Practical guides on marketing strategy, measurement and growth.

Written for founders and marketing leads who want to know what’s working in their marketing, and what to fix first. New here? Start with the marketing audit guide.

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Lululemon Brand Check-up: Growing Abroad, Stalling at Home

Lululemon closed at $214.04 on July 29, 2025, 58% below its record. Our check-up on falling Americas comparable sales, tariffs and the June profit cut.
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How to Write a Value Proposition Buyers Believe

Most value propositions describe the company instead of the result. How to write one from customer evidence, with proof that makes buyers believe it.
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Hudson’s Bay Brand Check-up: The Stripes Outlived the Stores

Hudson’s Bay closed all 96 Canadian stores by June 1, 2025. We diagnose why shoppers left, how debt and deals drained it, and why its stripes still sold.
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Target Brand Check-up: When a Brand Promise Changes

Our check-up on Target after its January 2025 DEI changes: the boycotts that followed, first-quarter traffic and comparable sales declines, and the share price.
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Distinctive Brand Assets: Be Recognized Before You Are Read

If buyers cannot tell an ad is yours at a glance, it may help a competitor. How to choose, test and protect your distinctive brand assets.
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Rite Aid Brand Check-up: Two Bankruptcies in Under Two Years

Our check-up on Rite Aid: a distant third to CVS and Walgreens, opioid claims, an FTC facial-recognition ban, two Chapter 11 filings and a pharmacy sell-off.
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Tesla Brand Check-up: When the Founder Becomes the Brand

Tesla's Q1 2025 deliveries fell 13%, its EU registrations fell 46% as the EV market grew, and its reputation rank slid to 95th. A check-up on founder risk.
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Category Entry Points: How Buyers Remember Your Brand

Buyers do not think of brands in a vacuum. They think of them in situations. How to find your category entry points and link your brand to them.
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23andMe Brand Check-up: When Trust Is the Product

We review 23andMe after its March 2025 Chapter 11 filing: a test most people buy once, a breach that reached 6.9 million people, and a brand that lost trust.
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Competitor Analysis: What to Look For and What to Ignore

Studying rivals should reveal gaps, not a copy list. A practical competitor analysis: what to gather, which free tools to use and what to ignore.
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Forever 21 Brand Check-up: A Price Promise It Could Not Keep

Forever 21's U.S. operator filed Chapter 11 on March 16, 2025, with $1.58 billion in debt. We diagnose the price, store and partnership mistakes behind it.
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BlackBerry Brand Check-up: The Name Outlived the Phone

BlackBerry went from 19.9% of smartphone sales in 2009 to 0.0% in late 2016. Our check-up asks what the name means now that QNX and security carry it.
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