Unless you work in the candy industry, you probably didn’t know that M & M's only became a household name after selling their candy-coated chocolate exclusively to...
Articles
Think Like the Brand You Are
As you’re growing into the brand you want to be — and the leader you want to be — these insights help instill you with the kind of experience and good judgment that we’ve developed over years of experience. And it’s yours for free.
The Importance of Location in Brand Story
Here’s our elevator pitch—Star Trek on a pirate ship. Same cast. Same plotlines… but instead of the outer reaches of Deep Space Nine, everyone’s cruisin’ around the...
Everything Managers Need to Know about Analytics in 4 Steps
We're taught to look at analytics wrong. We think we need to be able to drink from a firehose and still make confident decisions about what to do with the analytics...
Using Brand Archetypes to Build a Consistent Personality
If you watch a popular movie or read a best-selling book with your brain turned off, you’ll probably get some déjà vu. Whether it’s following the hero’s journey, or...
Keep Marketing Simple: Think Before You Market
"Smart" people make things complicated. Effective people start with a simple plan they can understand. And then they build on it. This is especially true in marketing,...
Nobody Trusts Copycats – Superficial B2B Branding
Why would you trust a copycat? Unless you’re looking for something cheap, shoddy, and just waiting to crumble, you probably wouldn’t buy something from one. The...
Chasing Trends and Superficial Branding
“The world needs you as you are.” Sure, you’ve heard it before. You’ve probably rolled your eyes. It’s hard not to hate that message when everyone from YouTube...
3 Definitions That Expose Hypocrisy
Distrust poisons everything. When people are scared to question, because they can’t trust the response, problems hide under layers of bureaucracy. But definitions...
Why Real Brands Can’t Be Invented (Part 3)
We've been talking about why a real brand can't be invented out of thin air or tailored specifically to meet a certain market demand. Remarkable brands are built from...
Radical Honesty Creates Bulletproof Cultures
https://youtu.be/vFypfRP5Z7M Your culture can be venomous or strong, but not both. We don’t like venomous cultures because they’re dehumanizing. We’re right to call...
Why Real Brands Can’t be Invented (Part 2)
A reputation for lying is the only thing worse than a reputation for bending the truth. Either way, getting caught doing it obliterates everything—trust, careers, and...
Why Real Brands Can’t Be Invented (Arbitrary Branding Part 1)
How often have you done something because everyone expects you to? Probably once a day—if not more. While doing what’s expected is part of life, it’s another trap for...
Why Your B2B Company Won’t Build a Remarkable Brand (Part 2)
The Problem of Non-Branding In our previous article in this series, we looked at the problem of ‘non-branding’ for B2B companies. We looked at the various reasons why...