David Brier

“A great sports car that goes from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds is just a fact. To the wrong audience, it’s irrelevant. But to the right audience, it’s a passion.”

“The biggest mistake brands make are trying to “sell their stuff” rather than clarifying what people are actually buying.”

“Every great brand goes back to a courageous individual who dared to say 'NO' to the status quo.”

“Having a me-too brand is a death sentence.”

“Your brand exists to differentiate. “Same crap, different day” won’t do it. A day that goes by without breaking some sacred branding rule is a day a brand has lost to rise above the status quo. By breaking those rules with insight, intelligent and innovation, your brand can get heard in a world that’s simply too busy to listen.”

“We know there are thousands of ways to solve any branding problem a company faces, yet the only valuable solutions are the effective ones. Doing something ineffective in half the time–or “more efficiently” or “more economically”–isn’t progress, but is instead bad business. Very bad business.”

“History is filled with inferior brands outselling superior ones thanks to better branding. Only superior branding has the power to overcome and reverse this (and superior products and services deserve superior branding).”

“Who are we, and how do we relate this idea in a way that’s meaningful to our customers and the values they hold dear?In other words, one must define something meaningful. To do that, one must identify to whom this must be meaningful.”

“The opposite of value is a commodity item with little or no perceived value — which means people are not seeking it out and when they do, it’s merely one of the many choices (so very likely the cheapest offering will get the sale).”

“Launching a brand is not for those with thin skin. It takes courage, intelligence and foresight.”

“Brands are either built on reruns or coming attractions. The future has no road map while the past does. Creating a brand that blazes new trails can sometimes be bumpy but will also allow you to be the first to discover something new, something meaningful and something that makes others ask, “Why didn’t we think of that?” Be very scared of “old tricks” and build a spirit of innovation. It’s the “old tricks” that have the highest risk, not doing something bold.”

“Consumers today have become a cynical mob of buyers who believe the reviews and ratings of complete strangers much more readily than your brand's promises and distinctions.”

“Cookie cutters are for baking, not branding.”

“Evidently, one thing seems to have more value in direct proportion to whether or not we feel we have the freedoms, joys or conveniences of that thing.”

“It becomes a question of 'How do we convey our differentiation instantaneously?' and drive a wedge between any apparent (or assumed) sameness in the marketplace.”

“Look at every ‘revolutionary’ brand or category killer, it had an app, or a feature, or a functionality, or a user experience nobody else at that point could offer. I refer to this as ‘the Killer App’ principle.”

“Branding is the art of differentiation”

“Brand growth and dominance is created by having the highest brand value, not the lowest price tag.”

“So it comes down to scarcity, one product or service having qualities you won’t find everywhere or ideally, anywhere. It’s the job of every brand to seek that out as their standard, their stamp.”

“We've all seen it. A #startup begins with a #dream, a #passion to do something others have missed or overlooked.”