BRANDING

The Inside-Out Approach To Building A Brand — Start with your people

I’m always amazed by business owners and CEOs who spend considerable time and money building a brand, only to neglect the most important component of their brand: Their people. If you want to build a great brand, it’s wise start on the inside and work your way out. Seriously. If you can’t convince your employees …

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Storytelling in business — a good story equals strong leadership.

Let me tell you a story about storytelling in business — the most important, most under-appreciated leadership skill. All business revolves around persuasion. You have to persuade prospects to buy, investors to invest, employees to perform and suppliers to deliver. There’s no getting around it… if you’re going to succeed, you’ve got to persuade. You …

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Brands and corporate mergers — F15 Fighter vs. the 787 Dreamliner

In 1997 Boeing and McDonnell Douglas agreed on a merger.  That marriage looked great on paper…  Boeing’s strength was McDonald Douglas’ weakness. And vice-versa. A match made in heaven, or at least in the clouds. But the Boeing deal demonstrates how brands and corporate mergers usually butt heads. Boeing’s shortcomings on the military side would …

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The lingering effects of your brand identity design – good or bad

Never underestimate the power of brand identity design. For good or bad. Decades after you’ve completed that important but undervalued project your brand identity will either be a tremendous asset to your business or an anchor that continually drags you down. It’s not just about looking good — it’s about selling more, building goodwill, and …

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Back to Basics (A working definition of Branding and Brand)

You say tomato, I say tahmahto. He says branding, she says marketing. No doubt, the language of marketing and branding can be very confusing. It has been for more than 50 years… An article in the Journal of Marketing way back in 1969 cited a clear problem with the imprecise, vague and misleading language of …

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Absolutely better branding for craft spirits

Chocolate vodka? Dill pickle vodka? Bacon flavored vodka? Cinnamon Roll Vodka? Smoked Salmon Vodka. I kid you not. When it comes to branding for craft spirits, fantastical flavors are all the rage. Ten years ago there were basically only four or five choices of vodka. Now there are 20 brands, and every brand has a …

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What to think if you’re thinking of hiring a brand strategist.

  This past year I landed a new client who had been thinking of hiring a brand strategist for more than four years. This particular entrepreneur is exceptionally mindful about what he buys and who he works with. In fact, he’s particular to a fault, often over-thinking simple decisions and holding up progress in the …

What to think if you’re thinking of hiring a brand strategist. Read More »

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Brand design with a bang – Visual cues and consistency across platforms

A lot of people ask me about our brand design and the graphics that accompany these blog posts. They see the same visual cues on the BN Branding website, in social media posts, in presentations, in our ads, emails, videos and even on good old-fashioned post cards. They comment about our graphics when they see …

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What business owners can learn from political advertising

Every election year there’s a deluge of dumb, annoying political ads from both sides of the aisle. And as much as we love to hate them, there’s a lot that business owners can learn from political advertising. From a creative standpoint it’s rare to find any political ads that are noteworthy. As a genre, they …

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Where branding begins — A holistic approach to branding and business.

A lot of business owners seem to think Branding begins with graphic design. As if the logo or the sign above the building is the be-all, end-all of branding. Of course, that’s not the case. Branding begins much earlier and continues, unabated, as long as the company is in business. For start-ups Branding begins with …

Where branding begins — A holistic approach to branding and business. Read More »

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6 good questions about branding agencies and their owners

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 …

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The semantics of branding & rebranding: Get the words right, or else.

Here’s a worst-case branding & rebranding scenario that every business owner fears: You’re forced to rebrand your company because of a costly legal dispute. You have 90 days to cease using your current brand name and identity, so you quickly hire a design firm to handle the rebranding work. Of course, your business doesn’t stand …

The semantics of branding & rebranding: Get the words right, or else. Read More »

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Brand Simplicity – Whittling success down to its core.

In business I think it’s human nature to add unnecessary complexity to all sorts of things. Business owners, inventors, entrepreneurs and marketers add complexity because it feels like it adds value… It gives us more to talk about, more features to tout, more bullet points for the pitch deck, more hype to hype, more stuff …

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Building a brand personality that’s genuine, authentic, AND effective.

Building a brand personality for your company that actually resonates with people is not easy. All the consultants and gurus will tell you, “you gotta be authentic.”  “Don’t fake it.”  “Be true to yourself.” But what does that mean? And what happens when your authentic self isn’t a very effective marketing tool? I’ve seen my …

Building a brand personality that’s genuine, authentic, AND effective. Read More »

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How to differentiate your company — Disruption as a branding discipline

The word for the day is Disruption, with a capital D. That’s the easiest way to differentiate your company from the competition. Be Disruptive! Unfortunately, in our society there’s a stigma against all things deemed disruptive. When we’re in elementary school we learn to not be disruptive in class. Or else! Sit still in church and …

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5 Things all iconic brands have in common.

Simon Edwards, former Brand Manager at 3M, started a lively online discussion around this question: “What are the common attributes of iconic brands? He opened it up on a LinkedIn Group that includes 4,363 branding consultants, practitioners, creative directors, gurus and wannabes. It was an intelligent, worthwhile discussion that hit all the hot buttons of …

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How to write a customer journey - in long form - Brand Insight Blog

Mapping out the customer journey – in story form

Everyone’s fixated on short copy these days… Gotta write as if everyone’s hyper-distracted and generally blind to anything that’s set in type. But in the rush to shorten, truncate and boil every good idea down to a tweetable gif or an infographic, many marketers are missing the nuances that translate to more engagement, better conversion, …

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1 Tough Mother, 2 marketing objectives: Image advertising that works

It’s an age old debate… can image advertising actually move the needle on bottom-line business objectives?  Ad agency execs say yes, of course. But marketing directors, C-level execs and direct response guys are often skeptical. My humble opinion… absolutely. When it’s done well, “image” or “brand” advertising certainly can achieve both objectives… it can move …

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Ski Industry Marketing — New product launch vs. the birth of a brand

  It was the kind of day ski bums live for…  10 inches of new snow, calm winds, and the sky was clearing. It’s also the type of bluebird day that ski industry marketing revolves around. Queue the videographers! The experts with their GoPros were queued up before the first lift, chomping at the bit …

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Packaging design — unwrapping a critical element of your brand

Management guru Tom Peters once said, “Too damn few of us take packaging design as seriously as we should. When we consider it at all, it’s nothing more than a patina… a little something on top.” He was referring to CEOs and CMOs of multi-national corporations. The problem is even worse in small companies. Packaging …

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Brand experience – How one ski area is trying its best to manage expectations.

Ski area operators live and die by the whims of Mother Nature. So the brand experience often comes down to how the staff handles the inevitable shit storms. It’s a tough job… managing and marketing an experience when the experience is out of your control.   It’s not hard to attract skiers and boarders when …

Brand experience – How one ski area is trying its best to manage expectations. Read More »

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Branding the Olympics – leading by example in sports marketing

  In the world of sports marketing one event rises above the competition in terms of branding and worldwide audience appeal… the Olympics. If you’re thinking of sponsoring a sporting event, signing an athlete as as spokesperson, or marketing your own sporting event, you can learn a lot by studying what the International Olympic Committee …

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Advertising in a crisis: Shit happens, but brands endure.

Every entrepreneur experiences setbacks… Markets crash. Key team members leave with your biggest accounts. There are supply-chain snaffus, natural disasters, and now, a novel virus that slams the door on a robust economy. It’s hard to know what to do when you’re advertising in a crisis, but this is when your branding efforts can really …

Advertising in a crisis: Shit happens, but brands endure. Read More »

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Naming, rebranding, and the role of your brand origin story.

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 »

Personal branding from BNBranding

4 Ingredients of small-business branding – Learning from breakfast cereal and a 4-buck burrito

Branding is a popular topic in the business press and in business schools these days. Unfortunately, coverage of big brands like Tesla, Nike and Virgin 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 …

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How to do great branding ads — Subaru scores with skier-focused print.

A lot of marketing people seem to think that branding ads are a waste of money. As if “branding” and “results” simply don’t go together. I think Subaru and many other iconic brands prove that wrong. And I’d also contend that every ad, every social media post, every email, every touch with a prospective buyer …

How to do great branding ads — Subaru scores with skier-focused print. Read More »

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Need a new logo? (5 things to know before you hire professional help)

A lot of people think they need a new logo. Or they’ll talk about a “rebranding exercise” which is usually just a logo revision. There are many ways to get that job done… You can hire a big design firm, a strategic branding agency, a freelance graphic designer, a commercial illustrator or even an animator. Unfortunately, …

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Class A office space, Class A brand — Brand alignment with your location

Moved into a swanky new office building last week. (Great views of Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top, Three Sisters and the Phoenix Inn parking lot.)

The Alexander Drake Building, Downtown Bend, OR As I was unpacking boxes, lifting heavy furniture and contemplating the feng shui, it occurred to me that professional service firms spend a lot of time and money on their office space. And rightly so.

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Brands that are built to last. (Jim Collins on brand values)

Built To Last, by Jim Collins, is commonly known as one of the most influential business books ever written. It’s on every consultant’s bookshelf and should be required reading for any executive, business owner or budding entrepreneur who cares about brand values. It’s also one of the best branding books you’ll ever read. You have …

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Crowdsourcing logo design (Getting literal for little.)

Crowdsourcing logo design is a sore subject in the graphic design community. I could easily write 10,000 words and show 1,000 examples of why crowdsourcing is a bad idea. But I’m just going to focus on two practical reasons that you probably haven’t considered… These two ought to be deal breakers for many people who are trying …

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Successful brands are built on beliefs. (Not products)

What do you really believe in? What motivates you — heart and soul — to do your work everyday? What are the brand values that guide your operation?  If you don’t know, you’re missing a great opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition. Most small business owners never think about the important underpinnings of their …

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How to build credibility for your brand, one chapter at a time.

Your business is not like Walmart. You can’t spend a half a billion dollars a year flooding the airwaves with advertising in order to sway public opinion and build credibility for your brand. You have to build credibility every day — by delivering a great product, providing exceptional service, and generally exceeding all expectations.  So …

How to build credibility for your brand, one chapter at a time. Read More »

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How stock photos sabotage your brand image – Beware of visual clichés.

Every business needs photos… (Your brand image can’t be built on words alone.)  Unfortunately, most people turn immediately to free stock photo sites. Doesn’t matter if the images are for the website, ads, sales materials, email campaigns, social media posts or powerpoint presentations, they go to the same source every time. The problem with cheap …

How stock photos sabotage your brand image – Beware of visual clichés. Read More »

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Is “Inspiring Bank” an Oxymoron? The Branding of Umpqua Bank

It’s interesting, where people find business inspiration. For some, it’s the pages of Forbes or podcasts with big-name entrepreneurs. For me it’s the bookstore, or conversations with clients. I don’t think anyone looks at bank branding as a source of inspiration. Most banks are not known for their inspiring interiors or creative marketing practices. The …

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Successful Branding — Zero-in on the main thing for brand loyalty.

I love this saying: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”  I think Steven Covey coined that one, and when you boil it all down, that’s the essence of successful branding: Zero-in on one thing you can honestly, passionately, expertly hang your hat on, and stick with it. Then when …

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When Branding outpaces the brand. And vice versa.

First of all, let me address the common confusion around the two “B” words in this article’s headline: Brand and branding. The verb “branding” is often mistakenly associated with logo design. You’ll hear someone say, “Oh, we’re going through a complete re-branding exercise right now,” which in reality is nothing more than a refresh of the …

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Deschutes Brewing Going National (How to grow without selling your soul.)

Bend, Oregon is a small town better known for big fun than big business. There are only a few local brands that have grown to national prominence. It’s fitting that one is a craft beer. When it comes to craft brewing and brewery marketing, Oregon is the undisputed leader. And Bend is #1 in Oregon, …

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“High-Quality” Content – Finding or providing something genuinely worthwhile.

High quality content is a completely subjective — and massively broad — subject. For one person it means hilarious Tic Toc videos. For someone else, it means authoritative educational content that helps them finish their PhD. For the purposes of this blog post, we’re going to focus on the kind of high-quality content that helps …

“High-Quality” Content – Finding or providing something genuinely worthwhile. Read More »

What marketers can learn from the Olympics — Branding and the Olympic Rings.

I’m a big fan of the Winter Olympics. I got hooked as a boy when Franz Klammer made his infamous, gold medal downhill run at the Innsbruck Games, and I’ve been watching ever since. I’ve even watched some of the curling and ice dancing (yikes). The summer games are fun too, but they don’t have …

What marketers can learn from the Olympics — Branding and the Olympic Rings. Read More »

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Fake thrills and false advertising — Another automotive marketing misfire.

Automotive advertising, as a category, is notoriously bad. The big brands seldom produce memorable spots, print ads or campaigns. And at the dealer level there’s nothing but obnoxious yell & sell retail ads. Many have been accused of false advertising. Let’s look at a campaign for the Toyota Camry… This isn’t what I’d call blatantly …

Fake thrills and false advertising — Another automotive marketing misfire. Read More »

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How to build a brand… First, own an idea.

I think all entrepreneurs should study advertising. Entrepreneurs are full of ideas, and advertising is an industry of ideas… Ideas on how to build a brand. How to build credibility and authenticity for existing brands. How to engage an audience and convert leads into sales. It’s those big ideas — paired with exceptional execution — …

How to build a brand… First, own an idea. Read More »

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Successful branding – 3 logical reasons why brands need more emotional thinking

In the battle between right-brained marketing people, and left-brained finance people, the left brainers usually win.

They have data, spreadsheets, and the graphs to support their decisions. We have gut instinct, intuition, and experience.

But we also have some good, empirical evidence that suggests the analytical approach really isn’t the way to go when it comes to many business decisions. Especially when it comes to branding.

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Death in a small business — Brands outlive their founders.

If you got hit by a bus, what would happen to your brand? Nothing derails a small business faster and more dramatically than death. In many cases, death IN a small business means the death OF the business. No two ways about it… When a partner dies, or experiences a death in the family, the …

Death in a small business — Brands outlive their founders. Read More »

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Take your next agency for a spin.

You wouldn’t buy a BMW without getting behind the wheel. You have no idea what it can do. Same with BN Branding. So let’s go for a test drive… just one small assignment to prove how well we handle whatever you throw at us.

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