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Tag: Brand

Brand Strategy: Why Are Purpose and Feelings so Important Now?

Posted on by Jerry Holtaway

Brand Strategy: Why are purpose and feelings so important now?

An emotive brand is the persona-driven presence and experience of an organization that has proactively decided to orient itself around a meaningful and purposeful promise. Such brands do so with the intent of emotionally connecting to people on a deep level, by addressing core human needs. Most significant, an emotive brand strives to forge these attitude and behavior changing connections both inside and outside their organizations.

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How to Mindfully Lead Change

Posted on by Tracy Lloyd

Empathy in leadership

In this thought-provoking video, KPCB* partner John Maeda reminds us of the importance of empathy in leadership. He suggests that leadership is a design problem, and notes that the best design comes from people who ask and listen before putting forward their ideas.

Mindful leaders are, by nature, empathetic. They know that failing to listen first creates irrelevant communications and misunderstood gestures from leaders. As John Maeda says, “The people are there in the room, but nobody’s hearing what you say.”

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Brand Strategy Without Brand Behavior = A Car Without an Engine

Posted on by Jerry Holtaway

Brand strategy is step one. Defining the shifts to the brand required to live the new brand strategy is step two. We call that brand behavior.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that brands need to run deep if they are to prevail in today’s world. This is because modern brands need to compete with not only each other, but also with an overwhelming number of ideas, considerations, and issues that flood the minds and hearts of the people important to any brand’s success.

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The Role of Patience and Fortitude in Branding

Posted on by Jerry Holtaway

The business world is tough out there

It’s only natural, especially given today’s pressure cooker environment, to want instantly actionable ideas and immediate results. This is especially true the closer you are to the marketing machine within your business.

At the same time, more and more businesses are realizing that they need to transform themselves in order to remain competitive, if not stay viable, in the 21st century. They are recognizing that their traditional strategies and tactics simply no longer work as expected. Also, the commoditization and price/value pressures they face are leaving them exposed, vulnerable, and unable to effectively differentiate themselves.

These challenges are not about to go away.

Any leader looking to thrive, if not just survive going forward, needs to find bold new strategies and tactics. For many brands the answer to the future lies in purpose and meaning. And many have patiently started the hard work of transforming their ways of being, both within and outside their organizations. They are making their investments of time, money, and personal energy in this vital transformation process because they believe in a better future for their business.

They’ve taken the time to sort out the meaningful position they want to hold in the future. They have accepted that it will take considerable time, money, and personal energy to shift the current attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that drive their complex organizations.

Yet, despite these “barriers” to instant actions and immediate results, they’ve chosen to invest in their futures through maturity, patience and fortitude.

“But I want it now!”

There’s the old line, “You can have it fast, cheap, or good, but you can only have two”. A modern take on that idea would be, “You can have it fast or meaningful, but you can only have one.”

But with the advent of shortening attention spans for everyone, including executives, and the relentless systemic and self-imposed demands for fast results, it would seem that few brands now have the patience and fortitude to build a purposeful and meaningful presence.

How will your brand become fit for the 21st century?

Will you have the patience to contemplate, develop, and introduce a new brand promise to your organization?

Will you have the fortitude to keep that promise at the forefront of everyone’s thinking in the months and years ahead?

More important, what if you don’t?

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy firm.

Img credit: Ivorin Vrkas

The Look and Feel of Your Office Space Matters

Posted on by Tracy Lloyd

Your Office Space Reflects Your Brand

The office space of workplace is part of a complex mosaic of opportunities for your brand to reach out and touch people in meaningful ways. Take a moment to reflect on what your office decor signals about your brand. What are these signals are saying and how do they resonate with the people who matter to your business?

An Organized Office Space Shows Dependability

When a visitor walks into your office that is tidy and has a clear system of organization, studies show that the visitor tends to feel more at ease. Because of this, they are more likely to do business with you or join your company. Organization is a direct symbol of dependability. When your business is put together in an orderly fashion,  an inherent sense of trust is built with your guest. If you or your business wants to give an image of reliability, focus on your space. Cleaning up your space can provide an instant upgrade and send the right signals.

An Office With Inviting Decor Shows Your Social Side

As a person enters your office space, they immediately get a sense of how welcome they are in your space. With inviting décor, such as open doors, bright lighting and interactive displays, your brand image comes across as sociable and interested in making new connections. Providing modern office chairs to sit or an open area to talk and do business makes you seem more open and ready to connect with new people. This can bring out your social side and make people feel at home and at ease in your workspace.

Unusual Offices and Work Stations Show Off Your Brands Creativity

People like doing business with leading brands and forward thinkers. If that sounds like your business, your workspace should show off your innovative side, sending a subliminal message of your ability to think outside the box and create unique solutions that have not been seen before. One way to do this is through uncommon office accessories, such as treadmill desks and ergonomic furniture. When these are incorporated in a workspace, you can send a signal of being modern and leading edge. These types of items inspire the thought “Wow, that’s impressive!” and leave your visitor with a positive image in their mind of your brand.

Building a Meaningful Brand

Most importantly, what your brand stands for has to align with how your brand behaves, looks, and feels. This doesn’t just extend to a visual identity of a brand. It can matter even within the office itself. Make sure your brands meaning is clear by building a space that connects with the heart of your brand.

Every touch-point of your brand has to interact with people in a way that reflects your brand’s meaning and purpose. So take this thinking further by applying it to every aspect of your business and brand interacts with people. Make it your brand’s job to identify all the big and small tweaks it can make so that every moment of truth between your brand and people resonates with specific emotional meaning. You want to build a brand that rings true at every point of brand experience.

How does your workplace make people feel? Does each office, at every location evoke the same feelings? Are all of them “on brand”?

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco branding agency.

Is a Misunderstood Brand Holding Back Your Business?

Posted on by Jerry Holtaway

 

There’s a price to pay when your brand simply languishes.

It’s the cost of lost opportunities.

First, you are missing the opportunity to change the way people feel about your brand, and hence, what they can do to make your brand more successful.

By people, we mean customers, employees, partners, investors, communities, influencers, and so on…. Indeed, we mean all the people who are vital to your brand’s succcess.

It’s their decisions and actions that determine your fate.

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Should You Aspire to Have a Meaningful Brand?

Posted on by Jerry Holtaway

The idea o a  “meaningful brand” is taking industry by storm as more and more enterprises look for ways to prevail in the 21st Century, a time of great change and innovation.

Should you join this bandwagon? Not before you fully understand what it means to be a meaningful brand, what it entails from an organizational change point of view, and what it can do for your business.

Here, we provide top-line answers to a few of the most commonly asked questions.

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