Blog
Credit Union Brands are Ripe for Transformation
Credit Union brands take note. There is a huge opportunity for credit unions to invest in a brand transformation initiative to more meaningfully connect with people and communities. According to Gallup more than 70% of people are customers of a bank, yet only 30% have confidence in banks. The key question comes down to why? Perhaps it’s because we feel like we’re just a customer at a bank. And banks make profit from their customers. Profit is their purpose — the answer to the question of why they exist. The mission of credit unions is different. The purpose of credit unions is to meet their...
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CEO’s Perspective on The Value of Branding and Strategy
A CEO’s perspective on the value of branding and strategy At first glance, “empathy” feels like a strange word to use in connection with a business like Central Valley, a building and agricultural supply company serving Northern California’s wine country and surrounding areas. But in recent years, building a culture based on empathy – the ability to relate to customers and to one another – has been a cornerstone of the Central Valley strategy under the leadership of third-generation owner and CEO Steve Patterson. Steve has worked at the family business since the mid-1990s, shortly...
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Is Your B2B Brand Talking to the Wall?
We believe B2B brand owners need to rethink how their brand behaves in the marketplace. While we appreciate the humor of Hugh MacLeod’s cartoon, we actually think some brands talk in a way that leaves people feeling numb. This is especially true of B2B brands which seem to think that business buyers are robots, that it is dangerous to have a personality and that buzzwords and cliches are poetry. Perhaps the reason why so many B2B brands are so unadverturous is because they haven’t yet realized the value of connecting meaningfully with the people to whom they are selling (you...
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Top Brand Strategy Firm Shares Thoughts on Brand Purpose
A brand strategy firm perspective There’s been a lot of buzz lately around brand purpose – a concept that San Francisco’s Brand Strategy Firm, Emotive Brand has championed from our very beginning. Unfortunately, with buzz, comes confusion. It’s easy to get lost in the vernacular and repetitions and lose the answers to the key questions at hand. Tracy Lloyd, founding partner and Chief Strategy Officer of Emotive Brand, offers some clarity, opinions, and answers to questions surrounding the concept of purpose-led brands. 1. What does it mean to be a purpose-led brand? A purpose-led brand...
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Differentiate Your Product With A “Why” vs. “What” Approach
Are you looking for strategies to differentiate your product? There is one key shift you can make to change the way people think, feel, and talk about it. It’s only natural for you and your team to focus on the “what” of your business. After all, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your product is in the app store, on the shelves, online, and on the minds of consumers. You built the product. And you live your product every day. You know it inside out. You know exactly how it works. You know all the ways that your product is better than the others. The only trouble is...
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Five Company Experts You Need for a Good Sustainability Report
Producing a corporate sustainability report (CSR) is a team sport. The stronger the team is, the stronger the sustainability report will be. Each player needs to bring specific expertise that is complementary to the team as a whole. So, it is important to recruit and rally the key experts that can deliver what you need to make the company’s report a success. Choose carefully and look for people who already demonstrate some passion about sustainability. In most organizations, there are one or two departments that lead the sustainability report. Those functions will likely be a reflection of...
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The Role and Impact of Brand Purpose
Brand Purpose I recently reread an older HBR blog post by Graham Kenny that details the difference between the increasingly popular idea of brand purpose and the traditional corporate drivers of vision, mission, and values. His conclusion echoes our beliefs about the role and impact of a company purpose: “If you’re crafting a purpose statement, my advice is this: To inspire your staff to do good work for you, find a way to express the organization’s impact on the lives of customers, clients, students, patients – whomever you’re trying to serve. Make them feel it.” Mr....
Read more >The Role of Planning, An Interview with Emotive Brand’s Strategy Director
As Director of Strategy at Emotive Brand, Taylor works at the intersection of analytical rigor and creative inspiration. An account planner with a background in both research and creative strategy development, his work helps leaders and organizations discover and embrace positive change. In this post, he offers his thoughts on the significant role of planning when it comes to creating a meaningful brand strategy. What’s your best definition of planning? I spoke with a guy at NASCAR and when I asked him what he did he said: “I make the car go faster.” Simple as that. I would argue that...
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Employer Branding on a Global Scale
Employer branding has gained more attention recently, however creating an employer brand that is meaningful and scales globally is no easy feat. “A company has a reputation in the market for its products and what it sells,” said Jason Seiden, Co-Founder and CEO of Brand Amper. “But companies also have a reputation as employers.” In today’s world, most every business needs to attract and retain top talent. An employer brand strategy explains why anyone would want to join or work at your company. And your employer brand can be one of the most valuable assets of your company, if you...
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San Francisco Branding Agency, Shares CEO Perspective on the Industry
San Francisco branding agency shares POV As co-founder and CEO of Emotive Brand, a San Francisco branding agency, Bella is committed to the Agency promise of helping to transform brands and making the greatest impact possible through our work. Bella works to maintain the highest standard of client services and delivers strategic solutions that meaningfully connect brands with people. We sat down with Bella to get the latest on what’s happening at Emotive Brand and her perspectives on brand strategy globally. In the following, she gives her insight on daily challenges, high-paced growth, and...
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In a World of Chaos, a Meaningful Culture Rules
Why do you need a meaningful culture for your organization? Your brand operates in a messy world. One that’s well beyond its control. Buffeted by random, surprising, and disturbing trends, incidents, and influences. Inspired by sudden, amazing, and lucrative opportunities. Distracted, confused, and tired out by the hyperactivity that surrounds it. Empowered by the need, desire, and passion that activity creates. When you use your brand to cultivate a meaningful culture within your organization, you create new energy, strength, and agility. You unify your people around bold ideas,...
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Brand Storytelling: A Necessary Shift from Plot to Promise
Brand Storytelling Jim Signorelli is the author of “StoryBranding”. I love the way he makes the distinction between the classic marketing idea of “unique selling proposition” and the modern meaningful branding concept, “unique value proposition”. We often refer to plot lines as brag lines, simply because that is what they do. They express the brand’s “how so?” more than its “what about it?” Plot lines are more a manifestation of the brand’s opinion of itself. As such, they lack the believability and relevance of theme lines. And by...
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Meaningful Workplace: Forge a Meaningful Employee Alliance
Last in our Meaningful Workplace Series: Forge a Meaningful Employee Alliance “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi The focus in the development of a Meaningful Workplace really needs be on self-discovery and self-identification. It’s about helping employees to be aware of, to identify with, and to connect to the ambitions, feelings, and behaviors the business seeks in its workplace. The efforts to build a Meaningful Workplace must not result in dictates, mandates, or rulebooks. There...
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Branding Isn’t Static – Call Off the Brand Police!
How to create a coherent brand and engage the “brand police” Many people strive for “consistency” when managing brands. But that presents the risk of being dull, repetitive and predictable. A better goal is to achieve a “coherent” brand presence. I recently re-watched a video of Simon Manchipp of SomeOne, London in which he advised brands to be “coherent, not consistent”. He talked about people’s desire for stimulation and the need to stay current because, “time changes – branding isn’t static”. The same colorful mix and match elements are always creating new stories Most...
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Are You in a State of Brand Delusion?
“If what you want your brand to be and what others experience and see do not match, you are in a state of brand delusion. This is the most expensive form of marketing madness, an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted and experienced as reality by your customer segment.” Joan Koerber-Walker We believe this problem goes well beyond a mismatch between what a brand wishes and the actual experience of the brand’s “customer” segment. Brand delusion is real for many brands. We believe...
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