Our thoughts on all things brand related.
ESG – three letters you should know more about
By Denis Riney
I had the privilege of chairing the inaugural Enhanced ESG Analysis Conference in London last week, where 75-80 speakers from organizations as diverse as Forum for the Future, The UN Principles for Responsible Investing, STOXX, Thomson Reuters, EIRIS, and HSBC shared their views on different aspects of the sustainability movement.
Attendees were primarily from Europe, where adoption rates of sustainable business practices and standards are generally higher than in Asia or North America. While each of the 12 presentations contained a unique take on ESG, I would characterize the speakers as falling into three distinct groups: Advocates, Skeptics, and Objectivists.
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Do you know what sustainability means? (Hint: It’s not just about being green)
By Denis Riney
Sustainability is one of the corporate world’s emerging priorities. Often it connotes “green” initiatives or environmentally friendly practices. But how should CMOs, brand managers and public affairs executives inside large corporations think about sustainability in the context of brand and reputation? Continue reading
Simple for you, befuddling for me: confessions of a former simpoholic
By Denis Riney
“Make it as simple as Google.”
One of my former clients started off our meeting with this declarative request as we were getting ready to take him through a “simplification exercise” to fix his very convoluted database.
Clearly, this gentleman had in his own mind an internal benchmark of what simple meant to him. Our team, on the other hand, wasn’t able to articulate in such clear language what the output of our work would actually be. It occurred to me that as a purveyor of simplified communications, I wasn’t making it totally clear what simplicity really meant.
Battle of the Brands in Higher Education
By Denis Riney
The days when the biggest rivalries among colleges and universities were fought on the gridiron and in the gymnasium are gone. Today, the main clashes take place within the admissions arena, where schools are locked in intense competition for the best and brightest students.
Schools employ many strategies to win these battles, but none are more effective, especially over the long term, than projecting the right image, or brand identity, to prospective students and their families, as well as faculty, academic journals, high school counselors, donors, alumni, government officials and other important audiences. Properly conceived and communicated, an identity can be self-perpetuating by bringing to the school the students, faculty, grants, corporate sponsors, and alumni giving needed for the institution to achieve and expand upon its most ambitious goals. Continue reading
Innovation and brand-building: tips for B2B marketers
By Denis Riney
Innovation is perhaps the most overused word in B2B marketing. Whether it’s information technology, medical devices, industrial equipment or professional services, we find brand-builders returning over and over again to innovation as the core promise that will set their company or product apart from the rest of the pack.
But does being perceived as an innovator truly drive brand preference and ultimately purchase decisions? In this article, we focus on what we’ve discovered about the meaning and relevance of innovation to B2B buyers and how marketers can infuse these learnings into their brand-building efforts. Continue reading
How Visionary Marketers Are Building Their Brands: Employee involvement
By Denis Riney
This is part three of an ongoing series.
Employees say: involve me more, train me less
What we’re hearing: Involving employees, through online communities, in the process of creating, managing and building brands is becoming standard practice among leading-edge marketers (and their compatriots in the human resources function). Continue reading
How Visionary Marketers Are Building Their Brands: Marketing ROI
By Denis Riney
This is part two of an ongoing series.
Marketing ROI: many definitions, little consensus
What we’re hearing: There are no silver bullets when it comes to measuring marketing ROI. Leading-edge marketers are still seeking new (and not so new) techniques for justifying their brand-building investments. Continue reading
How Visionary Marketers Are Building Their Brands: Social media
By Denis Riney
Where are the leading-edge ideas in marketing?
Over the last 12 months, we’ve gone on the road to find out. In addition to learning from our clients, we’ve been spending time with visionary marketers at leadership forums in places like London, Las Vegas, Moscow, Mumbai, Miami, and even midtown Manhattan.
This is part one of an ongoing series.
Social media: going mainstream in a hurry
What we’re hearing: Experimentation with social media is so 2009. Visionary marketers are investing heavily in social media and are realizing short- and long-term benefits, both in terms of reputation building and revenue generation. Continue reading
Top 10 identities that should never change
By Denis Riney
I recently had the chance to contribute to Tony Spaeth’s Identity Forum, the leading on-line community for identity and branding professionals.
I began thinking about whether there are identity solutions that are so well done, so brilliantly executed and so strategically precise that they should never be changed. Continue reading
Branding made personal – one person’s view
By Denis Riney
In a recent radio interview on KQTH 104.1, I had a spirited conversation with Dr. Zara Larsen, a leading change management consultant. Our discussion spanned a number of topics: the principles of effective branding in the corporate sector, the role of employees as brand ambassadors in a 24/7/365 web-enabled world and the concept of personal branding as a strategy for career advancement and individual fulfillment.
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