Overlay
Let's talk
Emotive Brand
Get in touch: [email protected] 510-496-8888

Hello!

Tag: Emotive Brand

Co-Founders On Brand Strategy Today

Posted on by Paige Lansing Valle

Co-founders, Bella Banbury and Tracy Lloyd, weigh in on what matters in brand strategy today.

It’s important to remember that, in the end, the age-old question is always the same. Client needs all come down to “How do we differentiate our brand?” It’s just the way people ask the question and the way we answer the question that evolves. Here’s what we’ve been seeing more specifically in the market:

1.Heightened attention around data security:

Since 2016 was all about using data, now it’s all about safely storing and accessing that data. Gartner predicts that by 2018, 50% of business ethics violations will be related to data. There’s lots of questions and doubts about how brands are collecting information and keeping it safe. People are distrustful and worried about privacy issues. Smart brands are focused on security and smart storage. And those brands that can keep data safe, and their users even safer, are winning.

2. Even greater demand for trust:

Companies with a culture of trust have outperformed the S&P 500 by a factor of three, and high-trust companies are more than 2½ times more likely to be high performing revenue organizations than lower-trust companies. Nothing is as important as trust for any brand looking to make an impact moving forward. In 2016, we saw a lot of brands lose people’s trust, both internally and externally, in banking, in technology, in the automobile industry, and in the food industry. So this year a lot of brands are working on building and keeping trust this coming year. And this effort always comes back to brand strategy – helping brands make promises that they can keep to both build and keep the trust earned. That’s what we do.

3. Purpose divides:

The conversation around purpose-led business continues. There is more and better research coming out that supports the ideas of purpose-led business and the research supports our belief. When companies articulate and embrace a meaningful purpose or vision, their people naturally pay more attention to all the elements that drive sustainable growth. Brands that want genuine purpose to fuel innovation, culture, and business need to make sure they live authentically by it and communicate it clearly.

4. It’s all about disruption:

It’s clear that people are drawn to brands that are challenging the status quo, saying something new, and making a splash today. Whatever is it –disrupting a category, challenging the way we pay for things, changing the way we get healthcare, the retail experience – it’s all about disruption. Industries we’ve been most excited about are insurance, healthcare, wellness, and education because of this same reason. Brands that reimagine what is possible and deliver new ways of behaving will gain momentum over their competitors who remain stuck in the same thinking.

5. Digital health, on the rise:

There are many changes afoot in wellness and digital health. Last year, we saw more investing in this space and we imagine brands will need to start working harder to differentiate themselves in the next year. Right now, the future seems exciting and yet somewhat vague. This space will require digital health brands to clarify, differentiate, categorize, and tackle shifts head on. The digital health market is huge, and those brands that can figure out how clearly articulate why they matter and deliver on that promise could very well become Wall Street darlings.

6. Role of the CMO changed for good:

The role of the CMO is almost unrecognizable to five years ago. CMOs are now expected to deliver against P&L metrics, grow the top line, and drive the brand forward. Steering the brand in the driver’s seat means delivering on the brand promise. It also means ensuring all customer experiences are aligned to the brand purpose. It’s about understanding the customer journey and embracing customer experiences across all channels. So in order to compete, the CMOs of 2017 need to be brand focused, technically savvy, and data driven. They need to deliver better customer experiences and use insights to strategically deliver business growth.

7. All about brand experience:

Because expectations of brands are continually rising, smart brands are uber-focused on creating meaningful experiences. The real challenge is creating cohesive, connected experiences that resonate across platforms and at every touchpoint. These experiences drive engagement, build loyalty, and drive ROI. And brands need a clear strategy for succeeding in creating the right kind of experiences for the people they are trying to reach. Developing strategies to outline brand behavior has become more relevant for brands looking to deliver something people can count on – whether it’s B2B, B2C, or B2B2C.

As a San Francisco branding agency, we are excited to continue to help our clients develop the right brand strategies to transform brands in order to transform business.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco branding agency.

Companies with a Culture of Health Outperform

Posted on by Paige Lansing Valle

A Culture of Health Can Fuel Your Business

At Emotive Brand, we understand first-hand that a culture of health leads to a high performing brand and business. As a result, we embed eating healthy, living an active and safe lifestyle, and proactively managing levels of stress and overall wellness into the way we do business. It’s who we are. And we know this impacts our workplace environment, our brand, and our business.

Why’s that? In the end, healthy, safe, energized people are more able to do their work. In fact, studies indicate that companies that focus on the well-being and safety of their employees yield greater value for their investors. So the stakes are high. Health is not a company benefit. The health of your employees has a high impact on performance, productivity and overall workplace happiness. And by fueling a culture of health, you can better position your brand and business to thrive.

Cultures of Health, Gaining Traction

More and more organizations are coming around to the importance of building a culture of health, and this focus is becoming increasingly crucial for recruiting talent, retaining employees, and making sure employees are equipped and ready to help your brand and business succeed. It’s no question that people’s workplace expectations have heightened. Now, more than ever, people want to work for companies who value their health, reinforce healthy lifestyle choices, and encourage and support their personal goals and objectives.

People are increasingly worried about high stress levels, unhealthy diets, inactive lifestyles, and are demanding more support, flexibility, and rewards for healthy living. As a result, many businesses are placing heightened attention to employee wellness programs and increased focus on improving employee health, reducing stress, and increasing happiness and meaning within the workplace.

A Culture of Athletes Demands Even More

Here at Emotive Brand we’d consider ourselves more than just a culture of health. With so many talented, dedicated, and inspiring athletes on our team, our culture of health must also be a culture tailored to athletes.

Everyone has experienced a busy day that lead to an unhealthy meal. Or a long stressful week that resulted in sleep-deprivation, making it nearly impossible to get out of bed for a workout in the morning. Work often gets in the way of exercise.

But imagine training for triathlons like our co-founder Bella Banbury, or scheduling long runs leading up to the SF marathon like senior designer Wayne Tang, or lengthy swims in the bay like Strategy Director Taylor Standlee. Many of our employees were college athletes and continue to compete in athletic events throughout the Bay Area and beyond. And these athletic performances are demanding. Which means we also need a culture of flexibility to make a culture of athletes work.

Helping a Culture of Athletes Thrive

Health and wellness means different things to different people. We might not be Olympians, but we are a culture of athletes. So how do we support our athletic culture at Emotive Brand and leverage it to help our brand and business thrive?

1. Encourage and reward all athletic endeavors:

In order to truly promote a culture of health, support and honor athletic endeavors of all kinds. Athletes never have the same goals. Even if a competitive swimmer is working to run his or her first 5k, it is worth celebrating. People who feel supported and encouraged are more likely to reach their goals – both personal and professional. Encouraging athletic endeavors means building a culture that supports people to overcome challenges, improve skills, and even learn new. It helps create an environment of high achieving, motivated, goal-orientated, coachable, and collaborative people who will help your brand thrive. So make note of these achievements at meetings, congratulate people in person, and celebrate big wins.

2. Translate athletic skills to work:

For us, there are so many parallels between athletics and brand strategy. And considering the connections between the two and working on translating our strengths from one to the others helps us be more on top of our game, more competitive, and more successful – in the office and outside it. A culture of athletes will reflect and show the brand’s drive, dedication, adaptability, and ability to work collaboratively. And when fostered, these characteristics fuel the energy of the brand, its communications, and even how it’s perceived externally.

3. Be flexible, adaptable, and support individual needs:

Like every brand needs a customized path to transformation, every athlete takes an individualized track to success. When supporting employee’s goals, it’s important to build a workplace that can be flexible and adaptable to each individual. Give each person the tools they need to thrive and in turn, help move your business forward. Employees who feel like their workplace cares about their personal needs, goals, and objectives are more likely to be more satisfied, work harder, and fuel your brand towards success.

Keep Your Brand in Mind

What your brand stands for has to align with how your brand behaves. For us, as a competitive, collaborative, dedicated, growth and goal orientated company, building and encouraging culture of athletes is important to the way we do business and live our brand. But every business requires different strengths, and every brand requires different behaviors to bring it to life. Think about how to build a culture that fosters specific brand behavior. And make sure these behaviors are in line with your purpose, goals, and objectives.

Every touch-point of your brand reflects your brand’s performance. So take this thinking further by applying it to every aspect of your business and every way your brand interacts with people – inside and outside the business. Promoting a culture of athletes, if it’s genuine and authentic, will set up your people to perform in a way that reinforces their natural interests and instincts. And by staying true to what you stand for, your brand be authentically positioned to thrive.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco brand strategy and design agency.

Building a Meaningful Workplace Culture

Posted on by Tracy Lloyd

Sixth in a series on workplace culture

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” – Albert Einstein

A business’ fate is determined in large part by its culture. A business culture is the reality created by how people act, react, and interact with each other based on their attitudes, beliefs, and ambitions.

The most damaging business cultures are those in which aggression, neglect, and punishment leave employees feeling they have no reason to commit their energies and skills, share their ideas, or help the company advance.

Wanted: a culture that unites and connects employees

A culture built principally around rewards for individual or group performance pits individuals and teams against each other, often in ways that create class systems, in-fighting, and divisive loyalties. The winners in such cultures find meaning in their rewards. The rest are left wondering what the point is for them and their employer.

A passive, benign, and inert business culture leaves the business subject to the aggregate confusion that results when each individual employee’s quirks, tendencies, and potentially questionable morality and ethics are accommodated.

The most beneficial business cultures are those that unite employees around an ambition, make them feel emotionally connected, and surround them with people who share their ambition, feelings, and behavior.

4 factors in transforming your workplace culture

By consistently and intentionally conveying a meaningful ambition and evoking a set of unique and positive emotions, businesses can transform the meaningful outcome of every aspect of the work experience:

  1. The physical environment – the aesthetics and functionality of the workplace;
  2. The policies and procedures – the actual rules of the company as well as the way in which employees experience them;
  3. The attitudes and behavior of fellow employees – the feelings evoked when dealing with superiors, peers, and reports;
  4. The moment of contact – the nature of company/employee and employee/outside world interactions.

A Meaningful Workplace culture is based on the way employees experience these factors – what meaning is conveyed and how they are left feeling.

Did you miss the first five parts of this series?

Read Being Meaningful: It’s the Key to Better Engaging Your Employees, Getting Employees to Respond Positively, Why Workplaces Aren’t Meaningful Now, The Meaningful Workplace: It Takes New Ways of Thinking, and Acting, and Using Values to Build Engagement and a Meaningful Workplace.

This series is excerpted from a white paper titled The Meaningful Workplace that was first published at Emotive Brand.

How I See Our Culture – David Ogilvy

Posted on by Jerry Holtaway

I worked for Ogilvy and Mather for nine years. At the beginning of my time there, it was still a privately-held company – though within a few years of my tenure, it was absorbed (and changed forever) by WPP.

I came across this piece written by David Ogilvy (whom I had the pleasure of meeting once), about the culture of Ogilvy back in the day.

I think all leaders should use it as a culture check-list for their companies.

From The Unpublished David Ogilvy.

Here is how I see our culture.

A NICE PLACE TO WORK

Some of our people spend their entire working lives in our agency. We do our damnedest to make it a happy experience. I put this first, believing that superior service to our clients and profits for our stockholders depend on it.

We treat our people like human beings. We help them when they are in trouble – with their jobs, with illness, with alcoholism, and so on.

We help our people make the best of their talents. We invest an awful lot of time and money in training – perhaps more than any of our competitors.

Our system of management is singularly democratic.

We don’t like hierarchical bureaucracy or rigid pecking orders.

We abhor ruthlessness.

We give our executives an extraordinary degree of freedom and independence. We like people with gentle manners.

We like people who are honest. Honest in argument, honest with clients, honest with suppliers, honest with the company – and above all, honest with consumers.

We admire people who work hard, who are objective and thorough.

We do not admire superficial people.

We despise office politicians, toadies, bullies and pompous asses.

We discourage paper warfare.

The way up the ladder is open to everybody. We are free from prejudice of any kind – religious prejudice, racial prejudice or sexual prejudice. We detest nepotism and every other form of favoritism.

In promoting people to top jobs, we are influenced as much by their character as anything else.

Like all companies with a strong culture, we have our heroes– the Old Guard who have woven our culture. By no means have all of them been members of top management.

Wise words, from a wise man. Creating meaningful workplaces and a strong culture is not an old concept, but it is getting harder and harder to achieve.

To read more about how Emotive Brand thinks about building more meaningful workplaces, download our paper below.

Download White Paper

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco branding agency

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.

Continue reading “Brand Strategy: Why Are Purpose and Feelings so Important Now?”

The Meaningful Workplace – Help Them Create Good

Posted on by Jerry Holtaway

Disillusioned by the age of conspicuous consumption, worried by the state of the planet and its people, rocked by war, corruption and financial crises, and immersed in a swirl of information, news, opinion, and gossip, people are searching for meaning in their lives. Continue reading “The Meaningful Workplace – Help Them Create Good”

San Francisco Brand Strategy Firm Celebrates Anniversary

Posted on by Tracy Lloyd

This month San Francisco Brand Strategy firm, Emotive Brand celebrated our fifth birthday. We wanted to say THANK YOU to each and every customer, prospect, partner, friend and everyone who shares our beliefs about how to help brands matter more!

We started Emotive Brand as a way to approach brand strategy in a different way.

• To help transform how brands reach out to people.

• To encourage our clients to embrace the idea of Purpose Beyond Profit.

• To push the belief that emotionally meaningful brands drive business results.

Five years later, it is gratifying to see research by Deloitte, Gallup, Havas Media, and Interbrand validate the effectiveness of our long-held beliefs and principles.

We are so proud of our clients and the results they have achieved in partnership with Emotive Brand. Our blog and thought leadership papers continue to push the industry through our thinking around people and brands. We have an unbelievable team of super smart strategists, writers, and designers. Life is good.

Special thanks to Jerry Holtaway, aka Dr. Meaningful, who has been with us from the beginning.

The past 5 years have been truly amazing. Thank you for your continued trust and support.

If you’ve been inspired by Emotive Brand in any way, please help us celebrate by sharing a comment below.

For more information on Emotive Brand, click here for our updated website

To download our white paper on how to transform your brand click here.

Cheers!

Tracy and Bella

Is Your B2B Brand Feeling Crowded In By Competition?

Posted on by Jerry Holtaway

Many B2B brands find themselves victims of intense competition, growing commoditization and confusion about how to make the best use of branding.

If your brand is just a set of superficial marks, colors and trademarked words, the pressure is sure to crush it to smithereens.

Continue reading “Is Your B2B Brand Feeling Crowded In By Competition?”