Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits

design is really important. It sets up the interfaces that allow people to connect. It is not just the technology. Technology just provides the mechanics.

If, as a marketer, all I do is remind you of the past, then it’s going to be very hard for me to grow. In that scenario, there isn’t any promise, it’s only an ambiance built on nostalgia.

Ever since humans began collecting rocks and twigs, we’ve wanted to trade one thing for another. Sometimes, the reason we make these trades is to feed ourselves, but after we’ve done that, the primary reason for such exchanges is to generate joy or connection.

kids who come out of school, don’t want to go to work for just anybody—they don’t want to just get “a job.” They want to work for an organization they respect and that has the same values they

Go back to a brand’s roots and uncover the story that you can believe in and steward forward. You steward the story forward. But steward it in a way that presents it in a modern context.

the brands we choose to live with become statements about who we are as people. Most people don’t talk about brands in the way that I’m talking about them right now. But it is the way that we think.

So in many ways, what you’re doing in this work is taking away decades-old layers of marketing and revealing the true purpose of a product. Yes. I’m interested in peeling all those layers back and looking at a brand as it truly is.

Europe is far more respectful of the creative process. Europeans are much more creative in their thinking, and are much more courageous.

We all have a portfolio of brands we live with. We have a fine-tuned control over how these brands enter our life, convey their messages to us, and sell to us.