If branding is not part of your company’s value creation strategy, you’re leaving money behind. Brand and its equity is one of the most valuable assets that a company has and the driver for financial success. When looking to exit, companies can command larger transaction multiples based solely on the brand and the strength of
Read MoreWhile the power of strategic branding (we’re not talking logo design here) to help companies increase financial returns, both operationally and in M&A transactions is intellectually understood and acknowledged, it is, inexplicably, a frustratingly difficult sale. Forget the unfortunate reality that many people limit their understanding of “brand” to
Read MoreLet’s start with this: your brand is not your logo or your color palette. It’s the perceptions and feelings people have about you, it’s what people say about you to others. Your brand is a relationship first, not a font. To earn that relationship, brands must have meaning, purpose and saliency.
Read MoreThere are some obvious rules for good content, like make it useful and relevant. Give me something that makes my life better. Or entertain me, make me cry, laugh or ponder. Teach me something. Whichever direction you take, you have to deliver value. If I sacrifice my time to engage with you, you better do at least one of those things because if you’re not, you are wasting my time. I mean, who chooses to engage with content so they can spend time viewing a self-aggrandizing ad.
Read MoreA type of cognitive bias, confirmation bias is a challenge for businesses that often negatively impacts performance. Smart C-Suites know this bias well. Confirmation bias is the human tendency to search for, favor, and use information that confirms one’s pre-existing views. Confirmation bias eliminates challenge and free thinking becoming negatively endemic by encouraging accepted conformity in decision-making
Read MoreFor CMO’s today, options for building your brand are changing before your eyes. These days, leading brands are thinking like publishers, creating editorial calendars, hiring chief content officers and curating their asses off. This is all good and well, but curated content simply won’t deliver the benefits of creating original, emotive content that tells stories. While a good content strategy most often includes curated
Read MoreWhether writing words or pushing pixels, anyone wearing a creative hat in advertising is in the business to create. We’re in it to fulfill our love of commercial artistic expression for the gains of our clients, our agency and ourselves. We suffer the other 70% of our agency activities because we know the next opportunity is coming. We thrive on the anticipation of the next chance to create. It is our addiction and we will suffer just about anything for the next fix.
Read MoreYou’ve heard the term, MVP, or “minimum viable product”? It’s big in the lean startup community. Around since 1999, the term was coined and defined by Frank Robinson, and thrown around a lot by Steve Blank, and Eric Ries. Ries defines MVP as “…that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.” It seems to be the early stage tech mantra these days. But be wary, the MVP can be a trap.
Read MoreOur psychological relationships with brands and the resulting brand equity is one of those amorphous concepts that’s always been hard to quantify. Nevertheless, successful marketers know the benefits of a strong brand are undeniably real. A brand is a company’s most enduring asset. Properly nurtured and leveraged it has tremendous financial value. A powerful brand can enhance valuation, improve transaction
Read MoreDear John,
I was kind of surprised you called after all we went through. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed you. When we first hooked up, it felt so good, like we could be together for a long, long time. As I did the advertising campaign that put you on the map, I would like nothing more than to leverage that success and be a part of building your business. I am good at that and flush with ideas. It’s what I do.
Read MoreFirst off, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is a champion for transformation and innovation in mobile marketing. Its members include a wealth of global heavy-hitters the likes of P&G, Walmart, Ford and MasterCard. More than 800 companies from fifty countries around the globe. Many see the MMA as the global standard bearer for best practices.
Read MoreThe creative imperative in advertising is to do work that compels an audience to engage and to remember. Being memorable is how brands are built. Getting digital media noticed among the daily barrage of online impressions begs for work that breaks through. Work that is unique and consistent over time. Data surely can help brands do smarter work. But for true creative originality, for the big idea, humans are required.
Read MoreHey, it’s Donald. Love him or hate him, he is what he is. And actually, that just might be his advantage. While the masses may associate his brand with “You’re Fired” or his celebrity status or being a real estate mogul, Trump actually has few personal brand attributes that, with the right spin, the American public just might be into.
Read MoreThere was something refreshing about The Burger King’s visit to Bob Baffert’s private box at Belmont Park this past weekend. Mr. Baffert is the renowned trainer of American Pharaoh, the thoroughbred colt that won the Triple Crown Sunday. There he was, innocuously hangin’ out in
Read MoreBrands are living, breathing things. They require shaping, nurturing, and maintenance over time. Done well, a strong brand has the power to build a business and sustain it well into the future, and can make its owner rich along the way. Brand equity, as opposed to brand value, has power beyond the balance sheet. Brand value is the financial difference between net present value of future cash flow between a branded versus unbranded product.
Read MoreContrary to popular convention, advertising agencies can be a tough place to realize creative aspirations. Though if your agency is good enough, the odds that you will satisfy your creative passions improve, if only slightly. If your agency is really, really good, you might even tell a bad client or two to get lost. A rare treat indeed. And if, just if, your agency is even better than that,
Read MoreWhile it won’t go away anytime soon, the days of brands curating and sharing content as their primary method of engaging customers is waning. There’s no denying that providing relevant, useful content is a way for brands to consistently gain trust and establish leadership. And a good piece of content is eminently sharable. But now that everyone has jumped on the content band wagon, and with the massive amount of content available for sharing, curating alone is simply not enough.
Read MoreP&G may have cemented “The Line” in marketing vernacular back in the 60’s but it’s long since time to let it die a respectful death. “The Line” was intended to divided the realm of awareness or brand focused marketing and that of interest and/or behavioral-focused marketing such as direct marketing, collateral, POS and promotion. One was a long-term capital investment in the brand, and the other a near-term expenditure designed to
Read MoreAfter watching Apple announce the less than auspicious iPhone 5S, I got to thinking. Apple,.. a brand with which I have had a long and happy relationship, has over the years given me everything I wanted. I liked being associated with “think different”. The rebel in me approved. I like their commitment to aesthetics when it came to design, hardware and software alike.
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