Reading Time: 4 minutes Most brands would say they want to be as popular as possible, and many of them would see social media as a way to achieve that. But as David McInnis commented: “You can have all the social pieces in place but doing so does not make you likeable. Most companies that have a social strategy […]
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Perspectives
Brand erosion starts small
Reading Time: 2 minutes Brand erosion often begins with something invisible to the human eye. A little change of feeling.
Choose an emergent strategy
Reading Time: 4 minutes Do you remember when you were a child the first time someone made you a paper plane? If your recollection is anything like ours, you couldn’t believe how it left your hand and made its way across the room. Before long though, it lost height and velocity, and fell to the floor. Your strategy may […]
Every brand must dream
Reading Time: 2 minutes Positivity comes with benefits if this article on the optimism bias is anything to go by. While, collectively, our view of the future can swing in synch with the news, the budget or the crime stats, a 2007 study found that 76% of respondents were optimistic about the future for their own family. According to […]
Look for seven R’s in your brand strategy
Reading Time: 2 minutes What should you be looking for in a strong brand strategy? A great brand strategy combines ‘the logic and the magic’ – that mix of rational and emotive elements that, together, combine to give a brand engagement, connectedness and distinction. There are 7 factors to look for: the seven R’s in your brand strategy … […]
Building a cult brand: the first 3 secrets
Reading Time: 2 minutes We coined the term ‘cultrepreneur’ some years back to describe enterprising business people who consciously set about developing brands that are anti-scale, hard to find and fervently followed – cults. A number of people have asked me how you go about building a cult brand. So here’s the first three secrets: Cult brands are evasive […]
Different types of customer stickiness
Reading Time: 3 minutes Brand loyalty can look a lot like popularity. If people are buying what you offer, you must be doing something right, right? But people stay with brands for different reasons because there are different types of customer stickiness.
Taking your product from an option to a choice
Reading Time: 3 minutes Just getting a presence for your product in most markets can be hard work. A longer runway than anyone expects. A lot more patience required as well. Long days having to justify every metre of shelf space you’re allocated. And to what end? It’s hard work taking your product from an option to a choice. […]
Tell a story customers are inclined to believe
Reading Time: 2 minutes When was the last time you actually changed your mind? The hardest thing a brand can do is convince. To go against what people already believe and to ask them to believe something different. That’s why it makes so much sense to tell a story customers are inclined to believe.
Take a moment
Reading Time: 3 minutes Coming home from Sydney, Paul and I were talking about ‘moments of truth’. One of the great ironies, and frustrations, for many brands is that reputation must be built over years, but can be lost in a tiny fraction of that time – seconds. All because of an action or a word, a misunderstanding or […]
Renormalising
Reading Time: 3 minutes Brands are all about habits. But as this article in Time reminds us, sometimes the best thing a brand can look to do is to change a habit – even if they helped create the habit in the first place. Of course, brands tell themselves they do this all the time – but for many […]
We need to talk
Reading Time: 3 minutes What have you got to say for yourself? We were talking about this today as we discussed how and when a brand should best take a stand. Go hard or go soft? Soft. Taking a stand this way is about clearly and simply stating the things that you cherish and value as a brand, in […]