Michel Hogan, Author at SmartCompany

Elon Musk speaking

Rebranding is always a risk, but Musk’s X move has blowtorched Twitter

Maybe Elon Musk is writing a script for a movie called ‘How To Make $44 Billion Disappear’. And in the latest scene, the bad guy takes a blo…

french connection fcuk rebranding

What’s in a name? A brand expert on FCUK Australia’s rebranding

Independent brand expert Michel Hogan shares her thoughts on French Connection, or FCUK's new name.

pwc fines

Opinion: PwC appears to have an unusual definition of integrity

When PwC consultants decided to share confidential government tax policy with other clients, they shredded their promises, mocked their values and landed PwC in the crosshairs of the federal police.

puffery

Entrepreneurial chickens are coming home to roost. What’s going on?

Overpromising and puffery can all too quickly flip into a mosh pit of self-delusion and fraud.

These four simple things can increase the value of your brand

Start doing these simple things today and over the next year and watch the value stored in your brand overflow.

Patagonia Melbourne

Patagonia’s next act: Make Earth its only shareholder

Last week, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard announced his family was giving the whole company to planet Earth.

airlines-mandate-vaccines-employees qantas

How Qantas traded its reputation for a bump to its bottom line

Stories of Qantas' broken promises abound from stranded passengers, cancelled flights, lost luggage and impossibly long check-in queues.

april fools' day

Planning an April Fools’ Day prank? You probably shouldn’t

It bewilders me why organisations without a funny bone feel like they can come from nowhere and stick the landing at the start of April, writes Michel Hogan.

Powershop

Powershop’s acquisition by Shell shows the risk of making promises that aren’t yours to keep

Companies considering new owners would do well to ask: what promises have we made and will this break them?

Mark Zuckerberg Facebook meta threads

Changing its name won’t solve Facebook’s image problems

Changing the corporate name is a go-to move for companies when the going gets tough. It also rarely works.

Theranos

Gone in a puff: Lessons of Theranos and its lying promises

The story of Theranos and its lies is indicative of a particular kind of 'puffery' that can be found in the startup world.

No one ever made a ‘best of’ brand list by following what others do

There might be lessons you can take from what other brands do and how they do it. But only you can figure out what you stand for.

Page 1 of 32