Reading Time: 5 minutesThere’s a discretion to being articulate that often gets missed. At a time when AI in particular means you could talk about anything, what will your brand’s talking points be? So many brands seem to get the balance between under-share and over-share wrong. They either make no effort to engage sincerely and effectively (preferring to […]
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Perspectives
8 questions to test your brand culture principles
Reading Time: 3 minutesUltimately, the evolution of brand culture revolves around consequences – good and bad. Every reaction to every behaviour is a signal to those involved and others that an action or attitude is unacceptable, tolerated or desirable. It’s also a powerful and simple way to test your brand culture principles. In an article in HBR some […]
Set your brand’s strategic direction with these three decisions
Reading Time: 5 minutesRobust brand strategy is responsive, taking its cues from a range of places that together provide a clear and simple map for what a brand needs to do to move forward. With so many ways you could go, here’s where we recommend you look to pinpoint what’s really needed to set your brand’s strategic direction. […]
Become an Articulate Company
Reading Time: 4 minutesIn a world bursting with content, the temptation for any brand storyteller is to give in to the machines. To leave it all to AI and the algorithms and succumb to the temptations of volume. Say lots. Say anything. Just keep talking. But that’s not how you become an articulate company. Content is important of […]
Aligning your strategy and your principled culture
Reading Time: 4 minutesEvery strategy needs the right culture to deliver it. Through our Principled Culture approach, we look to close the gap between what the culture needs to be in order to succeed and what people need in order to thrive. We do that by aligning your strategy and your Principled Culture. A key driver for us […]
A Brand Change Response Framework for leaders facing change
Reading Time: 5 minutesWithout exception, a brand strategy is a response to a change somewhere in the business. But choosing which aspects of change to act on, and those to ignore or deprioritise, is critical to successful strategy, given that everyone is operating on limited resources. To resolve this, we’ve developed a Brand Change Response Framework where we […]
How to turn your brand into a storyworld
Reading Time: 4 minutesAssociative memory studies show that brands that are closely connected with a product struggle to get beyond line extensions, but brands that are connected with an idea can go wherever that idea allows them to go. A storyworld is a powerful way for a brand to build and expand an intriguing mythology that goes beyond […]
How do you measure effectiveness in a principled culture?
Reading Time: 4 minutesMuch of the prevailing discourse suggests a brand’s culture happens as the sum result of how people choose to collectively behave. That sounds somewhat haphazard. A principled culture is about grounding those dynamics so they are much more intentional. While everyone agrees that key indicators act as measures of cultural change and the means to […]
How to decide if you need a brand strategy
Reading Time: 4 minutesYou have a brand, whether you realise it or not. It may not be the brand you want, or even the one you thought you were – but it is a brand, nevertheless. It represents how you are understood by the market, buyers and your own people. To consciously change or build that understanding, you’ll […]
What does it take to be a brand storyteller?
Reading Time: 4 minutes“Storytelling” is the new panacea. But when every brand has a story, and many of the stories are interchangeable, none of those stories matter. It takes more than that to be a brand storyteller. Being articulate as a brand is actually an artful science. Say too little and you risk being talked-over and seen-past. But […]
Stepping up to a Principled Culture
Reading Time: 4 minutesCulture change models, in our view, are best achieved by the right mix of emotions, intent and order. Emotions, because they are such powerful motivators for change. Intent, because everyone wants to know where they’re going. And order, because structure brings surety. Stepping up to a Principled Culture is no exception. Fit is the f […]
11 elements to include in your brand strategy framework
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe goal of a robust brand strategy framework is to bridge now and an agreed point or points in the future. Without this reference it is too easy to get distracted and sidetracked. A successful brand strategy acts as a roadmap for cultural alignment, for long-term storytelling, for investment and for divestment. Your brand strategy […]