Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Jeff Stephens of The Creative Brand at the 2008 Partnership Symposium

Jeff Stephens of the Creative Brand and also creator or the Blow Up Your Marketing podcast on Banktastic TV, just finished his presentation. Here are a few points I'd like to highlight.

Open minded and focused thinking are key.

Find your soul and you'll find your brand position.

Stop trying to be better and be different.

If you are focused on anything that ends in -er (better, friendlier, etc.) then you are competing on the same point as many other institutions and are a commodity and have little control over the direction you go. You're focus is determined by what others are doing.

3 points to being different

1) Find the story
2)Tell the story
3)prove the story

Its hard to tell the story if you don't know what it is.

The story is already there, you just have to find it. You have to be introspective, clear away the cobwebs and rediscover what your story is.

Don't worry as much about who your members want you to be, focus on who you are. This leads to Authenticity, being who you are and not all things to all people.

Its "differentiation" not "betterentiation"

You need to be apples to oranges, not apples to better apples.

Indifference will kill you.

Do something distinct enough to elicit a response. If some people hate it, that means some people will love it.

"Advertising is the price you pay for not being remarkable" - Anonymous

The more specific and narrow your postion the better job you can do creating relevant experiences.

No comments: