Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Videos About Advertise Blog Network Contact
   

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

Featured Ebook


ebook Famous Entrepreneurs - Modern Empire Builders


Featured Ebook

More Evan Carmichael
Have A Suggestion?

Sales Lessons From Starbucks And Dell

Martha Stewarts brand research



Martha Stewarts brand research
   

The release of Martha Stewart from the United States federal prison system prompted a number of news reports about how her experience will affect Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia [MSO].

Here’s how Ms. Stewart’s experience will affect her company. Although certainly not how she would have preferred it, by serving her time in a federal prison Martha Stewart was tendered a gift — a five-month gift of intense market research — learning how a broad cross section of women lived, and hope to live, their lives.

This research will lead to a repositioning of the Martha Stewart brand — one driven to further build the brand through emotional connections with the market. As reported by the Associated Press in the New York Times:

With barely a break since she was released from a federal women’s prison…on Friday, a beaming [Martha] Stewart told several hundred employees Monday that she’s learned a lot about the country through the cross section of people she met in prison. That’s made her realize that the company she founded…focused too much on the technical aspects of entertaining or cooking in its editorial content, and not enough on why people need to take care of each other.

Noting a growing need to “preserve meaningful traditions” in a rapidly changing world, Stewart pledged…the company is going to deepen its bond “with the millions who read our publications and watch our television programs. And we’re going to engage and inspire new readers and new viewers for whom these topics may have seemed alien, unfamiliar or even — believe it or not — superficial.”

…Where Martha Stewart Living once focused on functional benefits in its editorial, it is now becoming more aware of the “emotional power of the brand.”

For her company this is powerful brand strategy. The emotional power of a brand is unlocked by identifying how a consumer feels and acts when using or affiliating with a brand, and WHY she feels and acts in that way. These emotional benefits, when connected up with the brand’s key point of difference, lie at the heart of any great brand strategy. This connection elevates a brand to one of contemporary relevance, and separates a brand from those of competitors.

While Martha Stewart cannot rewind the events of the recent past and start over, she can begin anew. With five months of introspection and the equivalent of intense market research into human thoughts and feelings, the company will benefit from Ms. Stewart’s heightened self-awareness of the emotional drivers behind the businesses of MSO.

For Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and for Martha Stewart, it’s a good thing.

Martha Stewarts brand research - To learn more about this author, visit Steve Cranford's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends
[Get Copyright Permissions] E-Mail | Print | More  


Related Articles Related Articles
Martha Stewarts brand research
  The release of Martha Stewart from the United States federal prison system prompted a number of news reports about how her experience will affect Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia [MSO].
Martha Stewart Quotes
  Martha Stewart Quotes
Living the Good Life: Stewart Creates an Empire
  “All the things I love is what my business is all about,” says Stewart. After the success of Entertaining, she continued to pursue her passions through different avenues. Stewart branched out into videotapes, dinner...
Find Your Unique Selling Proposition USP
  Savvy brand managers spend a lot of time delineating differences: different product benefits, different look, different message, and different target audience. What they are creating is a distinct brand strategy exp...
Simply Success: How a Down to Earth Cook Rose to the Top
  Proudly on display in the front of Rachael Ray’s home is a sign that reads: “Martha Stewart doesn’t live here.” She may not be Martha Stewart, but Ray has found her own equally successful style of cooking and presen...

Related Forum Posts Related Forum Posts
Trump and Stewart Trump and Stewart
The Martha Rules The Martha Rules
Best Business Books Contest Winner Best Business Books Contest Winner
Contest: Tell us your 3 Favorite Business Books! Contest: Tell us your 3 Favorite Business Books!
Before you spend all your money on a prototype Before you spend all your money on a prototype
...or a Skoda ...or a Skoda
Re: Due Diligence, Market Research.. Ahead of the curve. Re: Due Diligence, Market Research.. Ahead of the curve.
Same Name, Different Class Same Name, Different Class

 
About the Author


Steve Cranford
(Visit Steve's Website)
Whisper is founded on one big idea: "The key to any effective marketing, branding or advertising effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation." To own the conversation in your industry, we provide your organization with a crystal clear understanding of consumer relationships, high-end strategic advice and workable solutions to build and fully leverage your brand.
Have A Suggestion?

View Author's Blog
Become An Author

View Author's Video
Become An Author

Free Downloads


Steve Cranford's

Complete
List Of
Branding
Articles

First Name
Last Name
Email
 
If you enjoyed this article, get Steve Cranford's Complete List of Branding Articles For FREE!

More Steve Cranford
Just waitll we get our brand on you
The Sendo brand sendoff
Serial cereal branding
Branding for Nation Export Competitiveness
Brand differentiation by design
Wal Marts brand positioning
Destination branding in place St Louis
Sub prime corporate branding new is not new
Ikeas brand reputation
The brand audit university branding in China
Become An Author