Inspiration.

“A little hunger can make you younger.”

– Anon

A brand is like a person.

Like a person, a brand is known by its character traits, values and personality.

Like a person, a brand has physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions.

Like a person, a brand is an individual. No two people, and no two brands, are exactly alike.

Like a person, for a brand to relate to its audience it has to be known, understood, relevant and engaging.

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What are values? Values are deeply-held beliefs that define character, determine thinking and action, identify positive differences, guide choices and predict outcomes. The challenge is to choose a set of four values that work in combination to express what is authentic and unique.

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What is strategy? Strategy is big picture, long-term thinking. Strategy deals with core objectives and direction – and charts the way forward to the achievement of these desired ends.

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Good strategy provides a framework for an effective response to most conditions and circumstances.

Good strategic thinking takes command of all available means and aligns and directs them to achieve a clear future goal.

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The best strategies are founded on the true values of an organisation and based upon how the business positions itself relative to other key players in the category. Great strategy, effectively delivered, makes market leaders.

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Max McKeown, author of The Strategy Book, argues that “strategy is about shaping the future” and is the human attempt to get to “desirable ends with available means”.

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Vladimir Kvint, President of the International Academy of Emerging Markets, defines strategy as “a system of finding, formulating, and developing a doctrine that will ensure long-term success if followed faithfully”.

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“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.”
– Albert Einstein

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“The main issue with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
– Albert Einstein

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“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
– Albert Einstein

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“Sometimes you have to plumb the depths before you can scale the heights.”
– Anon