Elon Musk’s brand is an implausible future — and it’s cheaper than advertising

Elon Musk’s brand is an implausible future — and it’s cheaper than advertising

Tesla announced a humanoid household robot Thursday, with a prototype due out next year. It made headlines even though there was nothing to see but an actor in a suit. Elon Musk was just musing out loud with slides and silly props. This is not new. Most of what Musk announces has no dependable release…

Voltswagen? How the April fools at VW failed at pranking.

Voltswagen? How the April fools at VW failed at pranking.

Volkswagen posted, then withdrew, a press release about renaming the company as “Voltswagen” to reflect a commitment to electric cars. Apparently it was an April Fools joke — and very poorly executed at that. Here’s the timeline of how it went down: Monday, 29 March: Press release about the rebranding “accidentally” posted on VW Website,…

If you can’t sell right now, you may as well be generous

If you can’t sell right now, you may as well be generous

Coronavirus has frozen your business in place. Nobody’s buying. Nobody’s even able to buy. What should you do? Be generous. Give stuff away to your customers. It’s simple. The only real asset you still have is customer relationships. You also have workers — unless you’ve let them go — and those workers are used to…

The (only) three corporate messages that make sense right now

The (only) three corporate messages that make sense right now

My inbox is full of irrelevant messaging. There are the messages from everyone from my eye doctor to the bike shop about COVID-19. And then there are marketing pitches that were clearly created months ago and are totally irrelevant now. There’s only one thing on people’s minds: surviving the pandemic. If that’s all people are…

Beware marketing thought leaders bearing fashionable truths

Beware marketing thought leaders bearing fashionable truths

I just came back from a conference full of marketers. Marketing conferences challenge the mind — but not necessarily in the way that they should. There are the talks that are intended to inspire. They are about being true to yourself and your brand, or the power of outstanding customer experience to inspire people. They…