Lean Branding

Part II. Build

To be able to iterate, you have to find a place to start. You can’t really improve when what you have is a blank sheet of paper—can you? And yet, that blank sheet of paper is all that you need for Part II. Get ready to build!

In Part II we will develop the first version of your lean brand so that you can join the marketplace and measure and learn where it should be going next.

The purpose of this section is to help you create a minimal set of brand ingredients that are viable in the marketplace. If traditional brands are burgers, we will be cooking sliders. Sliders that, as you’ll find out later, consumers can add ketchup and mustard to. A solid, yet unfinished, recipe that responds to consumer behavior—and therefore, to wallets. Take a look at the following recipe to get an idea of the ingredients that we will be building throughout this section.

In Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5, you will learn how to master three core brand components:

• Your brand’s value creation story

• Your brand’s visual symbols

• Your brand’s growth strategy

By the end of Part II you will have the confidence and tools you need to cook this brand slider recipe. Don’t get too confident, though: Part III is all about taste tests.

This recipe shows the 25 brand ingredients that we will be discussing throughout the book.