Smokeless in CVS, retailer loses $2B to gain healthier brand
Last week CVS/pharmacy stores announced they will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products by October 1.
Congratulations! Hopefully this will start a national trend with other brands who preach wellness and healthy choices, it's time to walk the talk.
Ending tobacco sales "is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health," Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Caremark, said in a statement.
The company also announced that it plans to launch a national smoking cessation program in the spring.
First-time customers – what’s your plan?
Great brands connect to customers in emotional ways. They surprise them, delight them and make them feel special.
This past week I took my mother to her first Tampa Bay Lightning game. I go often, and as always the experience was blast. The Lightning hospitality team is world-class. I’ve blogged about them before. Every staffer treats you like you are the most important customer.
As my mom and I were headed to our seats, we asked the usher for assistance. I mentioned to him this was my mom’s first time to a Tampa Bay Lightning game.
Acting like we were the most important fans in the house, he introduced himself as Tom. We small talked with him for a few minutes. He told us how much he loved his job and that he had worked for the Lightning for ten seasons.
Beliefs, values and your brand.
Over the past few months, I’ve been giving my brand, Karen Post, The Branding Diva® some deep pondering and exploration time. Thinking through where I’ve been and where I want to go. Most importantly, what do I need to do to further separate myself from other speakers, consultants and writers whose expertise is branding or marketing too. The photo posted here will give you a sneak preview of what I’m doing. I’ll be showing you more in the coming blogs.
Brands are a work in progress (W.I.P). They evolve and the best ones continue to improve their distinction, story telling, and they freshen up their communications to reflect their essence, standout and stay relevant.
Leverage your brand-logo mark, 7 ways to make it stick.
The past few weeks you have likely seen the CEO of Target trying to manage the aftermath of the massive credit card hacking scandal. Not a fun situation for any brand leader. One recent interview on CNBC caught my eye. While Gregg Steinhafel was assuring customers that the company was taking the right steps to deal with the mess, a beautiful logo-patterned, red Target vase was perched on the stage behind him.
Was his intention to communicate, yes this is bad, but you can still expect great design and a style edge that the big blue retailer just can't do?
Using logo marks well in non traditional touch points is a great opportunity for any brand.
I read an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal about the return of wearing branded apparel. The story was titled, “The Return of the Fashion Logo”. Full story click here.
Have you called yourself lately? Your voice greeting sucks!
All right, maybe not everyone who reads my blog or gets my ezine is guilty of this brand-busting sin but a bunch of you are.
Your voice mail message, on your office phone or cell phone, is an important brand touch point. And it cost nothing more to sound impressive. This is free branding. Often those messages are the first impressions you give to a prospective client, a business colleague, a strategic partner, or a new friend.
So don't even think about using the non personalized recording that comes with your phone. That's LAME with a capital 'L".
So, is your message giving the best first impression?
Give yourself a call. If your message is not on brand, re-record it using these tips
Fine print you won’t believe & a $3500 fine
Tiny, fine print has a bad name and in most cases it should. When a company or brand communicates something important, pertaining to policy, it should be transparent and upfront.
Instead, many companies hide important details in very small print knowing that 98% of people won’t ever read it. This is no better than whispering, “your pants are on fire” to a deaf person. It’s just not cool.
Here’s the story. Three years ago, a Utah couple had a bad experience with an online retailer called Kleargear.com. After the transaction, they posted a negative review on a consumer-venting site called ripoffreport.com. They cited that the purchased item was never shipped and after numerous attempts, could not even get a customer service person to help them.