Strategic Brand Consultancy
(From Lippincott) The visible and tactile elements that can be used to identify a brand (name, logotype, symbol, structure, product configuration, service offering and packaging).
Oita Airport recently rebranded itself as the “Hello Kitty Airport” in an effort to attract more international tourists. But beneath the pink bows and photo ops lies a more revealing question: What does this say about the airport’s brand maturity? In this article, I explore why borrowed branding may bring short-term attention but risks long-term identity confusion—and what Oita could have done instead.
Most brands obsess over identity—logos, slogans, style guides—yet forget one essential truth: it’s not what you say that shapes your brand, but what people feel when you're not in the room. This article explores the crucial gap between brand identity and brand image—and why bridging it is the key to building lasting trust.
Are you considering to use numbers as a part of your brand? Then, you may want to learn about the symbolic meaning of numbers! For instance, why do you think 7 is the world's most popular number? Or does 5 have a gender? Which of the following is better to convey a sense of uniqueness? …
Donald Sterling, the disgraced owner of the Los Angeles Clippers has decided to sell his team, and Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft placed a bid of $2 billion to purchase it. Since the NBA approved his proposal, now many people are wondering the same thing: Should Balmer rename the LA Clippers? Do they …
Did you know that the success rate of a place-branding project is less than 15%? Turns out that most of the place-branding initiatives are prematurely ended within a year of introduction. You might think that such a high failure rate is outrageous. Unfortunately, as someone who has been involved in a couple of place branding projects, I …
Continue reading "How do you define success for a place-branding project?"
Previously, we analyzed the Czech Republic's new promotional logo, which did not receive a warm welcome. Unfortunately, the campaign failed to convey unique and compelling messages to the three significant audiences of any place branding campaigns: Visitors, potential investors, and locals. We think this campaign did the expected: Promoted "the stereotypical Czech Republic." However, successful branding requires us …
The most challenging type of branding project is place branding. As such, I have written quite a bit about the unique challenges of that beast. Unfortunately, most of those projects are destined to fail. Months ago, the Czech Republic revealed its new promotional logo. So far, people are still in love with it. Let's try …
Previously, I shared some of my thoughts on LeBron James, mythology and archetypal psychology. Let's continue from where we left off. This is the second instalment of a three-article series. About James’ recovering popularity I genuinely believe that LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of his generation. That has been obvious the last couple …
Continue reading "What does LeBron James’ first ring signify? Part 2"
I’ve been writing about branding for years, yet only one of my articles talks about the greatest brand of our time: Apple… Here is why: As soon as we start talking about brands and branding, it becomes extremely difficult to find an article that doesn’t refer to Apple. Every conference I attend, analyzes Apple as a …
Below, is the comment I left on an article on Brand New. My thoughts on Canada's new campaign generated some interest, so I decided to share them with you. Enjoy it! "I like the simplicity of the design, as well as applications and the selection of images. As usual, BMD has done an excellent "design" …