Daily Intent

Santa Barbara, CA
“The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management.” - Wikipedia

Robert TenEyck, Co-Founder of ideocore, taught us at Catalyst for Thought’s Meeting of the Minds series, in creating a brand the creator must dig deep into their core ideas, key insights, and phrases.

The creator must first articulate their objective.  What is your brand and what is it not.  You must be deliberate in what you say and what you don’t say.  What is your audience?  The core ideas should inform the customer.

You must take all your touch points with society via personal interaction, advertising, your website, Facebook, Twitter, etc… and derive a common ground of experience.   Pulling this information together then creating a path forward is called “strategy”.

A quick etymology lesson: Strategy comes from the Greek word “strategos” or “strategia” and was originally used to describe the “art of a general”.  Breaking these words down even further we discover the meanings of “agos “, leader, and “agein”, to lead.  One that strategizes is able to lead that which is “spread out”.

They use tactics.  “Tactic” stems from the Greek phrase “taktike techne” which means “art of arrangement”.  In the example of war, the tactics used were how the general aligned, or arranged, his soldiers.

What is your overall strategy?  What tactics are you using to build your brand?

Brand management coupled with advertising can lead to customers paying extra dollars for something that costs you very little to produce.  Or on a personal level, how much the company looking to hire you offers you.

Brand can be a great “value ad”.  The comparison of generics to advertised laundry softeners would be an example.  Safeway / Vons generic brand or Bounce?  Why do most buy Bounce?

“A great brand raises the bar — it adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience, whether it’s the challenge to do your best in sports and fitness, or the affirmation that the cup of coffee you’re drinking really matters.” - Howard Schultz, President and CEO of Starbucks

Then again, you may find “No-Brand Branding” is more your style - Not spending money on advertising and allow your success to spread by word-of-mouth.

For at the end of the day, it is about effectiveness.  What is your Return on Investment?
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Buzzword: Gray Knight
“A second, unsolicited bidder in a corporate takeover.  A gray knight enters the scene in order to take advantage of any problems between the first bidder and the target company.  Think of a gray knight as a circling vulture waiting to pick clean the leftovers.”  -Investopedia.com

  Six Points to Ponder:

   1. Markets Up. Stronger than expected retail sales numbers propel us forward - The Dow is trading up at 9626, S&P 500 at 1049 and the Nasdaq is up to 2092.  Oil is down slightly, $69/bbl.
   2. Bernanke Boasts.  Recession likely over.  Debates stir over whether the economic recovery is just getting started or if we’ll experience a detrimental relapse.
   3. Housing Help.   The government has funded over 30% of all loans this year through their FHA program.  Including Fannie and Freddie, they’ve backed 80% of all loans funded this year.
   4. Tire Tariff.  In efforts to protect American union workers during a struggling economy, Obama has placed a tariff on Chinese tire imports.
   5. EBay Hangs up on Skype.  A 65% stake of the company has been sold to an investment company for $2Bn in cash. 
   6. Sports Season.  Last second heroics broke open the pinnacle season of sports.  MLB, College Football, NFL.  The NBA is up next.  Upset US Open.  Nadal and Federer fall to the new kid in town, Del Potro.  Unseeded Clijsters makes history.

Positives:

    * The markets responded well today to the retail sales news being over a half a percent higher than expected, however the response was still cautious.  Much of the higher sales numbers was the result of the “cash for clunkers” program sponsored by the government.  Gas prices were higher as well which pushed up overall inflation.  The threat of contained inflation is a much better scenario than deflation.  The main point to these numbers are Americans over the last few months have gotten use to buying again, a far different mentality than last year’s paralysis.
    * If you are a believer in Bernanke and support the ideology of the worst being behind us, then his commentary today is a big boast in confidence and a great positive force to your actions moving forward.
    * The government’s actions to step in and help the housing sector has had dramatic effects in the short term.  Pulling out of subsidies is always the tricky part.   Their timing and action will be what to keep your attention towards.
    * Many college and NFL football games had outcomes determined in the last few seconds of the game.  USC, Green Bay, Denver, New England, and San Diego.  That said, my Seahawks dominated.  I hope you had them as your Fantasy Football defensive team.  Regarding tennis, I love to see a 20 year old take down both Nadal and Federer.  Baseball playoffs are nearing along with Laker basketball kicking off.  Great sports ahead!

Negatives:

    * Despite the economic news, I am quite cautious of it all.  The government’s support is going to be extremely tough to wean off of.  Until next spring, cash for clunkers long behind us, housing incentives dampened down, foreclosures beyond their peak and layoffs completed will I begin to believe we evaded a true relapse.  I may be late in the game at that point, but as I’m learning, it’s better to be cautious, follow basic economics and miss some positive percentages in the markets than be left out in the cold, let down.
    * Tariffs are very rarely a positive in the long run.  It appears to be a short sighted decision that will hurt the overall population to save a few.

Local:

West Beach Music Arts Festival
Where: West Beach
When: Friday - Sunday. September 18th - 20th.
Cost: $45 per day or $105 for all 3 days.
Why:  Ben Harper on the beach.

Live and Be Well,

Jeff Bochsler