August 9, 2010 1:39 pm Johnny Walker: In-Sync branding at its best

Back in the day, when I was working at Hal Riney & Partners – this type of brilliant, in sync film-making would have seemed more the norm than the exception.  But today it is simply shocking to see the power of storytelling and visual messaging so masterfully used to communicate a brand’s authenticity.

There’s no question that the execution here is flawless: the casting, the direction, the mood, music, lighting, etc. but what’s thrilling is that the engine that drives this story is the brand’s authentic heritage and iconography.

In a recent Forbes.com article when discussing Johnny Walker, journalist Sam Barclay states that “people are willing to pay more for provenance”.  Here here!

It’s a pity that many of today’s brands spend more time giving us nonsensical entertainment disguised as messaging vs. finding their own stories and bringing them artfully to life.  Anyone for back to romancing the brand?


April 23, 2010 3:09 pm Sometimes it’s about the tiniest details

Cosi gives us flatbread samples. Starbucks calls their employees “baristas.” And Spice Market requires their female wait staff wear gold earrings.

Indian-inspired earrings. In yellow gold. Nothing else will do.

Spice Market is a restaurant in the heart of New York City’s Meatpacking District that focuses on Southeast Asian cuisine. But it’s not just the cuisine that makes it Southeast Asian. In addition to menu items like curried duck and chicken wings drizzled in sticky-sweet chile sauce, the restaurant decor is straight out of an Indian bazaar. And from a brand experience perspective, yellow gold earrings are the icing on the cake.

According to owner and founder Lois Freedman, “I’m very visual,” she says. “I’m involved in the look of a restaurant, down to the staff’s jewelry. At 66, I don’t allow it. At Spice Market, I want the women to wear Indian earrings, yellow gold. I have to be specific. Otherwise they could come in with turquoise ones from New Mexico!” (New York Magazine, “Spice Marketer” by Beth Landman)

And she’s right. The tiniest detail – down to the color and style of staffs’ earrings – has more of an impact on your customer’s brand experience than you’d think. It’s this type of attention to details and congruent messaging that help create a spot-on, in-sync brand experience


April 6, 2010 10:40 pm My favorite books

I’ve read LOTS of books on brain science and the psychology of the mind, but here’s a list of the ones that have been most influential to the formation of my ideas:

John Medina, Brain Rules

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

Gert Gigerenzer, Gut Feelings

Gerald Zaltman, How Customers Think

Antonio Damasimo, Descartes Error

Malcolm Gladwell, Blink

Jonah Lehrer, How We Decide

Health and Feldwick, 50 Years of Using the Wrong Model of TV Advertising

Robert Heath, The Hidden Power of Advertising

If you have others that you think should be added to the list, please let me know!


February 15, 2010 3:07 am No thanks, I’m just looking for some chaos

“May I help you?”

“No thanks, I’m just looking.”

How many times have you had that same exact exchange? You’re browsing in a store, likely overwhelmed, yet when a store employee asks “the question”, you get annoyed and instantly shut them down.

If there’s any retail store to be overwhelmed in, it’s amidst The Container Store’s endless aisles of boxes, baskets, hampers and other organization necessities. Yet The Container Store knows and embraces this. Rather than having employees ask “the question,” they are trained to send the right message by truly engaging their customer’s with a specific, relevant question or solution. By tailoring the behavior of their employees to complement the behavior of their customers, The Container Store opens the door to a two-sided, positive branded conversation. In essence, not asking “the question” becomes a brand behavior.

Yet customer service means nothing if the store experience doesn’t provide efficient solutions to the everyday problems of the over 35, mostly female target. Accessible sale flyers? Check. Wider aisles for easy maneuvering? Check. Cozy carpeting? Check. Lower shelves for easier reaching? Check. Products out of the box for testing, lifting and measuring? Check. Knowledgeable, friendly employees that are there when I need them? Check.

It makes me feel like The Container Store understands me, what I need, and how I need it.

For me, this seamless combination of customer service + product + messaging creates a congruent brand experience. Chaos is usually what drives me to The Container Store in the first place — it’s fantastic that it’s the last thing I find in-store upon arrival.


January 30, 2010 6:04 pm Megan’s site is now live

Hello world and welcome to my blog. As some of you know, I left my brand consulting company, Starfish, at the end of last year to pursue my dream of writing a book combining the lessons I’ve learned from 25 years of marketing and strategic planning for some of the world’s greatest brands, with the latest findings in behavioral and neuroscience. My book is called “Get your Brand In-Sync: 7 Steps to Building Brands a Brain Can Love”.

This blog is meant to serve as a vehicle for chronicling my progress, and for giving me an outline to post insights and observations as I go.

Thank you for visiting me here. I hope you come back again soon.



Brand Synchronicity 41 E. 11th St.,11th Fl, New York, NY 10003 | T 212-699-3740 | info@brandsynchronicity.com