James Surowieck recently published an article in The New Yorker entitled “Twilight of the Brands,” in which he suggests that brands are losing their ability to influence consumers. His logic was based on a book by my friend Itamar Simonson and Emanual Rosen,Absolute Value in which the authors argue that customers are now able to behave much more rationally than in the past in light of increased access to objective information about products and services through the Internet. Users of products...

A new research study by SDL digs deep into the behaviors of millennials and how they interact with brands, media and content. The study sampled more than 300 millennials in the U.S. (ages 18-36), all college educated and employed full-time. The study itself builds on the SDL's recent Privacy Study that found 79 percent of customers are willing to provide personal information to a brand they trust. Here are some highlights that you may find interesting, all which would be suitable bullet...

If you were selling a car you would clean it inside and out before any prospective buyer came to see it – wouldn’t you?

Even if the car was mechanically sound, a great car to drive and very efficient – we all know that people form impressions by the outward appearance of things – as humans we can’t help it. If you were buying a house and you saw it had a broken window or two, an uncared for garden and peeling paintwork you might not even bother looking inside. If you were going on a date you...

The face of business has lost something over the years. As the world became more corporate, the big picture took over and much of the personal touch was lost. This effect can be seen beyond business and even into our personal lives. I call this “The Front Porch Theory.” The front porch has disappeared from many houses and thus so has the interaction with our neighbors. People have substituted this direct relationship with TV and the internet. I believe the basic longing for the one-on-one...

We’ve all heard about the marketing segments called “yuppie, metro-sexual, millennials, etc.” but we’ve probably not heard of the segment called YUMmies. Young Urban Males, dubbed “Yummies” by HSBC, is a segment, really. And big brands have made noticeable shifts to target this segment, including Burberry, Tumi, Michael Kors, according to this recent article from BusinessWeek.

There may be a number of reasons why we are only hearing about this now.

Desperately Seeking a New Segment

Metrose...