What you can learn from America’s Hottest Brands!

According to William Shakespeare, (speaking through Juliet Capulet) “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” but this years’ Advertising Age list of hottest brands shows the sweetest of the sweet brand names.  Here’s an installment from THE LIST of the Brandtastic – with lessons for all of us!

Verizon (thanks to the success of the Droid)

Glee (need I say more)

Buick (believe it or not the fastest growing major automotive brand in the US)

Beats by Dr. Dre (high performance headphones from $99 to $450)

Ciroc (serious street cred with Sean Diddy Combs serving as the brand manager and a vodka distilled 5 times)

Conan O’Brien (nothing like graciously accepting mistreatment to surge your popularity) and

Vibram (75 year old company with a 5 finger toed shoe product that has been described as everything from “Revolting” to “Revolutionary”)

From this list what can we learn?  Here’s my take…. once tired brands like Buick benefitted from customer centric re-design and wider acceptance in the global marketplace, namely China.

Glee is an example of perfect execution on a wildly unsuccessful concept that was originally tried on ABC in the 1990′s musical police drama “Cop Rock.” Youth, joy, and fun sell!

Brands like Beats by Dr. Dre and Ciroc show that emotional connections made between people and their fans can in turn be transferred to products.

Conan is a case of nice plus smart can win!

Droid equals success through customer engagement (allowing an open architecture where people can benefit from apps that aren’t purely commercial) and Vibram (the worldwide leader in shoe soles) that has found a way to meet a previously unmet need for a “barefoot” feel with a colorful and creative product presentation.  The road less travelled can become very well-travelled!

Do these brands have lessons for you as you make decisions about products, customer needs, integrity, character, brand extension, repositioning, persistence, and even fun?