Brandjack News

News and commentary around the concept of brandjacking

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  • Martha has built 17 kitchens in Malawi. What had you done when you were 9?

    by Quentin Langley Time magazine seems to be struggling this year to find a Person of the Year. Unusually, there is no stand out candidate. This blog suggests they consider Martha Payne. That Martha has raised enough money to build 17 kitchens in Malawi, for people who would otherwise have no access to a hot…

  • Morning sickness and the constitution

    By Quentin Langley There are few countries in which a case of acute morning sickness can have constitutional implications, but for sixteen Commonwealth realms, that is the case today. Monarchy is, let's face it, a question of branding as much as the constitution. Hence its legitimate place in this blog. A head of state –…

  • Why are journalists so cowardly?

    By Quentin Langley Journalists never seem to challenge the sanctimonious posturing of Hacked Off – a campaign against press freedom supported by left-wing academics and celebrities who want the media to report the nice parts of their life and stop exposing their hypocrisy. Spokespeople for Hacked off appear in the media fairly frequently, but are…

  • Starbucks hit by UK tax controversy

    By Quentin Langley Starbucks is being heavily criticised by campaigners and the media over its UK tax position. The background is anti-austerity campaigners, UK Uncut, criticising wealthy individuals and businesses for structuring their finances in such a way as to minimise tax liability. This is compounded in the case of businesses by sloppy and biased…

  • Selling your brand values

    By Quentin Langley Celebrities who make their endorsement available to the highest bidder pretty soon won't have any bidders. The latest story of Oprah endorsing Microsoft Surface in a tweet sent via Twitter for iPad is embarrassing, but may or may not fall into this category. So far, there is no explanation. Does Oprah really…

  • FIVE degrees of separation – and the networking challenge

    By Quentin Langley The theory of six degrees is welll known, and has spawned the excellent game "six degrees of Kevin Bacon". Anyone who works in film or tv has a Bacon number. But, just for a moment, think about someone you know who is especially well-connected. Someone you think of as a great networker.…

  • Negative campaigning and defining your own brand

    By Quentin Langley Politics is an arena in which brands have always spent a great deal of time and money defining the brands of their rivals. In commerce, this is much rarer. While comparative advertising happens, outright negative campaigning in business is unusual. Perhaps this is why brandjacking so often takes businesses by surprise, and…

  • Jimmy Savile, karma and CSR

    By Quentin Langley "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones," said Shakespeare's Mark Anthony. According to the notion of karma, one is set against the other to produce a karmic balance.  If we accept, arguendo, that the allegations of serial rape and sex with under age…

  • Rebranding rape

    By Quentin Langley Two politicians on opposite sides of the Atlantic and of most political questions have decided to have a go at rebranding rape. George Galloway has declared that Julian Assange is innocent of the crime. He has not declared this on the basis that he thinks that there has been some case of…

  • BMW and sexist Olympic medals story

    By Quentin Langley Nine hours ago (at the time of writing) Olympic Gold medallist, Anna Watkins, said on the BBC's Newsnight that some male medallists are receiving BMWs and the women are not. Hmm. "Some" is the weasel word here. Some sports are much higher profile than others. So who are these "some" and from…