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Blog Posts by Giovanna Blackston Keren

February 2, 2023 —

A New Offering from Emotive: A Six-Week Diagnostic Engagement

    It’s a new year. Hopes are high, goals lofty, and expectations never greater. Is your team aligned with your vision? Are employees ready to execute as you hope they will? Are customers clear about who you are and what you can do for them? Let us help you find out with a six-week engagement conducted through the lens of brand, to assess emotional alignment across your leadership, employees and customers.      What we can do Assess alignment across a leadership team and identify areas for reconciliation Determine how employees are feeling about the company and the...
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Maintaining Brand Focus in December 2022: Some Brass Tacks Advice.

December 15, 2022 —

Maintaining Brand Focus in December 2022: Some Brass Tacks Advice.

The economy is shaky. Inflation is looming. A recession in late 2023 is a real possibility. Like the CEOs of the largest global companies, we’re concerned but not panicked. We’ve seen this movie before. And we have a few thoughts on how to keep the doom and gloom at bay.  Don’t abandon ship. This one’s a no-brainer. Brand-building has an outsized impact during uncertain times because people need brands that speak to their emotions. They need companions on the journey ahead. It doesn’t feel good when your companion goes quiet during tough times, and the same follows for your brand. Now is a...
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Too. Many. Choices. Yes, Over-Branding Is a Thing.

June 30, 2021 —

Too. Many. Choices. Yes, Over-Branding Is a Thing.

I walked into my favorite hair and body care store last week, looking for my usual hair product — you know, the one that protects hair before you heat-style it. I couldn’t remember the name of the product but I figured I’d easily recognize it once in the store. I couldn’t have been more wrong. As it turns out, the product I use is just one member of a family of products prone to over-branding that all have adjacent but different uses. The family has a common name but each sub-product has a distinct name to indicate its use. Easy, right? No, not easy. A knowledgeable and patient...
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Why It Pays to Aim High: Reflections on the Inauguration

January 21, 2021 —

Why It Pays to Aim High: Reflections on the Inauguration

I’ve not always been American. I moved to the United States at the age of 13, reluctantly at first, because who wants to move anywhere at age 13? But in a very short time, and especially by the time I started college, I was fully bought into the proposition of America. At the tender age of 17, my friends back in the UK were finishing their A-levels and already having to close the aperture on their future careers by declaring what they would study at University. I, on the other hand, was looking at a veritable smorgasbord of classes and majors offered by Barnard and Columbia Colleges—two...
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The Case for Supreme Honesty as a Precursor to Killer Brand Strategy

September 19, 2022 —

The Case for Supreme Honesty as a Precursor to Killer Brand Strategy

Like anybody who’s worked in the industry for longer than two decades, I’ve enjoyed my share of deeply satisfying client engagements across multiple industries. There is one engagement in particular, however, that I will never forget, and not for the right reasons. It will actually go down in the books as one of my worst professional experiences. And this is why. We got fired for being dishonest. Let me explain. I was working for a large branding firm at the time. The kind of branding firm that everyone in the business knows and respects. Not one that often gets fired. We engaged with...
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