Brand Frontlines

Marissa La Brecque, Eric La Brecque

5.0 (2)
MARKETING

Tools and insights from the brand frontlines—the same ideas that have helped some of the biggest and best known organizations on the planet to build successful brands. A resource for strategists, marketers, copywriters, and designers, hoping to create charismatic and meaningful work for clients.

07/08/2022

Backstory

Backstory is the backbone of our brand building method. A brand is a story told in the marketplace and this is the story. A backstory validates the platform and instigates the messaging. A good backstory marries meaning and emotion and inspires the team. We share our process for creating a solid backstory.

30 min
06/10/2022

The Secret History of Storytelling in Marketing

We believe a brand is a story told in the marketplace. But when we got started, marketing and storytelling were worlds apart. Here is the tale of how we made the connections and built a methodology that now leads the industry (along with many other brilliant marketers).

27 min
04/29/2022

Brand Themes

Brand Themes are the strengths that drive your brand story. And they are keystones to your messaging. Nail these foundational drivers and deepen your relationship with customers, hone your communications, and get clear on your strategy.

36 min
04/01/2022

Brand Promise

Take the word promise at face value. When you're articulating a brand promise, it should be something that you can deliver on all the time. The promise of a brand is the most important unmet need you can deliver for your customers. We talk about what it is, how to define it, and maximize it. We also share some examples of successful and not so successful brand promises.

25 min
03/11/2022

Brand Archetypes

A full transcript of the episode: INTRO TO ARCHETYPES M: Welcome to Brand Frontlines, the podcast wher brands building gets real. I'm Marissa La Brecque, founder of Hyperflore. E: And I'm Eric La Brecque, principal of Applied Storytelling. M: Today we're doing something a little different. Usually we cover one element of the Brand Wheel in each episode. The Brand Wheel is our organizational system for a brand. But today we're going to keep on personality, which we covered last time. We didn't have time to get to archetypes, which are super helpful tools in building a personality. So we're going to dive into those today. No guests, just the straight dope on archetypes, what they are, why they're useful, how we find them, how we present them, and also the risks of using them. And then next episode, we'll cover brand promise. But before we get into all of that, what are you working on today, Eric? E: Right after we talk about archetypes, I'm going to go into a virtual work session with the Henry Ford, one of our oldest and biggest clients. And the Henry Ford is thinking about their vision. Actually, they just are in the final stages of wrapping up their most recent strategic plan, which was driven by the vision in part, and they're getting ready to think about their next one, which coincides with their 100th anniversary. Just kind of want to make sure that the vision that's guiding them is on track. So we're going to look at it. Nothing may change, or something may change, or there may be some supporting detail that we add. So that's what's coming up. M: I’m working on selling a course to my clients. Actually, I realized earlier this year that because I work with smaller businesses, once we're done building the brand, we've got the platform set up, we've we've done messaging, they want to keep working together to do social media or newsletters or any kind of ongoing content, but they can't afford to have me on retainer. So I created some courses. The first one, we're working on is email marketing courses. And so we're gonna like really sit with them, make sure they actually have a landing page, when we're done with the class, make sure that they really know how to create calls to action, all the things to make their emails, make money for them, but also to still feel not salesy or cheesy or too aggressive, any of the things that they're worried about feeling like that, keep them from writing those newsletters. So I'm really excited. I feel like it's a really a solution for my clients. E: I remember something you told me a few weeks back that was really interesting was how a lot of your clients are just really hung up on social media, it's a source of real stress for them, because they know what's important, or they've been told it's important. A lot of them can see how it'd be really useful. But they're small, and you know, just the effort to get something out, especially if that's not your thing, right? You're a baker or you're making fragrances or whatever it is that you do. You don't have the staff to keep pumping stuff out. You may not have the budget to hire a social media person part time or a PR firm. And so it's a source of really great anxiety. It's where the price and the value don't really line up in the market. So I think what you're doing is great. I'm going to be listening. ARCHETYPES: WHAT ARE THEY? M: . So archetypes Let's talk about what they are. They have a historical context. E: , they do. I mean, we've been dealing in archetypes for a long time as a species. I mean, some people would say, they're hardwired into our brains. We've known about archetypes for probably before we had a word for them, or a system of organizing them. The person who's generally credited with that is Carl Jung, 20th century psychologist, and archetype person. You know, what he did was kind of called out and then talk about how they could be kind of organized, what they are, are these kind of models that live in our heads— live rent free in our heads, as people say, and they crop up in literature, they crop up and how we tell stories, which is what's really interesting for me. M: I really noticed that with our kids like, the concept of a king and a queen, and, you know, a knight or a hero, these concepts like, obviously, don't track with anything that they see in, in real life. But they just resonate so hard. E: , they do there. And they, they shift a little bit across cultures, the names for them might shift nuances, but they're basically embedded in every culture. And they've been with us down through time. So there are these basically these forms in our psyche, and they bubble up as motifs, themes and art literature in our lives, you know, and that's really what they are. When we're talking about personality, we're looking at archetypes that are types of being, but they're archetypes of all different kinds. There are archetypes for buildings, there are archetypes for other kinds of objects. There are archetypes associated with ideas. There are archetypes for all different kinds of things. If you want to actually just enjoy living in the world of archetypes for a little bit. There's a great novel, I've just read it, called Piranesi by a British author named Susanna Clarke. And it's about somebody who's kind of lost in a world of archetypes. They're surrounded by statues, millions of them. And these statues represent sort of typical classic scenes that you might find in life. That's enough about that. But it's a great read, well written kind of gives you a flavor for archetypes from a different angle. A lot of models have 12 archetypes. But I've seen models with where they're like 72. There could be an infinite number. But humans like systems, right? We like to boil things down, I think of archetypes is kind of like the zodiac signs. There are 12 of them. That Tarot Deck has its number of the Arcana, right, you know, we like these patterns—the I Ching. So 12 is a common number. There's no universal agreed upon set. But 12 seems to be a pretty common number. And there are generally, you know, 12 distinct archetypes that most people recognize. ARCHETYPES AND BRANDS M: Okay, so let's talk about why they're useful when you're creating a personality for a brand. E: So go back and listen to the last episode, because we'll get into all the different aspects of a personality, all the different qualities that go into a good personality from a brand standpoint, but what an archetype should be doing for, for you, for your brand, for the people expressing the brand, through design through words, is rolling those individual qualities up into one recognizable, easy to understand type of being. So an archetype might be a magician, a lover, a ruler or queen, the sage there are these different every person, you know, these different types that have qualities that we can generally recognize. And if you can kind of take all the individual personality attributes and recognize the overarching pattern, then it becomes really easier to use, you're not thinking about this and that and fitting those things together. Right? You have this larger model. M: it allows you to embody the brand get into character. , E: Absolutely. And it's so important to brand building that some agencies, not us necessarily, but some agencies really make that kind of a central thing that they're trying to discover about a brand. GETTING CLIENTS ENGAGED IN THE PROCESS M: I also find just in client relations. It's one of those things that's fun, and it feels like a little treat in the process You know, it's nice to have those little high points that people get excited about it. A lot of the stuff feels very theoretical. And so this feels like a product like something that people really can wrap their heads around, and they get, they get excited. So it's kind of a little high point in the brand building process. E: Well, I'm glad it's a high point for you and your clients. Not always the case for us, I mean, generally a great thing to have an archetype. Not all organizations really have the appetite for it. So we try to kind of figure out if it's going to be something that's going to be well received. And what I guess what I mean by that is, to some clients, it seems a little woowoo. You know, here, all of a sudden, we're introducing something that feels a little bit like astrology or something like that, that they don't necessarily relate to. So we want to check on that. And then the other thing is, sometimes, the archetype that suits them, and their brand isn't one that they personally relate to life, you want to be a ruler, you want to be a sage, and look, all your qualities are saying, really, this brand should come across as every person or lover, and that just doesn't feel right to you. So that kind of label if it doesn't feel good to them personally, even if the quality's right, too, it can be triggering. M: I agree that I also find it's an emotional moment, like we've talked about this before, like naming is often emotional, because it's so directly linked to identity. And people have expectations, and they want it to feel amazing right away. And sometimes it requires some rounds. So it's definitely something when you're building up to that process to be aware that there's an emotionality around it. And people have really strong reactions. And to prepare them, like you're saying, make sure there's an appetite for it, and just prepare yourself that you're going to have to like, stay cool, absorb that response to it in a correct way. E: I mean, another thing, if you decide to go down the archetype path is to look at that label and make sure that maybe there's another label that is actually more helpful or more relatable to your client. We had a client, I don't even know what the previous label was, but it wasn't quite working for them. And we came back to the idea of a mentor. And that wor

25 min
02/18/2022

Brand Personality

Brand personality is vital. It can be one of the most differentiating parts of a brand. It is the guidance for the visual identity. And it is more forward than ever in the age of social media and hypercommunication for brands. We talk about what brand personality is and how to develop it (including a starting exercise). Then we talk to Cynthia Murnane, a heavy hitter visual strategist, who has developed brands from BP and Charles Schwab to cultural institutions like the Henry Ford Museum and the Smithsonian Museum of Art.

1h 2m
02/04/2022

Positioning

Brand positioning is a marketing cornerstone concept. It is one of our core elements. Where does a business sit in the field of their competitors? Positioning is raw differentiation. When do you use it? When do you downshift it? How do you deliver a true, exciting, visionary positioning statement? Let's talk about it.

35 min
11/19/2021

Brand Core & Drivers

[00:00 - 05:12] Eric: Hello, welcome to Brand Front Lines with your hosts, Marissa and Eric Labrecque, me. Thank you so much for listening. If you're enjoying the podcast, by the way, please subscribe and rate and share it with any marketing nerds, you know. Marissa: And check us out on Instagram @brandfrontlines where we are continuing the conversation with some practical exercises and tools, so you can apply all of this to your own brand or your clients’ brands. Eric: So, this is our first season, and in this season, we're diving into one new foundational element of a brand. And every episode, what it is, why it's important, and how to build it. Last episode was our first look at what we call the brand wheel, which is our model for a successful brand, a successful brand story. Marissa: So now we are in the wheel, the very center of the wheel, which is held by the core naturally, we're also getting into brand drivers today. These are really important themes to get right. They're pretty straightforward, but I see marketers describe them differently all the time. Today, I googled them, brand drivers to see what came up. And the very first thing that I saw was personality attributes. That's what we would call them. Eric: Like what? What were some of the things that you were finding? Marissa: It was a description on a marketing consultants’ website, like a little blog post she done on brand drivers. And for her they were, you know, she had a list of personality traits like affable, fun, authentic-just personality traits. Eric: Yeah, you know, so real quick thumbnail here. If you're using an adjective, it's probably a personality attribute. And if using a noun, you're probably talking about a driver or a theme. Think about a story, you know, a writer doesn't sit down and say, I'm going to write a story about the theme funny, you might write a story about the theme growing up. And it might be a funny story, you might inject a lot of humor into it. So just keep those two things in mind as you move forward in your brand work. Marissa: Yeah, so we'll get more into it. But you know, we'll define them as we define them. And I want to reiterate, we talked about this in an earlier episode. But I think a lot of marketing programs and a lot of courses you can take online, start the brand, later than we do the brand work, they start at the stuff that customers can see, might start with a tagline or an elevator pitch, or even a mission and vision statement, which is very foundational. But you know, these are all things that might end up on your website or in your email communications. But there is some work that's a little deeper that might never see the light of day as far as customers go, but it informs everything that comes after. And it's so important. So, that's really what today is about. It's about that that stuff that is the foundation, it's underneath the building. And it's the platform on which everything else is built. Eric: Yeah, you really put that well, I mean, just remember, as a brand marketer, you're a storyteller, a little different in many ways, but you share a lot with novelists and playwrights and screenwriters, and cowboys sitting around a campfire. And yeah, and all those people, even the cowboy has done some pre work to understand where the story is going to go and how it's going to hang together. And that's what we're saying, you know, we're about is doing that pre work. Before we dive into our exploration of brand core and brand drivers. What we've been up to today? Marissa: Well, this is the first episode that we're recording after the quarantine. So, I'm working on, client works looking a little different these days, like I mostly am working with the same clients, a couple of projects got kind of put-on hold but doing different things like brands, most of the brands that I'm working with have shifted a little bit. So, a lot more focus on online sales, communications, pipelines, building email lists, all that kind of fun stuff. All of a sudden, got way more important than long term strategy. It was like alright, let's shift let's make sure we're still talking to everybody. They know where we're at. We're getting in front of them. And so it's been fun. I've learned a lot and I think deepened my relationships with my clients, we're like, in the trenches together on the brand front lines. [05:12 - 10:24] Eric: You know, I've been working with two clients today who called with sudden needs, they wanted to craft their response to current events. First, you know, a couple months ago, it was the COVID-19 crisis. And now it's their response to the real social conversation around Black Lives Matter. I don't want to get too anchored in the moment for the sake of people listening in the future. But basically, both of these events are singular. And yet, the clients, the companies, the brands need to consider how should they relate to them with respect to their brands? What's the right response? What's the right course of action? What fits within the story that they have? How can they be legitimate? Should they even make statements. So, relating the immediate and the near term to the long-term story is something that they're wrestling with, and we're working to help them with. Marissa: Yeah, I've written statements recently for clients that they're almost are like PR work in a way. But because they matter so much, they really have to have integrity. And so it's just another moment when you really know your brand. And it really is authentic to you, then it's so much easier to speak to something that's important to you with authority and not be performative or cliche. Eric: Right. And I think it's not only about speaking, that's part of it. But also, what conversations do you want to enter into and listen, you know, there's a lot to talk about right now. And there are a lot of conversations enter into, maybe it's still good to focus. So I think the brand is not only an expressive tool, but a tool to think about who you're going to interact with and who you might need to be listening to that maybe you haven't been listening to before. Marissa: Yeah, reset your aperture. So, brand core. Eric: So, what is a brand core? Marissa: Yeah, let's define our brand core. Eric: It's the thing that doesn't really change, that lives at the heart of your brand. It's the kind of essential truth of the brand, it's the business that you're in is another really basic way of putting it. Marissa: Your genre. Eric: Yeah, I mean, if we were talking about movies, it would be the genre of the movie. So what kind of movie is this? Is it a rom-com, is it an adventure, is it sci-fi? And that helps to set our expectations for what to come? That's one of the uses of the brand core. Marissa: For what's to come? Eric: Yeah, what's the rest of the story going to be, you know, put me in the frame of mind to start thinking about you in a certain way. So that's one useful thing about a core. Something else that's really useful about it is it it's always good to know what you are and what you aren't, you know, if you're starting a rom-com, and you start doing things that are a little sci-fi(ish), could be a little bit of an awkward fit. So it helps people internally and also, your audience, your customers start to get expectations and go with you on a journey in that sense to, you know, certain kind of clarity, a certain kind of focus. Marissa: I'm very interested in science fiction rom-com. Eric: Yeah, well, there are some weird blends out there. It's just, it's really tough to do, you know, it's tough to pull off. And I think even if we were to go find a really good sci-fi rom-com, we'd probably figure out at some point, it's a little more rom-com or it's a little more sci=fi, one thing's usually going to take the lead. The other thing is that it helps you to understand who you're in the market with and competing against. Yeah, so that's pretty useful too. An example of a brand core from a B2B client of ours, actually, we'll talk about an example of a brand core from a category. So cybersecurity brands, okay, there are a lot of them out there. And let's talk about one little part of that cybersecurity space. We have a company called Prisma. That is about cloud security solutions. So cybersecurity in the cloud. A competitor of theirs - Threat stack is about cloud security as well. They define themselves a little differently, cloud security insights, but basically the same core, and so on through Shift Left, which is about application security, automation, and sis day, which is about container security, and insights and Data Dog, which is about Cloud Monitoring. They're all about this cloud security idea. Each have a little different nuance, but mainly we're understanding that they're kind of grouped together. And it's really important to think about the core as not just thing that sets you apart. But the thing that you share with others so they can start to place you. In a traditional marketplace. The people who are offering one set of services are all kind of together like you going down an alley and all the goldsmiths are there, all the rug, merchants are down another area and helps people to know where to go to find you. And then from there, they can make a decision about who to choose. [10:24 - 15:15] Eric: So like, coke, soda beverage, like what do you call the core and that? Marissa: Well, I haven't researched this, you're asking me off the top my head. And I think coke would say its core is an emotional attitude called enjoyment, I, most people top of mind are going to think about coke as a set of experiences around a sweet carbonated beverage. So, I would say that, that's its core. And other things like it would be other sweet carbonated beverages, soft drinks. Again, with all due respect to the coke folks, and how they define it, which is probably real

33 min
03/26/2021

The Brand Wheel

In this episode we present our blueprint for a well-made brand- the Brand Wheel. We also talk to Jennifer Neeley, a highly-regarded digital strategist and UCSD instructor in influence marketing. CHECK OUT THE BRAND WHEEL HERE -Eric talks about his controversial branding work for the city of Dearborn. -9:00 the invention of the Brand Wheel -9:46 Why the brand pyramid doesn’t really work for us. -12:00 How the Brand Wheel supports a brand story. -14:00 The center of the wheel is more fixed, the outer rings are tools that change constantly. -16:00 interview with Jennifer Neeley: The Fyre Festival catastrophe. social networks are designed to reinforce your own thought bubble. “It’s the exact opposite of critical thinking.” -Goals vs. objectives -Awareness campaigns don’t get budgeted -We don’t necessarily annual budgets like we used to, there’s more flexibility -Are your metrics helping you? -How we analyze metrics can change their meaning for us. -Read the earnings reports -Generational shifts in social media and why we need to understand them to connect. 33:00 Center- Brand Core 38:36 First Ring- The Three P’s: Positioning, Promise, and Personality 45:19 Second Ring- The Visual System, Naming, Tagline, Descriptor, Messaging, Back Story 48: Third Ring- Verbal Guidelines & Visual Guidelines 53:06 Fourth Ring- Touchpoints: experiences and communications 54:30 Who creates a brand? Whoever has the most skin in the game. RESOURCES: Positioning the Battle for your Mind, by Al Ries & Jack Trout Sign up for our new course: Vision, Mission, Go!

1h 1m
12/04/2020

The Visz + The Mish

VISION: Your biggest, boldest goal expressed in as few words as possible. A vision is vital to the forward movement of a company. It is the beacon on the hill. The mission is the path to get to that beacon. Vision is not differentiating but it must be big and bold and visionary. It is almost impossible to create a vision that is too big. Some you may never fulfill, you’ll always be reaching for them. The vision is also basically the brand story plot line. The minimum bold vision should push the business at least a few years. Once you get to that strategic achievement, you need to re-vision. EXERCISES FOR CREATING A VISION: *LEGACY EXERCISE: Imagine in the future, you open the New York Times or Wall Street Journal to read a huge profile of your organization. It has closed because it accomplished every goal it set out to achieve and the vision is totally fulfilled. *BLUE SKY EXERCISE: Imagine that you are an entry in Wikipedia and you are totally worthy of it. *FUTURE HEADLINE EXERCISE: Five years from now, the best possible outcome. *FILL-IN-THE-BLANK EXERCISE: We see a world in which _________ happens and enables __________ to happen. And how do we help to create a world in which this can happen? We do these early in a work session, to set the tone and they get everyone away from thinking about the literal Vision Statement. Crafting the vision is not a committee process, it is the work of the leader. There is also a PURPOSE STATEMENT which might not be the vision of the company, but the underlying reason for starting the enterprise. EXAMPLE: Applied Storytelling Vision Statement: To transform markets through the power of storytelling. Purpose Statement: To eliminate barriers to understanding and connection. MISSION: The path to the vision The mission states your customer and how you deliver value. You may have many kinds of customers and you should describe them by the largest common denominator. EXAMPLE: Applied Storytelling Mission Statement: To enable organizations to achieve key business and market objectives by articulating and activating their brands. We have looked at the V+M for the top 500 companies and most didn’t have both and the ones that did have them did not have good ones. Have good brand hygiene! EXERCISES: FILL-IN-THE-BLANK EXERCISE: Who do you sell to? What do you sell them? GETTING TO THE VISION EXERCISE: How do we achieve that bold vision? FIRST DOLLAR EXERCISE: Where is the first dollar you make coming from? Is that where you want your money to comes from? The mission needs to be clear and true, but not necessarily bold and inspiring. It does not need to be a differentiating statement. The mission and vision need to fit together and makes sense as a branded pair. The mission statement is basically an internal tool to make sure you are in stride with your strategic goals. RESOURCES: Jack Welch, Winning Watch: TED Talk: How Great Leaders Inspire Action, Simon Sinek Simon Sinek Start With Why

58 min
10/16/2020

What is a Brand?

This episode explores the most fundamental question, what is a brand? Our answer: A story told in the marketplace Stories have been used in the marketplace since there have been marketplaces. These stories are used to add value to products. What is the difference between a traditional marketplace and the modern market? -You aren’t eye to eye with the customer. -There’s a great deal of media -You aren’t necessarily in the same community or context What is a brand story? A story told to buy and sell products. A story is a human construct to connect emotion and meaning. We use them to define spirituality, entertain us, to understand our own inner workings, to tell our histories. And we use them in the marketplace. How do you create a brand story? Short answer: be interesting. Longer answer: We do preliminary work to make sure we understand what is important to share. Then we construct the story like a novelist or screenwriter. We ask: what is the plot, the premise, the genre, the setting, the narrative arc? We write a treatment, or backstory, which helps the team understand the story and give feedback. Then, along with the visual guidelines and the verbal guidelines, we have the tools needed to create experiences for people: communications, events, communities and bring them into the story. You don’t necessarily hear the brand story all at once, in a linear fashion. You get impressions of the story over time and it adds up. The adventure framework tends to be the starting point for the brand story. Shared sense of purpose allows everyone involved to be a part of the story. That is where culture and vision come in. Stories don’t happen in a vacuum. Developing a story creates a strong bond within an organization. Brand stories are often used by leaders because they encompass the vision and the strategic goals that the leader holds. People will often cheer when a leader shares the story well. How did Eric get into this work and develop his storytelling approach? Deborah Sussman and Paul Prejza, experiences in Tijuana marketplaces, being a writer. We tell stories to sell things, to stand out from competition, to build customer loyalty. We come in generally when clients have a new challenge: launching, changing markets, mergers, fighting being a commodity and becoming more valuable. Over the first 13 episodes we will be talking about the tools and elements that every brand needs. These elements can be complex or simple but understand the core elements and processes will make your brand strong and strategic. Resources: Eric La Brecque writes about re-naming co-opted cultural terms.

42 min

11 Episodes

5

out of 5

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Tools and insights from the brand frontlines—the same ideas that have helped some of the biggest and best known organizations on the planet to build successful brands. A resource for strategists, marketers, copywriters, and designers, hoping to create charismatic and meaningful work for clients.

Creator

Marissa La Brecque, Eric La Brecque
Years Active

2020 - 2022
Episodes

11
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2022 Brand Frontlines Marissa La Brecque
Show Website

Brand Frontlines