Inkovations: Brand Strategy

I’m the child of socialist revolutionaries. Every weekend of the formative years of my life was spent at demonstrations, singing protest songs, giving out flyers… you get the picture.

Early on I learned to look below the surface, question the status quo and fight for change. Which has been a gift.

But my parents’ politics were...

Photo: Me with Sad Rabbit, circa 1980

Sad Rabbit wasn’t always sad.

Originally, when his smile was still stitched on properly, his name was Fluffy and he wasn’t tatty but caramel coloured with velvety ears. He was my most beloved childhood cuddly toy.

I still remember standing with my nose...

It’s that time of year again where we all hark back to the good ol’ days of riding one horse sleighs, building snowmen in meadows and conspiring as chestnuts roast on blazing fires. And so on.

But these days, nostalgia isn’t just a Christmas trend.

Throwback Thursday, the ubiquitous ‘vintage’ Instagram filter, a boom in flea...

Last Wednesday was the most shocking US Presidential election of all time. Luckily for me, I had the perfect antidote in an event for Women With Voices that night.

I was part of a panel dubbed as the ‘Spice Girls of Business’ (pictured) which included my business partners-in-crime Emma-Louise Smith and Kerri Walker, as well as...

“As soon as I started telling people about our method, instead of the software, overnight sales literally doubled. The message was unique, we weren’t just this thing to help you track your expenses anymore, we were much more than that”. Jesse Mecham, Founder, YNAB

These are amazing times for innovators like you. It’s never been...

This article first appeared in the D&AD series on brand storytelling.

You may not have heard of most of the people I work with; niche consultancies, tiny charities, 10-people technology companies. They’re unlikely to win any yellow pencils. They don’t have advertising budgets....

I met Nellie through a friend of a friend. We were making the usual small talk when she dropped casually into the conversation that she was catching a flight to Belfast that night.

“What are doing?” I asked.

“I’m going to have a fight” she replied.

I stared at her, puzzled. But she was deadly serious.

No, she...

At brand strategy workshops I often hand out cards with different logos on them and ask the group to say what each logo means to them. The replies are fascinating … and usually hilarious. At one workshop when someone picked the BMW logo, it provoked some unexpected reactions:

“Pretentious”
“Bad drivers”
“Essex...

When it comes to naming, make-up brands are at the top of their game:

Razzledazzler.

Ruby Woo.

Electric Eel.

Glitterati.

Just a few of our personal favourites and just the tip of the ultra-blue iceberg of brilliant cosmetic brand names.

So why do make-up brands put...

In this next instalment of our brand language series we’re thrilled to bring you this guest post from Jo Gifford of Killer Content Academy- we know you’ll love her as much as we...