why not operationalize brands? part 1
Over coffee the other day a colleague asked me a question I actually get asked a lot: Do you find that people “get it?” By “it” he was referring to operationalizing the brand, the approach I teach and help my clients implement. He asked because he’s found, as have I, that although many company leaders claim to understand the difference between expressing and operationalizing a brand, the fact is, most don’t put their brand in the driver’s seat of their organization.
Our talk prompted me to think about why this is the case. Most business leaders are eager to leverage the full potential of their brands, but they’re not following through. (more…)
brand as business workshop
A couple of months ago I gave a workshop on my topic “Brand as Business: How Companies Drive Business Growth by Operationalizing Their Brands.” Feedback was so positive I thought I’d get a brief video of excerpts made to share with my readers here. Please check it out and let me know what you think (run time: approx. 8 minutes).
denise lee yohn brand as business workshop from Denise Yohn on Vimeo.
marketing myopia
I’ve been mulling over a debate for the past few weeks and haven’t been able to resolve it, so I thought I’d share it here and get your input.
The issue is whether marketers should try to increase the marketing function in the organization or whether they should try to increase the marketing capability of the entire organization. The debate was prompted by an op-ed written by Larry Light, marketing guru and former McDonald’s CMO, in Forbes a few weeks ago.
2009 year in review
As 2009 draws to a close, I thought I’d take a quick look back at significant developments of the past year. 
And what a year it’s been, hasn’t it?!
Last January, I don’t think any of us could have predicted how bad things would get (the economic downtown, collapse of the automotive industry, Adam Lambert’s American Music Awards performance – to name a few of the year’s downers) – nor what the bright spots would end up being (Twitter adoption, explosion of iPhone Apps, and Glee – some of my picks for highlights!)
the business reset button
Last month I asked you to vote to get my manifesto, “Reset: Re-Ignite Your Business with the Power of Your Brand,” published on ChangeThis. I really appreciate all of your votes which ended getting my paper to one of the top spots on the list — but apparently others garnered more and so they took a pass. So…I’m publishing it here instead. And, I’m also posting some bonus content. (more…)
my journey to “brand as business”
Five years ago this month, I became an independent!
Yep – back in September of 2004, I followed the advice of a book title I heard of (“Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”) and resigned my VP/GM Brand and Strategy post at Sony Electronics, Inc. to hang out a shingle as an independent brand consulting partner. I thought I’d take this occasion to recount some of the milestones on the journey I’ve been on since that crazy moment.
For those of you who don’t know me well, I hope this post will explain why I believe so strongly in “brand as business” – and for those of you who have been my support and guidance, partners and clients over the last 5 years, I hope you will be able to see how you’ve helped get me to where I am today. 
reset, a manifesto
The folks at ChangeThis* are considering publishing my manifesto, “Reset: Re-ignite Your Business with the Power of Your Brand“ — and I need your votes to make it happen.
starbucks went changin’ — best blogpost revisited
Congratulations to Jon Galloway, the winner 
of the “vote for the best blogpost” celebration I held to mark the 1-year anniversary of my blog!
Jon voted for “don’t go changin’ to try to please them,” a post I had written about why brands shouldn’t go chasing after customers. Jon explains his choice:
This really resonated with me since I’ve seen this mistake made so many times from a product development point of view: (more…)
