Z-Files

FMI, the Food Industry Association, has published a survey that highlights the growing popularity and pervasiveness of private-label products—and may be cause for alarm for marketers of branded competitors.Ninety percent of consumers say…

Thanks to OZ’s Hannibal Brooks for sharing a commentary about how brands are shifting from “playful” to “serious.” In Design Week, Alec Mazzetti of Mother Design calls it a response to “fun fatigue.”  For the…

Love this article that recently ran on the Fast Company website about metaphor and Diet Coke.  A fast-spreading trend on TikTok is people describing Diet Coke as their “fridge cigarette” — a moment of renewal and…

The ad campaign represented above, for a Polish jazz radio station, is not new, but it is new to us and we find it fascinating.Each ad in the campaign shows…

As good marketing practitioners know, perception is everything. In an era where “attention” is the greatest currency, there must be a push to remember that it’s not just about if…

OZ’s Tim Bradley sends a LinkedIn post from Nagessh Pannaswami, former VP at BBDO India, which included the image above.  These are two ads for Fiji water. Which was the…

Here is an example of how we can be unconsciously influenced by literally anything.A recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research is titled, “Are ‘10-Grams of Protein’ Better Than…

Thank you to a recent LinkedIn post from marketing strategist Alex M H Smith and his excellent insight into brand strategy.Smith often posts about the strategic decisions that make brands successful. Recently…

Another example of why you can’t always take consumers at their word…Consumers in the US often say in surveys that they would pay more for an American made product. So,…

The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 reveals an interesting insight into human behavior and also holds a lesson about the perils of asking people to predict future behavior. (There is…

Master Lock has been something of a victim of its own success. Now it is trying something new.Since Prohibition, it has had its category locked down (sorry). But as its…

Photo: Anaheim Ducks Ad Age discusses the branding evolution of the Anaheim Ducks hockey team.Disney owned the Ducks for years, beginning with their founding in 1993. During that time the team logo…