brand story
942 posts
Your Best Idea Might Be The One People Laugh At
“The miracle of your mind isn’t that you can see the world as it is but that you can see the world as it isn’t.” Kathryn Schultz You can probably picture the scene. Over a quiet dinner and a few drinks early in 1984 Richard Branson announces his plans to a few close friends. He…
The Strawberry Chocolate Box
It’s not how good they say you are, it’s how good you believe yourself to be. The community fair was in full swing. Proud gardeners and pushy mothers turned up in equal measure at every event. I had my eye on a prize. Having learned to bake at my mothers hip by the age of…
Ruby Slippers
Every single idea becomes what you can communicate. Dorothy’s ruby slippers were magical. They sparkled, they shone and everyone including the wicked witches with all her power coveted them without knowing exactly how they worked and why. Naturally you want to explain to everyone how to tap their he
The Goodbye Window
“Sure we need thrills, spills and big gestures, but we also need closeness, trust and intimacy.” Kevin Roberts. Lovemarks It might sound like a bit of a cliche but the small things really do matter, in business as well as in life. Children teach us that every day. We might think that they care about
Your Mission Statement …
Your mission statement… … is true. … tells people what you do. … is personal and relevant. … talks about what happens today. … looks at what change is achieved because you exist. … stems from real values and reflects what you stand for. … is easily understood by everyone who works for you.…
Your Customer Is The Hero
“Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.” John Barth I know your products are beautiful. I also read on the packaging that your juice is packed full of vitamins. And anyone with an eye can see that your designs are amazing. Knowing all of the facts about how great you are and…
Take Your Time
The best business stories, the really good ones develop over time. They’re the stories that the media probably doesn’t notice. The ones that happen drip by drip, created by people who continue to show up and tell a great story with more passion every day. The best stories are told by people who care
Different Enough
“If you’re trying to please everyone, then you’re not going to make anything that is honestly yours in the long run.” Viggo Mortensen Every cafe tells the same story (or tries to anyway); ‘we serve the best coffee.’ Every non- profit tells us how our money will make an impact and every box of deterg
Taking Control Of Your Personal Brand
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” Dr Seuss And dead or alive you know that you are going to be ‘Googled’. You may not be able to control what others say about you but you can take steps to tell your own…
They’re Telling Your Story
“We have to realise that the days of controlling the message are absolutely over.” Wendy Clark Senior VP of Integrated Marketing Coca Cola. You work hard to create an impression of your brand or business. To make your idea spread. You tell the story with your packaging, website design, logo, product
What Worldview Are You Marketing To?
“No matter how brilliantly an idea is stated, we will not really be moved unless we have already half thought of it ourselves.” – Mignon McLaughlin Sometimes our ideas spread because their time has come. Maybe because we’ve worked out who we need to be talking to and what some of those people are re
Do You Sound Like You Are Amazing?
Does your brand story give people something to buy into, to care about and to engage with? I’m not talking empty hype you could create, I’m talking about how you frame the truth. Some of the worlds best loved tiny brands took off for two reasons. Firstly they had a great idea and secondly they…
6 Questions For Crafting Your Relevance
When was the last time something caught your attention? In our increasingly noisy world things that captivate us for more than a few seconds are few and far between. We have become experts at shutting things out, at not paying attention to anything that doesn’t hold relevance for us. In any market w
25 Ideas On Using Instagram For Business
Instagram is a ‘real-time’ photo sharing application currently available as a free App for iPhone and iPod with plans to extend to a website and other mobile platforms in the near future. More than that though it’s a storytelling, entertainment and engagement platform with 3 million users and growin
So…. What Do You Do?
Have you ever had difficulty explaining the really cool project you’re working on to people? You’re not the only one! Even really smart people get stuck at trying to tell us what they do. The founders of Instagram, (the iPhone app that is taking communication in the social space by storm), Kevin Sys
Framing Your Scarcity
Do you know a woman on the planet who wouldn’t get excited if she was handed this blue box? I bet if a behavioral economist studied this they’d find that on a scale of one to ten, the excitement about the contents would rate lower than the elation experienced on receiving the box. The scarcity…
There’s Only One Orla Kiely
There’s only one Orla Kiely but a hundred ways to experience her brand. A brand that appeals across generations from teens to youthful grandmothers. That doesn’t mean that Kiely’s multicolored designs inspired by the 1960s and 1970s appeal to everyone, quite the opposite. You will either love them o
What Makes A Good Tagline?
As entrepreneurs and brand builders we like to think that our tagline could be the thing that positions our brand uppermost in the minds of clients and customers. We want something original and unique, a brilliant one liner that will make us unforgettable. I am asked what makes a great tagline a lot
Make Meaning
Sharing your idea with the world has never been easier. You don’t even need the marketing budget of Revlon like you did in the old days. Today the best brands tell stories that people want to believe and make meaning before making money. Some of the biggest successes of our time, Facebook, Google an
Why Magical Trumps Logical
Look around you. Think about the last thing that you bought. It might have been a $4 cup of coffee, the latest iPhone or an ecourse online. Now think about why you bought it. Was it something you needed? Or more likely something that you wanted. If customers bought everything based purely on logic t
