Applied Poetics

Brand, culture, design, voice–Applied Poetics is about finding clarity and meaning in our organizations.

Betrayed by the brand: How Moleskine made enemies of the people who loved it most

Leave a Comment Posted by jonathanopp on October 25, 2011

These days, passionate brand advocates are hard won and easily lost. One of my favorite brands is learning this lesson right now.

For writers, designers, or anyone in a creative field, notebooks are your place to record inspiration and craft ideas. I’m rarely without one. My notebook collecting has bordered on the obsessive—and many of my notebooks are made by Moleskine.

Moleskine notebooks have long been a favorite tool for designers. I can’t imagine an audience that is more important and influential to their brand strategy. Which is why I was so disappointed to see Moleskine launch a contest to crowdsource a logo project.

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Brand, Design AIGA, contest, crowdsourcing, Design, logo, Moleskine

Getting your brand story heard in a social media world

Leave a Comment Posted by jonathanopp on October 24, 2011

This article was originally written for and published in IABC’s CW Bulletin, September 2011.

Brand communicators today have a unique opportunity: We can get our messages into the marketplace at a cost and speed that would not have been possible a few short years ago.

However, we are also not alone anymore. Today everyone is in advertising and in PR. Social media has allowed everyone to have their own megaphone.

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Brand, Voice authenticity, Brand, Chipotle, IABC, story, Trip Advisor

When authenticity matters most

Leave a Comment Posted by jonathanopp on March 26, 2011

March madness and the spirit of the NCAA basketball tournament are everywhere. But there’s one particular bracket no one wants to be on. For the past six years, the website The Consumerist has held a tournament for readers to decide the Worst Company in America.

The site takes nominations to determine the initial selection of 32, then round by round readers vote to determine the winner.

One company on the list this year has decided to do something about it. Not about the reasons why they made the list, or why they “won” the competition last year–but about making sure their competition wins first.

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Brand, Culture amazon, authenticity, Brand, consumerist, culture, Jeff Bezos, reputation

Time to chase a new kind of dream

2 Comments Posted by jonathanopp on February 1, 2011

Last week the time had come for me to say goodbye to Red Hat. I joined the company on the third day of the year 2000. Red Hat was 350 people then. Today the company is over 3500 and is the largest and most recognized open source company in the world. I may have left the company, but in many ways I will always be a Red Hatter.

But today I’m chasing a new kind of dream. Today is my first day at New Kind.

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Brand, Culture, Design, Voice Chris Grams, community catalyst, David Burney, Mark Twain, Matthew Muñoz, New Kind, Red Hat

When it’s time for change: Recycling and Redesigning Logos

Leave a Comment Posted by jonathanopp on December 19, 2010

Branding is about articulating the clearest, truest expression of who you are. For most brands, that expression is summed up in the logo identity.

If you’re a new company, a new logo is a chance to introduce yourself to the world and make a good first impression. But when your logo and brand are already in the marketplace, it presents a different challenge. What do you want your brand to say about you? And is that the message your logo is sending your audience today?

The fantastic book “Recycling & Redesigning Logos” by Michael Hodgson is all about redefinition–when your logo no longer represents who you are or who you want to be. Hodgson is the principal and creative director of Ph.D, a design firm in Santa Monica, Calif.

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Brand, Design, Voice Brand, brand personality, Design, logo identity, Michael Hodgson, Recycling & Redesigning Logos, Voice

Discovering desire lines: How to break down barriers and let paths emerge

Leave a Comment Posted by jonathanopp on December 16, 2010

The story is told like this: A university constructs several new buildings on its campus. But rather than build sidewalks between buildings, they plant grass, let people walk, and wait. Pedestrians choose the most efficient paths–and over time the lines worn in the grass reveal where sidewalks should be.

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Culture design thinking, desire lines, desire path, emergence, let the best ideas win, open source way, transparency

5 reasons why rapid prototyping works for creative projects

Leave a Comment Posted by jonathanopp on December 2, 2010

The open source community has a phrase for the principle of rapid prototyping: “Release early, release often.” The theory is sound: Don’t wait until a project is perfect to share it. Instead, keep producing work so more people can experience it, react to it, find bugs, and improve it.

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Culture, Design best ideas win, community, creativity, meritocracy, open source, Paul Arden, rapid prototyping, release early release often, Robert Sutton, sharing, Tom Peters

Sharing the story of Red Hat’s brand and culture

6 Comments Posted by jonathanopp on November 28, 2010

Last week I was asked to speak about brand and culture to a group of visiting MBA students from the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary. They came to Red Hat to learn more about the company, and I gave a talk on how brand and culture align at Red Hat.

I love telling this story.

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Brand, Culture, Design, Voice Brand, communities, culture, Mason School of Business, Red Hat, storytelling, United breaks guitars, William & Mary

Comparing leadership cultures and creating change

Leave a Comment Posted by jonathanopp on October 27, 2010

Yesterday I attended a panel on cultural leadership at the Coach K Leadership Conference at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. The panel featured our own Senior VP of People and Brand at Red Hat, DeLisa Alexander, and Mark Reuss, President of General Motors North America.

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Culture collaboration, culture, General Motors, GM, organizational change, Red Hat

Inside the culture of Wikipedia: Q&A with the author of “Good Faith Collaboration”

Leave a Comment Posted by jonathanopp on October 1, 2010

Wikipedia is among the world’s most widely recognized examples of mass collaboration. Most people also know Wikipedia is open for anyone to contribute. But what does open mean? What are the rules? Who writes them? And how do they solve inevitable disputes over content?

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Culture Clay Shirky, collaboration, community, Good Faith Collaboration, Jimmy Wales, Joseph Reagle, Wikipedia

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Applied Poetics

Betrayed by the brand: How Moleskine made enemies of the people who loved it most

Getting your brand story heard in a social media world

When authenticity matters most

Time to chase a new kind of dream

When it’s time for change: Recycling and Redesigning Logos

Discovering desire lines: How to break down barriers and let paths emerge

Sharing the story of Red Hat’s brand and culture

Comparing leadership cultures and creating change

Inside the culture of Wikipedia: Q&A with the author of “Good Faith Collaboration”

Applied poetics is a theory about changing how we build brands and communities. I believe organizations today can speak poetically—whether through written voice, visual brand, or the culture and passion of their people.

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