Purpose and positioning serve two very different functions for your organisation. It’s important that you don’t mix them up. In the process of finding your purpose and getting to a mix of breadth, clarity and inspiration, it’s very easy to find yourself in positioning territory. Knowing how and why they are...
I’ve been thinking a lot about organisational identity these past few weeks. In particular, a couple of issues that constantly bedevil discussions of core values – how do you know what they are and what should they be? For many organisations, finding them is an experience that feels like a cross...
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about organisational identity these past few weeks and as part of that, organisational values have been on my mind. And in particular a couple of issues that seem to constantly bedevil discussions of values – how do you know what they are and...
“Don’t think of an elephant.” I’m not sure the exact origins of that phrase but I first became away of it via George Lakoff’s book of the same name, and a story in Chip Kidd’s book Cheese Monkeys. My take on the meaning is once you think about one of those lumbering grey pachyderms it...
A fair warning on what follows – I’m feeling a bit grumpy today. In the course of what passes for doing brand work, a lot of organisations take aim at elements of their marketing and identity. Which inevitably results in people getting an announcement from them where they proudly extol their...
It was my birthday a few months ago and around that time I started getting the ubiquitous “we’ve got a gift for you” emails from various organisations. And they all shared two things in common. They required me to purchase something to receive my gift (a.k.a discount) and they had a...
This week is all about what I called “the third element” of brand – your positioning. It’s the element of brand that’s most often treated as key basis for marketing, but I take a different view and think it should go much deeper than that. I like the general Free Dictionary definition...
Google unveiled their new logo a couple of weeks ago and the world gave a collective yawn. Not so much a new anything as an update of the typeface of their current logo. And while in the hype driven media landscape anything that is not a revolution is seen as a...
My friend, collaborator and all around word goddess @getnance sent me an ad. A great ad which got me thinking about why so much advertising isn’t so great… Lazy advertising really bugs me, and I doubt very much I’m alone. At times I’m called on to comment when the Australian Ad...
I was emailed a question this week about positioning. My friend and colleague @anthonyjoseph wanted to know my thoughts about the relationship between positioning and the competitive environment. What is your approach to positioning competitively? Positioning is the element of brand that is most often treated as the foundation for marketing, and...