"Bond. James Bond."

What's in a name?

Well, basically, everything. Everything, that is, that has been promised or talked about or hinted at. How do you react when I say: Hillary Clinton. Or Hillary Duff. Or Sir Edmund Hillary.

How about Miles Davis? Miles Standish?

The point is that we all have an emotional reaction based on the experiences we have with a name. Or a brand, if you will. Our experiences are based on what we've seen or heard ourselves or on what others have told us, or what we've read or watched.

It's the same with companies and products and services. Each brand must deliver its promise by demonstrating their claim of distinction and then supporting it with the evidence of performance. That way, customers and prospects - whether it's a b2b relationship or a b2c relationship - get to experience the brand promise. Those brands and companies that deliver on their claim, every day, win every time. Those that don't? Well, let's just say the brand just doesn't have that special ring to it any longer. And sooner than later, those customers will go somewhere where they get what they are promised.

Martini, sir? Shaken or stirred?

I took the bumper sticker off today.

Told myself I’d wait until The Inauguration. ‘Till the dream became a reality. ‘Till the country came to its senses.

I left it on, well after the election, for a number of reasons: spite, pride, an ‘in-your-face’ reminder to those who gave up choice and freedom for fear and repression.

How’s that deregulation working for you?

Also, to make it clear - to those who noticed it - that the country is not just a bunch of selfish, old, white men or former beauty queens who name their children after turnpike exits.

We’re in trouble, there’s no doubt. But it’s time to deliver on our combined promise, not just what a few claim, but what the majority can accomplish.

Let’s get it rolling, America. Stop hiding. Start building. Start something positive. Volunteer. Give back. Pay forward. Invest in the future. Be unselfish. Share. Help someone who’s in need because they are in need, not because they look like you.

America. It’s quite a brand. Let’s demonstrate that we are capable of delivering on our promise to the world. That’s our claim of distinction.

January 20, 2009

Today, I am very proud of my country and its promise.

"I’ll have what she’s having."

That's the peer pressure of brands. They mark us like ashes on a forehead.

Brands say something about us. Tell the world who we are, what we like, where we live, what we believe, what we love. The type of friends we might have, the kind of car we might drive.

Brands represent dreams, realities, failures...in our lives, in our work, in our daily connections. Yes, we all connect with brands because of the promises they make to us and we disconnect with them, just as fast (maybe even faster) when they break their promises to us and don't deliver what they claim.

Read this list fast: Dell, Amazon, jetBlue, Apple, Harley Davidson, Lexus, Ritz Carlton, Disney, McDonald's. Each brand made a connection with you, even so briefly. And that connection was good. Because good brands deliver great results. It's the promise they keep.

So, as Rob Reiner's mom said: "I'll have what she's having"...because it sure looked like the promise was delivered. In spades.