Hello. There’s so much news this time around that I hardly know where to begin…

There’s news about my book, which has finally landed on bookshelves, an update on the Hemsby eco-tourism project, and more details on an exciting new brand experiment which has just launched.

I’ve also got a few observations about the creation of a “new” brand in politics, and on what I think is the finest piece of brand advertising I’ve seen in a very long time.

I hope you find some of this stimulating.

Hurrah for City!

It’s great news in these parts that Norwich's football team - the Canaries – have just been crowned winners of League One, securing promotion to the Championship. So the club’s many loyal fans will rightly be cheering on the team during a celebratory tour around the city next week, on the evening of Thursday 13th May.

Although this was the date planned for the launch of my new book, Build A Brand In 30 Days, I am happy to step aside for the victory parade and football festivities, so the event has now been postponed by a fortnight.

So if you haven’t seen the book yet, and would like to hear me introduce it, please do come along to the Norwich launch at Waterstone’s, Castle Street, Norwich on the new date of Thursday 27th May.

It will be a nice relaxed affair with wine and nibbles courtesy of Waterstone’s and Capstone, plus some delicious samples from Bray’s Cottage Pork Pies(who feature in the book).

There’ll be some convivial networking too, so I do hope you can make it. It starts at 7.30pm and it’s free of course. You’ll be able to buy a signed copy of the book from me if you like: but it’s not obligatory! I’d just love you to be there.

Nick Clegg builds a brand in 90 minutes

By the time you read this you will either have cast your vote or be on your way to the polling station later.
This isn’t a political newsletter and I’m not going to give a political view: but I have to comment from a brand perspective on the phenomenal rise of brand-Clegg.

Whatever the outcome of the election, there are lessons to be learned from Clegg’s remarkable achievement in creating a contemporary brand with almost incredible speed, out of the rather unpromising material of a somewhat unengaging third party.

Of course the Liberals are an historic party, but they haven't been a 'brand' which connected with the broad mass of people for decades, yet by virtue of just one key television debate (debates two and three consolidated the impact), Nick Clegg has turned himself and his party into real players. A real brand.

The interesting thing is the simplicity with which this has been achieved, and there's a powerful lesson in there for anybody wanting to use the power of brand to develop their small business, or indeed their career. Of course he hasn’t read my book, but Clegg has nevertheless followed my three core principles perfectly: being authentic, being distinctive, and being compelling.

First: authenticity. The reason that first debate made such a positive impact for Clegg was that he was perceived by the viewers to be authentic, and genuine. I constantly urge brand clients to be true to themselves and not to try to be something that they're not. Clegg's direct appeals to the TV viewer down the camera lens gave the feel of authenticity, which was not the case when Cameron tried the same technique in the second debate. Clegg spoke more about what he believed and thought personally rather than trumpeting his party policies. Some regard that as a lack of clarity, but that's not how most viewers saw it. It's easy to dismiss Clegg as just a 'nice bloke', but the brand power of being a 'nice bloke' shouldn't be underestimated, especially when your competition has either fallen from trust or not yet won it.

Second: distinctiveness. Clegg has managed to find key points of difference from the other two parties. For one thing he is clearly the outsider, the underdog. In fact he has cleverly stolen the underdog advantage from under the noses of both Brown and Cameron. He takes a different stance on just enough key policy issues to be distinctive (Trident, nuclear power, tuition fees, electoral reform) without being so radical as to be outside of the mainstream. Despite being dismissed previously as a bland looking middle-manager, he has now come to represent the possibility of a change from the expected, from the norm.

Third: he has become utterly compelling and made the election compelling too. Quite brilliantly he has changed what this whole election is about. Instead of it being the previously expected battle between a tired Labour administration and the 'new' Tories (who still haven't really won hearts and minds), Clegg has made this election by far the most exciting and thought-provoking since 1997. Now all the talk is of a hung Parliament, electoral reform, a new way of organising British politics, real change. Historian Simon Schama described our right to vote in free elections as "thrilling". A good word, and Clegg's sudden rise has underlined that.

There's a concept in marketing which says that the real brand leaders in any given sector are the ones that change your views and expectations of the whole sector, rather than just doing a job for their own brands. Think of Apple: who constantly change our expectations of what a computer should look like, feel like and do for us. Arguably Clegg is doing that for British politics; changing what we think, feel and expect this election to actually mean.

Brand is all about meaning. Effective branding is really just the skill of creating meanings that are authentic, distinctive and compelling. Clegg is following all the rules and (notwithstanding the final result, which is influenced by many factors including our polling system) he has arguably won the political brand battle. It proves that building a brand is not about the size of your budget or the cleverness of your advertising, but about creating meaning.

Latest news on Hemsby!

Regular readers will know that I’ve been involved with the little Norfolk seaside resort of Hemsby for about a year. The story continues apace...
A few weeks ago I was privileged to receives widespread public support from local residents and traders at a special public meeting about the future of the former Pontin’s site.

The meeting followed swiftly on a superb feature in The Times which proved two things to me: first that the time is absolutely right to be developing visionary sustainable tourism projects on our seasides, and second that very few things beat highly-skilled professional PR for getting your message across. As I say somewhere in my book: if you’ve only got a pound to spend on marketing. Spend it on PR!

My team has formed a new company, called Norfolk Leisure Ltd, with the purpose of designing and creating a stunning 21st Century take on the holiday park concept. The media have been referring to the project as Eden of the East, but (whilst it does describe the scale of the ambition) that isn’t a really accurate term. In fact the project is to create a holiday accommodation destination, providing a unique “wow” holiday facility. It will be based on environmentally sustainable principles and will attract visitors to the fantastic coast at Hemsby and the surrounds, from all over the UK and beyond.

More news coming soon.

And don't forget the Hemsby Viking Festival

Coming very soon in the resort of Hemsby is the first Hemsby Viking Festival, on Saturday and Sunday 18th and 19th of June. It’s a packed weekend, with a Viking village encampment open to visitors for the whole weekend, with Viking crafts, artefacts and of course re-enactments from the 65-strong Viking clan.

Saturday afternoon and evening feature a major Viking battle, the burning of a ceremonial longship on the beach, and for an extra bit of Scandinavian flavour, a top ABBA tribute band.

Everyone in Hemsby hopes that you’ll come down and enjoy the fun. See you there! More details on Hemsby’s own website.

Watch out for the Left Hand Bear

I’ve worked on lots of brands, and I’ve studied lots more in the writing of Build A Brand In 30 Days but I’ve been challenged a few times by people asking if I can create a successful brand myself using the principles that I teach in workshops and that I espouse in the book. Well I’ve taken up the challenge and my new brand Left Hand Bear has just launched.

In my book I talk about the brand power of choosing your brand enemies (i.e. the people you don’t want to sell to) as a means of becoming more compelling and meaningfull to those to whom you do want to appeal. Left Hand Bear has taken that route, and then some: in fact Left Hand Bear will be deliberately NOT targeting approximately 87% of the population.

The reason is that Left Hand Bear will be one of the world’s very few specialist musical instrument retailers which stocks exclusively left-handed instruments. And it will also be the world’s only instrument retailer with a complete range of acoustic guitars (a dozen models) which are exclusively available as left-handed models.

The Left Hand Bear guitar range has been created specially for me by legendary guitar and banjo makers Wayne Rogers and Paul Beard of Gold Tone in Titusville, Florida, USA.
So if you’re a left-hander seeking an acoustic guitar, banjo or mandolin of very high quality then Left Hand Bear is the place to go. But if you’re right-handed, sorry, it’s not for you. We do have some very nice t-shirts though, and anyone can look cool in those.

As many readers will know I have a second passion in music, which is what gave birth to the concept of Left Hand Bear. I’m going to develop the brand using the principles of the book: following my own advice step by step. And I’ll keep you informed of progress (good and bad).

The website is now live if you want to take a look (and to find out exactly why it’s called Left Hand Bear) www.lefthandbear.co.uk.

John Lewis 'Always a woman' ad is a work of genius

It’s very tough to go right to the edge of sentimentality and not fall of the cliff into the slough of maudlin. And it’s equally tough to avoid any single trace of cynicism in the creative process, and to restrain yourself from the temptation to inject humour, or to edge the tongue ever so slightly into the cheek.

But John Lewis’s agency, Adam & Eve, the creators of this astonishing commercial have got the tone just right. And it’s not just a matter of the technical excellence. The real genius lies in the perfect tone of voice throughout, which synthesises so perfectly with John Lewis’s brand values.
I maintain constantly that brand is about creating meaning, by being authentic, distinctive and compelling. John Lewis and its agency embody these principles in spades.

When was the last time you saw a TV commercial that struck so hard emotionally and simultaneously made you reflect on the joy and the poignancy of the human condition? My vote for the century’s best TV commercial so far.

In the unlikely event that you haven’t seen the ad, you can watch this beautiful creation here John Lewis Always A Woman commercial and then rush to your nearest store and buy a scone or or a sofa or something to say thank you for restoring your faith in the creative potential of advertising (which I for one had almost lost).

Brand news in brief

> Football Focus

With the World Cup set to kick off in South Africa next month, the host nation is using the tournament to kick-start a unified brand identity. It aims to promote its country as an ideal tourist and business destination to the international audience, so the boost to its economy in the short term will also have a long-lasting positive effect.
Keen to put their people at the heart of the event and branding effort, South Africa is challenging them to learn the 'diski' – a rhythmic football dance originating from the townships – to generate excitement during the tournament.
However, the event could also expose the country to criticism. Just like corporate identities, any publicity can highlight weaknesses as well as strengths in a brand’s behaviour. There are concerns from sceptics about crime, safety and inequality that could impact the overall experience. Therefore organisers are hoping all goes smoothly to ensure a victory for South Africa, as well as the football team who lifts the World Cup trophy.

> Biggest brands stand firm

Results of the recent BrandZ survey on the top 100 global brands show that the most well-established, big brand names are defying the economic downturn and continuing to outperform the stock market - the value of the world's top 100 brands still rose by 4% last year.
UK brands proved to be particularly resilient to the recession; nine of the top 10 UK brands also topped the rankings last year, and seven of these - Vodafone, Tesco, HSBC, BP, O2, Barclays and M&S - have retained their position in the UK top 10 for the past five years. Indeed, Vodafone has held the UK's number one spot for five consecutive years, and during this period its brand value increased by 84%.
The BrandZ research shows the strongest and most valuable brands are also the most price-resistant. According to the report, only 7% of consumers buy on price alone and less than a third will compromise between brand and price. Brand is an important influence for nearly nine out of 10 consumers, who take little notice of cost when they are purchasing brands with which they have a strong affinity.

> BP brand sullied by slick

British Petroleum’s recent oil spillage in the Gulf of Mexico is a not just a major disaster for the environment but also BP itself. The BP brand has been sullied almost as quickly as the Gulf’s waters now covered in oil. It is reported that since the accident that took 11 lives and created the oil spill, BP has gone from being No. 1 in its category in the brand-loyalty index maintained by Brand Keys - to last. Its stock price has plummeted too.
BP has gone out of its way in recent years to position itself as the ‘green’ oil company, promoting its alternative-energy initiatives such as wind farms. However all that seems in vain now the environmental dangers of BP’s strategy to drill for increasingly scarce oil in some of the world’s most inaccessible locations have been so harshly exposed.
BP now runs the risk of joining the ‘corporate villains’ list along with fellow oil giant Exxon Mobil, which became infamous following the 1989 Valdez oil disaster in Alaska. So although BP’s task of cleaning up the spill itself is a mammoth one, it may prove even harder to clean up its brand image.

> Money talks

Although recent fraud allegations have made Goldman Sachs as unpopular as ever, it’s doing little to hamper its success. Goldman Sachs continues to rake in profits despite the scrutiny and negative press it has attracted in contributing to the economic crash and profiteering from the bailouts.
The Goldman Sachs brand is not concerned with how terrible its reputation is ‘among the wider public’ because that demographic is not its target consumer. The Goldman brand is all about being the best at what it does, not the most liked. If the company starts failing delivering the financial results its customers expect, then it may have problems but until then, it shows how strongly hated brands are not necessarily weak or unsuccessful ones.

> Become a brand butler

Trendwatching.com has identified a new trend where brands are emphasising service over selling and going the extra mile to help their time-poor consumers, via mobile apps and other strategies. An ever-growing number of supporting services and tools (online and offline) are focusing on assisting consumers practically to make the most of their lives, versus the old model of selling them a lifestyle.
Brand butlering is not about simply offering excellent customer service and support functions, or replacing top quality products and paid services. It should go ‘over and above' a brand’s core offering, while also being genuinely useful, helping a consumer to save money, be in the know or more green etc.
Examples include an AA Best of Britain app for mobiles, designed to help users find local hotels, restaurants and attractions during their trips around the UK. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic supports a cab sharing initiative called Taxi2 where passengers of any airline can log-on, input their flight details, and be matched up with suitable cab-sharing companions.
Offline, brand butler services include establishing permanent or pop-up branded spaces and lounges, often tied to a specific event (music festivals) or a location (airports) which offer ample opportunity to assist consumers with relevant, on-brand services.
For more information and ideas, visit www.trendwatching.com/trends/brandbutlers

Sign up to the newsletter

Forwarded this email from a friend? If you would like to sign up to receive your own copy, click here.

Visit the Brand Strategy Guru website

If you are interested in finding out more about all things brand, visit my website here.

If you would no longer like to receive this newsletter, click here to unsubscribe.