To show how much I love you, here’s 7 branding must-reads… (Daily Strategic Bulletin for 14 Feb 2012)

Brand honesty, the potential of Made In India, creating discussion and an awesome link about on-brand advertising – it’s Brand Strategy Tuesday!

Can Made In India become a luxury label?

Let’s begin with one of the most interesting stories I’ve come across in the last week, and one which is one for the positioning and transition freaks out there (me included).

Currently, India has a certain reputation in the UK. Mostly for call centres and cost-cutting measures by large corporations.

However, it can’t escape many people’s notice that Indians appear to be highly entrepreneurial and inventive. And there’s a demonstrably high level of business accumen and drive on the continent as well…

So why on earth not? A critical mass of brands, companies and individuals will need to come together to create a unified brand DNA for Made In India – and present an incredibly strong case why Made In India luxury should be bought over Made In The UK (which as I see it will be a main sticking point in the transition).

But so long as the differences are branded and marketed correctly, we could see Indian luxury becoming the new in-thing.

One to watch, I feel.

Activating your brand through content

Mike Azzara leads us by the hand through 5 tips to help brand marketers get their content strategy right.

WHile it’s obvious that we need to listen, and increasingly obvious that we need to curate, Mike’s advice to Think Like A Publisher is bang on the money.

Get a coffee and settle down with this one for a few minutes!

4 Golden Rules of Brand Honesty

It’s actually quite a sad reflection on some of the individuals in our industry that posts like this one (written by Sandy Muir) need to be put out there.

However, Sandy does make some excellent points that should be required reading for everyone in our industry.

Strategically, brands which can create trust will do better that brands that can’t.

Using your brand strategy in your brand advertising.

You know what? I’m starting to love those guys over at distility branding. I mean, take this week’s highlighted post.

Their three opportunities for brands to engage based on brand position, promise and personality are backed up by great examples and should give you a moment’s reflection on how you’re using the 3Ps in for branded advertising efforts.

Great stuff!

And finally…

Dialogue can create emotional attachment, which creates competitive advantage – that’s the premise (which I thoroughly agree with) from Christopher Johns over at www.wallblog.co.uk.

And if you’re not sure how to create this dialogue, Richard Millington has some great ideas.

In our branding work, we need to ensure that our brands are fit for discussion and dialogue (you might also like this article, from yours truly, about discourse and intercourse in branding). We need that built into our very architecture from first principles.

So, tell me – how does this look in your organisation and across your brand estate? What measures have you taken to increase or facilitate discussion, and what results have you seen from it?

Neil Hopkins is a Marketing and Branding Theorist at heart, and a Marketing Communications Manager by day. His blog – interacter – is the primary location he shares insight and information relating to marketing, branding and advertising strategy.
You can follow Neil on Twitter, circle him (like an escaped bull) on Google+ or track him down in any number of other ways.

The Daily Strategic Bulletin is a device designed to share interesting content with you across five key business areas – Marketing Strategy, Brand Strategy, Advertising Strategy, Business Advice and Inspiration.

Image atop this post is from SearchNetMedia on Flickr, used under Creative Commons.