I couldn't agree more with Laura Ries in her article about Starbucks diluting its brand by venturing into the fast food market.

"It's the same old story. A company narrows its focus and becomes a big brand and a big success. Then it gets arrogant, cocky and greedy and decides it can take over the world and be all things to everybody. Wrong.

When will company leaders learn? Starbucks is a strong coffee brand because its brew packs a powerful punch. Dilute the thing with too much water and you'll end up with a lousy brand and a terrible cup of coffee."

What Laura goes on to say, and where I can chime in once again, is that Dunkin Donuts has to focus on the "fast" in order to win. Being that they were just acquired and have started using the new tagline, "America Runs on Dunkin'", I don't think they are really on the right strategy. But we shall see.

Given, I'm not a big fan of Dunkin Donuts to begin with (another discussion entirely), I really do agree with the notion that Dunkin' needs to position itself as the opposite in order to create radical differentiation in the market.

An interesting story about an industry giant trying to embrace a big challenge, in response to the rumors flying around about GM going into bankruptcy. This industry analysts are saying its due to lack of differentiation in the market, in a market saturated by well thought out and executed brand awareness campaigns.

"When tone of voice is consistent it allows the consumer another means of recognizing the brand and being reassured of expectations. Unfortunately, many brands don't have a consistent tone of voice, or their tone is not considered when aligning the communication aspects of the brand. Even brands that have crafted a tone of voice for external communications or advertising have done shockingly little to promote or encourage usage of that tone internally."

A VERY interesting read from the ever knowledgeable InterBrand, over at Brandchannel. If you don't already know about this resource, keep digging – its all gold.

President Bush has an iPod? I wonder what's on it. iPod One, as it is dubbed... has no black artists, no gay artists, no world music, only one woman, and no genre less than 25 years old— not even The Beatles. Looks like this "mirror to the soul" is reflecting in a silo.

Meanwhile, I am anticipating the release of Backpack so that I can finally send reminders to myself through mobile devices. It seems as of late, people are finally getting with the program and creating apps that people actually want to use. (Be careful, competition is on it's way...And others are stumbling onto new uses for apps that weren't even considered... Take this guy for example, who combined the newly released Google Maps with craigslist listings. Beautiful. Not that I'm counting, but there's 16 days until I can have Tiger- as if I haven't been chomping at the bit for months. Oh, the marketing ploys we endure...

Speaking of marketing, there's a forward thinking article by Steve Rubel on Tagvertising that is a future opportunity for companies wanting to jump ahead of the competition. And as if one could not say it enough, much like the MTV bling bling short - people are finally realizing the over- and mis-use of the word Brand. It's a buzzword that I don't appreciate ignorami using, and usually get a slight twitch when I hear it at Starbucks.

For all you print designers, Sheriar Press has put together a PDF of standard folding diagrams, good as a reference for measurement (especially for beginners) but not quite as quick as the templates on Designer's Toolbox.

Side Note: If you're between naps at work and you'd like your mind messes with slightly, visit setaki for an interesting take on a catalog site.