A master class in Brand Values

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cvs health stops selling tobacco products

A value isn’t a value unless it costs you something. “Innovation,” “quality,” “service-oriented” are the costs of doing business. Name a highly profitable company that is against any those things. They’re not brand values, they’re just minimum operational standards. The simple test on whether something is truly a brand value is whether you would continue […]

(Not) playing by the rules

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paperwork-contracts-accounting

The underlying fundamental of strategy. Never play someone else’s game. Once you play by someone else’s rules, you’ve already lost. All strategies boil down to finding ways to change the rules in your favor. From a marketing perspective, you can apply this to a number of situations. If you’re the underdog, competing against bigger, more […]

IDEA: Asking the essential question

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interview

Email or ask one employee a day to think about the following question: What makes our company special? In other words, why do we matter? Ask them to come by at the end of the day to give you their answer. You want to give them the chance to think about it for a bit, […]

EXERCISE: AdLibs

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whiteboard-writing

The key to advertising is being able to tell compelling messages about your product that customers care about in a creative format. Finish the following sentences. But don’t go straight to your same old corporate answers. Think about them more philosophically. They to get to the core of what you company does. The goal of […]

What is the end goal for your branding?

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end goal

If it’s to be the most admired or leading or respected or blah blah blah in our industry, you’ve missed the point. Seriously ask yourself, in the end, what do you want people to really think about your company? What do you want to be known for? Positioning your brand in an uncontested space in […]

CONCEPT: Marketing Algebra

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marketing algebra

These equations can provide you a better understanding of your branding and marketing. [customer] + [your product] = [desired outcome] What is the outcome people are looking for when they buy your product? Is it compelling? Is it a significant part of their life? If not, what can you do to make the desired outcome […]

IDEA: 15-20 for Experimental Ad Budgets

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pie-chart-ad-budget

Post-its (a product I hold very dear to me in my work) was famously developed during the creator’s “15% time,” a program that allows employees to work on projects not directly related to their current responsibilities.  Google has a similar program that gave birth to Gmail and Google Earth to name a few. What if […]

The client is not the enemy

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enemy-fight-agency-client

They are not trying to ruin your creative. They are not perpetually toothless, timid or trivial. They have no deep-seated desire to undermine the agency. They do not secretly wish to do mediocre work. Do they want to keep their job? Who doesn’t? Do they have objectives they have to meet? Would it be better […]

EXERCISE: Brand Telephone

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brand-telephone

Most companies have numerous messages they want to get out about their brand. Their mission, vision, company values, USPs, value proposition, product features, awards, charitable activities, sponsorships. It goes on and on. Realistically, people will only remember a small fraction of a brand’s communications. And it’s usually the messages that are most relevant, unique and […]