July 15, 2010
iPhone antenna controversy: Apple plans news conference
Apple, which has long enjoyed a love affair with consumers and is known for excellent customer care, should be able to weather the storm, said Steven Addis, chief executive of Addis Creson, a brand strategy and design firm in Berkeley.
However, Apple’s reputation has taken a hit, he added. “I’ve been really disappointed by the way the company has handled this. You don’t want to put out a product in which you have to have workarounds, like holding it differently. That’s absurd.”
The Sustainable Brands 2010 (SB ‘10) conference, produced by Sustainable Life Media, reached capacity again this year with attendees working to identify the ideas, discover the tools and build productive new partnerships that will help drive sustainable brands in the future. More than 700 brand leaders attended, including well-known global brands such as [...]
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June 14, 2010
Sustainable Brands Conference 2010: Recapturing the American Dream
Addis Creson’s John Creson, Ziba’s Eric Park, and Bedo’s Marc Mathieu led a conversation at this year’s Sustainable Brands Conference at the Monterey Conference Center from June 7-10. The discussion focused on exploring the role brands can play in recapturing the American Dream.
During the conference, the speakers led attendees through a combination [...]
April 30, 2010
Amazon wards off sales tax risk
By Alexandria Sage
Reuters
“There will not be much backlash,” said Steven Addis of Berkeley-based branding firm Addis Creson. “They’re championing a populist cause, which is lower taxes.”
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April 27, 2010
Starbucks gives Frappuccino new life for hot summer sales
By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
Starbucks (SBUX) is on a mission to turn its Frappuccino into much more than a pricey drink. Hit by the recession and increased competition from Dunkin’ Donuts and smoothie chains, sales of the Frappuccino brand have slid the past few years. Executives won’t say how steep the slide has been for the blended ice drink that became a $2 billion juggernaut for Starbucks. But any decline is seen as serious for the 15-year-old beverage that accounts for an estimated 15% to 20% of sales at Starbucks stores.
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April 22, 2010
On this Earth Day…
April 13, 2010
Tech startups seek fame and fortune with names we often can’t spell or pronounce
By Patrick May
San Jose Mercury News
Born of too much brainstorming or not enough sleep, the names come flying out of nowhere — Crocodoc, Yext, Nowmov.
They turn nouns into adverbs (Answerly) or aspire to become brand-new verbs in true “I-just-googled-her” fashion.
And in the process, they drop vowels like a clumsy waiter (Flickr), spell perfectly good words backward (Xobni) and insert punctuation points where they have no business being (Center’d).
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January 27, 2010
Apple tablet buzz at fever pitch
By John Boudreau
San Jose Mercury News
The months of buzz leading up to today’s widely anticipated announcement of Apple’s multimedia tablet rivals that for any previous product announcements by Apple. Yet no one outside of Apple’s inner circle knows for sure what the Cupertino company will unveil at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
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December 28, 2009
Curator Culture
Marketers are scared. YOU were named as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year and CONSUMERS took the nod as Advertising Age’s Agency of the Year. You have more power than ever. But it’s not your consumer power that terrifies marketers. It’s your sway over millions of other consumers as a curator. A curator with unlimited [...]
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December 11, 2009
Greenwashing’s Two-Edged Sword
Thank you to those who wave the flag of “Greenwashing” at companies who are not walking their talk. I work with businesses across the country and I can confirm that the fear of being tarred with the greenwash label is a motivating force firmly in place inside Corporate America.
However, I’m also beginning to see evidence [...]
