Reading Time: 6 minutesKeith Yamashita started it – companies and brands finding their northern star. At least, that’s where we first heard it. The term isn’t astronomical, it’s aspirational. Your north star purpose is an ideal of your company or brand that burns bright in front of you and your staff, that leads you on, that fires you […]
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Perspectives
Every pricing strategy needs a story
Reading Time: 8 minutesThe temptation is to see story as a luxury item: something that brands implement to lift their margin. There’s nothing wrong with that of course – it’s powerful and it works. But we don’t think that story is just a top-end nice-to-have. Our view is that most brands, no matter where they are positioned in […]
Finding your brand mandate
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhat gives you the right to sell a product/service at margin today? It’s easy to assume you have a brand mandate. Or that you deserve one. But what is your brand doing to earn/retain the mandate it wants/has?
Brand affinity: 10 ways to build a truly likeable brand
Reading Time: 4 minutesMost 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 […]
Brand erosion starts small
Reading Time: 2 minutesBrand erosion often begins with something invisible to the human eye. A little change of feeling.
Choose an emergent strategy
Reading Time: 4 minutesDo 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: < 1 minuteBrands need to inspire, because that optimistic prognosis of what lies ahead holds real opportunities in terms of engaging and involving people. Belief humanises brands. Which is why every brand must dream. Optimism aligns directly with our worldview. In other words, what we look forward to is a world that is most like the world […]
Look for seven R’s in your brand strategy
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhat 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 minutesWe 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 how you go about building a cult brand. So here’s the first three secrets: Cult brands are evasive Make […]
Different types of customer stickiness
Reading Time: 3 minutesBrand 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.
How your product brand can gain an emotional advantage
Reading Time: 3 minutesJust 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: 3 minutesWhen 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.