That walk past Orange Julius yesterday also reminded me of a little-known story I read recently regarding sight-sensory branding, and one that would surely make Bugs raise a brow. According to Martin Lindstrom, whose book Brand Sense is a favorite tome on the topic, “Carrots once came in every color but orange. There were red, black, green, white and purple varieties. Then sometime in the sixteenth century Dutch growers decided to give this root vegetable a patriotic edge,” breeders began developing an orange variety in honor of their monarch, William I, the Prince of Orange, “a country with an orange flag now had an orange carrot.”

And what a supremely missed brand opportunity this turned out to be – how many people who eat orange carrots today know that it all ties back to some genetic dice rolling in the Netherlands, let alone the Prince of Orange?

Posted by: Colin Mangham

Social Venture Network has published some spot-on business philosophy books, and this one, co-written with Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s, is a tight read on harnessing employee and brand values to effect change and bring success, even with the Triple Bottom Line.

Posted by: Colin Mangham

Just read this. Love it. One of those books that sounds like I’m reading my own words. Totally agree with most everything in here. Part philosophical handbook and part how-to. But mainly quick bursts on short subjects ranging from reasons “not” to have meetings, to the benefits of team members in different cities (I’m a big fan, that’s part of our model at Daily Brand, not localized to just the talent down the street, but wherever they may reside), to all the reasons that lighter, nimbler, more innovative black-box-thinking companies are, collectively, the entrepreneurial engine to refuel the Economy. ~ Colin Mangham

Came across a great quote from Georges F. Doriot, considered to be of America’s first venture capitalists as founder of American Research and Development Corporation, the first publicly owned VC firm.

“There are two times for a young company to raise money; when there is lots of hope, or lots of results, but never in between.”

Posted by: Colin Mangham

A good read on internal branding.

Posted by: Colin Mangham

I don’t usually post straight-up quotes here, but I’m a fan of Feynman, and thought this was well worth the pixels:

“There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.”

Richard Feynman
US educator & physicist (1918 – 1988)

Suppose this falls in the category of “perennial classic”. I’ve read it several times since I was a kid. Just happens to be on my bedside table presently.

Posted by: Colin Mangham

Keeping with the theme from yesterday, you’re likely familiar with the KISS Principle, Keep it Simple and Short (also, Keep it Simple, Stupid). I believe the phrase was originally a prescription for smart product design, but it holds equally true in strategic planning — less can be more, simple can be smart, brevity can be powerful.

Posted by: Colin Mangham