Branding Master Class

It is rare that I find a presentation that positively impresses me. Even rarer if I agree with most of the content.

I want to share a series of presentations on branding I think are worth the time to look at. Idris Mootee, CEO of Idea Couture, authored the presentations four years ago. I recently tripped across them when doing a Google search.

The first thing you will notice is that Master Class week three is not listed. It is a module on luxury branding (http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/luxury-brand-marketing-keynote-germany). It was interesting, but I felt it was very narrowly cast and not as directly reapplicable in place branding as the information in other Master Class modules.

The second thing you will notice is that the modules are authored from a consumer packaged goods perspective. Please view that as a positive. It is often easier to understand the concept as it apples in the CPG context and then explore ways for reapplication in place branding.

Of course, the key is to understand it is the principles you need to focus on reapplying. Don’t get confused by the fact that the tactical expression of those principles will be different. Too many practitioners feel that branding communities is so tactically different than branding products or corporations they fail to see the similarities. While it is definitely true that branding a community is not the same as branding soap, I can assure you with confidence branding a prescription pharmaceutical is also different than branding soap. But, at P&G I came to appreciate how the principles of branding pharmaceuticals and soap (or paper, or cosmetics, or any of the P&G portfolio) are the same despite differences in tactical execution.

Master Classes

http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/brand-masterclass-week-one

http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/brand-masterclass-week-two

http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/brand-masterclass-week-four

http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/brand-masterclass-week-five-developing-brand-strategy-l

http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/brand-masterclass-week-six

http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/brand-masterclass-week-seven

Discussion

The better branded our communities are, the more competitive they will be for capital attraction, retention and expansion. The principles of branding go beyond simple promotion and image management. They include product development and identity creation. In the world of economic development this translates into a strategic framework for making forward looking decisions around asset creation, infrastructure investment and public policy reform. It is important to have a viable plan on where you are taking the community’s brand in order to assure sustainable economic growth and vitality.

For perspective, 20 states represent 80% of our Nation’s GDP. If the communities in those 20 states were able to become more competitive through successful reapplication of private sector branding principles, our Nation would in turn be more competitive. If economic development professionals in all 50 states sharpened their place branding mastery, the economic benefit could be huge in the aggregate.

That is the underlying premise behind the Strengthening Brand America Project. I think the Master Class series created by Idris can help move the peanut forward and I hope you take the time to review the information they contain.

What are Your Thoughts?

Did you find anything in the presentations that struck you as new or specifically applicable to your community’s efforts? Which of the principles have you has success in reapplying to your local efforts? Which have given you a challenge when you’ve tried to reapply them? Which do you feel are just too different that reapplication is not realistically plausible? Leave a comment, and let’s get a dialogue going on the tactical translation of product and corporate branding principles to the branding of communities. Also, let me know what you think of the Master Class series.

Full Disclosure

I am a new fan of Idris Mootee and have no business relationship with either him or Idea Couture.  I am simply impressed by the information in his Master Class presentation series and happy to recommend it to you on the basis of the quality content.

Pay it Forward

If you have a Facebook account, become a fan of Strengthening Brand America. If you are a LinkedIn user, join the Strengthening Brand America Group. If you like twitter, follow BrandAmerica to keep track of updates on this website

Join The Strengthening Brand America Project

Take a minute and register. It is free to be a member. To make it easy, here is the link –http://eepurl.com/gVltn 

Check Out My Free eBook On Strategic Planning

Click the above or copy and paste this link into your browser – https://strengtheningbrandamerica.com/blog/2012/03/new-ebook-on-strategic-planning/

1 Comment  |    Forward this to a friend   |   Number of emails sent: 545

Category Place Brand Building, Strategy

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.