Businesses love to list & list & list — but what does this mean for customers? This is the second article discussing some of the most common errors that brands make. I’ve already discussed how benchmarking against competitors isn’t the best way to create a standout brand. …

Why looking over the fence at your competitors isn’t everything. Many businesses have rivals they grudgingly admire (or perhaps consciously detest) and organisations that they aspire to be like. In sectors where competition is fierce and there’s a need to attract customers or to pitch your services against others, standing…

Why Asian businesses need to nuance their brands for the UK. One of the challenges of scaling a food brand internationally is anticipating and understanding which aspects will resonate with a new audience, and which won’t. Often those new to a brand will have a completely different reading of it…

Naming a product or service is a strategic and strangely emotional challenge for any business. Here’s some sound advice. When invited to talk about branding, and specifically naming, I’ve often played a quick game with the audience. I’ve asked if any of them would feel confident enough to bet £100k…

Professional services companies love talking about radical change—why don’t they appear to practice what they preach? We live in supposedly turbulent times. Phrases such as digital disruption have percolated upwards from the world of boot-strapped tech start-ups into Fortune 500 boardrooms. Today’s ambitious executive is looking to be an agent…

Now Booze Britain is finally sobering up, what are the challenges for lo-alcohol beer brands? You might not remember Kaliber, but in the 90s it was one of the only alcohol-free beers on the market. Billy Connolly used to advertise it on TV – chugging a bottle then eloquently rattling…

It’s unpolished and raw, but UGC is a powerful tool for today’s brands. Thrown-together footage from an earlier-generation mobile phone; unboxing demonstrations; hyperbolic reviews with scrappily added captions… the branding professional’s typical view of user-generated content is at best bemusement, at worst, disdain. …

A brand makes your product or service more valuable — not only in the long game, but in the short-term. Investing in branding can be expensive, but for those who get it right, it has the potential to be one of the smartest investments an entrepreneur can ever make. …