I’ve meant to comment on this for a while.

I’m suprised that Wal*Mart has taken this long to realize the importance of differentiation in branding. For years, now, Target has executed a successful campaign based on a very simply brand promise:

We’re not Wal*Mart

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I like how the Thin Mints come in individually wrapped servings

- John Dupuy

I’ve been emailed this a dozen times. Is any of it actually true?

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy’s Secretary was named Lincoln.

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Reading a colleague’s blog, I ran across the following:

A symphony conductor is usually a good musician, but seldom a world-class performer. The most effective university deans are often not the best professors. The ability to lead … to Engage Others and to Turn Them On … rarely coincides with being at the tip-top of the … Individual Performance Heap.Which is not to say that leaders shouldn’t have a fingertip familiarity with their particular line of business. But the factors that make you good at the “people stuff” and the “inspirational stuff” and the “profit-making stuff” are quite distinct from the factors that vault you to the Pinnacle of Individual Mastery.

In business, alas, it’s all too common to promote the “best” practitioner to the job of leading other practitioners. The best trainer becomes head of the training department. The best account manager becomes head of the sales department. And so on. Tellingly, that’s not how things work in … True Talent Enterprises.

So why do we go that route in business? Beats me. Gross stupidity? Maybe. But more likely: a refusal to see that leadership is … a discrete, limited, special quality.

A sentiment I’ve long understood, but I’ve not come across any better vocabulary for it.

SOURCE: Re-Imagine! (2003), pg. 321 | Tom Peters

I couldn’t tell you how many cordless phones I’ve bought over the years. On a visit with my brother, he showed me his Uniden system. Amazing.

The sound. The feel of the keys. The fit and finish. The amazing speakerphone (most people can’t even tell I’m talking on a speakerphone).

Check out the new WIN1200 to see what tomorrow’s phones will look like.

Welcome to Branding Guidelines

This blog will seek to discuss branding and the effects it has in many areas of our lives. Prevalent not only in products, branding effects the way we see, perceive and react to many aspects of our lives, including:

• products
• companies
• people
• faith
• politics

Join us as we explore, learn and grow | view branding projects

IDP launches a new web site for Dan Simon, a Columbia, Missouri lawyer.

This site features sIFR heading technology and a really cool Post-It strip nav.  There’s more to come, but we couldn’t wait to launch it.

Samuel Corp, an excavating and heavy construction company gets a new look, new logo and a new website.

We have the privilege of working with Keith Samuel, a rare combination of savvy businessman and nice guy. Formerly, Samuel Excavating, we gave the company:

• a new name
• a new look
• new stationery
• a new website
• new signage

While the whole project went well, the photoshoots were the most fun. There’s nothing like playing in the dirt for a living.

Green Mobile Man saves you lots of green on used cell phones.

Youthful entrepreneur Brian Laoruangroch will stop at nothing to achieve his dream: saving the world by saving you money on cell phones and keeping them out of landfills.

His unique approach to sales and marketing have made Green Mobile a great success story and a key player in the refurbished cell phone market.

CIT, a provider of business phone systems, works with IDP for web design, logo updates and print advertising.

We’ve enjoyed working with CIT (Columbia Integrated Technologies, formerly known as Columbia DJ Supply) through a remarkable transformation.  You can see more of our work in the new version of CITs capabilities brochure, coming soon.