Category: branding

Brand. Coolest brand.

james-bond.jpgUK’s The Independent has released a list of the coolest brands in the UK (thanks, Mashable, for the heads up), and the winner is …

Really, now. Should anyone be surprised that the Ashton Martin is the coolest brand in the UK? I mean, it’s the car James Bond made famous.

Several tech brands are in the top 10, though, including the usual suspects (iPod, Google, YouTube and Apple). But what, precisely, makes a brand cool? According to Stephen Cheliotis, chair of the CoolBrands Council, which picked tht top brands with the help of online voters, it’s a split between technology and luxury, the practical and the aspirational.

On the one hand, things can become cool by virtue of their necessity or prevalence in your life, like Google, or Amazon. On the other, the things you really want, but may know you’ll never get – like a Rolex or a Ferrari – are considered just as cool. There seems to be a real divergence between aspiration and practicality but both are deemed cool – which goes to show how the needs and desires of consumers are developing.

So, where do higher ed brands rank? None were in the top 20. Not even Oxford.

Conference envy

Later this month I’ll be heading to Chicago for Ragan Communications’ conference on Corporate Communications and the Social Media Revolution. (It’s billed as “the can’t-miss social media summit,” so how could I skip out?) I’ll also attend the free un-conference that’s happening the day before. So I shouldn’t be experiencing conference envy. But then I read about a couple of others that turn me green.

First, there’s TechCrunch40 and its powerhouse keynoters: Marc Andreessen, David Filo, Mark Zuckerberg — names synonymous with innovation. And it’s in San Francisco in a couple of weeks.

Then, also in San Francisco, starting today is the Office 2.0 Conference, which, according to the CNET preview, “will push the Web 2.0 concept for business as far as it can go.” I love to learn about the latest software to make managing products and processes easier. The problem is, I’ve yet to find one that has really made life any easier for me or my team. But, who knows? Maybe this is the year Office 2.0 offers up a gem, and I’d love to be in San Francisco to hear about it firsthand. Guess not.

Also this month is CASE’s Annual Conference for Senior Communications and Marketing Professionals. I co-chaired last year’s event in Philly. And where might this year’s conference be? San Fran, once again.

OK, maybe I don’t have conference envy so much as a desire to visit San Francisco. If any readers are going to any of these, send me a postcard. I’ll do the same from Chicago.