Tales from the Brand Trenches
We're not playing around, we're diving deep into the trenches of practical brand strategy.
Journal
Brand thinking
No fluff, just straight-talking insights. Our Journal is where we share honest takes on branding, backed by years of experience. If you’re after real-world thinking that cuts through the noise, you’re in the right place.
From Frivolous to Fruitful: Agency Challenges in Promoting B2B Brand Characters
We recently had an agency debate about which brands had the best brand character. Over the course of a week, we voted on different options and Captain Birdseye won. (A fine choice, don’t you agree?)
Does evolving your brand always mean changing your identity?
The short answer is no.
The Value of B2B Brand Values
In this barnstormer, Chris researched the brand values on B2B websites. He was underwhelmed.
The Power of Simplicity for B2B Tech Brands: Less is More
Exploring the why and how of B2B tech's fear of simplicity
Brand Clarity: Simplifying Your Portfolio
In this episode, we tackle the issue of 'brand confusion' and its impact on sales.
What to do when your sales team stop selling
Let's start by setting the scene with a couple of assumptions.
Why Doesn't Private Equity Get Brand?
We work with private equity businesses that understand the value of a clearly articulated brand.
Brand Mistakes Made By B2B Tech Firms
We've been looking into the world of business to business tech firms, and we've noticed some patterns in how they deal with brand that could be losing value in their business.
Why do Private Equity firms ignore the role of brand in creating value?
This is the question that’s been keeping me up at night. I’m slightly scared to ask it publicly, but I’m genuinely struggling to answer it.
Brand mistakes made by B2B Tech firms
These mistakes may not be brand killers, but they could cause yours to bleed value and equity and feed the competition's business.
Reflections on a 10 year client partnership
Agencies aren't partners with their clients unless they share in the commercial risk of the enterprise.
Helping B2B understand why it should invest in brand
I think that outside the realm of B2B marketing, clients generally have a poor understanding of brand and why they should invest in it. I also think that’s because we (agencies) do a bad job of explaining why.
What's Your Real Competiton?
Your competition is another company; it's the status quo.
ESG has a brand problem
We don't claim to be experts in ESG but we do know a thing or two about brand. And as more and more clients come to us with projects that include an aspect of ESG, we’re seeing the two worlds collide.
B2B Tech Firms must dig deeper to differentiate
It feels like every other B2B tech firm I look at conforms to the same visual and verbal convention.
The Brand Workshop
Too often, we focus on the end result when it comes to brand. Instead, it's helpful to reflect on one of the critical milestones in the journey, the kick-off session, the brand workshop. We dive into what makes a good brand workshop, the reason for doing it and how to improve the session's outputs to ensure great work is built from it.
Why the status quo is the real competition
Even if we offer customers something new, better and cheaper it’s not necessarily the case that they’ll jump at it straight off the bat.
The Mission's Critical
Everyone swoons at a vision. Everyone gets into the value. But the mission? It's the middle child that people love but don't understand. We get into what we mean by 'mission', why it's central to a brand and how it should be used within your business.
Tips for a good brand homepage
One thing we’re always telling clients is that the clarity and coherence of their organisation needs to come through in the first contact with the brand. Often, this first contact comes via a company’s website.
Tips on how to run a brand workshop
I had an experience recently that forced me to boil down the essence of a brand workshop to its constituent parts, so that we could be through it in an hour. This wasn’t particularly easy, given that we usually run these sessions over a half day period.
Why Brands need a Serious Brand Strategy
The title says it all. We go into the brand strategy, what it means to be serious about it and why we think there needs to be more critical thinking around it.
Better Branding During a Recession
As I sit here in October 2022, it looks like we're heading into a recession.
Setting out your Brand Mission
We've been going through our brand definition process, going into some detail with vision and values. Now we're getting into the meat of that brand sandwich, your brand's mission.