Topics

Brand

The Meaning Gap and What it Means for Your Business

July 28, 2015 —

The Meaning Gap and What it Means for Your Business

Your business’s performance suffers when people don’t do what your business needs them to do. So why aren’t they doing what you need them to do? The meaning gap represents the distance that’s growing between your business and the people vital to it’s success. As your business becomes more sophisticated, measured, and managed – in other words, less human – it moves one way. As people, acting as customers, employees, social media users, and citizens, become more mindful, concerned, and discerning – in other words, more human – they move in a different way....
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April 3, 2015 —

Getting Employees to Live Company Values

“People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou. The goal of employee engagement is to drive employee attitudes, behavior, morality, and ethics in such a way as to improve their productivity, morale, satisfaction, and usefulness within the organization. However, many companies have struggled with converting their proclaimed values into compelling, work-changing experiences for their employees that reach through to their brand strategy. Often, the problems have been that the values are typically expressed...
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Where Does Brand End and Reputation Begin?

February 17, 2015 —

Where Does Brand End and Reputation Begin?

Confusing Branding Terms It seems so many ” branding terms ” are being rendered meaningless these days and we tend to blur the difference between them. We use specific words in a broader context than originally intended. Often, we use words as umbrellas to bring together a multitude of ideas. But, among us, we’re not consistent in the way these words are used. As a result, if you ask three business people what a particular word means, you’ll get no fewer than five answers. Take these two words as examples: “Brand” and “Reputation” What does...
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Bridging the Meaning Gap

November 11, 2014 —

Bridging the Meaning Gap

A great post by Tom Fishburne talks about the risks of going too far in your efforts to matter to people. He cites the example of the “Dove Campaign For Real Beauty”, a notable example of a meaningful brand presence, which started as a concept many steps up the brand ladder. When those “too grandiose” ideas were shot down by real people (formerly known as consumers), the focus turned to building meaning from the product up. The lesson: in your pursuit to bridge the meaning gap, and to create more meaning around your business, product, service or brand (a smart thing...
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Human Friendly Brands

September 22, 2014 —

Human Friendly Brands

Should brands be more like humans? Or is the real goal to be “human-friendly” in form, behavior, and function? It’s something worth thinking about. Most of us in the advertising/marketing/branding biz tend to anthropomorphize brands. We think and write about them as if they were living, breathing people. However, in a thought-provoking piece, “The Human Paradox”, Gareth Kaye, Chief Strategy Officer of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, questions if that is the right approach: “I’ve come to believe that this failure of brands is down to us blindly believing that brands that are more human...
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Should You Aspire to Have a Meaningful Brand?

July 21, 2014 —

Should You Aspire to Have a Meaningful Brand?

The idea o a  “meaningful brand” is taking industry by storm as more and more enterprises look for ways to prevail in the 21st Century, a time of great change and innovation. Should you join this bandwagon? Not before you fully understand what it means to be a meaningful brand, what it entails from an organizational change point of view, and what it can do for your business. Here, we provide top-line answers to a few of the most commonly asked questions. What is a meaningful brand? A brand transcends the market when it decides to look beyond the profit agenda and see its business...
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The Eighth Deadly Sin of Marketing

June 26, 2014 —

The Eighth Deadly Sin of Marketing

Image by Tom Fishbourne. The eighth deadly sin is “indifference”. Indifference to the changing values, needs, interests and aspirations of the people formerly known as consumers. Indifference to their need to be connected to meaningful ideas. Indifference to their desire to do meaningful things.Indifference to the fact that people matter more than budgets, promotions, social media, etc., etc. In our paper, “The Meaning Gap”, we explore how the interests of businesses, and the people formerly known as employees, are going in separate directions. We also explore the consequences...
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June 12, 2014 —

Using Company Values to Build Engagement and a Meaningful Workplace

“People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou The goal of employee engagement is to drive employee attitudes, behavior, morality, and ethics in such a way as to improve their productivity, morale, satisfaction, and usefulness within the organization. However, many companies have struggled with converting their proclaimed values into compelling, work-changing experiences for their employees that reach through to their brand strategy.  Often, the problems have been that the values are typically...
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10 Reasons Why Business Should Banish the Word “Brand”

April 24, 2014 —

10 Reasons Why Business Should Banish the Word “Brand”

Our rather controversial thoughts on “Brand” 1. It is meaningless Ask five people in your company what the word “brand” means and you’ll get at least seven definitions. As such, the meaning of the word “brand” is completely diluted and lacking in concise meaning. That’s not helpful. 2. It confuses, defuses and abuses One person in your compnay uses the word “brand” and another person interprest it differently, and then everything goes haywire. That’s expensive. 3. It becomes a tyrant It becomes a mysterious entity with a mystical...
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