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A brand touchpoint is any way a person in the marketplace interacts with your brand - so practically every brand has hundreds of touchpoints and each plays a role in shaping brand perception. So we must consider brand touchpoint design and management critical to building a strong, valuable brand.

Most marketers don’t count religious affiliation or degree of religiosity as key demographics, but a new study suggests perhaps they should. Makers of branded “self expression” items (such as logo apparel or designer sunglasses) in particular may find this segmentation useful.

According to a paper by Ron Shachar (Tel Aviv University and Duke) and co-authors from NYU and Duke, religious people, or even people temporarily in a religious frame of mind, find branded items less appealing than do less religious people.

This BP mess is definitely an ecological disaster as well as a brand disaster of the century and it will take us decades to see the real impact. BP has lost half of its market value and there are even considerations for shareholder lawsuits on behalf of BP investors who have lost money because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

After Pepsi's announcement earlier this week that it would stop selling the full-leaded version of its soda pop in schools around the world, I was quoted in USAToday saying that I'm cynical about its purpose (the company doesn't really sell much in schools globally anyway) and doubtful of the connection to its sales strategy (so we should celebrate its retreat from selling sweet beverages by...buying more sweet beverages?).

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

You probably haven't caught wind of it, but some brand traditionalists have issued a fatwa on me. It's quite a compliment, really, and kind of comforting that I don't rate the scrutiny of a Salman Rushdie. But they're still pissed off, and they wish me dead.

by: Matt Rhodes

by: David Armano

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

On the eve of tonight's last Presidential debate, I though it might be interesting to muse a bit about brands and politics...and how the two influence one another.

I know a lot has been said about the amount of rancor evident at Republican rallies, which seems to have surprised even John McCain. He has found himself contending with supporters he desperately needs...emoting angry nonsense he can't tolerate.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin