Brand Shorthand

This week on the Brand Shorthand podcast, Mark interviews Alicia Jordan, our Art and Video Director here at Innis Maggiore. Tune in to hear how Alicia and the agency's creative department work to bring campaigns to life and to get a behind-the-scenes look into the work we do. Learn more about video production and the design process as Alicia dives deep into her role and some of the projects she's developed.Join Mark and Alicia for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Advertisers today seem to be focusing too heavily on being efficient when they should be focusing on how to be effective. Join Mark and Lorraine to learn the effectiveness of long-term brand building as the positioning duo follows along with Andrew Tindall's latest presentation, Effectiveness in an Age of Efficiency.Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Join Mark and Lorraine this week as they dive into a recent article from The Drum titled “9 Timeless Marketing Quotes That Will Always Keep You Effective.” The positioning duo will walk through each of the 9 quotes, providing their insights from a positionist standpoint. Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Celebrity marketing is nothing new to the advertising industry, in fact it's almost rare nowadays to see a commercial or ad without a famous face in it. This week, Mark and Lorriane discuss the over-saturation of celebrity marketing and how advertisers can navigate through this crowd with the right strategy in mind. Join the positioning duo as they explore the rights and wrongs of celebrity marketing, share their thoughts on some well-known examples, and discuss the difference between influencers and celebrities. Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

This week, Mark and Lorraine discuss generational marketing and why it might be a bad track for marketers to take. Tune in to learn about the implications of advertising based on generalities, what happens when you target too broad of an audience, and how to effectively expand your core audience. The positioning duo also shares their thoughts on Liquid Death's most recent chaotic collaboration. Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

AI is on the rise and Mark and Lorraine are here to discuss it all! Learn how AI is affecting the customer experience, how advertisers should be thinking about the growth of AI in businesses, and what the future with AI could look like. Join Mark and Lorraine this week to see how Meta, Amazon, and Netflix have incorporated AI into their customer experiences. Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff as Mark and Lorraine fly into recent news from Southwest Airlines. The brand that once owned the low-price position seems to be flying further and further away from its low-cost roots. The positioning duo also discusses long-form video advertising as they dive into the new Apple AirPods 4 ad.Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Programmatic advertising is changing the game for digital marketers! This week, Mark is joined by the media and digital marketing duo, Alyssa Laubacher and Lauren Moses, to discuss what programmatic advertising is, how it works, and why it can be a beneficial tool for marketers. Join Mark, Alyssa, and Lauren for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

This week, Mark and Lorraine discuss the importance of brand advertising and why it should be at the forefront of your advertising efforts in today's world. Join the positioning duo as they dive deep into the advantages of brand advertising and explain why short-term advertising tactics alone aren't enough to cut it. Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

The battle of sodas just got a whole lot more interesting! We've seen Coca-Cola and Pepsi battling it out in the Cola Wars and now something similar is fizzing up in the new healthy soda market. Join Mark and Lorraine as they pop into the world of prebiotic sodas and discuss brands like Olipop, Poppi, and the newest player in the game, Coca-Cola's Simply Pop.  Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

More and more brands are exploring ways to add entertainment to their marketing approach. Mark and Lorraine share their thoughts on how brands like Chick-fil-A and Duolingo are testing out games, podcasts, apps, and even animated shows to entertain their audiences. Join Mark and Lorraine for 30-ish as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

What do McDonald's, IHOP, and a grocery store chain in England have in common? Join Mark and Lorraine as they explore how these brands tapped into the Zeigarnik Effect and how this psychological phenomenon affected their advertising efforts. Mark and Lorraine kick off the episode with a quick Super Bowl recap and some recent Starbucks news!Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course ... positioning!

Join Mark and Scott Edwards as they continue their discussion of the 2025 Super Bowl spots. Discover what the positioning duo thinks as they dive deep into ad spots from Doritos, Pringles, Reese's and more. Mark and Scott continue to follow USA Today's Ad Meter as they highlight some of the ad winners and losers.Spend about 30 mins with Mark and Scott as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Join Mark and new guest, Scott Edwards, as they discuss the 2025 Super Bowl spots. Following USA Today's Ad Meter, discover where this positioning duo agrees with the viewers on the effective ads, versus those that will likely go down as duds just like the Chiefs! Starting with Budweiser's “First Delivery” ad, Mark and Scott provide details on why the ads were winners or losers. Spend 30ish with Mark and Scott as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Mark and Lorraine kick off season #3 with a review of all the major brand news that happened since they left off season #2. Jaguar, Volvo, Coke, and Walmart hit the news with moves of new ads, refreshed logos, and revisiting old brand positions. Learn what the positioning duo liked and disliked about these recent big brand activities.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and of course ... positioning!

Mark and Lorraine draw their second season of the Brand Shorthand Podcast to a close. Join them as they reminisce on this last season's biggest hits, from SuperBowl ads to myriad guests, and how companies can best avoid those pesky boycotts.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Between sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing, why do so many brands only appeal to the visual? Join Mark and Lorraine as they walk through a few jingles and audio logos. Then they discuss the topic of branding through smell, touch, and audio. From MasterCard's “haptic logo” to smelling money through your phone, learn the different ways you can develop a brand that touches multiple senses!Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Join Mark and Lorraine as they conclude their interview with Calvin Holston, the founder and CEO of Smeeple, an app designed to connect people to curated experts across a variety of specialties. In the second half of this interview, Calvin discusses Smeeple's position among his competitors, as well as the effects his entrepreneurship has had on his faith and his family.Spend 25ish with Mark, Lorraine, and Calvin as they talk all things marketing, advertising, entrepreneurship, and of course … positioning!

Bringing the experts right to you! Join Mark and Lorraine as they interview Calvin Holston, the founder and CEO of Smeeple, an app designed to connect people to real authentic experts across a variety of subjects, from sports to HVAC to homesteaders. Learn how Calvin came from nuclear engineer to entrepreneur, the origins and meaning behind the name “Smeeple,” and how it works to curate and cultivate the best of the best.Spend 30ish with Mark, Lorraine, and Calvin as they talk all things marketing, advertising, entrepreneurship, and of course … positioning!

Whether it's lateral CEO hiring from Chipotle, commoditizing the coffee experience at Starbucks, or boiling down branding to fit in with the crowd, it seems that a lot of big business brands are starting to feel the same. Join Mark and Lorraine as they navigate the seas of sameness flooding through modern advertising and discuss how differentiation and positioning can help you stand out in a cluttered market.Spend 30ish minutes with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

With the fall of the Tupperware titan, it can be hard to see where innovation ends and getting lazy with your position begins. Thankfully, Mark and Lorraine are here to weed through the mess of brand extensions — the good and the bad. Listen along as they discuss the rise of Lume deodorant and their battle with Dove, beverage companies expanding into the alcohol market, and how La-Z-Boy got its lazy back.Spend 35ish minutes with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Disney, Apple, and Boar's Head — something is rotten in the state of Denmark! And it's not just the liverwurst. Join Mark and Lorraine as they tackle the tough topics of lawsuits, poisonings, and deaths with the help of special guest and PR and Content Manager, Merce Brown. Discover why Crisis Communications starts well before the crisis and should be a required asset in your C-suite.Spend 35ish minutes with Mark, Lorraine, and Merce as they talk all things marketing, advertising, crisis communications, and of course … positioning!

Have you ever wished that drinking water was… cooler? Well, the answer to your prayers is here, alongside some of the most extreme marketing promotions and campaigns to date. Join Mark and Lorraine as they cover jet giveaways, death-defying stunts, and borderline strange endorsements as they ask the question: will Liquid Death continue to make a killing, or will it die trying?Spend 30ish minutes with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Explore all the fun and excitement of cult brands like Disney, Apple, and Coke—no blood oaths required! Follow along as Mark and Lorraine discuss the golden rules of Cult Branding (as laid out by marketing consultant Bolivar Bueno), the highs of sticking to your core audience… and the lows of companies who drank the Kool-Aid.Spend 30ish minutes with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

While tech companies like Best Buy, Verizon, and BitCoin's Verse are refreshing their logos, women's accessory companies like Zales and Vera Bradley are introducing entire brand refreshes. Join Mark and Lorraine as they talk the differences between a brand refresh and a brand new logo. The positioning duo tackles the latest marketing overhauls, the origins of Singer Corporation, and some successful past brand refreshes.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course … positioning!

Taco Bell vacation clubs, motorcycle gangs, off-key musical numbers, and... Carrie Underwood? Join Mark and Lorraine - and brand new producer and editor Denver Wittmer - as they discuss the latest blunders of big-name brands. From boycotts on classic American brands like John Deere and Harley Davidson to misfired marketing attempts from Target, Mark and Lorraine cover a wide range of companies that owe their customers a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course ... positioning!

Etsy versus the rest of the field, such as GoImagine. Nike versus everyone. Hear what Mark and Lorraine think about Etsy's new campaign focused on human makers, GoImagine's up-and-coming challenge to Etsy, and Nike's apparent fall from grace. Is it too late for Nike to Just Do It!?! And can Etsy stay on top with challengers such as GoImagine?Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course ... positioning!

Before the positioning duo dives into the rise of Dr. Pepper, Mark and Lorraine tackle the tough topic of politics -- without talking politics! Learn their perspective on the recent Republican National Convention and the re-positioning that has been done to do the hard job of changing perceptions. Then learn why Dr. Pepper is now #2 in the soft drink category... from the iconic Be a Pepper campaign to the more recent Fansville commercials.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and of course ... positioning!

Pirate Ship? GymShark? Who are these brands and what do they have in common? They both have identified a tight niche and taken a unique approach to a tired category. Call them the Uber of shipping or the Stanley of the gym rat. Unique. Exciting. And fun for our special guest, Cheryl Henderson -- creative director at Innis Maggiore -- to wax phil-arrrrr-sophical. Join the positioning gurus, including Cheryl, as we discover a few new brands who have become overnight sensations.Spend 30+ ish with Mark, Lorraine, and Cheryl as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, public relations, and of course ... positioning!

If you haven't heard the news about Dr. Pepper overtaking Pepsi as the #2 soft drink, you might have been living under a rock. Mark and Lorraine dive into the reasons that might have caused Pepsi's decline. The positioning duo has a long discussion on the "Pepsi generation's" position and why moving away from it is the most likely culprit in its fall from #2. Then they finish surmising how Pepsi can reverse the decline.Spend 30+ ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, public relations, and of course ... positioning!

Today, our positioning duo is joined by Mike DeVilling, President and CEO of WestShore Public Relations. Mike brings his wealth of knowledge and experience to the podcast to share valuable insights on how brands can leverage public relations. The discussion also uncovers all the new tactics, channels, and platforms available to public relations professionals, and how media relations has changed over the past couple decades. A big thanks to Mike for joining the positioning gurus!Spend 40ish with the positioning duo as they discuss everything marketing, advertising, PUBLIC RELATIONS, and positioning!

In the final part of Positioning for Professionals, Lorraine and Mark knock down the last five positioning myths: 11) All clients are good; 12) full-service exists; 13) focus is limiting; 14) more means more; and 15) the middle is safe. Find out why these myths are simply not true, and what you can do about it. Mark also laments the "expiration" of so many great brands who have lost their positioning way. Spend 30ish with the positioning duo as they discuss everything marketing, advertising, and positioning!

What is Papa John's doing? Or is that Papa Johns without an apostrophe?!? Mark and Lorraine dive in on this topic before they get to Positioning for Professionals, a book by Tim Williams that discusses how positioning works for professional service firms. The positioning duo walks through the next six myths about positioning that many service firms claim keep them from differentiating themselves. This episode covers the next six myths: 5) Bigger is better;  6) Brand is only about advertising; 7) There are general markets; 8) Branding costs money; 9) All growth is good growth; and 10) Efficiency is king. The positioning gurus explode these myths with a few brand examples, a tad bit of wit, and some critical maxims to keep with you as you operate your organization. Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

Do you have a stale brand? Are McDonalds' and Starbucks' problems related to positioning? Mark and Lorraine dive in on this topic before they get to Positioning for Professionals, a book by Tim Williams that discusses how positioning works for professional service firms. The positioning duo walks through the myths about positioning that many service firms claim keep them from differentiating themselves. This episode covers the first four myths: 1) The better company, product, or service wins; 2) My business is a commodity; 3) Competition leads to commoditization; and 4) "We're not a brand." See how Mark and Lorraine explode these myths with clear thinking, a few short rib and ape references, and some recommendations on how the professional service industry can apply the principles of positioning.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

Before the positioning gurus tackle the marketing strategy of Designing and Building a New Category, they throw a red flag on Apple's latest iPad ad, and Starbuck's trend downward. Then Mark and Lorraine cover the next six rules of designing and building a new category. Learn what inverted marketing, insulating siding, getting there first, shooting losers, and Segways have to do with category creation. One of THE greatest moves you can make as a marketing is to build a new category, but it's not for the faint of heart. Proceed cautiously using this wisdom from our positioning duo.Spend 40ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

On this week's Brand Shorthand podcast, Mark and Lorraine dive into the complex, yet highly effective business move to design and build a new category. This move isn't for the faint of heart, but the glory that can follow makes this strategy one that has allowed companies like Uber, IKEA, and maybe now, Poppi, to dominate. Learn the first three rules – from nine total – to properly design and build a new category.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

Mike Gallina, VP of organizational development and community engagement for the AultCare Health Plans, joins Mark and Lorraine to talk healthcare and health insurance marketing. Mike's insights on the trends and evolution of healthcare are, all at once informing and inspirational. Learn some of the macro trends of healthcare, how the big players in the industry think, and why community healthcare is growing.Spend 45-ish with Mark and Lorraine -- and Mike -- as they discuss all things marketing, advertising ... and positioning!

As a follow-up to Big Brands, Big Trouble, Mark and Lorraine chat about some of the small brands who have had amazing results despite relatively small marketing budgets. Before they get there, however, Mark rants about a Celebrity Cruise's article that adds confusion to the language of marketing, then we talk about what Celebrity is really doing. The positioning gurus talk about a local body shop, a mid-size competitor in the synthetic grass market, and a c-store -- all who are having amazing results with a focused position and focused marketing. Learn why niching yourself into a nice profit is a real thing that gets real results for small brands.Spend 30-ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising ... and positioning!

Are we in a recession? That's not quite the right question to ask. The question for marketers is: are you ready for a recession? History shows us that market share is won -- and lost -- during a recession. Those who market during a recession, win. On this week's Brand Shorthand, Mark and Lorraine cover companies like Kellogg's (versus Post), Ford (versus GM/Chrysler), and others who won market share during a recession. The positioning duo discusses why advertising during a recession costs less and goes further.Spend 30-ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising ... and positioning!

In the final installment of Big Brands, Big Trouble, Mark and Lorraine discuss the last two mistakes from Jack Trout's 2001 book: the Live by the Numbers/Wall Street Mistake and the Not Attacking Yourself Mistake. Once these last two of Jack's nine codified mistakes are tackled, the positioning duo adds four of their own: the Out-of-Touch/Ivory Tower Mistake, the Go Woke, Go Broke Mistake, the Chasing the Politics Mistake, and finally, Handing Customer Service to the Robots Mistake. Does it seem possible these brands could be in such hot water? Well, Mark and Lorraine share some positive stories of those who are following Jack's guidance and getting it right as well.Spend 40-ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising ... and positioning!

This week, Mark and Lorraine continue with mistakes 3-7 from Jack Trout's Big Brands, Big Trouble: the "Truth Will Win Out" Mistake; the "Other Guy's Idea" Mistake; The "Go Opposite" directive for those who are #2 in the market; the "We're Very Successful" Mistake; and the "Everything for Everybody" Mistake. The positioning duo talks big trouble from brands like UberEats to Raos, and why examples from Hertz, Avis, and Enterprise taught us a lot about how to navigate Marketing Warfare's rule that if you're not #1 or #2, it's time to find something new!Spend 30-ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising ... and positioning!

This week's episode finds a few big brands in some hot water! Mark and Lorraine revisit Jack Trout's 2001 book, Big Brands – Big Trouble, and share some more recent examples of big brands making not-so-smart moves. The positioning duo walks through the nine mistakes codified in Trout's book, then provides a definition of each mistake before sharing meaningful examples of what's right - and wrong - with some Big Brands!Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

This week, the positioning duo wonder about the power of AI to do the irrational, emotional, creative task of ideation and creative concepting. MKHSTRY claims to reduce concepting from 6-9 months down to hours. What do our fearless positioning experts think about that claim?!Next up, Mark and Lorraine cover the rise of experiential marketing. This is more than virtual or in-person events - such as the Barbie Movie's AI generator or Lean Cuisine's #weight this - but much more as we see brands today connect with consumers. Starbucks, Nike, and even some small B2Bs are trying to connect with consumers at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.Spend 30-ish (or 40-ish this time) with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Mark and Lorraine tackle Wendy's behaving badly with their surge pricing and how things should have been done differently. But they didn't ask us, so we gave kudos to Burger King for responding with a free offer! Well played.Then the positioning duo tackles the Rise of Branding over the past 50 years. Learn Lorraine's perspective on the shift from features to today's experiential desire to engage brands. Mark then douses the conversation with a provocateur with some questions that Mark Ritson answers a lot differently than our esteemed monarch of marketing.Spend 30-ish (or 50-ish this time) with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Join us for part 2 of our interview with Dr. Scott Powell, Professor of Marketing at Grove City College. Dr. Powell discusses how outside forces and four different presidents in 14 years impacted the marketing of the college, and how he would alter things if he were in charge. Mark and Lorraine also ask about the macro trends going on with higher education and why Dr. Powell believes Grove City College has been able to buck those trends.Spend 30-ish with Mark, Lorraine, and Dr. Scott Powell to discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

Dr. Scott Powell, Professor of Marketing at Grove City College, joins the positioning duo today to talk about positioning in the world of academia. Learn how he discovered positioning and why he teaches it in his classes and feels it's THE critical strategy to successful marketing. Also enjoy a few stories about how Scott arrived in marketing and his journey to Grove City College.Spend 30-ish with Mark, Lorraine... and Dr. Scott Powell, as we chat all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

Your favorite positioning tandem continue to look back on the past 50+ years of advertising, this time focusing on the rise of B2B marketing. What used to be considered risky is now standard practice, and in fact, B2B advertising continues to evolve closer to B2C strategies. Mark and Lorraine consider the examples of Owens Corning, BASF, and Intel, who all moved the B2B advertising needle in a big way.Spend 30-ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Mark and Lorraine spend over an hour dissecting almost every ad that ran in last evening's Super Bowl. While Kansas City walked away with an overtime win, not every advertiser was a winner. However, the duds were fewer than in past years, and the positioning gurus are happy to report that the ads made our positioning hearts pretty happy. Learn who earned the honors of best and worst ads, along with best celebrity appearance, celebrity malfeasance, and the heart string awards.Spend  an hour talking Super Bowl ads and of course, positioning.

Mark and Lorraine have a long chat about the Super Bowl commercials and why they can be a good or a bad buy, and what makes the difference. Get a glimpse of what's coming as advertisers spend $7 million per spot just for the media buy. Then hear how the rise of transactional media has been one of the significant changes over the last 50 years of advertising and why awareness media still matters.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Take a walk back in time as our two positioning gurus reminisce about the advancement in technology and targeting. How has technology changed, and how has it impacted marketing? What technology has been positive and where has it made advertisers mis-step? Mark and Lorraine talk Bernoullis and Zip disks, Amigas and Commodore 64s, film stripping and strip films. Then the duo talks about targeting and personalization capabilities and how the advent of both can be beneficial as long as they don't become a crutch.Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Mark and Lorraine kick off the second season of Brand Shorthand while kicking off the celebration of Innis Maggiore's 50th year in business. The duo takes a look back at the past 50 years of advertising and discuss what has changed, and what hasn't. The first category of change they cover is media proliferation. What used to be dozens of media options is now in the tens of thousands, with no signs of slowing down. What does this mean for the advertiser? What does this mean for the media planner? And how has this impacted the consumer?Spend 30-ish minutes with Mark and Lorraine to learn more about marketing, advertising, and positioning! Join us on the Brand Shorthand.