Brand Strategy For Designers: How to Get Started (Part 1)
Summary
TLDRThe speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the true essence of branding, which extends far beyond the creation of a logo. They share personal experiences and insights from their journey into brand strategy, highlighting the significance of customer perception and the cumulative impact of every interaction on a brand's image. The talk underscores the role of a brand strategist in shaping a company's reputation and creating meaningful experiences for customers. The speaker also discusses the influence of social media on brand perception and the importance of authenticity in branding. They touch upon the role of various elements, including visual and audio principles, in creating a brand's identity and the critical nature of aligning with customer expectations. The transcript concludes with a promotional offer for Teachable, a platform utilized by the speaker's company to deliver their courses and templates.
Takeaways
- 🏭 Products are made in factories, but brands are built in the hearts and minds of people through shared experiences and reputation.
- 👥 As a designer moving into brand strategy, one must consider nurturing and influencing the relationship with the audience to shape the company's image.
- 🎓 Studying and understanding the strategic part of branding is crucial, even if the background is in design and production.
- 🚀 Branding is more than just a logo; it's about shaping the entire customer experience from start to finish.
- 🤝 Collaborating with copywriters and understanding user profiles can significantly influence the design process and outcome.
- 🌟 A brand is defined by a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or organization, which includes the promises made and the ability to deliver on those promises.
- 📈 The role of a brand strategist is to shape the company's identity by influencing how it is perceived by its audience.
- 💡 Branding involves the application of principles that translate feelings into visuals, audio, and other sensory experiences.
- 📊 Measuring branding versus marketing is essential to understand the impact of every interaction on the brand's perception.
- 📝 Copywriting is a vital part of branding, requiring simplicity and clarity to effectively communicate the brand's message.
- 🌐 In the age of social media, the control of brand perception has shifted from companies to consumers, making authenticity in branding more important than ever.
Q & A
What is the primary difference between a product and a brand according to the speaker?
-The speaker suggests that while products are made in factories, brands are built in the hearts and minds of people through shared experiences, reputation, and expectations.
Why do people want to be brand strategists?
-People want to be brand strategists because it allows them to do something important by shaping the company's identity and influencing its relationship with its customers.
What platform is mentioned in the script that has helped creators grow their online businesses?
-The platform mentioned is Teachable, which the speaker's team has used for hosting courses, managing affiliates, and processing payments.
What was the speaker's initial reaction to seeing Yo Santosa's branding work?
-The speaker was intrigued and somewhat envious, wanting to understand how she was able to do strategic branding work that was different from the design production work he was familiar with.
What was the name of the company that the speaker mentions as an example of effective branding?
-The company mentioned is Pinkberry, a frozen fro yo place, for which Yo Santosa did some branding work.
What is the CORE framework that the speaker discusses?
-The CORE framework is a tool for understanding branding and user experience design. It focuses on the intersection between the brand, the user, and the business goals to create a cohesive strategy.
How did the speaker's perspective on web design change after meeting Jose?
-The speaker realized that designing for a specific user profile is crucial and that understanding the user's needs and goals shapes the design process. This led to a shift from designing websites as digital brochures to creating experiences.
What was the name of the IT expense management company the speaker worked with?
-The company's name was Tango, and they help large corporations manage their IT expenses.
What are the two key insights the speaker identified during the brand strategy workshop with Tango?
-The first insight was that Tango's service saves people money, which is a significant value proposition. The second insight was that Tango viewed their customers with disdain, which shifted to recognizing them as heroes of 21st-century businesses.
What is the importance of being transparent and acknowledging what you don't know when working with clients?
-Transparency and acknowledging what you don't know helps build trust with clients, opens up communication, and allows for a more effective problem-solving process. It also prevents misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the client's business.
How does the speaker define 'branding' in the context of the script?
-The speaker defines 'branding' as the process of influencing or shaping the feelings, promises, character, values, and expectations that make up a brand. It involves the visual and audio application of these principles to create a tangible representation of the brand.
Outlines
🤝 The Importance of Building Brands in People's Hearts
The paragraph emphasizes the distinction between manufacturing products and building brands. It highlights the role of brand strategists in nurturing relationships and influencing perceptions. The speaker thanks Teachable for supporting their mission and shares their journey into brand strategy, inspired by a fellow graduate's work in the field. The story of how the speaker transitioned from design to strategy is detailed, including their curiosity about the strategic aspect of branding and their determination to understand and master it.
🚀 Brand Strategy and User Experience Design Insights
This paragraph discusses the speaker's introduction to user experience design and the development of a framework called CORE. The speaker shares their realization about designing for specific user profiles and the importance of understanding stakeholders' needs. The narrative includes a personal anecdote about designing a website with a focus on user experience, leading to a significant shift in their approach to design and branding.
🎨 Integrating Brand Strategy with Design and Copywriting
The speaker delves into their experience with brand strategy, including conducting workshops and gaining insights into a client's business model and customer perceptions. The importance of clear communication and understanding client jargon is emphasized. The speaker also shares how they developed logos, copywriting, and a brand voice for a company called Tango, using superhero themes to resonate with their ideal customer base.
📈 The Evolution of Branding: From Design to Strategy
The paragraph explores the concept of branding, defining it as a combination of customer perception, the ability to deliver on promises, and the creation of expectations. The speaker reflects on their evolution as a designer into a brand strategist and the importance of shaping the entire customer experience. The narrative also touches on the role of social media in shaping public perception of brands and the risks of creating a false brand image.
🧩 The Role of Logo in Branding and Customer Perception
In this paragraph, the speaker discusses the misconception that a logo is the entirety of a brand. They argue that a logo is merely a container for meaning, which is filled by the company's actions, values, and customer experiences. The importance of aesthetics is acknowledged, but the underlying brand elements such as voice, messaging, and behavior are emphasized as the true drivers of brand value.
📚 Teachable's Support in Growing Online Businesses
The speaker briefly mentions the support provided by Teachable, a platform they have used for years to host their courses and manage their business. They offer an exclusive deal for the audience to try Teachable's Pro Plan at a discounted rate, highlighting the platform's role in their mission to help people make a living doing what they love.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Brand Strategy
💡User Experience (UX) Design
💡Core Framework
💡Customer Perception
💡Logo
💡Copywriting
💡Brand Voice and Tone
💡Impression Management
💡Transparency
💡Stakeholders
💡Customer Empathy
Highlights
Brands are built in the hearts and minds of people, not just in factories where products are made.
Every opportunity to share an experience or build reputation is a chance to nurture or influence the relationship with the customer.
Brand strategists play an important role in shaping the company's identity and its perception in the market.
The importance of understanding the strategic part of branding, which goes beyond graphic design and production.
Yo Santosa's work with Pinkberry as a case study on how designers can expand a brand's presence and appeal.
The concept of designing for a specific user profile and how it shapes the design process.
The development of the CORE framework by Jose, emphasizing the intersection between brand, user, and business goals.
The shift from designing websites as digital brochures to creating experiences built around user needs.
The revelation that branding is about shaping the entire customer experience, not just visual identity systems.
The process of conducting full-day workshops to gain insights into a company's brand strategy.
The importance of transparency and simplicity in communication, especially when dealing with complex subjects or jargon.
The transformation of client perception from viewing customers as a necessary evil to embracing them as heroes.
The creation of a brand strategy for Tango, focusing on the company's ability to save customers money and the superhero status of their IT personnel.
The significance of understanding that a brand is more than a logo; it's the container for the collective meaning created by the company's actions and values.
The impact of social media on brand perception, where consumers now have more control over a brand's reputation than ever before.
The idea that a brand is shaped at every interaction and that maintaining a consistent brand experience is crucial.
The practical example of how personal impression management, such as dressing appropriately for different occasions, is a form of branding.
The importance of aligning with cultural expectations and the potential pitfalls of mismatched branding through attire.
Transcripts
so we know that um products are made in
factories but brands are built in the
hearts and minds of people and so every
opportunity that you get to share an
experience or build that reputation or
create an expectation you have to
nurture or influence that relationship
so as a designer who's moving into brand
strategy space you have to consider all
of that and that's why I think people
want to be brand strategist because you
get to do something important you get to
sh the company and I just want to say a
quick thank you to the people who made
this possible and we're going to move on
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let's get back to the video so I'm going
to start off today with like a couple of
quick stories about how I got into brand
strategy so there's some context for
this conversation and where I went with
it so if your expectations aren't
fitting within that let's have a
conversation and uh the the very first
person I saw do branding it kind of blew
my mind it's woman her name is Yo
santosa and she runs a company called
Pharaoh concrete she's an Arts Center
grad and we went through the same
program though what she was able to do
was very different than what I was able
to do and I I looked at it like I
studied graphic design of course she
went to school much um like many years
after I did and she started doing
branding I was just really intrigued by
it because for a very long time we're a
design design production companies we
work with agencies like advertising
agencies so they did the strategy they
would write the copy we would figure out
creative ways to bring that to life in
video and animation but we didn't do the
Strategic part so when I saw her doing
this stuff and I was just like semi
intrigued and really just jealous like
how do you do that did we go to the same
school and did you have some Secret
Sauce so I started to study it and some
of you who watch my videos understand
like how my brain works I'm very logical
I break things down and it just started
to unravel everything and try to find
the recipe for it I even interviewed her
and asked her all these questions that I
wanted to know in hopes that I would be
able to share with all of you but she
struggled with telling me how she did
what she did that's okay cuz I figured
it out all right and I'm here to share
it with you and back I don't know in the
early 2000s Pinkberry as a frozen fro yo
place was just blowing up and she did
some incredible work for for Pinkberry
which opened my mind as to what
designers could do they started to
design copy the website signage and
really worked with them in expanding
their brand and when we talk about brand
and we'll get into a little bit more
later it's way deeper than what I
thought was it was and what designers
could do and her inspiration for the
entire uh Pink berry look was she was
really into high-end Cosmetics so if you
understand that then you look at this
you're like oh I see like if you look at
the way Cosmetics are photographed the
powders and all the serums they it's
very clean it's white it's minimal it's
very luxurious and it's simple
presentation and and there in in the
copy that she would write too like I
didn't know you could do this instead of
saying just open from 11: to 11 she
would write swirling daily so she's
working with copywriters and this really
excited me I'll show you just a little
bit more of her work to give you the
context so for me this is what graphic
designers do we design identity systems
not branding now I know it's a very
popular phrase that people use like I do
branding no you don't if you don't shape
the entire customer experience from
point A to point B then you're not
really doing branding you're using that
as a buzzword because you think you can
charge more money there's nothing really
wrong with that you can call yourself
whatever you want but if you're purist
and you're like not not really you're
misrepresenting there okay and so she
would come up with
campaigns write copy come up with image
recipes she would design websites also
apps and I was just like this is so cool
and here I am just totally confused like
that's not really me I'm like how how
are you doing this and I just couldn't
figure it out back then it was so
mysterious and so sexy I'm like I want
that and then I meet this guy Jose and
Jose comes from the web design space
user experience design he worked in
Silicon Valley with startups and was
part of that whole culture and he wanted
to show me how did the user experience
design and the story is going to come to
a I'll Point here in a second so he
showed me this thing that he had
co-developed with some of his very smart
friends about like what branding and you
user experience it somewhere between the
brand the user and the business goals is
what they do and he developed this
framework called core and he showed it
to me and I I influenced a little bit of
how it was shaped and some of you how
many of you guys have purchased core are
using core great thank you very much so
there's three of you so you have an
advantage over everybody else because
what I'm doing is my version of it
taking to whatever level applied for
Branding and so this was an eye-opening
experience for me because throughout my
years in art center and and after after
Art Center for almost 20 years at that
point I didn't understand that we're
designing for someone and you can't
build a website or an app if you don't
design for someone very specific cases
so he introduced me to this concept of a
user profile and so when you design a
website you have to know who are the
stakeholders who's going to be using it
not just the end user but the
administrators or the content creators
and you design a use case for each one
of those people and you see where they
intersect and you create different
portals depending on who's interacting
with it like the classic example of an
airline you think you design the airline
website just for the end user but you
don't you design one for the travel
agent you might design one for the
airline itself and all the different
partners and so there's different ways
of interaction but the big Insight was
when you design for someone it really
shapes how you think about the design
makes sense right and that was a big
like Epiphany for me like wow this is
how you do it and of course he took it
where you're supposed to take these
things he would use it to build
wireframes for websites or or flowcharts
and then he would get into the Web
Design This is actually literally from
one of our episodes where I was
designing a website the correct way for
the first time in my life and I'm semi
ashamed or guilty of designing websites
as digital brochures I've done this
before and you should spank me for it
later so when he showed it to me I'm
like wow I can come up with ideas for
features and functions I was developing
tools it felt really empowering to be
able to do this now if you're squinting
your eyes I know some of you are you're
like what is going on here but if you're
in the web space you understand this
this makes a lot of sense so that's
that's where the big shift happened for
me was creating something built around
an experience but I immediately saw
something much cooler than this whereas
Jose would start with Divi defining the
brand voice and the tone and the culture
of the brand if we're do doing user
experience design shouldn't we be
focused on the user first and he and I
would butt heads on this I always wanted
to start teaching and running workshops
with a user point of view before we got
into the brand it's much easier for the
brand to understand the needs of the
users and create products for them than
it is to say we have a product now let's
go find a user so philosophically it
might look like it's the same but for me
fundamentally it was a very different
almost isic shift I'm semiconscious cuz
my skirt's going to fall off here I
don't I'm going to take it off in a
little bit okay so I'm going to show you
now the very first time we it's an apron
we did brand
strategy somebody call a skirt before I
just went with that I'm like it's just
an apron guys all right cuz you're like
he's going to take off his skirt it's
not going to work you don't want to see
that either by the way the very first
time we did brand strategy independently
of Jose was for a client called go I'm
the kind of person who learns a little
bit and I'm super dangerous cuz I go
telling people I'm going to do this now
and then you get hired for it and then
you panic and you break up in like a
break out in a cold sweat okay so I'm
going to show you what it looks like
it's not perfect it's not perfect so we
do the core exercises as I'm adapting it
for Branding and building other things
okay We Came Upon two insights these are
facilitated full day
workshops 68 hours in a room room where
Executives flew in from across the
country to meet with us keep in mind
it's the first time I'm doing it by
myself pretty scary and I've only done
it twice this is like the second time
all right so when we're talking to the
chief Revenue officer I forget his name
but he said something like Chris I don't
know man what we do is not sexy but what
we do is we save people money and that's
a big deal for us they're an IT expense
management company they help large
corporations plug the leak boat if you
will if you can imagine we have
thousands of employees laptops and cell
phones and cell plans there's lots of
money wasted so they're able to help
companies manage their it expenses makes
sense right now I know that doesn't seem
like a big deal but it took hours for us
to understand what they did they use
very complicated language and I'll give
you one tip here when you're working
with your clients and they say things
you don't understand because you're
going to be a brand strategist
facilitator after this point if you
don't understand something you have to
be brave enough to say I do not
understand what you're saying they
started using acronyms and jargon I just
didn't understand at all and I raised my
hand kind of after hours of this I'm
like my mind is going to explode I don't
know what they're talking about and I
have to make something from this so you
have to be brave enough to say something
I raised my hand I said hey
everybody you guys are talking inside
baseball I do not know where you're
talking about you need to explain this
to me like I'm your mom or fifth grader
cuz I'm the guy who has to write the
copy build to stuff that people use I
suspect you're having problems with your
website with your identity with your
communication cuz you're speaking very
inside baseball at this point no one
understands and to my surprise and
Delight they all just laughed and there
was a big sigh in the room as if we I
just let the pressure valve open it was
really cool to do that so I'm going to
continue on this theme where if you're
fully transparent Embrace that what you
know and what you don't know it's going
to be much much easier but this was a
really big insight
Insight number two and there are many
I'm just going to pull out two insights
for you is that they looked at their
customers with
disdain they they considered them like a
necessary evil and I know some of you I
won't make you raise your hand but some
of you think your clients get in the way
of your ability to do good work that's a
horrific combative way of looking at the
people who make what you do possible so
we want to get rid of that attitude too
and so we kept working on defining their
ideal customer their user the people are
going to buy their service say and we
found out that at the core of every 21st
century business every operation is the
IT person they're blamed for everything
they get no credit and they're just
looked down upon they're very much
maligned I said they're just not the
hero of every operation they're the
superhero and for the first time you can
see the energy shift again from disdain
to deep empathy and gratitude our email
server went down for like a day we all
freaked out like it's like we don't know
what to do we're looking at each other
like
like no one speaks English anymore and
then I called up where ERS like can you
fix this I'm on her right now have you
ever had that kind of problem before yes
so now you know it's like we don't we
shouldn't be yelling at them we
shouldn't be blaming them we should be
thanking them okay those two insights
started to drive everything else that
you'll see here today okay in terms of
like what I'm about to present to you so
the company's name is Tango and we
developed a bunch of logos Emily's an
amazing designer she would do all these
designs and then I looked at one of her
designs I'm like wait wait change this
do this cuz I have an idea on how to
sell it this is the logo they ultimately
bought and I'll tell you how I sold it
okay I think the tiace is accurat for
those of you guys that know your tiac is
and she modified the descender of the G
it's a two-story G and I I like just cut
it off like that make it very stylized
she goes okay I can do that so when I
went to present all these different logo
ideas I came up on this and I said you
guys are about the bottom line
like I get it they like show us no more
logos we're
done so sometimes a little customer
Insight turns into a design expression
that is abstract but has meaning to them
and they can then take that and sell it
all the way through through marketing
through the CEO and every CFO don't you
guys get it we're about the bottom
line okay so then that informed
everything else the use of lines and the
colors some of you guys are like they
look like future colors I'm like yeah
who knows what happened
all right so then we started writing
copy something I've never done before
and I'll read you some of the lines and
given the two insights I shared to you
they save people money and that's cool
and the the people that work um their
their their customers should be embraced
as these Heroes of 21st century
businesses right so there's the Leaky
bucket it says it expenses out of
control gain visibility of Shadow it
because what they offer their customers
is transparency you can know what where
your money is going and you can plug the
boat um it's just simple simple
copywriting it's not trying to write
just do it because I'm not that kind of
copywriter but it's effective in its
communication single syllable words
fifth graders can to understand spend
less do more uh they have this product
called The Matrix so having this ability
to look into a space and understand like
where everybody's at so that that was a
concept right like who's spending what
what's her data plan look like so we're
trying to show it visually uh super
icial versus super fiscal of just a play
on words there and something had
happened to me when I was working on
this project I realized I thought I got
into design to escape words and
copy but I was just like I think I can
write copy now this is kind of fun to do
to find the right word
combinations it's difficult because
you're going to find out tomorrow when
you have to write copy but it's once you
figure out that there's a game and
there's a puzzle and a framework then it
becomes much much easier so where do we
get this superficial versus superficial
because they're not just the hero
they're the superhero so we started
playing around with themes of the
Justice League and superhero so you know
where this line comes from check it out
with great visibility comes great power
that's the Peter Parker Spider-Man line
right but it's like with great power
comes great responsibility we just
switch the words around the diligent
dollar
Defender and Titan of
it and boosting the bottom line and then
we would do this into mockups we
designed their website please don't look
up the website since working on it they
fired the entire team somebody else came
in like the entire SE Suite was like
something weird happened they nuked the
whole thing so now if you go check it
out it looks nothing like this and it
was wonderful too because then having
done the logo their identity system
their
website and their copywriting they asked
us to design videos for them so this
just grows and grows like once you get
to know the client's needs better than
they can articulate it you're in real
deep at this point so the engagement I
think started I think under $100,000 and
quickly blew into a quarter million
dollar they paid $100,000 just for the
video
itself so this is the benefit of you
being able to have this conversation
when we took break for the first day
that four hours that we're in he turned
to me he said something amazing he said
Chris you've been able to do more in
hours than we have been able to do in
months as as you know as a designer Who
services people I'm like that feels
pretty good to hear something like that
and towards the end and if you're doing
this right they'll stand up and hug you
privately not allog together but they're
like when the other guys are gone they
just lean in and give you a hug I'm like
this feels good I've been working in
commercial production working with ad
agencies for years at this point none of
them ever given me a hug is because they
saw me as a person who made things not
as a partner trying to help them
facilitate their goals and Achieve
something and solve a big problem so
terms and definitions it's important for
us to share the correct dialogue when
we're talking about things this is going
to be like these really really rapid
fire things I'm going to do with you
okay so I just want you to complete this
sentence a brand is what is a
brand like two words gut feeling anybody
else a brand is
what
okay
perception customer perception perfect
okay what
else ability to deliver promises okay
these are excellent oh you guys are too
smart notice nobody said a logo I love
it
expectations you don't know I you don't
you have not seen what I've seen okay
very good so there are many definitions
of what a brand is and and I think we're
really really close it's like like 98%
any one of those things that you said I
think feel right to me there were no
wrong answers there will be wrong
answers that I guarantee it but so far
so good the crowd is smart in Miami here
okay so if we go to Mr Marty newm who
writes about branding all the time a
professional friend colleague and now
yeah I think personal friend too a brand
as a person's got feeling about a
product service organization so it's
what you say it is it's what they say it
is and what who's they and he writes in
a different book I think it's maybe
brand flip when enough people share a
gut feeling then you have a brand so
inevitably when you read that or you say
that out loud what the next question is
how many is enough people I don't know I
would say more than half half the people
you're talking to then I think 51%
that's your brand so we can see that
then there's multiple interpretations of
this because not everyone has the same
experience so when we're working with
our customers I'm sorry with our clients
who have customers we have to understand
what the perception is today where they
would like to move it to okay so very
good so we know that um products are
made in factories but brands are built
in the hearts and minds of people and so
every opportunity that you get to share
an experience or build that reputation
or create an expectation you have to
nurture or influence that Rel
relationship so as a designer who's
moving into brand strategy space you
have to consider all of that and that's
why I think people want to be brand
strategist because you get to do
something important you get to shape the
company so if we understand what
branding is I promise you the prompts
get a little bit harder okay so feel
free to write in your book whatever you
think but you can write it in later too
therefore for Branding is what so a
brand is a person's got feeling it's
about the promises that you make and
your ability to deliver on those things
it's about the character and your values
and creating
expectations then what is branding if
that's
brand oh now you're not so fast build
building what those building those
feelings building logo okay okay we knew
the logo comments coming it's coming
here we go what visual audio application
all those principles the visual audio
application of all those principles
okay the feelings translated to visuals
okay so now it's kind of real
interesting we're starting to talk about
tangible things now Cur curating
experience okay hold on to that thought
I need another marker
here if this is a brand what is your
name Liz Liz says it's shaping all of
that that sounds pretty smart to me if
this is the brand then branding is how
we influence or shape all that that
makes a lot of sense are you brand
strategist by the
way even better you're like I'm brand
strategist by osmosis I'm been doing my
sleep baby I got this so you're going to
crush this right so we'll just say watch
out for the table of three the three
ladies are just destroy she's just not
even trying and she's doing it that
makes a lot of sense okay there was an
article in Harvard Business Review I
think it was the May June issue of this
year I'm very much into brand and
branding and personal Brands so when I
saw this some many post it is online I
had to go to the bookstore the news
stand they still exist somewhere I'm
like where's the copy of this so I'm my
it's not my local news stand so I had to
find a Barnes & Noble in Glendale and I
wented there and I bought this and I
read it and the article
sucked hbr is not all that it's cracked
up to be it's you read this have you
read this article save your money just
save your money right now
I okay they're written by really smart
people usually Harvard graduates but
this one was really about like tuning
your resume to get a job a j o I'm like
I'm not interested that at all this is
totally missing the point in my opinion
but there was an article before this
article that was much more interesting
it was about how to measure branding
versus marketing that article is worth
reading we're not going to talk about
the article today but it said something
like your brand is being shaped at every
interaction because someone's forming an
opinion about you that's consistent with
what we've been talking about right it's
promises it's experiences it's people's
gut feeling and so that gut feeling is
being changed every single day some of
you came in this morning with a feeling
about me hopefully gets it gets better
and then tomorrow goes down who knows
what's going to happen but that's why
you could never let it down this is also
why you can't create a false brand
because people are going to see right
through it almost immediately because we
live in a new time when companies no
longer control our perceptions because
of social media good work good news
travels fast bad news travels even
faster right so we the consumer now are
taking over the brand we own the brand
the customers okay and of course Jeff
bzo says your brand is what people say
when you're not in the room it's your
reputation we get that go
ahead okay the fake brand I'll give you
the example back in the day when when
companies can control the narrative they
might say like something like quality's
job one what company is that quality's
job number
one no no there's a very specific brand
what no okay this is how old I
am or how old you're not paying
attention nobody knows quality's job
number one they probably had to change
this because it's not true it was Ford
you guys remember Ford quality is job
number one and I'll tell you something
uh I'm an immigrant a refugee from
Vietnam my parents when they came here
we escaped communism and so my parents
were so grateful for America my dad is
Mom China that's terrible buy American
buy American right so when he had the
opportunity to we bought like a minivan
the very first year the Ford Aerostar
came out okay and I got to tell you
something I was in high school and I was
in the French Club and we had to like
sell candy or stupid things to earn
enough money to have this fancy French
dinner in the Hills somewhere all right
so my parents are driving me and my
cousin and my my little brother it's a
fancy French restaurant we're going to
use all our French that we supposedly
learned and we pulled up onto this
Gravel Road pull up to the side I I'm
like Mom see you later just park in the
darkness we don't want to see you again
please don't let any my friends see you
I flip the door open the sliding door
and the whole door falls
off quality is job number one my face
went like just totally red I just
started sweating immedately my cousin
time like hold the door so it doesn't
look so bad like we're just like like
saying along long goodbye or something
right now help me put the door back on
and the first time we took a road trip
in that that Aerostar it was across from
San Jose to Las Vegas it broke in the
desert so my mom and dad super hot
desert the My Three
Brothers my two brothers my my dad and
and my older brother had to run across
the highway to hitchhike to go to the
gas station quality's job number one
that is a fake brand clearly it's not
number one to this day my dad's like I
guess we're done with Ford he bought a
Honda it's never broken okay but I love
this idea from Dr Christine lucer who
teaches at The manura Institute the
manura project and she's like Chris do
you know what impression management
is like yeah she goes what's an example
of impression management so I'm going to
ask you what is impression
management deal with the way people see
you or perceive you or you but give me
an example how are you doing doing
impression Management on a human
level like politicians when they no like
give me a yeah okay politicians
politicians when they have to deal with
something that's against what they are
saying like finding a way to have an
excuse that makes that is still
believable okay let me ask you on a very
personal level how have you personally
have done impression management so if
you want to say we'll throw the mic over
to you okay here it's really easy it's a
short trip for me
the way I
dress more words okay so when when
before I'm going out in public I
actually take a strategic approach a
long period of time and I wear certain
clothes for me that translate to you my
brand okay give me one very specific
instance I'm
wearing a breast cancer bracelet by
David yman his wife and he started the
business and he used to be a welder my
husband was a welder he's no longer with
us everything that I'm wearing is my own
trademark in my name my shoes were done
by my daughter that's enough okay okay
thank you that was excellent that was
excellent so for sure like if you're on
a
date you're going to dress up for it you
comb your hair you'll wash your clothes
you do something because you want to
make that good first impression if
you're showing up for a job interview
they say dress for the job you want not
the one that you have so you need to
connect culturally to them if they're
very suit and tie three-piece suit don't
come in in in shorts and and flipflops
conversely if you work in the creative
industry do not show up in a suit
they'll make fun of you you know my
brother went my younger brother when he
first arrived in La he showed up for a
job interview and he wore an ill-fitted
suit and the guy said never come back
again like that but we'll hire you and
so he worked in the in the industry for
really long time so you have to kind of
match what the expectations are we get
that right and so we can see that if we
are managing
Impressions that is branding we're
trying to shape and influence it we
can't control it we can't control people
we can't control their feelings but we
can definitely influence it for sure
okay so I think we're all on board we're
on the same page here that unfortunately
the vast majority of people outside of
this room that call themselves designers
do not understand what brand and
branding is for them it's this and
there's real reason why they're confused
by this right because when Nike over the
last couple decades have done everything
they can to shape your impression of
them we come to symbolize it in a mark
and then they think well the Nike shoe
is not worth anything if you take that
Mark away is that true or false mostly
true mostly true because if it was a
knockoff brand let's just say it was
like Sketchers they both cover your feet
they both have cushioning they both have
materials but it's a totally different
experience the one that we tell
ourselves so that's why designers think
it's the logo I created all the
meaning um and I'm forgetting his name
now I interviewed him on this he says
the logo is just a container for
meaning this is a critical thing for you
to understand a logo is just a container
for meaning everybody that's part of
that company from the marketing team
down to the customer service to the
intern puts meaning in the container
then the container has to be beautiful
it has to be open it has to be something
that can withstand the rigors of
different applications and time so there
is real value in creating that there are
wonderful brands that I love that have a
horrible logo that I just cannot buy
because I'm a
snob I shouldn't be caught up in that
but the Aesthetics do matter to me okay
as many of you will like yeah we're in
that same camp so everything else that's
underneath the things that we don't see
the voice the messaging the behavior
that bleed the values the entire
customer experience is what makes that
brand but the public sees that so we
understand now why there's some
confusion there today's episode is
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