Category: Branding Definitions

one that could easily be made into a marketable toy. A character, object, or vehicle with a manufacturable shape and kids want to play with. Toyetic things can come from movies, cartoons, shows, books, comic books, and video games.

Brand Architecture is how businesses organize their offerings into brands for the customers. This article dives into examples from Coca-Cola and Honda.

The power of brands can seem mysterious; why does the mention Nike have so much more influence than a lesser-known brand? How do we manage our brands to have that power? I wonder that all the time, and you may too. One of the reasons branding works is because of brand priming. Pairing the brand […]

Designers and brand managers are told that a consistency of design is important for the brand they are working with. But do we really know what this means? Or why it’s a good thing? Prior to my work in brand strategy, I was an industrial designer for 11 years. I have worked with brands that […]

If you pay to advertise your brand, then you are trying to make it easier for your brand to sell products in the future. What if your display ads ended up doing the opposite? What if it became harder to sell after you paid money to advertise? That would be tragic, but it does happen. […]

Have you ever heard your colleague or a business pundit, like Jason Calacanis, use the term “table stakes” and wondered what they meant? I researched it, and have the answer for you. Table stakes highlight an essential concept in branding: meeting minimum customer expectations.

Diamonds and Ferrari’s. Goods and brands that cannot seem to charge enough to lower demand. I was taught the law of demand when I went took economics at Carleton University. If something can be made cheaper, then people will buy more of it. If the price is raised, then people buy less. But some brands […]

Defining Endorsement Marketing and a guide to when / how to use endorsements to build your brand. Endorsements are a large part of marketing. Purportedly 28% of Nike’s enormous marketing budget goes to athletes to secure their endorsements. We see famous faces on the ads and packaging from everything from bed sheets to cereal. And […]

A vertical branding strategy pushes for objectively better products, while horizontal branding strategy is okay with being different. When I do brand strategy consulting, I often hear from the business owners and executives talk about the measures on which their product is the best in the marketplace. Having the best product is an accomplishment, but […]