Topics

Brand Strategy

Your Business Problems Might Have a Brand Strategy Solution

May 12, 2015 —

Your Business Problems Might Have a Brand Strategy Solution

When you spend a lot of time working with people in the C-suite, you’re exposed to C-sized business problems. Those larger strategic issues that can’t be solved by the CEO alone, or by existing resources. When changes in your industry push you to shift business strategy, it’s a sign that your brand strategy needs to shift in a synchronized way to reposition for success. Example: We’ve surveyed C-level executives about the number one desire they have for their brand strategy. Know what they want? Differentiation. A competitive advantage. A defensible position. Differentiation is tough. When...
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Meaningful Brands Keep Promises

April 20, 2015 —

Meaningful Brands Keep Promises

Meaningful Brands are not so easy to come by Is your brand strategy working as hard as it could be? Or is it being held back by these all-too-common corporate traits: myopia, narrow-mindedness, and self-centeredness? Does your brand strategy focus only on the “what” and “how” of your offering? Does it mostly talk to senior management in the cryptic language only MBAs understand? If so, your brand isn’t hitting the right notes in today’s marketplace. Today’s most innovative and successful brands are built upon a different premise. They seek to forge meaningful connections with people, not...
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Brand Strategy and the Value of Creative Design

March 31, 2015 —

Brand Strategy and the Value of Creative Design

At Emotive Brand, we are keenly aware of the symbiotic relationship between brand strategy and creative design. In the traditional model, the company leadership team aligns on a new brand strategy and design brings it to life. You know the drill: new logo, new color scheme, new typography, new website. But there’s a deeper relationship between strategy and design that yields more meaningful, more memorable results. Creative design is not an appendage of brand strategy. Fundamentally, design IS strategy and strategy IS design. At least that’s how it works at Emotive Brand. Design in...
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The “Best Places to Work” Aren’t Places at All

April 16, 2015 —

The “Best Places to Work” Aren’t Places at All

There’s a new trend in Silicon Valley with tech brands. Famous tech brands are building enormous headquarters designed by famous architects. They’re using the greenest, healthiest materials, the latest environmental technology, creating the most unusual, innovative workspaces, and bringing thousands of employees under one roof. What’s the goal? Some companies say to foster innovation. Others tout togetherness. Some have interior design strategies that force ad hoc employee interactions. Others describe the spontaneity that will happen in casual communal meeting places. But it turns out that...
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CSR and Purpose-Driven Brands Go Hand in Hand

March 26, 2015 —

CSR and Purpose-Driven Brands Go Hand in Hand

CSR and purpose go hand in hand.  We are always moved when companies make a profound effort to identify and then act on a social issue. Especially very large companies. We know how hard it can be. It’s not always obvious how to identify an issue that matters to your brand, and then do the hard work to identify the brand with solutions that matter to people. Making a CSR part of the brand’s core purpose takes commitment from the top. It takes time and it takes money. But it can have a huge pay-off when handled with authentic, sincere, and meaningful programs that are appropriate for the...
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Give People Meaningful Reasons to Innovate

March 24, 2015 —

Give People Meaningful Reasons to Innovate

We often come back to the Fast Company blog post by Seth Kahan, a change specialist and author of, “Getting Innovation Right”, published in 2013. Many of our clients are looking for help creating a brand strategy and developing corporate values that will help create a culture of innovation. Seth presents three practical secrets for the innovative leader. We were particularly struck by his second secret: Secret #2. Articulate the Way Forward People rely on their leaders to craft a vision of the future that makes sense and can guide their everyday decisions. Most of the leaders I...
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Meaningful Brands Are Led by Meaningful Leaders

March 20, 2015 —

Meaningful Brands Are Led by Meaningful Leaders

The key to meaning is empathy: the ability to step outside one’s own life and see the world from another’s perspective. In both branding and leadership, the value of this ability cannot be underestimated. Both areas depend upon engaged followers. Engagement only comes when followers see leaders connect the dots between their personal needs and desires, the goals of the business, and the greater good. Brands and leaders that are inward-focused and self-absorbed fail to connect with people who are increasingly attuned to the needs of humanity and the planet. This puts them in a precarious...
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When Your Employees Are Your Advertising Campaign

March 17, 2015 —

When Your Employees Are Your Advertising Campaign

I’ve been reading a number of books on branding written by people from advertising agencies. They invariably regard advertising – most often citing TV ads – as the most potent vehicle for branding. They have a case. Television is an excellent vehicle for emotional storytelling. These experts point to ads we all know (and love?) as proof of its power. From cars to sugar water to potato chips, TV advertising has driven brands to success by making even the most prosaic product features resonate with emotional importance. But what about all the (big) brands in this world that...
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Brand Persona: Know Your Audience, Know Yourself

March 13, 2015 —

Brand Persona: Know Your Audience, Know Yourself

Do you know your target audience? We mean, not just whom you need to reach, but what they need, want, and feel? Do you know what makes them anxious, alarmed, or scared? Do you have any idea what they think? What fires them up? What they’ve tried before and liked, or completely failed? What makes them assured, calm, trusting, or confident and bold? Hmmm. Maybe you don’t know your target audience. At least not well enough to connect on a meaningful level. We recently read an enlightening blog post from Paul Graham, one of the founders of Y Combinator, the renowned start-up incubator. In the...
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Is Your Brand Holding Back Your Business?

March 4, 2015 —

Is Your Brand Holding Back Your Business?

There’s a price to pay when your brand simply languishes. It’s the cost of lost opportunities. Are you missing the opportunity to change the way people feel about your brand, and hence, what they can do to make your brand more successful. By people, we mean customers, employees, partners, investors, communities, influencers, and so on…. Indeed, we mean all the people who are vital to your brand’s succcess. It’s their decisions and actions that determine your fate. They think and act based on what they feel. If your brand doesn’t make them feel something,...
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