You might wonder what I've been doing over the years as a branding consultant and content manager.  Here are five examples of some of the best work I've led with some great collaborators.

Branding an International Association

Qualitative Research Consultants Association - an international association of over 1000 qualitative and user experience researchers.

Challenge.  QRCA is an international association of qualitative and user experience researchers. Due to the shifting landscape in the research vertical – and in the absence of any formal marketing department or leadership –  QRCA needed experienced guidance to identify opportunities for marketing to new member segments.  

Driving Insight: The research landscape was rapidly transforming and QRCA was not keeping up with the changes in the industry to remain relevant.

Solution/Action: A visionary, multi-platform brand marketing program was created whose goal was to acquire new members, and migrate/retain current ones. Program elements included a new positioning line, website redesign and optimization, development of new e-Commerce programs and integrated social media platforms.  

Results: In 2019, a new positioning line was tested and launched; membership increased 10%; 2020 annual conference attendance increased 20%;  on Social Media, LinkedIn followers increased +73%, Facebook + 10%, and Twitter users +115%; e-Mail to non-members achieved an open rate of 32% with an average click-back of 10.6% to the core blog content –surpassing industry averages; website traffic improved across all Google Analytics metrics. 

Brand Repositioning Aided By Social Marketing Techniques

Client: Messiah LifeWays – one of Pennsylvania’s oldest and largest providers of seniors residential, support and enrichment services serving 900 lives in one market.

Challenge: CCRCs are having a difficult time recruiting new residents especially in challenging financial times.
Driving Insight: "The old model is broken. Today, seniors need to be engaged credibly, offered a broader spectrum of services and a better value proposition."
Solution/Action: Led the account planning effort in the formulation of a revamped business structure, brand architecture and positioning, and recommended the use of website marketing/social media tools to initiate a dialogue between residents living at the CCRC and prospects contemplating a move there including a resident populated blog and Facebook page.
Results: The blog was created which recorded 800 hits in its first month; web traffic and inquiries to the residential sales and at-need nursing units increased exponentially during the first 4 months online.  In the first 18 months after the new brand architecture and identity re-launch went to market, MLW increased the size of the population it serves from 925 to 2500+ lives and expanding from 1 to 3 geographical markets.

Brand Awareness and Call to Action

Winner - Gold EFFIE: Client: Connecticut Department of Revenue Services – the tax collector for the State of Connecticut

Challenge: Government mandated the State collect $32 mm in unpaid taxes only five years after an amnesty initiative collected $53 mm so how could another amnesty program be successful on the heels of the first one.
Driving Insight: “Tax scofflaws aren’t necessarily criminals, they may just not understand the law”.

Action/Solution: Uncovering this key insight that tax scofflaws most often did not comprehend the complexity of Connecticut’s new tax codes led to the creation of “The Three E’s - Educate, Empower, Enforce” strategy and 360-degree, multi-media communications campaign for the highly successful 1995 Connecticut Tax Amnesty program.
Results: Connecticut collected $47 million - 149% of goal. 

Brand Architecture Re-design and Brand Position Re-launch

Client: American Electric Power. Challenge: - The nation's largest electric utility. 

Challenge: Facing category deregulation, the largest energy producer in the United States consisted of 10 autonomous unbranded operating companies offering a multitude of regulated and non-regulated products and services, but none shared an overarching USP; customers were unfazed, shareholders ambivalent and regulators hostile
Driving Insight: “AEP was a corporate mystery to most, yet in its value proposition laid AEP’s real competitive edge.”
Action/Solution Comprehensive due diligence was conducted with all key stakeholders to define a new brand architecture and unifying value proposition that would be leveraged under one mother brand; Aggressive brand identity, value-of-service, and safety communications ran at saturation levels, public and shareholder affairs programs were introduced.
Results: In under two years, awareness of the AEP value proposition tripled, top-2-box attitude and perception scores rose 21%, and incremental sales of discretionary products increased 22%. 

Market Extension

Client: Provident Bank – a mid-size commercial Bank serving OH, IN and KY, and a division of pnc Bank

Challenge: Acquisition of new accounts from its primary target audience identified as middle income adults, 35-64, had flat-lined.
Driving Insight: “GenXers don’t trust brokers, but they do trust bankers”.

Action/Solution: Recommended target audience be expanded to reach affluent GenXers, 25-34, with customized creative approaches to acquire/migrate these high margin relationships.
Results: GenX awareness of Bank indexed 125 against total universe surveyed, and cohort grew from 14% to 21% of Brand’s customer base in first six months after launch. 

In the Current Crisis, it’s Innovate or Die.

OK, maybe I’m overstating it ... or am I?  The pandemic has caused significant changes for almost every company.  Many have seen a sharp drop in revenue.  Others have had revenues remain the same or even increase, but customers’ needs have changed.  Many have new rules and restrictions about how they can do business.  Some restrictions may be relaxed soon ... but customers aren’t sure it’s safe to go back to their old behaviors.

We’ve all heard the stories of companies that ignored disruptions going on around them.  Nokia didn’t realize that data would become more important to users than voice.  Kodak ignored digital photography.  Blockbuster refused to believe their model could be improved upon.

And then there are the companies that recognized disruption and innovated.  Netflix was in the business of mailing DVDs to their customers.  The company saw the growth in high-speed internet and developed its streaming service.

More recently, online meeting provider Zoom grew immensely as a result of the lockdown... and then had to deal with significant disruption when security flaws were discovered.  As a result, many companies and organizations stopped using Zoom.  The company reacted quickly, releasing versions of their software that addressed vulnerabilities and going so far as to acquire security company Keybase to help with their security and privacy efforts.  Now the New York City Department of Education and other organizations have lifted their bans on Zoom use.

So how can you ensure your company doesn’t get crushed by disruption?

We recommend conducting a brand innovation process, which includes the following:

• A review of how the competitive landscape has changed as a result of the current crisis.

• Research with customers and prospects to understand how they feel and what they are doing right now.

• Disruption workshop with your key stakeholders.  Looking at each of the '4 Ps of Marketing' – Product, Price, Place, and Promotion – what has changed in the current environment?  How should the brand evolve to address those changes?  A SWOT exercise leads to brainstorming. What could be done better or differently when it comes to each of the 4 Ps?  What are ways to leverage the company’s strengths and opportunities (including new opportunities) in order to overcome the weaknesses and threats?

Can My Team Help ?  I thought you’d never ask!   I have teamed up with Jay Zaltzman, President of Bureau West, who is a market research and business coaching expert, to offer brand innovation to our clients.  E-mail me at jisharlip@msn.com to learn more about how we can help YOU.

Content courtesy of Jay Zaltzman, President of Bureau West

Marketing In A Post-Pandemic Era

After weeks of sequestration and frustration over changing policies and mis-information about Covid-19, people are suffering from Corona Fatigue. Coupled with an endless stream of self-serving brand messages trying to reassure us …“We’re all in this together”, I’m ready  to blow up my television.  What we knew as ‘normal’ will no longer be ‘business as normal’.  Covid-19 has shaken this country – and world – to its very core.  The pandemic has spared no one.  It has spread its tentacles deep into the fabric of American lifestyle, our industry, travel and buying behavior; no single demographic segment or cohort has known its mercy. 

The Transitional Normal.

We are about to enter a new ‘Transitional Normal’ phase before finally arriving at our ‘New Normal’; I doubt things will ever be quite the same as they were before March. Market research companies have been on a feeding frenzy collecting data that doesn’t yet point in a definitive direction.

However, it does appear brand loyalty had taken quite a blow – as people facing shortages were forced to try ‘new things’, and then found they actually liked them better than the ‘tried and true’. In M4’s Quarantine Insight’s Report (w/o April 13), its geo-validated retail consumer exit interviews revealed that 58% of the observed shoppers will continue to use that new brand they had to use out of necessity. With this kind of information in hand, brands must start seeking new understanding of how a ‘New Normal’ may morph with consumers and employees – both of whom have taken a beating.

Undoubtedly, there will be no shortage of hand wringing in C-Suites as they respond to this chaos – both externally and internally.  And, I suspect many companies will immediately jump into ‘high tactical mode’ trying to adjust their policies and messaging. As we enter ‘Transitional Normal’, I say … “Breathe, Pause, STOP !!”

 Hit The Reset Button.

Coming out of this turmoil, marketers must take a hard look at how dynamics have shifted with both consumer and employees.  They will need to: measure changes in buying behavior, brand loyalty and perceptions of corporate citizenship during the crisis; assess how they treated employees as valued brand ambassadors – or not.  Conducting earnest due diligence to shape emergent marketing approaches and messages will be critical.

As with any brand launch or repositioning, companies must approach this from the ground-up.  The C-Suite must look hard and long – and objectively – at what has happened and how people are feeling now and going into the future.  After deep introspection – while facing some harsh realities – companies will need to test, test, and validate their assumptions with key stakeholders going into a ‘New Normal’.

The New Normal.

With their theories either validated or refuted, companies may only then begin to define the shape their ‘New Normal’ will take over the years to come – while acknowledging there will probably be a lot of unknowns encountered along the way.

So, Now What To Do?

It’s never been more important for corporations to acknowledge this uncertainty, deal with it strategically, and if necessary, seek objective outside counsel to help them navigate these uncharted waters.

I’m part of a team of business professionals who can help guide your company through this journey.  This accomplished group of senior-level experts in brand strategy, traditional and emergent market research methodologies, content management, social media strategy and business coaching may well be that new set of eyes you need to help navigate some rocky seas ahead.  Message me if you'd like to find out more about what we do and how we approach these kinds of challenges.

Planning Social Media – Marketing to Individuals To Optimize Demand Generation

A colleague and I were discussing how a new paradigm for marketing is emerging. When we used to think of B2B and B2C marketing, we’re now talking in terms of Business 2 Individual – B2I.  Going hand-in-hand with the concept of B2I are two principal goals: 1) generate demand; 2) build individual customer brand relationships, loyalty and commitment.

We know social media has become an integral part of our lives, and is the underpinning of the B2I movement. And, as B2I marketers actively use social media to gain followers and convert leads, we need to follow certain guidelines to keep those followers. Just as was the case of overkill in traditional direct marketing where Junk Mail hit the trash can, over-posting can lead to message fatigue resulting in the loss of followers and your messages hitting the Spam Box. Here are some thoughts to ponder when planning your social media programs so you’ll gain - not lose - followers.

Connect with People. People get frustrated by brands that don’t create a two way conversation – essentially removing the ‘social’ aspect of social media. Social media connects you with your followers and who subsequently connect you with their followers. By missing this key point, you’re not just wasting peoples’ time, you can actually be damaging your business. Those who follow you on social media expect engagement – B2I – and when all they get is your latest generic sales pitch, you’re going to build negative sentiment for your brand. Creating content that is shareable, memorable, and provides individuals with value is the way to succeed on social media platforms.

Don’t Consistently Sell.  ‘Interesting content’ is one of the top reasons people follow brands on social media. However, if a brand is always focused on selling rather than sharing valuable content, users will unfollow the brand. Social media cannot be perceived as a cannon lobbing one-way promotional material. Rather, it must provide individual customers with a value-added proposition. Your brand should speak with personality, not as a robot reading a sales script. Post articles about trends in the industry which shows your expertise with material that educates, is often commented upon and shared within networks.

Know Your Platforms. Nobody likes being spammed by a company by any means of communication – again, think Trash Can or Spam Box. It’s important to make sure you’re sharing just the right amount content across all of your online platforms whether on social media, your blog or e-Newsletters. Take time to understand the mission of each social platform you’re using. Know what kind of messaging each best supports – because all are not created equal. LinkedIn? Instagram? Facebook? Figure out the purpose each serves, and plan your social media content and posting frequency accordingly. As always, quality trumps quantity. Develop original content that your audience wants. Share content that is relevant to your audience. Put your original spin on it. Share things that people care about, but also take the opportunity to infuse your own point of view and show your experience and relevance.

In summary, individuals follow you for a reason, so don't give them a reason to leave by not providing value or something new that interests them. You can post every hour but that doesn't mean the content you're providing is worthwhile. Always keep in mind the paradigm shift we’re witnessing. Think Business 2 Individual – B2I – marketing to individuals to achieve two principal goals: 1) generate demand; 2) build individual customer relationships, brand loyalty and commitment.

Content Marketing for Small Business – IT WORKS !

Seven months ago, I was retained by a fine painting and decorating firm, DFAF, Inc. Painting and Decorating, to assist with creating a differentiated brand, and promote the brand with content marketing on numerous digital platforms. Here is a brief overview of my journey with DFAF – a wonderful one at that.

The Challenge.  The owner – an artisan and color guru – wanted to tip the balance of her business toward  more lucrative 1-up custom painting and fine finishing jobs, and away from the more commodity-like paint contracts that didn’t allow her to express her artistic skills and instincts.  DFAF has 15 direct competitors in California’s Coachella Valley, and she wanted to stand out ahead of the pack.

Strategy.  After taking the owner and entrepreneur through a series of exploratory exercises, I created a formalized brand strategy whose objectives were to convey preeminence for DFAF’s quality work, expertise, and professionalism, and elevate the owner to that of ‘thought leader’ in its narrow niche market.

Tactics.  Upon completion of an annual marketing plan for DFAF, we got busy with the tactics that would drive new and building success.

1.       SEO and New Website Design.  Copy on the site was sparse and not optimized. As a result, DFAF was nowhere to be found on Google searches.  The site architecture did nothing to compel viewers to stay and explore it.  So my first task was to write and upload new optimized copy and oversee the revamping of the navigation on the site to create a more dynamic and interactive environment.

2.       Social Media.  Four key social media sites were identified, and I started posting content every 15 days that would provide interesting and stimulating information about color, painting techniques, and trends in design. Every post had to be written in the ‘owner’s voice’, each accompanied by a stunning, attention grabbing visual – and most important – provide a unique point of view that would come from a ‘thought leader’.

3.       E-Commerce.  DFAF wanted to reach every B2B and B2C customer or prospect with timely newsletters that – again – provided a learning experience and a unique point of view.  Constant Contact is being employed to reach sub-segmented audiences with monthly newsletters – written and designed to be ‘opened’.

4.       Blogging.  Each and every social post and newsletter has the potential to be customized or expanded upon for the website blog page.  Thus, every time I post or publish on social media or Constant Contact, a corresponding blog post is uploaded to the website.

5.       Networking.  Various outreach opportunities were identified for regular networking in the communities of the Coachella Valley, and the owner is regularly attending these events to personally promote a business that is poised for growth – and to also associate her face as a ‘though leader’ and influencer.

Does It Work?   YES IT DOES !  The website started coming up on page one of Google searches soon after the SEO copy was uploaded, and hits on site tripled in the first week.  Once the new site navigation went live, we saw bounce rates drop around 10% and stickiness increase around 10%.  Opens and reaches on social media posts continue to build in volume and – on average – have tripled since the social media program started in May.  For the e-Newsletters, open rates have ranged from 36% to 51% with an average open rate of 42%  as bad contacts have been purged, and new ones added with qualified contacts.  The last 3 posts produced virtually no bounces or unsubscribes. The database has grown to 180 active, qualified prospects. Research infers an open rate of 42% in a narrow category covering such a small geographic footprint is an impressive metric.  On an anecdotal note, a few B2B colleagues have noted DFAF’s activity and commented to the owner that they have come to recognize her as somebody who is taking a fresh view of the industry – thus differentiating her business . Best of all, they want to work with her now.

Does It Cost a Fortune?  NO IT DOESN’T !  Given the continuous exposure for DFAF brand in social media and e-Commerce platforms, the cost is nominal when compared to the use of traditional mass media and direct marketing which tends to throw dollars against a wall.  And, during this time, my client and I have developed a partnership as well.  The work is fun, gratifying and it is showing positive results. 

So, yes, armed with a solid brand marketing strategy and the use of affordable tactics that are producing a continuous upticks in all metrics provide a solid rationale for using content marketing to promote your small business.  If you’re interested in content marketing for your small business, shoot me a message.

 Footnote:  Thank you Kersteen Anderson, President of DFAF, Inc. Painting and Decorating for allowing me to publish this story.

How Content Marketing Lifts Your Brand Presence – And Profits

Content marketing is a phenomenon that has grown increasingly more important to savvy marketers who want to maximize the digital sphere of influence, and it is something you should be doing. It refers to a tactic that provides valuable, targeted information to customers on an ongoing basis in order to ultimately increase sales. And it makes your brand – whether a rising star or leader – a key influencer in its category.

One example of content marketing – this social media post. Its goal is to provide useful information about this important marketing topic, and at the same time, convey my knowledge of our ever evolving world of brand marketing.

Content marketing is provided through a variety of both online and offline channels such as web pages, videos, pod casts, white papers, books and magazines. The goal is simple – provide information of value to the target audience. Today, consumers have a great deal of information readily available to them which contributes to more informed purchase decisions. The information you provide to consumers about why they should choose your brand has to be done more effectively than your competitors. And, you brand differentiates itself when it – and you – become a thought leader in your market.

Scott Abel, a content marketing expert and producer of Information Development World explains: “Content marketing requires us to think of our prospects and our customers like a live theater audience. Your content should serve to dazzle, inform, and entertain them and leave them wanting more.” In a conversation with Scott, he observed that too many companies jump right into providing content without taking the time upstream to define what the brand really should convey with regard to its key messages and its promise to consumers. You can’t dazzle unless you have a brand story that dazzles, informs and entertains.

No tactic should ever be viewed as a substitute for an overarching brand strategy, key messaging, and brand promise – all supporting a consistent brand experience, category leadership and profitability. Content marketing adds firepower to a strong strategic communications plan. And, each tactic you employ in support of that strategy must weave together – seamlessly – to tell a compelling brand story.

In Case You Didn't Know ...

In case any of you reading my blog didn't know this, I do voice over work.  Here's a link to my Demo that's posted on YouTube.  Enjoy.  Let me know what you think.

Integrating Branding Fundamentals With Technology.

In my last published blog entry, I pondered that in today’s marketing environment, do we brand digitally or digitally brand.  Starbucks provides a great example of when fundamental branding – when coupled with state-of-the-art digital brand message delivery –  solidified the brand’s leadership in its category.   But first, it had to revisit the fundamentals. At Starbucks, necessity became the mother of disruptive reinvention. 

Putting the Horse Before The Cart.   When a marque like Starbucks starts to stray from its core values and promise, even a most beloved brand can lose its patina.  In most cases, this can be attributed to one thing – strategic complacency.  A brand sitting on top of its category can start taking success for granted.  It stops innovating, fails to leverage the opportunities that technology affords.  It loses its soul by not focusing on cultural strengths, core values, and a vision for delivery of the expected ‘ultimate consumer experience.’  The results are predictable; earnings and share value start to plummet.

As Starbucks started losing its leadership position, former CEO Howard Schultz returned to the company to put Starbucks on a trajectory to regain category leadership. Putting the Horse Before The Cart, he essentially re-set the clock and got back to basics.  Schultz lamented that Starbucks had become a fat-and-happy company that lost sight of its core values and brand promise, and forgot how to innovate –  as he put it "… playing defense instead of trying to score.”  His main goal was to return the company to one that not only sold fresh brewed coffee, but also served as a ‘third point’ in the customer’s journey between home and work that was not simply transactional – rather The Ultimate Customer Experience.  What guided Starbucks back to leadership?  Schultz laid out a three-pronged approach.

Invest in the brand.  Starbucks listened to customers and employees for critically important feedback to identify and fix the problems, leverage strengths, and orchestrate renewed success.  Starbucks realized it had lost its way and needed to revisit its brand values, reinvigorate its employee assets, and regain the loyalty of lost customers by refocusing efforts on elevating the customer experience and making it better over time.

Invest in employees and community.  Starbucks provided renewed training – it actually closed all its stores for one afternoon to accomplish this.  It worked to re-motivate employees and to boost morale so that store managers and baristas – alike – provided a unique, consistent customer experience.  And, it continued to focus upon, and use the brand’s large scale to maintain its socio-corporate conscience for doing community good. Research has proven that visible, publicly-spirited efforts add value to a company's brand valuation and bottom line.

Invest in technology – ‘Brand Digitally’.   Starbucks expanded and introduced new product lines into both new markets and delivery systems.  And, in setting the the bar for utilization of digital technologies and social media, Starbucks leveraged emerging technology to reinforce the connection between the brand and the customer experience to generate more demand, deepen loyalty ties, and regain its leadership position. 

Starbucks Cards, which are part of the My Starbucks Rewards loyalty program, have become a marketing colossus with millions U.S. participants; globally, the cards are available in dozens of countries.  The clout of this technology feeds powerful CRM programs that further demand-gen objectives and brand loyalty, and elevate the CX.

The integration of mobile platforms, which includes a highly successful payment program gives Starbucks a direct, real-time, personalized, two-way digital relationship with its customers.  Its iPhone app allows customers to order before going to a store, to ‘shake to pay’ and to tip digitally, as well as earn free drinks and other perks.

Starbucks has returned to its position of supremacy.  By employing disruptive reinvention it is now running a shrewder operation.  Returning to its fundamental core values and brand promise to guide it – Starbucks has been able reinvigorate staff, regain the loyalty of lost customers, and leverage digital technology to create more demand as well as loyal, enduring one-on-one customer relationships. And in doing all this, this category leader has rightfully reclaimed the #1 position in its global market.

‘Digital Branding’ – Putting the Cart Before The Horse?

Recently, I’ve seen a lot of references to ‘Digital Branding’.  As a marketing fundamentalist who has remained relevant during the shifting of trends in communications, I ponder whether the juxtapositioning of those words would be more appropriately ‘Branding Digitally’.   The marketing world in which now we live is made up of multiple digital messaging platforms – web, mobile, search engine, CX, e-Commerce, SEO, PPC, social media, and each appeals to a particular side and lobe of our brain.  And all lead to one end game – to simultaneously create brand awareness, and to generate demand plus loyalty for products or services while maximizing the customer experience (CX).

Putting the Cart Before The Horse?  

I often question how we can communicate effectively in digital channels to maximize the impact of technology without having an overarching brand strategy that weaves all content and platforms together.  A strategy that tells a story of brand relevance and purpose and is driven by core values.  One that provides a clear articulation of how employees as brand ambassadors should live and deliver a brand promise every day – at every level in the organization from the front line to the C-Suite.  Where the consumer journey has been anticipated and mapped, and the brand experience consistent at every touch- and decision-point.   What technology affords us – and demands of us – is to leverage this huge opportunity to achieve consistency of underlying message in so many places at the same time.  And that opportunity can only be maximized by employing a well thought, overarching brand strategy that blankets the entire corporate marketing continuum – in particular digital communications.

Some fundamentals just don’t change, although we like to think they do.  They morph.  Twenty years ago, marketers had the tools to deliver the brand message on perhaps a dozen platforms or so.  Advertising, direct, public relations, sales, trade shows come to mind.  The majority of impressions were made mostly with public/passive forms of communication.  While these platforms are still important tools for demand-gen, we now have the ability to create brand awareness and create demand through hundreds of digital platforms – almost simultaneously – in a targeted and individualized way no one could have imagined.

Technology provides marketers with a VERY IMPORTANT new toolbox in their quest to swiftly create brand awareness and demand-gen at every turn in the customer journey.   And this is my point – digital technology is a TOOLBOX.   It cannot supplant a well-informed brand strategy.  Rather, it supports it by offering a broad array of highly personalized tactics that generate demand and deep loyalty while simultaneously creating better consumer journeys and experiences.

So what’s the bottom line here?  If digital demand-gen tactics are not driven by a solid brand strategy and the promise of an astonishing brand experience, that’s money down the drain.   If employees are not informed and motivated by clearly articulated values that help guide them in charting  great consumer journeys and resultant loyalty, that’s money down the drain.   

In my next blog entry, I’ll write about a famous brand that lost its way.  Before it could maximize its use of technology and reaffirm its commitment to the ultimate customer experience, this category leader had to return to its branding basics.  Stay tuned for – Starbucks – Where Necessity Became The Mother Of Disruptive Reinvention.  

Want to Uncover Hidden Brand Insights? – Create Some FRICTION!

I’m sure you’ve faced this situation as a client or agency leader.  Your gut tells you that a golden nugget of an insight which might inspire a stellar marketing strategy is buried in front of your eyes.  But, finding that nugget can be a real challenge.  So, that’s why I tell my clients …. “let’s generate some FRICTION.”  We do that in the Brand Workshops that I’ve discussed  in previous newsletters.

Insights can be discovered when people unknowingly think out loud, contradict themselves or challenge others.  They might say something at the beginning of a workshop – perhaps thinking it’s something they should say to look smart – and then say something later in the session that contradicts what they said before.  Participants might debate each other, or even shout insults at one another.  FRICTION.

I have constantly witnessed this dynamic since facilitating my first Brand Workshop 15 years ago when twelve executives from various departments and regions of a multi-national company were gathered in one room for 8 hours.  Initially, the group was taken through exercises that dissected the company’s health, mission, vision, and points of differentiation as EACH individual member understood it to be.  Major disagreements emerged from the onset.  However, through additional exercises  we generated more FRICTION to ultimately produce some shared vision that all understood and conditionally embraced  – and which could be validated by research.  It isn’t an easy process, but in most cases the participants do reach common ground.

By gently mining those contradictions and contentious verbal exchanges, you can gradually move towards consensus building and some real ‘out of the box’ thinking.  Strategic ideas and direction often emerge when FRICTION contributes to the formulation of business concepts that might not have been overtly recognized or understood at the beginning of the melee. 

Is there disagreement on your senior team about the company’s health, mission, vision, and points of differentiation?  Do your key executives all know and subscribe to the same set of core values for your brand?  Do you sense major disconnects every time you meet with them?  If so, you may want to recommend creating some FRICTION that can help solidify direction, understanding, and even uncover that nugget which inspires a successful brand strategy.