ITS NOT EVERY DAY A CLIENT HIRES US TO LEAVE THEIR BRAND ALONE. As you might imagine, this was a surprising request coming from Redwood Credit Union when they engaged our team in the fall of 2013. Instead, this $2.4B credit union asked us to help distill their highly successful brand, succinctly documenting core strengths to ensure ongoing alignment with […]
Tag Archives: Branding
Brand storytelling for New York’s municipal workers
When the Financial Brand Forum asked us to participate in their 2015 branch makeover for New York’s Municipal Credit Union, we said yes. This video is something we threw together as part of our presentation, check it out.
Do I have to call it nepotism?
I’ve written before about why I love producing radio. Now I can add one more reason to the list — a seven-year old, precocious, all-pink, all-attitude, talented little voice actress named Gretta. And if you can’t tell from the photo, she also happens to be my daughter.
Sun Tzu and the Art of the Cheeseburger
What would you do if you were responsible for a new branding campaign for McDonalds? You might look for inspiration from the master brand strategist of millennia past: Sun Tzu. He’d tell you to pick a fight you can win.
Starbucks Theatre of Roasting
Seattleites know coffee. In fact, we’ve been called coffee snobs. So what does Starbucks, a major coffee icon in a coffee town, do when a green mermaid logo has become synonymous to the McDonalds’ golden arches where you can expect convenience and consistency? In a town of coffee snobs – me included – you need more. To stay relevant, Starbucks has created a very high-end, state of the art prototype store. A prototype store is nothing new for Starbucks, but this store, rumored to cost $20 million dollars, took it to a whole new level.
Would You Have Approved This Ad?
I play a little mental game from time to time to help me keep my creative mind open. The game is called, “Would I Have Approved That?” It’s a game that’s easy to learn, simple to play, and you can do it just about anywhere. But before I explain the rules, a little background.
Inside the Elevations Branch 2.0
When you love where you live, it matters where you bank. Elevations Credit Union, based in Boulder, CO, built their brand on that premise. It’s about loving local, embracing differences, and reflecting the community in which you live. Weber helped Elevations define a branch prototype that extends that brand positioning into the newest Elevations branches — the first of which opened to the public this summer.
Driving Brand Leadership
Let’s face it. The traditional financial services world we have known well for many years is in massive transformation.
As consumers embrace new mobile technologies, wean gradually away from branch teller transactions, and new online competitors rise up, the financial industry is rushing headfirst into a fusion of online, digital, branch and social media channels that are reshaping how we retain consumers, compete and grow.
In this new world of smart phones, tablets, Twitter and video tellers, it raises the bar even higher for how we manage our brand reputation and position our financial institutions to stand apart in a highly commoditized – and now increasingly wired financial industry.