Martha Stewart is 64 today and has just been told she has to serve 3 more weeks house confinement due to a breach of her conditions (she went to an outside yoga class!) This has not stopped her however in re-building her brand – including the launch of two new TV shows – The Apprentice and also a daytime show Martha. For the 2nd show she is trying to find… Read More »Are You Martha Stewart? or Stuart?
Apparently – Culture! This was a play on a joke recently told on a New York radio station when comparing Toronto. But a survey released this week called the Anholt-GMI Nation Brands Index placed Canada in second spot behind Australia in terms of brand power – but only ranked 18th in terms of culture and heritage – something the surveys owner says is not unusual for Western nations. See the… Read More »Whats The Difference Between Canada and Yogurt?
In my latest newsletter I wrote about Lance Armstrongs Seven Personal Branding Tips , which prompted one of my biggest newsletter responses – both positive and negative! It was interesting to see that for every 5 positive comments there was one negative slight as to his 'clean image' or questioning his true ability based on the fact that he works with in a team environment versus the individual achievements of… Read More »Lance Armstrong – Is His Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
Amazing is all I can really say – Lance Armstrong rode in to Paris yesterday to claim his 7th consecutive Tour De France – I loved watching this over the last 3 weeks – a truly incredible sporting achievement and a great example of personal determination and focus as well as excellent team dynamics and ability. Loved it!
It would appear to P.Diddy that nothing is in a name – except change! According to reports this week P. Diddy (a.k.a. – Sean Combs, Puff Daddy and Puffy) is changing his name again because he is bored and wants a name to fit his new persona and style of music – which is now going to be rock and roll! Take his example and compare that to Madonna- who… Read More »Whats in a Name – 2 ?
It was interesting to see that the recent recommendation for the Supreme court in the US by President Bush was a John Roberts – which also happens to be the name of one of the White House correspondents who in his early career was a music reporter on City TV in Toronto! This might present some confusion for a time, whilst the appointment is hotly debated and may cause some… Read More »What’s in a name?
How soon in to a new job are you able to assess what you have gotten in to and then be confident in making some key decisions? If you are the new CEO of Hewlet Packard the answer is around 90 days – after 3 months on the job Mark Hurd has announced this morning 14,500 global job cuts at HP – about 10% of the workforce. The tech fallout… Read More »The First 90 Days
I heard on the radio today that a group of people are petitioning for the Nobel Prize to be awarded to Oprah quite possibly a very worthwhile recipient. I use Oprah as a great example of such a positive personal brand – everything that she does is 'on brand' for her – she exemplifies all the positive attributes that personify her personal brand. When you do what you do each… Read More »How Strong is Your Personal Brand?
Initially I was astounded and disappointed to see that Toronto had failed to secure the venue for the 2nd July Live 8 concert – if Canada needed to make a global impression and show we are on board with this initiative surely one the worlds most culturally diverse would have been the perfect backdrop – Barrie was not it. Then I saw all the complaining, whining, moaning about location, line… Read More »Branding A City
I just received in the mail an updated statement from my chiropractor, we typically just pay a lump sum every few months that covers a few visits and when that runs out we top up again. We must have missed a few because we now owe for the last couple of months of family visits – which is fine. But my wife noticed that she had been charged for her… Read More »Ouch! – That Hurt