Brand Boosters
FastCo Contest Trades Consulting for Insight
The August edition of Fast Company Magazine carries an invitation to participate in a contest to refocus, refresh, and revitalize few familiar brands that could use a little image dusting.  The rules are here.
 
From Barbie and Martha Stewart, to Brooks Brothers and Old Navy -- there are several brands to choose from -- pick one or share your input on all fifteen.  Winners (as chosen by Fast Company) receive a 3-hour telephone consultation with the Branding Diva herself, Karen Post.
 
Karen is the author of Brain Tattoos: Creating Unique Brands That Stick in Your Customers' Minds, winners will also receive a signed copy of the book.
 
Whether you enter the contest or not, go to Karen's website and sign-up for her FREE BrandBites newsletter.  I personally subscribe to over 50 newsletters, and it's absolutely one of my favorites, if only for the fact that she continues to distill great content into two bite-sized morsels per issue. BrandBites is the fastest and most informative piece of mail in my inbox.

Note: To their credit, Fast Company included their own name among the field of fifteen.  Also among them, Starbucks. 
 
Here's my brand-boosting tip for Starbucks:  Stop your employees from spewing Venti-sized portions of lingo-filled babble everytime a customer orders a cup of your coffee.  Some of us don't know (or care!) if your lattes are 'dryer' than other coffehouses, we just want a cup of coffee in a friendly environment -- without the lesson in beans and baristing.