In this episode, I give a 'crash course' on brand naming. How important is the brand name for a brand? How do we decide whether we need a new name? And how do actually craft a new brand name? Let's find out! 

We talk about

• The must-haves for a brand name:
  • Easy to pronounce (multiple languages?)
  • Easy to remember (2 syllables, or simple)
  • Distinctive from competitors
  • Creates the right 'feeling'
  • Can be owned (legally)
• Nice to haves
  • Personal history links
  • Key themes to explore, for example, 'mountaineering', ...
  • .com can be a specific need by a business owner (explore it further)
• No-go's
  • Cultural sensitivities
  • Category cliche's (Flickr, Tumblr,...)
• Reasons to change a brand name:
  • Hard to remember
  • Hard to pronounce or write (try googling it)
  • Not ownable
  • To generic
  • To literal (category)
  • Big shift in the company and want to signal
• Brand naming tools:
  • Trademark research: https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/#/tmview
  • Global trademark database: https://www3.wipo.int/branddb/en/
  • In different languages: https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/
  • Use thesaurus for synonyms and other word relations: https://www.thesaurus.com/
• Interesting people on brand naming: Eli Altman's book 'Don't call it that' is a great starting point. 

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform  for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

In this episode, I talk with Jo McKinney, CEO of Burns group, a leading brand transformation, and advertising company. We talk about the value of strategy for startups and how 'startup-mentality' can help big brands grow.

Show notes:

• https://www.burnsgroupnyc.com/
• The value of strategy for startups
• What startups value brand strategy
• Brandinformers by Burns Group: https://www.burnsgroupnyc.com/covidbrandinformersinsights
• Research and understanding the category
• What can big brands learn from startups? 
• The beginners mind.

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform  for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

In this episode, we talk about a 'hairy' subject: "selling brand strategy". We take a look at some of the most important aspects of strategic selling: mindset, conversations, pricing, positioning, ...

• 2 bobs podcast
• Pricing creativity, a guide beyond the billable hour
• It starts with your positioining
• Slowly transition into selling strategy
• Base your margin on: risk, resources, urgency, input of time and resources
• Proposal elements: the challenge (or the problem - the solution - the approach - the investment - example of deliverables
• Strategic selling is the opposite of selling.

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights visit the webiste here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform  for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

In this episode, I talk with Rory Sutherland, vice chairman at Ogilvy. Rory is an expert in behavioural economics. We talk about the surprising power of ideas that don't make sense and how to build better brands.

We talk about:

• Ogilvy
• Read this book: Alchemy, the surprising power of ideas that don't make sense.
• Behavioural economics
• Economic science
• Costly signaling theory
• Rory on Twitter
• Booktip: The choice factory by Richard Shotton
• Booktip: Presuasion by Robert Chaldini 
• Booktip: Spent by Geoffrey Miller 
• Booktip: Thinking fast and slow
• Booktip: Nudge

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform  for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

In this episode, we zoom in and out. How can we understand 'the bigger picture' and use it for the micro-level? How macro does a brand strategy need to be? How can we research both layers? How can we find relevant insights? Let's find out!

We talk about:

• https://www.cbinsights.com/
• https://www.warc.com/Welcome
• https://www.euromonitor.com/
• Pollfish, Surveymonkey and Typeform
• For more reading on statistics: the art of statistics by David Spiegelhalter

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform  for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

We talk about:

• Mark's upcoming book: Strategy is your words
• The amazing strategy community 'Sweatheads'
• The four point framework
• "Strategy is an informed opinion about how to win"
• Mark's strategy summer camp: check out the amazing course here

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform  for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

We talk about:

• Wiemer's book: Eat your greens or read the review here
• Byron Sharp's book: How brands grow
• Survey design
• The Juster scale
• The art of statistics by David Spiegelhalter
• Looking for similarities in stead of differences
• Philip Kotler, the godfather of segmentation
• The link with politics 

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform  for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

We talk about:

• Stink Studios
• Using strategy
• Spotify year in review
• Digitial creativity

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform  for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

We talk about:

• Gasp! The marketing agency
• The JWT planning guide by Stephen King
• Giles podcast, Call to action
• Generalist vs specialist debate
• The role of marketing
• Media neutrality in marketing
• How research can inspire tactics
• Rory Sutherland
• Bill Bernbach
• Bob Hoffman, the ad contrarian
• Go check out Isolated talks, it's full of amazing talks on branding and marketing
• Here's my talk

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform 
for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.

We talk about:

• Startups vs Small business
• The lean startup
• MVP: Minimum Viable Product
• Balancing the branding and the marketing spend
• Dividing the organisations in the risk-maturity quadrant
• Check out the blog post here

If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform 
for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.