Great brands are built on a battle cry

Something sinister happened over the past algorithmically driven decade: brands took a sharp turn toward efficiency and benefits mindshare, often focusing on a laundry list of functional and emotional whoop-de-doos.

It’s this paint-inside-the-lines mentality that stokes irrelevancy and meaninglessness. And the whole point of a brand is to create an ... See more

Building a winning community-based brand is the process of being laser focused on a group of people with a shared identity, and developing something for them that makes them feel heard. Elements include establishing an identity that sparks excitement, using a shared language, creating s ocial content that makes them want to share yet feels aestheti... See more

Far too often, we tend to think of branding as an executional activity—logos, colors, monikers—as opposed to an ideological exploration. That’s because our view of branding is far too narrow. Brands are signifiers that conjure up thoughts and feelings about a company, product, or entity, and they can unlock opportunities for leaders to catalyze col

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My opinion begins with a simple question: what is brand? To me, brand is a representation of you, your values, and what you think is important. Take that idea and sit on it, then ask yourself what Porsche stands for? What about Apple? Liquid Death? These companies are masters of brand, and they’re companies that inspire my thinking around it, parti... See more

To systematically build iconic brands, companies must reinvent their marketing function. They must assemble cultural knowledge, rather than knowledge about individual consumers. They must strategize according to cultural branding principles, rather than apply the abstracted and present-tense mind-share model. And they must hire and train cultural a... See more