Client Scenarios Solved

We’ve acquired too many brands. Each one has equity but we can’t support all of them. Which do we keep?

Internally we’ve been at this for four years, can you sell-in the strategy to leadership?

We’re good at following guidelines but how do I get marketers and designers to understand how and where they can flex and be creative?

We’re spinning-off and need a strategy, name, tagline, logo, visual system, messaging platform and launch plan. Have you done this before? Can we get this done in four months?

The team is working really hard but sliding backwards with the client, can you fly out and spend a few weeks with them?

We’re meeting the CSO and head of communications on Tuesday. It’s brand architecture and no one can speak to it, can you fly out to lead the conversation… we need a deck.

We have smart people but they’re not battle-proof, can you help?

We spent nine months building a strategy and leadership ripped it apart. Can you help salvage what’s relevant and build a brand for an off-site in two weeks?

We changed leadership. I’m concerned about clients and talent walking out the door. We need you to onboard the CEO and go into the trenches with staff. Can you fly out with your family for a couple of months?

We’ve built our global brand portfolio over time. If you started with a blank piece of paper, what would it look like? We want to understand the velocity of each of our brands by market.

Brand architecture is really complicated and the client can’t articulate what they want. There is a good chance this will go sideways, do you still want to take it on?

We have so many KPIs to track, which are the most important and what should we invest in?

There’s an emerging, second-tier customer. Can you help us figure out who they are and touchpoints that matter?

My product engineers can’t articulate what makes the product different, what kind of an investment am I looking at?

We’re opening up a second corporate headquarters but based in China. How do we position our brand in a way that makes sense globally and in China?

I’m afraid that a brand from China or Korea will come in and buy a competitor? How much is my competitor’s brand really worth?

We want to open up a China headquarters in Qongching. Is that the right city? What are the risks?

Can you give our global team a briefing on China and what we should focus on?

Recent Projects

Carrier Fire and Security: Articulating a relevant brand and portfolio story

Spinning-off from United Technologies, the Carrier portfolio of offerings were free to build a business that better aligned to channel and end-user needs. Following two robust rounds of research, the Fire and Security portfolio focus landed on three flagship brands, two hero brands, and three product brands. For the eight brands, positioning platforms shifted from non-differentiated technical specs to addressing safety and productivity needs of end-users.

Midea + Toshiba Home Appliances: An authentic global, repositioning sprint 

Having been acquired by China-based Midea, Japan-based Toshiba Home Appliances were given the opportunity to reset and disrupt the category. A weeklong workshop was co-designed with the Tokyo and Guangzhou teams and the global leaders participated in a weeklong series of positioning sprints in Yokohama Japan. The approved brand platform was the product of multiple cultures, functional responsibilities, and industry perspectives.

Facebook: Creating customer-centric gateway into the Marketing Partners ecosystem

Small and midsize business customers are the engine that drives revenue growth. Facebook recognized that its brand architecture and nomenclature system was designed by engineers. By exploring models based on a marketing lifecycle, business lifestage or customer “type”, we were able to land on a system that solved the complex needs of current customers and provided a springboard for developing future services and partnerships.

Booz Allen: Calibrating the client acquisition strategy around innovation

Booz Allen leadership recognized that ideal civil and defense customers expect outcomes-based solutions, identify as change-agents and believe in their mission. Through a series of internal and client interviews, we created personas rooted in the world of a senior buyer, contract officer, project manager and influencer. These personas were mapped across an RFP lifecycle and unpacked each buyer group’s innovation capacity, barriers and painpoints, and behaviors.

Baker Hughes: Redefining the category post-GE spinoff

Baker Hughes had integrated with GE businesses around the world and pending the split with GE, needed to instill confidence with clients in the Middle East and North America.  While the Baker Hughes brand remained synonymous with upstream oil and gas capabilities, the brand needed to pivot to seamless delivery of a broader range of energy solutions - exploration through distribution in a cleaner, more sustainable, and locally-focused manner.

Geisinger: Aligning a healthcare brand around an outcomes driven experience

Geisinger has always been a progressive pioneer in healthcare delivery and one of the few category beacons successfully shifting from fee-for-service to patient outcomes. With its expansion across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the brand architecture needed to align with the brands vision and evolving service delivery. With its deep focus on audience segments, the brand architecture was designed around lifestages so that the rails of current and future offerings aligned with audience group needs.