A 2012 Premiere!

Okay.

It started one morning when I was shaving.

My boss was staring me down.

I had just presented the previous day to a large regional bank.

My presentation was all about the re-positioning of their brand and the cultivation of a new brand culture driven by the touch-points of the brand experience.

My talk was part strategic; part marketing, but mostly evangelical.

Do what I say… not as I do.

Often times, it’s the evangelists that commit the worst sins.

In 2003 when I chose NOT to renew my contract with Omnicom, my peers encouraged me to start up my own account planning group.

Not sure where my head was at, but I let my first few clients craft my brand name, BRANDVenture.

Okay… they were all MBAs and I was on a mission to convert them…

But they were my customers and I am a strong advocate that customers define reality… not the marketer.

They all said I was a brand-man that had a pretty good track record launching new ideas and recharging the bottomline performance of brands in need of renewal.

So I launched my group with BRANDVenture and tried my best to make the name work.

I had some fun early on with the words like “discovery,” “ignition” and “combustion.”

Even had some graphic icons that indicated the pace of change and challenge.

But when my boss was staring me down that morning, I knew that the time had come to make a change.

It was in the shower the next morning when inspiration hit.

I preach that brands are neither physical products nor service deliverables.

Customers do not make purchases based on rational thought.

Customers are driven by the emotional context of interacting with the product or service.

They seek out interaction that is further fueled by the right side of their brain.

Successful brands get it.

Many, many MBA brand teams simply don’t.

And that's good because deep down they really covet insight others have not year discovered... implementing strategy that delivers results... and building dialogue and engagement with customers and prospects.

So on January 1st 2012, BRANDVenture will be no more, replaced by…

EXPERIENCE
INSIGHT + STRATEGY + ENGAGEMENT

It’s a living, breathing, changing and adapting brand.

Check out our new website that also will soon premiere at www.experiencediscovery.com

My boss is feeling good.

Maybe I will buy that girl a martini on New Years Eve to toast the passion that drives brand success 24/7.

Cheers!