#booknotes : Brand Intervention
For those of you who have been following my Instagram feed from the beginning know that my first booknotes series was on on David Briers’ amazing book, Brand Intervention: 33 Steps to Transform the Brand You Have Into the Brand You Need.
Recently I was looking back through my early nudenotes posts - when I realised I never really showed everyone this full series, so its time to jump back into this project.
In this blog article, I’ve curated all my notes into a single place, showing you my key take-aways.
However, this is just a re-cap - to get the most of the book, I really recommend you get a copy yourself.
I came across the book whilst watching an interview with him on the The Futur’s Youtube channel. David’s focus on a human-centric approach to branding makes for a compelling and thought-provoking read. Check out the full video here:
I blitzed through it, cover-to-cover, in just under a week, simply because I was transfixed.
The clear and concise design of the information is easily digestible - there is no fat or filler, just pure meat!
Brand Intervention opened my eyes to a whole host of new branding ideas - I implore everyone to read this book, you’ll never look at branding the same way again!
Part 1: The Art of Differentiation
Does your brand’s message engage your audience in 8 seconds?
If official we have less of an attention span than a goldfish - showing up just isn’t good enough anymore.
You have to be different - this is the reason for branding!
The art of differentiation, to be different is to be visible.
The secret to building a brand is to focus in on the customer journey after the sale. As David says:
”It’s the difference between having a brand and a business.”
Think about your favourite brands…
Apple. Harley Davidson. Nike. AirBnB.
These companies don’t stop at the transaction!
What are you doing in with brand and businesses to be different?
Part 2: Cliches - The Silent Killers
Are you using cliches?
“If your brand’s using cliches, you’re promoting your category, not your brand”
Wow - mind blown, right!?
Cliches are the outcomes of committees. Committees never create great brands!
They suck the life out of strong ideas, when everyone’s thoughts are given equal weight, no matter experience or track record. As David says:
”committees are a festival of opinions not a review of the possibilities.”
So what needs to change?
Create a small group of 3-4 people with 1-2 people making the final decision.
Simple right!
Part 3: Tell Me Why I Should Care
Are you brand building evolutionary or revolutionary way?
Revolutions are not led by committees, but under strong leadership.
It’s the same when building a brand - don’t be timid, be bold, lead proudly, push the limits.
As I was creating this spread of notes it reminded me of this line from Christoper Nolan’s first Batman movie:
”It’s not who I am, but what I do that defines me”
That’s what branding is really all about!
Part 4: Avoid The Boredom
Why should I give a damn about this?
This is the one question every brand must ask itself.
Look at your brand - have you done everything possible to rise above the noise.
Do you have something worth peoples attention?
“When everyone’s expecting luke-warm pizza serve steak!”
Use design, language, colour and storytelling to ignite passions, dream, aspirations our your audience.
Do that and your will have a consumer for life.
Part 5: Price Vs. Value
Do you know the difference between price and value?
No they are not the same!
Price: what someone pays.
Value: what someone gets.
Cheaper prices do not inspire loyalty, because people only care about the cost. Every brand should offer a competitive price, but remember the more value you provide the less cost will become the driver of a consumer decision to make a purchase.
Want to know more about the value, price and how to leverage both of them to your advantage?
Check out my blog articles, Value in Design Part 1 and Value in Design Part 2.
Part 6: Tell a Story
Does your brand tell a compelling story?
As David says:
”Some brand have ‘telling the truth’ confuse with ‘boring me to death with facts’… It’s the difference between ‘information’ and providing ‘inspiration’ facts were never meant to be dull.”
This is the essence of features and benefits…
Features are the facts, what your product or service does.
Benefits are the results, what the consumer gets out of it.
If you understand features and benefits of your brand or product everything gets a little easier.
For more on features and benefits check out my blog article all about just this.
Part 7: Myth of Pretty
Remember that age old phase:
Beauty is only skin deep.
The same it true for brands - just making a brand ‘look pretty’ is not good enough. As David says:
”It’s life restoring the beauty of a vintage Porsche without anyone ever looking under the hood, only to discover the transmission is missing”.
The aesthetics of a brand will only take you so far, to become a great brand you need to make your audience feel good about what you stand for!
Part 8: Disruption is the Great Equaliser
Can your brand afford to be average?
Every brand needs a hero and a villain.
Go big. Get fired up. It’s a mission. It’s your role in the world.
This gives you scope - a goal to aim for.
Expanding your imagination, as David says it’s “terrifying and liberating”.
The world doesn’t stand still, you can’t afford to either!
Part 9: Key Takeaways
“Rescue dreams, ideas and inspiration before they reach the junk heap of compromise and mediocrity. This is your mission should you choose to accept it!”
There is so much wisdom in this spread of nudenotes - I can’t even summaries it down, I will end up just typing everything out.
So as a compromise here is David’s The Playbook:
Avoid Cliches.
Realising the transaction is just the start.
Clearly opposing something.
Embrace disruption.
Being clear, on what the customer buys.
Lead, don’t follow.
Keep your brand relevant and nimble.
Focus on what is next.
Exceed expectations.
Embrace the revolution, your brand causes.
Use design to differentiate and unify.
Conveying what customer buy.
Look at the bigger picture.
Shortly after I posted the nudenotes of Brand Intervention, David messaged me to say he wanted to have a video interview to discuss my other influences and what I loved about his book. Here it is:
That’s all folks - 9 spreads from one amazing book and one amazing author: David Brier.
I hope you enjoyed this booknotes series - I plan to do more in the future, so if you have any recommendations, please leave them in the comments below, or drop me a message on Instagram, or even email us at hello@nightskycreative.org.
Shout out to Chris Do and The Futur Team for recommending this book.
If you love this content, then you should definitely check out their Youtube channel.
Massive thanks to David for not only writing this inspiring and insightful book, but supporting my nudenotes interpretation every step of the way.
It’s been a great experience - I can already see the shift in mindset in the way I think about branding, and I hope that this book and these nudenotes help more people discover this book and implement the wisdom it shares.
To celebrate the end of this project I have created a high-resolution PDF booklet of my nudenotes on this project.
Here is a preview of the booklet:
Want to get your hands on a copy?
Of course you do - your only human! Grab your copy here:
There’s no catches, it’s a completely free resource for you to use as a reference whenever you need it.
To find out more about David Brier and his work, check out his website.
For more booknotes, follow me on Instagram: @deanoj312.