Blog: On the Inside

OrangeLine Consulting podcast

If you have a chance, tune in to this podcast to learn more about OrangeLine Consulting and how we could work together.

Google’s look, evolved

Need to update your brand to work across multiple platforms?
Take a lesson today from the mega master, Google.

"“Making, learning, playing are all connected. We have the creative spirit of a 9-year-old.” —..."

“Making, learning, playing are all connected. We have the creative spirit of a 9-year-old.”

— Alex Klein, on innovation

Your Brand Is What You Do, and How You Do It

Really enjoyed the attendees at my brand workshop yesterday....

Really enjoyed the attendees at my brand workshop yesterday.
Get in touch if you’d like to attend the next one, or set something up for your team or conference.

Workshop Brand In Focus - HeadRoom

I’ll be leading a brand workshop:

“Who Does the Customer Think You Are?” on May 14 in Media, PA.

Register early. Space is limited.

Entrepreneurs Reveal The Type Of Office Space Their Companies Call ‘Home’

Thanks for the feature of OrangeLine Consulting and the wonderful workspace at HeadRoom @YFSMagazine @HeadRoom2Grow

Is Your Brand Missing The Mark? 5 Brand Rules To Live By

Nice article in YFS Magazine.

Adweek's Top 5 Commercials of the Week: Feb. 20-27

This week’s favorites for me are the bottom 3. I think I have to give the nod to Facebook, for its simplicity and reminding us how connected we all really are. But the iPad ad makes me want to get mine out and make beautiful things and Coke brings a little happy to a bad situation. What’s yours?

The History of Valentine's Day in Under Three Minutes

Another nice look back at the brand evolution of Valentine’s Day by @FastCo Studio

Handmade beauty can enhance your brand image. How can you add...

Handmade beauty can enhance your brand image. How can you add art to your brand presence?

Adweek's Top 5 Commercials of the Week: Feb. 6-13

There’s a lot to love in the middle three here. MetLife will warm and break and warm your heart, Cartier picks great set locations for this reminder of love - old and new, and if Android’s “Friends Furever” doesn’t end your week with a smile, not much will.

Brand Evolution of the Super Bowl

Now that the Super Bowl is over - one of the more bizarre endings in Super Bowl history - take a trip down memory lane with Fast Company’s look back at the evolution of the brand and the introduction of the now famous half time shows and commercial posturing.

http://api.twistage.com/videos/993c3a7ea0ed5/formats/mp4_480/play.mp4

Sticking Branding, A Winning Brand Playbook

When a coach crafts a playbook for a team, it’s with one goal in mind: to win the game. A winning playbook understands and plays to the strengths of each member of the team, and responds with insight to the strengths and weaknesses of the competition. Followed correctly, and modified as needed, the playbook sets the stage for an undefeated season.

What coaches have done for sports, Jeremy Miller has done for companies. Sticky Branding is a well-crafted winning playbook for brands, with a special view to helping small and mid-size companies compete in a crowded landscape. You’ll want to grab a copy of this highly practical guide, study it, and put it into practice.

This is not just a book of theory, but one borne out of Miller’s own personal experience and research. When he set out to turnaround his family business, research and analysis uncovered a surprising key to what it would take to succeed. It wasn’t the sales people or processes that needed overhauled; it was the brand of the company.

This led to a major rebranding of his business, and the catalyst for research and interviews with over 1,000 CEOs and business owners, 5,000 sales and marketing professionals and profiles of over 750 companies. The result is this action-oriented book designed to help companies innovate and grow recognizable and memorable brands – what Miller calls “Sticky Brands.”

Sticky Branding proposes and outlines 12.5 principles to help grow your brand. The first, Simple Clarity, is perhaps the most important. This quote from the book resonated with me, because, sadly, it is so often true:

“Surprisingly few companies make their brand easy to understand. They struggle to explain their business clearly. You visit their websites and leave confused. You read their brochures, watch their videos, review their case studies, and after all that you still may not know what they do.”

Be sure to spend time on this first principle, as all the rest follow from there.

There is a section on differentiating your brand and making it stand out “like an orange tree in an evergreen forest.” As Brand Strategist for Orangeline Consulting, I naturally enjoyed this word picture. The third section is a highly practical read on how to grow brand awareness and drive sales. I can think of a few small-business clients who will really benefit from this section alone, and have already added some strategies to use with them to my own portfolio as a result.

I particularly like the emphasis Miller places in the book on paying attention to your internal team as well as the customer-centric focus. He shares some words of wisdom from his sixth grade teacher that will be familiar to most:

“My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Dixon, used to say, ‘You were born with two ears and one mouth. Use them in that proportion.’ This is an applicable guideline for your company too. It’s hard to innovate if you’re not listening. Paying attention to your clients’ needs and ideas generates so many good opportunities to serve them better.”

It’s familiar, but often overlooked, advice. Miller doesn’t skimp on this section, and neither should we. Companies will do well to follow the playbook step-by-step when thinking through their relationships with customers.

What I enjoyed most about the book is the thoughtful and helpful addition of practical exercises at the end of each chapter. These are worth the price of the book alone. Use them to create your own winning playbook, and you just might find you’ve created, or helped someone else to create, another Sticky Brand.
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About the Author
Jeremy Miller is a speaker, branding consultant, and President of Sticky Branding. He can be found on Twitter (@StickyBranding) and on his company website, Sticky Branding. Get your copy of the book Sticky Branding: 12.5 Principles to Stand Out, Attract Customers, and Grow an Incredible Brand

Enjoying my preview copy of the book - and the nod to...

Enjoying my preview copy of the book - and the nod to “Orange.”
stickbrand.com

Adweek's Top 5 Commercials of the Week: Dec. 1-5

Yet another heartwarming Christmas ad makes our list of best spots this week, but it’s hardly the only minor miracle on the list. Airbnb and Canon both made exquisitely crafted spots, and Arby’s turned in one of the more amusing apology ads in recent memory. Check out the five spots below, and vote for your favorite.

Brilliant Christmas Ad launch on Veteran's Day week. Touching too. Watch it.

It’s only mid-November, but it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas—thanks to British marketers jostling for position in their Super Bowl-like holiday ad season. Two U.K. Xmas spots make our list of best ads this week, along with a pair of celebrity comedy commercials and the first TV work from Dollar Shave Club.

8 Iconic Brands that Have Disappeared

Remember these? Take a trip down memory lane.

You'll love Monty the Penguin - my vote for this week's Ad of the Week.

John Wall and Romeo Beckham. A hilarous ad agency video. One of the most delightful airline spots we’ve seen in a while. And a brilliant beginning to the Christmas ad season in the U.K. Check out our picks for the week’s best spots below, and vote for your favorite.

We live in a transparent, global age now. Is your brand able to...

We live in a transparent, global age now. Is your brand able to reach across cultures?