Nick Liddell

Jan 6, 2024 | brandingmag.com | Nick Liddell

“Zoom in and obsess. Zoom out and observe. We get to choose.”Rick Rubin wrote this in his recent book, The Creative Act. And it sums up (almost) perfectly how I feel about branding and how to do it well. Great brands strike a delicate balance between rationality and creativity. If the balance tips too far in the direction of the rational, the result is uninspiring. If the balance tips too far towards the creative, the result is ineffective. And it’s a marketer’s job to get this balance right.

Oct 17, 2023 | brandingmag.com | Nick Liddell

If 20-plus years of brand consulting have taught me anything, it’s that rebranding is (and should be) a huge pain in the arse.

Aug 27, 2023 | brandingmag.com | Nick Liddell

Naomi Klein published No Logo nearly 25 years ago, around the same time I started working in branding. Her book was hugely influential: a call to arms for branding sceptics and discontents of globalisation. It identified branding as a form of corporate misdirection: A successful lie that companies like Disney, McDonald’s and Nike relied upon to divert attention from the dirty truth that First World consumption typically comes at the expense of Third World workers (I’m paraphrasing here).

Jul 6, 2023 | brandingmag.com | Nick Liddell

Take a peek under the hood of any brand league table and you may notice that many of the brands listed have stretched far beyond their initial application. Samsung started life as a grocery business. Nintendo used to make playing cards. Netflix was a mail-based rental business. And it isn’t just technology brands that have leaped nimbly from one category to another. Toyota used to make looms for weaving. Lego started life as a carpentry workshop.

May 23, 2023 | brandingmag.com | Nick Liddell

In May 2019, Coca-Cola European Partners unleashed a premium range of signature mixers on the UK market. At launch, the range was heralded as an ‘exciting new frontier’ for the brand: building on its proud history in drinks and cocktail culture, updated to reflect a growing appetite for more complex flavours from an emergent generation of enthusiasts.