It seems as if hotels have figured out at least one way to work around a challenging travel market -- create distinct brands that offer something different.

A North American hotel customer satisfaction report just released by J.D. Power and Associates shows that, over the past year, travelers are happier when they stay in newer boutique hotels as opposed to traditional branded hotels.Continue reading...

Unless you've been traveling in a different galaxy lately, you can't help but be aware of the explosion of social media. It's so important that big ad agencies are scrambling to get a bigger piece of their brand clients' social media budgets and digital campaigns. But there's one area of social media in which brands are notably absent — social gaming.Continue reading...

When GM announced it would first sell and then discontinue Saab, it was just another moniker like Hummer, Pontiac, and Saturn that was to be tossed onto the brand scrap heap. But somehow, Saab survived where the others didn't. The brand is now staging a comeback, but is it too little, too late?Continue reading...

You might call it a lesson in stick-to-itiveness. The 3M Post-it Note brand is turning 30 this year, but it wouldn't even be a product if not for the company's resilience. Find out how the brand is celebrating after the jump.Continue reading...

The activity of brands in China lately is something akin to the California Gold Rush of the 1840s and 1850s. It seems like every major brand is scrambling to get a piece of the world's most robust economy.

China's consumer population is a tantalizing market for virtually every industry. China is already challenging America's Silicon Valley for technology supremacy. Fashion and luxury brands are flocking to the country, revving up operations and opening new stores.

In just the past few weeks, we've reported on Apple, Burberry, GM, Hermes, and Pabst beer making new inroads into mainland China.

Add drug companies to that list. Merck is forming a joint venture to market its vaccines in China.Continue reading...

It's a common practice at numerous international airports, but in the United States, self-boarding is just now being tried for the first time with a trial by Continental Airlines (which recently merged with United and today announced its senior leadership team).

Continental is testing self-boarding — allowing passengers to scan their own boarding passes without assistance from an agent — at a gate (pictured at right) at Houston Intercontinental Airport, one of the airline's hubs.

When the pass is scanned at a kiosk reader, a turnstile allows the passenger to enter the jetway. The test was approved by the U.S. Transportation Security Agency, since passengers who are boarding a flight must have already been screened at airport security checkpoints.

While the process is said to be faster than having airline workers scan passes, it also frees up gate agents to address customers' pre-flight needs and thus boost the airline's reputation with its customers.Continue reading...

In the Western world, Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer HTC is a rapidly growing brand. The company's awareness has skyrocketed since being associated with the Droid, sold by Verizon in the U.S. and regarded as the strongest competitor to Apple's iPhone.

Ironically, though, HTC has been practically invisible in China, because the company has sold its phones under another brand name. Now HTC aims to capitalize on its global brand recognition by promoting its own brand on mainland China.Continue reading...

Many airlines have started to charge for everything from meals to blankets in an effort to generate revenue any way they can. Air travel, in fact, has been stripped down to basics and as a result, feels to travelers like more of a commodity.

That's why it becomes more important for an airline to differentiate itself in other ways — and that's what Cathay Pacific is doing with its latest ad campaign.Continue reading...

Identifying with a luxury brand is a lot more subtle among wealthy consumers than you think.

"Subtle Signals of Inconspicuous Consumption," a paper appearing in the current issue of Journal of Consumer Research, suggests that high-end shoppers are more in tune with "discreet markers, such as distinctive design or detailing," than obvious brand logos.

"Signaling Status with Luxury Goods: The Role of Brand Prominence," another study (this one published in the July issue of Journal of Marketing), finds that "luxury brands charge more for 'quieter' items with subtle logo placement and discreet appeal."

Paris Hilton may not care, but brand marketers should.Continue reading...

Large and small retailers alike have always been faced with inventory control challenges. UPC barcodes that could be scanned were a marked improvement over manual systems, but they weren't a complete solution.

When RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags were introduced into the retail environment, there was great hope that this technology would, once and for all, provide foolproof inventory control.

Wal-Mart aims to see if that's the case. According to The Wall Street Journal, The world's leading retailer will begin using removable "smart tags" next month in an effort to track items such as individual pairs of jeans. It's a smart move from an operational standpoint, but privacy advocates are worried about what else the tags may reveal.Continue reading...

Public opinion surveys concerning companies and brands are interesting, but they need to be viewed in a current context. Such studies are, after all, a read on a snapshot in time, offering a perspective that could quickly change based on what a company does on any particular day.

Results were just released of one such study, in which 800 Americans were interviewed by Vision Critical and Angus Reid about their perceptions of over 50 major companies. The corporate reputation ranker shows that Apple, Johnson & Johnson, and Procter & Gamble are viewed as companies with the "strongest reputation" among U.S. consumers.

Interestingly, all three of these companies have endured (and, it seems, weathered) public criticism of late.Continue reading...

The Gulf oil spill is a daily reminder of our over-dependence on oil. More than that, it is a stark statement about the impact man can have on our natural environment.

Now some 100 retailers and apparel brands are working together to minimize their impact on the environment, using a software tool that will help them measure environmental factors, from creating a product right through its disposal.

The group calls the output of the tool the "Eco Index," and the hope is that it will become as recognizable on clothing as Energy Star is on appliances. While individual members of the consortium, such as Levi's, have been putting their own eco-stamp on packaging, the idea is to create a recognizable "green" seal of approval.Continue reading...