This is what really great brands do: they have a point to make and then find the most effective ways to make that point.
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.
Designing brands around a purpose
Intentions matter because they initiate outcomes.
The importance of unmeasurables
Not everything that can be counted counts. And not everything that counts can be counted.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The future of brands is… Circular?
What do milk floats and glossy leggings have in common?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
