Our Principle Problem Is Principles

The Facts
We’ve been writing these marketing insights on and off for over three years now. It’s been a labor of love, but it can be frustrating as I continue to see marketing by others that looks and sounds like everybody else in their category. Almost everybody does it the same way, it all looks the same, it all sounds the same, and feels the same. I was looking at the most recent issue of Mountain Living a few days ago and the real estate messages looked just like the architect messages, which looked just like the interior designer messages, which looked just like the landscape designer messages. I literally couldn’t tell what I was looking at without studying them closer, which is not what we are supposed to be doing in branding. I want to be like Virgin Airlines who changed the experience of flying, Tesla who is changing the experience of purchasing cars, and Apple and Disney who are changing the way we watch television.

Spiker Insights
Building brands is challenging and fun all at the same time. We love to create an almost chemical reaction in someone as soon as they hear the brand name. Brands like Ritz Carlton, Kapalua, Sun Valley, Desert Mountain, Mayacama and The Breakers all create a certain something in your mind as soon as you hear the name. There is no feeling like it on earth when we create the same elixir cocktail for our clients.

Building brands is different and difficult. Initially we observe with no set principles, it’s all an open book to us. We start back at the beginning and work our way to today, and then tomorrow. It’s a free-for-all for a while, all the while avoiding the easy tired clichés that too many brands prefer because it’s easy. Then our principles kick in and we become very disciplined in our thinking. We have seven very difficult questions we have to answer before showing the client where we are at the moment.

I hope you will consider us a part of your next team project. Thanks.