http://blog.marketingdoctor.tvQuick Blogcasthttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2012/02/11/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-jc-penney-and-cruising.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: J.C. Penney Loser: Cruise Industry WINNER:Folks, the branding gods giveth and they taketh away and sometimes they giveth back again. That’s what happened this week with J.C. Penney. Last week the department store chain was our loser for their “screamingly” awful commercials, but this week, they’re our winner for sticking with their spokesperson Ellen DeGeneres despite a firestorm of controversy. I’ve talked about the difference between public relations and what I call targeted relations a ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2012-02-12T00:30:13Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2012/02/08/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-romney-and-jc-penney.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Mitt Romney Loser: J.C. Penney WINNER:With his decisive win in Nevada, Mitt Romney continues to confirm his strength as the most viable candidate to challenge President Obama this fall, even Santorum's surge doesn't really change that. But “most viable” doesn’t mean a clear winner. The latest polls show Obama with a strong lead over Romney. That gap won’t change until Romney underscores that his differences matter to the electorate. He must confirm his brand and not ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2012-02-08T09:42:56Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2012/01/31/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-careerbuilder-and-starbucks.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: CareerBuilder Loser: Starbucks WINNER:Folks, public relations often suggests that it must be apologies all around when controversy comes to a company. But sometimes standing firm in the face of controversy is exactly what a brand needs to do.That's why CareerBuilder is our winner of the week. The company is getting heat from animal rights activists who say its use of monkeys in its upcoming Super Bowl ad is wrong (the image above is a screen shot from a similar ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2012-01-31T19:57:57Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2012/01/25/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-uncle-bens-and-superbowl-advertising.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Uncle Ben's Loser: Super Bowl Advertising WINNER:Folks, who says advertising and marketing can’t be good and do good at the same time? Of course, it can’t be phoney and whatever the campaign –if there’s going to be a public as well as a business benefit—has to be in step with the brand itself. That’s why Uncle Ben’s is our winner this week. Stuart Elliott, the advertising and marketing columnist at The New York Times, delivers a good synopsis of ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2012-01-25T10:01:30Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2012/01/09/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-childrens-healthcare-of-atlanta-and-kodak.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Loser: Kodak WINNER: Recently Children's Healthcare of Atlanta in Georgia has been getting alot of criticism for an ad campaign intended to fight childhood obesity.The campaign is called Strong4Life and features black-and-white photos of fat children with provocative taglines like: "It's hard to be a little girl if you're not" and "Why am I fat?"Predictably, the self-esteem brigade and childhood psychology experts have come out and said that this kind of approach will only ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2012-01-09T10:48:28Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2012/01/03/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winners-and-losers-of-2011.aspx?ref=rss2011 WINNERS: Amy Winehouse There is no question that on a personal level, for her family and her friends, Ms. Winehouse’s death was utter tragedy. But just as all of us exist on a personal level, we also exist on a brand level. We are brands that are perceived a certain way by others. Ms. Winehouse was an entertainment and artistic brand. Winehouse’s tragic story of self-destruction at a young age makes her a brand winner. Why? Simply put, Ms. Winehouse’s brand is that of a soulful, troubled, outsider of profound musical talent. She is a music ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2012-01-03T21:01:09Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/12/19/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-ford-and-rim-blackberry.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Ford Loser: RIM (Blackberry) WINNER: Folks, a few weeks ago our winner was General Motors. Now, it’s Ford. Once again a powerful principle has been vindicated: People buy brands not companies. Ford’s U.S. retail sales rose 20% in November. Part of the reason is that Ford predicted and was able to meet a big uptick in demand for fuel efficient cars. But another part of the picture is that Ford has become brand savvy. ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-12-19T10:43:54Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/12/13/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-alec-baldwin-and-penn-state.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Alec Baldwin Loser: Penn State WINNER: Folks, Alec Baldwin gets a lot of heat just for being Alec Baldwin. Someone else might have gotten angry on a plane or left an ugly message on a message machine and the world would have moved on… Of course, the world would never have heard of it. Alec Baldwin knows that the world is watching and the logic goes that Alec has a responsibility to be on his ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-12-13T20:27:27Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/12/06/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-amazon-kindle-fire-and-the-new-york-times.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Amazon Kindle Fire Loser: The New York Times WINNER: Folks, almost twenty-five years ago, Apple made a mistake that led them into the wilderness for almost fifteen years. The mistake was to maintain strict control over their product lines and reject licensing of their technology. The result was the rise of the PC and Microsoft as the vast majority of consumers –the ones who weren’t the earlier adopters— went for the lower price point. Software ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-12-06T10:48:58Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/11/29/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-tiger-woods-and-hyundai.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Tiger Woods Loser: Hyundai WINNER: Folks, there’s nothing more satisfying than being reminded of marketing’s power as a predictive tool. Tiger Woods is our winner this week. And his “winning” is more confirmation of a trend we have watched and been able to predict from his very dark days in 2008. The New York Times tells the story here. Here’s the scoop in a nutshell: Tiger’s back on the playing front and ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-11-29T20:24:52Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/11/22/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-katie-couric-and-facebook.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Katie Couric Loser: Facebook WINNER: Not too long ago I argued that Katie would never be the next Oprah and that she should stick to morning chat and steer clear of both afternoons and any serious news duties. Here’s that post. I still stand by many of my points in that piece, but, folks, here’s the thing with personality brands: the “person” in the personality makes all the difference. In an effort to re-introduce Katie Couric to ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-11-22T09:16:22Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/11/14/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-gm-and-rebrand-usa.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: GM Loser: (Re)Brand USA WINNER:Folks, General Motors is our winner this week. The company has continued to be a winner ever since the spring of 2008 and the Federal bailout –despite all predictions to the contrary. I don’t want to blow my own horn here and frankly I can’t because my correct call on GM all the way back to that point has been based on one simple and universal rule: people buy brands not companies. Investors ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-11-14T07:58:34Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/11/08/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-jj-and-fracking.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: J&J Loser: Fracking WINNER:Sometimes you can do everything right and still become the target of bad press. This is basically what has happened to Johnson & Johnson in the last few weeks regarding its legendary baby shampoo. Folks, the media loves nothing less than finding that particular story which is counter-intuitive. You know the story: vitamins are bad for you, seatbelts hazardous for your health, etc. That’s why when a health advocacy group decided to focus ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-11-08T20:50:45Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/11/01/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-jetblue-and-jon-corzine.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: JetBlue Loser: Jon Corzine WINNER:JetBlue might not seem like an obvious choice for a winner. After all, aren’t these the folks who left a planefull of passengers stranded for seven hours on the tarmac in Hartford, including several people with medical conditions? But in branding, it can be how you respond after things go wrong that matter and JetBlue responded well. More than any other airline, JetBlue’s challenge when it comes to the effect of tarmac strandings ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-11-01T20:50:37Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/10/25/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-paranormal-3-and-netflix.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Paranormal Activity 3 Loser: Netflix WINNER:The success of the third installment in the Paranormal Activity horror-movie franchise tells us a lot about how powerful branding can be. Remember the first movie? That one was made for a reported $15,000 and quickly grossed more than 100 million dollars worldwide. Now, Paranormal Activity 3 has come along and again dominated the box office. Why? One, unlike most studio movies that cost tens of millions of dollars to ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-10-25T20:25:32Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/10/18/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-dr-pepper-ten-and-oprah.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Dr. Pepper Ten Loser: Oprah WINNER:Chalk up Dr. Pepper Ten as a real marketing winner this week.Why?The beverage company, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, has identified its Target Market for Dr. Pepper Ten and is doing everything to let them know this product is for them. The Target Market? Men only.There's been a predictable outcry because of the perceived bias against women.But bottom line, in everything from the packaging (gunmetal grey and silver bullets) to its ad campaign, ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-10-18T11:32:17Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/10/10/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-steve-jobs-and-the-banks.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Steve Jobs Loser: The Banks WINNER:This past week we lost a great man, Steve Jobs. The response I have gotten from my post about him on Fox has been overwhelming and has made me think that more must still be said about just how this man became so beloved and so valuable to our world. Folks, I thought that I was going to have to tackle this through a lengthy post, but then in the course of a ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-10-10T20:48:23Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/10/01/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-andy-rooney-and-hp-the-outside-ceo-superstar.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Andy Rooney Loser: HP (and the cult of the outside CEO Superstar) WINNER:This Sunday, Andy Rooney finally signed off, leaving CBS’s 60 Minutes after 33 years. To endure in the ultra-competitive marketplace that is television is a genuine achievement, but to endure as Andy Rooney did from his intrepid World War II reportage through his career as a writer at the very beginning of television and into his ground-breaking news specials on civil rights… Well, that’s simply legendary and it ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-10-02T01:38:26Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/09/26/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-ubs-and-facebook.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: UBS Loser: Facebook WINNER:After so much government support and so much criticism, how could UBS have let it happen? I’m talking about the news that yet another “rogue” trader has “lost” billions for a major bank – $2.3 billion to be exact at UBS. But the fact is that with even the best controls in place, it will always be impossible for banks to completely prevent things like this. After all, trading is a risk-taking ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-09-26T11:04:25Zhttp://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2011/09/17/marketing-doctor-john-tantillos-winner-and-loser-of-the-week-google-zagat-and-the-92nd-street-y.aspx?ref=rssBrand Winner... And Loser... Marketing Doctor John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The WeekWinner: Google-Zagat Loser: The 92nd Street Y (a/k/a 92Y) WINNER:A little over a week ago, Google bought Zagat, probably one of the most esteemed restaurant review services around. What a move! Zagat is an essential tool for the serious restaurant goer, but in recent years the company has been fighting increasing competition and digital trends. Their iconic burgundy guidebook still sells robustly, but newer sites like Yelp and Open Table have been grabbing market share as consumers increasingly use ...doc@mdaltd.com (The Marketing Doctor)2011-09-18T02:31:45Z