Brand and Butter
The straight-talking branding podcast for leaders who refuse to settle.
Brand and Butter delivers no-BS advice on how psychology, strategy, and design create brands that work. Host Tara Ladd, founder of Your One & Only brand design studio, breaks down the real influence and power of branding – how understanding behaviour and cultural shifts can transform how people see, think, and choose.
Sometimes funny, always honest, never dull. This is the podcast that cuts through industry jargon to talk about what actually makes brands stick.
Tara Ladd is the founder of Your One and Only, who design brands that breathe with culture through psychology, strategy, and design.
Brand and Butter
What We Can Learn From Ben & Jerry's 40-Year Activism Strategy
In this episode, I break down the genius behind Ben & Jerry’s brand strategy, and guess what? It’s not just about ice cream. From a little scoop shop in Vermont to an $8 billion Unilever buyout, they’ve stayed loud, proud, and unapologetically activist.
We’re talking about what happens when purpose isn’t just slapped on a values page, but baked into the DNA of the business. The risks, the rewards, the occasional controversy – and why their ability to stand for something bigger than dessert is exactly what built their cult-level loyalty.
Listen to this if you want to see how aligning values with strategy is more than just good ethics... it’s good business. Ben & Jerry’s is proof that when you do it right, you don’t just sell products, you build trust that lasts.
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you're listening to Brandon butter a straight-talking occasionally in your face. No BS branding podcast for modern marketers and business owners here for those who want to understand the influence and power of branding and how pairing, association, consumer behavior and design thinking can impact what people see, think and feel. I'm your host, tara Ladd, the sometimes funny, sometimes vulnerable and often unapologetically blunt founder and creative director of brand and design agency. Your one and only. Hey, hey, welcome to this week's episode of Brand and Butter.
Speaker 1:Today I am going to break down a pretty popular brand and discuss why they have had such longevity of success. Does that make sense? Sure, we're rolling with it, but I think, when it comes to how everything's moving and I mean this is in real time we're kind of watching it play out across the board with many different things and what was working hell, even six months ago, seems to be changing so drastically. And it's really important that we kind of also resort back to legacy brands or brands that have been doing this for a really long time and they're still successfully doing it, because it means that they've adapted, and I think we can always look at who's winning at the moment, but what that does is not look at the track record of those brands that have done the ups and downs, and I think it is always really good to look at those that have been in business for a really long time to see how they've navigated certain industries industry changes, I should say how they have managed to innovate and understand the changes of consumer behavior and how they have evolved with cultural conversations, because as a species, we change. What we were listening to and valued maybe five years ago could have changed today. So what it is that I want to talk about today is really the understanding of belonging. This is something that every brand needs to understand. You aren't just building a product or a service now. You are now needing to understand community. You are now needing to understand consumer alignment, to understand the way people value, how they spend. A lot of that buckles down to trust and so when they feel like they're seen, heard and belong, they trust you. That takes time. That is strategy. This is brand.
Speaker 1:So it really is about that narrative. What you're saying, what you're doing like legitimate values, not ones that are baked in for performative purposes or to greenwash or whitewash or whatever the hell you're doing. It is genuine. We're not putting values there and saying, oh here, I wrote those ages ago and not being able to rattle off what the top five are. You need to like, live and breathe this stuff. So today it kind of starts in 1985. Let me take you back to 1985. So we're in Vermont and there's two guys that have started an ice cream business. So they're all about legitimately dismantling nuclear weapons and it's all in their shop window. Their competitors think that they've lost their absolute minds. And now we fast forward 40, 40 years and ben and jerry sold to unilever for eight billion dollars and the activism wasn't just a side note, it was baked into their entire brand strategy and it was actually part of the agreement when they sold that they had to continue the social activism with the sale.
Speaker 1:So in this episode I want to dissect, as I say in our framework, how Ben and Jerry's have, I wouldn't say cracked the code, but how they've evolved with the time, with their authentic purpose positioning and why 99% of brands usually go spectacularly wrong here. Spectacularly, oh God. You know when sometimes you go to say a word and you're like wow, I can't say that. That just pops up for me every now and then that seems to be that word, but let's just say they went. Most prints go very wrong and look, it's not because they don't know. Well, it is in a sense, I think a lot of people are resorting to AI these days, so they're missing a lot of well areas that they should be tackling. But if you don't know, you're not going to get. So this is something that I think it's really important that we understand human behavior, which is why I went to study human behavior, because, simultaneously, as we're learning about AI and the involvement of automation, people are going to be wanting human connection. So there's that.
Speaker 1:But what I want to do with Ben and Jerry's today is talk about the psychology behind their value alignment, why performative activism backfires, and how to build, I guess, a purpose positioning that helps them or helps you to convert, and to and by convert I mean to build brand loyalty to, to not only just get sales. I think that there's a big difference between getting a sale and getting a customer. So a sale cool, you've got that person. A customer is someone that will stick around and advocate. I mean, you get different variants of what a customer may mean, but that's where my mentality is, and so I'm trying to kind of do it in a way where people understand our framework and how we work at your one and only, and that's kind of. We break it down into three core areas and the first step is dissect.
Speaker 1:So it's the strategic positioning. It's finding where the product market fit is. It's figuring out how you differentiate to competitors, and a lot of people that I know go oh, we don't really care about our competitors. But, mike, that is such a wrong thing to say, because if you don't know what your competitors are doing, you're not going to know how to distinguish yourself and how to be different in the market. It's not about copying them, it's about understanding what they're doing so you can do things differently or do it in your own way and just be aware of innovation. Like if they go and innovate something and you're completely not aware of it, like and that becomes an industry category changer, like you know, you need to be aware.
Speaker 1:And so the strategic positioning goes beyond surface level messaging. I keep seeing a lot of these messages like we need to talk about messaging and I'm like, yeah, that's great. I keep seeing a lot of these messages like we need to talk about messaging and I'm like, yeah, that's great, but until you really understand that core foundation, which I've even been really working on for you one and only over these past six months you just won't be able to tap into those deeper psychological drivers. And so by that I mean these are your core foundations, these are your blanket personas that you speak to, and unless you really know what you're speaking to in terms of their and I'm just saying what keeps them up at night, I'm talking genuine pain Like what is it? Like what is what is it that they're stuck on? Pain pleasure, like what is it that they want to do? What are the? What's their aspirations Like? What are they trying to achieve here? And it goes so far beyond they need to make money. Why are they making money? Why do they want to make money?
Speaker 1:At the end of the day I've kind of buckled it down to most people just want to buy time, time to spend with their family, time to be able to enjoy their life, time to you know, witness where they're living at the moment, and the irony is that we work so hard and that we lose our time. And so you've got two things to really kind of look at. Is you spend less money? You waste more time? You spend money, you buy back time and ideally, what the kind of? Well, I guess what the goal for me is is to use my time to make more money than I can get more time back. It's like a full 360, but there is a massive time metric and whatever that time metric is, there's something about what that time means to someone. It's emotionally driven, that's a whole thing.
Speaker 1:But anyway, so let's start by talking to the, the, the dissect aspect of the ben and jerry's activism strategy. And so we've got to kind of look at the historical context here, because it started in 1978 and they're two childhood friends with absolutely no business experience and the decision kind of came from the 1980s activism integration. So Decision kind of came from the 1980s activism integration. So you know, war, nuclear disarmament, environmental causes, all of the things that are very still much in conversation at the moment. But it's about that consistent activism. It's been going for 40 years and it's not just about environment and war, like we're talking about social activism.
Speaker 1:They really come to the game when they market their product. I remember when george floyd, the george floyd incident happened, ben and jerry's posted we will dismantle white supremacy and I was like that is some ballsy shit Like it was in your face, and now we see this very often. But I'm like they were not holding back and I was so respectful of that. It was interesting. So they very much live and breathe their values. This isn't just something where they go oh you know, here's a sticker for our chart. They put their money where their mouth is. And so why this matters for your business is that most brands treat purpose like a marketing campaign, like they look at it like as if it's a nice to have. Oh yeah, we've ticked the.
Speaker 1:Mission, vision, values, blah, blah, blah, not actually understanding what these things mean. It's like creating a foundation for the business. It's why you hire people. It's what people are buying into. If we're looking at it from a making money point, you're completely missing so much opportunity. I'm sure you can have a business like that, that's fine, but if you actually want to build a community where people trust you, stay with you and advocate for you, you need to give them something to want. So Ben and Jerry's have treated it like their DNA, which is where we move into phase two. But the difference is the psychological ownership. So, without throwing too many jargon words at you, it's how, how the recognition of the brand that stays in your mind when you think of that brand, so you assimilate them to advocacy. And when you're buying ice cream, you're essentially buying for good, depending on what your values are. And it's not just performance, I guess theater right, it's not just a show. They mean it and they invest money into these places.
Speaker 1:I think that what it comes down to is that there are a lot of businesses that say these things and it's really hard to get the consumer trust. But consumer trust comes from longevity and consistency and action, and not just saying something. It means doing something. And so where you can lose trust along the way is if you say one thing, do another and then you lose that trust. So once you've lost trust, it's really hard to regain it, and so that's why you know when someone is authentic, because they will live and breathe their values without hesitation. I hope that comes across through you one and only, because I am very adamant to live through my values. We won't put shit to market. I am very much about showing up. It's very much what we stand for here, but there are a lot of businesses that aren't like that. So it can get lost in noise. So I think what it kind of comes down to is when we look at, I guess, a positioning analysis right, strategic positioning analysis is understanding one authentic integration. So activism wasn't just a bolted on strategy, right, it's built into everything that they do. They even name their ice cream after movements and then that ice cream becomes like a campaign for that cause and they donate. It's really cool, actually.
Speaker 1:But number two, and a really important thing, is risk tolerance. So they took genuinely controversial stances and they stuck to it. With that comes loss. So you're going to lose people in the mix and you're going to cause friction. This is what makes the value even better, because not everyone agrees. We know this. So when you take a stance against something and you're not sitting on a fence, you're going to lose the people that you don't want, which is fine. We want to repel them, but you will gain a whole bunch of respect from those that believe the same things, and that is who you want. Most people don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:But then you also look at the consistency test. So this is where brand is really important, because brand is the long game. That's where you call it strategies Like it's. The strategic message is the long game which is really hard. When someone's like, what are your metrics Like? How have you grown this brand? It's like well, you can't really get metrics on brand because brand is like a memory, so it's more about testing after a few years to see how someone remembers you, how they identify you.
Speaker 1:And that comes from number three, consistency. So the consistency test is to you know, 40 years of maintained value through ownership. That's Ben and Jerry's. They have owned what they talk about, they stand up for what they believe in and they've been doing it for 40 years. So you know what you get when you understand Ben and Jerry's. So I guess, before I kind of go a little bit deeper because I do that, you need to kind of think about your own brand and where you are now, whether you're a consultant or whether you're someone that works within a business or whether you are the founder or the director of that business. Is that, are your values, something that you defend publicly, or are they safe enough that nobody would disagree? And I want you to think about that because mine are quite mine's like fuck conformity or something like that. It's like no, it's very much about you know, challenging the norms and we will show up with that and that will disrupt people because we'll disrupt, it will disrupt, it will impact.
Speaker 1:I did a email, I think, last week, and I knew it was going to get a high on subscribe because of the content and it was speaking to inclusivity within brands but within businesses and how that alienates. And I knew that because it was calling out some things that we would get that and I'm fine with that because that means that I don't want those people in my email list because they're just there either for a free ride about some things to learn about and they're probably not in alignment to what it is that I want to do and talk about, which is very much down that systemic change for the change makers, impact driven brands at the moment. So I was fine with that. What I did get was a couple of people come back to me who had been sitting in the wings wanting to work with us, and so that absolutely won. That email was a really good example of show up with your values at the forefront and you will get the results you need.
Speaker 1:Get rid of the people you don't want. Bring in the ones that you do, so, as we move into phase two of our framework and we would talk about the DNA aspect, which is our strategy development. So DNA is, for those that aren't understanding the jargon, the DNA is just like a human. It's your identity development, the DNA of why the brand exists. And so many people don't understand this. They go brand strategy, mission, vision notes, literally like you identifying a brand as a person. So all of these aspects the personality development, the messaging alignment, like the voice that you have, the way you dress is your visual identity, like all of these little things in between. We'll move into the visual identity later, but I guess here is where we talk about the psychology behind the value-driven branding, and so it's like the social identity theory, it's the deep dive into that. And so let's talk about the science.
Speaker 1:People don't just buy product, they buy identity reinforcement, so it is in alignment to their belief system. To give you an example, here is I remember going to the chemist. One of my kids was sick One of the many times that they were sick and there was two like cold and flu syrupy medicines. I can't remember what it was that I wanted to buy both very similar, you know, flavors. Similar flavors, similar price range, similar everything. The thing that actually took me over the line was that one of them said and it was so minute that they donated 5 cents to every bottle to the Starlight Foundation, which is a kid's charity. I was like, yep, that's it. Boom, took it off the shelf. And so what it comes down to is that when someone's choosing between two things, the thing that aligns to what they believe in is going to be the thing that they buy. It's the same reason why we buy and I have in the hallway right now who gives a crap? Toilet paper versus standard, you know, clean, absorbent, whatever other toilet paper that there is.
Speaker 1:Because who gives a crap have values baked into everything that they do. I mean, sure, they're just toilet paper, but there's a whole sustainability approach to it. They've got a really cool personality. Everything about it is very much what I stand for as a person, what I believe in as a person, and even the packaging of how creative it is is very much in alignment to me as a person. What I believe in as a person, and even the packaging of how creative it is is very much in alignment to me as a person, and so when you see that in someone's bathroom, you instantly assimilate that brand to that person's identity. This is why people buy badged cars, it's why they buy designer handbags, it's why people wear urban outfits. There is a whole image aligned to what that brand represents, and if your brand doesn't represent anything, then there's nothing really there. Like you, just become another me too brand, like just another commodity brand. So the values and this is what separates who gives a crap. As a perfect example, is that they did bake a personality into it. Liquid Death did the same thing with Water in a Can, and we've seen Patagonia do the same thing with, you know, outdoor Gear. But they built in sustainability, they built in values, and this is what we're seeing. It's these challenger brands that are coming through, but there's everything about that value-driven branding at the baseline.
Speaker 1:People are wanting more, and this is where they've been going for a long time now, but this is what they put their money in, because they want to buy from brands they trust. They will also boycott brands that make stupid decisions it's whistled at you, then that make decisions that go, or not necessarily a stupid decision, that one that may go outside of their values. So, you know, it might've been that someone didn't want to be inclusive and they unsubscribed because I was obviously going down a different route to what they believed in, so they unsubscribed might not have been that at all. However, that's what we're looking at here. That's the importance. There's no point having flaky people sitting around not, you know, just hanging around there if they're not part of that community that you're building.
Speaker 1:This is the difference, is community building actually takes a lot of effort because you have to navigate what people are wanting, what people are needing, what's missing. How do they feel seen in what it is that you do, what people are wanting, what people are needing, what's missing? How do they feel seen in what it is that you do? And so people are like I just want to run a business. And it's like, yeah, don't we all? But unfortunately, this is just where the consumer market is at the moment. Like you know, we're now having to be content creators. We're now having to add in. This is the world that we live in. We've gone from beyond surface, you know, unseen faces to personal brands being seen scattered throughout the whole business. Because people relate to people, they want to know all of the details.
Speaker 1:Social media has now become like a behind the scenes sitcom of every brand that's out there and people that resonate with the content will connect with that brand. It's trust building in the process, the stories that you tell along the way, part of the brand narrative, in alignment to what it is that you stand for and you believe in, people will they see themselves and feel like part of your content? Or they want your brand to exacerbate their identity or stand in alignment with who they are as a person? They will buy from you the end. So you can do that in every industry. By the way, like toilet paper, right, I have so many people say but I just do accounting Perfect space because no one else is doing it Like it's actually the perfect space for you to do something like that. So think about it.
Speaker 1:So, okay, we look at, before I get off track again, the value alignment creates that psychological ownership. So when you stand for something, that's when people then remember you for that thing. You know what it is that you stand for, what it is that you do. And three is social identity theory, right, so this brand represents who I am. So, to say, those three again, just so you know, is that people don't just buy products, they buy identity reinforcement.
Speaker 1:Two values create psychological ownership. It's basically recognition. That's what everyone wants. It's how you maintain attention. They're like how do I stand out from the crowd? How do I get people to remember me? This? This is what you do.
Speaker 1:And then number three is social identity theory. So this brand represents who I am. And then number three is social identity theory. So this brand represents who I am. And that's when you'll get their money, because they're actually giving you money for the things that they believe in. And that's really, really important. So if we break down the Ben and Jerry's psychology, what they actually did was one. They did identity anchoring. So progressive values became identity markers. And so if you're at the shop and you've got a couple of ice creams that stand, like I said, with you with the cough syrup or whatever it was I was buying, you will go for the brand that is in alignment to what it is that you stand for every day of the week, or you will buy it when you weren't and they're doing the things that you want, and you'll suddenly switch. Consumers are switchy these days, so these are really important things to take note of. Number two is community building. So it's created an us versus them reality. It's the conscious consumer versus the corporate machines. Chocolate chocolates, tony's Chocolate, lonely, are doing this really, really well.
Speaker 1:And then we look at cognitive consistency. Big words, I know, it's basically your brain, but every decision reinforced the same psychological profile strategy. My friends, every single piece of content that goes out to market is reinforcing a higher message. Keep that in mind. This is why strategy matters. So then we look at the authentic versus performative activism, and so you need to look at, like the authenticity test. So what's the risk level? Obviously, you can't just go out and spew things. We've seen this happen recently that you know. You have to also balance what that risk will be for you, and are you willing to lose customers for your values? So that is actually something that you do need to consider. I say to people it's not always that you need to go out and wave your white activism flag, but if it is something that is so deeply aligned with who you are as a business and you can't separate the two, that's a personal choice.
Speaker 1:The second one is consistency. Do your actions match your messaging across all of your touch points? I know so many brands at the moment businesses that I've worked with that are disjointed here and they are so oblivious to it and you try and slip things in and let them know, but it really comes down to what are you saying and what are people saying behind the scenes, and are you actually asking them? I think this is where getting feedback all the time is so important Making sure that you're having conversations with people, understanding that the process is happening the way that it needs to. Feedback, feedback, feedback read forums, what are people saying, set up Google alerts. Make sure that you're social, listening to what people are saying Really important. So then, if you're not saying so, I have a strategy for LinkedIn on my personal page which ties into you Want it.
Speaker 1:Only that, to me, was becoming disjointed, whereas I was very personally driven in values on my Tara Ladd Instagram and my LinkedIn, and it wasn't coming through your one and only, and I knew that it needed to, and that's when I made the switch earlier this year. So we've become a more change maker, impact driven, purpose led brand, because my goal is to create brands that contribute to systemic change, to help shift the needle, to create new conversations and to move where you know that type of stuff innovation, women's health, neurodiversity, inclusivity all of these things to make a better world, essentially. And then the last one is integration. So is purpose driving the business decisions, or just your marketing copy? This is the biggest thing where I've actually done a podcast episode on business, brand and marketing. The three are in alignment.
Speaker 1:So, put simply, the business has the objective. What are the goals that you want to achieve? Is that a revenue increase? Is it that you want to grow and expand? Is it that you want to have a certain business model? Whatever that may be? The marketing then needs to align with that, and so does the brand. The brand needs to then become the front-facing identity that represents the perception of what this business is. Is the business social impact driven? Is the business you know corporate? Is the business fun? Is the business social impact driven? Is the business you know corporate? Is the business fun? Is the? You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:This is where you need to be building in what it is that the business is actually trying to achieve, who it's trying to attract, and that's when you bake in the brand strategy. This is who we are, this is what we do. This is what we're about. This is who we're here for. This is how we're positioning ourselves about. This is who we're here for, this is how we're positioning ourselves, place marketing, all of these types of things.
Speaker 1:Then we look at the marketing, which is how you then execute that as front-facing value, because, don't forget, brand is also internal versus external. I've also done a podcast episode on that. I'm not going to talk about this in depth, but basically your internal branding is who you are as a business, the internal culture, it is all aligned. So if you think that you've just got this amazing brand on the outside and then internally it's just a rubbish dump fire that is going to spread out and that's when people start to boycott brands, when employees start to leak things about internal culture and everyone's like, oh you're not who I thought you were, and it breaks that perception of what they say they are versus what they actually are, and that's a really important thing to take into consideration. And then we look at, I guess, the method connection. So this is moving on. I've done the three. There you go. It's risk level, consistency and integration. I'm like kind of already in step ADHD.
Speaker 1:So in our DNA phase, which is the identity development of a brand, and identity development just for the premise isn't just the visual identity. That is how the visuals look. Your identity has so many different aspects, anyway. So we look at helping the brands identify that authentic. I call it psychological territory, but I really I'm like throwing words away for people to understand that. It's like mental space, the mental real estate, or like the recognition, the memory that people have of your brand, and so it's not what sounds good to people online or in a boardroom or wherever you're pitching your product. It's what you actually defend when it costs you something. It's what you actually defend when it costs you something.
Speaker 1:So, for me, I was very much and still very much am in alignment to ethical marketing. I am very much about being transparent and sharing truth in what I do, and so with that means that there's an area of risk for revenue, because when you share stories of hardship, a lot of people that are in a different mindset don't want to hear that stuff, so you actually won't. Yeah, there's a whole thing, but it is. For me, it's important because it shows the progression of where I've been and how I'm rising, and a lot of people are resonating with that, and so I'm building a community elsewhere. So that's an important thing to take into consideration. But yeah, it really does kind of come down to actually doing what you say you're going to do.
Speaker 1:And so to give you an example is we've seen brands that have gone to market and, well, you know, you've got things like Target in America that went out and dropped their DEI initiatives and, you know, as a brand that used to go out and put rainbow flags for inclusivity of LGBTQ and all of like, all of these performative things that they used to because they felt that they had to, and then, all of a sudden, when they had the permission to, they just stripped all that stuff back and went. Yeah, and you know what happened their stocks dropped massively it was like 12% drop in February of this year when they announced that they were doing that and, in actual fact, the CEO just stepped down because they've lost so much money and Costco like boosted. They were like no, we are all for DEI. They have been the whole time Again, another instance of a brand that has stood by their values and it actually just made them stronger. So everyone moved their business over to there and it was a big thing and their shares jumped 8.9% or something and it was crazy and I was like this is such an important thing to note that sometimes the loud small minority are not the majority, and it was a very interesting thing to show where people put their money, where their values lie.
Speaker 1:That is something that you need to take into consideration. It's also understanding who your base is. Who are your money makers. So a lot of people try and get new people in. For instance, if Target were trying to attract this small minority, they were trying to get new people and they were trying to target that demographic but actually alienated their current client base without even realizing, and so they all moved over to Costco and they lost that foundation. And when they realized they were trying to attract this small group of people, they got them, but they lost their foundational base. So know who your people are, for a start, and understand how to keep them.
Speaker 1:Huge retention I say that all the time retention, loyalty, and so then we move into part three design. Love it, this is our area. Well, all of it's our area, but that's why we made the framework. But this is where I started out was in design, because, well, I just love design. But the visual psychology purpose right. So how do you then visually articulate this? So I think, when we're talking about like visual consistency, especially when they're creating different graphics across the board. It's understanding that Ben and Jerry's actually do have some kind of design psychology going on. So color psychology. So we look at bright, playful colors that reinforce the anti-corporate positioning. So they're very out there, they're very in your face. They represent the color schemes that they use in each of their I guess, packaging is representative of what it is that they're speaking to. So it's really important to understand that Typography choices.
Speaker 1:They've got like bubbly, handwritten, imperfect fonts. Again, this is suggesting authenticity, removing that perfection barrier and showing that they're rough around the edges and they're happy to kind of go on the outskirts. This is so important to understand, by the way, when we're designing brands, that this stuff can really shape how someone perceives your brand on first glance. So when someone says, oh, I really like this font, I'm like Nope, not happening, absolutely complete opposite of what we're trying to achieve here. And once you get down to like, I'm talking like when you're using capitals versus title case. There's a difference between the letter formation, because in uppercase the letters are sharper Whereas in lowercase the letters are rounded, because you've got like a rounded A and a rounded B and you still have that in the capitals, but you've also got the sharp lines. It's more rounded in lowercase. So you know, sometimes title case makes a difference. Again, it also depends on the font choice, because you can have like a bubbly font, but there's yeah, it's different in tonality, so in the tone that you're using.
Speaker 1:So these are the underlying things that people miss the tiny, tiny details that make such a big impact. And then we look at like packaging rebellion so I just spoke about this but like they're deliberately unprofessional so they're not following us. Like this is where the logo goes and this is like how big this needs to be. And I'm getting really flexible in the way that we design our guidelines for our clients as well, because sometimes I think rules are meant to be broken. However, there needs to be a foundational flow. So I will give examples of how to maintain the foundational flow. But this is what they can do with, this is what you can, this is what you can't, and just to make sure that you maintain that consistency. So, for instance, if you've been using a color the whole time and then all of a sudden you go to a different color, like people then mentally can't visually align you. We saw this happen with Tropicana If you Google that, I'll talk about this in the future. But Tropicana lost like big money instantaneously because they changed their packaging of their orange juice and people didn't even recognize it so they just went for another brand. So they were so used to going to this brand because it was familiar and when they changed that it became unfamiliar and people just didn't buy it. They actually had to revert back. So, super interesting.
Speaker 1:This is where you would look at the dissect and understand audience feedback and analysis and research. Super important, because what you think people want is very different to what people actually want. And you need to get those. You need to get that measurement. And so then you look at, I guess, the psychological triggers, right so the visual authenticity markers I'm using some big words here, but it's, I guess the imperfection signals, right, so the hand-drawn elements and suggesting genuine craft and creativity. And even then I think they get some people to kind of come in and feature. But that's a really important aspect is that they they bring in that comical, but so they're softening the activism with like, almost like a, a really creative approach, which is very clever, by the way.
Speaker 1:They've got like they impact. It's like they're like rebellious with their color usage. So, again, like we said, big, bright colors, rejecting that corporate vibe of navies and you know all those boring which I try and get a lot of my clients to break out of. It's like sterile. So colors do have like well, what's the right word? Well, if you look at like, if you look at authority, you know that if you were to look at Navy, you've got police uniforms and pilots and they all wear those, those forms because there is a psychology to it. They're not going to rock up to work in a hot pink suit because it would completely change how you, how you think, because it's always been that way. So they're like heuristics, by the way, which is mental shortcuts to how you assimilate things in your mind, like the shortcuts of what you associate with. Certain colors are really important there, like environmental, green, um.
Speaker 1:And then we look at the narrative and how that's integrated throughout everything that you say. So every visual choice is supporting the activism story and so you can use elements. This is where illustrations really kind of come into use. It helps to amplify the message. They have to align the imagery that you use, the people that are shot in the imagery, the inclusivity like are you showing everyone? Are you an inclusive brand? If so, you need to show inclusivity through your visuals, through everything, through the way that you lay things out, through the contrast of the color I could go on this like this is a whole episode on its own and this is something that we need to.
Speaker 1:This is a whole episode on its own and this is something that we need to. This is something that we do here. So we're not just going oh look, here's a pretty mood board. We're going all right, how are people going to perceive this? What messages are being sent here? This is something that we've been working with our client, sherelle Moody, who is documenting the deaths of domestic violence for women and children in Australia, and that's a really interesting one, because there's a mix of empathy versus authority and, like you know, hard activism. So you've got to meet this middle ground. So I've been like testing this, because it's an important brand and you have to be very careful. So we've done qualitative research with Rebecca York, who was she's a researcher, and we did some quick testing with some audience. Some things that came back were really interesting and we've been bringing that into the way that we then execute the strategy and execute the way that we speak and the way that we look visually. So that's all in development at the moment.
Speaker 1:But then we also need to look at, I guess, the design questions. So many people think that they're designers now because they can jump into Canva not knowing any of this stuff. Not great, like you may be able to save some time, but without those guidelines there to navigate and to give you an understanding of the perception that you're actually putting out there, you could be sending the complete wrong message. All you need to do is have one message put in three different fonts and it will say different things based on the tone of the font choice. So super important thing to take into consideration. And so, I guess, do your visuals support or contradict your stated values? It doesn't necessarily have to be that deep, but what's the message that you're saying and do the visuals support it? And if not, relook Then it's. Are you visually conforming to industry standards while claiming to be different?
Speaker 1:This is the number one killer for so many different people is that they are like we're different, we want to be like this person, and then you do the thing and they're like, actually, that's too much you. You just gotta own it, and this is this is what keeps brands from growing and scaling. It's the safety, it's the risk. That's what you have to do. Do you know what I value jag? A lot of people shat on the jag brand, but I value them for taking that risk. I mean, they got a lot of feedback feedback. I'm really interested because I still believe that I would have liked to have seen how that rolled out, because brand just doesn't happen like after six months. It's like a two-year thing and I think they've made a decision too quickly, especially if they're targeting a new audience.
Speaker 1:However, we saw that response, but you know, I give them 10 points for taking a punt, because it did. It got them back into the news cycle. People are talking about it. Not all news is bad and it's just a design. At the end of the day, it didn't do anything to upset anyone. I mean, some people could have been upset by it, but really it was good on them for having a go, because so many people don't. So we saw that happen.
Speaker 1:You just need to make sure that you're not ostracizing anyone. I think that that was an interesting thing to look at a legacy brand and what that had, but that's a whole different story for another day. But then we also look at, I guess, industries that are very safe. So we look at accounting and real estate and finances and we've just done the women's accountant and we've made her very big and bright and out there and it's very much in alignment to them as a brand Super important thing to take into consideration. Especially when you're wanting to attract that type of audience. You need to be speaking to them. It doesn't matter what everyone else is doing in your industry. It's exactly what who Gives a Crap did. No one was doing what they did. They've profiteered from it. Stop giving a shit what other people are doing. Do your testing. I'm not saying just to go out there and take a punt. There are what I call invisible guidelines or invisible rules, and they're more likely representative of the stereotypes that currently exist.
Speaker 1:So we did this for one of our clients, pivot Freight, and because they're in that space of logistics well, not logistics, they're in freight forwarding, but it's that transport kind of you know, masculine industry and we needed to bring. So we brought in some colors. We brought in canary, yellow, lime, green, bright, red, hot pink and we had we've also had a Navy, but we did this, and deliberately. So we kept the Navy as the safe, and then we used the other colors as accents to then bring in the pop of color and to bring in the personality. So we were skirting on the board of safety and rebellion. So we can start pushing out that box of what conforms them, or the conformity of that industry and the stereotypes of that industry. So that actually had a lot of thought went into that as well. We also brought in illustration set. Had a lot of thought went into that as well. We also brought in the illustration set.
Speaker 1:So you can do some things that push the boundary, um, you just have to take, take ownership of it right and go hard on it. And so then we've got to look at what psychological signals are well, will your design send? So and by that I mean it's like an unconscious choice there's certain graphics that represent certain things that people can then assimilate with, and this changes. By the way, it's not set in stone. To give you an idea, a red hat in America now holds a very certain meaning to it, and so I would go against. If you are a progressive brand, I would go against using a red hat for anything unless it's countering the message with a very specific thing. So things change. You know black flags with white writing represent, you know, different things in different countries. So it's it's.
Speaker 1:You have to understand that there is semiotics involved, which is hugely important. Something that I've always really is semiotics involved, which is hugely important, something that I've always really loved to talk about, which is the universal language of symbols and signs. So what is the unconscious messaging that you're sending here, and is it creating the right perception, so far above the pay grade of so many people that are jumping into Canva really important when it comes to business revenue and scaling and perception? So keep that in mind, and so this is why our design phase goes beyond, I guess, just the look and the feel, because we're creating a visual system and the system is to trigger specific psychological responses that are aligned with the strategic positioning, which is why we have these three phases now.
Speaker 1:So for ages it was just. I was just doing this. Naturally, I was like, no, this needs to be a thing. People need to see this in action and to know why we're not just another agency. This is. These are the things that you know. I went out and studied behavioral science. I've done four really in-depth uni subjects on this and brought this into the way that we, that we work here and aligning this to the way that we're evolving as people. It's hugely important with my skill set of almost well 18 plus years in the design and brand space, so that's another thing.
Speaker 1:So, if we look at the key takeaways for today, right, and I guess implementation of what you can do is that there are really three non-negotiables that you need to look at for authentic purpose positioning, and that's one the risk test. Risk test, my God. And so your values must cost you something. If they're not, you're probably not pushing enough boundaries, and so, if everyone agrees, you're probably not pushing enough boundaries. And so if everyone agrees, it's not positioning, it's just basic human decency. You're fence sitting and the true purpose positioning requires, unfortunately, taking a side, and everyone's like I don't want to take sides and, before you freak out, it's taking sides on an issue that means something and resonates to your brand, Not something that you feel you need to be speaking about, something that is in alignment to what it is that you stand for as a brand. Very different things here. For instance, what do you disagree with in your industry? Go hard on it. Then we talk at number two, which is the integration test. So purpose must drive decisions. It's not just about marketing. We're so beyond that Like, especially as we're looking at.
Speaker 1:The greatest wealth transfer in history between boomers to Gen Z and millennials over the next decade is something like 62 to 84 trillion dollars. With that transfer comes a financial transfer of values. So people will put their money with where their values align Very different generations, very, very different generations. So you need to be cross-marketing. For that. You need to be understanding how people spend their money based on their values. You need to be baking values into the way that you run your business. This isn't 2000 era anymore. It's not about. This is our business. You should buy from us.
Speaker 1:There are so many nuances that are involved in why people make decisions. This is why I studied decision making, because it's really in in depth, and why psychology matters. Now, why you'll hear people spruiking psychology a bit more is because the way we make choice is psychological. So what is it that you're saying? What type of messaging are you sending through? Visual, verbal? How are they in? How are they processing information, so tactile, which is holding verbal sound. You know, sense, marketing, so many different things, and it also is about how is it influencing your product development? And this is something that I'm now looking at is, what are the things that I was doing before and what kind of offers have I now provided, actually narrowed in? So, instead of offering more, I cut a whole heap of stuff out and went hard into the space that we align in, which is brand identity development and brand marketing. So that's really like anyone that needs help with brand marketing.
Speaker 1:So ongoing, you know, whenever you have a bigger brand, you have a brand manager that manages that brand, what that brand is saying, what it's doing, what's happening in the market, how you can evolve, how you can carry that narrative forward, how you can continuously, you know, move forward with the cultural change, which is so hardcore now. So you in agreement, it's almost like you need to have like a marketer and and someone in brand together. But it's also like developing out the marketing collateral and the marketing extension, which is like creative campaigns or the ideation behind um, a channel activation or a product activation, or you know how you can do some kind of guerrilla marketing idea, like all of these things. This is kind of a crossover. The brand marketing is how you can create something that is memorable. What's the recognition? It's like the brand awareness pieces. So that's kind of where we're really moving into.
Speaker 1:It's like the quality over quantity come to us when you want something freaking good uh, not something that you want to produce every day and then we look at thing that you want to produce every day and then we look at do your purposes to purpose up your purposes? Do your values and purpose drive your hiring decisions? This is like the biggest missed opportunity for so many people. It's like, oh, this person doesn't do what I want them to do. What did you hire them for? What kind of thing did you tell them they were buying into? What mission do they think that they're part of? These things matter. And then we look at does it determine partnership choices? So this is important.
Speaker 1:This is something I've always been really strong on is if I'm going to refer your business to work alongside something that I've done with a client that I have. We need to kind of be in alignment with how we believe. If you stand for something different or do something a different way, probably not going to get anything from me. So I have a very selective preference that I send to people. So there's that. The consistency test is number three, which I spoke about before, but it's really can you maintain your authenticity under pressure? I can say yes.
Speaker 1:The last two years we have been really in a different spot to where we were in, I guess, 2023, 24. So I had a big drop. Obviously, personal experience kind of went through there. I had, you know, my personal circumstances with my son having a transplant and then being pregnant with a second baby, so all of that stuff. But at a time when you're at your lowest, can you still maintain that value driven content? I can actually say yes. Then I took a hit to my income because I wanted to stand for something and still stand for that thing, which was not to put shit to market. I could have easily gone out and created something that would have generated some money, but I was ethical in the way that I did it, not saying that people are unethical, but just the way that I did it. I wanted to make sure that it was right and that it meant something to me, that I was contributing to something, and so there was a big repositioning. That happened in that process, and so I can happily say this year we turned it back massively. We've flipped it back around. A lot of work was done and I feel really proud of that and there is absolutely no bad feeling that I have and I feel really really proud. So are you willing to sacrifice something? For me it was money for what you believe in, and that was an astounding yes for me.
Speaker 1:A lot of people can't say that because you've got to sit in the pain. There's resilience building there. And then we look at ownership changes. So it's like can the brand withstand different people coming in to manage it? This is where branding guidelines matter. If you don't have solidified, consistent branding guidelines, someone will just come in and like try and change it. The branding guidelines help to keep things stable. This is who we are, what we do, what we're about, who we're here for.
Speaker 1:If you say something else or do something else that are outside of this, that is off brand. That's what you need. Can you withhold your values through economic pressure? I just mentioned that I did. Can you do it too? It's freaking hard, by the way, really really hard. And then we look at cultural shifts. This is a big one. This is what we've been going through really heavily over the last decade, especially since COVID. Can you withstand the cultural shift and can you adapt and evolve? This is where we are right now. All of this kind of comes back down to everything that we've spoken about today. Can you do that? I say yes, you can.
Speaker 1:So I guess, if you're wanting to know how you can build in this, this framework, what I would say is one you need to do a values audit. So what do you actually believe? Number two is a risk assessment. What are you willing to lose customers over? Mine is authenticity, and well, not authenticity. Mine is DEI. It's about inclusivity. If you don't believe, which is my email that I sent out last? If you don't believe, which is my email that I sent out last week? If you don't believe that you need to be including everyone in your conversation, I don't want to work with you. We need to be aware that everyone, we are marketing to a very diverse world and I don't believe in marketing to just one. I don't believe in surrounding myself with just one narrative and I don't believe in supporting just one type of person. I will push my money into very different places to support and be and to live and breathe my values of supporting a wider demographic, and that's really important to me.
Speaker 1:And step three is the market gap analysis. So where can you authentically position differently? This is where everyone is stuck. It's the differentiation. How do you differentiate Everyone's like I don't know. How do I stand out? How do I stay memorable here when you know, trust me, everything becomes easy. But it really is that awkwardness of finding that spot.
Speaker 1:What I found is that when you're innovating or you're doing something new, no one's done what you're doing before. So there is no framework to copy. You've just got to wing it, put things out and hope to God that something sticks, and be very intentional with what it is that you're speaking to, intentional with what it is that you're speaking to. So this is exactly this is exactly what we walk through in our free brand gap finder. So I've just finished this off. It's like new. It's a scorecard and it's a strategic framework for identifying positioning opportunities that your competitors are missing and that you can find. So, basically, it's a positioning analysis. What areas can you tap into? What's missing, what's not in the market, what are different ways that you can look at? And that's something that I think that can just open your eyes to things you go, oh, didn't even think about that, that that's the thing you want.
Speaker 1:So, at the end of the day, what I would say is that you need to remember that value alignment creates that memory, the recognition, the psychological ownership. So if you own a certain space or people now say, I know I remember asking ages ago deliberately, what do you remember us as? And they were like design. And then I asked the same thing about 18 months later, after I'd pushed out a new strategy, and everyone said brand psychology. And I was like bang, perfect. And now we're moving even further into that space and tapping into who we're doing it for. So this is what we do and this is who it's for, and we're being really intentional with how we push our content out. And so when your customers see themselves reflected in your brand values which is why I'm very much talking about my experience with ADHD, talking about disability, with my talking about motherhood through an authentic lens, people then see themselves in what it is that you talk about.
Speaker 1:This isn't a money grab. I just actually want to build my people around us, because then I get to work with clients that are very similar in thinking, and you connect with people that they're friends with and they're very much in that same circle as well, and that, to me, means more than anything else. It's one of the reasons I started the business, and then they join your community. So it's not just about buying your product, it's about them joining the space that you create for them. So, to wrap it up, ben and Jerry's basically won because of their activism, but the lesson, I guess, is that every brand needs to become here I dare I say it politically active, because business is political. It doesn't mean that you have to get out there and be like, oh you know, but it does mean that some of the little choices that you make need to align.
Speaker 1:So I am very much about inclusivity. I don't think people should be left out. I'm very much about supporting the industries that are promoting change in these spaces, and that's why I've moved into that, because it just comes out naturally and now everything feels easy. So, instead of me restricting the content that I was trying to say, it's now just naturally rolling out and content's like flowing so easily. I think that that's the thing that we need to understand. Is that that authentic positioning and the purpose that you lead by is backed by consistent action. But also it creates that mental connection with your audience that go so far beyond price and features. So so so far.
Speaker 1:But if you're looking for a way to kind of identify your current gaps, then the brand gap finder scorecard is like really cool for you to go through and just analyze. It also asks you to ask other people so you can then get an outsider's perspective. But if you're really interested in the psychology behind brand decisions like this, you will probably love our Brain Lab course. So I dive into the deeper level of consumer psychology, cognitive biases and the mental shortcuts and heuristics that drive human behavior or drive our purchasing decisions. So it's perfect for anyone who wants to understand the why behind successful brand strategies, and I will drop that link in the show notes if you are interested. So if you haven't got the link to the brand gap finder, I will also drop that down there for you too.
Speaker 1:But that is it for this week. I hope you liked that one. It was a bit longer but it dives into. You know very much what we do with our emails, but in a longer format. So if you want to know more about it and you want to slip into my DMs? You know where to find me. Aside from that, I will chat to you next week. Did you like that episode? I hope so, because if you did, why don't you head over to whatever platform you listen on and rate and review? It's much appreciated and helps others know what we're about. If you want to follow us, you can find us at. You want to knowly? Underscore au on instagram.
