Brands are art 👩‍🎨

Did you miss me? I know! I missed you too! I don’t know how you're doing, but my professional life is crazy busy. I juggle several assignments, and all of them are incredibly interesting! Wondering how I manage it all? (Me too!) But my teenagers reminded me this week that we don't have to catch every ball that comes our way. It used to be my habit to catch every ball, especially those not even asked of me. After some coaching, I realized that sometimes people just want you to listen and not necessarily take action. Similarly, with my teenagers, it's the same. At the most unexpected moments, they share stories about their lives. They just want someone to listen, to connect, and to share. And that's nice. I've learned to keep my mouth shut from time to time (not my first talent, I know). But it's true: silence is golden. And laziness is underestimated haha!

Welcome again to this Branding Donkeys Newsletter that is sent every week until I decide to stop. Please forward this to ONE friend today and tell them either to subscribe here or to be more curious about life. 👋

Amazing brands are art

This week I really worked hard on the narrative of the innovation festival FTI and& for which I work for. I love doing that. I really enjoy to give soul to a brand. To bring to life. Infuse it with emotions.

Coincidentally, earlier this week I was listening to a podcast on this very subject. Throughout the 50 minutes, all I could do was shout 'yes, yes, yes !!!'. (Trust me, this is strange behavior when you're walking your dog all alone on the street with earphones in.) The podcast featured Jeffrey Perlman, the mastermind behind turning Zumba into the largest fitness brand globally.

He transformed fitness from something dull, challenging, and associated with weight loss into a vibrant fiesta. Zumba is about losing yourself in the music. The question posed was: How do we extend that immersive feeling even before stepping into a class?

Jeffrey delved into the neurology of branding. Remarkable brands establish a neural connection between emotion and the brand itself. Simply buying eyeballs is not sufficient. The less recognizable your brand is, the higher your acquisition cost will be. The differentiator lies in how a product makes you feel—a sentiment shaped by the brand. Yes, yes, YEEEES! (Screaming again to nobody, but this is so true!)

I also picked up a new word that I'd like to nominate as the word of the year: BRULE = bullshit rule. The question in branding is: which BRULE are you going to break? For Zumba: 'Fitness has to suck.' Nope. Apparently, it can be fun. (I've never taken a Zumba class, so I have no idea.) But the idea is to take this emotion and apply it everywhere—in the customer journey, in your office, wherever!

For FTI and&: BRULE = 'The world is going down the drain.' No, it's not. Our mission is to unite a community of changemakers in Leuven dedicated to using innovation as a force for positive transformation. Hope instead of cynicism. Follow our channels to stay tuned. It will be great, I promise!"

I discovered this!

Busy weeks here where all my energy and creativity goes into work. So in my spare time I'm not reading much, unfortunately, but I am scrolling a lot 🤷‍♀️ (Don’t tell my kids!). This instagram account is blowing my mind everytime.
I mean… 

Or this one.
It is never rocket science, but the posts wake me up and give me focus.

The creative process

So, I’ll continue scrolling using the excuse it’s for work. Because it is! Look 👇

Feed me back!

Last week I received some fantastic feedback from reader Herman Maes. He provided valuable insights to complement my tips on creating an effective newsletter. Here are a few additional suggestions regarding emails:

1. Use Mail-tester.com to assess whether your emails are susceptible to spam filters.

2. Always test long emails in Gmail, because it might cut off the end if they're too big or long

3. Avoid sending emails on the day after a long weekend/vacation period/... as people return to an overflowing mailbox and are more likely to delete messages.

Aha! Thank you Herman 💛
And to all the other readers: do you have any useful additions, ideas, or comments to share? Do not hesitate to reply.
See you next week!

xIngrid