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Brand

The Right Brand For A Transformation

July 23, 2013 —

The Right Brand For A Transformation

We’ve blogged here about something called integrated reporting, which would merge financial reporting (which public corporations are already required to do) with sustainability reporting (which only some companies do). What we’ve missed – until now – is the need to brand this transformation. Integrated reporting is a transformation for a whole bunch of interrelated reasons. First, financial reporting is mandatory and highly regulated. All big companies have full-time staffs of people to prepare the reports, and the big accounting firms around the world have armies of people to check them....
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Insensitive Use of Personal Data Can Seem Downright Creepy

July 10, 2013 —

Insensitive Use of Personal Data Can Seem Downright Creepy

Brands need to think carefully about how they leverage new levels of customer information when handing iPads to front-line service people. Using data and behavior-driven information, while a powerful way to forge connections, can easily go awry. I wasn’t too surprised when I read this in Michael Schrage’s HBR piece, “When digital marketing gets too creepy”. “The digital marketer who effectively runs Qantas Airlines’ highly regarded – and very successful – loyalty program has an unusual iPad problem. Flight attendants on Australia’s flagship carrier can now get up-to-the-minute data on...
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Going Beyond the Obvious Emotional Power of Your Brand

April 3, 2013 —

Going Beyond the Obvious Emotional Power of Your Brand

Some brands are built around products or ideas that are inherently emotional. But true emotional resonance happens when these brands recognize that their competitors own the same emotional space. Brands seeking to rise above the fray dig deeper into the well of positive emotions that bond brands and people. They build upon, complement, and extend that innate emotional “kick” they deliver with a set of ancillary feelings chosen to support the brand’s purpose beyond profit. A unique purpose and emotional aura distance emotionally meaningful brands from their competitors. They...
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Employee Engagement: Turn Low Morale Into Purposeful Behavior

April 1, 2013 —

Employee Engagement: Turn Low Morale Into Purposeful Behavior

High morale. High energy. High interest. High collaboration. High innovation. Why not? Just ask, “What is standing between what our company needs and what our people really want?” You’ll see there’s a lack of balance. Your company needs your employees’ blood and sweat. Whereas, your people need better reasons than you now provide to invest their energy in helping your business succeed. The way to create a purposeful workplace balance is to evolve your brand’s intent, attitude and behavior: Make it your brand’s intent to matter to the people you...
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March 14, 2013 —

Emotive Branding: The Path to Meaning (and Kick-Ass Creative)

At Emotive Brand our goal is to make brands truly meaningful through emotive branding. Emotive branding is about transforming the way a brand reaches out to people and the way people respond back to that brand. The key is meaning. As we add meaning to the things a brand does, the people vital to that brand’s success start to care, think, talk and do more for the brand. As a result, emotive brands thrive across all business measures. But what is meaning? And, perhaps more important, how do we add meaning to brands through emotive branding? We focus on meaning because we noticed the remarkable...
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Connected TVs: What Do They Allow People to Do?

October 31, 2012 —

Connected TVs: What Do They Allow People to Do?

Connected TVs In our first post, we introduced you to revolution with two dimensions. First, technology is changing what TVs can do. Second, people are changing their behavior with respect to TV. Here, we continue to explore how this revolution challenges brand managers. Today’s applications and services on internet-connected TVs are what we can call “first generation.” By first generation we mean standalone services, which are accessed by the television viewer through a menu of “internet services.” In some cases, the manufacturer has provided a dedicated button on the remote control for...
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Turning Strong CSR Stories Into New Meaning For Your Employees

February 21, 2012 —

Turning Strong CSR Stories Into New Meaning For Your Employees

Building meaningful CSR stories A strong CSR report provides an excellent starting point for your brand to achieve a meaningful position in the hearts and minds of your employees. There is even greater value when those reports lead with strong CSR stories. That’s because, according to a recent Forbes report, CSR and employee engagement work hand in hand: Hewitt & Associations found that, “the more a company actively pursues worthy environmental and social efforts, the more engaged its employees are”. The Society for Human Resources Management found that for companies...
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Shaping Brand Experiences to Avoid Alienating People

December 20, 2011 —

Shaping Brand Experiences to Avoid Alienating People

Cartoon by Tom Fishburne. Every brand moment matters. How often have you found yourself filling in a form that simply asked too much? Where you could not imagine how the information being asked was going to be used? Or worse, the only thing you could imagine was that the information would be used against you. No, not by some dreaded department deep inside the government. But, by something worse: the brand’s marketing department. OK, that’s a bit of an overstatement. But hopefully it has provoked you into thinking about how your brand is reaching out to people. How the experience...
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For Brands, Being Human Is The New Black. And…

August 31, 2011 —

For Brands, Being Human Is The New Black. And…

Fast Company recently featured a story about IDEO’s Elle Luna’s talk to the Design Fair at which she declared: “Today, brands are becoming more and more like humans. They’re taking on more and more human-like traits.” Clearly, with our concept of emotive branding, we believe the same thing. Emotions are human traits which brands, as abstract concepts, do not literally possess. However, what a brand says and does can be designed to evoke specific human emotions. And when a brand consistently evokes the same set of emotions, it goes a long way to elevating the brand’s...
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