Reading Time: 2 minutesIn a market filled with possibilities, there is power and focus in constraint. I pressed this point home recently in a discussion on why brands can’t just continue to add to their visual language. The argument I was getting – we need an extended palette to show the diversity of what we do and to […]
Latest Posts
Perspectives
Why context is crucial before changing your brand
Reading Time: 3 minutesIt’s tempting to see a struggling brand or business as one mass of people, and to believe that underperformance is spread evenly across the organisation. That’s seldom the case.
10 powerful brand leadership strategies
Reading Time: 4 minutesMarketers often talk about brand leadership as if it is one thing. But there are many different brand leadership strategies that a brand can use to distinguish itself in a marketplace. The critical decision for brand owners is deciding how you will lead and why that will work.
Cutting through as a brand
Reading Time: 3 minutesMarketers are under enormous pressure to get cut-through. Thing is – where’s the cut off point? How do you decide whether the claims you’re making are justified and how do you know you have pushed the boat out too far? Putting aside the legal considerations (not my space), here are four simple ways to filter […]
Pacing your brand revolution
Reading Time: 4 minutesJust as brands reflect the business they are part of, so they must systemically modify how they operate to reflect technological and systemic changes in the business.
20 questions for activist brands
Reading Time: 3 minutesAs more brands seek to engage in what Denise Yohn has referred to as the “cultural conversations” of today, they encounter reactions ranging from strong endorsement to cynicism about their motives. Starbucks, for example, hit turbulence with its Race Together campaign. (There’s an excellent analysis of why here.) Levis on the other hand seems to […]
New brand conversations
Reading Time: 4 minutesNice piece on the Adidas campaign (thanks for sharing, Dan Ball) draws attention to the need for brands to shift from talking up their products to talking with their customers about the things that matter to them. In this case Adidas puts Luis Suarez out-front and uses the occasion to start a discussion on people’s […]
Are you managing a deceptive brand?
Reading Time: 4 minutesWe all want to do best by the brands we work for. We want them to be competitive, to gain share, to win … But in the bid to make that happen, some brands push the boundaries too far. Here are 19 signs your brand has lost sight of the truth.
Are corporate brands dead?
Reading Time: 5 minutesRecently Jan Rijkenberg raised some interesting points in an article (thanks Jeremy) in which he questioned the importance, indeed the relevance, of underpinning individual brands with the identities of their corporate owners. It does brands no favours, he suggests, to collectivise them as part of the bigger entity. In so doing, he maintains, they lose […]
Putting truth back into your brand
Reading Time: 2 minutesSo you’ve looked long and hard at how your brand is managed, and it’s clear that the truth has been allowed to slip. If you no longer want to be managing a deceitful brand, how do you find a way back?
Follow the brand insights
Reading Time: 3 minutesAt his presentation at The Un-Conference, Chris Wren included this deceptively simple observation: “Follow the insights,” he suggested, “Wherever they may lead”. I was struck immediately by the extent to which brands don’t. Too often it seems research functions as something of a confirmation bias – reinforcing beliefs that are already deeply held.
Purpose questions for entrepreneurs
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI talk with Jeffrey Charles about the role of purpose for entrepreneurs in an article for Small Business Trends. Hope you enjoy.