A Hotel in Theory, With an Image in Fact

New York Times, August 31, 2008 — LAST year, advertisements began appearing in magazines depicting sand, surf and, in one case, a model wearing a mysterious silver amulet.

“A lot of people, when they saw the campaign, thought it wasn’t selling anything,” said Alan Becker, the developer of Nizuc, a resort just south of Cancún, Mexico, where rooms will start at about $800 a night.

But his goal in the campaign was to get the Nizuc name in circulation. The point is to establish a strong brand before the hotel opens for business next year.

At Sci Fi Channel, the Universe Is Expanding and the Future Is Now

New York Times, May 19, 2008 — The letters still keep coming to the Rockefeller Center offices of the Sci Fi Channel. Please, they all say, pick up “Jericho,” the science fiction show with a small but passionate following that was canceled in March by CBS, for a third season.

But those letters are falling on deaf ears. The Sci Fi Channel, still viewed by many as a niche network, is no longer a repository for failed fantasy shows cast aside by the broadcast networks. Instead, through a mix of original shows, movies and syndicated reruns (including old “Jericho” episodes but no new ones), the network has expanded its audience, especially among women, chiefly by stretching the definition of science fiction.

The Iger difference

Bob Iger has led a renaissance at Disney. But can he withstand a bad economy and the tech revolution in the media business?

FORTUNE, April 11, 2008 — At a time of upheaval in the media business, Walt Disney has had a string of hits the likes of which it hasn't had since, well, the early tenure of former CEO Michael Eisner in the 1980s. Three years after succeeding Eisner - and confounding skeptics in the process - CEO Bob Iger talked to Fortune's Richard Siklos about buying Pixar, pulling Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) out of a creative slump with new megafranchises like "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical," working with Steve Jobs, and wrestling with the image of a certain mouse. Edited excerpts:

Apparently, You Can Be Too Sexy†

Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2008 — Victoria's Secret likes to ask in its marketing, "What is sexy?" Now the lingerie chain is trying to figure out, "What's too sexy?"

The chief executive of the brand known for its provocative televised fashion shows and alluring stores made an admission yesterday. In her mind, the brand has become "too sexy" — or at least the wrong kind of sexy.

"We have so much gotten off our heritage," CEO Sharen Jester Turney said in a conference call with analysts. Responding to the past year's weak sales and focus-group feedback, she said, "We will return to an ultra-feminine lingerie brand to meet [customer] needs and expectations."

Xerox Gets a Brand Makeover

Once dominant in the copier market, the tech giant has had to wake up to a new world. Its latest brand identity attempts to reflect its newfound nimbleness

BusinessWeek, January 7, 2008 — The venerable Xerox (XRX) brand is far from dead or dying. It is, after all, not just a brand name but also in some countries a verb, like Google (GOOG). That's pretty good company in the world of high tech. But most of Xerox's customers don't put the Stamford (Conn.) copier company in the same class as the Internet search juggernaut. A new brand makeover, Xerox's first in 40 years, kicks off this week in a step toward trying to get customers to think of Xerox in a different light.

Discover Needs Plastic Surgery

Fears of a consumer slowdown have hurt its stock, but the credit-card issuer's big problem is its image

BusinessWeek, November 29, 2007 — Discover Financial Services (DFS) couldn't have picked a worse time to become an independent company. The credit-card issuer, which was spun off from Morgan Stanley (MS) on June 30, collided head-on with a credit crunch and mounting fears about a slowdown in consumer spending. In five months the stock has sunk more than 40%.

QVC Aims To Insert 'Q' into Pop Culture†

Q&A: CMO Jeff Charney on Rebranding Home Shopping

Advertising Age, October 2, 2007 — After 21 years, any brand could use a makeover. That was the approach Jeff Charney took when he was charged with creating the first-ever national advertising and marketing campaign for QVC, the home-shopping network. A cable TV staple since its launch in 1986, QVC has steadily grown in household carriage and sales to become the second-most-profitable network (CBS is first), according to a Broadcasting & Cable annual survey.

Yet harnessing a young-and-hip brand identity for a network based on phoned-in transactions by Midwestern housewives wasn't exactly easy. "It was a very different challenge from any I've ever had," said Mr. Charney, the network's senior VP-CMO.

A Madison Avenue maven speaks out

Shelly Lazarus, the CEO of advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, answers your web questions about the branding business and her legendary career.

FORTUNE, September 17, 2007 — She's best known for building other people's brands, but Lazarus herself is one of the biggest names in advertising. With a blue-chip client roster that's the envy of Madison Avenue, the head of WPP's Ogilvy & Mather runs one of the most prestigious agencies in the world. Fortune's Matthew Boyle asked her your questions - and ours - on everything from Mattel's recall crisis to what it's like to be on the GE board.

Neiman Marcus Builds Brand Via ... YouTube?†

Luxury Retailer Takes Over Site's Front Page to Show Consumers Its Hipper Side

Advertising Age, September 10, 2007 — What is one of the country's most high-end, trend-right department-store brands doing on a site best known for laughing-baby videos and teenage webcam musings? Oh, just building its future customer base.

How P&G Led Also-Ran To Sweet Smell of Success†

By Focusing on Fragrance, Gain Detergent Developed A Billion-Dollar Following

Wall Street Journal, September 4, 2007 — Gain was nearly a loss for Procter & Gamble. The low-priced laundry detergent, launched in 1969, had grown a small following among cost-conscious consumers in the South but failed to build nationwide appeal. With sales dwindling, in 1981 P&G decided to give Gain one more chance by repositioning it as a heavily fragrant detergent. Touting scent, instead of cleaning performance, was a departure from the long-held formula of laundry marketing.