Brand Positioning That Improves The Economics Of Growth
Most leaders understand positioning. They know their brand needs to stand for something clear, relevant, and defensible in the minds of the people most important to its future. That is clear. However, problems arise when ...
The Difference Between Positioning And Messaging
Alongside category design, messaging, storytelling, and thought leadership, positioning is where your company claims its strategic seat within the market’s mental map—and, when engineered deliberately, this seat is one competitors cannot easily take. When business ...
Why Iconic Brands Need To Earn Permission To Change
Ferrari’s recent introduction of the Luce, its first fully electric four-door model, has sparked exactly the kind of controversy one might expect from an iconic brand. Just as the Jaguar rebrand did, and many others ...
Why Great Products Fail Without Market Engineering
Each year, research firms such as CB Insights analyze why both startups and new products from mature companies fail. On average, about 80 percent of VC-backed startups fail (and those are the best of the startup ...
Visual Strategy Is Sales Strategy
Visual communication is now one of the primary ways buyers judge credibility, understand value, compare options, and decide whether a brand deserves attention. In a market crowded with claims, strong visual assets make value tangible. ...
How Under Armour Forgot The First Rule Of Brand Strategy
Never confuse the customer. Once, at an advertising agency meeting with our IHG client, one of the agencies admitted that their commercials for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express were confusing. The stated benefits for ...
When Honoring A Brand’s Past Means Changing Its Future
For more than twenty years, The Blake Project carried the same identity into the world. It was there when we opened our doors in 2003. It appeared on our first proposals, our first client deliverables, ...
When Honoring A Brand’s Past Means Changing Its Future
For more than twenty years, The Blake Project carried the same identity into the world. It was there when we opened our doors in 2003. It appeared on our first proposals, our first client deliverables, ...
AI Has Not Replaced Brand Emotion. It Has Moved It.
AI has put an end to emotions in marketing, we are told. Just look at what LLMs rely on in making brand recommendations. It’s all about facts. Not about emotions. An analysis by Digital Bloom ...
The Problem With Product-Led Brand Turnarounds
Peloton, Kohl’s, Target, General Mills, Macy’s have something in common. These brands are engaged in brand turnarounds. Some of these brand turnarounds are brand turnaround-turnarounds, led by smart executive teams, some with new CEOs who ...