The Brand Gap

From J to McCombs to English at Work, seems like “Brand” is what I do now. As I try to focus my method, I thought again of this great slideshow about brand.

Here are a few notes and favorite lines:

14: A Brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.

28: Problem: In most companies, strategy is seperated from creativity by a wide gap.

29: On one side are strategic thinkers (analytical, logical, linear, numerical, verbal) and on the other side are creative thinkers (intuitive, emotional, spatial, visual, physical).

32: A charismatic brand is any product, service, or oranization for which people believe there’s no substitute.

34: Charismatic brands: Amazon, Apple, Disney, DK Books, Google, Idea, Krispy Kreme, Levi’s, Mini Cooper, Nordstrom, Oxo Goodgrips, Rubbermain, Samsung, Southwest Airlines, Virgin

50: Who are you? What do you do? Why does it matter?

51: Unless you have compelling answers to these questions, you need more focus.

54: Ban brand extensions are those that chase short-term profits at the expense of long-term brand value. Good brand extensions grow the value of a brand by reinforcing its focus.

Differentiate, Collaborate, Innovate, Validate

from http://www.slideshare.net/BrandAutopsy/growing-a-brand-growing-a-team?src=related_normal&rel=98408

Our ______ is the only _____ that ______. Brand name, product category, uniqueness.

Inside Dylan's Brain

Rob pointed out a great breakdown of Bob Dylan’s mind as revealed by his XM satellite-radio program, Theme Time Radio Hour:

Here, by cataloguing the themes he has chosen for the episodes, the artists he has favored, and Dylan’s other preferences and quirks, Vanity Fair has constructed a revealing portrait of America’s most enigmatic musician.

Dylan’s Thoughts

As much as all the lists, I loved the elaborate illustration of them running through his hair, trailing behind him like ribbons. Click the pic to see the whole mind map.

Whitman Speaks!

Walt recommends that we, “read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,” so I loaded up the audio book of Leave of Grass, and have been listening. I’m very excited to have just found http://www.whitmanarchive.org where there is (speculated to be) a recording of Walt from a wax cylinder recording among other great many things.

Walt Whitman’s voice:(?)
[audio:http://www.whitmanarchive.org/multimedia/America.mp3]

Walt Whitman