Applied Poetics

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

Category Archives: Brand

Getting your brand story heard in a social media world

Leave a Comment Posted by 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 [...]

Brand, Voice , , , , ,

When authenticity matters most

Leave a Comment Posted by 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 [...]

Brand, Culture , , , , , ,

Time to chase a new kind of dream

2 Comments Posted by 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 [...]

Brand, Culture, Design, Voice , , , , , ,

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

Leave a Comment Posted by 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 [...]

Brand, Design, Voice , , , , , ,

Sharing the story of Red Hat’s brand and culture

6 Comments Posted by 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 [...]

Brand, Culture, Design, Voice , , , , , , ,

Jim Whitehurst: Don’t build a better mousetrap. Change the business model.

Leave a Comment Posted by on April 23, 2010

Companies that are creating massive value typically aren’t building a better mousetrap. They’re not improving on existing technologies or simply adding new features. Instead, they’re changing the business model. This was the message behind Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst’s keynote at today’s CED Venture 2010 Conference.

Brand, Culture , , , , ,

Lessons from my favorite brands: Be more than a brand. Be a philosophy. – MUJI

1 Comment Posted by on December 6, 2009

Essential products. Minimalist sensibility. Restrained beauty and effortless simplicity. MUJI may just be the world’s most poetic brand. And it’s not a brand at all. Or at least they reject all of the traditional definitions. MUJI is a Japanese company whose name means “no brand quality goods.” For MUJI, it’s not about being a brand, [...]

Brand, Design, Voice , , , , ,

Building brand through storytelling: Seven elements great stories have in common

1 Comment Posted by on October 13, 2009

Here’s a quick story: A friend of mine and I had stopped at a gas station for a soda on a summer afternoon. I was probably about 10 years old. As we were drinking, I was mindlessly tearing the plastic label off my bottle and shredding it into pieces. He watched me do this for [...]

Brand, Culture, Voice , , , , , , ,

My rule of thumb for delivering a message? Less prose, more poetry

Leave a Comment Posted by on September 15, 2009

We all know how fast the world is moving. Attention spans are short. Our mission is to get our ideas read, remembered, and retold. It doesn’t matter whether you’re crafting company strategy or writing marketing copy. When you need to inspire change, you need to make your message stick. Which means the communicator has to [...]

Brand, Culture, Design, Voice , , , , , , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.