A plan is a method for achieving an end, so says Merriam-Webster. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that relying too heavily on the solidity of your plans is foolishness. Defining yourself by your adherence to a plan subject to the current volatility of our world can leave you feeling disappointed, jaded and cynical -- and cause you to operate from a defensive or a defeatist ...
How Do I Do Big Marketing With A Small Team?
As the director of marketing, you are one person. You are one person who acts as the chief mouthpiece, the brilliant broadcaster and the tenacious town crier for your big organization. With limited resources, it’s up to you to manage publicity, message, brand voice, campaigns, digital, visuals, and video, all while vetting new marketing advice and services, newfangled technology and CEOs who ...
The Future of Your Brand Starts Now
By Emily Soccorsy and Justin Foster One of the downsides of being an engaged leader in a company is that you really want the company to succeed. You want the profitable business venture that leads to you and your team getting paid, furthering your cause, enjoying accomplishments to succeed. Badly, day-in and day-out. And as fast as possible. You want it to succeed so much it creates ...
What Fear Does to Your Brand
In our work as brand excavators and strategists, we are not working to shoehorn your brand or business into a pre-set market position that we’ve deemed advantageous. That’s Old World branding. What we are ultimately working to do is to inspire you to overcome your fear. Fear is the main dynamic that keeps you from truly becoming a brand. The fears you have may feel monstrous ...
The Off-The-Record Factor: Share Stories You’d Normally Hide
If you were being interviewed by The New York Times about the success of your brand, what would you say? (I’ll give you a moment). Would you explain how you made some smart investments? Would you describe your strong work ethic? Would you acknowledge all of the things you did correctly? Yes, I’m sure you would. As you should! Undoubtedly, if a national newspaper has recognized you as an ...
BrandLab Attendee, We’d Like You to Meet Someone. Yourself.
When is the last time you raced against your buddies to make and fly a paper airline? Or when have you last handwritten something sacred and private, folded it up carefully and discreetly passed to a friend? How about taking the time to sit back and let someone read aloud to you? Has it been awhile? I’d venture to guess it’s because you’re an adult and most of us haven’t done these things ...
Podcast Appearances
Throughout the various podcasts that we’ve been grateful to appear on, it has been such a joy to speak to other experienced leaders who share similar passions as we do. Having the opportunity to help guide visionary leaders convey their message to the world is extremely rewarding, especially when they are ready to let their true self reflect in the ...
Rethinking Branding in the Age of Reimagined Capitalism
By Emily Soccorsy + Justin Foster One of the greatest pains of modern thinking is our addiction to dualism. While we are used to seeing this us-versus-them, black-or-white approach in politics or religion, it’s also incredibly prevalent in businesses. This is where we encounter it the most. Too many Old World leaders still believe that for-profit companies should be run with lightning ...
Don’t Tell Stories. Excavate Them. By Jennifer Lawhead
“That’s the story!” I exclaimed to a client on a recent storytelling and content coaching call. If I’ve learned anything from our clients recently, it’s this: when it comes to storytelling, the story is actually buried in the story. Sometimes, the story is buried in the story inside of the story. In other words, there’s probably a cooler/more interesting/more fascinating/more authentic story ...
Synthesis Episode #12: Marcia Reynolds On How Coaching Can Shift Living
As Our twelfth episode features Marcia Reynolds, Psy D., Marcia is the author of three books, The Discomfort Zone, Outsmart Your Brainand Wander Woman, with a fourth book on coaching in the works about how to get into a inquiry process. Marcia is real, frank and incredibly bright in her discussion with us and we cover a lot of meaningful ground. We cover how we remake ourselves, how coaching is ...