general assembly: the lean brand

Ben Spear Consultant, Brand Strategy & Design

THE LEAN BRAND

AGENDA

‣ Intro, Q&A 10m

‣ Why brand? 10m

‣ Industrial vs. Information Age Brands 10m

‣ Lean Brand Development 10m

‣ Workshop 40m

‣ Discussion time 10m

2

INTRODUCTION

‣ BFA Graphic Design, BU College of Fine Arts

‣ Graphic design and corporate identity

‣ Brand strategy and acceleration

‣ Qualitative market research

‣ Berklee, Harvard, P&G, MassChallenge

‣ #brandhack

BEN SPEAR CONSULTANT, BRAND STRATEGY & DESIGN

3

Q&ATHE LEAN BRAND 4

THE LEAN BRAND

WHY BRAND?5

LESSON 1 6

BRAND = RELATIONSHIP ≠

NAME, LOGO, TAGLINE

WHY BRAND?

CLANS7

‣ Paleolithic ‣ 2,600,000 years ago ‣ Small egalitarian groups, dynamic leadership ‣ Information is personal, 1-to-1

Image: wikipedia.org/wiki/paleolithic

WHY BRAND?

NATIONS8

‣ Neolithic ‣ 10,000 years ago ‣ Permanent settlement, pseudo-personhood ‣ Information is disembodied, 1-to-100

Image:

WHY BRAND?

CORPORATIONS9

‣ Industrial ‣ 250 years ago ‣ Corporate personhood ‣ Information is mass-produced, 1-to-many

Image:

WHY BRAND?

SINGULARITY10

‣ Information ‣ 30 years ago ‣ Planetary consciousness ‣ Information is, many-to-many

wikipedia.org/wiki/m

LESSON 2 11

BRAND OCCURS NATURALLY

THE LEAN BRAND

INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS

12

INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS

INDUSTRIAL BRANDING13

‣ Focused on product ‣ Customers = conversions ‣ Generates wealth ‣ Exploitative ‣ Teaching, forcing, patriarchal

Image: james-pratt.com

INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS

INFORMATIONAL BRANDING14

‣ Focused on experience ‣ Customers = partners ‣ Generates value ‣ Collaborative ‣ Learning, guiding, fraternal

Image: rosaliewinard.com Temple Grandin

INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS

ERIC RIES15

“What creates value for a startup is learning if we are on path to a sustainable business. [Successful companies have to] make that shift in perspective, from making stuff to learning which stuff to make.”

INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS 16

vs.

vs.

vs.

INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS 17

vs.

LESSON 3 18

INDUSTRY IS OVER

INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS 19

IDEAS BUILD PRODUCT

Industrial

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

Information

THE LEAN BRAND

LEAN BRAND DEVELOPMENT

20

LEAN BRAND DEVELOPMENT 21

@jeremiahgardner

@brantcooper

LEAN BRAND DEVELOPMENT

MAJOR TENETS22

‣ “Brand genius” is a myth ‣ Brands aren’t manufactured, they’re co-created ‣ Innovation through experimentation and validated learning ‣ Build — Measure — Learn ‣ Story — Artifact — Invitation ‣ “Minimum Viable Brand Relationship” (MVB)

SUMMARY KEY CHALLENGE / QUESTION

CASE STUDY

‣ Secure funding

‣ Build beta group

‣ Prototype the customer relationship for feedback

- Audience analysis

- Persona development

- Naming

- Identity design

Okin measures force during strength training, and transmits data to an app that tracks performance.

OKIN 1h30m23

Okin measures force during

strength training and

transmits data to an app

that tracks performance.

Nick SulhamFounder

nick@okin.co

(508) 596-6030

okin.co

Making undesirable easier:

‣ OKCupid, wing-man: dating

‣ GlassDoor: employment

‣ Prostate exam: health

‣ Hallmark: emotion

‣ Trunk Club: wardrobe

‣ Foodie: famer’s market

Important considerations:

‣ The gym is inconvenient and intimidating

‣ Make the product less techy, less faddy

LESSON 4 24

TODAY’S BRANDS ADAPT

Q&ATHE LEAN BRAND 25

THE LEAN BRAND

EXERCISE26

KEY OBJECTIVE(S) AGENDA

RESOURCESDELIVERABLE

EXERCISE

An iteration of your brand that enables a full turn of the Build — Measure — Learn loop.

0–5m 5–10m 10–15m 15–20m

1. Ideas 2. Build 3. Product 4. Measure

Experience lean brand Initial market data

Brand Owner + Brand Developer Customer

27

20–25m 25-30m 30–35m

5. Data 6. Learn 7. Ideas

EXERCISE 28

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

1 Understand partner’s idea 5m

2 Build brand statement 5m

3 Produce final statement 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

EXERCISE 29

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

1 Understand partner’s idea 5m

2 Build brand statement 5m

3 Produce final statement 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

EXERCISE 30

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

1 Understand partner’s idea 5m

2 Build brand statement 5m

3 Produce final statement 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

EXERCISE 31

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

1 Understand partner’s idea 5m

2 Build brand statement 5m

3 Produce final statement 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

EXERCISE 32

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

1 Understand partner’s idea 5m

2 Build brand statement 5m

3 Produce final statement 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

EXERCISE 33

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

1 Understand partner’s idea 5m

2 Build brand statement 5m

3 Produce final statement 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

EXERCISE 34

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

1 Understand partner’s idea 5m

2 Build brand statement 5m

3 Produce final statement 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

EXERCISE 35

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

1 Understand partner’s idea 5m

2 Build brand statement 5m

3 Produce final statement 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

LEARN

EXERCISE 36

IDEAS

BUILD

PRODUCT

MEASURE

DATA

LEARN

1 Create new idea 5m

2 Build new artifact 5m

3 Produce artifact 5m

3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m

4 Compile data 5m

5 Share, learn with partner 5m

DISCUSSION TIMETHE LEAN BRAND 37