Branding and The Truman Show

Whenever I go to networking events, I usually meet someone who knows me via Book Rapper. They greet me as if I’m a long lost friend. I love their warm welcome. And, it can be a little awkward when I don’t know who they are. The Truman Show Sometimes, I feel like Jim Carrey in The […]

Book Review : Grow by Jim Stengel

The Book Jim Stengel; Grow : How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s 50 Greatest Companies; Virgin Books, Random House, 2011 Précis Consistent business growth and working to improve people’s lives go hand in hand. Features Lots of long and strong case studies. A simple five part framework for action. Based on substantial […]

The Best Way to Create And Own a Unique Position in the Market

The number one question I’m asked is: “How can I create and own a unique position in the market?” It’s an important question because when you know the answer a whole bunch of things fall into place like dominoes falling over each other. For instance, you can then easily determine: What to focus on and […]

Five Ways to Make Your Brand More Exclusive

One of the biggest brand mistakes you can make is to try to appeal to everyone. Therefore, one of the keys to making your brand more powerful is to make it more exclusive. Here’s five ways you can make your brand and your business more exclusive. 1 Invitation Only Think of the classic country club, […]

The Biggest Brand Mistake You Can Make

One of the keys to having is a cult-like following is to deliberately create some division in your market. And great examples of this can be found in almost every sporting competition. In the Australian Football League (AFL), there is a team called Collingwood. And, Collingwood is your archetypal sporting team. They have a long […]

BR Lesson 4: Book Rapper’s Identity Crisis

Book Rapper has had four different identities. And I don’t just mean a logo in the corner. Each of these identities include registering, hosting and designing a website. And they include logo designs too. Four Versions The first ever issue went out under the banner of ‘The Idea Service‘. The second issue went out as […]

A Short History of Branding: A Soap Story

Once upon a time in a small village, a local soap maker produced his wares and sold them out of his own front door. For the other locals in the town this was a godsend. After their weekly bath you could hear them sing, ‘Clean at last! Clean at last!’ As the village became a […]

Brand Worship: The Culting Edge

We all crave ‘meaning’ and ‘belonging’. Cult-like brands have become the new religion because they provide these two basic human needs. In our RAP, Brand Worship, we propose a branding plan for building a cult-like brand. It’s derived from Douglas Adam’s The Culting of Brands. Here’s RAP 1, The Culting Edge highlighting: The Cult Paradox […]

Why your personal brand is everything

In an age of change, the one thing that remains solid is your reputation. Well, if your reputation is solid… If it’s not you’re in deep trouble… Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the Social Media A-listers.He’s a star. An offbeat, in your face and absolutely authentic star.He’s his own man and that’s what I love.His […]