founder institute 2011

Copyright Propellerfish Private Limited 2011

Brand Strategy 101!(startup edition) !


WHAT I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT A view from 50,000 feet!


WHAT I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT (I can actually talk about whatever you like so feel free to interrupt)

01 A BIT ABOUT ME

02 A BIT OF THEORY

03 A BIT OF ACTION

03 BUTCHERING MY BRAND


A BIT ABOUT ME

The Beach!

1997-1998

The Music Business!

1999

Madison Ave.!

2000-2005

Innovation Shop!

2005-2008

Branding Agency!

2009


STUFF I DID ALONG THE WAY

CLIENTS AT MY STARTUP

CLIENTS FROM MY PAST LIFE


AN OBVIOUS DISCLAIMER

I’m not a naming and branding person.!


ANOTHER DISCLAIMER


Let’s play a game.!


LET’S PLAY A GAME


SO WHAT’S A BRAND?


Alex’s oversimplified history of commerce!

(brace yourself)!


THE BEGINNING

I have tools. I need tools.

Image credit: tin7_creations


THE DAWN OF CHOICE

I have tools too.

$$ $$



THE DAWN OF THE EMPOWERED CUSTOMER

I have tools too.

So?

$$ $$



THE DAWN OF COMPETITION

I mean… My tools are be#er.

$$ $$



THE DAWN OF CONSUMER APATHY

They look the same to me

$$ $$



THE DAWN OF COMMODITIZATION

Well my tools are cheaper

$ $$



THE DAWN OF PRICE WARS

My tools are even cheaper

$ $



THE DAWN OF PRICE WARS

My tools are even cheaper

$ $

Deal.



THE DAWN OF THE BRAND

My tools are for people who know how to use tools.

$$$$ $ $



THE DAWN OF THE BRAND

Ooh. I want to be one of those

people.

My tools are for people who know how to use tools.

$$$$



There’s a lot of misperception out there by people who say…!

…not really.

WHAT’S A BRAND?

A logo!

A user interface!

An ad!

A tag line!

A color!

A name!


There’s a lot of misperception out there by people who say…!

A logo!

A user interface!

An ad!

A tag line!

A color!

A name!

…not really.

WHAT’S A BRAND?

These are the ways brands both express and build themselves.


Those are just expressions of a brand

“A brand is the consumer’s idea of a product”

- David Ogilvy

Copyright Propellerfish 2010

Wise words from an ad guy…!WHAT’S A BRAND?



“(Brands) create the third, intangible step in the adding of value. Take water and sugar: they are commodities. Process them into Cola Drinks, and you have products. Market and promote them into Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola and you have brands.”

- The Economist: The Year of the Brand


Wise words from the Economist…!WHAT’S A BRAND?



“A brand is a living entity, it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures”

Michael Eisner (Disney CEO)


Wise words from the guys who bring you Mickey…!WHAT’S A BRAND?

*This is my favorite definition!


Product Ads

Partners Design

Name Events

People

Brand Idea

Space

PR

Pricing


The glue that hold each of these “gestures” together!GREAT BRANDS HAVE A CENTRAL GUIDING IDEA

User Interface

Logo

Font Users


Brand Idea:!Tools for the

mind that advance humankind

In the simplest terms…!THAT IDEA GOVERNS EACH GESTURE


Brand Idea: Tools for the

mind that advance humankind


In the simplest terms…!MEANWHILE, EACH GESTURE DEFINES THE BRAND


Everything communicates.!

SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND


What does this font choice say about Apple?


Think different.


What does this style of photography say about Apple?


What does this style of photography say about Apple? What do the materials they use to build their stores say about them?


What do the people who work there communicate about the brand?

Photo credit: flickr.com/DaveMN


Why does my startup need a brand?!


Distance elasticity !

The distance people are willing to drive to a…

Good will elasticity !

“I couldn’t get home to see my family over the holidays, but JetBlue’s a good airline. They did what they could.” -JetBlue Passenger

“I couldn’t get home for the holidays. I know the weather was bad, but Delta are bastards. I hate them.” -‐JetBlue Passenger

Passenger quotes during the same snowstorm

Price elasticity!

$35 USD

$135 USD

Jeans are jeans?

People will part with more for a brand. !BECAUSE BRANDS CREATE ELASTICITY


Brands are business tools.!

SOMETHING MANY BRANDING PEOPLE FORGET


So how do I build a great brand?!


What’s your business up against?!

START BY ASKING YOURSELF THIS QUESTION

I’m a new player and people might not trust

me.!

I’m creating something entirely new and need people to understand what I do.!

What I do will change people’s lives but it’s tough to understand at

first.!

What we’re selling isn’t for everybody – we need to make sure the people who try us first are the right people.!

There are other businesses out there like us and we need people to know

that we’re different.!


Where is a brand most likely to help?!

THEN ASK YOURSELF THIS…


LAY DOWN YOUR BELIEF SYSTEM

Startups are in a position to build their brand from the inside out.!

Start with the people who are founding the business, their vision for how they plan to change the

world and what they’re most passionate about.!

If you’re only in it to make money you’re going to suck at this part.!


HOW WE DID AN OKAY(ISH) JOB OF IT AT PROPELLERFISH


LOOK HARD AT WHAT YOU ACTUALLY SELL


THEN LAY DOWN YOUR BELIEF SYSTEM

Our belief system would look something like…!

1.  We bring freshness of thought to organizations that feel stale!

2.  We bring energy that helps accelerate thinking and ideas from workshop to store shelf!

3.  We bring a level of polish and precision that can only be delivered by doing one project at a time.!

4.  We bring a rigor that’s missing from most other agencies!

5.  We operate on the belief that the best creativity is commercial creativity.!

6.  We believe in only working with clients who are comfortable collaborating with us as partners.!


WHAT BUSINESS ARE YOU IN?

We’re technically in the innovation business but we like to think of it as though… !

We are an opportunity development business.!


DEFINE YOUR MISSION

We are in the business of helping the world unleash its potential.!


SAY IT WITH MORE THAN WORDS

Credit: Maria Horn (www.mariahorn.com)


1.  What are you setting out to build?

2.  What’s your mission

3.  Who are you targeting?

4.  What’s their key painpoint?

5.  How do you address it?

6.  What do you stand for?

Start by asking yourself these questions !NOW YOU TRY…


HOMEWORK

1.  Create a brief for your business using the questions on the previous page (this will help you describe

your brand to other people)!

2.  Rewrite that brief without words using pictures, fonts, sounds, materials, etc. (this will help you

brief designers)!

3.  Generate a list of words that encapsulate that brief in its entirety - at least 100. (this will be a helpful

start point for your naming process)!


DISCUSSION

Let’s talk.!


KEEP IN TOUCH.

Let’s talk more.!

[email protected]!

@alex__marquez!

(_x2)!

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