Brand Tuned - Rounded Business Design

Navigating Branding and Growth with Paul Fernandez

In this episode of the Brand Tuned podcast, we welcome Paul Fernandez, CEO of The Growth Guys, to discuss the journey of starting and branding his growth marketing company during the pandemic. Paul shares insights from his past experiences, the challenges of defining and living up to a brand promise, and the importance of adapting branding strategies as a business evolves. This episode shares an interesting point of view of branding through experiences including: An Agency That Delivers Re...

How to Create Transformative Brands with Emmanuel Probst

In this episode, Emmanuel Probst, a Global Lead, Brand Thought-Leadership at Ipsos and an adjunct professor teaching consumer market research at UCLA, shares with us how to create a transformative brand. Emmanuel has 17 years of background in marketing and market research experience, such as at IP source. He is also the author of Brand Hacks, and Assemblage - The Art and Science of Brand Transformation, which releases this coming January 2023. Among other things, we discuss: that brands c...

Your Branding & IP Questions Answered

Having recently asked people what their top questions are about branding and IP (Intellectual Property), I decided to record my answers in this episode. The questions answered in this episode include: What are the different ways I can protect my brand? Do I need international protection or is UK protection enough? How do I explain to graphic designers I work with the importance of checking they are not infringing on anyone's IP? How can you be sure that graphic designers you work with h...

Takeaway lessons from Sean Adams' Masterclass on Identity Design

In this episode I discuss some thoughts  following the recent podcast with Sean Adams,  an internationally recognized graphic designer, and the chair of undergraduate and graduate graphic design at Art Center College of Design in California.  I found Sean's approach refreshingly client focused and empathetic.  For example, Sean takes clients on the design journey and explains what he is doing and why.  This collaborative approach, and avoiding a big reveal at the end of the process, is mor...

Sean Adams - How to Succeed with Identities Without Really Trying

In this episode, Sean Adams, an internationally recognized graphic designer, and the chair of undergraduate and graduate graphic design at Art Center College of Design in California  tells  us to succeed with identities without really trying. Sean Adams is the author of multiple best selling books, including  The Designer’s Dictionary of Color. Brand Identity is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It's a toolkit, an approach to solving problems, an equation. It's not a thing that you can jus...

How to Succeed with Identities Without Really Trying

In this episode, Sean Adams, an internationally recognized graphic designer, and the chair of undergraduate and graduate graphic design at Art Center College of Design in California  tells  us to succeed with identities without really trying. Sean Adams is the author of multiple best selling books, including  The Designer’s Dictionary of Color. Brand Identity is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It's a toolkit, an approach to solving problems, an equation. It's not a thing that you can jus...

Identity - Creating Your Purple Cow

Is being unique your ultimate goal in your business? How, exactly, do you stand out from your competitors and make sure that you remain a purple cow?    A crucial part of a business’ success is being distinctive and visibly different from its competitors. This is the main objective in creating business brand. Having a recognizable and distinctive name helps ensure you will be able to stand out from the crowd.     Distinctiveness is about the identifiers we use. These identifiers are how cons...

Strategic Creativity - Being Relevant and Resonating

In this episode Robin Landa explains strategic creativity.  Robin Landa is a Distinguished Professor in the Michael Graves College at Kean University. She specializes in advertising ideas and art direction, creative thinking, graphic design and branding and has written bestselling books including Graphic Design Solutions, 6th ed., Build Your Own Brand, and Nimble: Thinking Creatively in the Digital Age. What's the first thing you think of when you hear the phrase "brand identity"? A logo, ...

Why Focus on Ownership

There are many misconceptions when in comes to IP ownership. In this podcast I outline why it's important to ensure you own what you create for your business. Owning what we do is about retaining control rather than giving away the value of our knowledge and skills. Among other things, that involves understanding the role of names in business, and what is involved to legally own a name.  Failing to focus on ownership shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the interplay between brand...

One Brand, One Brand Voice - How to Align Everyone in your Company with the One Brand Voice

In this episode, we discuss having one brand voice with Chris West, the founder of Verbal Identity. Chris is a specialist in helping brand leaders align their teams in one voice. He is also the author of Strong Language, the #1 best-selling book on Amazon in Language Communication.   We tackle the importance of having a great language and how this could create differentiation for brands. As we go through the podcast, we explore: The power of language Three levels of language Having one b...

Brand Strategy for Start-ups and Beyond

In this episode, I talk about brand strategy for start-ups.  Brand strategy is an overused term in the branding industry. I discuss what makes for a good brand strategist and how they can best support businesses.  Sometimes, design is what's needed. Other times it's support to understand which segment to target and how to discover buyers' wants and needs.  When working on brand strategy it is essential to be aware that there is a world of difference between the actions you need to take fo...

Calling Bullsh*t on Brand Love

Austin Franke is the founder of Woo Punch, a brand design consultancy rooted in the science of how brands grow. Austin is also the man behind brandingbullshit.com, a newsletter that exposes common branding, marketing, and advertising myths, and co-hosts The BS Show with Stef Hamerlinck on YouTube. In this episode of the podcast, Austin shares why the old notions of brand love are outdated. In keeping with the new format of the podcast, he delivers a 10-minute masterclass before being interv...

Calling Bullshit on Brand Love

Austin Franke is the founder of Woo Punch, a brand design consultancy rooted in the science of how brands grow. Austin is also the man behind brandingbullshit.com, a newsletter that exposes common branding, marketing, and advertising myths, and co-hosts The BS Show with Stef Hamerlinck on YouTube. In this episode of the podcast, Austin shares why the old notions of brand love are outdated. In keeping with the new format of the podcast, he delivers a 10-minute masterclass before being interv...

Differentiation with Sean D'Souza

In this episode, Sean D'Souza of Psychotactics discusses how small businesses should approach differentiation when selling their products and services.  Sean is the author of The Brain Audit, and is a copywriter, cartoonist, and speaker. He is also the host of the three month vacation podcast.  We discuss common challenges people have around differentiation, and how the biggest mistake people make is that they promote their company instead of talking about their products. We cover: How to ...

Brand Positioning with Ulli Applebaum

In this episode I explore positioning with Ulli Applebaum. Ulli is an experienced award-winning brand strategist and founder of First The Trousers Then The Shoes and the author of the brand positioning workbook.  There are different philosophies about positioning and it depends on what category you are working in as to the research that's appropriate to do.   We might have one central brand position, and separate positions and messaging for  products we supply.  We touched on: Brand purpo...

Differentiation and Positioning for Small Businesses

In this episode, we discuss positioning and differentiation with Johnny Molson a marketing consultant and strategist with Wizard of Ads who helps small businesses to build custom marketing strategies.  We consider the difference between niching, positioning, differentiation and distinctiveness, including the challenge of becoming known.  Trying to become known for one thing rather than three things makes it more possible to be remembered in the marketplace.   The episode touches on: The n...

Lee Salz - Sales Differentiation Strategy

Lee Salz is the Founder and CEO of Sales Architects where he helps clients develop processes to hire the right salespeople, effectively onboard them and align their sales activities with business objectives. In this episode,  we talk about differentiation, Lee shares his insights on two types of differentiation which are marketing differentiation and sales differentiation. He also shares why the word "unique" is one of the biggest causes of frustration in sales. This episode covers: Why is...

Trailer Brand Tuned podcast

REPOST: Daniel Priestley - Building the Dent Brand

Daniel Priestley runs business accelerators for entrepreneurs. In this episode, he discusses the Dent rebrand, Lifestyle v. Performance boutique, and the new edition of his book Oversubscribed How the entrepreneurial revolution shifts people to earn money through entrepreneurship and starting and growing their own businesses as the Industrial Revolution changed the way we live and work. Why visual identity has to work harmoniously with the rest of the brand identity and has to be simple an...

REPOST: David Aaker - Descriptive or Distinctive Name?

David Aaker hailed the “Father of Modern Branding,” and Vice-Chair at Prophet is a recognized authority on branding, He has developed several concepts including the Aaker brand vision model. In this episode, we discuss all things brand related, in particular names. We covered: Why intellectual property is not included in the training of brand managers The importance of being clear on the definition of IP The different perspective that IP brings to naming Naming and whether descriptive n...

REPOST: Rory Sutherland - On Brand, Advertising & More

Rory Sutherland,  Vice Chair at Ogilvy UK and author of the book Alchemy, the Surprising power of ideas that don’t make sense discusses brand, advertising, decision science and more. In this episode, Rory points out why ambiguity in terms like brand and IP are problematic. The word brand is used to mean anything people want. It's even been used to defend advertising, that doesn't work, the episodes touched on many interesting points including: The misunderstanding of the value of brands T...

REPOST: Susan Payton, Business Storyteller

In this episode of the BrandTuned Podcast Shireen interviews Susan Payton who helps business owners tell three stories - their personal story, their business story and their customer story.  How a career writing and researching in TV and radio led to Susan's business which revolves around how businesses should use stories Susan has trained in Nashville with Donald Miller - the author of Story Brand and is a certified story brand guide Why your customer’s story is the most important story ...

The What and Why of Trade Secrets

John Pryor is a management consultant and founder of Exalt IP and intellectual property firm.  In this episode, John shares his insights on trade secrets, including why it is so important to distinguish trade secrets from general know how in an organisation. Classifying an important recipe as a trade secrets gives you more powerful rights in the event of any breach of them.  He walks us through trade secrets policies and the importance of educating employees about intellectual property and...

Why Every Business Needs to Know About Trade Secrets

John Pryor is a management consultant and founder of Exalt IP and intellectual property firm.  In this episode, John shares his insights on trade secrets, including why it is so important to distinguish trade secrets from general know how in an organisation. Classifying an important recipe as a trade secrets gives you more powerful rights in the event of any breach of them.  He walks us through trade secrets policies and the importance of educating employees about intellectual property and...

The Power of Animation in Branding with Christine Mackay

Christine Mackay is the founder of  Salamandra.uk an animation agency,  she helps her clients to communicate complex messages using animation.   In this episode, Christine shares that even if you just have a word mark, you could animate your logo, and make it come to life. And in that coming to life, you could actually convey some of what it is that you do.  Animation is very malleable, and there are many ways to make use of it in branding or to explain aspects of the business. Movement att...

How to Move Beyond Your Job Role To Trusted Adviser

Lawyers and many other professionals are increasingly challenged to identify their distinctive skills and talents, and the capabilities they possess that cannot be readily replaced by technology or alternative ways of working and access to cheaper options. Richard and Daniel Susskind predict that professionals will be increasingly displaced in an internet society by AI and other technologies.  In an earlier book, The End of Lawyers, Richard Susskind had predicted that a new breed of hybrid...

Becoming A Company Of One

In this episode, I share my journey starting in business,  how the business developed, grew, transitioned to virtual working and then reversed course to become what is now Azrights International Ltd. With Bill Gates' quote in mind, that most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10, and using Paul Jarvis' book,  A Company of One for inspiration, I'm thinking through my 10 year plan for the Azrights business and the Brand Tuned podcast.  This e...

Shireen Smith - Creating Passion Brands

This episode discusses the book Creating Passion Brands – how to build emotional brand connection with customers by Helen Edwards.  Essentially, it's key not to mistake being consumer focused with being consumer led. Some brands are asking for consumer approval for their every action even to the extent of asking consumers what their brand essence should be.  Being consumer-led in a brand’s strategic approach inevitably blurs the brand’s clearly defined brand image and makes it average. Lis...

Joe Glover - The Marketing Meetup Community

Joe Glover is the founder of Marketing Meetup a place where people come together to learn about marketing and connect in a meaningful way. It’s not what he’s done, but how he’s done it that has led to the success of the Marketing Meetup. There are plenty of places where marketers can learn, there are plenty of places where marketers can meet each other, but what Joe realised was that there was a need for a safe place where marketers could come together because they love marketing, they’re c...

Rebranding Rethink Press with Lucy McCarraher

Lucy McCarraher is an author, publisher, mentor and speaker. She has written 13 books and is co-founder of Rethink Press, which helps entrepreneurs to raise their authority, increase their client base and visibility  through writing and publishing books. In this episode, Lucy shares her experience in the recent rebrand of Rethink Press. We also discuss the importance of books, how to approach writing one given that a book is an iconic product. You don't want to undervalue or devalue the exp...

Colour Psychology with Karen Haller

Karen is the leading expert in applied colour and design psychology helping businesses and design professionals to use colour and design to improve well-being, support mental health and create positive change in the world.  She is the author of the best selling book The Little Book of Colour - How to Use the Psychology of Colour to Transform Your Life. It's a revolutionary guide to boosting your wellbeing, putting you firmly in the driver's seat and on the road to changing the colours in yo...

Lucy Werner - Strategy For Creating Hype

Lucy Werner, author of the books Hype Yourself and Brand Yourself, and founder of The Wern, a PR & design consultancy for startups has over 17-years of PR experience. She is  focused on teaching early stage businesses how to do their own publicity without spending a fortune.  In this episode, Lucy shares valuable tips on how to develop a strategy for creating hype in line with your brand strategy to promote what you are doing so you make maximum impact. She also shares steps towards buildin...

Dumbing Down of Brand Assets with Nick Lehrain

Nick Lehrain, designer and creative director of Oliver Grace creative studio is focused on digital products. In this episode, Nick shares his views on brand and growth strategies, distinctive brand assets, the trend towards simplification of the unique identifying characteristics used for consumers to notice, recognize and recall a  brand.  What is Blanding Creating a distinctive brand — differentiation and distinctiveness to stand out His  approach to designing the visual identity for a...

Dumbing Down of Brand Assets with Nick Lehrain

Nick Lehrain, designer and creative director of Oliver Grace creative studio is focused on digital products. In this episode, Nick shares his views on brand and growth strategies, distinctive brand assets, the trend towards simplification of the unique identifying characteristics used for consumers to notice, recognize and recall a  brand.  What is Blanding Creating a distinctive brand — differentiation and distinctiveness to stand out His  approach to designing the visual identity for a...

Market Orientation & Segmentation - Paige Arnof-Fenn

Paige returns to the podcast to discuss how smaller businesses and start-ups can do research to see their business from the point of view of the customer, before segmenting the market.  Before founding Mavens and Moguls, a network of seasoned marketing professionals, she worked in organisations like Procter & Gamble, and Coca Cola, as well as for early stage businesses like Zipcar, Inc.com and Launch Media. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and Harvard featured her business as a...

Stephen Houraghan on The Changed Branding Industry

Stephen Houraghan,  founder of the Brand Master Academy,  is a brand strategist who helps designers and brand builders to package up their creative thinking and specialise as brand strategists.  He teaches graphic designers abd copywriters, who are executing within the brand on the tactical side, on how to focus more on the strategic side.  In this episode, Stephen discusses that everything starts with the audience, The brand exists in the mind of the audience, without which it has no reaso...

Segmentation & Targeting - Branding Industry

This is part two of episode #117 which was on niching.  It outlines what's involved to segment the market, and why it is essential to do before targeting.  Segmentation is challenging to do for small businesses that lack the time and resources of large organisations. Perhaps this explains why the topic isn’t much discussed in the small business sector despite being a cornerstone to marketing. This episode covers: How to segment the market by reference to customers' different wants and nee...

Mark Ritson on Differentiation and Positioning

This episode from the archives features Mark Ritson discussing brand strategy. Mark answers some of the burning questions I had around understanding the market and differentiation and positioning.  In this episode we covered: Rebranding Transferwise Brand purpose Market research and how it differs from brand strategy. Marketing strategy The intersection between business and brand strategy Relative differentiation  LinkedIn: Mark Ritson Twitter: @markritson www.marketingritson.com Mi...

REPOST: Mark Ritson on Brand Strategy

This episode from the archives features Mark Ritson discussing brand strategy. Mark answers some of the burning questions I had around understanding the market and differentiation and positioning.  In this episode we covered: Rebranding Transferwise Brand purpose Market research and how it differs from brand strategy. Marketing strategy The intersection between business and brand strategy Relative differentiation  LinkedIn: Mark Ritson Twitter: @markritson www.marketingritson.com Mi...

REPOST: Which Business Model?

In this episode from the archives, Chandresh Pala discusses different business models and how to consider which one is right for you. The episode touches on: Choosing the right name How to create products and sell them What is a business model canvas?  Insights on different business models What are the first stages of a business —  exploration and learning A brand is more than a logo — it's your interaction, the team's interaction with the client, and how the customer uses and experien...

Which Business Model?

In this episode from the archives, Chandresh Pala discusses different business models and how to consider which one is right for you. The episode touches on: Choosing the right name How to create products and sell them What is a business model canvas?  Insights on different business models What are the first stages of a business —  exploration and learning A brand is more than a logo — it's your interaction, the team's interaction with the client, and how the customer uses and experien...

REPOST: Which Business Model?

In this episode from the archives, Chandresh Pala discusses different business models and how to consider which one is right for you. The episode touches on: Choosing the right name How to create products and sell them What is a business model canvas?  Insights on different business models What are the first stages of a business —  exploration and learning A brand is more than a logo — it's your interaction, the team's interaction with the client, and how the customer uses and experien...

How To Stand Out From Your Competition — Niching

In this episode, I talk about a foundational topic that isn’t well understood, niching. The accent in this episode is on expertise and how to ensure your core skills are in line with your interests and market opportunities. Many entrepreneur courses advise people to niche and not to try to sell to everyone. However, there is often a lack of detail on how to go about choosing a niche. The upshot is that many entrepreneurs get it wrong. They either pick a niche at random, or one that’s too na...

Somi Arian interviews Shireen

This interview of Shireen by Somi Arian was initially recorded for the Somi Arian podcast. In this episode, we talk about the do’s and don’t of branding and trade marks. There are a host of useful tips on branding, trademark protection and how to develop brand equity.  This episode covers: Valuable tips on branding and trademark protection  Brand equity and how trademarks contain the value of a brand. How to choose a name Domain names and email deliverability. Different types of name....

Somi Arian interviews Shireen

This interview of Shireen by Somi Arian was initially recorded for the Somi Arian podcast. In this episode, we talk about the do’s and don’t of branding and trade marks. There are a host of useful tips on branding, trademark protection and how to develop brand equity.  This episode covers: Valuable tips on branding and trademark protection  Brand equity and how trademarks contain the value of a brand. How to choose a name Domain names and email deliverability. Different types of name....

Niche Investment Comms with James Church

James Church is the co-founder and chief operating officer of Robot Mascot, the UK leading pitch agency and the author of the bestselling book, Investable Entrepreneur.  In this episode, James shares how investors care primarily about the defensability of the product rather than the brand. The brand is going to contain the value of the business when it comes to the exit but it's regarded as something that can be changed through a rebrand if needs be. The patent like protection that names ca...

Rory Sutherland - On Brand, Advertising & More

Rory Sutherland,  Vice Chair at Ogilvy UK and author of the book Alchemy, the Surprising power of ideas that don’t make sense discusses brand, advertising, decision science and more. In this episode, Rory points out why ambiguity in terms like brand and IP are problematic. The word brand is used to mean anything people want. It's even been used to defend advertising, that doesn't work, The episodes touched on many interesting points including: The misunderstanding of the value of brands T...

Positioning with Paige Arnof-Fenn

Paige Arnof-Fenn is the founder and CEO of Mavens and Moguls, which is a marketing or branding firm located in the USA. She graduated from Stanford University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Her experience spans corporate branding at Proctor & Gamble, start up branding for various companies that were subsequently sold,  and entrepreneurial branding working for clients of Mavens and Moguls. These range from early-stage, startup, pre-revenue, to venture-backed, and all the way t...

Why Not to Rely On Colour To Stand Out

In this episode, I talk about the challenges that colour involves as a brand identifier.  The bar to registration of colour as a trademark is high so that confusion can arise between competitors.   If you have legal rights over a brand identifier you can maintain its uniqueness for your brand and reduce the scope for customer confusion.  The episode on colour as a brand Identifier touches on: What to consider when it comes to trademarks and colour. How to be distinctive using colour as a...

Is it Time to Change the Creativity First Mentality In Branding?

 Derrick Daye is the man behind the Brand Strategy Insider Blog,  he serves as the Managing Partner of the Blake Project. He has extensive and varied experience working in advertising agencies such as Satchi & Satchi. In this episode, Derrick and I discuss the choice of identifiers such as colours and symbols and the extent to which IP needs to be taken into account when building brand assets. We also discuss the concept of distinctiveness. In brief this episode covers: The extent to whic...