I was with a client recently and we were discussing the launch of a new name and identity we created for them.

The best plan for launching your brand is to figure out how your name and identity can just be a part of the DNA of an organization and not just something that is "marketed". (I could get on a soapbox here about how the term "marketing" almost doesn't mean anything anymore because it's so overused, but I'll save that for another day).

Then came this comment from the room "Hold on a second, I am concerned that our branding is creeping too far into our strategy."

"Exactly," I replied. "Your strategy is your brand and your brand is your strategy. There should be no visible difference."

You see, this idea of Branding is not some thing that creative people try to add to an organization. Branding is a process of taking your organization and strategy and bringing it together so that it makes sense to the world.

So if you notice that your branding is beginning to creep into your strategy, then GOOD WORK! You are headed in the right direction!

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I was watching TV the other night and saw this new commercial from Sprint featuring their new CEO Dan Hesse. At the end of the commercial instead of the standard url "www.sprint.com" they had their new CEO's email address, dan@sprint.com. At first I thought this was great but on second look I wasn't so sure. I sent an email to Dan stating that I loved cookies to see what kind of response I got. No less than 10 seconds after my email was sent I received a response from Dan telling me thanks a lot for taking the time to write him, etc… Apparently I took the time to write him but the auto-reply on "his" email was the only one who had the time to write me back. Obviously the CEO of Sprint has a lot going on and can't be expected to respond to every email he gets because his email address was put on a commercial, but that brings up the point of why would they put it on a commercial? It made them seem more personal when I first saw it, but once I interacted with it Sprint seems even more impersonal to me. Sometimes doing nothing at all is better than trying to fake it. Look below for the commercial…

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I love a good laugh just as much as the next bloke, but when it comes to marketing a service or product is comedy always the answer? It seems like lately that's the easy road. Give me 30 seconds of airtime, an over weight man, a nine iron, and a frisky squirrel and you've got yourself a hit! Look at this past Super Bowl, the top ads were littered with hilarious randomness, but were they truly effective?Dustin showed me the ad below earlier this week (that got me thinking about this point) and the video immediately captivated me with its brilliant approach to randomness and over the top humor. It has since become one of my all time youtube favorites (just squeezing past the break dancing kid and the dramatic chipmunk). I have become a raving fan of it. It is viral to me. I can't stop showing it to all my friends. I literally can't stop thinking about it, I think it's genius, but would I buy insurance from this guy? Heck no.

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I just found out that photographer Caleb Chancey is going to donate his services and join us in our work with City Church Eastside. The first thing we will use the photos for are a new, full website for the church. That site will be so much better with great photography. We're so excited!!

Caleb is the man. Check out his work here.

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For our next Matchstic T-Shirt we decided to take it to the people! It's kind of like a "Choose Your Own Adventure Book", but for T-Shirts! We split up into two teams of three and had ourselves an old-fashioned competition. Our theme for the contest was "Uncommon". Vote for which shirt you'd rather wear!

Click this link to vote

Not on facebook? Email us your vote info@matchstic.com

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Saw a commercial for Audi last night. Watch below, in it we are in the middle of a neighborhood street panning over to an open parking spot between two cars and you hear an engine getting louder. Then a car screeches and does a 180 sliding into the spot and the message: "The luxury car for those can park themselves." I loved it! Audi is up there with the other luxury automakers like Mercedes or BMW but they want to be seen as the younger, adrenaline driven option. What a great way of communicating it visually and the message is perfect.

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Last week I got a catalog in the mail from FAO Schwarz. Aside from the personal R2-D2 robot I could purchase, the other toy I was intrigued by is their "Make-My-Own-Monster". Essentially you or your child draws a picture of a "monster" sends it in to FAO Schwarz and they custom make your very own one of a kind monster. With all these companies trying to get customer participation through contests, etc… to get people invested in their brand, FAO Schwarz has figured out how to not only get people to participate in developing of their products and brand, but to actually get paid for it as well. So if you have an extra $250 lying around and a child who loves drawing monsters go ahead and get yourself one.

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Here is the final product of the video that was shot at our office a few weeks ago.

We are big fans of Speakeasy. If you are a small business that wants a great, hassle free phone solution, check them out!

To see the video on Speakeasy's site, go here and click on "Hassle Free Phone System".

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Chapter 8 of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.

If you read back to the Law of Contraction, you'll remember that a brand becomes stronger as you narrow it's focus. What happens if you narrow the focus so much so that there's no longer a market for the brand you might ask. Magic. Your brand now has the ability to create a completely new category just like Mercedes did for expensive cars, Volkswagen for cheap cars, and Domino's for delivery pizza.

The most productive aspect of branding has nothing to do with increasing a company's market share, instead it is creating a new category. By creating the new category your brand becomes the leader of the market.

EatZi's has created its own category by realizing what was lacking. Apparently Americans spend $207 billion on restaurant meals annually with 51% leaning towards take out and delivery. EatZi's realized this and narrowed focus to a slice of the market and became the leader of the market. EatZi's name stands for the market of takeout gourmet meals. Promoting the category, and not the brand will therefore grow the category and therefore grow your market share.

What I learned:

Standout brands should continue to promote the category, to increase the size of the pie rather than their slice of the pie

And here are links to the previous chapters.

The Law of Quality | The Law of Credentials | The Law of the Word | The Law of Advertising | The Law of Publicity | The Law of Contraction | The Law of Expansion

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Last week when Craig and I visited Brains on Fire, I had ALOT of takeaways, but one of my favorites was Spike's challenge to us to find our "Stake in the Ground".

A Stake in the Ground is something you claim, your territory, your one thing you will own. It's similar to an onliness statement, (I am the only ______, that will _____), but to choose where and what that stake is seems to be so much more challenging for me. Maybe its the complex simplicity is brings to the table (or potentially my fear of commitment)?

It reminds me of the end of the 1992 classic starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, "Far and Away". Its shows the expansion of the west in the 1800′s and the race to claim the vast amount of land. Riders have to purchases small flags, meet at the starting line, and once the cannons fire they dash off in a race to claim their future property. Once they've found an alluring plot of land they drive their stake in the ground to claim that land as their own. Its a great scene and a great movie.

In a sense, business is like that; a race to claim new land and territory. Here's my issue though, how do you know when you've found your piece of land? How do you know it's where you want to set up camp and raise your family? That's a tough call. I wonder if I would have been that guy riding his horse back and forth from plot to plot weighing the pros and cons of each, researching both on consumerreports.com, until both are gone and I'm left standing their with a flag, a horse, and the horrendous sting of regret.

Your stake in the ground is absolutely crucial to standout, and it needs to be driven in the ground. It is a bit different than the foretold movie though, it is not forever. Try some different ones out, try some smaller ones (like only accepting clients that can meet face to face), but start the process of trying and see what sticks.

Most importantly, it needs to be authentic, it needs to be you, and it needs to be truly your own.

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