Discovering business opportunities

 Interview with Dr. Dan Herman, CEO of Competitive Advantages, a strategy consulting and branding services firm, serving worldwide clients ranging from local mid-sized companies to “Fortune Global 500″ corporations. Together with his highly trained team, he creates Unique Success Formulas, Emotionally Significant Brands and Short-Term ‘Hit’ Brands for their clients.

Among the many organizations and brands, he has worked with are multinationals such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Unilever, Motorola, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Holiday Inn, Apple computers, Suzuki, Chrysler, Warner Brothers, H. Stern as well as many others. The list also includes FC Spartak Moscow and many of Israel’s leading companies in the fields of banking and financial services, telecommunications, health services, food and beverages, toiletries and cosmetics, public transportation, hotels, retail chains, the national lottery and several non-profit organizations, government agencies and political parties.

Thank you, Dan, for your time!

You recently published a book in the United States titled “Outsmart the MBA Clones: The Alternative Guide to Competitive Strategy, Marketing and Branding” (www.outsmart-mba-clones.com)? What have you got against MBA programs and graduates? And – why do we need “an alternative guide”?

I have nothing against MBA programs or graduates. I am an MBA graduate myself. However, we should remember that management is very different from, say, engineering. When you take a strategy move in the market you do not only change the situation in the market – you potentially change the characteristics of the market. For examples, your innovative service strategy can change consumers’ expectations and the market norms. Therefore, management and marketing practices lose their effectiveness when everybody is using them and they should constantly change. Despite the apparent diversity among MBA programs, they produce executives who think and act in a similar and predictable manner. This undermines the competitiveness of their companies and provides a strategic advantage to those who recognize these biases and think differently. I do not, however, tell marketers to ‘think out of the box’ as so many do. I supply them with a new and comprehensive toolbox for success. My book, “Outsmart the MBA Clones” provides a set of new concepts and a toolkit unlike anything taught in MBA schools. The ambitious promise of this book is to help managers create business strategies that will succeed and yet amazingly will not be copied by the competition, resulting in private monopolies.

(Read the article)

Comments(0)

Designer , writer, producer, photographer& keynote speaker Marc Gobe, is the author of the best selling book Emotional Branding. His philosophy has created a movement and forced a consumer driven thought process on how to connect brands with people from a rational to an emotional perspective.
As former President and CEO of Desgrippes Gobe /Brandimage one of the top 10 design firm in the world he brought on a new vision and approach to Design that changed Branding forever.
Now, as President and the leading force behind his new Think Tank Emotional Branding LLC, Marc brings innovation and consumer understanding into all the hidden corners of the  branding process by producing documentary films on Emotional Events that impact brands  and consumers. Sao Paulo was his first stop: a city whose mayor banned all form of outdoor advertising.
Clients such as Air France,  Abercrombie and Fitch, Ann Taylor, Starbucks, Telefonica, Victoria’s secret or Coca Cola Trusted Desgrippes Gobe to create the experiences that made their brand famous in people’s heart.

Dear Marc, thank you very much for dedicating your time!

“It’s not just the skills that are important , it’s the ability to emote”.
Steve Jobs. Fortune magazine 2008

1. Today the consumer has more choices than ever and can access more information about products and brands easier than ever. In what manner the emotional branding can respond to these new business realities?

Emotional branding is about understanding people’s reality. Consumers today have more choices and more information’s but are they happier? In an economy that is inflationary and where even the cost of food and gas become prohibitive the notion of a consumer economy loses a lot of its meaning. Relying on more consumption to create jobs and survive requires a new set of rules and understanding.

(Read the article)

Comments(0)