Why America Is Addicted to Olive Garden

Fast Company, July 1, 2009 — On a Tuesday morning in April, the presidents of three of the largest restaurant chains in the country slip into an unmarked white van in Orlando, Florida, and embark on an unprecedented mission — sharing their latest trade secrets.

You know their brands: $3 billion — plus Olive Garden, with its heaping bowls of pasta and all-you-can-eat breadsticks; $2 billion — plus Red Lobster, which introduced middle America to the wonders of fried shrimp; and nearly $1 billion LongHorn Steakhouse, whose variations on a theme include steak stuffed with fontina cheese and wild mushrooms.

You probably don't know they're part of the same company, Darden Restaurants. It's the country's largest full-service restaurant operation, the 29th-largest employer in the United... continue reading

CEO nears 10-year goal to clean up a soupy mess

Conant's determined to take Campbell from 'bad' to best

USA Today, January 26, 2009 — Sip. Slurp.

Repeat.

That sums up the business plan at Campbell Soup before Douglas Conant took over as CEO eight years ago this month. It was the same old company doing much of the same old stuff it had been doing since it was founded in 1869. It had no clear direction. No red-hot brands. Its innovation cupboard was bare.

Pretty thin for a company whose basic product — soup — is held in such high esteem that the typical American home has six cans of Campbell's in the pantry.

Conant went to work. His self-described mission: to take a "bad" company and lift its performance to "extraordinary" by the end of one decade — that's by 2011.

Big Three May Need to Trim Number of Brands

New York Times, December 2, 2008 — For the Big Three automakers to win over Washington lawmakers in their bid for federal aid, they will have to address a critical question in the business plans they give to Congress on Tuesday. Just how serious are they about shrinking their vast lineups of different brands and models to match the current harsh reality of the market?

If GM Has a Brand, It's General Misery†

Company Has Eight Brands, but No Brand Messaging

Advertising Age, December 2, 2008 — "How Detroit drove into a ditch" is the headline of an article in the Oct. 25 issue of The Wall Street Journal.

When the most respected business publication in the world writes a 2,000-word article on the problems of the U.S. automobile industry, you have to assume it knows what it's writing about. Especially since the author of the article is the Journal's former Detroit bureau chief and a man who is writing a book about America's car culture.

The Future of Wall Street Brands

Prophet, October 1, 2008 — The global financial services crisis raises issues for CMOs who now find themselves with new brands in their portfolios...

Why Our Automakers are Eating the Competitors Dust

Prophet, October 1, 2008 — The U.S. aut omotive industry presents yet another cautionary tale of how myopic thinking can decimate, if not destroy, brand equity and financial performance, leaving an iconic sector of American business choking in competitors’ dust.