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Brand Relevance


How to Prepare for Successful Business Transformations

How to Prepare for Successful Business Transformations

There’s a well-worn saying in business that the only certainty is change, and these past few years have proven that to be true by exponential levels. Entire industries have found themselves faced with the need to plan and transform their businesses in the face of tremendous unknowns including COVID-19, rising inflation, and a troubled economy. Now, as we enter September of 2022, with the world still in flux, what does it mean to look ahead, and begin planning for the future? Business transformation matters now more than ever and agility and forward-thinking scenario planning have never been...
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Brand Strategy for Turbulent Times

Brand Strategy for Turbulent Times

Business is in Flux Brand strategy matters now more than ever. COVID-19 is a health crisis first, but also, an economic one. Many businesses that we work with are feeling uneasy about the current economic situation and the long-term effects of COVID-19 on business. Financial markets are no doubt showing extreme symptoms. There is an unignorable sense of shutdown and although the world has faced other economic crises before, this time is different. Business leaders, VC funders, investors, consumers, and employees are unsure how long this will last and to what extent they must shift...
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Brand Relevance Is The New Differentiation

Brand Relevance Is The New Differentiation

We believe brands need to stand out, not just by being different, but by being both personally relevant and emotionally important to people. We came across this statement by Elliot Schreiber, Ph.D on his blog “Brand and Reputation” that sums up the key difference between “differentiation” and “relevance”: Relevance is More Important than Differentiation: Business strategists, Marketers and brand managers have been fixated on differentiation. Customers, however, are drawn to relevance – the things that “connect with them emotionally”. As I...
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Brand Salience Is the Lifeline Between You and Your Customers

Brand Salience Is the Lifeline Between You and Your Customers

How Are Purchase Decisions Actually Made? Let’s say you need to buy a toilet brush. You’re at the store with your partner, and they say, “The brushes are just down that aisle, do you mind grabbing one?” Suddenly, you find yourself in front of a wall of toilet brushes. Never in your life have you actively thought about toilet brushes, toilet brush brands, or the state of the toilet brush market. But now, somehow, you find yourself in the position of trying to form an emotional connection to an object that arguably has the worst job in your house. Do you grab the cheapest one? Or maybe just...
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The Future of SEO Is Voice Search

The Future of SEO Is Voice Search

Between Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google Assistant, voice technology is quickly becoming a daily part of the modern landscape. Beyond creating grocery lists or sending texts, voice search is how many people are now discovering and connecting with brands. To remain relevant — and searchable — brands need to begin thinking about how to include voice search into their overall strategy. After all, whether someone is using their thumbs or their voice, don’t you want to be found? Voice Search Breaks the Rules of SEO Sometimes, the most advanced technology takes us right back to where we started....
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How to Propel Your Brand Toward a Meaningful Position

How to Propel Your Brand Toward a Meaningful Position

Classical vs. A Meaningful Position Classical positioning is the process of finding a unique place for your brand in the minds of people. Meaningful positioning, on the other hand, is the art of earning a treasured space within the minds and hearts of people. Before we examine the differences between positioning vs. meaningful positioning, we should say that we abide by these principles: There is an increasingly large – and disruptive – gap between the way brands think and act, and what it takes to engage, influence and matter to people. This gap is holding both brands and people back from...
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If You Want a Meaningful Brand, Make a Meaningful Impact

If You Want a Meaningful Brand, Make a Meaningful Impact

Being a Meaningful Brand The data is in, and to be a meaningful brand, you must make meaningful impact. It is inescapable. The most powerful and profitable brands – regardless of sector – are brands that enhance well-being and enrich peoples’ lives. The Center for Positive Marketing at Fordham University recently published “The V-Positive Report,” which ranks brands according to how they affect consumers along seven dimensions of human needs and wants. The dimensions of the study span from basic physical function to the capacity for building relationships. The most “V-positive” brand in 2015...
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Discourse Analysis: A Powerful Tool That Ensures Your Strategy’s Success

Discourse Analysis: A Powerful Tool That Ensures Your Strategy’s Success

Missing a Piece of the Picture A powerful brand strategy that drives business forward requires more than an understanding of what customers say motivates them to engage with your brand or your competitors. It requires understanding the larger cultural forces at play that shape those same motivations and comparisons. That’s where discourse analysis enters the conversation. For example, in our work with a major cyber security company, analyzing the discourses at play revealed shifts in the larger security conversations happening in our culture. We discovered we were moving from conversations...
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Brand Campaigns Talk to the Heart During Olympics

Brand Campaigns Talk to the Heart During Olympics

We are an athletic bunch here at Emotive Brand – we are triathletes, marathoners and mountain bikers, just to name a few. So it’s not surprising when we gather round the lunch table each day that we’re talking about the Olympic games. And the inspiring accomplishments of the world’s best athletes. But aside from our passion for sport – and competition – we haven’t lost sight that we are in the branding business. And we’ve been paying close attention to the Olympics-inspired brand campaigns and the emotional themes that are resonating during the Games. The landscape has changed...
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Why We Believe in “Business Unusual”

Why We Believe in “Business Unusual”

Business as usual. Or business Unusual? Hugh McLeod gives us reasons to discuss. Image by Hugh MacLeod. Left to its own devices, a business becomes increasingly inward focused, process driven and obsessed with metrics. In the meantime, that business becomes less personally relevant and emotionally important to people who are vital to its success. To add to the problem, all this happens in a highly dynamic, fast advancing and quick changing environment. Which is why we agree with Hugh MacLeod: “business as usual is an oxymoron”. We urge our clients to look outward and into the...
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