Dan Schawbel Interviews Susan Gunelius about Hugh Hefner, Playboy and Harry Potter

This week, I answered some questions posed to me by Dan Schawbel of Personal Branding Blog about my new book, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way, and my book about the Harry Potter brand, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon.

You can read the full interview on Dan’s blog and learn how Hugh Hefner, Playboy and Harry Potter are connected in terms of branding strategy.

Bet you never thought you’d hear that Playboy and Harry Potter can be compared to each other!

Here’s a brief excerpt from the interview:

Dan Schawbel: What branding lessons can we learn from Playboy and Harry Potter?

Susan Gunelius: I think the biggest similarity between the Playboy and Harry Potter brands is the importance of having a brand champion and brand guardian at the helm. Both Playboy and Harry Potter have two of the strongest brand champions and advocates leading the way — Hugh Hefner and J.K. Rowling. Both resolutely defend their brands just as much as they promote them.

Read the rest here.

Part 2 – Susan Gunelius Talks About the Playboy Brand and Her New Book

Part 2 of my interview with Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand is now available for you to listen to.  During the interview, Anna and I discuss my new book, which is coming out in the U.K. in September 2009 and in the U.S. in October 2009, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way. 

If you want a sneak peak inside the book’s content or just want to hear more about the Playboy brand and Hugh Hefner as the ultimate brand champion. visit the post announcing the interview on The Engaging Brand, which also provides a synopsis of the interview, or go directly to the The Engaging Brand podcast page and select the blue ’Play’ button near the center of the page on the left side.

If you missed Part 1 of the interview, you can get the details and links here.

Deb Ng of FreelanceWritingGigs.com Interviews Susan Gunelius

Deb Ng, owner of the most popular blog community for writers (Freelance Writing Jobs), interviewed me for a new series she’s publishing that tells the stories of writers who have achieved different levels and types of success. 

Deb is one of my favorite bloggers, so I was happy to be interviewed for the debut article in the new series.  Deb asked some great questions that I think can really help both writers and entrepreneurs as many of the steps I took to build my writing business can easily be applied to other businesses. 

You can read the complete interview here.  And while you’re there, take a few minutes to poke around Deb’s site!

Network Solutions Delivers Small Business Success Index

This month, I was asked to provide my responses to some questions about the new Small Business Success Index study developed by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. 

I’m happy to share the link to the interview here on KeySplash Creative Conversations.  You can follow the link to read my thoughts on the SBSI.  Following is a snippet from the interview:

Network Solutions: What did the study reveal to you about the success of small businesses in 2008?

Susan Gunelius: I was pleasantly surprised to learn that small businesses are doing better than one might think based on what we hear from the media.

Network Solutions: The study captured six dimensions for measuring success: Capital Access, Marketing and Innovation, Workforce, Customer Service, Computer Technology and Compliance. What do you think are the top priorities for making small businesses more competitive?

Susan Gunelius: Certainly, Capital Access is critical.  You know the old saying, “it takes money to make money.”  There’s a reason why those old sayings stick around for so long.  Also, Customer Service remains a top priority.  It generates positive word-of-mouth marketing, which is essential to small businesses and helps to position them against the competition, particularly larger companies with deeper pockets.  Together, Marketing and Computer/Technology are also important.  We’re in the age of social media, and leveraging technology and marketing via the tools of the social web is a significant differentiator.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Susan Gunelius Interviewed on Computer and Technology Radio on KTRB

Susan Gunelius was interviewed on KTRB Radio San Francisco’s show called Computer and Technology Radio hosted by Marc Cohen and Marsha Collier this week, and an audio file is now available online.  During the interview, Susan discussed her new book, Google Blogger For Dummies. 

You can follow the link to listen to Susan Gunelius on Computer and Technology Radio.

Brand Transparency – A Conversation with Alan Siegel of Siegel & Gale

Last week, I received a copy of Siegel & Gale’s report, “Siegel & Gale Simplicity Survey: A Clarion Call for Transparency.”  If you know anything about me, then you know that I am a big advocate of simple, clear and straightforward marketing messages and using common sense in marketing.  I’m anti-shock advertising and hard sales messages.  Consumers don’t have time to translate corporate rhetoric to try to figure out what you’re telling them.  If you don’t get your message across quickly, you’ve wasted your time and money.  Never has the need to be transparent been more crucial than it is during an economic downturn when consumers are actively searching for honest companies to do business with. 

Reading the report by Siegel & Gale put hard numbers around much of what I always preach to clients.  In short, consumers want simple language, honesty and clarity from brands.  After reading the report, I was lucky enough to secure a few minutes of Alan Siegel’s, Chairman and CEO of Siegel & Gale, time to talk about his position on simple and transparent marketing. 

I asked Alan what steps companies should take first to reposition themselves as transparent.  His response was to focus on the inside first.  In other words, policies must be set for developing clarity.  He indicated that much of the information companies provide to employees (and customers, for that matter) is self-serving with little personality. [Read more]