Applied Poetics

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

Tag Archives: Brand

Getting your brand story heard in a social media world

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 [...]

When authenticity matters most

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 [...]

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

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 [...]

Sharing the story of Red Hat’s brand and culture

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 [...]

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

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, [...]

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

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 [...]

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