Turning ugly constraints into beautiful brand innovation20211215125219
Turning ugly constraints into beautiful brand innovation
December 15, 20210 comments
A while back, I had the opportunity to interview A Beautiful Constraint co-author Mark Barden on my podcast. It was a terrific experience that produced an embarrassment of riches for anyone in the bra...
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 ...
Building a brand with soul20210322180952
Building a brand with soul
March 22, 20210 comments
The definition of icon is ‘a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or worthy of veneration’. A brand represents your company. So, technically, it’s an icon. But is it worthy of ven...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
Want a brand that thrives into the future? Learn to decode happiness today.20160601014001
Want a brand that thrives into the future? Learn to decode happiness today.
June 1, 20160 comments
Brands sell happiness. And, of course, brands sell perennial unhappiness. They’re two sides of the same coin – on the one hand, we promise consumers that their next purchase will make them...
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...
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&...
Can your brand survive cultural chaos?20150303043503
Can your brand survive cultural chaos?
March 3, 20150 comments
Culture for people is a bit like water for fish. Most of us don’t know we have one, although we plainly see cultural biases in those outside our group—biases that stop them from seeing the world as it...
