MJ Braide on Brand Strategy

Employee engagement: brand’s new leading indicator

How strong is your corporate brand? Important question. How can you do better than guess at the answer? Well, you could spend six or seven figures on some quant research on reputation (which will do little more than confirm your gut about what people think of you), you can invest in a brand valuation (which [...]

NextGenLeaders: an idea, a firm, a network

Allen Hirsh had a very good idea. Build a practice around helping organizations form the next generation of leadership: www.nextgenleaders.ca Then he had an even better idea: build a network of thinkers, practitioners and collaborators that would work together on exploring the issues and advising decision makers: www.nextgenleaders.ca/our-network/overview.html I was fortunate enough to be asked to join [...]

Mission/Vision/Values – Dusting off a tired trio

I’m often asked as part of brand strategies to help with vision and mission statements and values definition. What is it with these things? Every organization seems to want them, but they put the most flimsy thought into them (despite spending hours on successive re-drafts that turn them into deadened sludge). They are usually derided [...]

Investing in brand: greater financial returns at lower risk.

I've always thought that the question was not "how is my brand doing"? It's "how is my company doing"? Nice to have a top-10 rated brand by Interbrand, Milward Brown or Brand Finance, but if your stock is sinking, which it might well be, who cares about a brand value ranking?

My colleague and friend Jonathan Knowles, founder of Type 2 Consulting and probably our most cogent thinker on brand and marketing valuation, has been sharing with me some of his own, and others' research on the link between good brand management and the creation of shareholder value. This is not the same as how-does-your-brand-do-in-the-rankings question (which is good for the ego, but not necessarily the shareholder). This is: what is the real value that your brand is creating, from a financial performance point-of-view. Powerful stuff for marketers who need to speak the language of the CFO and very compelling for CEOs working to bring their boards and executive teams onside with investment in brand - when other needs are competing for dollars.

London Design Week 2008: Sneek Peek at the Future?

We made the rounds at London Design Week this year, hoping to see forward into what’s next in design and branding. We weren’t disappointed, but sometimes maybe a bit confused. The festival itself is spread out across London, which gives it a very nice feeling of being a treasure hunt, but it is actually pretty [...]

Recession-proof your Brand

Okay, so no one can totally recession-proof anything, but I've been thinking about some simple things you can do with and for your brand during down markets, when the temptation is to cut costs, slash prices, eliminate staff, lower service levels, change who you are and very possibly alienate customers (so that when the economy turns around - which it will- they'll have moved on). I've been thinking about five opportunities:

Stay true to your value proposition but adapt to new realities. Anticipate how your customers are going to change their behaviour, and change with them. This is particularly important if you are in a category that is the first to get chopped when consumers feel queasy. Coffee drinkers might be skimping on their $4 daily latte, but they might also be interested in buying more beans and coffee-making accessories to roast, grind and brew at home. Large scale computer purchases may be down but service contracts, leasing and targeted productivity tools might be up. Professional services clients may not be planning the big projects but will thank you for bringing them ideas that will improve their performance for minimal investment. There are examples like this in just about every category. The idea is to shift your offer, while staying true to what your brand means to your customer. Keep delivering on your promise, just adjust the scale.

Authenticity: The Big Lie

Who cannot place their hand on their heart and say that what consumers really want is authenticity? I can't.

With sincerest apologies to the burgeoning authenticity industry, as documented in Gilmore and Pine's What Consumers Really Want: Authenticity (and just about every bibliographic reference in it), what is mistaken as an appetite for authenticity is actually a desire for escape, denial, disguise, control and temporary or permanent identity shift. How can Gilmore, Pine and others claim that consumers want authenticity when even they agree that our world gets less real every day? Harley Davidson? Haagen-Dazs? Las Vegas? Plastic surgery? Reality television? Reality television about plastic surgery? Low calorie brownies? Designer knock-offs? Spas? Wrestling? PT Cruisers?

The truth about difference

When it comes to competitive brand strategy you can be right in a lot of ways, but you can be really, really wrong in just two: 1) believing that there is no one out there like you and so you own your category and have no direct competition or 2) that you operate in a commoditized category and you'll never be able to truly differentiate, so why bother. I hear both all the time - and shockingly - sometimes from within the same organization.

Regarding the former, no matter how unique, one-of-a-kind, quirky or pioneering you are, there is always something else that your customers can do with their money, their time and their affection. There are pure plays that eat away at your offer, giants for whom what you do is a rounding error and lots of competitors who will say they do what you do, but don’t. Heads up. Someone is eating your lunch; I guarantee it.

Finally! An intelligent and optimistic view of Canadian brands: Ikonica

From Peter C. Newman going on about power games to Naomi Klein dissing brands altogether to Andrea Mandel-Campbell telling us why Mexicans don't drink Molson beer, we just have not had a lot of optimistic discourse on Canadian brands in the last 40 years. Jeannette Hanna's and Alan Middleton's new book Ikonica has changed that. In short, Hanna/Middleton show that brands=values and that Canadian values=good brands and that Canadian companies can win globally on the basis of our own particular brand genius.

Who is YOUR City

I responded to Richard Florida's request for a city story and the request came back to spread the word, so please contribute and....spread the word.

Click here to go to the request