Boil This!
The secret sauce of the brand planner is their ability to take all the information at hand and boil it down into a compelling argument that leads to a sale…or predisition to a sale. (We are not always...
View ArticlePlumbing and Mining the Consumer.
Over the years, obesity has been a subject I have studied quite closely. I’ve endeavored to understand and strategize obesity surgery, weight loss programs, post-surgery protein drinks — and I even...
View ArticleBiggest critic.
I’m always on the lookout for new ways to extract important information from executives about their companies. My 24 Questions, designed to follow the money, are not great at generating stories… and...
View ArticleThe soul of the target.
I get major brand planning wood when landing on a cool target insight. Not a transplanted insight from my experience imposed on the target, but something from his or her very soul. Target transference...
View ArticlePlanning Tips for B2B
I use a battery of static questions when doing discovery in my brand planning process. There are follow-the-money questions for C-level executives and follow-the-sales questions for sales people. I...
View Article3 Keys To Successful Brand Planning.
In the curated social media world the most shared content tends to have numbers in the headline. In an effort coattail this phenomenon, following are three ingredients to successful brand...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brand Planning Tips
So I was listening to Merle Haggard yesterday and the old coot was doing a duet with Jewel and, by God, he changed his vocal treatment – his voice — on the song. It was Merle but he was trying to...
View ArticleA moment of reflection…about selling.
One of the cool things about being a brand planner, probably not unlike being a psychotherapist, is being a student of man. Though I am not looking for maladaptive behaviors as does the psychotherapist...
View ArticleLearned and earned, not told and sold.
A great deal of brand planning revolves around observation. That’s why my anthropology major came in so handy after all these years. Who knew? Based upon observation, planners postulate and prove, then...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Out of body brand planning.
Sometimes brand planners do not have the budget, time, or resources required to do a complete job learning and understanding their targets. Hey, welcome to the real world. The last thing a good planner...
View ArticleOptimism and Pessimism.
I ask a lot of questions. It’s the trait of a brand planner. Questions are always about learning but when all is said and done they resolve into one of two types of strategy: optimistic or pessimistic....
View ArticleHollow words or pregnant words. You choose.
I was reading the paper this morning on president Obama’s state of the union speech and realized the word “politics” has become a dirty word. “We can get things done so long as politics don’t get in...
View ArticleDeconstructing brands.
Brand planners go about their business in a number of ways. If you’ve planned on 500 brands and identified 1,000 insights, it’s hard to go all tabula rasa on a new assignment. To quote a friend and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Simple. Loveable. And Inspiring.
I scraped this screen grab from Jen van der Meer’s website. I’ve never met Jen but after reading these two quotes feel we’re sibs from another mother. In my approach to branding at What’s The Idea? I...
View ArticleValue-Loading.
The human mind does the work of the brand planner on a daily basis. We experience people, places and things, a multiplicity of experiences, and boil them down to their essence — retaining a fairly...
View ArticleBrand Planning Questions.
Part of the secret sauce of brand planning is the interview; be it of customers, prospects, partners, sales people or company management. And the art of the question is in the ability to ask and...
View ArticleTruffle Insights
Brand planning insights are a dime a dozen. Upper echelon planners know which insights are the truly special ones. They know which to chase and which to leave alone. Insights that change markets are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Dispassionate Plea.
I read a lot about leadership and one word seems to pop up a great deal is passion. Leaders want passion in their companies and hiring agents want it in their hires. Employees when asked about...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Residue of Claim.
In my ongoing effort to define brand planning and share my framework for building strong brands, the word “proof” comes up a lot. No matter what type of brand I study, no matter how many insights rise...
View ArticleEvidence Based Brand Strategy.
The difference between brand planners can be found in their respective abilities to do something “smart” with the info and data they collect during discovery. One planner’s questions will differ from...
View Article
