An experiment in “un-branding” to promote community health Beg to Differ noticed this morning that Australia is planning to ban all logos and distinctive design elements from cigarette packaging. The point: to make them less attractive to smokers. The question: will it work? Generic packaging According to the UK Daily Mail, quoting the Australian newspaper: [...]

One of the Blog to Differ blogs we read every day, Brand New, has released its list of the best and worst brand re-designs for 2009.  And apart from quoting Beg to Differ’s Dennis Van Staalduinen (which obviously makes them brilliant and insightful),  it’s worth a look.  But before you do, read on for a few highlights. [...]

The first Beg to Differ Branding Field Trip. Last week, I blogged on Beg to Differ about the birth of my son. Thank you all for your best wishes and brilliant thoughts on this incredibly moving experience for my wife and other two kids. But on the silly side of my brain, the whole 3 days [...]

Kellogg’s pushes boundaries of food product branding File this under weird but compelling: The Telegraph in the UK is reporting that Kellogg’s will be testing new laser-etched Corn Flakes in selected markets. It’s very hard to tell how serious this is, and without a clear press release or better imagery, Beg to Differ wonders if [...]

At last week’s Beg to DIFFER Boot Camp, we discussed the history of the word “branding” – as in the ancient practice of marking a cow with a red hot iron. But if the idea of cattle-marking seems trivial and simplistic to you, that’s only because you’re not a cowboy. So listen up cowpoke: here’s the cow-dirt on branding: it’s [...]

A great post this morning on bladeronner.com (A Valuable Business Lesson from “The Princess Bride”) got me thinking: a) what a brilliant movie Princess Bride is; 2) how relevant the “Dread Pirate Roberts” idea is to branders; and 3) how many other lessons for us are hidden in this great film. Branding lesson 1:  Names matter.  Westley: No [...]