All posts by Julie Legrand

American Airlines’ Rebranding Effort

By on January 17, 2013 in Branding with No Comments

AA-Logo1A for Effort, B for Execution

Back in my management consulting days with Ernst & Young, I spent a lot of time with my butt in the seat of many airlines. And one of my least favorite, but most frequently traveled was American Airlines. It’s always boggled the mind how American was one of the carriers that succeeded, while more progressive airlines failed. Sure the service sucked, but don’t they all now? But AA never even bothered to try to modernize their branding and marketing (at least not in my lifetime), while all the other airlines, at least have paid some attention to it by upgrading their planes, brands, messaging, etc.  Read more…

Note to Instagram: Don’t Always Trust Your Lawyers

By on December 18, 2012 in Product Marketing with No Comments

insta-300x300

Big Oops at Instagram

My Twitter and Face book feeds are filled with folks who are up-in-arms over yet another internet privacy controversy, namely the new Instagram Terms of Use statement.   Now I don’t think anyone wants to prevent the folks at Instagram from making money, but the “Rights” section of this new policy does come across as a bit seedy.

So what’s the real issue here? Read more…

Jumping on the Agile Marketing Bandwagon

By on October 26, 2012 in Agile Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Product Marketing with No Comments


I attended the first ever SF Agile Marketing meetup the other night to learn about this new concept in marketing. Listened to Kirstin Falk,  President @redbricksmedia, Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, CMO @mindjet and Paul Willard, CMO @atlassian share how they are using Agile Marketing in there organizations. Read more…

Pretty Piggy – Logo Design Tips and Tricks

By on October 10, 2012 in Branding, Design, Startups with No Comments

I’m not a huge fan of sites such as 99 Designs and Logo Tournament, in part because I’ve often been asked to put some lipstick on some pretty ugly pigs my clients got through these services. Cutting corners on the branding front early on can be much more costly in the long run.

That said, I think it’s possible to get a professional design done cheaply if you understand how to get the most out of these designers. Check out a recently workshop I did for the Women’s Initiative (a very cool organization that supports women entrepreneurs) that will help you learn how to do it yourself. Hopefully you’ll have a pretty piggy. Read more…

Perfecting the Art of the Pitch

By on July 24, 2012 in Branding, Startups with No Comments


Ahh – my favorite topic- the pitch. I heard a great article on NPR’s Morning Edition about how the NewME Accelerator is helping startups perfect their pitch. In the piece, Amy Standen talks about how the “pitch is everything”. It’s how you sell your company, how you create buzz and how you get investors. But lots of startups continue to really stink at this. Read more…

Beyond the “Why”

By on July 18, 2012 in Branding, Marketing Strategy, Startups with No Comments

I love Simon Sinek, but ….

… I fear some entrepreneurs are missing the boat on his “Getting to Why” message.  In his popular Tedx Talk,  Simon explains his philosophy of starting with Why, then explain How, and finally give the What. He gives the example of the inspired way Apple Computers presents itself to the world. Read more…

Cut the Crap

By on July 3, 2012 in Branding, Marketing Strategy, Startups with No Comments

Learning how to pitch from Science Fair Teens

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time at Tech Meetups in SF and the Silicon Valley and I’ve met lots of tech founders who really struggle with how to describe themselves. On my drive home from a meeting with several folks with particularly confusing elevator pitches last week, my faith in was rekindle while listening to Science Friday
 program featuring young science fair winners ranging from age 10 to 20. Read more…

Infographic Obsession – Day 8 Easel.ly

By on June 6, 2012 in Infographics with No Comments

Moving along on my Infographics Obsession. I never said the 30 days would be continuous days, as some of these tools are more complicated than you’d think. Easel.ly is just one of those tools that took some time to adjust to. After several days of start and give up, I finally was able to render an infographic using Easel.ly www.easel.ly.  I’d like to tell you that this is the solution, but it’s still very buggy, bit it definitely has potential. Read more…

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