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Monthly Archives: November 2011
Investment Management Marketing: A Sea of Sameness
Recently, we did some research into how investment managers brand themselves. Specifically, we wanted to identify the brand positioning and key messages of industry leaders. In compiling these core brand assets, we were struck by how generically and blandly investment More
Posted in Blog, Branding, Financial Services, Our Ideas
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Employing the Merger
About 10 years ago, a collective worry circled the corporate world: that mergers were getting out of hand. A Fast Company article from 2002 mentions that “in the first five weeks of 2000 . . . more than $500 billion More
Posted in Blog, Employee Engagement, Our Ideas, Restructuring
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DeSantis Breindel Partners with John Templeton Foundation to Improve Their Digital Presence
John Templeton Foundation and DeSantis Breindel teamed up to design a website that was truly a reflection of the Foundation’s vision and an online destination for people who support its mission. The site has been recognized for excellence in design, innovation, usability, content and interactivity. More
Posted in News and Events
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It’s Time to Dive In: B2B Marketing and Social Media
It’s no secret that B2B marketers have been slow to incorporate social media into marketing programs. It’s almost as if we are wading into an ice-cold pond, inch by inch. Right now, we are up to our waists: we know More
Posted in B2B Marketing, Blog, Our Ideas, Social Media
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Financial Services, Meet Social Media
Social media is helping many B2B brands connect with customers. According to a recent post in the Harvard Business Review, the three primary benefits of using social media are: increased awareness of the company, increased traffic, and more favorable perceptions More
Posted in Blog, Financial Services, Our Ideas, Social Media
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Marketing Strategy
A revolution is brewing in the world of B2B marketing. Lack of differentiation, fragmented media, complex regulation and brutal competition has turned decision making into a complex matrix for corporate buyers of enterprise products and services. Those who deliver a More
Posted in Case Studies, Marketing Strategy
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Redesigning a Museum of Design
If you were in the mood to look at some Monet and maybe a little Picasso, you would head over to the Museum of Modern Art. If your kids were at the height of their dinosaur obsession, you’d naturally take More
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Corporate breakups are the new black. And Wall Street is buzzing as company after company looks to spin-off to create greater value for shareholders, despite the weak economy. With all the commotion, it can be easy to forget that breaking More
Posted in Blog, Branding, Our Ideas, Restructuring
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Everyone’s Doing It: How Can Your Content Marketing Stand Out?
Recently, we examined the increasingly important role that content is playing in B2B marketing that we published in a whitepaper. The proliferation of content is especially apparent in professional services, where eight of the top ten accounting firms have content-driven More
Posted in B2B Marketing, Blog, Content Marketing, Our Ideas, Professional Services
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Integrated Marketing is No Longer Enough: Why B2B Brands Need to be Synchronized
In today’s connected marketing environment, where the conversation never ends and every message can link across platforms, the static Integrated Marketing model that has guided marketers for nearly 20 years needs to be upgraded to a less linear approach. Smart business marketers with high stakes riding on the success of their singular brand message reaching customers at all touch points ought to synchronize, not integrate, their marketing plans. More
Posted in B2B Marketing, Branding, Our Ideas, Our Ideas Featured Whitepapers, Social Media, Whitepapers
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B2B Marketing: Why Content is the New Creative
A revolution is brewing in the world of B2B marketing. Lack of differentiation, fragmented media, complex regulation and brutal competition has turned decision making into a Rubik’s Cube for corporate buyers of enterprise products and services. This whitepaper examines how smart marketers are leveraging content to break through the clutter and make meaningful connections with customers and prospect. More
Posted in B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Front Page Feature, Our Ideas, Whitepapers
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The Halo Effect: Balancing Authenticity and Reputation in Corporate Social Responsibility
Achieving the right relationship between a company’s brand and its philanthropic or volunteer efforts is a delicate balancing act. But it’s well worth the effort. This whitepaper identifies four overarching principles that can guide a company in aligning corporate social responsibility activities with the corporate brand for authenticity and impact. More
Posted in Branding, Corporate Social Responsibility, Front Page Feature, Our Ideas, Whitepapers
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From One of Many to One in a Million: Creating a Differentiated Professional Services Brand
Me-too brands just don’t cut it anymore in the professional services arena. This whitepaper examines best practices for creating a distinctive and compelling brand position in professional services. More
Posted in Branding, Our Ideas, Professional Services, Whitepapers
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Investor Communications and Your Corporate Brand: To Align or Not to Align?
In today’s complex and even hostile investor environment, a company can no longer rely on performance and strategy alone to connect with investors. Companies with an engaging investor relations brand have the advantage of delivering focused, consistent messages that lead to more powerful connections with investors. More
Posted in Investor Communications, Our Ideas, Restructuring, Whitepapers
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Do All Investment Managers Tell the Same Story? How Brand Differentiation Drives Growth
Finding a unique brand position in a field as crowded and competitive as asset management isn’t easy. It’s tempting to fall back on safe ideas and tired claims. But in today’s financial climate, there’s nothing “safe” about an undifferentiated brand. This whitepaper examines best practices for creating a distinctive and compelling brand position in asset management. More
Posted in Financial Services, Our Ideas, Whitepapers
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Brand Behavior: Does Your Company Walk the Walk?
Picture this. You’re sitting at your desk flipping through a small stack of mail. Most of it is publications, but there are a few direct mail letters, and one is from a bank. You recognize the name: they’ve just bought More
Posted in Blog, Branding, Entering a New Market, Financial Services, Our Ideas, Restructuring
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Branding Employee Volunteerism: Building Culture and Community
When it comes to maximizing the impact of corporate volunteer programs, a well thought-out branding and communications strategy can be your most powerful tool. This whitepaper shares seven principles for leveraging communications to enhance the long-term success and impact of your employee volunteer program. More
Posted in Branding, Corporate Social Responsibility, Employee Engagement, Our Ideas, Whitepapers
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Communicating the Vision (Before it’s too Late)
The recent, and arguably hasty, announcement of Meg Whitman taking the reins as HP’s new CEO, ignited a firestorm in the press with everyone weighing in on Whitman’s ability to succeed in turning the ailing technology company around. So much More
Posted in Blog, Branding, Employee Engagement, Investor Communications, Our Ideas, Restructuring
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Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid!
The recent market turmoil forced many organizations, including one of our clients, an established association serving the banking industry, to reexamine their brands. The weak economy had hit our client’s members — banks of all sizes — particularly hard, and More
Getting Washington’s Attention
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about AT&T’s D.C. advertising campaign aimed at convincing regulators and lawmakers of the merits of the proposed T-Mobile USA takeover. The ads focus on how merging the two companies will result in More
Posted in Blog, Branding, Our Ideas, Restructuring
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Why Does a Biotech Company With No Products on the Market Need a Corporate Brand?
Just check the last ten drugs approved by the FDA: most are the result of partnerships between small biotech companies and much larger pharmaceutical companies. The Wall Street Journal recently covered the partnership between Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and a small More
Posted in Blog, Life Science, Our Ideas
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The Bilingual Technology Brand: Appealing to a Contrasting Customer Base
Technology companies face a unique branding dichotomy: their complex product or service must “speak” to both the technical buyer (often the CTO) and the financial buyer (typically the CFO). One of our clients, a materials discovery firm with a revolutionary More
Posted in Blog, Branding, Our Ideas, Technology
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Can CSR Impact Employees’ Perceptions About Their Workplace?
For most companies, and particularly those in the B2B space, employees represent the most powerful brand communications channel. To be true brand ambassadors, employees must feel a sense of shared purpose, a fundamental connection to the company’s mission, vision and values, More
Posted in Blog, Corporate Social Responsibility, Employee Engagement, Our Ideas
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B2B Tech Brands: Social Media Best Practices
Corporate social media is currently in an awkward stage right now. As a study recently published by eMarketer points out, while executives may realize the importance of a social media marketing strategy, they are hesitant to “start implementing a plan.” More
Posted in B2B Marketing, Blog, Our Ideas, Social Media, Technology
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Is it Time for Pharma to Focus on Corporate Branding?
The pharma industry is at a decisive inflection point. The New York Times reported in March that drug firms are likely to face billions of dollars in losses due to the pending expiration of numerous patents. Furthermore, the legitimacy of More
Posted in Blog, Branding, Life Science, Our Ideas
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Investor Videos: Success Tips from a Producer
Xan Parker, head of DeSantis Breindel’s film department, is an award-winning documentary film producer who has produced a number of investor videos. Here, she shares a few high-level tips for creating successful investor videos. More
Posted in Blog, Investor Communications, Our Ideas, Restructuring, Video
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Beyond Colors and Fonts: Developing and Launching a Successful Literature System
As a company grows, its communication needs become more intricate. There’s the sales team, which needs a variety of sell sheets, updatable on the fly yet coordinated and professional looking. Human Resources plans to develop a recruitment packet for college More
Posted in B2B Marketing, Blog, Design, Entering a New Market, Our Ideas, Restructuring
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It’s Official: B2B Websites Thrive on Content… Now What?
As we examined in our recent whitepaper, content is becoming the lifeline B2B marketers need to break through the clutter and make meaningful connections in an increasingly complex environment. And for many companies, their website is the main platform for More
Posted in B2B Marketing, Blog, Interactive, Our Ideas
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GM’s Design Future
Fast Company’s September issue, “United States of Design,” spotlighted the critical role that design plays in any company’s key business decisions. One particularly interesting article profiled General Motor’s Mary Barra, a leader of product development trying to redesign the struggling More
