June « 2010 « The BrandBuilder Blog

Archive for June, 2010

Cultural chasms, being in irons, and navel-gazing punditry.

Posted in account planning, adaptation, brand consciousness, brand planning, business, culture, customer experience, Social Communications, social media, tagged olivier blanchard, the brandbuilder on June 29, 2010 | 25 Comments »

I spent yesterday flying back from France by way of the Netherlands, and it occurred to me, leaving Europe and transitioning back into American society via passport control and customs procedures, walking through airports, driving along highways and finally looking into my fridge and cupboards that the cultural chasm between Europe and the United States [...]

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When we were social: Proxy Medium Darwinism 101

Posted in adaptation, communication, community, human interactions, Social Communications, social media, social network, social networking, society, tagged brandbuilder, Cannes Lions, facebook, foursquare, olivier blanchard, Social Communications, social media, social technologies, socialized web, twitter on June 24, 2010 | 30 Comments »

Back in the day, most people were disconnected from the world. They lived in small family groups, peer groups, villages and neighborhoods, seldom connecting with the outside world. Aside from merchants, soldiers and sailors, few ever really scaled their reach beyond a few miles from home. Yet people were social in ways that we aren’t [...]

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Insight and action

Posted in account planning, b2b, being the best on June 22, 2010 | 14 Comments »

Today’s bit of Marketing, Customer Experience, Design & Product Development advice comes from the archives of Kathy Sierra‘s blog: “Your job is to anticipate… To give them what they want and/or what they need just before they have to “ask” for it – to be surprising yet self-evident at the same time. If you are too [...]

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The skirmish principle

Posted in social media, strategy, tactics, tagged best practices, brandbuilder, brawl, ISMA, olivier blanchard, R.O.I., ROI, skirmish, social media on June 21, 2010 | 29 Comments »

Several months ago, someone whose professional opinion I care about told me that after having pointedly gone after several outstandingly poor displays of misguided ‘practices’ on my blog, some “in the industry” (meaning the Social Media world) were wondering if I might not be a bit of a loose cannon. The comment took me by [...]

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Happy Fathers’ Day

Posted in the brandbuilder blog on June 20, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Being a father is such a strange thing to me: On the one hand, it is the most natural thing in the world. I watched both of my children be born. I even delivered my daughter. None of what I’ve ever done as a father ever seemed strained or forced. Fatherhood is a role I [...]

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The value of a mouthful of blood

Posted in acts of rebellion, adaptation, corporate culture, courage, culture, identity, leadership, lessons, T-shaped, the right stuff, tagged brandbuilder, fight club, fisher king, jung, leadership, lesson, management, olivier blanchard, tyler durden on June 14, 2010 | 29 Comments »

The unfortunate yet necessary business of getting punched in the mouth You learn a lot about yourself during your first fist fight. Especially when you know for a fact that the other guy is going to mop the deck with your face just because he can. And that’s just the thing: It’s one thing to [...]

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21 things my dog taught me about being a better man.

Posted in lessons, wisdom, tagged brandbuilder, dog, olivier blanchard, sasha on June 7, 2010 | 174 Comments »

We had to put our golden retriever to sleep this weekend, our friend of fifteen years, our family’s faithful guardian and companion, and one of the kindest, most loyal and giving souls I have ever met. True to her breed, Sasha was a courageous, tender and selfless until the end. I was trying to figure [...]

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