Rendering Strength

In the Puddin' - Brand You Series

There are some principles that are perfectly unfailing. You can count on their effectiveness time and time again - in a variety of situations. I have always appreciated the principle of leverage. One of the oldest, simple machines, a lever is used to exert a large force over a small distance at one end by exerting only a small force over a greater distance at the other. But you knew that already.

I like the way Archimedes looked at leverage when he said, "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." Now that's my kind of a guy - a real change agent, if you ask me.

The last science-geek fact I will mention is that in physics, the point where you apply force is called "the effort". Naturally, where you decide to apply the effort determines how much you are able to leverage and lift.

So I ask you, Where are you applying your effort in your brand? What are you using as your lever? If you said "My unique strengths" you are absolutely correct and on your way. If not, today is a good day to re-examine your simple machine before you hurt yourself.

A great example of an individual who is re-branding their business to leverage their powerful unique brand strengths is Craig Jolly, owner and CEO of Studio F1 - an architectural rendering, animation and design acceleration firm. They are in the business of creating all sorts of digital images and animations related to construction projects that do not currently exist in order to help clients: sell projects to the city, investors or general public and assist architects refine the design process. Basically, they are the technical creative geniuses who have the rest of the world double-taking to wonder if the image is 'real' or not. They are also the guys that watch Pixar movies from a entirely different perspective than the rest of of the audience...

Responsible for the future growth of the business, Craig had to consider where to apply his effort - what his brand strengths were that would give him the leverage he needed. It didn't take long to discover that Craig had some powerful strengths that most of his contemporaries did not. And for awhile in business, they were easy to miss. They always are as owners attempt to juggle all the variables in day-to-day business and quality. It is very difficult to take a step back and evaluate while an operation is in full motion.

In his industry, there is no question that the best competitors in his field were creative and tech savvy - imperatives to producing good work in his industry. Craig's team was creative and tech savvy, too. But they had something that their competitors did not. They had Craig - and the fact that he happened to be an architect himself as well as having an MBA. So what difference does that make? What does that have to do with the process of producing electronic images? Everything when you think about what those images mean to the business of architecture, construction and development.

The images are a product that someone with the technical knowledge can produce. But someone with the technical knowledge plus architectural knowledge and a strong business acumen can provide a valuable service to architectural and development companies in order to refine money savings and generating strategies in addition to simply producing the image. Because of Craig's personal brand strengths, he was able to leverage his company's offerings from a product to transcending into more service-related offerings and advantages. That is some serious lift.

The official launch of his new brand and offerings is set to launch this fall and I will keep you posted on the details of how he is executing his strategic leverage and the specific types of services his firm will extend. Despite the fact that the re-brand has not officially rolled out, interest in Craig's unusual brand strengths has already been sparked not only in the local market, but requests are now coming from California, the Midwest, New York and even Dubai.

Congratulations to Craig for restructuring the future of his company to reflect his personal brand strengths and launching his company into the next phase of growth. Archimedes would be proud. --Dolores McKay, ZAG Group CVO.

Comments

[GC]

Brilliant way to articulate brand leverage using classic scientific theory and principles. We would all benefit by taking a moment to evaluate the most beneficial points at which we might each "scientifically" leverage our individual brands. You, for one, consistently provide fresh and insightful blogs that make "puddin' time" an invigorating part of each day. Keep cookin' up the puddin'!