kinda like when I get new glasses…I'm still the same person, but just more stylish than I had been before the change.Brands are very much living organisms and need to be treated as such. They need constant attention and focus to stand out amongst the competition.

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I'm sure you heard that Howard Schultz, the founder of former CEO of Starbucks, is returning back to his post as CEO. Starbucks has seen a large decline in their stock value and waning sales over the last couple of years. In a move to solve this, they asked Schultz to come back.

I know there are a lot of complex issues that are involved with the decline of their brand's domination in the coffee market space, but one thing I've noticed in the last few years that has caught my attn is their diversification of offerings to customers.

Starbucks used to be completely focused on one thing – coffee. Since then, they've added small food items, fruit-based drinks, then sandwiches. They also got into the music biz selling CDs in stores and on iTunes, making that a part of the whole Starbucks experience. One thing they seemed to forget though was that consumers had initially rewarded them for one thing – their coffee.

I see a lesson here – in chasing dollar signs, its easy to forget your first love. I think it would had fared better for Starbucks had they stayed focused on their niche.

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Building a brand takes a long time, but destroying a brand can happen with one wrong move. Over the past 24 years Roger Clemens built himself a spectacular “brand”. With 354 Wins, 4672 Strikeouts, 7 Cy Young Awards, 2 World Series Titles, and 1 MVP Award, Clemens had established himself as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He was a lock for the Hall of Fame. Then on December 13, 2007 Clemens was linked to illegal performance enhancing drugs in “The Mitchell Report”. Now Clemens legacy is in danger. He denies the use of steroids or any other illegal substances. But even if the allegations turn out to be false, the “Roger Clemens Brand” is forever tainted. The same is true for any brand, no matter how many great things you have done one wrong move can destroy your brand and all that you have been working for.

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NBC recently brought back the American Gladiators. All of us at the office (and I think the rest of our generation) were excited about it and couldn't wait. SO MUCH HYPE, SO MUCH BUILD UP and so much to live up to. I also saw an advertisement for another throwback revamp show, Knight Rider coming next month. I think still the same situation.

Not sure whether this a smart strategy for NBC or not. I would love to see what NBC makes off these shows if they tank. I think thats exactly what will happen. Both American Gladiators and Knight Rider are powerful brand names. The thought is, they have been successful brands in the past and so why not now. Time will tell, but my thought is that the shows went off the air for a reason. Not necessarily because the actors got old but because the brand got old. The entire formula itself just lost its appeal. Bringing them back is nostalgic yes, but will they last?

Unless these old brands can be formulated in a new and appealing yet brand loyal way they will simply be a laughable memory for a week and forgotten after that. Obviously, we are all hoping that this wont be the case. Just hearing the names and remembering the original shows have created quite a buzz. If they are successful, they have the potential to be huge.

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Recently I came across a site that said "Please Check Back often for Updates… updated 02.16.2006″. Seriously? I do realize that the word "often" is subjective, and in the days of Noah "often" probably meant every 15 years or something, but its 2008! The sad thing is, I see the phrases like "often" and "coming soon" thrown around like a rusty bag of nickels.

I refer to it as "Comingsounphillus", mostly seen in the early years of the new millennia, cases could be commonly seen across the web 1.0 world.

What does the lack of care or concern for your "coming soon" say about your brand? Lazy, outdated, careless, and behind the 8-Ball are just a few, but come on people, its not the 90′s, we can beat this!

There are some solutions to cure "Comingsounphillus":

1. Update your content

or

2. Don't update your content; just remove any dates from the article, thus giving it infinite youth. Brilliant!

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Interbrand Recently released their list of the Best Global Brands of 2007. You can download the full PDF report here. A few of my observations.

1. A few of the brands on the list (namely nike and apple) only show the symbol without a name. You know it's a powerful brand when only a symbol will communicate the brand clearly.

2. Page 4 of the PDF report speaks to branding every customer touchpoint. It says "The best brands follow their stakeholders' journeys so that they provide effective, consistent and appropriate messaging throughout the experience." I couldn't agree more.

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