http://www.fosterdesign.com/blog en christine@fosterdesign.com Copyright 2010 2010-06-11T18:54:34+00:00 http://fosterdesign.com/blog/chevy_faithful_own_gms_brand http://fosterdesign.com/blog/chevy_faithful_own_gms_brand#When:17:54:34Z In less than 24 hours, GM is back peddling from a position they took yesterday to get rid of the name Chevy in all corporate communications -- siting that"Chevy" didn’t translate in the international market. blog 2010-06-11T17:54:34+00:00 http://fosterdesign.com/blog/bps_brand_is_it_a_veil_or_a_transparent_window http://fosterdesign.com/blog/bps_brand_is_it_a_veil_or_a_transparent_window#When:19:02:09Z In 2002 BP launched a new "Beyond Petroleum" brand message. It involved, among other things, a new corporate logo - modeled after "Helios", the Greek sun god. It had the right feel: a burst of energy in its many forms, with all the right colors, it sent a strong environmental message. We saw smiling people and bright blue skies filling our television screens. In 2005 they spent $150 million US dollars to advertise they are the "environmental" big oil company. blog 2010-06-01T19:02:09+00:00 http://fosterdesign.com/blog/giving_thanks http://fosterdesign.com/blog/giving_thanks#When:20:37:24Z The last thing any of us wants to do is work for free, especially in this market. But here I am, sitting down to do a pro bono annual report. It's for an inner city school that accepts any student who wants to work harder, better themselves, and act responsibly. At 20 pages plus cover, I can't help thinking: "I don't have time for this. I've got to get out there and find that next great job!" blog 2009-11-18T20:37:24+00:00 http://fosterdesign.com/blog/omg_do_u_text_2 http://fosterdesign.com/blog/omg_do_u_text_2#When:17:08:42Z http://tinyurl.com/yd63m8b We have a lot to be proud of when it comes to one of our newest clients. Not only was our involvement with the iZUP project one of the most in-depth and fast-paced web assignments we’ve ever worked on, but the product itself is literally going to save lives – one text at a time. blog 2009-09-28T17:08:42+00:00 http://fosterdesign.com/blog/tropic_thunder_tropicanas_juicy_branding_blunder http://fosterdesign.com/blog/tropic_thunder_tropicanas_juicy_branding_blunder#When:19:44:10Z If you have been in the juice aisle lately, you’ve most likely noticed a quick change operation going on at the Tropicana shelves. The company introduced a new packaging concept designed by a very well respected New York-based branding ‘expert’ whose firm charges over a million dollars to conduct branding and rebranding efforts. Unfortunately rather than helping revive sales, the effort made sales plummet. This is the perfect Harvard Business Review type case study on the lack of communication to a company’s own brand loyalist community. Here is arrogance at its greatest…and its worst…a company and a branding expert who thought it was in control of its brand, rather than the customer. Read the complete post here. blog 2009-04-13T19:44:10+00:00 http://fosterdesign.com/blog/why_it_matters http://fosterdesign.com/blog/why_it_matters#When:15:14:45Z In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker entered Alaska’s pristine Prince William Sound, ran aground, and began spilling what eventually became a 12-square mile slick of oil. Instead of rushing to contain the spill, apologize, and communicate its actions, Exxon stalled and stonewalled. The disaster was expensive for the company as well as for the environment. The spill cost $7 billion, punitive fines were $5 billion, and the company slipped from being first among the world’s oil companies to third. In 1990, Perrier, then the number one brand of bottled water in the US and virtually synonymous with purity, was found to have benzene contamination in one of its springs. Through one botched communication after another, the company lost so much market share that within a few years it had virtually killed its business. blog 2009-03-06T15:14:45+00:00