I’ve been thinking about, working with and generally immersing myself in what it takes to build a brand for many years now and I’ve always had an internal war going on about which is more important – skill or will. Not that it’s a contest, because in truth you do need...
There are plenty of things your organisation does that builds your brand. There is also a pretty long list of things only you care about and which do virtually nothing to build your brand. High on that list (if not at the top) is what I have come to think of...
When you do everything at once you never know what is working or what is not. I was reminded of this again the other day on my yoga mat as I shifted around in my pose moving my foot, spreading my shoulders, pulling up my knees … you get the idea....
I was doing some gardening the other weekend. I like to potter about and as I weeded and prepared my veggie garden for spring planting (a few weeks later than I should have but even that has a lesson) I got to think about the parallels between how a garden...
Nearly every organisation I work with gets a bit of a reading list from me. I can’t seem to help myself because much of my thinking about brand has been informed from the most unexpected places. So after sifting through my shelves and reading list, these are a selection of books...
The ‘slow’ movements around the world which began with Slow Food, have since expanded into various areas of thinking and doing underpinned by the ideal of taking the time to make a connection. Reading the terrific book Slow Fix by Carl Honoré got me thinking about the idea of “slow brand” (I sense a...
No board can make the right decisions if they aren’t considering the organisation’s brand in their thinking. As regular readers of this blog, you will know I define brand as the result of the promises you keep. And as the framers and architects of the promises the organisation makes, the board...
There is a great book called “On Looking” by author Alexandra Horowitz. In the book the author takes walks around her neighbourhood in New York with different people to see it through different eyes. It’s a wonderful book and its premise is something that I like to encourage people I work...
When people start talking about brand one of the inevitable questions that pops up is “what do you think X org” stands for? This question gets asked of employees, customers, partners – pretty much any stakeholder with a pulse will at some time or another get it thrown at them. It’s...
I write about the topic of brand and marketing about once a year. I plan to keep doing this until the time I mention that I work with organisations to help them keep their promises and build their brands I stop getting “Oh, so you’re in marketing” as the rejoinder. I will probably be waiting until hell...