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Advancements in Brand Strategy

September 14, 2015

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Over the past decade, we have focused on helping client organizations to identify their uniqueness in the marketplace and to develop their brand. Traditionally, this process has been a marketing initiative. Yet we continually observed that making a brand promise to customers and potential customers did not ensure that the organization delivered on the brand promise. Adding to this complexity is the dawning of a higher level of sophistication among today’s consumers. They are smarter, they’re better informed and they aren’t easily persuaded. Organizations have to do a whole lot more than just make a claim of distinction. They have to prove it. These savvy customers want to see evidence of distinction.

During the past few years, we’ve deepened our study of brand development, turning to the research of brand development experts, attending brand development seminars as well as having one-on-one discussions with some of the top echelon of the brand development commentary. We’ve confirmed some of what we already knew and believed to be true, we’ve added to our body of knowledge and we’ve thrown out what we now know are some outdated premises. We learned that we can’t simply help an organization define their brand. We know that the power lies in the company’s ability to deliver on a brand promise. We see that deploying the brand essence is an organization wide initiative, reaching the length and breadth of the company and substantiating itself internally even as it proclaims itself externally.

During our own discovery process, we uncovered The Brand Establishment. The Brand Establishment is an elite group of agency principals of brand development and branding firms dedicated to an avant-garde view of brand development that has proven effective. How? By growing businesses — unearthing each organization’s uniqueness — and by identifying clear reasons for target markets to do business with them.

Each principal in the Brand Establishment group has completed rigorous graduate school-level course and lab work leading to designation as a Certified Brand Strategist (CBS). The three BrandSavants principals; Russ Cornelius, Jacquie Francisco and Theresa Amos Smullen are Certified Brand Strategists.

Only BE-certified members offer the trademarked “Turning the Telescope™” brand discovery process perfected over several years — as well as a host of other tools, from Brand Insight Assessment, to internal brand development, EnculturationTM, to ROI accountability. These proven processes and tools are nationally recognized as the new paradigm in brand development.

Jim Hughes, founder of The Brand Establishment, has said that with the business and marketing experiences Russ, Jacquie and Theresa have accumulated throughout their careers, combined with their acumen for uncovering the brand essence of companies, BrandSavants is at the pinnacle of this arena. Along with a network of associated business experts, BrandSavants is positioned to provide peerless brand development counsel to C-level executives, helping companies define their vision, navigate a course to vision achievement and dominate their markets.