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san francisco branding agency

What it Means to be a Meaningfully Different Brand

February 13, 2015 —

What it Means to be a Meaningfully Different Brand

Youngme Moon teaches business at Harvard and is the author of “Different – Escaping The Competitive Herd”. In her closing she points to three characteristics of the brands of tomorrow – as they are driven to differentiate in order to succeed. Here we summarize: “They will offer something that is hard to come by…restraint will be the new desire; whisper can be the new shout; there will always be a place for brands offering something that is hard to come by.”  “They will reflect a commitment to a big idea…which is to say they...
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The Greatest Story Never Told?

February 3, 2015 —

The Greatest Story Never Told?

  Based on our experience working with clients, we believe there are thousands of companies out there sitting on a very valuable asset. This is an asset that could generate new revenues, build customer loyalty, enthuse and motivate your workforce, recruit top talent, help quickly scale your business, truly differentiate you from competitors, and help you business and brand thrive. The asset is a meaningful story, a brand narrative about your business that’s waiting to be told. It’s a story based on meaningful truths about what you do and how you do it. It’s a story...
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Why Every CEO Should Pursue a Purpose Beyond Profit

January 21, 2015 —

Why Every CEO Should Pursue a Purpose Beyond Profit

It’s textbook management practice to formalize a company’s “mission, vision and values.” And while these are important steps in helping form a direction and way of being for a company, many CEOs are nonetheless challenged with a litany of business issues: Unengaged employees An inability to attract the new talent needed Customer defection Lack of marketplace differentiation Dissatisfied shareholders This list goes on and on, doesn’t it? Behind each of these business challenges is a big question: How can my business matter more to people? When your business truly...
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What is Emotive Design?

January 1, 2015 —

What is Emotive Design?

Emotive design is a component of emotive branding that engages people in a focused way that strives to evoke the specific feelings the brand seeks to own. Using color, lines, shape, form, texture, light – and nothingness – designers create both passive and interactive experiences that resonant with the brand’s emotional space. Emotive design is not overtly emotional design. Operating at a subtle and subconscious level, these design cues work to reinforce and enhance other dimensions of the way people interact with the brand. From the highly tangible experience of using a product to the...
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The Purpose-Pivot

December 9, 2014 —

The Purpose-Pivot

Why smart brands are adding meaningful metrics We recently came across a Huffington Post article, “Meaning is the new money,” that posits the notion of the  purpose-pivot.  According to the author, Blanca Rothschild, the term is a combination of “pivot” (being capable of turning around fast based on new knowledge, from Eric Ries’s book “Lean Startup”), and “purpose” (working to an ambition that transcends the goal of making a profit). In summary, a purpose-pivot is an idea that is “applied in a multi-dimensional way across all stakeholders, and involves redesigning HOW we succeed to include...
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