Category Archives: branding

The coolness of social media

Coolbrands.co.uk produces an analysis of Britain’s ‘coolest’ brands and has just released its latest findings.  Brands may be nominated by members of the public and the coolest are selected by an expert council and members of the public before the top brands are identified.
Coolness, as Coolbrands admits, is subjective.  The judging criteria they use are:
·         Style
·         Innovation
·         Originality
·         Authenticity
·         Desirability
·         Uniqueness
(Usefulness, value or impact do not seem to get a look-in.)
The latest top 10 features Apple, BBC’s iPlayer, Google, Twitter and YouTube.  (Luxury brands such as Aston Martin, Liberty and Bang and Olufsen also appear).   ‘Attractions and the arts’ features as a category (cool brands in this category include the Glastonbury Festival and the Royal Albert Hall). 
Unfortunately libraries do not feature at all, even though there are innovative, stylish and unique libraries out there.   

The value of ‘National Brand’

Brand Finance journal has published a report exploring the way that ‘nation brand’ contributes to the economic and social wellbeing of countries and has revealed its top 100 nation brands

According to the report, a strong nation brand helps to “cut through the information glut that is inherent in… modern business news [and] supports investor confidence in the value of a country”.
The report goes on to feature country case studies on a number of subject areas (including how nation brand can help countries to:
·         Attract and retain talent
·         Enhance tourism business (including domestic tourism)
·         Attract inward investment
·         Improve the sale of goods and services
The top 10 countries identified in the report are:
·         USA
·         China
·         Germany
·         Japan
·         UK
·         France
·         Canada
·         India
·         Brazil
·         Italy
The report is available to download, free of charge, from Brand Finance.

Reputation management

This article by Rob Brown, published in the March 2010 issue of the journal (27/1), couldn’t be more timely. In the last month we have seen several high profile sportsmen face media scrutiny of the gap between their ‘personal brand’ and their ‘character’.

Those who listened to Rob Brown at the 2008 London Online Information Conference can testify to the power of his advice on the routes to develop personal and corporate reputations. There are so many messages in his article – perhaps the key one for us is to cultivate your knowledge, your networks, your experience – and your influence will increase with your reputation. The many areas for action that Rob covers in his article provide a good assessment tool not just for individuals thinking of their personal reputation but for people running and providing information services. Which of these actions are most likely to increase service reputation?
The article abstract is available on the Sage website.