A lot of companies treat their brands as "stories to be told". In this post we explain how this framing makes brands overly reliant on third parties, typically media companies, to keep them in the public eye. We also show why this approach is so damaging to long-term brand health, and propose a different way of understanding your brand that can lead to long-term growth and success.
Read MoreThe so-called Shirky Principle states that institutions only survive by NOT solving the problems that they set out to solve. In this post we explore what this means for brands. Specifically, we look at how framing a brand promise that's forever slightly out of reach might well be the best path to success for a business.
Read MoreThe inexorable march of the software industry across the global economy continues unabated. Incumbent and after incumbent goes from skepticism, to panic, to obsolescence. It's now apparent to everyone not living in a bunker that the level of disruption, great as it has been, will only increase. There will be no more "status quo", at least, not for the rest of my life, or yours. What's a business to do?
Read MoreTraditional brand metrics are too slow, internet era brand metrics are too superficial; brand managers need a third type of metric for a complete and actionable view of brand health.
Read MoreA lot of ink has been spilled (and money spent) on trying to convince companies that the goal of having a brand is to get people to fall in love with your business. While nobody's going to argue that having customers who love you is a bad thing, too much focus on this from the outset could distract brands from more important work that creates more enduring sources of value for customers and the companies that serve them.
Read MoreHaving points of difference is the lifeblood of branding. Without it, you're a commodity. Finding those points is the easy part, the hard part is finding ones that others are unwilling or unable to imitate. Differentiation is exponentially harder in professional services, where the barriers to entry and imitation are almost non-existent. One of the ways we have achieved differentiation in this market is through a greater willingness to stick our necks out in an industry that's notoriously risk-averse. It has taken us places others are unwilling to go, and it compounds on itself by giving us unique learning experiences that others in our industry are not being exposed to.
Read More...In almost every category of business, the current approach leads to managers seeking to squeeze a few more percentage points of revenue out of business practices that they have already optimized, over and over again, in many cases going back decades.
Managers end up ignoring bigger opportunities because they don't fit neatly into the established paradigms implied by existing measurement systems. Put simply, the needs of the measurement system start to outweigh the broader need of the business (to grow, to add value, to win).
Read MoreMany brand managers are happy to talk about disruption. Talk, as the saying goes, is cheap; too often, actions fail to keep pace with good intentions. Until more brand managers embrace the transformational opportunities of mobile, social and the emerging Internet of things, the future will remain un-evenly distributed.
Read MoreHighlights from Social Media Today's Expert series, featuring Mary Elise Chavez, discussing 2014's notable trends in the tech and social space.
Read MoreHighlights from a MillennialTalk wearable tech panel featuring Emotif's Founder, Simon Pearce, and ECD, Mary Elise Chavez.
Read More"The internet has squeezed the end user to the product" - this has fundamentally changed how brands are built today. My presentation, originally given at the WinWin Business Accelerator Conference 2014, explores the many facets that make up a truly great brand of today.
Read MoreFirst there was WoW, then there was Second Life, now there’s Oculus. Exploratory worlds can be a place of escape, but also a place of great inspiration. When Linden Lab created the platform for Second Life, it was exactly that, a platform on which to build - this is a great study of where a passionate audience can take a platform. Literally building out this virtual world brick by brick, the documentary Life 2.0 takes you inside this world in which many people live many hours of their real lives.
Read MorePanelists at Social Media Today's #SocBizShakeup Breakfast discussed how to build a socially-engaged workforce today, utilize big data, and empower employees through relationship-building tools. Here are a few highlights from the panelists.
Read MoreI caught up with IBM's Sandy Carter at this year's South by Southwest Interactive conference to talk about the ROI of social media, overcoming the social "fear factor" in the boardroom and what it takes for an enterprise to be ready for social.
Read MoreAs much as we may scowl at the likes of Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we live in an instant-gratification society - specifically if you live in a highly-populated urban environment (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles). You’re probably familiar with this way of living - you want it now, and you’ll pay for instant convenience.
Read MoreWhether traveling, commuting or working from another city, these are a few of my go-to apps that keep me productive while working on the road.
Read MoreThis astounding chart shows what happened to referral traffic to the Buzzfeed network in the last two years. If this is not an isolated incident (and there's reason to believe that it is not) then we may be witnessing social's coming of age as the dominant paradigm for how content is organized and discovered on the web. The implications are profound...
Read MoreThe veneer of perfection that once separated the world of marketing from the everyday customer experience has cracked. Internet transparency is breaking down the artificial barrier between collective aspiration and personal experience.
The best brands don't fight this inevitable tide of history, they embrace it.
Read Moreigital media represents a huge challenge to the theory and practice of branding. Some have even questioned if brands are now "dying". We don't think so, but we do think that many tactics used for brand-building are being rapidly replaced by new approaches. The way forward is about more than just adopting the latest digital tools, it requires a new way of thinking about, and managing, brand value. The following articles explores this topic in depth.
Read MoreThe web is disrupting the historical dynamics of customer loyalty; merely adopting new social media tools is not enough to resolve this issue. In order for brands to adapt successfully, the use of social media tools must be accompanied by a stronger customer experience orientation. This slide show lays out the challenge and offers some suggestions for future focus.
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