- A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or company. It's not what you say it is. It's what THEY say it is.
- As globalism removes barriers, people erect new ones. They create tribes—intimate worlds they can understand and participate in. Brand names are tribal gods, each ruling a different space within the tribe.
- The foundation of brand is trust. Customers trust your brand when their expectations consistently meet or beat their expectations.
- Modern society is information-rich and time-poor. The value of your brand grows in direct proportion to how quickly and easily customers can say yes to your offering.
- People base their buying decisions more on symbolic cues than features, benefits, and price. Make sure your symbols are compelling.
- Only one competitor can be the cheapest—the others have to use branding. The stronger the brand, the greater the profit margin.
- Our brains filter out irrelevant information, letting in only what's different and useful. Tell me again, why does your product matter?
- Differentiation has evolved from a focus on "what it is," to "what it does," to "how you'll feel," to "who you are." While features, benefits, and price are still important to people, experiences and personal identity are even more important.
- Become the number one or number two in your space. Can't be number one or number two? Redefine your space or move to a different tube.
- Over time, specialists beat generalists. The winner is the brand that best fits a given space. The law of the jungle? Survival of the FITTINGest.
- It's design, not strategy, that ignites passion in people. And the magic behind better design and better business is innovation.
- Make sure the name of your brand is distinctive, brief, appropriate, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, likable, extendible, and protectable.
