My deck for a General Assmebly Boston workshop on accelerating the development of your brand through rapid prototyping and learning.

1. Ben Spear
Consultant, Brand Strategy & Design
THE LEAN BRAND

2. AGENDA
‣ Intro, Q&A 10m
‣ Why brand? 10m
‣ Industrial vs. Information Age Brands 10m
‣ Lean Brand Development 10m
‣ Workshop 40m
‣ Discussion time 10m
2

3. INTRODUCTION
‣ BFA Graphic Design, BU College of Fine Arts
‣ Graphic design and corporate identity
‣ Brand strategy and acceleration
‣ Qualitative market research
‣ Berklee, Harvard, P&G, MassChallenge
‣ #brandhack
BEN SPEAR
CONSULTANT, BRAND STRATEGY & DESIGN
3

4. Q&A
THE LEAN BRAND 4

5. THE LEAN BRAND
WHY BRAND?
5

6. LESSON 1 6
BRAND =
RELATIONSHIP ≠
NAME, LOGO, TAGLINE

7. WHY BRAND?
CLANS
7
‣ Paleolithic
‣ 2,600,000 years ago
‣ Small egalitarian groups, dynamic leadership
‣ Information is personal, 1-to-1
Image: wikipedia.org/wiki/paleolithic

8. WHY BRAND?
NATIONS
8
‣ Neolithic
‣ 10,000 years ago
‣ Permanent settlement, pseudo-personhood
‣ Information is disembodied, 1-to-100
Image:

9. WHY BRAND?
CORPORATIONS
9
‣ Industrial
‣ 250 years ago
‣ Corporate personhood
‣ Information is mass-produced, 1-to-many
Image:

10. WHY BRAND?
SINGULARITY
10
‣ Information
‣ 30 years ago
‣ Planetary consciousness
‣ Information is, many-to-many
wikipedia.org/wiki/m

11. LESSON 2 11
BRAND OCCURS
NATURALLY

12. THE LEAN BRAND
INDUSTRIAL VS.
INFORMATION AGE
BRANDS
12

13. INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS
INDUSTRIAL BRANDING
13
‣ Focused on product
‣ Customers = conversions
‣ Generates wealth
‣ Exploitative
‣ Teaching, forcing, patriarchal
Image: james-pratt.com

14. INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS
INFORMATIONAL BRANDING
14
‣ Focused on experience
‣ Customers = partners
‣ Generates value
‣ Collaborative
‣ Learning, guiding, fraternal
Image: rosaliewinard.com Temple Grandin

15. INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS
ERIC RIES
15
“What creates value for a startup is
learning if we are on path to a
sustainable business. [Successful
companies have to] make that shift
in perspective, from making stuff
to learning which stuff to make.”

16. INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS 16
vs.
vs.
vs.

17. INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS 17
vs.

18. LESSON 3 18
INDUSTRY
IS OVER

19. INDUSTRIAL VS. INFORMATION AGE BRANDS 19
IDEAS BUILD PRODUCT
Industrial
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
Information

20. THE LEAN BRAND
LEAN BRAND
DEVELOPMENT
20

21. LEAN BRAND DEVELOPMENT 21
@jeremiahgardner
@brantcooper

22. LEAN BRAND DEVELOPMENT
MAJOR TENETS
22
‣ “Brand genius” is a myth
‣ Brands aren’t manufactured, they’re co-created
‣ Innovation through experimentation and validated learning
‣ Build — Measure — Learn
‣ Story — Artifact — Invitation
‣ “Minimum Viable Brand Relationship” (MVB)

23. SUMMARY KEY CHALLENGE / QUESTION
CASE STUDY
‣ Secure funding
‣ Build beta group
‣ Prototype the customer
relationship for feedback
- Audience analysis
- Persona development
- Naming
- Identity design
Okin measures force during strength training, and transmits data
to an app that tracks performance.
OKIN 1h30m
23
Okin measures force during
strength training and
transmits data to an app
that tracks performance.
Nick Sulham
Founder
nick@okin.co
(508) 596-6030
okin.co
Making undesirable easier:
‣ OKCupid, wing-man: dating
‣ GlassDoor: employment
‣ Prostate exam: health
‣ Hallmark: emotion
‣ Trunk Club: wardrobe
‣ Foodie: famer’s market
Important considerations:
‣ The gym is inconvenient and
intimidating
‣ Make the product less techy,
less faddy

24. LESSON 4 24
TODAY’S BRANDS
ADAPT

25. Q&A
THE LEAN BRAND 25

26. THE LEAN BRAND
EXERCISE
26

27. KEY OBJECTIVE(S) AGENDA
RESOURCESDELIVERABLE
EXERCISE
An iteration of your brand that
enables a full turn of the Build
— Measure — Learn loop.
0–5m
5–10m
10–15m
15–20m
1. Ideas
2. Build
3. Product
4. Measure
Experience lean brand
Initial market data
Brand Owner + Brand Developer
Customer
27
20–25m
25-30m
30–35m
5. Data
6. Learn
7. Ideas

28. EXERCISE 28
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
1 Understand partner’s idea 5m
2 Build brand statement 5m
3 Produce final statement 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m

29. EXERCISE 29
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
1 Understand partner’s idea 5m
2 Build brand statement 5m
3 Produce final statement 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m

30. EXERCISE 30
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
1 Understand partner’s idea 5m
2 Build brand statement 5m
3 Produce final statement 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m

31. EXERCISE 31
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
1 Understand partner’s idea 5m
2 Build brand statement 5m
3 Produce final statement 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m

32. EXERCISE 32
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
1 Understand partner’s idea 5m
2 Build brand statement 5m
3 Produce final statement 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m

33. EXERCISE 33
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
1 Understand partner’s idea 5m
2 Build brand statement 5m
3 Produce final statement 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m

34. EXERCISE 34
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
1 Understand partner’s idea 5m
2 Build brand statement 5m
3 Produce final statement 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m

35. EXERCISE 35
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
1 Understand partner’s idea 5m
2 Build brand statement 5m
3 Produce final statement 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m
LEARN

36. EXERCISE 36
IDEAS
BUILD
PRODUCT
MEASURE
DATA
LEARN
1 Create new idea 5m
2 Build new artifact 5m
3 Produce artifact 5m
3 Measure 3rd party reaction 5m
4 Compile data 5m
5 Share, learn with partner 5m

37. DISCUSSION TIME
THE LEAN BRAND 37