BRandKnew August 2014 by Brand Knew

Branding matters. Because branding matters.

Scan these QR Codes to download the Brand Knew App IOS

Android

brandknewmag.com

Published by ISD Global

08.14#28

Dear Friends: Yes, its over. There are millions who may be sad, happy, delirious, indifferent, depending on how much of a kick they got from the FIFA World Cup 2014. Many congratulations to Germany. As a post tournament exercise, we take a look at the Best & Worst Designs of the 2014 World Cup in this issue. Facebook has its fans, millions and millions of them. But how many marketers are the social platform’s fans, is something that we dig into. Lay it flat, lay it thin, lay it thick, but what’s panning out is that Papa John has become a giant of a pizza brand considering its very humble beginnings. Understand the growth in the oven fresh feature on the brand. There has been a tectonic shift in client expectations from marketing and ad agencies. And some of it breaks convention like never before. What readers will also find intriguing is also the piece on the rise of the global creative media agencies. We dig deep in our feature on the study of history’s most creative minds- in fact 26 of them and their Daily Routines. Marketing & technology are intersecting like never before and we demonstrate that in our article The Rise of The Marketing Technologist. Lots more to read, savor, leverage in this issue. So hop on, read on. Until next issue!

Suresh Dinakaran

07 11 13 17 19 21 23 25

@sureshdinakaran linkd.in/1dsjYaW bit.ly/1h95tgO

suresh@groupisd.com

Managing Editor: Suresh Dinakaran Creative Head/Director Operations: Pravin Ahir Magazine Concept & Design/ New Media Specialist: Mufaddal Joher Country Head, UK: Sagar Patil Country Head, India: Rohit Unni Digital Marketing Strategist: Mark Cijo Associate: Brand Success: Andre Van Helsdingen Web Specialist: Prasanta Kumar Sahu Online Support: Mahendra Kumar Behera

Brand Knew is published by

29 33 37 39

For Advertising Enquiries: info@groupisd.com or call + 971 4 386 7728 All Copyright of the content in this issue rests fully & comprehensively with the respective contributors and/or media platforms at all times, as the case may be.

www.brandknewmag.com | www.groupisd.com Download Mobile App from

The Best And Worst Design Of The 2014 World Cup

CONTENTS

Is Facebook Still Cool? And for Marketers, Does It Matter? The Daily Routines Of 26 Of History’s Most Creative Minds Rise of the global creative media agencies The Skinny on PR and How to Make It Work for You 4 Steps For Piercing Through The Fog Of A Nascent Idea The rise of the marketing technologist How Papa John’s became a global brand! What Clients Expect of Marketing and Ad Agencies 247 Years Of American Flags, Visualized How Fashion Legend Issey Miyake Stays Creative The future of brand relationships From Stunt To Substance: 4 Strategies For Powerful Marketing Book, Line & Sinker

The Best And Worst Design Of The 2014 World Cup From ugly stadiums to underwear slips to new and improved soccer balls Carey Dunne Us nerds at Co.Design have been focusing less on scores and more on all the World Cup-related design (and its 84-year history): the ball, the uniforms, the stadiums, the underwear slips. To whet your appetite for the finale on Sunday, here’s a roundup of the best and worst design pegged to the 2014 World Cup.

BEST: TYPOGRAPHIC POSTERS LAY OUT THE 84-YEAR HISTORY OF THE WORLD CUP These typographic posters lay out everything you›ve ever wanted to know about World Cup history: They illustrate the historical stats of all 32 competing teams, including the date of their first appearance, number of wins, draws, losses, and goals scored.

BEST: THE WORLD CUP SOCCER BALL The World Cup soccer ball has come a long way since it’s barely-better-than-a-pig’s-bladder early days. A thick leather ball that made for painful headers in 1930, it has evolved dramatically: into an 18-strip ball not unlike today’s volleyballs (1954); a black-and-white hexagon and pentagon design by Buckminster Fuller (1970); and now, with the Brazuca, the most aerodynamic ball ever made, maker Adidas claims.

WORST: THE STADIUMS. ALL OF THEM. We ranked Brazil’s World Cup stadiums from bad to worst (“looks like a butthole,” says our refined critic of one structure). Why so harsh? Most of the stadiums are criminally wasteful, likely never to be used again after the Cup, and in many cases, people actually died while building them. In 2014.

brandknewmag.com

BEST: PHOTOS OF THE WORLD CUP IN THE ‘70S If you’re nostalgic for sideburns, these photos of the World Cup in the ‘70s remind us why Pelé called soccer “the beautiful game.”

WORST: FIFA’S INSANE REQUIREMENTS FOR WORLD CUP UNIFORMS FIFA’s design referees enforce some ridiculously stringent rules for their World Cup uniforms (thou shalt not exceed the required stroke width for fonts!).

WORST: FIFA’S INVESTIGATION OF NEYMAR FOR UNAPPROVED UNDIES Among those ludicrous rules? No World Cup-unapproved underwear. When Brazilian player Neymar flashed a sliver of waistband after his team beat Cameroon, the FIFA fashion police cracked down on him.

WORST: HOMOPHOBIC PRIEST DISSES WORLD CUP FOOTWEAR Okay, technically, there’s nothing wrong with any design here, it’s how one raving homophobic lunatic interpreted the design. Adidas, Nike, and Puma unveiled some colorful footwear designs this year. Too colorful, apparently, for one raving lunatic priest’s liking: after Russia was knocked out of the competition, Orthodox priest Alexander Shumsky rejoiced, saying the footwear resembled the “gay rainbow” and soccer was a “homosexual abomination.”

BEST AND WORST: WORLD CUP UNIFORMS THROUGH THE YEARS Uniforms have gotten many a makeover since the inaugural cup in 1930. If you’re nostalgic for collared, long-sleeved soccer shirts, check out this interactive infographic illustrating the sartorial history of each competing team’s uniforms.

BEST: BEAUTIFUL, NON-CLICHED WORLD CUP STAMPS These abstract commemorative stamps, by Portuguese design studio Maan, are as colorful a celebration of the World Cup as the players’ cleats.

BEST: FLAT TV GRAPHICS Maybe 2018’s World Cup will be more fun to watch if these Dutch designers’ mockup for a better way to present soccer on TV, filled with flat, clear graphics, gets implemented.

BEST: EIGHT BY EIGHT’S GORGEOUSLY ILLUSTRATED WORLD CUP ISSUE With Eight By Eight, design duo Priest+Grace have created what they call “the magazine the beautiful game deserves.” It’s a quarterly devoted entirely to soccer, and the third issue celebrates the World Cup with eye-popping, comics-inspired illustrations by noted artists instead of the photographs that fill every other publication.

Carey Dunne is a Brooklyn-based writer covering art and design.

Is Facebook Still Cool? And for Marketers, Does It Matter? Mike Barrett Dan Miller, a professor of material culture at University College London, caused quite a stir at the end of 2013 when he said Facebook was “basically dead and buried” for 16-18-year-olds in the UK. So when we recently facilitated a series of focus groups in the US with 16-30-year-old males on the topic of their social media habits, we were interested to see how they would respond to “Is Facebook still cool?”

that take place off of its platform The ability to target advertising more accurately more than makes up for any lack of coolness that Facebook is suffering from.

Almost universally, participants responded with a “No.” But does Facebook need to be cool to be valuable to marketers? And if Facebook is no longer cool, how should that change the way marketers think about the channel?

For a long time Facebook was a “free” channel, but marketers must now sponsor content with paid media—or face a significant decrease in total exposure. The good news: users are still subscribing to pages of the brands they like. The bad news: getting the same amount of reach that was possible a year ago is going to cost you.

For Facebook, not being cool is uniquely different from not being useful.

The real proof, however, is in the pudding: Facebook is successfully getting brands to pay up. 3. Pay for promotion

Asked about what they want from branded pages on Facebook, the young men in the focus groups shared that they are willing to receive news and deals from brands within their News Feeds, as long as the content is relevant to their interests.

Although focus group participants acknowledged that Facebook is no longer “cool,” they also said they still routinely check the site during a typical day, and they also said they don’t expect it to diminish in importance any time soon. No longer do young users log into Facebook to post statuses, farm crops, and poke friends. Instead, Facebook has turned into a hybrid of a newspaper and a Rolodex. A big reason for the shift in how younger users perceive Facebook is the continued trend of older users’ joining and being more active on the site. What used to be a safe haven for friend-to-friend interaction and sharing personal thoughts and feelings has become a place where grandma might stumble across your next status update and ask questions you don’t want to answer. So, for brands, the question remains: If Facebook is no longer “cool” but young people are still using it, what should marketers be doing with the channel? 1. Diversify your efforts There’s no question that young people don’t use Facebook for the things they used to use it for. In our study, Twitter was the channel most often named by focus group participants as the replacement for Facebook status updates, with Instagram (ironically a Facebook subsidiary) often called out as the goto for photo sharing activity. Vine is growing in popularity among younger users, though it’s more of a consumption medium, like YouTube, than a place for true social interaction. Accordingly, meaningfully diversifying onto these and other platforms is a must. 2. Change what you use Facebook for Despite Facebook’s loss of “coolness,” comScore data finds that the site is still the leading property for young people—in terms of daily visitors and time spent. So... Facebook is still delivering the most inventory against this audience, tempting marketers to think of it as a “reach” platform; however, marketers are better off using Facebook for depth. Most of the young people we spoke to said they used their Facebook identity to log in to services all over the Web, allowing Facebook to target advertising based on activities

With Facebook’s targeting capabilities, advertisers should be taking advantage of the ability to easily target very focused groups of users, such as 17-year-old males who like to snowboard and who have a girlfriend. 4. Don’t build apps On a related note, if you’re trying to get people to your Facebook page to interact with an app, you’re facing an uphill battle. Most of the young men we spoke with check their News Feed for updates, but they don’t actually visit the pages of the brands they follow. You can pay to show users a News Feed post that directs them to your app, but if you’re going to pay for the click, why not send them to your own website so you don’t give full control of the experience up to Facebook? Recent changes to Facebook allow brands to run promotions on individual posts, which is a pretty clear sign that app usage is declining. In turn, Facebook is responding by giving marketers the tools they need to reach their audience where most of the interaction now takes place—in the News Feed. Here’s your key takeaway Although a less cool Facebook could be a challenge for the long-term survival of the network, it’s not something that marketers need to worry about just yet. Just make sure you’re actively pursuing other growing channels, allocating budget to promote the updates you post, and making your content both relevant and designed for interaction within the News Feed itself. Mike Barrett is the managing director of communications strategy and media at Heat, a full-service agency based in San Francisco, creating traditional, digital, and social content.

The Daily Routines Of 26 Of History’s Most Creative Minds 10 P.M. TO 7 A.M.: SLEEP. 9 A.M. TO 5 P.M.: BE A GENIUS. Carey Dunne Even Beethoven and Balzac had just 24 hours in a day. How did history’s most prolific minds schedule their greatness? Based on research from Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals: How Artists Work (which we covered previously here), a new interactive infographic by creative marketing agency Distilled offers us mere mortals insight into the daily routines of 26 famous artists, writers, composers, and thinkers. Organized from earliest to latest risers, the visualization reveals hours spent sleeping, eating, working, bathing, socializing, and exercising (good news for the lazy: most of these greats preferred casual strolls to pumping iron). Perhaps what stands out most is how few of these creative people had good oldfashioned day jobs. Writer Franz Kafka was the only one in this group who had a profession unrelated to his creative field: he was, famously and miserably, a bureaucrat at the Worker’s Accident Insurance Institute in the Kingdom of Bohemia (not as cool as it sounds). Philosopher Immanuel

“FLANNERY O’CONNOR SANDWICHED THREE TO FOUR HOURS OF WRITING A DAY BETWEEN CHURCHGOING AND OBSESSIVELY TENDING TO HER PEACOCKS.

Kant lectured at a university in the mornings, American writer Kurt Vonnegut taught at a school, composer Wolfgang Mozart gave music lessons here and there, and Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, treated patients. But the rest spent virtually all their waking hours--in some cases, hours most people spend sleeping--devoted to their creative and intellectual work. The infographic is accompanied by the subjects› thoughts on productivity. Japanese writer Haruki Murakami likens his strict daily routine, which involves writing from 4 a.m. to noon, to a form of mesmerism, while Pablo Picasso is quoted as having said, “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” The graphic suggests there may be other routes besides vigorous action, actually--the award for Most Leisure Time goes to Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor, who sandwiched three to four hours of writing a day between church-going and obsessively tending to her peacocks, among other hobbies. Peacock-raising wasn’t the strangest obsession in the bunch, though: that would be French writer Victor Hugo’s habit of taking an ice bath on his roof every morning. There›s one productivity tip we›ve yet to try out.

groupisd.com

brandknewmag.com

Carey Dunne is a Brooklyn-based writer covering art and design.

Rise of the global creative media agencies JR Little The idea that we are standing at the precipice of a new age in the communications industry, wherein the more ‘creative’ media agencies are separating from the ‘old-school buying’ media agencies and securing creative mandate from advertising agencies occurred to me in the most poignant way over a year ago. Imagine, the first local-market meeting with a new client after a new global media contract has been secured. The pitch was led and won on the other side of the world and this local client had very little input into the pitch process. Now, the local client is following their directions to onboard us, the new local media partners. It has been rumored that our new local client was perfectly happy with her smaller-scale buying-centric media agency.

Apparently, the old local media agency was ‘highly responsive’, ‘hard working’ and ‘easy to get a long with’, which I would argue are also words one would use to describe a dog breed. But those are definitely not the words most would use to describe a highly creative agency; one that is not afraid to ‘take a stand’, ‘debate’, ‘negotiate’ and ‘create’. It became clear after an hour that this new local client wanted us to ‘simply buy what the advertising agency tells you and measure it’. If you’re a remotely creative person working in media today, you know this epiphany can either be ‘soul destroying’ or ‘highly motivating’. For me, I saw a reason to be in the room; some of us like a good fight with antiquated advertising vs media thinking.

groupisd.com

Past roles: Big advertising vs big media In the 1980s, many large advertising agencies separated from their media businesses for various reasons, including client conflicts, a need for group buying, etc. Since that time, most global advertising agencies (repositioned today as ‘creative agencies’) have aligned themselves tightly to the objective of finding the ‘creative idea’ as best manifest in scripted TV spots, whereas the global media agencies (still known as ‘media agencies’) aligned themselves to the objective of understanding and reaching the consumer as best manifest in media planning and buying. For 25 years there has been an understanding that advertising agencies owned the idea and media agencies owned the consumer. Sure, there have been some smaller consultancies, e.g. Naked, that try to disrupt the model and bridge the divide, but they significantly lack global scale and/or buying power, which are table stacks for the communications industry today.

Past roles are irrelevant The problem with the big advertising vs big media split is this – big media has evolved to the point of owning the idea as well as owning the consumer. Over the last 20 years or more, the global advertising model didn’t change enough; to date it is still designed to profit from the production of scripted TV spots and videos whereas the media agency profit model was forced to adapt every single year as the consumer adapted and used media differently. To be more specific, advertising can make great scripted videos, whereas media can do everything else that is becoming more important (digital, social, search, performance, native advertising, content, sponsorship, partnership, co-branding, etc.).

The fight ahead: 2015 and beyond For many, I am stating the obvious, but here is the big obvious insight for 2015: authentic content and conversations are more important to consumers than scripted TV spots. Digital content and conversations are more affordable for clients than huge TV production budgets and broad reaching buys. It’s a double whammy for the advertising agencies – overly scripted TV ads are not effective and too expensive. This leaves advertising with little mandate and an increasingly broken model whereas big media has a huge ongoing opportunity in gaining the creative mandate. Don’t believe momentum is with media? Just last week, Fiat USA launched a TV campaign where simple GIFs were used on broadcast TV to promote the Fiat 500. The spots felt relevant and were highly affordable and Fiat’s intention is to push more usergenerated GIFs as well. Last year, Trident Gum in the US used Twitter Vine videos as their TV spots instead of overly scripted and produced traditional spots and I can testify that clients are less interested in big bold famous-making campaigns and much more interested in highly-targeted and re-targeting digital campaigns, much like the companion ads you are likely to see in the screen periphery as you read this article.

So how is momentum with the media agencies as opposed to advertising agencies? Media is best positioned to spot these types of opportunities and most likely to promote them to clients, as media agencies see the consumers needs in real time and their profit models do not depend on studio production.

How media will secure more ‘creative’ mandate Over the next five years, media agencies will increasingly secure the strategy, creative ideas, planning, partnerships, sponsorship, execution, and measurement mandate from global clients. Gone are the days when only the most outwardly esoteric and charismatic ad execs could come up with ‘big ideas’. As Sir Martin Sorrell has mentioned more than once over the years, we really are seeing a shift from ‘Mad Men to Math Men’. Today, big ideas and big executions must be supported by data – and media wins there every time. Today’s media workforce is astute in branding and highly creative with access to big tech and content partners’ creative teams (e.g. Google’s Zoo, YouTube’s Super Users, BuzzFeed, etc.) and/or freelance designers and producers a click away on LinkedIn.

With that in mind, here’s what to expect in 2015: 1. Media will be briefed with, or increasingly before, advertising agencies, as clients demand seamless collaboration. 2. Media’s consumer insights and data will direct creative briefs. 3. Media will increasingly share their own creative ideas and tech/content partner proposals alongside, or without, the advertising agencies. 4. Media network footprints will be used to reinterpret and execute centralized creative ideas thus creating a groundswell of highly creative case studies for new business and the awards circuit. 5. Media will start to hire-up more highly skilled creative minds with excellent storytelling and negotiation skills. 6. Chief creative officer will be a role considered inside media agencies. It has never been a better time to work at a hot media agency and as we move into 2015, expect to see a record number of media agencies and media firsts sweeping the industry awards circuit as traditional advertising agencies increasingly lose mandate over the one thing they hold so dear: the creative idea. JR Little is VP, regional head of strategy and intelligence, General Motors Europe, at Carat Global Management

The Skinny on PR

and How to Make It Work for You Wendy Marx

In this article, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll learn... - What public relations can and cannot do for you - How to turn PR stumbling blocks into opportunities - Three key tips in getting exposure

brandknewmag.com

People often think you buy PR like you order a pizza: on demand, with all the seasonings and toppings you want.

everything happen.

But PR can’t be boxed. A service business, it’s dependent in part on the media and others to tell its story, and on marketing and word-of-mouth to make the story hum. It’s also affected by world events: If there’s a major terrorism outbreak, your story about launching a new gizmo may get buried—or not told at all.

Public Relations is NOT simply about getting

In the age search engines, PR has also had to adjust its perspective: Not only earned media but also owned media (the content you create and publish) matters now, including social media. To help you navigate this new world of PR, here’s a road map to understanding its contours and features—along with tips on how to get some of that PR yourself.

the media to write about you Today, there are multiple nonpaid ways to get your story told—via article writing, webinars, speaking, social media, video, whitepapers, infographics, e-books, newsletters, blogs… The only limiting factor is your imagination. So although it’s useful from a credibility perspective to have the media showcase your thought leadership and knowledge, you don’t have to (nor should you) depend only on them. Here are three essential tips to help you tell your story—both to the media and to customers and prospects:

A reporter is not going to jump at the chance to write about your company, nor do so in exacting detail. A reporter needs news, not a puff piece.

1. Develop story ideas people care about. Most trade publications are eager for good content to publish that is not self-promotional. If you can broaden your sphere of influence, pitch your story idea to general business outlets; some, including Businessweek and Forbes, take highquality, non-self-promotional contributions. Underscore “high quality.” And don’t forget you can easily publish articles yourself via a blog, website, or newsletter.

Instead: Show, don’t tell. Let’s say you’re a leadership consultancy. Can you comment on leadership changes in the news? Discuss a major company’s new hiring practices? Focus on demonstrating your expertise, not just shouting about it from the rafters.

2. Get your happy clients to tell your story. Nothing beats a satisfied customer’s telling your story, which is why smart companies include client testimonials on their sites, even if the customer wants to remain anonymous. If you can name your customer, even better.

Public relations is NOT advertising and journalists are NOT stenographers

PR people are NOT in cahoots with journalists PR people don’t normally see media copy before publication. After all, reporters are writing a story, not serving your company. Instead: Ask a reporter whether he or she wants to factcheck anything with you. Some will agree to that. Provide a reporter with a written recap of any interviews, particularly if the subject matter is complicated or confusing. Offer a Q&A or fact sheet that quickly and easily covers the material. Create visuals, where possible, to illustrate your story.

Public Relations is NOT Based on the idea that a PR strategy is created out of thin air Public relations, like journalism, is based on fact, not fiction. For a PR person to do his job, facts and a story line are requirements. For example, don’t expect to build a PR strategy for a survey until you have the survey results. Instead: Facts in hand, build a strategy for each campaign. Develop a story line with supporting facts. Determine the best venues and ways to tell your story that will reach your key targets. List the content and people needed to make

3. Develop content that people are eager to consume. Marketo is one company that is a master at this. A virtual content machine, the lead gen company produces reams of free, quality content to help its B2B audience be better marketers. HubSpot is another great creator of educational content. You don’t, however, have to launch a content blitz. Begin with an explanatory article or two about your industry that informs and doesn’t just sell. Let people know you care and understand their challenges; that will be the first step to a dialogue—and, ultimately, a winning relationship. *** So next time you call for some of that good old-time PR, remember that PR is not something you buy at the counter or order by phone. Ensure your public relations is tailored to your company’s needs and audience, and educate—don’t sell. Only then can public relations establish your bona fides and endear you to prospects.

Wendy Marx is president of Marx Communications, an award-winning B2B PR agency that turns companies and their executives into thought leaders.

4 Steps For Piercing Through The Fog Of A Nascent Idea IT’S EASY TO GET LOST IN THE FOG AND NEVER MAKE ANY DECISION AT ALL. HERE’S HOW TO BREAK THROUGH AND GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR IDEAS. Scott Anthony History is littered with smart people making horribly wrong calls about nascent markets. In the 1940s, IBM’s Thomas Watson (supposedly) said there was a world market for only five computers. In the 1970s, Digital Equipment’s Ken Olson said there was no reason why people would want a computer in their home--versus their office. And it was Microsoft’s Bill Gates who was reported to have said in the early 1980s that 640K should be enough memory for anyone. Regardless of whether or not these stories are apocryphal, they ring true because we misjudge early-stage innovation so often. It’s nobody’s fault. Data tends to accrue and become obvious only after people have already taken action. Most people make their first-mile decisions inside what I call the “fog of innovation.” It’s easy to get lost in the fog and never make any decision at all, because a risk that doesn’t pan out tends to have more negative repercussions on a person’s career than risks not taken. Problematically, if you never make a decision, that

LETTING CHAOS REIGN CARRIES SUBSTANTIAL RISKS.

only creates more room for disruptive upstarts and hungry competitors. Worse, companies often face a mismatch between their innovation plans and the overall strategy that should be in place to support those plans. I remember distinctly a large company that proudly told me about how it got all of its most important executives to sit on an all-powerful innovation board that met every 90 days. “What if,” I asked, “the day after a meeting, the team discovers its entire strategy needs a wholesale revision?” Silence. It’s tempting to say that there shouldn’t be any control mechanisms for more uncertain efforts. Once you’ve decided to innovate, the argument goes, you should form a team, give them a check, and get out of their way. Letting chaos reign, however, carries substantial risks. Most ideas emerge out of a process of trial-and-error experimentation. Without control mechanisms, teams can easily follow the wrong strategy for too long. Weak control systems also deny a company the opportunity to redirect resources to the most promising ideas or to find creative ways to combine ideas.

groupisd.com

It takes discipline to launch new ventures.

Let both quantitative and qualitative data inform decisionmaking.

Yes, there should be a discipline around managing ideas in the first mile. But it needs to be a different discipline from the mistake-minimizing systems that govern the core business.

• Diversify your team. Discussion and decision should

Consider the discipline that venture capitalists impose on their investments. Venture capitalists are actively involved in the companies in which they invest--typically, a VC will sit on the company’s board and interact with management on a regular basis. If a decision needs to be made, the board will typically assemble in 24 hours. Venture capitalists carefully manage the funding process to focus entrepreneurs on the most critical issues early--tying future fund-raising rounds to achieving key milestones. It is a very different approach to funding than the typical annual budgeting cycle inside most companies. Active stakeholder involvement, a scarcity mindset when it comes to available funds, and quick decision-making often ensure that VC-backed startups rarely get lost in the fog of innovation. The military, too, faces the urgent need to make decisions when information isn’t clear. One doctrine taught to Marines is the so-called 70% rule. During the fog of war, the goal is to get enough data so that you are 70% confident in your decision, and then trust your instincts. If you have less data, you are making a close-to-random decision. If you wait until the data are perfect, the chance to make a critical decision has probably passed you by.

GET ENOUGH DATA SO THAT YOU ARE 70% CONFIDENT IN YOUR DECISION, THEN TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS.

Follow these four principles for encouraging experimentation. The uncertainty that characterizes the first mile of innovation requires an approach that encourages experimentation. Such an approach has four primary principles:

• Prioritize

taking action over endless studying. That means viewing investments as strategic options that provide the right, but not the obligation, to invest more in the future. This way, action happens in steps rather than as “all or nothing” commitments.

• Review data

from your venture frequently. Focus less on progress against goals that might change and more on learning--consider anticipated and unanticipated lessons.

not involve “business as usual” people and processes. For instance, when former Procter & Gamble chief technology officer Bruce Brown led R&D meetings, he would stop when it was time to review disruptive innovations to get a more diverse group of people into the room, including engineers, designers, marketers, and even customers--people who are typically alien to such gatherings.

• Take part in the experiment. Don’t just passively review details and data. The best executives will actively participate in the experiments and market tests whenever possible. Practiced together, these principles should help you support the creation of breakthrough ideas.

Know whether you’re encouraging experiments or minimizing mistakes. It’s useful to know what your goals are in terms of timing. Consider this study: In late 2010, three academics published a paper contrasting the impact of incentives on two institutions that give grants to promising life scientists. One program, led by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), features short review cycles, predefined deliverables, and tough penalties for missing milestones. In contrast, financial support for scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) takes a longer term focus, with a stated tolerance of early failure. Perhaps not surprisingly, HHMI scientists produce breakthrough ideas at a statistically significantly higher rate than do NIH grant recipients. They also had more total output--yet also have more efforts that appear to be flops. One approach minimizes failures; the other maximizes breakthroughs. Is the HHMI system better than the NIH one? It’s a trick question--the answer depends on the strategic intent. Experiment-encouraging systems aren’t necessarily better than mistake-minimizing ones. You just need to know what you’re after. Companies should have both systems running in parallel. Mistake-minimizing systems help to maximize resource efficiency in the core business; experimentencouraging ones help to maximize learning in new businesses. But that’s exactly what you need to make it through the early-stage fog. Scott D. Anthony is the managing partner of the innovation strategy consulting firm Innosight and the author of The First Mile: A Launch Manual for Getting Great Ideas Into the Market (Harvard Business Review Press, May 2014).

The rise of the marketing technologist Dan Kirby, Internet years are like dog years: time seems to move faster, change is more constant. We’ve all experienced that dizzy feeling when our understanding of online has to shift in a new direction.

However, as much as the digital revolution is full of promise – it is also full of danger. And so the marketing technologist role is born: to help navigate this brave new world, making the most of the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls.

When we established our technology agency Techdept, 10 years ago this week, the worlds of tech and creative marketing were poles apart. Like Mars and Venus. I was the creative marketing type, my business partner Rick was the techie.

The role is complex and requires a deep understanding of the technology landscape (current and emergent), of business strategy, creative ideas and the available marketing channels. And all of this must be measured, with activity tracked against ‘actionable metrics’ to fine tune future activity and investment.

Yet we’ve seen our worlds merge in that time, to the point where it’s difficult to say where marketing ends, and technology starts. To say you’re one or the other seems increasingly difficult. This trend has really picked up pace in the last two years. Chief executives, marketers, creatives and entrepreneurs now understand that the geeks aren’t in the back room, they’re running the world. The big beasts today are Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon: all are built on smart tech. We’re in the middle of a new industrial revolution that’s on a par with the first two (of mechanisation, and then mass production). It’s a digital revolution: the Brunel’s of today are building the cloud infrastructure, the apps that run and record our lives, and next generation internet access. We’re in the middle of this digital revolution, so it’s still all to play for. Those that connect the worlds of creative marketing and technology will reap the biggest rewards, striking gold in this modern day gold rush. Correspondingly, we have seen the importance of technology increase across every corporate department. Gartner analyst Laura McLellan recently predicted that by 2017, CMOs will spend more on IT than their counterpart CIOs. The more innovative brands and agencies now employ creative technologists, a new breed that requires the understanding of both the possibilities and practicalities of digital.

One of the main problems brands face is finding a person that can actually fill the role – some talk of the CTO and CMO role merging in the near future. There are very few true marketing technologists, and this will mean rising salaries as companies compete to recruit them. As the digital world is constantly changing, any tech-focused role becomes a real challenge. To keep up we must learn every day, be open to new ideas and working with others. As philosopher John Hagel says: “Since there are far more smart people outside any one organisation than inside, gaining access to the most useful knowledge flows requires reaching beyond the four walls of any enterprise.” Hagel hits the nail on the head: it is only through collaboration that we can truly stay ahead of the curve – no one has all the answers. So the lesson is to openly embrace this brave new world, this third industrial revolution. Because one thing is for sure – it’s a world built on technology.

Dan Kirby is the chief executive of Techdept

How Papa John’s

became a global brand!

Catherine Clifford

Entrepreneurs make plenty of mistakes, particularly when first starting out. John Schnatter is no exception, although he learned at least one major lesson well before he built global pizza franchise Papa John’s: Hiring the best people doesn’t necessarily mean hiring the most experienced people. Schnatter, whose father owned a tavern called Mick’s Lounge in Jeffersonville, Ind., remembers being puzzled when his father hired a cook who couldn’t cook. “She’s got good attitude,” he recalls his father saying. The cook ended up being a dynamite hire, staying with

Schnatter’s father for more than three decades. “You look for people who are positive and who have integrity,” Schnatter told Entrepreneur.com last month in Washington, D.C., during National Small Business Week. “That’s how he taught me to train for aptitude, hire for attitude.” Schnatter started Papa John’s pizza with $1,600 worth of used restaurant equipment that he installed in a broom closet in his father’s tavern in 1984. Since the early days, Schnatter has turned Papa John’s into a global franchise that brought in revenues of $1.4 billion last year.

brandknewmag.com

Schnatter studied business at Ball State University in Indiana, but he’s had three decades worth of business education through experience. Here’s Schnatter -- in his own words -with some of his best pieces of advice on growing a business and managing employees.

On the most important element to growing a blockbuster business: “You have to have three things. You have to have a passion for what you are doing, you have to be best in your class, and you have to have a business model that works. And so, as a franchisor, we give [franchisees] the ability to produce the best in their class, we give them a business model that produces, if you do the revenue. So their job is to best in their class. And that starts with passion. It’s all about attitude. If you think you can, you are right. If you think you can’t, you are right. And so we are very keen on having people around us that have a great attitude, that have a can-do spirit. That starts with passion.”

On motivating employees: “I don’t think you can control people. I don’t think you manage people. I think you give people a direction, you give them the resources, you lead by example. They get it right, you say, ‘atta girl.’ And they get it wrong, you say, ‘not good.’ I think you give yourself that culture and you have that culture of entrepreneurship, that culture of tinkering, making mistakes, honest mistakes, and you support your people with rewarding them when they do things right. And that goes from top to bottom, then I think people will manage themselves, they will motivate themselves.”

On what’s awesome about being a boss: “I love my business. I love my employees. If you are a success, you can take care of people, you can give a lot to your community. You create win-win-wins, I mean I love my suppliers to make money. I love my franchisees to make money. We gave seven raises today at Papa Johns: seven in one day. We give an average of about 40 a week. That means 40 people go home and tell their spouse and their kids, I got a raise. I mean, wow, that’s pretty cool.”

What Schnatter knows now that he wished he understood when he was just starting out: “I don’t think I realized ‘til the last 10 years that you have to make mistakes to innovate. You have to make mistakes to get better. I used to make a mistake and I kind of get down on myself. And now I make a mistake and I go, Okay, did you learn from this? Did you stick to the facts and did you stick with the logic, did you have the analytics. And if the answer to that is yes, and I just gave the best decision, I gave it my guts, made the best bet I could make, and it ended up being wrong. Ok, study why it was wrong, learn from it, but don’t beat yourself up. Make mistakes.”

On how to stay competitive: “Yes, every day, we find better ways to do things every day in every way. You have to constantly innovate. The market dynamics force you to get better. The marketplace is not going to let us slip on quality, of slip on taking care of our people. Yeah, we get better every day. We wake up every day and try to get better. And have fun. That’s a big thing. Have fun. My gosh, life is short.”

Oh how to establish a culture of entrepreneurship: “You are kind of asking me how does a bird fly. You just kind of do it. You just ah, when somebody makes a mistake you support them, you don’t get down on them. Well, you do that enough times, then they know they can make a mistake. If you get on them too hard, then they are going to be scared to make a mistake and then they are going to make another mistake! And so I think you just you really respect the interpersonal relationships and you build collaborative alliances and you don’t break them. And if you do break them, you put them back together quickly.” Catherine Clifford is a senior writer at Entrepreneur. com. Previously, she was the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Catherine attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor’s degree.

What Clients Expect of Marketing and Ad Agencies Ayaz Nanji Businesses expect the marketing and advertising agencies they employ to do a bit of everything, from properly understanding current objectives to presenting ideas and solutions beyond the conventional, according to a recent report from Domus and Harris Interactive. Asked about the importance of various qualities agencies can have, most executives at large companies rated each of the 11 options presented as being important. Three qualities in particular were considered extremely important by a majority or near-majority of those surveyed: Understanding the client’s business objectives, being aligned with those objectives, and constantly thinking about the client’s needs.

Below, additional key findings from the report, which was based on data from a survey of 155 directorlevel or higher employees at US companies with annual revenue of $250 million or more.

Shared Goals • 55% of respondents view the agencies they work with as business partners. • 30% consider agencies to be just another lineitem/expense.

groupisd.com

Unmet Needs • 82% of respondents say they have business needs that are unmet by internal staff or current agencies. • These unmet needs include measuring and reporting the business impact and ROI of marketing and advertising programs (43% of respondents), identifying new revenue streams (33%), taking advantage of Big Data opportunities (28%), getting “problem projects” completed (24%), and providing useful/actionable audience segmentation (22%).

Current Satisfaction Most respondents give an excellent or good rating to the agencies they currently work with.

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 155 director-level or higher employees at US companies with annual revenue of $250 million or more who have some decision-making responsibilities for marketing or advertising at their company.

Ayaz Nanji is a digital strategy and content consultant. He is also a research writer for MarketingProfs. His experience includes working as a strategist and producer of digital content for Google/YouTube, the Travel Channel, and AOL.

247 Years Of American Flags, Visualized MANIFEST DESTINY AS DESIGN CHALLENGE. Shaunacy Ferro During more than 200 years of American history, the United States flag has undergone near-constant transformation. The prolific infographic designers at Pop Chart Lab condensed 247 years of the American flag’s design evolution into one poster--from the Sons of Liberty’s rebellious stripes in 1767 to the pattern we know today. In total, the chart surveys 48 flags (no confederate flags included), noting underneath each row the number of states in the country at the time of the flag’s inception.

1861, for instance, when America consisted of 34 states, there were four variations on the flag. One, the “Great Flower,” arranged the 34 stars in a starfish-shaped pattern. Another clustered them together like five dots on the side of a die. Still another used a diamond pattern that kind of looks like a crab. With every new batch of states added, the stars had to be rearranged. The 50-star flag we use today wasn’t created until 1960, after Hawaii joined the Union.

Though the design of the poster itself is not particularly groundbreaking, it documents the great design challenge the stars and stripes (in conjunction with a national obsession with Manifest Destiny) have posed over the past few centuries: How do you represent an ever-growing number of states? In

It’s not a closed issue, either. People have already prepped designs for a 51-star flag, in the event that Puerto Rico becomes a state. For a country with a substantial taste for expansionist policy, you’d think we’d have picked a more flexible design.

brandknewmag.com

Shaunacy Ferro is a Brooklyn-based writer covering architecture, urban design and the sciences. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on a lifelong quest for the perfect donut.

How Fashion Legend Issey Miyake Stays Creative AT 76, MIYAKE IS STILL TRYING TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK CRITICALLY ABOUT DESIGN. Lauren Sherman Japanese designer Issey Miyake retired many years ago from catwalk shows and seasonal collections, leaving a team of disciples to take care of the clothes. But Miyake, who is as famous for engineering the perfect pleat as he is for producing Steve Jobs’s signature black turtlenecks, remains startlingly creative. Since handing over runway duties in 1999 to Naoki Takizawa (and now Yoshiyuki Miyamae), he has designed everything from collapsible lamps to living room chairs. Perhaps nothing provides more of a creative outlet than 21_21 Design Sight, a small museum in Tokyo’s Roppongi neighborhood that he opened with Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando in 2007. 21_21 Design Sight has allowed Miyake, now 76, to continue exploring the ideas that gave his work such resonance on the catwalk: the intersection of fashion, technology, and design. The venue serves as a design-research facility, but also an exhibition space. It typically holds just two or three shows a year and includes an eclectic mix of subjects; past shows have looked at primitivism in design, the career of Japanese graphic designer Ikko Tanaka, and the art of rice. While Miyake still oversees the work done at the Miyake Design Studio, it’s research and development he truly loves, and 21_21 has given him the platform to continue that. “I want to represent the action of thinking,” he told the Financial Times earlier this year. “ We are working towards the concept of […] no fashion.”

The latest presentation, Image-Makers, curated by Hélène Kelmachter, features the work of medium-eclipsing artists, including French graphic designer Jean“I WANTED TO Paul Goude, theater SHOWCASE CREATORS director Robert Wilson, film director David WHO HAVE NO Lynch and avant-garde FEARS, LIMITS, OR leather goods maker Noritaka Tatehana. «I BOUNDARIES.” was approached by [Goude] to do a show at our venue,” Miyake told me in an email. “I have always admired his art direction and thought it might be an opportunity to showcase not just his work but that of [other] artists as well, using the idea of creators who have no fears, limits, or boundaries for their creations.” Goude, who spent the 1970s working as Esquire’s art director, is best known for cultivating the image of singer Grace Jones, whose iconic look is still heavily referenced today. Many of Goude’s burnt-in-the-brain images are on display, as well as lithographs by Lynch and portraits by Wilson, as well as Tatehana’s shoe sculptures. The collection of works, while not outwardly connected, do exactly what Miyake hoped they would: prove the limitless power of creative imagery. The show runs through October 5 at 21_21 Design Sight, which is a five-minute walk from the Tokyo Midtown subway station in Roppongi. For more details, go here.

Perhaps nothing provides Miyake more of a creative outlet than 21_21 Design Sight, a small museum in Tokyo’s Roppongi neighborhood that he opened with Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando in 2007. Here, work by filmmaker David Lynch, who is featured in the museum’s latest exhibit.

groupisd.com

34 While Miyake still oversees the work done at the Miyake Design Studio, it’s research and development he truly loves, and 21_21 has given him the platform to continue that. Here, a piece by French graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude.

The latest presentation, ImageMakers, curated by Hélène Kelmachter, features the work of medium-eclipsing artists, including French graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude (whose work is pictured here), theater director Robert Wilson, film director David Lynch and avantgarde leather goods maker Noritaka Tatehana. “I was approached by [Goude] to do a show at our venue,” Miyake told me in an email. “I have always admired his art direction and thought it might be an opportunity to showcase not just his work but that of [other] artists as well, using the idea of creators who have no fears, limits or boundaries for their creations.” Goude, who spent the 1970s working as Esquire’s art director, is best known for cultivating the image of singer Grace Jones, whose iconic look is still heavily referenced today.

Many of Goude’s burnt-in-the-brain images are on display, as well as lithographs by Lynch and portraits by Wilson, as well as Tatehana’s shoe sculptures (pictured).

The collection of works, while not outwardly connected, do exactly what Miyake hoped they would: prove the limitless power of creative imagery.

Brooklyn-based writer Lauren Sherman began her career as a lifestyle reporter at Forbes, and has since held executive positions at both Fashionista.com and Luckymag.com. She has also written for the Business of Fashion, Ad Age, Elle. com, Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, among others.

The future of brand relationships Tien Tzuo The reaction to Amazon’s recent phone announcement followed a pretty typical pattern: gee-whiz live-blogging in the morning and cynical analysis in the afternoon. But dissecting nifty hologram effects and price points is beside the point. New product features have a retail half-life of 90 days and a media half-life of 90 minutes. In a few years these phones will come in the mail for free with an Amazon Prime membership. The real lesson here is that Amazon has made a pragmatic decision to use the world’s most relevant consumer platform, the smartphone, to help cement one of the world’s most seamless brand relationships. Apple, Google and Amazon have all been able to extend beyond their original core competencies (hardware, search, and e-commerce) to build direct relationships with their consumers. Relationships that are still faithful to their brands, but extend way beyond their initial value propositions. Here’s a simple test: It’s highly likely that you have an Apple ID, a Google ID, and an Amazon ID. This ID isn’t just data; it represents a relationship. Yes, the core of the brand still matters—design for Apple, knowledge for Google, convenience for Amazon—but while these companies take justifiable pride in their primary products, they also take pains to demonstrate that those products are just a means to an end. Ultimately these three companies are platforms. Now, are you walking around with a Coke ID? A General

Electric ID? A Toyota ID? A Disney ID? Probably not. Those brands don’t have a relationship with you. They don’t know who you are (you don’t buy Coke from Coke, after all). After all, the idea of having a credit card-enabled ID connected to a fizzy sugar water company might sound strange. Or would it? The key for these brands now lies in working out whether uprooting their business model to focus on the customer relationship is a sensible move. Coke sells soft drinks, GE and Toyota are ultimately hardware manufacturers, and Disney is (mostly) still a content company. But there’s the possibility for those companies to follow in Amazon’s footsteps: Coke could also become a live sporting events platform; GE has a whole constellation of web-enabled products; cars are increasingly becoming multi-channel ‘data plans on wheels’, lending credence to a ‘Toyota ID’; and for Disney, facing challenges from digital distribution channels like Netflix, owning the customer relationship increasingly makes sense. Ultimately, Amazon’s Fire phone isn’t about the gadgetry or the processors – it’s about the fact that it’s using a smartphone as yet another vehicle to make our Amazon IDs even more relevant to our daily lives. That being said, I am looking forward to checking out the nifty new hologram phone for myself. Tien Tzuo is chief executive of Zuora

From Stunt To Substance: 4 Strategies For Powerful Marketing EXPERIENCE MARKETING IS ALL THE RAGE. MONO’S JILLIAN DAVIS EXPLAINS HOW TO GO BEYOND THE BUZZ TO MEET BUSINESS OBJECTIVES. Jillian Davis In the past year, the word “experience” has been all the rage in marketing and branding. The number of experiential marketing campaigns in 2013 exploded, with so many interactive, pop-up, entertainment-frenzied events and activities. But, how many of these campaigns have been executed in a way that not only drives buzz, but also meets business objectives?

In today’s transient digital world, it is arguably the most impactful medium we have to work with, especially when you consider how often a great experience leads to brand advocates. Positive experiences are known to spark word of mouth among consumers: 93% of respondents in a recent Momentum Worldwide study say that they talk to other people about live branded experiences. For 65%, attending a livebranded experience drives them to recommend that brand.

The power of a thoughtfully crafted brand experiences can change perception, solve problems, connect people, and even occasionally be the highlight of someone’s day (hello shopping mall flash mob!) What happens when all of that positivity happens under your brand umbrella? It forges a deep, long-lasting connection.

But, instead of connecting with people in new ways, marketers are all too often using experiences to “break through” marketing clutter. This game of one-upmanship often results in flashy, one-off stunts disconnected from brand strategy. The result is that many brands miss opportunities to provide an immersive experience that authentically connects people that matter most to their brand.

BE THE CONTROL FREAK.

brandknewmag.com

Here are a few suggestions for elevating your next brand experience:

FORGET ABOUT WHAT. FOCUS ON WHY. I know, I know, planning the big event is a lot of fun. “What crazy thing can we do?” is an exciting stage of the process. But you risk the whole operation if you ask, “What’s our experience idea?” before you ask, “What impact do we want to have?” A clear objective is the only way to determine whether an experience is the right tactic for your brand. And if you (or even your client) lists “buzz” as the key objective, you have got to shut that down. Buzz is one outcome of creating an idea that resonates with people--but to influence your marketing goals, the focus needs to be on how the experience will affect your intended audience. Will perceptions be changed? Will it help get product in users’ hands?

BE THE CONTROL FREAK. Every brand touch-point--from a retail store to a tweet-provides an opportunity to reinforce your core idea. That doesn’t mean that every one of your social channels will feature every part of your experience--it means you need to find the right roles for each of your channels, so that you create the best and most consistent experience possible. For the Lucy Light Forest, an interactive light and sound experience created to celebrate movement and the women who love it for Lucy activewear, our team sourced solarpowered LED lights and worked with our sound engineers on site-specific installations while also creating in-store displays for Lucy’s nearby retail environments. We designed emails scheduled for key points throughout the campaign. Custom invitations were sent to area hotels to be shared with guests. We orchestrated the conversation on Lucy’s social channels and determined the role of its web site in our promotions. Without this integrated approach to every available channel, the Lucy Light Forest experience would have been inconsistent and limited.

enough: they’ll voice them on Twitter and Instagram, and that’s your opportunity to lean into what’s working and scrap what’s not. Take the feedback from your community and use it to adapt as you go (just remember to keep everything focused on your objective, rather than following the whims of every tweet or comment). Regular check-ins help gauge the overall experience sentiment and give you time to make adjustments to your experience before it’s over. While I know its hard after you’ve sweated every detail for every hour until launch time, try to keep an open mind about changing the plan when the experience is live, because it can often bring new energy and potential to your idea.

ISOLATED EXPERIENCES DON’T BUILD BRANDS. One amazing brand experience can make a difference in awareness and perception for your brand --but if it’s all you do, you’ll be quickly forgotten. Consumers are always ready to move onto the next big thing. Remember, branding is a verb--while you pause and celebrate a successful campaign, don’t forget to quickly turn your energy to the next idea. A successful experience should be a catalyst for activity and brands should be always ready to connect with consumers in unconventional and meaningful ways. Uniqlo is one of the masters of testing and releasing digital and experiential ideas in quick succession--what is learned on each execution informs TAKE THE FEEDBACK the next effort. From Uniqclock to the Lucky FROM YOUR Counter tweet-forCOMMUNITY AND discounts, the retailer never takes a break USE IT TO ADAPT AS from building its brand YOU GO. in unexpected ways. Building brand experiences isn’t free of the typical marketing challenges. Having a clear objective, leveraging all assets, and keeping an eye toward innovation will all help ensure that your experiences reach their full potential. Most important, never lose site of your objective: to create substance, not just another stunt.

LAUNCH. LEARN. ADAPT. REPEAT. It used to be that when the creative was out the door, the work was done. That is no longer the case. While there is no way to know for certain how consumers will react to your experience once it’s live, you will know their opinions soon

Jillian Davis, is a strategist and experience planner at mono, where she helps brands like Target, Lucy Activewear, and Blu Dot connect with people through meaningful experiences.

Book,

Line

The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design By Marty Neumeier THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand-building. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a “charismatic brand”—a brand that customers feel is essential to their lives.

Sinker A New Brand World: Eight Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the Twenty-First Century By Scott Bedbury, Stephen Fenichell What does it really take to succeed in business today? In A New Brand World, Scott Bedbury, who helped make Nike and Starbucks two of the most successful brands of recent years, explains this often mysterious process by setting out the principles that helped these companies become leaders in their respective industries.

BrandSimple: How the Best Brands Keep it Simple and Succeed

Contagious: Why Things Catch On

By Allen P. Adamson, Sir Martin Sorrell (Foreword) In an era of mixed media messages, in which brands are extended to the breaking point and complex marketing theories compete for attention, it is more difficult than ever to create effective brands. Allen Adamson offers a refreshingly simple solution: Bring back the basics of good branding and ensure success. Build a brand on a good idea that you test.

New York Times bestseller What makes things popular? If you said advertising, think again. People don’t listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral?

Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People

Why Johnny Can’t Brand: Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Big Idea

By Marc Gobe

By Bill Schley, Carl Nichols Jr. Too many companies think that splashy advertising and cool packaging is the same thing as branding. Marketers talk about brand charisma or brand warfare, spend millions on entertaining ads starring dancing chimpanzees or cowboys herding cats, but fail to differentiate their product or give consumers a real reason to pay attention. Then they wonder why their campaigns fail.

Emotional Branding is the best selling revolutionary business book that has created a movement in branding circles by shifting the focus from products to people. The “10 Commandments of Emotional Branding” have become a new benchmark for marketing and creative professionals, emotional branding has become a coined term by many...

Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands By Marty Neumeier “When everybody zigs, zag,” says Marty Neumeier in this fresh view of brand strategy. ZAG follows the ultra-clear “whiteboard overview” style of the author’s first book, THE BRAND GAP, but drills deeper into the question of how brands can harness the power of differentiation. The author argues that in an extremely cluttered marketplace, traditional differentiation is no longer enough—today companies need “radical differentiation” to create lasting value for their shareholders and customers.

By Jonah Berger

The Origin of Brands: How Product Evolution Creates Endless Possibilities for New Brands By Al Ries, Laura Ries What Charles Darwin did for biology, Al and Laura Ries do for branding. In their exciting new book, The Origin of Brands, the Rieses take Darwin’s revolutionary idea of evolution and apply it to the branding process. What results is a new and strikingly effective strategy for creating innovative products...

groupisd.com

Storytelling: Branding in Practice By Klaus Fog, Christian Budtz, Baris Yakaboylu As a concept, storytelling has won a decisive foothold in the debate on how brands of the future will be shaped. Yet, companies are still confused as to how and why storytelling can make a difference to their business. What is the point of telling stories anyway? What makes a good story? And how do you go about telling it so that it supports the company brand?

Unleashing the Ideavirus: Stop Marketing AT People! Turn Your Ideas into Epidemics by Helping Your Customers Do the Marketing thing for You. By Seth Godin Counter to traditional marketing wisdom, which tries to count, measure, and manipulate the spread of information, Seth Godin argues that the information can spread most effectively from customer to customer, rather than from business to customer.

Personal Paparazzi: Your Brand Story Told Your Way By Alina Vincent, Christine Whitmarsh Ready to cut through the clutter and make a name for yourself? Wondering why your brand still isn’t seeing the attention it deserves? Help is here! In Personal Paparazzi, you’ll discover how to see your brand’s name in lights, tell your brand story your way, and generate greater exposure… without wasting money on ineffective traditional marketing methods that won’t attract today’s customers.

Social Media Hacking: 32 Simple Tips for Promoting Your Brand, Engaging Your Audience, and Building Your Social Media Presence By Alex Fitel Find out what it takes to develop social media sites that catch the attention of other business owners, new clients, potential customers, and other professionals.

Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less By Joe Pulizzi NAMED one of 5 MUST-READ BUSINESS BOOKS BY FORTUNE MAGAZINE One of the world’s leading experts on content marketing, Joe Pulizzi explains how to draw prospects and customers in by creating information and content they actually want to engage with.

The Story Wars: How brand stories beat advertising tales! By Erik Saelens Marketers! Advertising agencies! My brothers and sisters. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of marketers fails, when we forsake our brands and they all come tumbling down; but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered companies when our ability to connect to our stakeholders comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Marketers of the World!

No Nonsense Marketing Strategies For Small, Growing And Ambitious Businesses By Gary Kind Looking for effective marketing techniques to help you start and grow your business? Want to know cost effective strategies that you can use and apply straight-away? This book contains just the details, no waffle, no filler of what you should, and more importantly, what you shouldn’t be doing when spending money to build your business.

Get Clients Now!(TM): A 28Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches By C. J. Hayden Get Clients Now empowers readers with practical, proven strategies for choosing the right marketing tactics for their situation and personality, diagnosing exactly what’s missing in their marketing and fixing it, and replacing unproductive cold calling with the power of relationship marketing Filled with hundreds of tool and techniques...