perspective

Understanding the moderately-controlled and mediated communications channel to engage directly with audiences and create deeper connections 

How to Build Brand Messaging Through Channel Communications

A best practices snapshot from VeraBank, a beloved local institution that wanted to build its community banking legacy and independent Texas-sized spirit

Top 5 brand considerations for informed merger and acquisition decision-making

Top 5 principles for merger and acquisition decision-making, from brand architecture to cultural considerations

A best practices snapshot from American Bank Center, North Dakota’s no-nonsense community bank

Top 5 principles for assessing the current state of your branch network and preparing for the future

Financial institutions are meeting unprecedented challenges with resilience, but maintenance is essential to keeping consumer trust

Immediate impacts of coronavirus on the American healthcare system

Assessing the brand landscape during the first few weeks of Coronavirus

Financial institutions are finding distinctive ways to support their communities and customers during this public health emergency

Practical tips for brand communication during the early days of an unfolding, unprecedented crisis

What Coronavirus can teach us about communicating with clarity and calm in the eye of the storm

The search for the right palette to represent your brand

From clinic classification to brand architecture, structural challenges in healthcare are creating pain points for organizations across the industry

The fundamentals that determine a structure for success following mergers and acquisitions

An introduction to institutional change and approaches to help break down organizational silos

How brand architecture defines the strength of the union in the multiple brand environment

An introduction to building holistic healthcare experiences for multiple generations

How brand structure is a defining factor for success in the multiple brand environment

An introduction to place branding and the fundamentals of great places

Sound strategy and meaningful measurement are essential to getting the most return on your partnership investment

How brands are building authentic connections that yield tangible outcomes

Building bonds that deepen relationships with consumers and community

From values to strategy, learn more about what’s driving this year’s brand landscape

How the healthcare industry is responding to disruption, challenging institutional thinking and designing new patient journeys 

Is supersizing banking what consumers want?

In an era of shrinking confidence in institutions, is trust a quaint vestige of the past?

How human values are driving the latest developments in healthcare

Lifting the veil on what it takes to create a clever, cohesive campaign

The top 5 strategies for meaningful brand storytelling

The top 3 insights for brands in the financial space and beyond

A look at the use of archetypes to create more human connections between brands and their fans

Smart brands understand that consumer experience is the great differentiator and the key to winning hearts and minds.

The best brands live up to their promise to consumers every day and build their corporate culture to support that promise at every turn.

Opportunities abound for brands that identify and embrace a big idea that people can experience. Blue ocean spaces sit at the intersection of a brand’s product, mission, culture, and communication. The end result is a brand infused with purpose and passion.

With channels exploding, how are marketers creating brand meaning in this overcrowded space? How do you continually create something that lives on in the hearts and minds of audiences?

The most culturally diverse population to date has high standards for openness and inclusivity. Embracing individuals from various backgrounds is fundamental. Authenticity matters and what your brand stands for can make or break you with this passionate population...

Think you can simply tweak your brand messaging for the next generation of young consumers? Nope. Gen Z is already bringing a whole new set of values, expectations and behaviors that are remaking the brand landscape.

Just as brands were beginning to perfect how to engage with Millennials, a new generation with different trials and tools is coming up to challenge everything we think we know. Defining Gen Y as 20-34 and Gen Z as 16-19, we are taking a deep dive into the ‘what’s ...

Whether it’s communicating with customers old and new, engaging employees or amplifying an environment, rebranding means understanding and orchestrating brand channels of experience.

In 2017, we expect another year of disruptors impacting the three pillars – brand, places and culture – for companies and brands across numerous industries.

Today’s economy represents a shift where consumers buy less and share more, a restructuring on a scale that will likely change the way we do business into the future.

The Olympics: the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. But this year, some of the agony wasn’t only on the field. Here is our quick take on some very thorny brand issues with the 2016 Summer Olympic games.

How is Samsung beating Apple? Companies that focus on three key factors – what they do, what they say, and who they are – are winners in today’s competitive branding head-to-head.

Grocery is getting Millennialized. From new destinations to revamped chains, the focus on consumer experience is delivering grocery innovation right into our carts.

Vertical innovation. Customer experience. Tesla is making a splash in the Automotive industry through bringing their production process in-house and it's their customers who are reaping the benefits to this bold decision.

Discussing business challenges and creative solutions between agencies and clients can often be difficult. This is what we refer to as creative tension. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing as it often drives the best work out of creatives and clients.

This is color war. Brands suing brands. Ads ripping off competitors. It’s heating up out there — and we all have pantone 19-1524 tpx oxblood red on our hands.

The best brand slogans capture the spirit behind the brand – their big why boiled down to a few words of inspirational language. The best brand slogans are both concise and creative, conveying some vital quality that beats at the heart of the brand.

Does a brand launch fail because of strategy gone awry or tactical mismatch? We address a new article in Ad Age that argues that strategy should flow up from tactics and not the other way around. 

The magical 5,000. It’s a widely known (and quoted) figure among marketers and brand communicators that consumers come into contact with at least 5,000 brand messages a day. But why is this touted figure so important? Or is it?

Brands are embracing the love this year and they want you to share in it. These brands are tugging on consumers' heart strings (and purse strings) to help them express their love.

Think your brand is 2016 ready? If you hesitate to answer that, read below to make sure you are doing all you can to start the New Year off right.

Commodity versus premium brands, this is our third and final installment of The Art and Science of Reaching Consumers.

Today's brands must interact differently with consumers. Let's explore what brands are doing to help consumers go from stranger to BFF.

A look into brands and the modern path to purchase.

Data driven stories in the era of “quick read” content requires a commitment to laser-focused accuracy. With responsible definition of KPI goals, data can work for — not against — critical brand and business decisions.

Why are some brand refreshes celebrated while others are panned? We take a look at six brand refreshes from recent memory to see what we can learn from their successes and failures.

Brands today face an existential challenge: innovate or die. Understanding what it takes to move up the brand food chain can give your brand a competitive advantage when connecting with your customers on a deeper level.

Brands team up all the time to take their message further than they ever could alone, but their mileage may vary.

Senior Art Director Tex Grubbs shares his perspectives on the creative process, package design and honoring the craft mindset in Adrenaline's collaboration with Atlanta-native brewery Second Self.

Fostering creativity through universal understanding with Archetypes in Branding by Hartwell & Chen.

Millennials may be the most researched yet least understood generation in the history of marketing and communication.