Investing and Global Finance News

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Neil Cole on the Difference Between Brand and Label

Neil Cole transformed the business world for more than four decades. As a trailblazing branding executive, he revolutionized the licensing industry and reconceptualized how retail and brands target an audience.

Neil Cole Brand vs Label

As part of his branding innovation, Neil Cole founded Iconix, a company specializing in brand management with licensing rights to top names in fashion and footwear. Cole’s thought leadership in this industry has revolutionized the way the business understands its products and customers. In the ever-changing industry of branding and consumerism, he offered these insights on the difference between a brand and a label:

Neil Cole – Brands lead, Labels follow

Neil Cole Brand vs Label

According to Neil Cole, brands generate opportunities for their followers; they actively design better lives for customers. Brands want consumers to fashion (pun intended) new and better lives for themselves; they want to clients to reimagine who they are, what they do, and how they live. Brands set an example for consumers: by being different, demonstrating excellence, and creatively disrupting saturated industries.

Brands are real and timeless, Labels come and go

Neil Cole defined a brand as the images that come to mind when you say a name. “It means something,” said Cole. The constant labeling of products is inferior to smart, everlasting branding. But brands must also be kept relevant, fresh, and exciting. A brand’s history and longstanding position in any industry are important, but so is a brand’s novelty. Neil Cole warned if a historic brand doesn’t actively remain up-to-date, it will ultimately fail.

Brands guide us on a journey, Labels follow

Neil Cole Brand vs Label

When Cole founded Iconix Brand Group, he knew that a properly formed brand leads consumers on an exceptional adventure. Whether a thrilling journey or self-serenity and all the possible places in between, branding breaks the mold. It wants to take loyal fans and curious consumers on an unforgettable journey—a quest that is simultaneously fascinating, life-changing, and different.

Labels, on the other hand, do not offer anything new or inspiring. They take up space in a stockroom. Brands are what bring labels to stores and into shopping carts. A brand is how consumers perceive a product, their take on quality, prestige, and performance, while a label is an informative tag attached to said product. Ultimately, according to Neil Cole, old and new businesses alike must remember these distinctions when defining themselves in any industry.

BIDs to the Rescue

New York City’s BIDs (Business Improvement Districts) and neighborhood organizations are a pivotal lifeline for local shops and stores. The BIDs take on the lion’s share of street cleaning, marketing campaigns, and publicity. The tragic economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic have only heightened the need for BIDs. They are helping businesses stay open, advocating… Continue Reading

Social Media Steps in to Rescue New York City Bookshop

Social Media Steps in to Rescue New York City Bookshop

The Strand, New York’s most legendary bookstore, is breathing a sigh of relief, for now.  In late October, Nancy Bass Wyden, the third-generation owner, turned to social media as a last ditch effort to keep from permanently closing Strand’s doors. A typical day sees about 300 web orders; the influx of online orders following Wyden’s… Continue Reading

Jayme Albin Helps You Plan a Gradual Return to Normal for Kids

Jayme Albin Helps You Plan a Gradual Return to Normal for Kids

New York and many other states have lifted the strict lockdown restrictions. After spending months “trapped” indoors, many families are trying to figure out how to transition out of quarantine and resume a new normal in the shadows of the coronavirus. Author, psychologist, and therapist, Dr. Jayme Albin, offers advice on helping kids face these… Continue Reading

A New York Company Surviving Its 2nd Pandemic

A New York Company Surviving Its 2nd Pandemic

Eastman Machine Company in Buffalo makes fabric-cutting machines. It is a fourth generation family owned business that has weathered its fair share of crises. Over the course of the company’s 132-years history has unfolded: World War I, the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the Great Depression and World War II. The company’s equipment is used… Continue Reading

Budgeting in a Crisis: Dos and Don’ts

Budgeting in a Crisis: Dos and Don’ts

It may seem strange to suggest a budget overhaul at a time of so much uncertainty. But that is exactly when these kinds of changes can be most beneficial and impactful. In general, many regular expenses have ceased to be a concern during the corona pandemic. There are virtually no restaurant meals, mani-pedis, or gym… Continue Reading

Bicycle Shops: A NYC Essential Business

While most of New York City’s businesses have ceased or slowed operations during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Mayor de Blasio designated bike shops as an essential business allowed to remain open. More people have taken up cycling as their transportation method of choice, rather than risk infection on subways and buses. For these commuters, cycling… Continue Reading

Using Tech to Breath Better

Residents in the tri-state area can take a deep- and clean(er)- breath in the coming year. OpenAQ is making sure of that! The open-source platform gathers air quality data from governments and international organizations in one site; it is all free and accessible to everyone. It is also cultivating a community of activists, scientists, and… Continue Reading

NYC Companies Merge to create Wall Street’s largest woman- and minority-owned firm

The merger of the Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co. and the Williams Capital Group investment banks are merging to form Wall Street’s largest woman- and minority-owned firm. The new entity will be led by Chief Executive Suzanne Shank, who is describing the move as a merger of equals. Shank is the only African-American woman to run a… Continue Reading

Are Hedge Funds Still Profitable?

While there have unquestionably been some negative yields indicating poor hedge fund performance, the word on the street is that some of this is, “misleading.” According to Legal & General Investment Management head of asset allocation, Emiel van den Heiligenberg: “There are ways of making money from it.”  The question is, how?  Outside of Europe, hedge fund… Continue Reading