If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
On the heels of the successful launch of BlackBerry 10 and the re-boot and re-invention of the company, I can't help but think of the people that endu...
The unthinkable has happened -- Apple's brand value has dropped for the first time. Meanwhile, equally improbable, BlackBerry is seemingly rising from the ashes. Yet, for their differences in fortune, the fates of both companies have been inextricably linked to the role played by CEO succession.
This is the magic of Davos. Participants find themselves seated beside a tycoon at breakfast, a Nobel Prize winner at lunch and a President, potentate or a future crook at dinner.
The speed with which our world now lives could well put an end to the world of iconic brands. Before all of this connectivity, a great brand could stand the test of time. It now seems like insanity. The Beatles were iconic. Do you believe that any of the musicians today that we admire will be able to leave this kind of legacy? What about companies?
Confession: I'm completed addicted to my BlackBerry. As a working mom of three kids six and under, it has freed me from my desk and made me more productive than I ever imagined. But, something happened last week that stopped me in my tracks.
What is a "lovemark" you ask? Well, I like to say that it's all about the emotional cement. Brands that are emotionally cemented to their customers reach their hearts as well as their minds and they deliver beyond expectations of great functional performance. They capture "heartshare as well as mindshare." It really has been a bad year for lovemarks (ahem, RIM).
Put another way, allowing a large head office to be acquired allows foreigners to acquire pieces of the country's upside, its living standards, reputation, opportunity, tax base, intellectual property, and networks. This is like selling the family jewels.
With the Blackberry maker RIM struggling today to stay relevant, I think it's time they join forces, hire some new interface designers and give Apple and Android a run for their money -- if they do it right.
Research in Motion (RIM) and the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad have become the latest actors in the so-called "memogate affair" that observers believe is a slow-motion palace coup by Pakistan's military aimed at unseating the civilian administration of President Zardari.
I worry that policy changes could stifle the positive strides we have been taking in attracting and developing clusters of expertise that will, in time, effectively move us from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy of the future.
Some people say RIM's best-before date may have passed, which raises the question, what's next? Maintaining Canada's competitive edge takes more than strong markets, good intentions, or even hard work. It takes a constant stream of new and innovative products. And that's a problem.
