Some Useful Wisdom From Branding Experts

Last week, I went to a conference at the Columbia Business School, and I saw a presentation by Columbia Professor and branding expert David Rogers. He was giving a summary of major themes the emerged from a recent branding conference that he organized. In the aftermath of “The Conversation” and “DIY Days,” I wanted to share these ideas with the indie film community as we grapple with our own branding strategies going forward. I’ll just tick off the major points here, and you’ll have to go to David’s blog to see the explanations.

1. Stop thinking of customers as individuals. Start thinking of them as networks.

2. No customer is statistically insignificant.

3. Be the influencer.

4. Lower the barriers to entry for customers, and raise your level of expectations.

5. Shift from mindless to mindful consumption.

6. True innovation balances emotional & functional design.

7. Leverage untapped potential in your organization.

8. Culture eats strategy for lunch.

9. You are not in the business that you think you are in.

Check out the David Rogers blog to see the details. I hope you find this useful.

2 thoughts on “Some Useful Wisdom From Branding Experts”

  1. I particularly like point 5. It’s about time that so-called culture makers give more credit to the intelligence of their audience (I’m referring this to media making more than branding).

    Thanks Ira!

  2. Glad you enjoyed David’s talk at the Media Forum, Ira.

    I recently finished my master’s in Strategic Communications here at Columbia and worked on developing a communications strategy for an upcoming independent documentary of Roger Corman–so I now know very well the huge business and marketing challenges faced by independent filmmakers.

    Here’s hoping you’ll be able to join us at our BRITE ’11 conference.

    Matt
    Center on Global Brand Leadership
    Columbia Business School

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