The official brand strategy awards® 2019

The official brand strategy awards® 2019

Welcome to the (most) official brand strategy awards of 2019. In this online award show, we award the most prestigious efforts and people in brand strategy this year. Enjoy all of the biggest highlights of 2019, put together by a completely unbiased panel of judges (me, myself and I) and your host; Stef Hamerlinck (also me)!

Small disclaimer: this is actually more of a random list of my favorite people and resources, wrapped-up in a format that is completely not suited but makes it feel more celebratory. So don’t take this list too seriously, unless your one of the winners, then take it very seriously.

The first category:

Most influential people in Brand strategy this year:

Here are the people I’ve learned from the most in 2019, regarding brand strategy.

1. JP Hanson: JP Hanson is one of those people that seems to understand strategy on a deeper level. Combining business knowledge with marketing knowledge he gives great insights on his talks all around the world. If you read anything, read his Rouser Manifesto.
   Most active on: Twitter — Website

2. Mark Ritson - Mark Ritson is a critical voice in the marketing world. His views, often controversial, are always valuable and go past the general nonsense like ‘the dead of analog‘ or other time-sensitive stuff. If you see anything, check out his youtube videos on effective advertising.
   Most active on: Twitter — Marketing week blog

3. Jenni Romaniuk - Jenni has been truly instrumental in making ‘distinctiveness’ a fundamental part of branding. Her book, building distinctive brand assets was a key influence for me. Working together with Byron Sharp at the EhrenbergBass institute.
   Find Jenni at: Website

Favorite rebrands of the year.

As wel all should realize by now, a rebrand is not without risk. The whole idea of changing the logo because it’s not ‘cool’ anymore has led to millions of loss in sales because of unaware clients and agencies. But some rebrands are done well, with the right reasons and with caution and respect for the brand assets. Here are few of my favorites:

1. Twitch by Collins: A great example of keeping the strong assets of a brand yet creating a whole new language around it. Collins has been slam-dunking it for a while but this was my absolute favorite. Check out their official brand page to get a feel for the new identity.

2. Warner bros by Pentagram - Another great example of a solid rebrand. Not a logo’s have such heritage as the Warner bros logo. So adapting it for a digital age is quiet the challenge. Luckily, Pentagram did so with respect and flair. Check out the Brand New review of the refresh.

3. Duolingo by Johnson Banks - A lovely approach to an already ‘fun’ brand. By combining elements of the main brand mascotte and creating a new typeface, Duolingo feels as playful as it always was and yet that little bit cooler. A great example of keeping the good bits and building something even better. Check out the review on Brand New.

Best people on social (to follow).

We all know social media is the most important thing in the world, besides the actual world. These are some of the people that make me happy when I see something more interesting then cat videos in my feeds. Sidenote, most of these are podcast guests or will be in the near future (I’m coming for you!).

1. Samuel Brealey (Twitter) - Another interesting voice in the marketing world.

2. Lee Grunnell (Twitter) - Great advertising and marketing insights.

3. Julia Braga (Insta) - Brand strategy, business and design, Julia delivers a lot of value on her Insta.

4. Chris Do (Youtube) - A big mind in the creative industry, Chris Do and his team from The Futur are constantly delivering big value to their audience.

5. Jack Appleby (Twitter) - Jack does some really interesting breakdowns of big brands and their strategy.

6. Graham Robertson (LinkedIn) - A great marketing mind, Graham is always up for a good debate and an honest voice in the world of fluff.

7. Jonathan Staines (LinkedIn) - Jonathan understand brand strategy on the deepest level. A great sparring partner on LinkedIn and overall nice person.

8. There’s probably a lot more people, but this being an official award show, I had to set a limit somewhere.

Most epic tools in brand strategy:

Tools, aah tools, my favorite way to procrastinate. I know, it’s not the tools that will make the strategy, but still, some of these can be helpfull when working on brand strategy.

1. Notion - Notion is personal discovery of 2019. It’s actually becoming my ‘second brain’. I’m not sponsored for saying this (yet) but it’s an awesome tool. I use it for documenting my research, developing strategy outlines, sharing thoughts with my clients and a lot more. Go check it out!

2. Typeform - Typeform is an awesome tool when you are doing customer research. We use it a lot to create fun, engaging survey that give us customer insights. Again, not sponsored by Typeform (yet).

3. Holabrief - Holabrief is the best! Besides sponsoring my podcast (see how I treat my sponsors, Notion?), it’s the go-to platform for creative briefs. They have a great set of strategic exercices that enable you to create a solid brief. Sidenote: I’m actually in their tool, when you click on the help button you’ll get to see a video of me explaining the concept).

4. Honorable mention: Buffl - Sadly, for now, it’s only on the Belgium market, but it’s a great tool nonetheless, similar to Typeform you can create surveys. The big difference? Their is an audience built in. You can get around 300 answer in a day or 2, which is amazing if you want quick feedback.

Most epic brands in 2019

This is it folks, the moment where all of the CEO’s have been waiting for, not the Interbrand release, but the one and only LTB release! Here are my favorite brands from 2019.

1. Chobani - What Leland Maschmeyer (formerly Collins) and his inhouse creative team are doing at Chobani is really inspiring. Not only is it a beautiful brand in terms of design, their whole strategy seems to match, the products they release, the marketing they producte. Read more about their strategy in this business review.

2. Patagonia - Patagonia is often quoted when it comes to ‘purpose-driven’ brands. It’s actually one of the few companies that does it (well). From explaining people why they shouldn’t buy their clothes, to investing their 10 million tax cut into the environment, to all the work they are doing in sustainability, Patagonia truly is an example of ‘walkin the talk’ and puts their money where their mouth is.

3. Spotify - Spotify is one of those tech companies that seems to have a ‘genuine’ feel. In a year where Facebook and other platforms where bashed for privacy issues, messing with elections and people’s lives, Spotify seems to be doing things right, staying in their lane. With their ‘year in review’ as an absolute highlight, it’s one of those brands that stays close to their users.

4. Brand fail of the year: The opposite of Patagonia, WeWork has absuletely failed as a brand (and a company). First valued at 47 billion, we are now talking bankcrupty. The whole ‘purpose-thing’ seems like a complete hoax and exactly the type of ‘fluffy’ bs that a lot people think works in brand strategy today.

Favorite words in brand strategy:

Strategy is your words, says Mark Pollard. So let’s take a look at some important words this year. Let’s get this buzzword bingo going!

1. Distinctiveness - This is not a new word, but it was for me in 2019 (that’s what you get with a jury of 1). Distinctiveness has become a key aspect of brand building for me. Making sure a brand is easily recognized and seperated from it’s competitors is a core function of branding. We often tend to focus on ‘differentiation’ or ‘positioning’ as the holy grail of brand building, but as seen in the work of Byron Sharp, that is to be taken with a grain (mountain) of salt.

2. Heuristics - Observing behaviour is becoming increasingly important in brand strategy. Understanding how the human brain works is a great place to start. In strategy, a lot of assumptions come from these ‘biases’ we have. As a strategist, our job is to recognize these patterns and avoid strategies based on ‘hunches’ or bad decisions (please listen to that podcast).

3. Experience - CX has been ‘trending’ for a while now, but I do believe it’s becoming increasingly important when thinking about brand ‘design’. Designing not just visual assets that are distinctive but actually creating a distinctive experience can make brands own a position and defend it much easier.

4. Other words that where big this year: Long-term, Tactics, Boomers, Impeachment.

Favorite things to read/listen in brand strategy:

This year, I consumed more podcasts and books then in my entire high-school career (that says a lot about my high-school career). These are some of my favorite resources that I discovered this year:

Favorite books on brand strategy:

1. Eat your greens by Wiemer Snijder - Essential reading and a great continuation on the work of Byron Sharp

2. How brands grow by Byron Sharp - A game changer for me. Completely flipped my understanding of markets, brand loyalty and how brands (actually) grow.

3. Good strategy / bad strategy by Richard P. Rumelt - A great foundation for understanding ‘strategy’ as a whole.

Favorite podcasts on brand strategy:

1. Business wars - In true ‘American’ fashion, this podcast walks us through some of the biggest brand ‘wars’ in history. If you need to start somewhere, start with the Burger King vs Mc Donalds war.

2. Bad decisions - As mentioned above, a great podcast about heuristics. How does our brain work? And how can we use that knowledge for marketing and branding?

3. Let's talk marketing - This podcast was a great discovery for me, it opened up a whole new network of people, including JP Hanson, Mark Ritson, etc… Thanks Adam Fraser for the wonderfull podcast!

4. Honorable mention: Let’s talk branding: It’s not the best podcast out there, but if we are talking about brand strategy, this one should be here, right?

That’s it folks! Next year, I’ll try and step this up a bit, with actual judges, awards, …