I really dislike to word ‘branding’ because it has been so misused that this ‘b’ word now seems to represent either mass marketing techniques or simple logos and advertising tag-lines. Those are just some of the visual results of brand identity. Branding is really about giving meaning to a brand in people’s minds. In that sense it is a form of psychology. We are architects of perceptions. We try to help reality match perceptions. We specialise in understanding how to create desire and eventually love for your brand. My expertise has its foundations in strategic marketing management (including intrapraneurship and entrepreneurship) at the highest levels and not graphic design or advertising.
I encourage Entrepreneurs, Brand Marketing Directors or Chief Executives including those from Communication, Advertising and Design agencies to bring me the most difficult cases to deal with. And together, we will find the answers. Whether it’s about reviving a dying brand, creating a new one or exploiting it globally. To rescue the brand is to rescue the business. When you get your brand right, the business looks after itself. Product Brands, House Brands, Corporate Brands and Place Brands. Brand Architecture is about building or rebuilding the brand Story, Universe and DNA Structure, giving it long-term sustainability and clear Semiotic codes. Without in-depth analysis and visionary insights, this task could be meaningless. Do you know your brand well enough to brief and work with the best creative minds in the world? Allow me to be your shadow.
Are you creative? A young fashion designer given a great heritage brand to revive? I’ll help you through it. Delving into the archives is a common start. Finding a visionary way foward is another challenge. As an ex- creative with anthropological insights and branding savvy, I would enjoy being your private guru and don’t need to reveal that I am on your advisory team. I prefer to build long-term and discreet relationships.
Brands are my passion. Having worked first as a fashion photographer and later as chief of Marketing for blue-chip international brands and then as Strategic and Artistic Director for niche luxury brands, I feel fortunate to possess unique case studies from London, New York and Paris, original ideas and unique insights into what can work and what won’t. I lecture MBA and MSc students on fmcg Branding, Luxury Branding and Nation Branding, deliver public presentations on brands, write about them, consult on them and most often have to rescue them, plus save and create jobs.
The more complex the problem, the more it interests me. I have worked with many of the most prestigious brands in the world and although I sadly cannot gloat about many on this webpage, I sincerely hope you will look out for my forthcoming book on Luxury Brands which will be a world first in terms of new theories and guidelines thanks to lessons learned from these great brands and their daring visionaries.
If your brand needs emergency help, please click on “What I offer you” above, and treat your brand to my Brand Clinic ‘health check’ and ‘quick fix’. If the problem lies with your marketing team, I’m happy to revitalise them as well. Prevention is always better than cure. I look forward to meeting you.