Proven wisdom on creating a standout pitch deck (and 3 inside tips from a professional persuader)20220805133554
Proven wisdom on creating a standout pitch deck (and 3 inside tips from a professional persuader)
August 5, 20220 comments
Google standout pitch deck and you’ll find some incredible wisdom on crafting both a better deck and presentation. What I haven’t seen, however, are insights from someone who has spent a c...
Why pitch deck structure needs storytelling structure20220728163929
Why pitch deck structure needs storytelling structure
July 28, 20220 comments
Your deck is key to your pitch, so pitch deck structure is critical. A properly structured deck will enhance the investor’s journey – and a poorly structured deck will derail it. Thanks to...
Investor deck vs pitch deck: why your success depends on knowing the difference.20220719160505
Investor deck vs pitch deck: why your success depends on knowing the difference.
July 19, 20220 comments
Investor deck vs pitch deck? Aren’t they the same thing? They appear to do the same job, reference the same information, and are targeted at the same people. It’s only when you pull back t...
Think Simple Branding20220615150543
Think Simple Branding
June 15, 20220 comments
Simple branding: don’t knock it ’till you try it. In the 1950’s and 60’s, Volkswagen’s brand advertising was the talk of the town. Contrary to the ad zeitgeist (More! Bet...
Do you have an attention-getting investor pitch?20220605150904
Do you have an attention-getting investor pitch?
June 5, 20220 comments
What constitutes an attention-getting investor pitch? Simply put, it doesn’t sound like an investor pitch. The problem with investor pitches is that there’s a highly effective, but endless...
Pitching a business idea? Catch your audience’s attention – and hold it.20220601134648
Pitching a business idea? Catch your audience’s attention – and hold it.
June 1, 20220 comments
If you’re pitching a business idea, you need to get comfortable with a fundamental, sad truth: most listeners aren’t interested. There are some you simply won’t win over. But the majority ...
Seven reasons why nobody understands your marketing message20220413233442
Seven reasons why nobody understands your marketing message
April 13, 20220 comments
Here’s why nobody understands your marketing message. It doesn’t get to the point, It doesn’t take the customer’s viewpoint, It uses unfamiliar language, It feels formal and st...
Craft a simple marketing message that sells20220412005159
Craft a simple marketing message that sells
April 12, 20220 comments
When Nathaniel Hawthorne famously said “Easy reading is damn hard writing”, he could’ve been thinking about crafting a simple marketing message. Why a simple marketing message matter...
The ultimate brand positioning framework20220330063317
The ultimate brand positioning framework
March 30, 20220 comments
What is a brand positioning framework? A brand positioning framework is a construct that enables you to find the right place for your brand in the marketplace, as well as in the consumer’s mind. In s...
Your next pitch will probably fail20220329222416
Your next pitch will probably fail
March 29, 20220 comments
If you pitch – regardless if it’s for investment, to sell products, or win new business – your next pitch will probably fail for one of these reasons: • You don’t understand your prospect’...
Shake up your brand placement20220314003410
Shake up your brand placement
March 14, 20220 comments
Brand placement – often called ‘product placement’ – is a common practice in a rapidly increasing number of media. Through placement, a brand is included as part of a mass medi...
Your presentation bombed. Now what?20220201200316
Your presentation bombed. Now what?
February 1, 20220 comments
Your presentation bombed. You’re standing in the smouldering ruins. Here’s what you see: • Your idea is dead. • Weeks of work, down the tubes. • Your team can’t even look at you. • You’re ...
Make viral marketing happen20220201043107
Make viral marketing happen
February 1, 20220 comments
Say viral marketing today, and you’re more likely to get eye rolls than enthusiasm. That’s because the term was robbed of meaning when it became a sound bite in every creative brief. ̶...
The first step in building your personal brand20220122000834
The first step in building your personal brand
January 22, 20220 comments
Ready to take the first step in building your personal brand? Check out the abridged version of this speech I delivered at the SOHO Conference for solopreneurs. What is the first step in building your...
Yes, creativity can be learned20220117212448
Yes, creativity can be learned
January 17, 20220 comments
First, let’s get on the same page: creativity, for the purpose of this story, means more than simply having ideas. It’s having ideas that deliver business outcomes. The sort of outcomes co...
What would solve the COVID back-to-school standoff? Perhaps a great creative brief.20220111031534
What would solve the COVID back-to-school standoff? Perhaps a great creative brief.
January 11, 20220 comments
A creative brief is the foundation upon which innovative ideas are built. It provides constraints, direction and clarity. It leads to more memorable ‘a-ha’ moments, and campaigns that burr...
QAnon infighting, pro wrestling, and the beauty of brand strategy templates20220103185306
QAnon infighting, pro wrestling, and the beauty of brand strategy templates
January 3, 20220 comments
If you’re building a brand, a brand strategy template can alleviate considerable guesswork, serving up ideas on how other brands like yours have gone about the business of defining and promoting...
What are THE most important brand audit questions?20220103155041
What are THE most important brand audit questions?
January 3, 20220 comments
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re putting together a list of brand audit questions. And your head is starting to spin. Brand audits tend to fall into one of two groups: easy and s...
Advice on inclusive marketing from a sustainability veteran20211220012649
Advice on inclusive marketing from a sustainability veteran
December 20, 20210 comments
Inclusive marketing has been in the news for some time now. There have been bold measures: the UK implemented a ruling banning ads that portray gender stereotypes – something I was invited on ta...
Brand attraction: Does your brand have an awesome but?20211020150614
Brand attraction: Does your brand have an awesome but?
October 20, 20210 comments
Could an awesome ‘but’ be the secret to creating brand attraction? Let’s find out. Consumers don’t care about your brand’s terrific features. Most of them wouldn’t ...
Why is a brand audit important? Three obvious reasons (and five not-so-obvious ones)20211010235816
Why is a brand audit important? Three obvious reasons (and five not-so-obvious ones)
October 10, 20210 comments
Why is a brand audit important? A brand audit is important for three reasons that are obvious to any entrepreneur or brand steward: Brand audits help you recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your...
Want better brand strategy? Tune up your storytelling skill.20210919100020
Want better brand strategy? Tune up your storytelling skill.
September 19, 20210 comments
When a client engages me on a brand storytelling project, we always begin by looking inward. Why did they launch the company in the first place? What is it, beyond money, that excites them? What adve...
What are the benefits of a brand audit?20210913200512
What are the benefits of a brand audit?
September 13, 20210 comments
The benefits of a brand audit are fairly obvious to anyone who has ever done one. If you haven’t (I imagine that’s why you’re reading this), the benefits can be easily summarized in ...
Want powerful brand communication? Just ask.20210823181134
Want powerful brand communication? Just ask.
August 23, 20210 comments
Here’s my deepest, darkest secret. I’ve never actually created brand communication for a client. They do all the work themselves. No, they don’t mail in sketches and taglines. I just chat with t...
Brand pillars: the foundation of your successful brand.20210412233052
Brand pillars: the foundation of your successful brand.
April 12, 20210 comments
Look under the hood of any successful brand, and you’ll see most are built on five brand pillars. Following in their footsteps is a good idea. The problem is, it takes awareness, planning and di...
The seven commandments of brand management20210329180134
The seven commandments of brand management
March 29, 20210 comments
If you want to do brand management right, you can’t be afraid of playing with the DNA a bit (actually, that’s commandment number 3 below). Thus ‘seven commandments’ instead of ...
What is a brand audit outline?20210321191234
What is a brand audit outline?
March 21, 20210 comments
What is a brand audit outline? Most would say it’s a long checklist of questions that force you to assess how consistent and effective your messaging is? In truth, a brand audit is much more. Es...
Everything you want to know about brand positioning.20210210010428
Everything you want to know about brand positioning.
February 10, 20210 comments
Some brand issues never lose relevance, never go out of fashion, never get ‘solved’ – brand positioning is at the top of that heap. No matter how shiny your technology, lack of prope...
How to create a transformative personal brand20201122200218
How to create a transformative personal brand
November 22, 20200 comments
‘Personal brand’ is an overused, increasingly meaningless term. What it should stand for is clarity in who you are, and what you stand for. But it has been co-opted by the get-rich-quick-s...
Getting your brand story right… finally!20200916184240
Getting your brand story right… finally!
September 16, 20200 comments
A great brand story is pure voodoo. It ‘sticks’ in the listener’s mind better than any brand features or benefits. In fact, this makes the brand story the perfect vehicle for conveyi...
Celebrating failure is a refreshing brand strategy20200915013811
Celebrating failure is a refreshing brand strategy
September 15, 20200 comments
Hear me out. What if, instead of trying to disguise it, we started celebrating failure? Or better yet, we turned it into a refreshing brand strategy? Celebrating failure One of my favorite reads (albe...
Consumers are humans. To sell to them, get to know them.20200815213121
Consumers are humans. To sell to them, get to know them.
August 15, 20200 comments
Funny thing about consumers. The more distant they get from a marketer, the more they tend to look like research statistics. But the thing is, consumers are humans. They’re not numbers. ThatR...
Do your brand values let you sleep at night?20200720225104
Do your brand values let you sleep at night?
July 20, 20200 comments
Len Laycock knows brand values, and he knows design. When we first met, his stunning home furnishings design / retail brand Upholstery Arts was a beacon on the Vancouver scene – not least of whi...
Can you explain your brand in 90 seconds?20200720021522
Can you explain your brand in 90 seconds?
July 20, 20200 comments
People love to connect with other people. We’re wired to pick up subtle cues from their words and body language, which enable us to quickly determine if they’re trustworthy or not. It̵...
Fashion, COVID, and Unleashing Entrepreneurial Creativity20200616004029
Fashion, COVID, and Unleashing Entrepreneurial Creativity
June 16, 20200 comments
Sarah Darcey aspired to build a fashion styling brand. But with a great job, her aspiration never left the back burner. COVID-19 changed all that. For months, Sarah was confined to her apartment. The ...
Does your Brand Name Need Fixing? (P.S. It’s Easy)20200611000700
Does your Brand Name Need Fixing? (P.S. It’s Easy)
June 11, 20200 comments
A bad brand name is one of the most consistent forms of self-sabotage I see in marketing today. Ironically, it’s also one of the easiest fixes around. There’s is no reason to stick with a ...
Bootstrap Marketing and The Beautiful Idea20200511190339
Bootstrap Marketing and The Beautiful Idea
May 11, 20200 comments
Bootstrap Marketing and the Beautiful Idea is one of the keynote addresses I give on a regular basis. It resonates particularly well with startup audiences – although I’ve seen a fair numb...
Presentation skills: honing them the Winston Churchill way20200430070017
Presentation skills: honing them the Winston Churchill way
April 30, 20200 comments
I while ago, I saw Darkest Hour, which gave me the opportunity to witness Winston Churchill’s amazing ability to craft impactful messages. A fascinating part of the film was seeing Churchill...
Doing a successful pandemic brand pivot20200430003144
Doing a successful pandemic brand pivot
April 30, 20200 comments
How do you do a successful pandemic brand pivot? COVID has spawned a cottage industry of advice on shifting the tactics of your brand – amping up the education and free value to your followers,...
In disruptive times, you need outsider marketing.20200404010542
In disruptive times, you need outsider marketing.
April 4, 20200 comments
Outsider marketing means getting an ‘outside the jar’ perspective on your company’s positioning, messaging and selling. Here’s why it’s more important than ever. The econ...
Corona Virus: your opportunity to reset marketing and sales20200323202651
Corona Virus: your opportunity to reset marketing and sales
March 23, 20200 comments
As COVID-19 panic grips us, ripple effects are crashing markets and effectively cancelling economies around the globe. It’s time to reset our marketing and sales, finding new needs, new insights...
The innovation story every frustrated entrepreneur needs to hear20200315205631
The innovation story every frustrated entrepreneur needs to hear
March 15, 20200 comments
We live in a time of innovation abundance, where our ability to explore and develop new ideas is exponentially greater than it was even 10 years ago. This can be both liberating, and disheartening ...
How does your brand respond to corona virus?20200315183018
How does your brand respond to corona virus?
March 15, 20200 comments
Taking affirmative action to protect your brand’s customers is the right thing to do. But is there an opportunity to leverage your brand attributes to do… more? The world is in the grip of...
Free and easy LinkedIn business lead generation20200312225431
Free and easy LinkedIn business lead generation
March 12, 20200 comments
I need to start this post with a confession: I used to use LinkedIn all the time to accelerate lead generation for my B2B clients. It was a fairly elaborate process that involved paid tools and enhanc...
Brand positioning: a great shortcut20200310224638
Brand positioning: a great shortcut
March 10, 20200 comments
If you market for a living, you understand brand positioning is a complex process where you read the tea leaves on your brand, your competitors’ brands, and (most important) consumer preferences...
Test or trust: The idea validation debate rages on.20200209231241
Test or trust: The idea validation debate rages on.
February 9, 20200 comments
Oh, the stories I could tell of pitched battles over idea validation. I’ve seen the debate swing like a pendulum between test and trust through the years. In the pre-digital days – back wh...
I don’t give a damn about your story20200119224124
I don’t give a damn about your story
January 19, 20200 comments
Storytelling is a powerful messaging tool. But storytellers need to remember what their audience really wants to hear. If you’ve been invited to speak about yourself, it’s natural to presu...
Using creative dissonance to build surprising brands20200109161024
Using creative dissonance to build surprising brands
January 9, 20200 comments
When you’re building a brand, what makes it truly spectacular? A great brand can be the culmination of a single minded vision. But in my experience, the best, most surprising brands come from br...
How to hone your authentic brand20200103205107
How to hone your authentic brand
January 3, 20200 comments
‘Authentic brand’ is the cliche du jour – everyone wants one, but few people understand what it really entails. Google ‘Create an authentic brand’, and you get plenty of ...
The trouble with origin storytelling? The origin.20200101210101
The trouble with origin storytelling? The origin.
January 1, 20200 comments
Storytelling is de rigueur in marketing today. And origin stories (those describing a founder’s or product’s origin and journey to success) are the most popular of the genre. There is an a...
Marketing solutions to problems that don’t exist?20190912053656
Marketing solutions to problems that don’t exist?
September 12, 20190 comments
Can you think of one thing that really revs you up? For me, it’s teaching. I’m a brand consultant. I’m an entrepreneur. But nothing beats the thrill of teaching. When I was teaching at the university ...
Do sustainability and real estate marketing mix?20190829184434
Do sustainability and real estate marketing mix?
August 29, 20190 comments
Spirit Bay is a whole new kettle of fish when it comes to real estate marketing. The village, on the southern coast of Vancouver Island in Canada, was developed based on traditional principles of comm...
Solar lighting: unleashing the brand20190812192339
Solar lighting: unleashing the brand
August 12, 20190 comments
Solar lighting as a brand is beset by misperceptions. People still overwhelmingly believe the lights break, the batteries don’t last, the whole category is a cheap, Home Depot novelty. Winning h...
Effective outdoor advertising: the art of constraint20190710005447
Effective outdoor advertising: the art of constraint
July 10, 20190 comments
Alright, I’ll say it – this story on creating effective outdoor advertising is entirely self-serving. I’m writing it is because a partner and I are launching a new outdoor ad offerin...
Pushing past your comfort zone: my University of Adversity interview20190705181557
Pushing past your comfort zone: my University of Adversity interview
July 5, 20190 comments
My journey through the world of marketing has had its fair share of ups, downs, goods, bads and uglies. So when University of Adversity podcast host Lance Essihos dialled me up to relate my stories to...
Does your marketing need skunk works?20190704164614
Does your marketing need skunk works?
July 4, 20190 comments
Every job becomes mundane and routine if you do it long enough – marketing is no exception. The problem is, marketing is about disruption. Standing out in a crowded field by zigging when everyon...
The best video introduction ever20190614222901
The best video introduction ever
June 14, 20190 comments
A video introduction to a piece of thought leadership is a deceptively tricky thing to get right. Or so I discovered a few weeks ago. A client of mine was launching a series of educational modules aim...
What’s in this coffee? The unlikely rise of McDonald’s brand brew.20190514230937
What’s in this coffee? The unlikely rise of McDonald’s brand brew.
May 14, 20190 comments
The other day, I was strolling through Costco, and saw McDonald’s brand coffee pods on sale. I was amazed – not so long ago, I was working on the McDonald’s account as a creative dir...
Your most powerful marketing tool is the humble testimonial video20190503004400
Your most powerful marketing tool is the humble testimonial video
May 3, 20190 comments
Nobody wants to buy what you’re pitching. It’s simple psychology. You’re making a pitch. Thus, you have a vested interest that makes your pitch partisan, and your audience cynical. But what happ...
Fear, Halloween, and Brand Thinking20181101222311
Fear, Halloween, and Brand Thinking
November 1, 20180 comments
I love connecting tangents that don’t obviously belong together. That’s why, in honour of Halloween, I did a bit of research into the correlation between fear and brand thinking. Crazy? Ac...
Ten-ish slides that will define your brand20181009000858
Ten-ish slides that will define your brand
October 9, 20180 comments
A short time ago, I was called in to help a team of university students in an Entrepreneurial Business Case Competition – ostensibly as a brand guy who could provide guidance on getting their me...
Is it time your brand reinvented the ordinary?20180919033035
Is it time your brand reinvented the ordinary?
September 19, 20180 comments
Paul Lavoie, an old friend of mine, built an incredibly successful ad agency brand. Lavoie is a brand unto himself, as anyone who has ever seen him or heard him speak will attest. But when he retired ...
Nike, Kaepernick, and the power of a bold brand20180910032547
Nike, Kaepernick, and the power of a bold brand
September 10, 20180 comments
Nike launched a bold brand statement on Labour Day. The campaign, featuring Colin Kaepernick and the rallying cry Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything brought in Nike’s 3...
Could you successfully market yourself on a plane? (The secret of the unique selling proposition)20180822004229
Could you successfully market yourself on a plane? (The secret of the unique selling proposition)
August 22, 20180 comments
I met an interesting gentleman a short time ago, who was also a master of the unique selling proposition. He walked up to my desk at the client office, and politely asked what I was doing. I explained...
Marketing new ideas: how to do it right20180709041050
Marketing new ideas: how to do it right
July 9, 20180 comments
Marketing new ideas is tough. After all, new ideas are hard to absorb. Especially today, when we feel besieged by a barrage of new. Our reaction, increasingly, is to duck and cover, hoping the storm w...
Make your landing page your hardest-working brand tool20180604201950
Make your landing page your hardest-working brand tool
June 4, 20180 comments
Long, long ago, in a time before landing pages, I used to build brand bibles for my clients. These ‘bibles’ were repositories of everything great and good about their brand, including: The...
How to brand in the gig economy20180528045157
How to brand in the gig economy
May 28, 20180 comments
A brand is, by definition, the equivalent of reputation – and in today’s gig economy, reputation is what enables solopreneurs and entrepreneurs to survive and thrive. But there’s a f...
How better storytelling builds better brands20180518223309
How better storytelling builds better brands
May 18, 20180 comments
A great story is more than entertaining and captivating – it can be the glue that helps you organize your information to create a more cohesive, coherent brand. There are plenty of story constru...
Make infographics core to your communication20180510051003
Make infographics core to your communication
May 10, 20180 comments
Infographics are the antidote to the data firehose. They break complex information into graphic bits, tie the bits together with arrows and circles, and assemble them in pictures so pretty you want to...
Use your common sense before you think positioning20180223201820
Use your common sense before you think positioning
February 23, 20180 comments
Before you can work on positioning your product, you need to get inside the consumer’s head to figure out what the heck they’re thinking. About your product, about competitor products, abo...
Building an effective cannabis brand20180220013206
Building an effective cannabis brand
February 20, 20180 comments
I just finished my second stint building a cannabis brand. As luck would have it, this coincided with my regular slot chatting with Mark Brennae of CFAX radio. So Mark and I had a great conversation o...
Why you don’t need to be the product expert to be the product marketer20180219041325
Why you don’t need to be the product expert to be the product marketer
February 19, 20180 comments
My job as a product marketer is to find the core truth in the brand we’re selling. The core truth is what people say about our product, unprompted and off the cuff. If we can capture that truth ...
Let your competitors do your brand positioning for you20180208055612
Let your competitors do your brand positioning for you
February 8, 20180 comments
Brand positioning isn’t an esoteric term. It’s all about my mom. My mom was looking for a new mini-SUV. I took her shopping, intent on impressing on her the infinite superiority of my cl...
Can you improve your brand name?20180201000308
Can you improve your brand name?
February 1, 20180 comments
You may feel your company is saddled with a terrible brand name. Welcome to the club. Most companies have terrible, nondescript names. They’re named after their founders (Albert, Bean and Crumpe...
Online education as killer brand building tool.20180130003735
Online education as killer brand building tool.
January 30, 20180 comments
For the better part of a year, I’ve been struggling to translate my brand building knowledge into meaningful online education. I know, I know, I’ve helped other people create strong online...
The power of a visual brand20180118000309
The power of a visual brand
January 18, 20180 comments
There simply is nothing more powerful than a visual brand – a brand you can identify without words by simply seeing a powerful icon. That’s why, as part of virtually every brand project, I...
Storytelling, and the antidote to the accumulation nation20180116005010
Storytelling, and the antidote to the accumulation nation
January 16, 20180 comments
Didn’t See It Coming usually explores brands that learn from the past, look to the future, and profit because of it today. But every once in a while, you meet someone who has such a terrific sto...
Are you making obvious marketing mistakes?20180115140858
Are you making obvious marketing mistakes?
January 15, 20180 comments
Illustration: My wife’s list of questions marketers should answer – a template for the marketing mistakes I was making. A short time ago, I was describing the progress of a new product wi...
Building the solopreneur brand20180102001209
Building the solopreneur brand
January 2, 20180 comments
Building a solopreneur brand is as tough as being a solopreneur. As a solopreneur myself, I know it’s difficult to choose a tight niche, and build my brand around it – it’s simply to...
Which brand platform is best? (Spoiler alert: any of them)20171221001046
Which brand platform is best? (Spoiler alert: any of them)
December 21, 20170 comments
Today, choosing how to effectively communicate can feel like drinking from a firehose. There are simply too many platforms for marketing your message. More often than not, the overabundance of choice ...
Christmas marketing? Or Christmas hypermarketing?20171205000935
Christmas marketing? Or Christmas hypermarketing?
December 5, 20170 comments
Not long ago, my wife pointed out that the Christmas marketing and shopping season was now not only infringing on Thanksgiving – but even Halloween! What next? Would we be doing our Christmas sh...
From Unique Selling Proposition to Unique Ownable Speciality20171121000830
From Unique Selling Proposition to Unique Ownable Speciality
November 21, 20170 comments
Over the course of the last three BrandDIY posts (you can check them out here, here and here) we’ve done some heavy lifting. Specifically, we’ve figured out what you think your brand does ...
Create a lizardproof brand20171107002150
Create a lizardproof brand
November 7, 20170 comments
For most marketers, cutting through the noise with their brand message is a big concern. But even if your message gets to your audience, there’s no guarantee they’ll absorb it. This speech...
Is your brand dying? This could be why.20171017002548
Is your brand dying? This could be why.
October 17, 20170 comments
One of my readers asked me recently ‘What do you do when you see your brand dying, but others around you don’t?’ Is your brand dying? Brands are very public things. Certainly, everyo...
Want to build brand awareness with a publicity stunt? Read this first20171003000501
Want to build brand awareness with a publicity stunt? Read this first
October 3, 20170 comments
(Photo: Lululemon’s legendary ‘Show Up Naked And Get Free Gear’ stunt generated terrific brand awareness) In the age of social media, a publicity stunt can be a boon for your brand a...
Fun with brand research (no, really)20170919004151
Fun with brand research (no, really)
September 19, 20170 comments
If you read my last brandDIY post, you’re probably all revved up about your brand’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Truth is, the fun is only half done. In this story, we kick it up a no...
Eclipses, superstition, and marketing.20170905004301
Eclipses, superstition, and marketing.
September 5, 20170 comments
On August 21st, the world witnessed a stunning solar eclipse. And in completely unrelated news, on August 21st I went on the air to chat marketing. It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. Could ...
What Bill Bernbach would say about data driven marketing.20170829005842
What Bill Bernbach would say about data driven marketing.
August 29, 20170 comments
I love tech. Most of my clients are launching or growing the next generation of wizardry that will make the world a better, more facile, happier place. My job is to tell audiences exactly what it is m...
You can be a #1 brand. The magic of the Unique Selling Proposition20170801000521
You can be a #1 brand. The magic of the Unique Selling Proposition
August 1, 20170 comments
If you read my last post on brand backcasting, you’re probably here to pick up more tips on DIY brand building. If you haven’t, let me bring you up to speed on the grand brand experiment u...
Brand backcasting – envision the future, then plan how to get there.20170718005129
Brand backcasting – envision the future, then plan how to get there.
July 18, 20170 comments
Over the course of 25 years of helping clients build effective brands, I’ve discovered a huge, yawning gap in the market: commonsense brand building techniques aimed at entrepreneurs who want to...
What goes into a Brand Bible?20170620003026
What goes into a Brand Bible?
June 20, 20170 comments
I love launching new brands. In fact, I’m currently helping four startups either conceive their brand from scratch or rethink their brand as they start to get traction and need to position thems...
Advertising engagement, without the annoyance factor20170606005641
Advertising engagement, without the annoyance factor
June 6, 20170 comments
Advertising engagement is a polite way of defining the raison d’etre of ads… you advertise in order to engage your audience. There are a number of ways to create advertising engagement. Yo...
Brexit, Trump, and the dumbed down brand20170502021623
Brexit, Trump, and the dumbed down brand
May 2, 20170 comments
If you’re a brand builder, your goal is to build a simple brand – not a dumbed down brand. The rationale is easy to grasp. A brand is designed to simplify complex concepts. But in the real...
Brand betrayal: the tale of Tim Hortons20170418004212
Brand betrayal: the tale of Tim Hortons
April 18, 20170 comments
A recent Globe and Mail story described the ‘brutal’ brand betrayal of beloved Canadian restaurant Tim Hortons. The cause of the messy shift? Budget cuts by Tim’s new owners – ...
Pepsi, Kendall Jenner, and brand disaster20170411020050
Pepsi, Kendall Jenner, and brand disaster
April 11, 20170 comments
Recently, Pepsi pulled a monumental brand disaster of an ad starring Kendall Jenner as the girl who, well, solved social injustice with a fist bump and soda. The ad was so wrong on so many fronts. Ins...
You’re not a commodity brand. Now prove it.20170403000039
You’re not a commodity brand. Now prove it.
April 3, 20170 comments
This is the manuscript of a brand speech Marc delivered on being commodity brand, March 9th at a financial managers’ conference in British Columbia, Canada. Our world has grown incredibly small....
The brand of change20170321002457
The brand of change
March 21, 20170 comments
Todd Sivers is an experienced personal coach with a unique system for helping people create positive change. To him, the tension we’re seeing between our regressive politics and our unprecedente...
Trump and the brand gap20170221001500
Trump and the brand gap
February 21, 20170 comments
In times of change, a brand gap can form between where you were and where you need to be. If you can’t close the gap, it invites consumers to question your relevance. There’s no arguing Do...
Aeromexico, Trump, and the creative catalyst20170131001455
Aeromexico, Trump, and the creative catalyst
January 31, 20170 comments
I’m a marketer. An adman. Nobody has ever confused me or my kind with unicorn-chasing idealists. But as I wrote a few posts back, I believe Trump’s mean-spirited measures can actually act ...
McDonald’s peanut scandal. Is this a brand promise violation?20170120055200
McDonald’s peanut scandal. Is this a brand promise violation?
January 20, 20170 comments
Today, we woke up with the news that McDonald’s had decided to launch a new McFlurry with loose nuts – instead of the standard pre-packaged nuts. In a heartbeat, social media lit up as par...
How to bring marketing integrity back? Just ask consumers.20170117001012
How to bring marketing integrity back? Just ask consumers.
January 17, 20170 comments
There is no better way to demonstrate marketing integrity than by letting your customers tell your story for you. Sadly, where there’s an opportunity, there’s an opportunity to scam the sy...
How to build (and kill) brand image20161115002350
How to build (and kill) brand image
November 15, 20160 comments
With the recent release of the Gustavson Brand Trust Index, I was invited on CFAX talk radio to chat about how to build brand image – and how to destroy it. You can join host Mark Brennae and my...
Trump, Clinton, and the rebirth of Brand USA20161103003624
Trump, Clinton, and the rebirth of Brand USA
November 3, 20160 comments
To the world, brand USA has always been about more than a country – it represented an idea of dreams pursued and happiness attained. Now, with the impending US election, that concept has taken a...
Why your most powerful advertising may be a speech.20161009013315
Why your most powerful advertising may be a speech.
October 9, 20160 comments
Technology has enabled us to craft incredibly powerful advertising, microtargeted to individuals yet engaging the world. But will public speaking supplant advertising as the go to form of communicatio...
Rebranding the US presidential race20160801040821
Rebranding the US presidential race
August 1, 20160 comments
Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past few months, you know that the current US presidential race has escalated from ‘unprecedented’ to ‘bewildering’ and beyon...
Has advertising lost its focus on innovation?20160718184312
Has advertising lost its focus on innovation?
July 18, 20160 comments
Leading North American advertising agencies used to be headed by creatives and innovators. Today, managers and accountants hold the reins. The result? Less focus on innovation, and more on efficiency ...
Saving advertising, one dollar at a time.20160707053212
Saving advertising, one dollar at a time.
July 7, 20160 comments
Advertising is in decline. Pundits and observers blame it on everything from the million channel universe and digital-era tilting of the scale from persuasion to information, to the muscle of consulti...
Can brands survive our toxic communication environment?20160616233437
Can brands survive our toxic communication environment?
June 16, 20160 comments
What used to be productive communication has denigrated into toxic shouting matches. Whether it’s the scorched earth political abuse that has served Donald Trump so well, character attacks foggi...
Cleantech marketers, simplify your pitch!20160405045948
Cleantech marketers, simplify your pitch!
April 5, 20160 comments
Cleantech Canada asked me to write a series of op-ed pieces on effectively branding technology. This story describes how to make your pitch simpler, and more compelling. Enjoy!...
Donald Trump could teach cleantech a thing or two.20160405045438
Donald Trump could teach cleantech a thing or two.
April 5, 20160 comments
Cleantech Canada asked me to write a series of opinion pieces on branding the cleantech industry. This fun piece on the Donald was the inaugural piece. Enjoy!...
Are you a digital slave?20160405044940
Are you a digital slave?
April 5, 20160 comments
In this podcast, I brainstorm with behavioral psychologist John Marshall Roberts on the causes of our dependence on our digital devices, what that means for brands, and how we can break free. Enjoy!...
Full recording of my bootstrap marketing keynote20160223203233
Full recording of my bootstrap marketing keynote
February 23, 20160 comments
Recently, I delivered my ‘Bootstrap Marketing and the Beautiful Idea’ keynote at SOHO 2016. Now, the full video of my keynote has been released. Check it out here....
Are sustainability-driven green giants taking over the world?20160120020657
Are sustainability-driven green giants taking over the world?
January 20, 20160 comments
In this podcast, I explore the rising number of billion dollar companies that were founded on sustainability and social innovation principles. Green Giants is the term given these companies by renowne...
Bootstrap marketing, and a beautiful junk idea.20160120015614
Bootstrap marketing, and a beautiful junk idea.
January 20, 20160 comments
In this podcast, I chat with Brian Scudamore – the iconoclastic founder of 1-800-Got-Junk. Got Junk is a company famous for its cheeky bootstrap marketing. In fact, Scudamore has largely turned ...
How to unleash your inner TED in a speech.20160120014104
How to unleash your inner TED in a speech.
January 20, 20160 comments
In this podcast, I address the most difficult part of writing a speech – getting started. We love the lofty thoughts expressed by masters like JFK and Martin Luther King. But when we need to cra...
How to create an effective personal branding pitch20160120013315
How to create an effective personal branding pitch
January 20, 20160 comments
A personal branding pitch is core to your career, and even the company you’re a part of. It positions you as someone with a relatable story, who solves a very specific problem for a very specifi...
Will the world be a more sustainable place in 2032?20160106195531
Will the world be a more sustainable place in 2032?
January 6, 20160 comments
I short while back, I had the opportunity to interview futurist Guy Dauncey on his latest book Journey to the Future. The interview became a podcast (check it out here) and today, a blog post on Mediu...
Is your speech a moonshot speech?20151218010158
Is your speech a moonshot speech?
December 18, 20150 comments
I just published another blog post for Your Ultimate Speech. This one is on a subject most executives ignore when they’re crafting their presentation – how to ensure you deliver a visionar...
Overpromise and Overdeliver. Great Brand Strategy or Company Killer?20151008014444
Overpromise and Overdeliver. Great Brand Strategy or Company Killer?
October 8, 20150 comments
In this podcast, I discuss the brand strategy trend toward overpromising and overdelivering to customers. Does it really make them happier and more loyal? And does it kill your company in the process?...
Will Millennials Be The Undoing Of Advertising?20150916170942
Will Millennials Be The Undoing Of Advertising?
September 16, 20150 comments
In this Didn’t See It Coming podcast, I interview Jason Gaboriau – EVP and Creative Director of Doner LA on the subject of building an ad agency with millennials. Jason has unique experien...
Are Megatrends Aligned Behind Your Investment Pitch?20150916165834
Are Megatrends Aligned Behind Your Investment Pitch?
September 16, 20150 comments
An investment pitch becomes a true force when you can map out how your company is shaping, or surfing, global forces and megatrends. This story, the second in a series I wrote for Unreasonable, descri...
What’s Holding You Back as a Communicator?20150831222726
What’s Holding You Back as a Communicator?
August 31, 20150 comments
In this podcast, I speak with author and cutting-edge psychologist John Marshall Roberts about the Voice Code – his new foray into forces that block us from realizing our potential. Having witne...
The Death of the Canadian Political Story20150831222008
The Death of the Canadian Political Story
August 31, 20150 comments
In this podcast, I join CFAX’s Mark Brennie discussing the branding of the Canadian political story. This conversation was inspired (in a non-inspiring way) by a recent story in the New York Tim...
The Innovation of Work20150729195433
The Innovation of Work
July 29, 20150 comments
In this podcast, I join CFAX’s Ian Jessop to discuss how innovation is transforming our concept of work. The topic wasn’t an out-of-the-blue decision. I’m in the process of building ...
Turning Ugly Constraints into Beautiful Innovation.20150723160409
Turning Ugly Constraints into Beautiful Innovation.
July 23, 20150 comments
I had the opportunity to interview ‘A Beautiful Constraint’ co-author Mark Barden a short while back (if you’d like to hear the interview, click onto the podcast here). The interview...
Non-profit Storytelling20150723132548
Non-profit Storytelling
July 23, 20150 comments
In this podcast, I chat with non-profit storytelling specialist Norma Cameron about the power of non-profit stories, and the mistakes non-profits make in crafting their own story. Despite having incre...
The Power of Search Insights for the Non-Technically Minded20150715132530
The Power of Search Insights for the Non-Technically Minded
July 15, 20150 comments
In this podcast, I chat with Searchdoppler and Dtermin founder John McDonald about how search insights can help non-technically minded entrepreneurs build their business. Search is the most-used, leas...
The problem with passion20150709100053
The problem with passion
July 9, 20150 comments
I had the good fortune to cross paths with a truly remarkable individual not too long ago. Her name is Mina Guli, and her story is jaw dropping. Mina was one of the inaugural clients of my Speech Chea...
FIFA, Brand Strategy and the March of Inevitability20150609100031
FIFA, Brand Strategy and the March of Inevitability
June 9, 20150 comments
Last week, I was contacted by a leading national newspaper and asked my opinion on FIFA. Or rather, how FIFA being shoved in front of the media grand jury would impact global sponsors like Coke. My th...
Tapping Tribes In Your Brand Strategy20150602100026
Tapping Tribes In Your Brand Strategy
June 2, 20150 comments
When it comes to brand strategy, I’ve always been a big believer in drafting groups of like-minded individuals – or tribes – to pull the brand along. Today, the prevalence of tribes has dr...
Social Media, Brand Strategy and Storytelling. The Didn’t See It Coming Podcast20150528100041
Social Media, Brand Strategy and Storytelling. The Didn’t See It Coming Podcast
May 28, 20150 comments
In this program, host Ian Jessop and I discuss how brands often leapfrog brand strategy and story to arrive at social media tactics…with disastrous results. Inspired by my keynote at this month&...
Enlightened Blogging Part 3: How to Create a Popular Blog20150525190249
Enlightened Blogging Part 3: How to Create a Popular Blog
May 25, 20150 comments
Alright folks, we’re in the home stretch – ‘How to create a popular blog’ is the final piece of the three-part experiment on effective blog marketing I’ve conducted over the past 4 months....
How do I pull more eyeballs to my content marketing?20150424202013
How do I pull more eyeballs to my content marketing?
April 24, 20150 comments
Everyone wants qualified customers sidling up to their content marketing counter, asking ‘How much?’ and ‘Can I take it home today?’ Nobody wants cobwebs in the newbiz folder, ...
What Dying Brands Do. The Didn’t See It Coming Podcast.20150423231650
What Dying Brands Do. The Didn’t See It Coming Podcast.
April 23, 20150 comments
In this Didn’t See It Coming podcast, host Ian Jessop and I discuss how respected brands die. In actual fact, there are several well-documented hallmarks of brand decay: the shift from ra...
Didn’t See It Coming 1: The Podcast20150417203914
Didn’t See It Coming 1: The Podcast
April 17, 20150 comments
For those of you unfamiliar with my book Didn’t See It Coming, this podcast should help. It’s the first in an ongoing series, pulled from my monthly radio appearances on CFAX radio....
Will reality ads and user generated content destroy brand reputation?20150416124241
Will reality ads and user generated content destroy brand reputation?
April 16, 20150 comments
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one to lose it.” Benjamin Franklin I’m fascinated by the rise of reality ads – a gritty style of communication that looks like i...
How to promote your blog (monthly searches: 1.3k).20150413140232
How to promote your blog (monthly searches: 1.3k).
April 13, 20150 comments
I’m conducting an experiment in increasing blog traffic (monthly searches: 320). The first part of the experiment took place three weeks ago when I published this post on how I started blogging. I cr...
Didn’t see it coming: my Social Media Camp podcast.20150330002000
Didn’t see it coming: my Social Media Camp podcast.
March 30, 20150 comments
This spring, I’m delivering a keynote at Social Media Camp. To build buzz around the event, SMC founder Chris Burdge and I got together for a lively 40 minute podcast. My podcast covered brand s...
Enlightened blogging part 1. Search-less and clueless.20150309215121
Enlightened blogging part 1. Search-less and clueless.
March 9, 20150 comments
A few years back, I sold my green brand agency to an innovation firm, Maddock Douglas, and went to work as their VP of Green Innovation. A very heady title, I agree, great for cocktail talk. But what ...
Why entrepreneurs should embrace their inner beginner.20150309200831
Why entrepreneurs should embrace their inner beginner.
March 9, 20150 comments
I’ve always been a sponge for new ideas. Maybe it’s a lateral thinking thing. Maybe ADD. I get waylaid in library aisles and bookstores, spend hours at magazine racks, and search online like a kid on ...
The importance of building a bridge brand.20150309200219
The importance of building a bridge brand.
March 9, 20150 comments
So here’s the scenario. You’ve created a product you believe in, and built a company around it. You’ve gone to the (considerable) trouble of wrapping all that in a beautiful brand – website, logo, adv...
Why marketing is averse to new thinking.20150303051155
Why marketing is averse to new thinking.
March 3, 20150 comments
I had a fascinating conversation this morning with Guy Dauncey, a futurist and big brain in the sustainability field. Guy is writing his latest book, a novel that projects us into the Vancouver of 204...
