Gathering of the Force by Living the Brand

It's been 3 weeks of intense let's start, then stop, then start, then stop as we have been building our brand, our office, our message, and our working relationship. When I begin to think how I started in this crazy business over 22 years ago, I reminded myself that I have worked within different aspects of branding, marketing and design. Each one having its own priority when the project or campaigned arrived. Now, I in the process of doing everything and sharing ideas with everyone about what comes first, second, third, etc. Meaning that this process is all branding, everything, every  little thing.

I know it sounds crazy but living a brand, and really living the brand and two entirely different things. I spoke about how companies MUST LIVE THEIR BRAND to survive, but this is a 9 to 5 message and at the end of the day, they are getting paid to live the brand (or turn it on when asked to). When they leave the building, they can shed the LIVE THE BRAND coat and assume their normal lives and integrate back to wherever they came from.

With this new enterprise LIVING THE BRAND means at every point of every day, we need to see, listen and communicate as brand mavens. It's our DNA, our world view, our reason for answering the "why?".

How come? Well, you see we are all made up of brands, all kinds of them. Just take a moment and look into the mirror. We are what we wear, what we eat, what we drive, and what we read. And each one is a brand! We prioritize the importance, we decide when one brand fits one situation and when one doesn't. We reference brands like gospels.  We even ban some brands. I know I do. I haven't purchase Exxon gas since the Valdez oil spill. And this comes easy to us. I have spoken with certain customers who still will not purchase a certain brand because someone had told them a story from ten years prior on how this brand screwed them.

But now, what took months, maybe years, is happening in seconds, and our business enterprise  will listen predict, promote and react. It is a 24/7 world, and a exciting one at that.

Welcome to our LIVING THE BRAND!

The Summer Ends, A New Beginning and Now The Pleading Starts

It's been awhile since my last post and so many things have happened since we last left it. So..let me begin...I have started a new business, but in truth its a amalgam of two businesses into one. The name of this enterprise is engage3sixty. A new type of branding agency! I have three partners, with one being my wife Nancy.  


The business model is to provide monitor, evaluate and position messaging for top line growth for our clients and their brands. We have a pretty good team! We are in the mist of construction, painting, equipment & furniture purchasing. It's been whirlwind but very satisfying. Being a small business owner is a lot of work. 


I look forward to bringing some anecdotes on our journey towards profithood. Now the pleading starts.