Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Keeping Your Brand From Going Stale - Wisdom from the heart

Those once-blockbuster brands are going stale everywhere.  Oprah's TV ratings are down three years in a row.  Talbot's, once the name in affordable attire for the professional woman, is struggling.  The Red Cross has taken successive hits.

So, I called in an expert - actually a very unlikely one.  She's Sue Gunderson, the Executive Director of nonprofit CLEARCorps.  The organization's mission is to help families deal with the possible hazards of lead paint.  Hardly a sizzler.  Yet, within that cause Gunderson has built and nurtured a classic mystique branding.

Being Middle Clas [1963-2003]

On "Page Six" yesterday in THE NEW YORK POST, Richard Johnson joins in on the rumors that Madonna is ditching Guy.  The reason?  The latter allegedly feigned his working-class roots and Madonna doesn't like that at all.  The rest of the day was filled with postings of Madonna's denial of the rumors.

An Eliot Spitzer Comeback - Is one possible & how

The old Eliot Spitzer brand took a lethal hit.  But this is America, the land of second and third reinventions.  So, yes, it's possible to come back as another brand.  Bill Clinton has had a number of brand identities subsequent to his own sexual scandals.

Three Hours on the Cross - Starbucks suffers for its sins

At 5:30 PM my prospect and I were hustled out of the Starbucks on Church Street in New Haven, Connecticut.  We had made this appointment to get to know each other long before the chain abruptly announced it was closing its stores across the nation to do what I think of as three hours spent hanging on a cross, contemplating its many sins in customer service.

Just Not a Cool Brand - Was that Wal-Mart's Sin

"You only took in $2000! Let me see your drawer slip."  That's what one checkout clerk yelled over to another at Wal-Mart in central Connecticut this afternoon.  She was very concerned about how much the register across the way was ringing up because the total went into determining employees' quarterly bonuses."

Yes, bonuses at Wal-Mart.

Being Vastly Underestimated - The Greatest Offensive in Human History

I've always been underestimated.  What varied over the past decades was simply by how much.  I hadn't realized how much of a professional blessing this was until about a year ago.  A shrewd executive coach informed me that being vastly underestimated is the greatest offensive in human history.  Long story short: By time enemies, colleagues, friends, significant others realize your ten-ton talent and drive, you got what you want.  In fact that gain is so solidified that you have moved onto your next goal, with a whole new set of people who could try to block you if they only realized you are certainly a threat.

Cargill, ConAgra et al. Need to Follow Oprah Crisis Management 101

No matter what the specific product or corporate brand, meat producers and marketers are in deep trouble.  In fact, so is the whole supply chain, extending way back to the cattle owners. 

The Cargill recall of more than 1 million pounds of ground beef, so soon after Topps's much larger recall, can't be anything but a tipping point.  From this point on, Americans might seriously consider alternates to beef or purchase only imported beef. 

"American Gangster" - Frank Lucas Knew Power of Branding

In that amazing film "American Gangster," one of the most intelligent aspects was the king of heroin's knowledge of the power of branding.  When a dealer is cutting the quality of the heroin, Frank Lucas comes on street-heavy with a branding lecture.  The situation gets resolved when the dealer agrees to change the name of what he is diluting from "Blue Magic" to another branding.  Incidentally, part of the branding is for his team not to dress loud.

Publish a Book or Do a Blog? - Depends on Your Personal Branding

Should I publish a book or just start a blog?  That's what more and more clients and prospects ask me.  Personal branding, even if you're an employee, demands that you're out there.  With all the layoffs and industries collapsing [think mortgage/real estate] and emerging, you take very seriously now what Tom Peters said years ago: Be your own personal brand.

Labor No Longer Capitalist Virgins - Re-branding on "North American Day of Action"

Labor is pushing back - more strategically.  Today, on the North American Day of Action, American and Canadian union members are aligning forces to fight for the safety of British Columbia forestry workers.  In the past 20 months, about 65 of them have been killed on the job.