Stop Listening to the Customer

chapter 7 define the brand

You're about to read the most practical chapter in this book. After perusing it, you'll know the precise steps involved in creating a brand. I can tell you now, the process is simple — but it's in the execution where it becomes difficult. The information is based on my experience with brands I've created and brands I've worked on.

A brand I'm particularly proud of

I love working in marketing sciences. I also enjoy consulting and helping businesses build their brands. During consults I'm sometimes asked, ‘What would you do if it was your money?' and ‘You're good at giving advice but have you a brand yourself?' The answer is yes. I've created several business brands, written a book, created a board game and developed a couple of conferences. But nothing gives me greater pride than defining and co-creating with my partners my latest company, Thinkerbell.

The main difference when defining a brand for yourself rather than a large organisation is fewer stakeholders. Negotiations only had to happen with my business partners. We met when working as minor partners at the same agency. It wasn't the right fit for us, so we left and started a new agency. We roughly knew the services we would offer, which happened to match our skill set, but that's all we knew.

What's the category?

The first thing we did was look at the marketplace and understand the category we were entering. It's no secret that the traditional advertising market is declining, but the consulting ...