The Journey to an Iconic Brand Identity Starts From Within

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One of the most frequently heard mantras in modern marketing strategies is that of ‘Consumer First’, ‘Consumer is King’, ‘put the Consumer at the heart of everything’. Like every … Read the rest

What is your mental model of how mass communication works, in the context of marketing?

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If you have never consciously thought it through the default theory will more than likely be based on the mental model of the culture … Read the rest

A vast empirical study unpicks conventional thinking

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Of the ten thunders we are to explore, nine are from fields and disciplines outside marketing. This first thunder however, is a challenge from within. Byron Sharp’s How Brands Grow (OUP 2010) … Read the rest

The formation of the Roman Republic is a great example of ‘the best advertising doesn’t try to persuade’. In the case of a culture this works through story and myth. Each culture has its compendium of foundational myths. They tell … Read the rest

The Era of Branding – From USPs to Cultural Associations

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In the Rebirth of Brand, we are using the idea of Thunder and Lightning to structure the Journey. Last week we explored the Byron Sharp’s thunder that “Advertising is … Read the rest

The iconic American agency Leo Burnett built on and added to the paradigm of red rhetoric. They too shared Kenneth Burke’s belief that the way we understand social reality is through the meaning we all attach to our environment. We … Read the rest

Taking the leap into the less familiar

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Even for those who agree with Kahneman on the importance of prioritising emotion in marketing strategies, there are frequently some important gaps in their understanding that impacts the process when briefing brand … Read the rest

It was Marshall McLuhan who described commercials as the ‘Folklore of Industrial Man’. McLuhan, like Barthes, and like his inspiration James Joyce, worked with the stuff of our everyday lives. 

Our folklore being everyday objects like soap powder, vitamins, cars, … Read the rest

With this thunder we enter the domain of decision science and the impact it has in developing your brand strategy. We will look at Daniel Kahneman’s important insights into how people make decisions from his book Thinking Fast and Slow, … Read the rest

There has been an invasion of ad land and brand land over the last decades and it has come from an unlikely source – technology.

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The giants of this invasion, Facebook, Google, and Twitter have swept all before them … Read the rest