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American Airlines has just rebranded for the first time in over 40 years. The AA logo of yore is gone, replaced by the Flight Symbol, a red and blue eagle crossed with a wing. And every plane will be tagged with a high-velocity abstraction of the American flag on its tail. There’s logic behind the decision: AA recently ordered 550 new planes. Many will have composite bodies that can’t be polished with the mirror shine of American’s existing fleet.

In approaching the redesign, American polled both their own employees about what defines the American brand (the answers were predominantly the planes’ silver fuselage and the eagle logo) and the larger globe about the American country (which is where tech, entertainment, and progress come in). What they were looking for was, not just what is American Airlines, but what is America in the age of globalization?

Futurebrand’s research also found that the American flag, of course, was another defining trait of America itself. The challenge was, how does American portray America without becoming blindly patriotic in the global market? The solution was a striped abstraction of our flag, augmented into a high-velocity graphic printed on each plane’s tail to make aircraft seem like they’re flying, even when they’re sitting still. In other words, they ditched the stars in favor of the stripes.

The most popular use of "360 campaign" is to define a marketing plan that is both online and offline, on social media, and more. It's a holistic promotion that truly covers all the bases

to be truly 360, a campaign would need to encompass everything — mobile, digital, television and social (until new mediums arrive, in which case the campaign would need to again expand).

Pick one person from each of your target audiences (e.g., working parents, college students or urban hipsters) and answer the following questions: What does he or she look like? What does he or she care about? Where does he or she work? What does he or she do for fun?

Traditional segmentation studies group people according to attitudes, needs and behaviors that relate to a specific product category. Tribal analytics complements segmentation studies, adding a layer of richness and dimension to them, by illuminating how people naturally self-organize into “tribes” based on shared values, interests, preferences and behaviors that transcend categories.

Tribal analytics was built on the premise that people aren’t fixed nodes. They evolve within a larger social ecosystem. Their values, preferences and behaviors shift as social and cultural norms do.

The God Squad – this large group is principally, but not exclusively, defined by it faith and belief in God. Land of the Free – they are an amalgam of the most traditional values of duty and responsibility, perseverance, simplicity, and optimism. The Happy Hedonists – optimistic and adventurous, this small but mighty tribe is chiefly characterized by its focus on material possessions. The Adventurists—rebellious and adventurous, members of this tribe love new challenges and energetic activities. Go With the Flow – Zen, balance, and leading a personally fulfilling life are their top priorities. The Dutifuls – this tribe includes people who are, above all, modest in everything they do. They place extra value on authenticity, honor, compassion, and trustworthiness. The Persistents – tribal members see themselves through the prism of dealing with life’s struggles, perseverance, the determination to move on, even against all odds.

when a user comes across your Twitter handle or Facebook feed, she doesn't suddenly transform into a "professional-only" mode that consumes, filters and reacts to content based 100% on her company and career. No, her professional persona may take center stage, but her entire thought process is also influenced by the less apparent parts of her personality: the fact that she's a parent, enjoys rock climbing, is coming off a rough week or lives in a city. As marketers, we need to embrace this fundamental nature of user behavior; namely, that people act, engage, and respond not solely as professionals, but as nuanced human beings.

If connection needs to take place at a human level, then our brands must also become human

Being a humanized brand means learning the art of authenticity. It means being genuine, being passionate about whatever it is your brand is and does. Just like in everyday life, people respond most to others who are perceptibly and consistently real. And that's why it's an art, not a formula. Authenticity, in the long run, can't be manufactured or faked.

Stengel defined five areas where brands can potentially carve out such a position: "eliciting joy, enabling connection, inspiring exploration, evoking pride or impacting society."

the decade of constructing the social layer is complete. The frameworks that we'll use to share socially are built, defined and controlled.

What's taking its place? The decade of games.

in this decade of games, these game dynamics will move far beyond your computer screen and into decidedly non-game like environments, like the way we court customers, engage with others at work, discover where to hang out on Saturday nights and what, when and how we choose to purchase.

When tone of voice is consistent it allows the consumer another means of recognizing the brand and being reassured of expectations.

"Language is available to each of us," argues John Simmons, brand language evangelist and writer of several books on the subject. "Design is seen as a specialist life skill you have to acquire. Poor old language gets devalued because everyone does that, don't they?"

If a company's staff doesn't speak, write or behave in line with what the customer has been led to expect, then he will feel let down.