VODKA AND VETIVER: DISTILLATION—AND THE PERFUMES OF MEMORY
BRAND | STORY | JOURNEY | MIND There’s a brand, which is like a fire, there’s a story, which is like a journey which is a memory—which is mind. Up until 1999, I had a drinking problem. So I quit that—decades ago. I was working, earlier, with Martin Pazzani on...
SOUL QUEST | THE ARCHÆOLOGY OF BRANDS
THE QUEST FOR SOUL, THE DEEP STATE OF BRANDS When you’re working with brand teams, there is inherently a sense about the inner life of brands—what lies beneath, what lies within? When you think about a brand that you know, that you admire, what’s the attraction? In...
YOUR GUT
INSTINCTUAL RESPONSE AND BRAND STRATEGY—THE SENSATION OF INTUITION. THERE’S A QUESTION, HOW DOES THE ANSWER FEEL? IN THE RANGES OF RESEARCH, ONLINE, INTERCEPTIONS, FOCUS AND DEMOGRAPHIC QUAL/QUAN/QUERY—HOW OFTEN DOES THE RESULT PLAY TO “I HAD A FEELING…” O P E N?...
THE STANCE OF THE BRAND — INTENTIONAL PRESENCE
THERE’S A PRESUMPTION OF BRAND GATHERING—PEOPLE CLUSTER AROUND BRANDS THAT STAND FOR SOMETHING, THEY HAVE AN INTENTION THAT’S CLEAR—THEIR STANCE IS VISIBLE. That might come down to belief, “I believe in this brand because the story is true; look what they’re doing,...
WAVES AND RIPPLES—THE ALLEGORIES: BRAND VIBRATIONS
[A tidal cairn, a stacked set of 15 large stones that I balanced in the water—here: 7 above the waterline, 8 stones below the waterline; as the tide comes in—the cairn submerges—and the storytelling of the rippling, the contours of the stones, play out their...
THE FOG OF BRAND | UNCERTAINTY IN A TIME OF CLARIFIED VISIONING
THERE’S A BRAND THAT YOU KNOW, ONE THAT IS CLEAR, CLARIFIED—YOU KNOW WHAT IT STANDS FOR. AND THERE IS A BRAND THAT IS FOGGED—IT’S UNCLEAR, VAGUE AND FORMLESS. WHICH DO YOU HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH? What is a brand? It’s a marked enterprise that has a coherent link...
BRAND FEEL. THE STRATEGY OF SENSATION IN BRAND DEVELOPMENT
BRAND TOUCH: SENSUALITY AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF SENSE IN THE VIBRATION OF BRANDING When you think about it, would you describe yourself as a sensualist? Would you call yourself sybaritic? Do you indulge in exploring sensation? You’re a…voluptuary, bon viveur,...
NEURAL-MARKETING: THE PSYCHIC PLACE OF BRANDING
In the journey of brand strategy—trying to define brand direction and orientation—there is an alignment between stance, intention, personality and direction: future visioning. It’s a synchronism of story—which invariably involves humans and their build-out of the...
THANK YOU, DAWN MELLO
EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE YOU HAVE AN EXPOSURE TO EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN BEINGS. PEOPLE THAT SPARK INSPIRATION, AWE AND GRATITUDE, FOR HAVING KNOWN—AND LEARNED FROM—THEM. I think it was more than a decade ago that my one Dawn [Clark] introduced me to “my other Dawn” — as she...
YOU COULD LOVE HAPPY
CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE LOVE OF BEING. AND THE PLACE OF HAPPINESS. YOU COULD LOVE BEING. HAPPY. You get around, you look and you learn. Borobudur, Java And when you really get around, go deeper out there; you can see people that—to our view—might be experiencing deep...