Putting the Brand Name in Its Right Place

Companies are often preoccupied with the task of choosing a name for a brand. It can be a delicate task with different considerations to make (e.g., cognitive, legal, cultural). However, there are three basic requirements that a brand name must hold to at the outset: being memorable, having a sound pleasant to the ear, and… Read More

Retailing From the Viewpoint of Young Bright Talents in Design

It is the 13th year in a row that VMSD magazine (Visual Merchandising & Store Design) publishes its annual list of winners of the Designer Dozen award (March 2025). The young designers chosen (age 35 and under) are considered the best and brightest designers in retail in their generation. The 12 designers specialise in interior… Read More

Some Fresh Ideas Towards Multidisciplinary Marketing Thinking & Research

It would be wrong to treat marketing as an isolated field or discipline. It is connected with disciplines of management and economics, the social sciences, mathematics and statistics, and more. In the past twenty years we have seen its growing interaction with digital technology and neuroscience. Marketing has evolved through learning from other disciplines, borrowing… Read More

Ambivalent Times for Watches

The global market for watches is fluctuating amid shifts in macroeconomic conditions, technological developments, and thereof adaptive changes in consumer preferences. This situation seems to put under strain particularly the Swiss watch industry. The compromising situation for the Swiss watchmakers has been evolving for some time now, at least since 2015, affecting the revenues from… Read More

The Issues Troubling Consumers, and Their Search for Answers

For a fifth year in a row, consumers worldwide are living in an era that can be closely described as very busy, oftentimes turbulent, and full of challenges. It is an unstable era. The events or developments of this era, explicitly or through their consequences, touch on multiple areas: health-oriented, economic, political, socio-cultural, and technological.… Read More

Jelmoli Prepares for a New but Different Chapter in Its Retailing Legacy

Jelmoli is a Swiss department store in Zürich well-known to residents and visitors of the city. Last year (2023) the retail brand celebrated “190 Years of Jelmoli” with the tagline “Full of Stories” (e.g., posted on the store’s front windows). However, this celebration also marks in all likelihood a conclusion of its function as a… Read More

Dual Meanings Embedded in Creative Logo Designs

Creative designs that can reveal something beyond what is initially perceived and reaslised intrigue viewers and attract them to the object of design (e.g., image of brand logo): implicit visual information, hidden meanings, a puzzle or metaphor. Inspiring designs can improve memorability of the brand and strengthen a positive brand attitude. However, the designed image… Read More

Globus: A Department Store Changes Its Face

A visitor returning to the flagship department store of the Swiss chain GLOBUS in central Zurich after a long absence is headed for a surprise. The visiting shopper is about to encounter on entry a completely different landscape — bright and flashy, with a large avenue stretching from the front entrance (on Bahnhofstrasse) to the… Read More

Marketing-Driven Financial Valuation of Brands

Assessments of the monetary value of brands has long interested and motivated the management of firms, and their investors. From a business perspective, the financial value is a preferred measure of brand equity or return-on-investment in brands. But a brand is a marketing-driven and consumer-based entity, and hence one cannot detach the financial value of… Read More