There is too much mystique surrounding brand building.
After nearly 40 years of helping organizations build strong brands, I’ve come to a simple conclusion: any organization can — and should — build a strong brand. Brand building isn’t an additional activity or an added expense. It’s a particular way an organization goes about its everyday business.
The best brand builders aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones who demonstrate consistent excellence in executing a proven set of principles.
My Story …
In 1984 I started a consulting practice specializing in brand management — and I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. A revolution was underway. Brand management was expanding beyond its traditional home in big consumer goods companies to a whole new audience: manufacturers, retailers, corporations, nonprofits, and eventually individuals. That expansion needed a different approach — practical, open, and grounded in principles that could be adapted to any business model.
Demystifying brand management became my life’s work. For nearly four decades, my stock-in-trade was providing senior leaders and marketing professionals a pragmatic, working understanding of brand — and helping them put it into practice in a way that fit their culture and business model.
Along the way I had the privilege of working with many remarkable organizations. We helped 3M build a corporate-wide brand strategy across its operating divisions. We spent nearly eight years with Target Stores leading the development of their owned brand portfolio, a core strategy that undergirds the company’s growth today.
I co-authored Be Your Own Brand, which became a best-seller and opened an entirely new conversation about personal brand and its role inside organizations. Our personal brand alignment model empowered many organizations to align employees in support of major corporate brand repositioning initiatives.
Why This Site
I’m retired now. I’m not taking on clients, and I’m not selling anything. What I am doing is writing — sharing the observations, frameworks, and hard-won lessons from a long career at the frontier of brand management. My hope is that whether you’re a marketing professional, a senior leader, or an entrepreneur building something from scratch, something here helps you see your brand — and your organization — a little more clearly.
There are no secrets in brand building. There is only the discipline to do the right things, consistently and well.
I’ve been sharing these ideas for 40 years. I’m glad to keep going.