david-brier

Life is made up of dots

Launching a brand is not for those with thin skin. It takes courage, intelligence and foresight.

Look at every __evolutionary_ brand or category killer, it had an app, or a feature, or a functionality, or a user experience nobody else at that point could offer. I refer to this as __he Killer App_ principle.

Brands are either built on reruns or coming attractions. The future has no road map while the past does. Creating a brand that blazes new trails can sometimes be bumpy but will also allow you to be the first to discover something new, something meaningful and something that makes others ask, __hy didn__ we think of that?_ Be very scared of __ld tricks_ and build a spirit of innovation. It__ the __ld tricks_ that have the highest risk, not doing something bold.

The biggest mistake brands make are trying to __ell their stuff_ rather than clarifying what people are actually buying.

Social media isn__ a brand strategy. Social media is a channel. While it__ important for a brand to develop something to say, it__ more important to create something that will be heard.

If your brand is a cliché, your brand is losing sales and growth. Why? If your brand is using clichés to promote itself, you__e promoting your __ategory,_ not your unique, individual brand. Painful? Yes. Solvable? Absolutely.

It becomes a question of 'How do we convey our differentiation instantaneously?' and drive a wedge between any apparent (or assumed) sameness in the marketplace.

Branding is the art of differentiation

We know there are thousands of ways to solve any branding problem a company faces, yet the only valuable solutions are the effective ones. Doing something ineffective in half the time__r __ore efficiently_ or __ore economically___sn__ progress, but is instead bad business. Very bad business.

And while a brand is so much more than a company__ logo, the logo is one of the key ambassadors to any brand.

Brand growth and dominance is created by having the highest brand value, not the lowest price tag.

Evidently, one thing seems to have more value in direct proportion to whether or not we feel we have the freedoms, joys or conveniences of that thing.

Consumers today have become a cynical mob of buyers who believe the reviews and ratings of complete strangers much more readily than your brand's promises and distinctions.

Why do some brands grow explosively when others (that could be thriving) die a lonely and forgettable death?

Having a me-too brand is a death sentence.

Cookie cutters are for baking, not branding.

When it comes to branding and the ever-changing social media phenomenon, you__e not a mushroom. In other words, you shouldn__ be kept in the dark and fed a pile of...well, you get the idea.