PRBreakfastClub

Over the last weekend, I visited our great state’s State Fair. By many accounts, it’s the best state fair in the country (take THAT Iowa!).

While our family had a blast eating greasy, fried food, hitting the Giant Slide and sitting on virtually every tractor on “Machinery Hill” (my son LOVES tractors), I spent a bit of time observing how companies are positioning themselves and activating their brands at the fair. Each year, one vendor seems to draw my attention–this year it was the good folks at Culligan (last year, I talked about John Deere’s opportunities).

Now, this post is not intended to be one of those “throw-the-company-under-the-bus” posts, but instead a larger analysis of a much bigger issue: The irrelevance of company values to external audiences.

Culligan does a lot of things right at the State Fair. First and foremost, they give away a lot of free water. But as I browsed their booth, one thing immediately stood out for me: They posted their corporate values right in the booth. Read the rest of this entry »