Stanley Moss Articles

Youth Brands 2004 - Click To Read Article
A year ago I spoke to The Medinge Group about American luxury brands. They were suffering. Now they have recovered. Customization now the norm, migrating downmarket (Vans). Latest news: brand extensions.

What the Gurus Said - Click To Read Article
A Report from the Medinge Group Meeting in Amsterdam, January 15-17, 2004

WHERE DO I HANG MY HAT - Click To Read Article
There comes a terrifying point in the life of every company, when the necessity arises to craft a defintive brand statement. This involves visiting a kingdom of much mystery and misinformation, filled with mistaken ideas, outdated wisdom, presumption, principles vaguely understood. Most companies simply believe they’ve got to have a brand because everybody else has one, though what they stand for -or are prepared to succinctly promise- they cannot precisely say. Too often companies are forced to reconsider the brand promise only following bad news, such as after a hostile takeover, acquisition/merger, negative publicity or a disastrous quarterly report. The most advantageous moments to consider the essential brand promise are in actuality at start-up, launch, rebranding or repositioning.

Trekking in Andalucia - Click To Read Article
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw a burnt-out case. I saw a man consumed by a demanding year of business, family and an unrelenting schedule which had visibly taken its toll. I was worn down, worn out, and in need of spiritual renewal.

THE BRAND AS JIHAD - Click To Read Article
Some mornings she would wake up positively dying for a ciggie, and she would think she didn’t have any, and she’d walk angrily through the house only to find that, yes, Douglas had hidden a pack away somewhere just for this emergency. He had seen enough times her mood swing into darkness when she learned there was not a Kent for her to smoke anywhere in the house. Cigarettes, Douglas had quickly discovered, were a reliable pacifier, that major catastrophe could be averted if he made certain there was always a smoke to be had. He also quickly learned that her first two hours of the day were delicate, barometric and tentative, and that she reacted badly to any intrusions in her routine. He took to setting her a place at the table each morning, having the kettle hot, and a cup and spoon and the instant coffee out and ready for her.

Rethinking the G Word - Click To Read Article
The next time someone is tempted with the brilliant idea to employ the word -or prefix- “global” in your brand messaging, tread softly. It’s currently a term so laden with history and controversy that it has similar properties to nitroglycerine: a useful tool for moving great masses at the appropriate distance, or alternately, something that if mishandled could easily blow up in your face. When a mainstream national magazine like Newsweek publishes a five-page article entitled “Globaloney”1 replete with color photos and informative charts, it’s time to re-evaluate where the terminology is headed, especially with regard to branding. Global brand strategies are one thing, but calling them that is another.

Out of the Darkness - Click To Read Article
Students of typographic design are forced to initially consider the technical issues of optical engineering for the visual universe. Yet they rarely focus on the ideological underpinnings and conundrums. The student of typography often views their subject as a series of rigid constraints, principles of scale and proportion and mechanical possibilities, fair game for manipulation. Rarely is typography viewed as part of an organic process of evolution, a working construct of ephemeral existence in a greater time continuum. As fonts evolve they carry forward echoes of the history that created them and the myths they bear. One cannot easily place a monetary value on myth, though some will try.

On Piracy Victory and the Just Shaping of Letters - Click To Read Article
What is it that both Albrecht Durer and Nike understand about the rudiments of branding? In the late Renaissance, Durer’s iconic AD monogram became an emblem of high accomplishment, a symbol of quality applied to the remarkable drypoints made by his studio, and hence, synonymizing value to an educated European intelligentsia. Around 1505, Durer was even forced to denounce the Venetian artist Raimondi, who had copied Durer’s works and signed them with the famous mark. This is one of the first trials defending the rights of an author and the protection of what is today called intellectual property.

Luxury in 2007 - Click To Read Article
In this short article, Stanley Moss tracks the evolution of luxury brands, and how they relate to current market conditions.

Demythologizing the McElroy Memo - Click To Read Article
In the canon of English-language writings on brands and brand management, few documents possess the stature of the legendary McElroy Memorandum known as "Brand Man". In this article, Stanley Moss offers an analysis of McElroy's narrow focus, how brands have grown up around the memo, and how marketing is now simply a fractional part of branding.

Coffee Bars in India - Click To Read Article
A survey of India\'s booming coffee bar businesses, and what prevents the Starbucks brand from opening there.

American Luxury Brand Case Studies - Click To Read Article
Criteria: must have no associations with brands outside the US

August 2006 Interview with Russian Business Magazine - Click To Read Article
In this interview with a Russian business magazine, Stanley Moss talks about nation branding, how the USA brands itself, the role of the arts in effective branding, and the single concept by which Russian business can broaden its influence in world markets.

2005 Global Brand Letter - Click To Read Article
Update on last year’s three hot topics.

4 MEDITATIONS ON BRAND - Click To Read Article
People continually ask me how to energize their own brand-building, and I hear many of the same misunderstandings resurface. The four directives below may help to clarify what appear to be this season’s most mysterious issues of branding.

2006 Global Brand Trends letter - Click To Read Article
A yearly letter Stanley Moss authors discussing last year\'s topics and looking ahead to critical areas of brand discussion for the coming year.

2007 Global Brand Trends letter - Click To Read Article
A yearly letter Stanley Moss authors discussing last year's hot topics, and looking ahead to the next year in the brand discipline. This year Stanley looks into nation branding and "Borat", Mediology, Personal Branding, and branded conflicts. A must-read for practitioners and students.

2008 Global Brand Trends letter - Click To Read Article
A yearly letter authored by Stanley Moss, reviewing the state of international branding. This year's letter addresses sustainability, CSR, place branding, social networking, the cult of celebrity, the luxury category, measurement. The letter concludes with different points of view on the question "What is a brand?"

2009 Global Brand Trends letter - Click To Read Article
In 2009’s letter, brand guru Stanley Moss muses about the state of branding during an economic crisis, accountability and outcome, the study of failure and obsolescence, green branding, the luxury category, brands in the BRIC nations and quiet brands. There’s a brief section on new terminology. The letter ends with new thoughts in answer to the question, “What is a brand?”


Like this article? Share it with your friends

---

	excellent Commented on summary.
	Leave Your Feedback

---

To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.