Author Archives: Nila Nealy

About Nila Nealy

Nila is the principal of TwentyTwo, a business consultancy specializing in brand strategy, identity, and communications. TwentyTwo helps businessess inspire and excite their people, interest and influence prospects, make meaningful connections with their customers, and purse profit with purpose. Learn more about Nila at LinkedIn or my web site.

Masterful Branding: West Baden

Posted on by Nila Nealy
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My husband, the fabulous and talented creative director Steve Nealy (shameless plug), and I spent a few days this week at the historic West Baden Springs Hotel in southern Indiana. Let me say before I get into the meat of this that if you live within a drive (or even beyond) of this hotel and the rest of the French Lick Springs Resort and haven?t seen it (or even if you have), you should make a visit. It is gorgeous. As a marketer and brand strategist, I was most impressed … Continue reading →

Where is Email Communications Headed?

Posted on by Nila Nealy
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I have fallen into a rather nasty habit of putting some emails aside for action for a month or more. I have a triage system for incoming emails. If they don’t require my immediate attention or action within a period of time to avoid pain of some sort, I just let them sit. Maybe that’s a bad thing. Or maybe not. This whole topic got me musing with a friend (victim of my “waiting period”) about how the use or purpose (or both) of email is shifting. I have no … Continue reading →

Consumer New Media Usage Study Released

Posted on by Nila Nealy
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A headline this morning on a press release about the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study reads, “Four-out-of-Five New Media Users Interact with Companies and Brands Online, up 32% from 2008.” This isn’t so much shocking news as it is confirmation of what we marketers already logically believe. If you’re online, you probably want to interact with the brands you’re buying in some way. Mike Hollywood, Cone`s director of new media, is quoted in the release, “There is still an opportunity for forward-thinking companies to establish a presence and earn … Continue reading →

Newsflash: Strategy is Still Important

Posted on by Nila Nealy
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Lately I?ve been overhearing a lot of conversations about marketing that sound more like ?FIRE!? than ?Ready. Aim. Fire!? I know budgets are tight and some marketers are feeling a bit desperate. But please, do yourself a favor and remember the strategy behind the tactics with which you so enthusiastically charge forward. If you haven?t for a while, I highly recommend that you revisit your macro strategy at some level. Ask yourself some questions such as the following: Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we do? … Continue reading →

Single-Tasking Tools

Posted on by Nila Nealy
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Douglas Karr must have been tapping into my brain when he wrote How to Single-Task. I’ve been thinking a lot about this whole multi-tasking thing, about how constant hopping from tidbit to tidbit and doing more than one task at once feels like it’s actually robbing me of time (and making me feel kind of stupid). When I’m writing reports, blog posts or strategy documents, I let the flotsam and jetsam of my MacBook Pro’s dock and screen distract me a tad too much. Just yesterday, my fellow Certified Brand … Continue reading →

Twitter Brand Faux Pas

Posted on by Nila Nealy
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There?s this one guy on Twitter who unfollows and follows me on what seems like a weekly basis. I think he believes that I?ll suddenly follow him (since I haven?t the last 27 times he?s tried.). He must imagine that I?ve automated my account or that I?m a sheep that will click ?follow? on anyone who follows me. I didn?t follow him back the first time because I looked at his timeline and saw nothing of direct value to me. It’s not that he was saying anything bad or that … Continue reading →