Brand Tuned - Rounded Business Design

Christine Mackay is the founder of  Salamandra.uk an animation agency,  she helps her clients to communicate complex messages using animation.   In this episode, Christine shares that even if you just have a word mark, you could animate your logo, and make it come to life. And in that coming to life, you could actually convey some of what it is that you do.  Animation is very malleable, and there...

Lawyers and many other professionals are increasingly challenged to identify their distinctive skills and talents, and the capabilities they possess that cannot be readily replaced by technology or alternative ways of working and access to cheaper options. Richard and Daniel Susskind predict that professionals will be increasingly displaced in an internet society by AI and other technologies.  In...

In this episode, I share my journey starting in business,  how the business developed, grew, transitioned to virtual working and then reversed course to become what is now Azrights International Ltd. With Bill Gates' quote in mind, that most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10, and using Paul Jarvis' book,  A Company of One for inspirat...

This episode discusses the book Creating Passion Brands – how to build emotional brand connection with customers by Helen Edwards.  Essentially, it's key not to mistake being consumer focused with being consumer led. Some brands are asking for consumer approval for their every action even to the extent of asking consumers what their brand essence should be.  Being consumer-led in a brand’s st...

Joe Glover is the founder of Marketing Meetup a place where people come together to learn about marketing and connect in a meaningful way. It’s not what he’s done, but how he’s done it that has led to the success of the Marketing Meetup. There are plenty of places where marketers can learn, there are plenty of places where marketers can meet each other, but what Joe realised was that there was a n...

Lucy McCarraher is an author, publisher, mentor and speaker. She has written 13 books and is co-founder of Rethink Press, which helps entrepreneurs to raise their authority, increase their client base and visibility  through writing and publishing books. In this episode, Lucy shares her experience in the recent rebrand of Rethink Press. We also discuss the importance of books, how to approach writ...

Karen is the leading expert in applied colour and design psychology helping businesses and design professionals to use colour and design to improve well-being, support mental health and create positive change in the world.  She is the author of the best selling book The Little Book of Colour - How to Use the Psychology of Colour to Transform Your Life. It's a revolutionary guide to boosting y...

Lucy Werner, author of the books Hype Yourself and Brand Yourself, and founder of The Wern, a PR & design consultancy for startups has over 17-years of PR experience. She is  focused on teaching early stage businesses how to do their own publicity without spending a fortune.  In this episode, Lucy shares valuable tips on how to develop a strategy for creating hype in line with your brand strat...

Nick Lehrain, designer and creative director of Oliver Grace creative studio is focused on digital products. In this episode, Nick shares his views on brand and growth strategies, distinctive brand assets, the trend towards simplification of the unique identifying characteristics used for consumers to notice, recognize and recall a  brand.  What is Blanding Creating a distinctive brand — different...

Paige returns to the podcast to discuss how smaller businesses and start-ups can do research to see their business from the point of view of the customer, before segmenting the market.  Before founding Mavens and Moguls, a network of seasoned marketing professionals, she worked in organisations like Procter & Gamble, and Coca Cola, as well as for early stage businesses like Zipcar, Inc.com and...

Stephen Houraghan,  founder of the Brand Master Academy,  is a brand strategist who helps designers and brand builders to package up their creative thinking and specialise as brand strategists.  He teaches graphic designers abd copywriters, who are executing within the brand on the tactical side, on how to focus more on the strategic side.  In this episode, Stephen discusses that everything starts...

This is part two of episode #117 which was on niching.  It outlines what's involved to segment the market, and why it is essential to do before targeting.  Segmentation is challenging to do for small businesses that lack the time and resources of large organisations. Perhaps this explains why the topic isn’t much discussed in the small business sector despite being a cornerstone to marketing....

This episode from the archives features Mark Ritson discussing brand strategy. Mark answers some of the burning questions I had around understanding the market and differentiation and positioning.  In this episode we covered: Rebranding Transferwise Brand purpose Market research and how it differs from brand strategy. Marketing strategy The intersection between business and brand strategy Relative...

In this episode from the archives, Chandresh Pala discusses different business models and how to consider which one is right for you. The episode touches on: Choosing the right name How to create products and sell them What is a business model canvas?  Insights on different business models What are the first stages of a business —  exploration and learning A brand is more than a logo — it's y...

In this episode, I talk about a foundational topic that isn’t well understood, niching. The accent in this episode is on expertise and how to ensure your core skills are in line with your interests and market opportunities. Many entrepreneur courses advise people to niche and not to try to sell to everyone. However, there is often a lack of detail on how to go about choosing a niche. The upshot is...

This interview of Shireen by Somi Arian was initially recorded for the Somi Arian podcast. In this episode, we talk about the do’s and don’t of branding and trade marks. There are a host of useful tips on branding, trademark protection and how to develop brand equity.  This episode covers: Valuable tips on branding and trademark protection  Brand equity and how trademarks contain the value of a br...

James Church is the co-founder and chief operating officer of Robot Mascot, the UK leading pitch agency and the author of the bestselling book, Investable Entrepreneur.  In this episode, James shares how investors care primarily about the defensability of the product rather than the brand. The brand is going to contain the value of the business when it comes to the exit but it's regarded as s...

Rory Sutherland,  Vice Chair at Ogilvy UK and author of the book Alchemy, the Surprising power of ideas that don’t make sense discusses brand, advertising, decision science and more. In this episode, Rory points out why ambiguity in terms like brand and IP are problematic. The word brand is used to mean anything people want. It's even been used to defend advertising, that doesn't work, T...

Paige Arnof-Fenn is the founder and CEO of Mavens and Moguls, which is a marketing or branding firm located in the USA. She graduated from Stanford University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Her experience spans corporate branding at Proctor & Gamble, start up branding for various companies that were subsequently sold,  and entrepreneurial branding working for clients of Mavens...

In this episode, I talk about the challenges that colour involves as a brand identifier.  The bar to registration of colour as a trademark is high so that confusion can arise between competitors.   If you have legal rights over a brand identifier you can maintain its uniqueness for your brand and reduce the scope for customer confusion.  The episode on colour as a brand Identifier touches on: What...

 Derrick Daye is the man behind the Brand Strategy Insider Blog,  he serves as the Managing Partner of the Blake Project. He has extensive and varied experience working in advertising agencies such as Satchi & Satchi. In this episode, Derrick and I discuss the choice of identifiers such as colours and symbols and the extent to which IP needs to be taken into account when building brand assets....

David Aaker hailed the “Father of Modern Branding,” and Vice-Chair at Prophet is a recognized authority on branding, He has developed several concepts including the Aaker brand vision model. In this episode, we discuss all things brand related, in particular names. We covered: Why intellectual property is not included in the training of brand managers The importance of being clear on the definitio...

In this episode, I talk about what I mean by brands. To use trademarks strategically, you need to first understand the role they play in branding to then know why and how to be strategic with them.     A brand is a name that people associate with a set of perceptions. It distinguishes one product or service from another.  Brands are important to us because they provide us with the familiarity we c...

Rob Meyerson is the principal and founder of Heirloom, an independent brand strategy and identity firm. His specialities include brand strategy and positioning, naming and messaging, brand architecture, qualitative research, and organizational change.  In this episode,  we discussed why IP is not included in branding projects and covered: The lack of job training for brand consultants and the cult...

In this episode, Alison Jones, director of Practical Inspiration Publishing, the publisher of Brand Tuned, interviews Shireen Smith. As host of the successful podcast, The Extraordinary Business Book Club Alison is an experienced interviewer and draws out some interesting information. Alison asks questions about the process of writing Brand Tuned, what I found out along the way and the reason I ch...