“Turning the Telescope™”

The traditional way to approach brand development has been to research customer needs and perceptions – what products they buy, what services they require, and how much they are willing to pay.  Then they’ve done everything in their power to meet those needs and be that customer’s brand.

Problem is, so have all their competitors. The result: a lot of very similar brands and a perception that all brands are similar. This leaves price and incentive as the only measure of value.

Turning the Telescope is our unique brand discovery process developed by The Brand Establishment founder Jim Hughes in 1985. It has been refined over the years through hundreds of discovery sessions and has become the premier brand development tool in America.

“Brand” has become a business phenomenon only within the last 5-7 years.  Our process has been growing businesses for more than 20 years in virtually every business category.  It’s proven.  It’s consistently effective.  And its power to energize a business or organization is breathtaking.

 Here's how it works:

We “turn the telescope” to look inside your company or organization to discover your Claim of Distinction. A brand is all about differentiation – why someone should choose your brand over another.  That person must see, understand and feel the difference in such a compelling way that he or she will choose you when presented with a choice.

To uncover this Claim of Distinction and its supporting evidence, we bring together your key people, usually 5 to10 leaders of different areas of your operation.  The typical session lasts 4 to 6 hours in which the Certified Brand Strategist is a facilitator – employing our proven, proprietary process to bring forward facts and intelligence about the company or organization, perceptions, opinions and ideas. Then we distill this information into a few Unique Selling Points that are your core differentiation – your Claim of Distinction.

We examine your company or organization’s history, products, services, people and culture. We search to find the essence of the brand. We search for evidence. We search for insight.

Participants find the process illuminating, and almost always surprising in what comes out at the end.  The results can reinforce the path you’re on, or, as happens most frequently, mandate a new, fresh look at your direction.  Only by involving all your key players in the process can you get the buy-in needed to make success achievable.

Once 3 to 5 Unique Selling Points are established and agreed upon, this information is used to create a Brand Strategy from which all communications flow – both internally and externally.

This session is the ideal opportunity for top management, marketing and operations to discover the company or organization’s Brand Essence and play a role in the establishment of their brand’s communication strategy.  In the end, when someone says “Tell me about your brand,” everyone will have a clear, definitive and consistent answer.