It was Abraham Lincoln who asked, How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.
Authentic Brand revitalization requires getting realigned with core of who we are and what we do. Everything else is wishful thinking or deception.
Seattle Branding expert and visionary design creative director, David Lemley, loves referencing Joe Pine’s Experience Economy in plain English. During his work on over 300 branding assignments, including brand development for emerging brands and brand revitalization for ailing brands, Mr. Lemley has garnered key insights into corporate behaviors that can plague an organization during the marketing process and keep them from experiencing alignment, the first key to radical success.
Stellenbosch University (one of the four top research universities in S. Africa) is using David Lemley’s article, Identity Crisis: The Seven Deadly Sins of Branding in their course pack for Masters in Branding.
Identity Crisis: The Divine Comedy of Brand Management
Economic limbo cannot erase the fact that we live in a world where cars start the first time, phones are addictive and the gourmet coffee, is well, gourmet. Only the Unaware offer products or services they deem good enough to a world where everyone can get anything they want almost anywhere.
Today’s consumer is looking for you, the brand steward, to provide them with a self-actualizing experience. And while this needs to be orchestrated carefully, take heart, ending up in branding purgatory doesn’t happen overnight. It comes after a lifetime of refusing to be saved. Sadly, for every good thing we can do, there are many more actions we take either purposefully or by happenstance, that simply don’t contribute anything worthwhile to the brand’s presence, personality and strength.
So what can the faithful do to avoid such a fate? Keep a watchful eye over the Seven Deadly Sins of Brand.
The Sin of Ennui (more…)
Christopher Butler of New Fangled Web Factory asked branding expert, David Lemley, thought provoking questions about technology, pioneering UX/UI design, branding strategies and more in this online interview.
David describes himself as a “Change Agent, Brand Catalyst + Hipster Dufus Wannabe” on his LinkedIn profile, but he is known by his colleagues and clients for directing brand strategy and creative development programs with an unwavering passion for design. He has written numerous articles for industry publications including Design2Branding Magazine, Design and Display Ideas, and Package Design Magazine, and has spoken at many events including the 19th International Brand Design Conference.
