I’ve become more and more acquainted with the phrase, “eating your own dogfood,” the farther I journey down the Lean Brand innovation path. If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase, “eating your own dog food” (also called “dogfooding”) is slang for using your own product or ideas to validate the quality and value of your product or idea. My personal acquaintance with the...

For The Lean Brand Launch Tour, hundreds of founders, intrapreneurs, and entrepreneurs came out in support of a new way of brand innovation. We're happy to share the presentation that Jeremiah Gardner and Brant Cooper gave during the tour. Remix it, rework it, and reuse it as you journey down your own Lean Brand path. The Lean Brand Launch Tour...

NOTE: For my upcoming book, The Lean Brand, we intentionally passed on the traditional publishing route to focus on creating a community around the book. It was a bit risky, but we felt it gave us the best chance at having discretion and flexibility with how we went about bringing the book to life. Part of our community building plan...

The following is an excerpt draft from my upcoming book called, The Lean Brand. Your feedback is more than welcome. More at: http://leanbrandbook.com BRAND LANGUAGE ECOSYSTEM So, let’s be clear about not only the definition of brand but the ensuing language ecosystem in which it lives: A brand is a relationship between an organization and an audience. Branding is the aggregate effect of both the intentional and unintentional activities taken by the organization or...

WHAT IS LEAN BRAND DEVELOPMENT? Any conversation about branding should begin, first and foremost, with a clear discussion about what you mean when you say, "brand." The definition (in my work on the subject) of a brand is: a relationship between an organization and an audience. It isn't a logomark, color scheme, identity system, advertising, or any other asset or noun outside of...

@FAKEGRIMLOCK shares thoughts about brand: HAVE PERSONALITY EASY. ANSWER THREE QUESTIONS: 1. HOW YOU CHANGE CUSTOMER'S LIFE? 2. WHAT YOU STAND FOR? 3. WHO OR WHAT YOU HATE? A Dinosaur Worth Following: @FAKEGRIMLOCK...

Resolutions abound this time of year. Do a quick google search for “New Year’s Resolution” and you’ll find lists upon lists packed full with headlines like, “Top Ten Resolutions For Women on the Run,” “7 New Year Resolutions That Take 5 Seconds or Less!,” or my personal favorite, the “New Years Resolution Generator.” (I used the generator…apparently this year I will...

Inspired by a recent post on Medium.com by Andrew Torba called, “The ‘Getting Shit Done’ Sleep Cycle,” I thought it would extremely interesting to begin learning from how other people live their days, and why. So I started a collection (A Day In The Life Of…) to give a dedicated space for this idea. Head over to medium.com and share...

After months of contributions, I was feeling unsettled and unmotivated to continue writing for this particular publisher. Instead of simply being disgruntled and quitting, I decided to examine why I felt the way I did. After all, it’s completely plausible that I was the issue. After taking a deep personal look at my feelings, thoughts and motives, I found that, honestly, I just didn’t...

The tragedy unfolding in the Philippine Island right now with Typhoon Haiyan gives us good pause to take a break from talking about brand strategy, theory or application. Instead, we should focus our thoughts around a central idea — our shared humanity. It’s true that our world is more interconnected and globally aware now more than ever before in human history. We are...