by Evelyn Starr | Jul 8, 2016 | Brand Strategy
Do you know who Michael Phelps is? Unless you have been living behind a boulder, you probably do. (I avoid clichés.) The 31-year-old swimming phenom has 22 Olympic medals, 18 of them gold, and has set numerous world records. Phelps’ main rival, Ryan Lochte, has 11...
by Evelyn Starr | Jun 9, 2016 | Brand Strategy, Marketing Insights
I have been exercising regularly most of my life. As a high energy person, I discovered in my teens that expending this energy often helped my sanity. And that of the people around me. In high school I took modern dance classes. In college I took...
by Evelyn Starr | May 12, 2016 | Brand Strategy, Marketing Insights
On April 20th, as I sat in an auditorium at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, I had my marketing heart stolen. My son AJ and I were in the process of a 1000-mile tour to revisit three colleges to help him choose one. On that beautiful Wednesday morning, AJ...
by Evelyn Starr | Dec 11, 2015 | Brand Strategy, Marketing Insights
Over the course of Thanksgiving week I traveled about 600 miles. From our house in Natick, Massachusetts to my parents’ house in Northern New Jersey, out to a college visit in Pennsylvania and then back to Natick again. At the end of this odyssey I arrived home to...
by Evelyn Starr | Nov 13, 2015 | Brand Strategy, Brands In Adolescence
Before I started writing monthly newsletters four years ago, I wrote restaurant reviews. Just one or two a year for Zagat’s Boston Restaurant Guide. One contributed review was enough to score me a free copy of the next guide release and seemed well worth...
by Evelyn Starr | Sep 10, 2015 | Brand Strategy, Brands In Adolescence
Has your brand hit a plateau? Or is it growing erratically? Does fostering growth seem harder than it should be? Here are 5 common mistakes that could be holding your brand back. No clear brand definition. Can you explain your brand clearly and concisely...
by Evelyn Starr | Aug 14, 2015 | Brand Strategy, Emotional Connections
One endearing quality about my sister when we were growing up was that she sometimes cried at TV commercials. There was one in particular where a large litter of puppies greeted children at their grandmother’s house that got her to well up. I was not...
by Evelyn Starr | Jul 15, 2015 | Brand Growth & Rebranding, Brand Strategy, Brands In Adolescence
Have you ever wished for a personal chef? Well for two months I had one. In autumn 1999, after years of working as a chef on yachts, in restaurants and on catering gigs, my sister-in-law Rachael decided to transition to a new career: web master. Her...
by Evelyn Starr | Jun 11, 2015 | Brand Strategy, Marketing Insights
I grew up in a family that bought large used cars. My dad was good at finding sturdy, reliable cars that owners no longer wanted once they had logged 40,000 miles. He bought the ones that a local mechanic blessed and could fix for a couple hundred...
