Here are the 5 silent killers 👇
1. The Memory Trap: Lacking a visual hook.
2. The Bland Trap: Mimicking category norms.
3. The Content Treadmill: Story that doesn’t compound.
4. The Wasted Ad: Treating packaging as nice to have.
5. The Retention Gap: No utility to stay in their life.
Swipe to see how Burberry, Vacation, Red Bull, Apple, and IKEA solve these problems.
#brandstrategy #brandstory #brandingdesign
Not as easy to do as it looks…
Great branding is about consistency of belief.
And building associations around your brand story.
Nuking the Himalayas was not the brand play I was expecting from Arc’teryx in 2025 …
How this got past their team still amazes me. Especially considering how on point their brand message normally is.
A serious head scratcher 🤷♂️
Can we settle the debate for one final time?
#branding #brandstory #brandstrategy
This is the difference between a brand story slogan and a brand story strategy 💎
Story
Signal
System
Swipe for the full case study breakdown.
#brandstrategy #brandstory #branding #seed
Yesterday I shared 15 packaging designs winning the art of packaging theatre.
Today I’m ranking my top 5.
Loewe. Fly By Jing. Tom Dixon. Flamingo Estate. Diptyque.
Five brands. One lesson.
Packaging is one of the purest and most powerful forms of brand world building there is.
Every surface a chance to tell your story. Every unboxing a chance to pull customers deeper into your world.
Save this for your next launch.
#brandstrategy #brandstory #packagingdesign #brandingdesign
The finalists ranked in order…
15 packaging designs that have caught my eye lately for being built around one thing.
The art of unboxing theatre 💎
The friction of the lid. The specific knot of the ribbon.
The illustration that tells a story before you see the goods. The handwritten note tucked inside.
It’s not just about elevating perceived value.
It’s about designing a reveal that triggers one powerful response: I need to film this.
Get it right and your packaging stops being a cost. It becomes a brand asset that turns customers into creators.
#brandstrategy #brandstory #packagingdesign #brandingdesign
5 signals you’ve found uncontested space:
1. Nobody can compare you to anyone else.
2. Your audience uses language the category doesn’t recognise.
3. Your price doesn’t get questioned.
4. You bring in people the category never reached.
5. Your ad spend works harder than the competition’s.
Blue ocean brands don’t compete. They make the competition irrelevant.
#brandstrategy #brandstory #branding
Fitting in is the most expensive strategy in branding.
You pay to look like the category, then pay forever to stay visible in it 🤦♂️
Blue Ocean Brands don’t try to compete in a category. They build the category competitors copy into.
Swipe for 5 case studies 👉
#brandstrategy #branding #brandstory
The worst rebrand of all time and the best one in history came from the same brand, ten years apart.
Mastercard 2006 looked like a Windows XP screensaver.
But they followed it up in 2016 by joining the icon only club with Apple and Nike.
The rebrand would help take the business from $100B to $400B market cap….
Because a rebrand isn’t a new logo. It’s a new trajectory.
#branding #brandstrategy #rebrand
These brands didn’t just create a habit. They turned it into a ritual.
Crocs Jibitz, Guinness pour, Wimbledon’s Strawberries & Cream... this is behavior as intellectual property.
#brandstory #brandstrategy #brandrituals #branddesign
the art of the Brand Trojan Horse 🐎
A Brand Trojan Horse is a secondary product usually low-cost or free that stays in a customer’s life more effectively than the main product ever could.
While your main product asks for a sale, the Trojan Horse offers value, status, or utility. It creates a low-barrier entry point into your ecosystem.
Once inside the customer’s home (or feed), it acts as a permanent billboard, signaling status or building loyalty.
Here are the most elite examples from each category I have covered over the past few months…
Who did it best?
#branding #branstory #brandstrategy
Part 3 👉 These brands didn’t just pick a colour. They turned it into a competitive edge.
Louboutin Red, The Masters Green, Kodak Yellow… this is colour as strategy, not taste.
#brandstory #brandstrategy #brandcolours
