power of words Archives - Award-winning branding, rebranding and package design

How to Brand Low Hanging Fruit: The Tommy John Story

Tommy John launched in 2008 with the world's first patented undershirt with a stay-tucked guarantee and has since expanded into underwear, socks, casual wear ...

How to Tell If Your Brand Needs More Cowbell?

It was SNL's secret sauce. That punchline from the hysterical, now-classic SNL skit with a mock Blue Oyster Cult in a recording session featuring ...

Is This “the Secret Sauce” to a Brand that (Actually) Sticks?

Everyday, I build brands (like the ones you see above) that get the attention needed to attract new customers. Yes, customers will remember their brand ...

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 ...

14 Ways Geniuses Use the Power of Words

Geniuses use everyday items in unexpected ways, transforming ordinary items into something extraordinary. Something as ordinary as language — that medium we ...

The Power of Words, Part 14: Legalizing Marinara

If you appreciate words as a tool, or write, or use the language in any way to deliver a stronger, more memorable message, keep reading. Legalize ...

The Power of Words: Part 12 (Two Amazing Videos)

When did Typography Get Sexy? Who would watch a paper-letter animation video about the history of fonts and typography? Well, over 840,000 people. Not ...

The Power of Words: Part 11 (Mexican Coke)

When they said, "See the guy in the back," I wondered what the hell I had just gotten myself into.... A Little Coke Goes a Long Way Minding my own business, I ...

The Power of Words, Part 10 (After This Video, You May Never See Words The Same Again)

At 40 seconds, you'll never see this word the same way again. At 1:21, you'll see a lodge like you've never seen one before (without ever seeing a picture of ...

The Power of Words: Part 9 (When Size Does Matter)

(This is the 9th installment in celebration of the power of words and language. To see the whole series, links are at the bottom of this article.) I stopped in ...

The Power of Words, Part 8 (Taking Them for Granted)

Words. Love them or hate them. They're here to stay. This series started out about a year ago, from one video that inspired me intensely. Words to me are ...

The Power of Words, Part 7 (And how a 10-year-old saved the world)

Less than nine months ago, something unprecedented occurred. It was a simple video. With a simple message. Delivered by a 9-year-old boy with a remarkable ...

The Power of Words, Part 6

Inspiring others to action. Selling. Persuading. Breaking down walls. Converting. Results that words can (and should) achieve. This series, "The Power of ...

The Power of Words, Part 5: The Script to “So God Made a Designer”

It was one of the most talked about commercials of this year's Super Bowl. I was so moved by it that days later I had an inspiration which has now become a ...

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 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.)