Award-winning branding, rebranding and package design
How brands outshine, outlast and outperform their competition
I finally was able to collect 3 of the worst branding mistakes I see entrepreneurs make in this brand new video. And these 3 tips are short and powerful, kind of like Danny DeVito but without the neck strain. Like many entrepreneurs who started their own companies, I’ve had to wear multiple hats. One of …
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 share to a greater or lesser extent. What I wrote was straight from the heart. But I wasn’t satisfied. Not because I desired a greater “number or views” or more “likes.” …
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 a laser-sharp wit. Muhammad Ali was bigger than life. As a teenager, it was his use of words that left an impression on me: they were as lethal a …
“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 ultimate inspiration. Happy New Year. Abbey Road photo credit: Claudio Divizia / Shutterstock.com
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 own stunts. Comparing this to Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar selfie (an inevitable comparison that many will make), my selfie has no Hollywood …
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 celebrate the 4th of July, our Declaration of Independence, a document that was written by a 33-year-old by the name of Thomas Jefferson. This is a valuable document that has …
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 here. I will tell you Daymond is cool, down-to-Earth and a truly nice person. Well, this past Thursday, Daymond was the keynote speaker for the The Minneapolis Urban …
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 Chobani, energy drinks and Twiggy have in common? And how can this help your brand kick ass in today’s insane marketplace? The answer is in today’s Fast Company post, where I …
“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, people and the occasional puppet that have created the most engaging content for social media on April 8th in New York City. Even Ricky Gervais, not known for his holding …
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 morning to this message on my cell phone, “David, being an esteemed video creator, we wanted you to hear it from us first, not from the …
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 weekend, with a dear friend of mine (whose initials are MB), I went for an after-event snack. Chocolate Abandon Naively, the waiters left on the table some caramel …
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 brand (or rise to the level of Anne Hathaway, more on that below). Yet, like so many prom dates gone wrong, it was left standing there, waiting …
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 featuring the world’s finest foods and beverages from more than 1,300 exhibitors representing 35+ countries.” Whoa. And one of the most competitive and shameless categories is chocolate. (And …
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 hot) has gone mainstream. Shark Tank has formally hit its stride. As I noted in my latest Fast Company post (number 6 below), “Even though Friday night is typically TV’s death slot, …
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 organization, your event or your invention. The “shit” Steve referred to is the minimal attention some businesses give to the outer layers â those first points of contact â …
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 message. Then in September, I posted the Power of Words, Part 2 featuring a brilliant and poignant video that uses a “poem” delivered by Taylor Mali to …
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 crush. But it’s his musical mischievousness that keeps me entertained. And this holiday season, Jimmy sent me a home video he made with his band. I love how fun …
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 processor to end up with something new, fresh, inspiring and… unexpected. Knowing When and Where to Steal I recently came across Austin Kleon’s New York Times best-selling book, …
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, I find the best chocolatier in town. This past weekend was Portland, Oregon. Lovely city. Made only more lovely by this one purveyor of chocolate: Cacao. …
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 tool. Iâve seen too many, with all of these distractions and messages, lose sight of some key fundamentals which Iâve noted below. Where Greatness Starts Here are …
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 development is a vital key to establishing a brand’s vocabulary in its ongoing dialog with the world. Brands are known for what they don’t say as much …
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 collection, eyewear, belts, and shoes. Daymond is the only Shark on Shark Tank who adds some much-needed mojo to the hit TV show. Cuban is smart but a wild card. …
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 â and …
Clients and colleagues know my love affair with the English language. Powerful concepts draped in flowing words leave readers enraptured. In this case, over 14,119,940 have viewed and been moved by this short, remarkable video. So you would figure a blog post entitled, âThe Power of Wordsâ would inspire me to write a lot about …
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 …
