Brand Strategy – Baron Sauvage

September 13, 2022September 13, 2022Brand Strategy

Byron Sharp, brand purpose and the tyranny of the majority

In reducing the role of branding to a single aim – growth – Byron Sharp and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute have simultaneously established the biggest strength and the greatest weakness of their ‘scientific’ approach: the single-minded pursuit of growth might be an appealing message for CMOs grasping for ‘scientific’ credibility; but it also absolves them of responsibility for important activities that should be a part of their job description, such as ensuring their businesses anticipate and respond to important changes in society, including the continuing struggles against systemic racism, climate change and social inequality.

July 8, 2022July 30, 2022Brand Strategy

A reading list for brand strategists

Once in a while, someone interested in becoming a brand strategist (or becoming a better brand strategist) asks me what they should read. Here’s a list (of sorts).

February 26, 2021Brand Strategy

Fuck storytelling: great brands make a statement

This is what really great brands do: they have a point to make and then find the most effective ways to make that point.

December 11, 2020March 1, 2021Brand Experience Brand Strategy Work Culture

Brand positioning: avoiding the average

In theory, brand positioning can be an immensely useful tool for creating growth. But in practice, it is often a complete waste of time, money and effort.

December 10, 2020Brand Strategy Work Culture

Designing brands around a purpose

Intentions matter because they initiate outcomes.

December 10, 2020Brand Strategy Work Culture

The importance of unmeasurables

Not everything that can be counted counts. And not everything that counts can be counted.

December 10, 2020Brand Strategy

Thinking about brands as systems

It’s difficult to find brands with clearly aligned positioning, strategy and architecture, which is why there are so few truly great brands.

December 10, 2020Brand Experience Brand Strategy Innovation

Brands and the Economy of Mistrust

In the economy of mistrust, businesses create profit by outsourcing the policing of behaviour to their online communities: they establish spaces in which people are encouraged to act as judge, jury and executioner.

December 10, 2020Brand Strategy Leadership Work Culture

Why culture doesn’t eat strategy for breakfast

If strategy is about substance, then culture is about style – and style matters every bit as much as substance.

December 10, 2020Brand Experience Brand Strategy

What makes a brand great?

Great brands don’t just deliver on expectations; they play with those expectations. They inspire us to see more of life’s infinite possibilities.

December 10, 2020December 10, 2020Brand Experience Brand Strategy Innovation Leadership Sustainability

The future of brands is… Circular?

What do milk floats and glossy leggings have in common?

December 10, 2020December 10, 2020Brand Strategy Innovation Leadership

Authenticity: it’s not what it used to be

The past is something you learn from, but not something your brand needs to be wedded to.

December 10, 2020Brand Strategy Work Culture

Ten reasons for brand strategists to love Milton Glaser, too

Milton Glaser had the ability to penetrate through the layers of bullshit that often come with a job that balances the commercial with the creative. He thought seriously and deeply about this balance. Here are ten things I’ve taken away.

December 8, 2020Brand Experience Brand Strategy

Challenger banks: not radical enough?

We’re learning to love contactless and mobile forms of payment, but we’re a long way from digital banking nirvana.

December 8, 2020Brand Experience Brand Strategy Work Culture

Why commercial brands should look to not-for-profits for inspiration

A compelling charity brand is spontaneous, collaborative and delivered with charm and a warm imperfection that reminds us what it means to be human.

December 8, 2020Brand Experience Brand Strategy Work Culture

Brands and emotional dishonesty

This form of positivity is toxic precisely because it robs us of our right to call something out as damaging, or depressing, or shameful.

December 8, 2020January 11, 2023Brand Strategy

You don’t have to be crazy to believe in brand archetypes… But it helps!

Archetype theory isn’t the product of rigorous scientific study. It is the result of an imagined relationship between the spirit world and the world of the real.