inspiration Archives - Award-winning branding, rebranding and package design

Scratching That Itch You Just Can’t Reach

Recently I wrote a post about PEACE. GREATNESS. AND HOW TO DREAM BIG. It was my attempt at scratching an itch. An itch I firmly believe we each ...

The Branding of a Champion: The Power of Words

Growing up in NYC, I remember seeing him on TV getting interviewed, shooting verbal challenges that were equal parts poetry, smack talk, performance art, humor ...

And in the End… Happy New Year

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make...." What could one do to follow "My Holiday Elfie"? The Fab Four and Abbey Road. The ...

The Inadvertent Selfie

Let me state this for the record: This selfie was not planned. Let me also state for the record: I do not smoke nor do I ride a motorbike. But I do do my ...

Weapons of Mass Instruction (in honor of Independence Day)

Independence Day. Is it only about grilling, fireworks, alcohol and another day off work? What Does Independence Day Mean to You? In a few days, we ...

Shark Tank Radar: A Shark, a Rabbi & a Cheesehead

Thursday, something magical happened. Some might say a miracle. I've written about Daymond John and Shark Tank for Fast Company as well as here and here and ...

“Honey, I Shrunk the Brand…”

What do espresso, author Tim Ferriss (of #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek), Greek yogurt category leader ...

The Shorty Awards Picks a Winner in Branding

"Shorty voters are 26 times more influential than the average Twitter user." Whoa. The Shorty Awards, now in its 5th year, recently recognized the companies, ...

With YouTube Closing Down, Who Will Win Its 8-Year Competition?

Being the #1 channel for branding and defying gravity, I was so honored to get the call from YouTube advising me about YouTube closing down. I woke up this ...

Chocolate Sauce on a Balmy Night in a Dimly Lit Cafe

A tale of 2 letters and 4 plates and what can happen when nobody is looking. I love friends. I love chocolate. I love lettering. So, last ...

The Oscars, Anne Hathaway, Prom Night Disasters and Your Brand

There are so many awesome products out there waiting to get noticed. With so many small businesses and a dream, few ever graduate to become a true successful ...

Chocolate Makeover at the Fancy Food Show

The Winter Fancy Food Show has been on full display this week. Per their own site, "17,000+ Winter Fancy Food Show attendees discover more than 80,000 products ...

2012: The Shark Tank Retrospective

Shark Tank, Friday night's new vice for entrepreneurs (and anyone interested in business deals, heated negotiations, how the wealthy think and seeing what's ...

46 Logos: The Steve Jobs Acid Test

The late Steve Jobs said, "You've baked a really lovely cake, but then you've used dog shit for frosting." The cake Steve referred to is your company, your ...

The Power of Words, Part 3 (Holiday Edition)

In March, I posted the first Power of Words post which drew a remarkable range of cheers across the globe with a video that relayed a beautiful universal ...

The Holiday Home Video Jimmy Fallon Made for Me

Jimmy Fallon is funny. His interviewing style resembles a kid who's finally been sent on a road trip with their favorite lifelong hero, celebrity or screen ...

Where to Steal Your Next Great Idea

Ideas are the currency of innovation. Artists (and creators of any sort) are in the business of taking ideas and mashing them together like a visual food ...

Another Shameless Chocolate Adventure (with a Confession)

Chocolate and branding. They're my drugs of choice. It's an obsession, like "50 Shades of Brown".... So when I go to a city that I've not been to before, ...

For Entrepreneurs: When to Stop

In our ever-changing world, I deal with business owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs of all sorts. I find each of them is tempted to try the latest new business ...

Why Brand Development Fails (And What To Do About It)

A brand has a dialog with the world. Some of these dialogs are smart with excellent ROI while others are fruitless wastes of time and money. Yet brand ...

Anatomy of a Shark: “A Daymond Is A Girl’s Best Friend”

Daymond John is the founder, president and chief executive officer of FUBU, a clothing company with product lines that include casual wear, sports wear, a suit ...

Why Brand Elevation Is So Important

Branding, while very important and sometimes extremely serious, needs a reprieve with some humor and levity. So, while going along and enjoying a day at the ...

The Power of Words

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU Clients and colleagues know my love affair with the English language. Powerful concepts draped in flowing words ...

12.3 Billion Reasons Tourism Branding Makes Sense

The Wisconsin Department of Tourism announced that in 2010, Wisconsin tourism generated $12.3 billion in revenue. Learning To See Again In 2010, we were asked ...

The Call You Have to Hear to Believe [video for entrepreneurs]

We love Sam Cornwell and his ability to help make any video for entrepreneurs hit a whole new level. He's our buddy from across the pond and has a wacked-out sense of timing, humor, and style. He makes us laugh. He's the guy in this video below.

What if?

The concept was simple: We've all experienced odd business phone calls, phone calls where the caller not only wanted you to solve their immediate business problems but wondered how far-reaching this solution might impact the rest of their life.

That was the inspiration and the video below is our take on such a situation.

https://youtu.be/a2m3lbKrTpQ

That video is just one example of Sam's wild approach to humor.

You May Want to Close the Door to Your Office Before Playing These Next Two

Sam's rants we find so over the top, we can't hep but giggle.

Below are a couple more in case you've missed them.

The first video rants against "lazy brands that suck" while the second one embraces Glee in all its glory.

While they are promos for our firm, they give a sense of the fun we have while scripting these morsels of audio/video amusement.

https://youtu.be/OUizBwZinmk

https://youtu.be/qKJhvilbakg

Thought we'd share these amusing little snippets in case you missed them.

That's our friend from Wales.

And the takeaway from this is: If you have fun while working on your company's branding, the chances are much better that this fun will spill over to the viewer who is the most part of this sequence. Without the audience, why would any of us be creating all this stuff?

12.3 Billion Reasons Tourism Branding Makes Sense

The Wisconsin Department of Tourism announced that in 2010, Wisconsin tourism generated $12.3 billion in revenue.

Learning To See Again

In 2010, we were asked to help brand the village of Osceola, the third city or downtown we were commissioned to brand so it was seen as a destination worth visiting. Part of our exercise was to visually capture details of the city that we knew the citizens of Osceola took for granted. I worked with the very talented Steven Braker, a veteran photographer in the Midwest.

Here are some of the examples showing our "visual audit" of this lovely community.

Only after seeing what assets Osceola had could we begin to carve out a voice that would stand out and have meaning for this lovely community.

And for their annual celebration attracting well over 10,000 visitors, we created this poster bringing together the two worlds of wheels and wings (vintage automobiles and airplanes). Note that this vintage hood ornament doubles as an airplane with the clouds reflected in the shiny hood of this classic car.

Poster Design for Tourism

How Can You Brand What You Can't See?

These are shown here so you can see what this lovely city had taken for granted. They'd forgotten some of the gems they lived with each and every day. Which is truly the lesson here: You must never — and can't afford — to over forget the viewpoint of your audience.

Yet, when the committee assigned to this project viewed these, their eyes were reborn to now see what they were sitting on.

Is your city keeping its hidden gems buried out of view? I can think of 12.3 billion reasons why you should explore this.

Happy branding.

Why Brand Elevation Is So Important

Branding, while very important and sometimes extremely serious, needs a reprieve with some humor and levity.

So, while going along and enjoying a day at the office, I ran across this image you see above.

I instantly thought of a scenario of co-workers working in the intense pressure pot of branding.

The result — and dialog — you see above is the result. Nuff said.

The Road To Successful Brand Creation eBook By David Brier 2017

This is the new eBook previously only available to clients.

You've obviously done something right to arrive here to download your copy.

As businesses, leaders and entrepreneurs, we must be able to think. And unthink.

"As business leaders, brands and movements that seek to shift viewpoints (or introduce new ways of doing things), we must not be lazy and rely on 'this-is-how-you-do-it' rules. This eBook is not about rules. It's about hard-won knowledge."

This is the premise of this new eBook.

Click on the Download link above to grab your copy.

In addition, you'll be receiving updates along with some practical and powerful tips on branding, rebranding, growth and getting traction in today's market.

Do Not View (Unless You Have a Chocolate Fix Nearby)

Chocolate can be wonderful. Really.

But with all the decades of chocolate marketing, how do you attempt to rise above the noise? Only options: Add to the noise, or rise above it. There was no option, so I packed my parachute, got on my goggles and prepared myself for some serious brand elevation.

That was the question we asked ourselves ("how do you attempt to rise above the noise?") when we created the Legacy Chocolates rebrand. Part of it was figuring out (since I am an insatiable chocolate sponge with a bottomless pit for consumption) how we could achieve that kind of brand distinction. This part of the rebrand was in the form of posters, as you'll see below.

So I worked closely with one of our photographers and got really intimate with our specimens of chocolate. I don't know what these truffles were experiencing but I felt vulnerable.

Why no one had previously exposed this side of chocolate before, I have no idea. But that's part of branding: To consistently ask, "Why? and then, "Why not?"

OK. Enough foreplay...

here's the stuff

Legacy_Chocolates_David_Brier_Hot_Chocolate

We're Not Done Yet

As if that wasn't enough, this super-closeup photography was so successful, it inspired a decadent and ultra-indulgent chocolate sauce we named "Potion #9." There's a lot to that story, but suffice to say, we drooled when taking these photos for this campaign as well.

Did I share this to torture you?

No. I shared it with you to remind you of this: NEVER assume that something has not been done before "for some good reason" that you're unaware of. Bogus!

If you can't think of a "good reason" (one that honestly makes sense), challenge it. Who knows? Maybe everyone was so busy being too close to it — never far enough away from it — to have that moment of necessary insight to see something everyone else missed, something that changes the game.

Above all things, be rebellious. Albert Einstien said it best when he stated, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

And with that said, strive for greatness, whether you're branding chocolate or something maybe not as sexy. (And be sure to have plenty of truffles around, just in case.)

Ready to Defy Gravity?

The secrets behind explosive growth

Free E-Book on Branding

Pin It on Pinterest