by Evelyn Starr | Aug 19, 2022 | Brand Experience, Marketing Insights
I used to joke that chocolate was a food group. I’m no longer joking. My diet contains a small daily dose of dark chocolate (or two) which I take with the devotion I used to give to a multivitamin. My husband Dan knows of my passion for dark chocolate and shares my...
by Evelyn Starr | Jul 15, 2022 | Brand Growth & Rebranding
Early in my career I found myself in the unusual position of giving advice to a lawyer. The lawyer was my college friend David who was working as a second-year associate at a firm in Morristown, New Jersey. This was in the late 1980s, when the popular TV show LA Law...
by Evelyn Starr | Jun 10, 2022 | Brand Growth & Rebranding, Brands In Adolescence
Some brides get superstitious before their wedding. Luckily that’s not me. Dan and I got married in June 1994. On the Friday that kicked off our wedding weekend, the US began hosting World Cup Soccer for the first time. At the opening ceremonies in Chicago, host Oprah...
by Evelyn Starr | May 12, 2022 | Marketing Strategy
In April, my husband and I drove to Asheville, North Carolina to spend a long weekend with friends. That’s 888 miles from our home in Natick, Massachusetts, 15 hours driving. A daunting distance. To lure myself into the car for that adventure, I needed to know it...
by Evelyn Starr | Apr 14, 2022 | Brand Growth & Rebranding
This post is based on excerpts from my book, Teenage Wastebrand: How Your Brand Can Stop Struggling and Start Scaling. Several of my teenage memories recall disagreements and negotiations with my parents over my curfew. Until the middle of my senior year in high...
by Evelyn Starr | Mar 11, 2022 | Marketing Insights, Marketing Research Tips
Last November 2nd, a thick white envelope from Ocean Conservatory arrived in the mail. I’d never heard of the organization. As a family we had donated to a similar organization in the past. I assumed Ocean Conservatory had gotten my name from a shared list. I smiled...
by Evelyn Starr | Feb 11, 2022 | Brand Growth & Rebranding
I named my brand in a hurry. That was not my plan. I started my company in November 1999, while two months pregnant with my daughter. My plan involved networking for the remaining seven months of pregnancy, taking a real maternity leave (not the corporate 10 weeks),...
by Evelyn Starr | Jan 14, 2022 | Email Marketing, Marketing Insights
Ten years ago, I pressed send on my first Varsity Marketing Newsletter. Unbeknownst to you, my wonderful readers, the launch was over a year in the making. Starting a newsletter was part of my marketing plan in 2010, but by September I still hadn’t begun. That changed...
by Evelyn Starr | Dec 10, 2021 | Brand Experience, Brand Storytelling
On a bright mid-October Monday, my friend Liz and I had a strange experience when we had lunch outside at a restaurant. Sunlight warmed the patio where two parallel rows of tables were spaced about 15 feet apart. Liz sat across from me, with her back to the other row...
