Blog
On Design, Branding, and Where the “Brand Magic” Happens: Interview with Emotive Brand Creative Director
Interview with Jane Brown, Creative Director Jane joins Emotive Brand with over 20 years of experience developing corporate and brand identities ranging from global corporations to startups – bringing both agency and client-side, as well as print and digital media expertise to the table. Jane has built a reputation around delivering high-level thinking and design systems that enable new brands to compete in crowded marketplaces and venerable brands to deepen their relevance. In this interview, Jane shares her point of view on branding challenges, client-agency relationships, collaboration,...
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Emotive Data: Designing Quantitative Research for Emotional Insight
Emotive Brand may not seem like a green eyeshade kind of place. After all, we’re in the business of creating emotional connections between brands and people. You may ask, “Why use quantitative research at all? Isn’t qualitative better for emotional insight?” In fact, we find quantitative research very rich – and extremely useful for building our clients’ brands and businesses. Qualitative insight is important too, but whenever we can, we start with quant. It helps us move the needle on both functional and emotional measures. It also provides a baseline from which to measure change. We...
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Emotive Brand and Emotive Branding: Our Origin Story
Brands for the Better The idea of emotive branding – and the creation of our agency, Emotive Brand – flowed from our desire to make a positive difference in the way people and brands interacted with each other. These were our goals: Bridge the gap between commerce and civility. Create brands that people appreciate, respect, and actively seek out. Help employees of brands feel better about their jobs. Make partners and suppliers vie for the opportunity to work with our clients. See communities welcome our clients’ brands with open arms. As a result of all of this goodwill, our...
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How Not to Fail in a Super Bowl Ad
Ads Can Only Get You So Far Do you remember the ad for Mophie from a few Super Bowls back? Neither do I. What I do recall is a small, private company spending what seemed like a crazy amount – around $5M – on a Super Bowl ad. And while Mophie is still chugging along, it certainly isn’t conquering the world. Interestingly though, the mistake they made wasn’t spending too much on the ad. In fact, the 1-minute spot allowed the brand to reach hundreds of millions of potential buyers. The error they made was spending that kind of money on advertising when they hadn’t yet built and...
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Loyalty and Productivity: Using Innovative Benefits to Build Employer Brands
A great employer brand story is important for recruiting and retaining employees – but it’s important to show workers the love and not just talk about it. Benefits are one of the best ways to demonstrate that a company values its employees’ well-being and not just their work. With a rising tide of innovative benefits, from in vitro fertilization to college tuition support to telemedicine, there’s more opportunity than ever to build a strong employer brand. HR leaders who innovate can boost their competitiveness while taking better care of their people. At Emotive Brand, we’re lucky to work...
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How to Attack and Other Strategy Lessons from the World of Cycling
As a project manager at Emotive Brand, Shelby Tramel is known for two things. First, she brings clarity and expertise to every project she touches. And second, she often comes into the studio dressed head-to-toe in Lycra cycling gear, clutching some homemade drink that looks more like cement than a smoothie. We all knew she was a fierce competitor, but it wasn’t until recently that we learned just how elite she is. (Though it does explain why she often eats two or three breakfasts.) We sat down with Shelby to discuss her athleticism, future goals, and how lessons from cycling can be applied...
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Brand Strategy Trends: What These Shifts Mean for Businesses and Brands
Looking Back, Looking Forward: 2018 B2B Brand Strategy Trends Any new year brings up the opportunity to reflect on the year that’s been – and what’s to come. As Emotive Brand’s Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, I talk to individuals in different roles, at companies of every size and maturity. I am truly lucky – it puts me on the frontline as B2B brand strategy trends develop in real time. Here are some of the most interesting trends I observed in 2017 and what’s on my mind as we move into 2018: 1. Messaging That Can Flex Whether it’s short attention spans or Twitter’s influence, our...
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San Francisco Branding Agency Shares New Year’s Resolutions
We promise to… Deliver Business Results Our clients hire us because they are looking to solve business problems. We know how to successfully enable growth by delivering positioning strategies that differentiate, brand campaigns that fulfill on marketing and sales goals, and deliver employer brand strategies that engage global employees around why the brand matters. Our work continues to drive business for our clients in a way that is transformative. We are focused on standing behind our work and delivering a strong ROI on every project. Continue to Lead with Purpose We stand behind the...
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Early Warning Signs You Need a Brand Refresh
Brand Presentation Counts Presentation is everything. It’s the way a gourmet meal looks on the plate, what you wear for a job interview, or the tidiness and odor of your hotel room when you open the door. The same rings true with a corporate brand. Your brand is who you are. When your brand presentation is clear, people understand who you are and what you stand for in the world. On the other hand, when your presentation doesn’t make a great first impression, you must prepare to deal with the fallout. This is why when we work with clients, we often need to stress that how you present your...
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How to Help Your Startup Thrive Internally
Finding for the right strategies to help your startup thrive It’s an all too familiar startup sight. Your technical co-founder and engineering teams have their eyes glued to screens of scrolling code as their fingers fly across keyboards and music blasts through their earbuds. They are driving hard toward the launch date or new product release, losing themselves in their work and consuming Red Bull like there’s no tomorrow. Nikos Moraitakis, Founder & CEO of WorkableHR.com, sets the following as one of ten helpful tasks non-technical co-founders should undertake:...
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An Emotive Holiday: Happy Holidays from Emotive Brand
An Emotive Holiday By now, you’ve most likely seen our holiday card. We fit all the balloons, confetti, and sparkle we could into our card – because what’s an epic holiday card without that? This year’s holiday card is all about celebration. 2017 had its ups and downs and we wanted to take a moment to share joy, togetherness, and the many personalities that make up our amazing team. This year’s holiday card is also our way of saying thank you to all of you. Thank you for reading our blog. Thank you for sharing our thoughts and believing in our purpose. Thank you for moving our brand and...
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How Culture Brings Strategy to Life
Culture and Strategy Business, culture and strategy can work harder for companies but how? For many businesses, company culture and strategy exist in two different worlds. They take on separate conversations and are designated as separate leadership and separate budgets. And although many executives today realize that both culture and strategy drive their business, they fail to link the relationship between the two. But not grasping how strategy and culture can work together means both become less impactful. More Connected Than You Think There are many misconceptions about what company...
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Why Hire a Brand Strategy Agency?
Your business is an intricate machine that leverages people and processes to generate profits. Until now, your way of doing this has been satisfactory to both you and your shareholders. But obviously there is something in the wind telling you that some changes are needed. This has you thinking about how to best deal with this situation, and to determine what partners, if any, you need to make these necessary changes. What drives your need to change? There are many reasons why a company would need to change what it’s doing. Maybe competition and disruption are inhibiting the growth...
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Brand Identity. What’s Your Type?
Brand Identity, typography, typeface… it’s all part of your brand and its story A brand identity is critical to get right. A typeface helps shape the stories a brand tells. It sets the tone of a brand. Typography is in many ways the first impression and introduction to your audience. According to Sarah Hyndman, “Typography is like the clothes a person wears; it tells the world who they are and who they want to be.” Typography, in other words, is one of the most important aspects of your brand. A few things to consider when selecting a typeface for your brand: Align with brand...
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The Real Cost of Brand Transformation
Oftentimes, branding is seen as just another expense. Another project that needs budgeting. Another to-do to check of the list. Additionally, a brand’s visual identity and its implementation are often seen the same way – but they shouldn’t be. Branding is only costly to a company if the company doesn’t fully tap into the brand’s value. Likewise, if you leave your brand’s visual identity to flounder in a presentation deck, it remains an untapped value. Understanding the value of your brand and what its visual identity means is key to shifting the conversation from a business cost to its...
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