rehumanize

I've written extensively on my belief that great brands tell great stories. Stories help us understand.  They convey meaning.  And in a fast moving world, meaning trumps information.  Too many brands get bogged down in lists of nouns and adjectives. Brands are verbs; like characters in a story, they do things. The approach I've developed over time for  creating persuasive brand narratives involves identifying your archetypal personality (the universal characters that form our collective unconscious), the hero's journey (the brand's true north, why it exists) and conflict (great literature hinges on a clearly defined antagonist; great brands define what they stand for by being equally clear about what they oppose). Today I stumbled upon a new exercise to help further fine-tune this process:   six word stories - based on the famous challenge issued by Hemingway that resulted in his shortest story ever:  "For sale:  baby shoes, never used." Some of

Tim Brown's piece in HBR ( "Permission to Innovate" ) prompted a good amount of responses and opinions (the holy grail for a blogger!).  His thesis surrounds the idea that certain companies create a culture of innovation by first fostering a level of tolerance - or permission - from users, channel partners, etc. to occasionally miss the mark, provided the company hits the mark more often than not.  These innovative companies tend deploy multiple strategies to experiment and grow in adjacent categories. What prompted such a volume of comments on Brown's post was his assertion that "what you can't measure, you can't get better at."  (As one comment noted, it was Einstein who said "not everything that counts can be measured, and not everything that can be measured counts.")  The community's response is understandable since metrics are usually code for success v. failure. I'd suggest a different way in which to view metrics - they s

Barrie D'Rozario Murphy has been selected by Chamilia as the agency of record for the jewelry company’s brand campaign.   Chamilia is a rapidly growing premium , personalized jewelry brand with distribution around the world.  Our assignment will include brand strategy consulting, digital, print and POS creative, as well as media planning and buying. "We chose BD'M because they understood the passion our customers have for the fashion designs we create," said Claudio Garcia, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer.   BD'M wowed us with ideas we believe we help us achieve our growth goals."  (Thanks Claudio!) Adding Chamilia is another in a series of wins for our four year old agency.  Two weeks ago BD’M was appointed by Dell as the computer company’s global agency of record for its Public Sector business unit.  And in 2010 we won AOR assignments from Bissell and Del Webb.  I'm liking 2011 more and more .

The 2011 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index underscores the role of "authentic innovation" in delighting customers. It also underscores several themes I hold near and dear to my thinking when designing brand strategies. First, it's not about the product or service per se.  It's about the total experience.  Every interaction defines the brand.  The packaging.  How the phone is answered.  The quality of the customer service people (are they brand ambassadors or employees?).  The website.  Events.  You name it, the list goes on.  Why?  Because experiences turn perceptions into deeply-held beliefs.  (At BD'M, our approach to Persuasion Planning demands that we think through the types of experiences – not just messages – we want to create.  After all, brands are judged on what they do, not just on what they say.) Second, it's about "authentic innovation."  I've written before about i nnovation that solves real customers needs , not