[Photo: courtesy of Flavia Bocco]

In her article “Branding & Negative Associations: Burberry,” Guest writer Jennifer Tobias discusses how Burberry’s cheapening image is a cause of concern to a company that has just managed to claw its way back to the top of the luxury market after decades of decline.  Read the full article in the Papers&Articles section of our site.

[Photo: courtesy of Kathryn Taussig]

FORMA Cultural Branding is making an appearance in San Francisco.  Maybe we’ll stop and see a few friends in the business, maybe we’ll do some wine-tasting (I mean, research!) around Napa Valley, and maybe we’ll be checking out what’s new in branding, technology and design on the west coast.

If you’re in the area send us an email/facebook message/smoke signal, and we’ll arrange to meet up for a coffee/tea/acai berry smoothie and have a chat!

[Photo: courtesy of Julian Bedel]

I recently stumbled upon an interesting older article from a site called JapanInc., discussing the power of foreign brands in Japan throughout history.  The article begins detailing the success of US ice cream producer Häagen-Dazs, probably the most famous example of a “constructed” brand. The Häagen-Dazs founders chose the Nordic-sounding name (which is, in fact, gibberish in all languages) in the 80’s when they started the brand — the name was chosen to give the expensive ice cream an ‘imported’ appeal.  The article develops this idea in relation to Japan, and discusses how Japanese brands with invented foreign names dominate the market.* This article got me thinking about the power of foreign brands in Argentina, and how Argentine consumers perceive imported goods. Read the rest of this entry »

[Photo: courtesy of Felice Physioc]

With the green revolution, it has actually become trendy to be environmentally conscious. In just about every Whole Foods Market in the U.S. you see fashion-conscious strolling around with their reusable, recycled bags and choosing fair trade instead of fair fur products. In Buenos Aires we see the same trend: try Palermo Hollywood’s Bonpland Market on Saturday afternoon to find a mercado full of organic breads, pasta, produce and clothes. Read the rest of this entry »