My First Blog

My name is Nicole Armstrong, and welcome to my branding blog. What I love about branding is that it focuses on giving organizations a higher purpose than just making money - or at least this is how I perceive branding. I think Guy Kawasaki says it best when he talks about the "Art of the Start":

If you make meaning you will make money, but if you begin a company to make money you won't make meaning and you won't make money.

I believe all great brands are centered on a central purpose or core set of values that guides the organization's decisions, providing a strategic focus. Apple began with the purpose to...

Change the world by developing tools for the mind that advance human kind

... and to achieve this, Apple began by changing the perceptions of computers by innovating technology that was designed for humans ("... the rest of us" as one of the Macintosh I ads stated) and not robots. You can see, through Apple's actions, that they live this purpose everyday.

During the course of my career, I plan to help organizations make meaning. By starting this blog, I will express my thoughts on brands and branding, and hopefully encourage some dialogue around the topic, which I'm so passionate about.

I look forward to articulating some of my thoughts and ideas on branding! Until next time...