Coke’s the real thing. (So much so, they sell bottled water.) Everyone loves Google. (Or used to.) Everyone loves Apple. (Except all the folks who don’t.) Everyone’s crazy about Starbucks. (Except for tea drinkers, Peet’s fans, fans of small business, and so on.)



Besides being insanely popular and having detractors, what do these brands have in common? Well, not much—except they all rank at or near the top of Interbrand’s list of the world’s most valuable brand by brand… Continue

Today's NY Times reports on something I saw first-hand in Shanghai and Beijing: the Year of the Tiger got off to an early start and the Central Bank is trying to cool things down a bit. Continue

On this trip, Cate and I will be visiting a variety of cities--from Beijing to Bangkok, Cairo to Dubai, London to Mumbai--to do market research for a top global brand. Continue

Field observation is an essential component of any serious market research project, particularly in emerging markets, but it’s usually overlooked by agencies. Now, you may not have a budget for field work but if you can squeak in a trip to an emerging market I want to give you a DIY tool set you can use to get some basic understandings of the market you're interested in.

Why do market research at all? Because you don’t…

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