Author Archive

Building Brands: What Really Matters

Thursday, September 1st, 2022

Learn how to effectively build brands from a retired P&G branding expert.

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Place Branding = Place Making + Place Marketing

Monday, August 30th, 2021

Ever wonder why most place branding efforts fail? The short answer is because they focus exclusively on Place Marketing and ignore the critical role of Place Making. For communities with competitive disadvantages, this is a sure fire recipe for disaster.  As one of my former Board members once said – “It’s analogous to putting lipstick […]

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Correlation and Causation Explained

Thursday, March 18th, 2021

How many times have you been asked to be data driven in your decision making?  Often this leads to the collection of a lot of data through market research or observational studies with the hope a pattern will emerge to explain what is happening. In my experience, one of the favorite analytical approaches used by […]

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Brand Building During COVID-19

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021

How to think about branding in a pandemic.

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COVID-19 IMPACT ON THE AMERICAN DREAM

Saturday, November 21st, 2020

Recently, Dr. Philip Kotler (widely acknowledged as the father of modern marketing) authored a blog post entitled “What is the American Dream? Do we need a new one with Covid-19?”.  In the post, Dr. Kotler referenced some of my work with Xavier University on the quantification of the American Dream.  He also raised some important […]

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The Real Definition Of Place Branding

Thursday, October 15th, 2020

  I thought I’d share this article authored by Simon Anholt who is generally recognized globally as an expert in Nation Branding. The article was published by the City/Nation/Place website. I am sharing because I believe Simon has missed the point of what place branding actually is.  This is a point of difference I have […]

Can We Achieve The American Dream In a COVID-19 World?

Saturday, August 1st, 2020

The Hill decided to address this question in their article “Can we keep the American Dream alive during COVID-19?”. It is an opinion article, and like most opinions needs to be read with a cautious eye. The basic conclusion of the article is “Every American deserves the chance and opportunity to experience the American Dream, […]

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Better Enabling The American Dream

Monday, July 27th, 2020

The American Enterprise Institute has published a report titled “The American Dream in 2020: How to Strengthen It”. It is definitely a good read. The report focuses on ways to leverage public policy to create increased economic opportunity. It shares a wide range of ideas, but focuses on local level policies and community initiatives. In […]

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What Students Say About the American Dream

Sunday, July 19th, 2020

I was doing some online research into the American Dream to better understand how different demographics perceive it. I have done a reasonable amount of studying the Dream, but find it is always good to proactively seek diverse thoughts on the subject. My passion for continuing to learn about the American Dream stems from my […]

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Searching For The American Dream in a COVID-19 World

Monday, July 13th, 2020

My sister recently forwarded me an NPR article written by Claire Harbage titled “Searching For The American Dream On Paradise Road”. It was an article about the work of photographer Eliot Dudik. The article has some great pictures if you enjoy photography. But, I want to focus on Claire’s interpretation of the American Dream. Try […]

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