Would you want this place on your Visa bill? Over the next weeks, Beg to Differ will be presenting some examples of brand names that are just bad – for a number of reasons. Today’s example is something we spotted over the weekend… The Hav-A-Nap Motel This bad brand – which, yes, also has a [...]

With an involuntary guest appearance from Chris Brogan (thanks Chris!) In Monday’s post, I  critiqued the term “Personal Branding” which generated a fairly lively discussion – including input from the patron saint of “Personal Brand Experts” Dan Schawbel. But it got me thinking about some basic terminology I use all the time – in particular the [...]

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 [...]

This morning’s Twitter outage, is only one of the many problems facing brand Twittter. Back in June, early in my Twitter career (yes, the Twitterverse is turning quickly my friends) I blogged about this – No Twitter Brand, what are YOU doing? But now that I’ve had time to think about this some more (thanks [...]

Check it out! Microsoft with an advertisement that I might actually WANT to watch?! Sounds crazy, no? Sure, it doesn’t have Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates (not sure what was going on there) but it is current, edgy, and even goes so far as to poke fun at the ‘Soft! Whether you’re a Microsoft junkie, [...]

First off, happy Canada Day to everyone!  And to Timmies, welcome back! There couldn’t be a more fitting time for such an iconic Canadian brand to return to its roots in the Great White North.  Sure, you’ve stated that your move back to Canada is for tax reasons alone, but I know the real reason, [...]