Marketing people think branding is part of marketing. 

Branding people know marketing is only one part of branding.

The best branded organizations know every touchpoint is an opportunity. There's a constant quest for new and better ways to serve customers. Better benefits are made consistent and clear. 

Being open to branding opportunity means not just staying ahead of the curve... 

It's seeing when, where and how best to reinvent which curve. 

Branding at its best becomes a magnet. It can pull together your best people ... across the enterprise ... to embrace your brand idea. Own it. And deliver it through every business dimension. That's how an active branding culture drives sustainable success. Branding means fully operationalizing brand ideas. 

A branding intervention™ unites talent to change embedded thinking & align action to amplify results across your enterprise.

It begins with recognizing what needs to happen differently. Then pinpointing the ownable insight which can drive different results. And engaging the right resources ~ both internal and external ~ to customize your execution for success.

Sustainable growth is rooted in operationalizing brand concepts. Rethink your business as a series of potentially more powerful branded actions. "Connect the dots." And make sure there's  ownership across all key audiences. 

Interventions don't require huge amounts of time or budget. The "must" is engaging leaders and 'get-it-done' resources ... both essential to move FAST.

Beyond traditional marketing, part of my early business training was scenario planning. Working with top management on their strategic growth priorities at companies like Chrysler, Citibank, Colgate and Campbell's (yes, it all began with "C"!). 

Finding innovative ways to get ahead of the curve became a necessity. Back then, fast-to-market was nine months to a year. Without a full sense of market trajectory, any good strategy could miss the trendline ... completely. 

Today, that approach has become a built-in scanner for what I call 'bonfires on the horizon'. 

The future is happening somewhere ... now. 

These CMO-eyes are trained to look. See not just the fire, but it's source. And adapt ... to fuel real growth.

Yet wherever collaborative brand interventions have been activated and embraced ~ with fresh angles of vision ~ there's been remarkable, sustainable success.

• Campbell Soup's PREGO ~ co-invented back in 1986 because our team thought this thing called ethnic foods was going to be "big" ~ soon passed the market leader. With more smart branding, last check, it retains it's #1 position.
• Citibank's Citigold ~ conceived in 1988, well before the over-metalicizing of market tiers ~ now has a new marketing push. (I smiled reading some of my own copy, many years later, as I just signed up!) 
• McDonald's "i'm lovin' it" campaign ~ inspired by a whole new strategy which engaged creative teams ~ is still working. Now in its 18th year! Around the globe.
• Orbitz overtook the #2 position of Travelocity in the online travel space with a future-focused, two-prong strategy, leveraging a sharply targeted brand portfolio. Results outperformed market leaders who were 'buying share' and losing margin. This first real portfolio strategy now has redefined how today's OTA leaders do business.  
• AutoTrader.ca was relauched with digital smarts, combined with a fully integrated branding campaign, prepping the business for that marketplace's major shift to mobile.  This not only reversed the downward spiral, but helped to catapult the restaged site into lead position. We stole significant share from Kijiji (eBay Canada). Our campaign won the top Effie for most effective  communications in Canada, across all categories, in the year of its relaunch.