Brand Central Station

Sometimes the infatuation Apple brand evangelists feel is a bit too much for me.  I’m not so proud to re-count the nightmarish experiences I’ve had with random Mac-heads in airports – but that’s another story for another time.

This picture gives you an idea of what unbridled brand loyalty can do.  In this particular case, an APple fan in Japan “branded” his crop of Fuji apples with the Apple trademark, iPods and Apple/Heart marks by adhearing stickers to the fruits while they were rippening.  You can read more about it on the PSFK blog.

There’s an interesting piece in AdWeek this week that talks about a demographic class I hadn’t seen before … the “working wealthy.”  This group of consumers (also known as “middle class millionaires”) is defined by authors Lewis Schiff and Russ Alan Prince as having the following attributes:

Middle-class millionaires — the 8.4 million households in America with $1 million to $10 million in net worth — are setting the pace for innovation in new and fascinating ways. Although the word “millionaire” may conjure up images of first-class lifestyles and financial peace of mind, middle-class millionaires work exceptionally long hours to maintain their expensive lifestyles and most think of themselves as just plain “middle class.”

Though the working wealthy share many of their values with the rest of the middle class, they also exhibit traits that set them apart. For example, they consider themselves to be influential in their community. They are 50 percent more likely to say that they “tell lots of other people about products or services they like” than middle-class survey respondents. They also report “being asked for advice on what to buy” five times more often than our middle-class survey respondents.

I encourage you to read the whole article – you’ll find the information to be helpful in your marketing planning and of interest to your clients, as well.

It’s happened before, but never with this much fanfare or attention.  eBay is feuding with its customers again.

I must admit, I have an interest in this fight.  It’s my wife.  She sells stuff on eBay.  But she’s not as hot as some of the “Power Sellers” who have called for a boycott of eBay February 18-25 to protest the online auction service’s new policies on rates, release of payment through PayPal and (most controversaly) significant changes to its rules on feedback left by sellers about buyers.

Now Money Magazine is wading into the fray with an article and a post on YouTube asking for disgruntled eBayers to contact them for interviews (note: the post requesting contact from disgruntled eBay sellers was removed overnight Sunday evening). (more…)