How business strategy through design becomes brand reality - thoughts from the founders of COLLINS

On episode 17 of the BRITE Ideas podcast, JP and Matt speak with Allen Adamson (Co-founder of Metaforce; author of Seeing the How) and Amy Fuller (board director and former Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Accenture) about how to better define personal branding to advance you career.  The pair discuss the innate tensions around the need to be findable in a platform age, how to balance consistency and complexity, and how to build a reputation alongside a personal story.

In this episode of the BRITE Ideas podcast, JP and Matt speak with Kaaren Hanson (Chief Design Officer, Consumer and Community Banking, JPMorgan Chase) who shares her insights and actions of a systems-thinking approach to design truly great customer experiences. Hanson notes that organizational silos are still a major hurdle to brands developing truly great customer experiences, and she shares some structural and motivational steps she has taken at Chase to better connect the data and creative executions on experience in the hopes these can inspire other organizations. 

On Episode 15 of the BRITE Ideas podcast, Matt and JP spoke with Leland Maschmeyer and Brian Collins, co-founders (and CEO and CCO respectively) of COLLINS.  The pair dive deeply into the necessity of uniting business models, consumer behaviors and attitudes, and strategic foresight with design to effectively communicate the now and future vision of any brand. In particular, they highlight the value of building a great product from which all the value-based and brand identity considerations can then follow. They also highlight the need for global businesses to focus on regenerative practices to balance the inevitable tensions between growth and environmental and social sustainability.   

In Ep. 14 of BRITE Ideas, JP and Matt speak with Helen Edwards (Co-founder, Passionbrands) on her latest book From Marginal to Mainstream: Why Tomorrow's Brand Growth Will Come from the Fringes - and How to Get There First. Things kick off more broadly around the challenge to focus marketing around both reach and meaning which the assessment that most people do not really "love" brands. Then the episode dives into how to analyze marginal consumer behaviors with foresight techniques to get hints at what might become mainstream. This process can than create opportunities for brands and businesses to harness consumer-driven innovation. [NOTE: Helen's latest was published by Kogan Page, a supporter of the BRITE Ideas podcast.]

On this Episode of the BRITE Ideas podcast, JP and Matt interview Marissa Freeman (CMO, Union Square Hospitality Group) who discusses the unique customer experience Danny Meyer created first with Union Square Café and which now encompasses entertainment, hospitality, and entrepreneurial lessons as the brands within the USHG portfolio continue to grow. [NOTE: This episode was first recorded in 2021.]

In BRITE Ideas Ep. 12, JP and Matt speak with Lynne Biggar '90 (senior advisor, Boston Consulting Group; board member, Voya Financial) about the crucial need to link together marketing and business goals with both short- and medium-term metrics. In addition, Lynne also shares insights on using corporate purpose to drive stakeholder relationships at a time when trust it waning globally and how data-informed decision-making is critical, but is still not doing well at capturing brand investment impacts.

On this Episode of the BRITE Ideas podcast, Matt and JP speak with Kim Miller ’08, Chief Marketing Officer of The Economist Group [NOTE: Kim left her role between recording this interview and posting it]. Kim talks about the unique charter of The Economist that is designed to protect its journalist independence – as an example, on marketing communications decisions Kim reports to the Editor in Chief who has authority over The Economist brand. As with many episodes, Kim also details the strong mission driven nature of the company – driving progress – and how that can help balance the commercial and brand needs facing any media company. In addition, Kim talks about leadership as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and her own BRITE Idea passion to combat the climate crisis – a pillar of the brand she works for.

In this episode of BRITE Ideas, Matt and JP speak with David Rubin (Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, The New York Times Company) about his passion as a marketer to "turn the mundane into the magical." He acknowledges that world news is far from mundane, but in broad competitive marketplaces, like media, uncovering and then tapping into the emotional impact on your customers leads to success. David also talks about the challenges and opportunities of the digital subscription news model and the crucial need to maintain an independent free press. Enjoy!

In this episode of BRITE Ideas, Matt and JP speak with Connor Wilson '15 (co-founder and executive chairman, Thursday Boot Company) about his journey building a direct-to-consumer brand. From recognizing a personal need that was a white space in the marketplace -- high-quality, versatile, mid-priced boots -- Connor talks through the everything he feels is crucial to build a business from idea to design to supply chain development to culture to brand execution. Through these efforts, he also shares his "brite idea" around the need for many more modular manufacturing facilities in the US and around the world accepting redundancy to enable resilience.

On this episode of BRITE Ideas, Matt and JP speak with Amy Binder '94 (Founder and CEO, R|F Binder) about the power of communications to solve business problems. Amy highlights the dire need to bridge the gap between the communications and business disciplines --- they are intricately linked, and yet neither side is effectively trained to understand the other. In addition, the discussion dips into the topics of company values and authenticity, a need for social impact metrics, and how leaders must adapt company culture out of the societal changes brought on by the COVID pandemic.