http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com By <a href="http://www.thunderfactory.com/thunder-factory/thunder-factory-team.html">Patrick Di Chiro</a>, Founder and CEO of <a href="http://www.thunderfactory.com/">THUNDER FACTORY</a>, a San Francisco based integrated marketing firm with other offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Houston Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:33:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I have always been fascinated by the power and impact of color in branding and marketing. Just think of the famous brands that are represented, even defined, by a signature color: IBM -- Blue, of course. In fact, the company is known as "Big Blue" American ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/orange-the-new-color-of-money/ A couple of items in the past few days point to some hope for the US auto manufacturers. First, it looks like the Congress (along with President Bush...yes he still is president) has come up with a compromise bailout package that will throw at least a temporary lifeline to the Big ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/ray-of-hope-for-car-companies/ Of all the things that add up to John McCain's legacy from his failed run against Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, the two that probably have the most "legs" (literally and figuratively) are the pair of brands he helped to create: "The Hockey Mom Sarah Palin" and "Joe the ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/john-mccain-master-brand-builder/ If there is one thing we get asked all the time by clients, it's: "How do we get started in social media?" Very often, companies are not even sure why they should get involved in the social media revolution, but they still don't want the parade to pass them by. After ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/social-media-getting-started/ That would be the three major US auto manufacturers and their unbelievably lame attempts to convince the government to bail them out. This has truly been a PR failure of historic proportions. More on that in a moment. First, in my previous post, I talked about the pros and cons of a ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/one-of-historys-worst-pr-disasters/ In the grand economic scheme, that is the critical, urgent topic du jour. I am profoundly conflicted on this one. On the one hand, I agree with Michigan Senator Levin who, on "Meet the Press" this morning, said that more than 3 million American jobs are at risk if we don't do ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/american-car-companies-bailout-or-not/ First, congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama. Regardless of who you voted for, you had to be proud to see the new President-elect up there on the stage in Chicago last week with his incredible wife Michelle and the cutest two first kids ever, Sasha and Malia. What a great day for America, and for the world, ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/all-hail-the-marketer-in-chief/ As proud as I am about my chosen profession of marketing, I would not immediately say that it typically has a "higher purpose." A former client and now good friend once defined marketing like this: "It is the management practice that aims to sell more things to more people at a higher ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/does-marketing-have-a-higher-purpose/ Ad Age editor Jonah Bloom delivered some excellent remarks to the recent meeting of the Council of PR Firms (made up mainly of larger PR agencies). The theme of the Council's meeting was "The Most Dangerous Ideas About the Future of Public Relations." Mr. Bloom talked eloquently about how PR ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/dangerous-ideas-about-the-future-of-pr/ I would be willing to bet that the most common element found in corporate vision/mission statements and values lists is "customer focused." While that is a very good thing, I would argue that the priority focus of companies and brands should be employees -- internal audiences. First, let me admit that the ... http://www.ideadrivenmarketing.com/internal-branding-marketing-from-the-inside-out/