Origin stories are big business in Hollywood. Millions of people pay top dollar at the box office to get the back-story on their favorite superhero or sci-fi villain. (The Joker grossed $849 million in just two months.) Unfortunately, brand origin stories are highly underrated and underutilized in the business world. Let’s say you’re involved in […]
Naming, rebranding, and the role of your brand origin story. Read More »
I get a lot of questions when people I tell people I have a branding agency… “What, like golf hats and branded water bottles?” “No, it’s not branded merch. It’s branding services… You know, like brand names, logos, ads, signs, trade show booths, event graphics… Anything that will improve your image and help
6 good questions about branding agencies and their owners Read More »
There’s nothing like a good origin story to remind everyone what your brand’s really all about. Phil Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog, is an exceptional example. It spells out how the Nike brand narrative evolved as the company grew up. Like all good stories, it has plenty of interesting characters, plot twists and emotional ups and
From underdog to big dog: Take-aways from the Nike brand narrative. Read More »
If you conducted a poll of 100 people like myself who develop brands for a living, 99 would tell you that naming your company is the hardest piece of the brand identity development process. Naming is way harder than designing logos or writing brand narratives. Naming a business is harder than naming a baby. Naming
Naming your company – Why is it so dang hard to do well? Read More »
Business naming is one of those funny creative tasks that everyone thinks they can do. No one thinks they can draw a logo. They don’t “pitch in” during the design process with their own sketches, but they sure think they can come up with a good business name. There’s a lot of armchair quarterbacking involved
How to come up with a good business name – avoid these common mistakes Read More »
Here’s who we are: John Furgurson – Owner, creative director, brand strategist. John’s been called an anomaly… A creative guy with a penchant for business. A poetic entrepreneur. He can devise an insightful strategy in the morning and craft award-winning ad copy over lunch. It’s a left-brain, right-brain, one-two punch that fits perfectly with the
All great brands share three traits : Relevance, Credibility and Differentiation. It’s like a three-legged stool of branding success. Today we’re going to focus on brand credibility, or lack thereof. Many successful businesses are built around commodities or me-too products, with basically no differentiation. And you can build a trendy business on short-term relevance and
Brand credibility killers — 5 things guaranteed to set off my BS detector Read More »
Branding is a popular topic in the business press and in business schools these days. Unfortunately, coverage of big brands like Tesla, Nike and Amazon make it sound as if Branding is a discipline reserved only for Fortune 500 companies and globe-trotting billionaires. As if small-business branding isn’t even a thing. Let me set the
2025 promises to be a better year for business owners and marketers. Especially if you’re willing to follow a few simple resolutions. I could have written a dozen or so, but that would go against the number one resolution for better branding: 1. Resolve to be short and sweet. (Whenever you can) There’s a proven
Marketing Resolutions (3 easy paths to better branding) Read More »
Insight on the booming kombucha market — An interview with Steven Lee of Kombucha Wonder Drink. In the tea business Stephen Lee is a household name. A pioneer. You could also say he’s the father of Oregon’s booming Kombucha market. Lee first tried the popular elixir of fermented tea on a business trip to
How to compete in the booming Kombucha Market Read More »
