Brand Makeovers and PR Pointers

This week featured several major brand makeover announcements as well as some interesting and helpful marketing tips for PR practitioners. Here are some of my favorite finds:

Hello Dunkin', goodbye Donuts – Dunkin’ Donuts made its rebrand official on Tuesday, shrinking its name to just "Dunkin." Fun fact: the brand had been credited with popularizing the word "donut," instead of "doughnut," in the 1950s, according to Business Insider.

Weighing in on WW – Weight Watchers is no more as the company has rebranded as WW. It also is adopting a new tagline, "Wellness That Works," as it responds to changing views on healthy lifestyles. Think it’s a good move?

Say What?! – How do you decide which brand you’ll buy when selecting a new product or service? In a new study from Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin, respondents showed that personal connections matter more than ever when getting a product recommendation, and that younger consumers are especially swayed by word-of-mouth marketing.

Yowza! Scrabble Adds 300 Words – This week, the sixth edition of the Merriam-Webster Official Scrabble Players Dictionary dropped. Brace yourself, Scrabble fiends. More than 300 new words have been adopted, and the compilers have embraced some millennial mainstays like “twerk,” “emoji,” “yowza” and “listicle” and some long awaited gems: “OK” and “ew.”

Under the Influence - Did you know that tweets from influencers and brands combined can increase purchase intent by a factor of more than five? This infographic via PR Daily lists 10 key strategies you should consider to help elevate influencer marketing strategies and activate these influential advocates.