Before I get this blog going properly here's an article I wrote for Marketing magazine in February.
They approached me to comment on Dell's brand, or lack of...

I worked on and was responsible with my writer and account team for growing the Dell account at CDP Travis Sully from a £2 million spend to a £4 million spend between 1998 and 2002.
In that time Dell in the UK went from number the 4 PC manufacturer to number 2. However, although the sales of Dell during that time where excellent Dell themselves were not interested in building their brand, despite many efforts on our part and various US agencies.

Dell’s belief was simple, cut out the middle man. They could have been selling soap powder, which is fine as long as you beat everyone else for power/speed or value.
Since the time I worked on the account Dell has faced increasingly steep competition, from cheaper Asian PC manufacturers such as China's Lenovo, and from innovative rivals such as Apple. They are now competing in a market place where tablets and smart phones are taking over from desktops and laptops.

Michael Dell is a brilliant business man, but if he gets control of his company back now there’s a big challenge facing him.
I feel there was a missed opportunity to build the brand values up over the years, we only have to look at  Apple to see the value of a super brand.

Dell now have a blank sheet to work from. No brand loyalty and an aging product portfolio means they need to re-invent themselves, (Hepworth's morphing into Next?)
and create a brand that means something to today’s generation.

A tough ask, but a challenge we would enjoy.