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Marketing

How CMOs Can Control Their Brand Message in the Age of Digital Sprawl

February 21, 2018 —

How CMOs Can Control Their Brand Message in the Age of Digital Sprawl

The New CMO What does a CMO do? Just a few years ago, that was an easy question to answer. You focused on building a brand. You managed your channels: press, radio, a TV spot, maybe even an outdoor installation if you were feeling ambitious. Like a conductor, you could orchestrate your brand message with Mozart-like precision. Marketing, itself, was a pure sport, clearly defined. Flash forward to today, and the blurred lines between technology, marketing, and sales are harder to discern than ever. Fluency in digital transformation has gone from a specialty to a requirement. CMOs need to be...
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How Not to Fail in a Super Bowl Ad

February 1, 2018 —

How Not to Fail in a Super Bowl Ad

Ads Can Only Get You So Far Do you remember the ad for Mophie from a few Super Bowls back? Neither do I. What I do recall is a small, private company spending what seemed like a crazy amount – around $5M – on a Super Bowl ad. And while Mophie is still chugging along, it certainly isn’t conquering the world. Interestingly though, the mistake they made wasn’t spending too much on the ad. In fact, the 1-minute spot allowed the brand to reach hundreds of millions of potential buyers. The error they made was spending that kind of money on advertising when they hadn’t yet built and...
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Brand Strategy Trends: What These Shifts Mean for Businesses and Brands

January 9, 2018 —

Brand Strategy Trends: What These Shifts Mean for Businesses and Brands

Looking Back, Looking Forward: 2018 B2B Brand Strategy Trends Any new year brings up the opportunity to reflect on the year that’s been – and what’s to come. As Emotive Brand’s Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, I talk to individuals in different roles, at companies of every size and maturity. I am truly lucky – it puts me on the frontline as B2B brand strategy trends develop in real time. Here are some of the most interesting trends I observed in 2017 and what’s on my mind as we move into 2018: 1. Messaging That Can Flex Whether it’s short attention spans or Twitter’s influence, our...
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Early Warning Signs You Need a Brand Refresh

January 3, 2018 —

Early Warning Signs You Need a Brand Refresh

Brand Presentation Counts Presentation is everything. It’s the way a gourmet meal looks on the plate, what you wear for a job interview, or the tidiness and odor of your hotel room when you open the door. The same rings true with a corporate brand. Your brand is who you are. When your brand presentation is clear, people understand who you are and what you stand for in the world. On the other hand, when your presentation doesn’t make a great first impression, you must prepare to deal with the fallout. This is why when we work with clients, we often need to stress that how you present your...
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What Brands Need to Do Right to Nail Their Digital Strategy

December 13, 2017 —

What Brands Need to Do Right to Nail Their Digital Strategy

Emotive Brand Experts #5: Michael Beavers Continuing our Emotive Brand Experts series, we’re interviewing past and present Emotive Brand clients to discover what they do better than anybody else – and how that expertise can be used to embolden your brand today. Michael Beavers is a Silicon Valley-based digital strategist who works with leading technology enterprises, consumer brands, and startups. A veteran from both sides of the client and agency relationship, he’s worked with Google, Yahoo!, Intel, and many others. *** How do you define digital strategy? Digital strategy describes the...
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The Right Ad, Just When you Need It: Talking “Moment Marketing” with Randy Wootton

December 5, 2017 —

The Right Ad, Just When you Need It: Talking “Moment Marketing” with Randy Wootton

Randy Wootton and Moment Marketing  Continuing our Emotive Brand expert series, we’re interviewing past and present Emotive Brand clients to discover what they do better than anybody else – and how that expertise can be used to embolden your brand today. In this post, we speak with Randy Wootton, former CEO of Rocket Fuel, a past Emotive Brand client whose positioning project resulted in a major acquisition for the company. In this interview, we talk about the evolution of marketing and advertising today and why brands poised for success are focusing in on what Randy calls “Moment...
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Machine Learning Is the New, New Thing. But Can It Help CMOs Build Brands?

October 23, 2017 —

Machine Learning Is the New, New Thing. But Can It Help CMOs Build Brands?

Can big data build brands better? A few years ago, Big Data promised to radically transform the marketing landscape. CMOs were warned to master it or watch their brands get left behind. Artificial intelligence was the next new, new thing. Now the hot property is machine learning, the data-crunching tool that can find patterns in big data and make them actionable. Each of these innovations is truly transformative — and each has limitations. As machine learning gathers steam, let’s look at what it means for brands. Which challenges can machine learning tackle which still depend on human...
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2019 Marketing Budget Planning: Questions to Help You Get Started

January 1, 2019 —

2019 Marketing Budget Planning: Questions to Help You Get Started

It’s That Time: 2019 Marketing Budget Planning Developing your 2019 marketing budget is nobody’s favorite time of year. But it’s inevitable. Like clockwork each year, it’s here. As an agency immersed in helping businesses deliver the results they need to thrive, we understand first-hand that marketing budget planning can be overwhelming and taxing. Knowing what to include to deliver the results needed seems nearly impossible for many VPs of Marketing looking to drive growth, build brand, drive lead gen, and fuel revenue. We know CFOs can be tough audiences. In fact, many VPs of Marketing...
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Nothing Sells Itself: Why Storytelling Should Drive Demand Generation

September 13, 2017 —

Nothing Sells Itself: Why Storytelling Should Drive Demand Generation

Emotive Brand Expert #1: Greg Howard As a brand strategy and design agency, we have the privilege of being able to visit innovative companies from a myriad of fields. From global law firms to burgeoning start-ups, we get to pull back the curtain and observe how brands are built, from the inside out. Drawing on our ever-growing network, we’re excited to launch our Emotive Brand Experts series. In these posts, we’re interviewing past and present Emotive Brand clients to discover what they do better than anybody else – and how that expertise can be used to embolden your brand today. In this...
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Building a Brand Awareness Campaign: How to Get It Right

July 26, 2017 —

Building a Brand Awareness Campaign: How to Get It Right

Big-Fish-Eat-Little-Fish World? The brand world follows the food chain – little fish look up to the big fish, everyone wants to be on top, and low visibility is often equated with eventual extinction. Every brand wants to be the next Nike or Apple, right? The thing is that those big brands – those top-of-mind, always relevant brands that even your grandma knows about – are rare. And if you’re a brand that’s still trying to build awareness, simply imitating what they do isn’t always the right strategy. Brand Awareness Issues At Emotive Brand, we’ve worked with a lot of brands who share a...
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