brand strategy

A startup is a story The story is useful because it brings people to work towards something together The story is limiting because employees let it dictate what they can and cannot do The story isn't real - a startup is just people and what they choose to do every morning

“Any damn fool can put on a deal,

but it takes genius, faith, and perseverance

to create a brand.”

- David Ogilvy

most companies see their potential customers as weak, naive, and prone to addiction.

what would the world look like if companies spoke to our highest values rather than looking to make a quick profit off our base instincts...

Staying focused, disciplined, and “on message” consistently for a very long time is compounding. It builds dividends.

Repetition doesn't spoil the prayer.

A brand is always answering two questions. The first one internally facing: What do we believe? The second, externally: How do we behave? You must remain authentic to yourself, your core values, and what you stand for. If you’re not, people will sniff you out. But your brand must maintain cultural congruence — remaining relevant to the times, alway... See more

In most aspects of life, you need to say something about twenty times before it truly starts to sink in. Say it a few times, people are too busy to even notice. A few more times, they start to become aware of a vague buzzing in their ears. By the time you’ve repeated it fifteen to twenty times you may be completely sick of it, but that’s about the ... See more

At Coinbase, we distilled our positioning into the phrase, "Trusted, safe, and easy to use." This message became a guiding principle for our marketing, content creation, media outreach, and even our approach to attracting top talent. In order to reach new people with this message and fast, we knew we needed to kinda meme it into existence. And so w... See more