Many companies, large and small, are faced with the idea that a brand name might die off, might have died off or be struggling. At right, the logo for the venerable department store Abraham & Straus. The original A&S store in Brooklyn is still open, but it is now aMORE HERE
O.K. So this news July 3, 2008 had us frightened, freaked and sad. The stock value of General Motors is less than Mattel, which makes Hot Wheels. So reports Bloomberg. Mattel! Ouch! But what is interesting is that the stock drop parallels the killing off of Oldsmobile in 2000. TakeMORE HERE
For Americans to again embrace production, innovation, science and enthusiasm, we need to get kids, mainly young boys, doing crap with their brains and their hands. Science stuff. This Fourth of July weekend, we are thinking about great American brands with FIRE-POWER. And for decades, there has been no greaterMORE HERE
Now on with the countdown! Yes, you can still catch Casey Kasem’s original 1970s American Top 40 radio shows on your local FM. The shows have returned from a tape morgue in Hollywood, and have been completely remastered. They were remastered by “syndicated radio junkies” at the Cabot, Arkansas basedMORE HERE
We are totally stumped by this one. Blogger Gentleman Agitator emailed to tell BrandlandUSA of his frustration with a new Holiday Inn logo. Don’t get us wrong. We love Holiday Inn. But we loved their old lettering. OK, so we here at BrandlandUSA were hopeful that it was the otherMORE HERE
There was a time when Sears ruled the world of sporting goods, and brands like Ted Williams and Sears Yachtsman were seen as prestige. At right, a Sears Yachtsman logo and shield sewn onto a Sears life vest. This attic find looks cool and stylish as ever, even though itMORE HERE
What happens when you have a 200-year-old insurance brand name and some smartsy fartsy “branding” and “marketing” people get involved? The brand dies in favor of a name that would be better as a diet pill. Believe it or not, it happened recently with the U.K. insurance company Aviva, whichMORE HERE
Forbes columnist Jerry Flint wrote a great column June 17, 2008 on the future of Ford Motor Company’s Mercury brand, and whether the sorta-dashing Ford President Mark Fields really wants to keep the brand. We love to read Flint because he loves great American companies and believes that Americans canMORE HERE
Of the surviving pieces of Trans World Airlines, or TWA, includes Canteen, the office catering and snacks company, the TWA Hotel and Ethiopian Airlines. Ethiopian was once run by TWA. The African airline has survived Civil War, famine and economic crisis. The airline was founded by Emperor Haile Selassie, withMORE HERE
In all this business of branding and nostalgia, the question is whether it is relevant to today. How does one live in the present while seeking to turn back to the past? How much nostalgia is too much nostalgia? We found an answer on the blog Notes from the LilypadMORE HERE