Marketing journalist Siobhán O’Connell, wrote an interesting article in the Irish Times Media & Marketing section recently where she posed the question “Does Musgrave’s takeover afford the opportunity to reinvent or kill the Superquinn brand?” ThinkTank was kindly asked to comment and our thoughts together with the diverse views of other branding and marketing experts can be viewed here in the Irish Times article.

Superquinn’s excellence in the past was due to the extraordinary vision of Fergal Quinn. He understood brand innately and  knew that every world beating brand is underpinned by a strong customer value proposition. He set about identifying the important problems that needed to be solved for Irish grocery shoppers, exceeding their expectations constantly through a culture of innovation, relentlessly placing the customer at the core of the organisation and in so doing building a hugely successful brand.

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Tags: Brand Positioning, Branding, Fergal Quinn, Irish Times, Management Consulting, Market positioning, Marketing, Musgrave, Retailing, Strategy, Supermarkets, Superquinn, USP, Value Proposition

At ThinkTank we were encouraged to read Alf Smiddy’s recent Blog post entitled - It’s all about your Brand - which also appeared in innovative financial services firm, Quintas’ spring newsletter.

As a former MD and Chairman of Beamish & Crawford Plc, for over twelve years  and current chairman and director on a number of Boards, Alf has a tremendous depth of experience  in both the financial and branding arenas.  This combination of skills is particularly unique and it’s inspiring to hear one of Cork’s most respected business leaders recognising the importance and value of brands.

In an insightful and thought -provoking post he outlines why in our tumultuous economic landscape, business as usual has become irrelevant and how companies need to to “inspire and mobilise people around a common purpose.” He goes onto explain,“I firmly believe that it’s through innovation, the re-invention of existing brands, and the creation of new brands that will create the climate for business success going forward.”

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Tags: Alf Smiddy, Beamish & Crawford, Brand Damage, Brand Positioning, brand relevance, Brand Valuation, Branding, Branding in Ireland, Cork, differntiation, Innovation, Irish brands, Jonathan Amm, Lisa Murphy, Management Consulting, Marketing, Quintas, Value Proposition, www.think-tank.ie

Let’s say you’re at a networking event and someone steps in the elevator with you, notices your nametag, and asks, “So what do you guys do?” Quick–what’s your answer? You’ve got just 30 seconds before the doors open so you’d better think fast.

In many ways an Elevator Pitch is shorthand for what your brand stands for. It’s your one-shot opportunity to be different and present yourself in a compelling and memorable way. For most business owners, getting to the crux of what you really do is the hardest, yet potentially most rewarding, one-minute conversation you could ever have.

So what is an Elevator Pitch?

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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Advertising, Brand Positioning, Branding, Cork, differentiation, Elevator Pitch, Entrepreneurs, Ireland, Jonathan Amm, Marketing, Start-ups, Strategy, ThinkTank, Twitter, Value Proposition, www.think-tank.ie