Cultivating the Art of Leadership

I got a call Wednesday morning from a gal at HP. She asked, "Would you be interested in being in a video highlighting the logo that you did with Logoworks today?"

Apparently, someone dropped out of the schedule, the film crew was in town, and the marketing department had scanned hundreds of logos and selected The Marteney Group as a top prospect to show off the work they have done. It sounded like a cool opportunity. My day was surprisingly open, so I said "yes."

My conference room was quickly transformed into a working studio, with the film crew choosing an interesting angle and using a colored light behind the blinds that were behind me. The VP of Marketing asked me questions about my experience (I have used Logoworks three separate times, for logo/corporate identity and web site development). The crew filmed my stationery, business cards, mugs, and pens up close. I think they'll be capturing screen shots from my web site too.

At some point, I'll get a DVD with the video that HP will be sharing with Fortune 500 company CEOs and marketing executives.

It's an interesting coincidence, as I've been thinking about offering my branding and positioning workshops again, after not marketing them for years. Last fall, I integrated my branding and positioning workshop with leadership coaching for Novitaz, a high tech company.

The CEO, Suni Munshani, for whom I once worked and who is now a friend, sent me a long testimonial letter after the workshop, which included the following comments:

"I want to thank you for your incredible contributions to Novitaz and the team, but also to acknowledge we may not have survived Novitaz if we had not done the off-site with you in Salt Lake City."

"We also came away with clarity on our brand, and we are very clear on the changes we need to make to our messaging. This has created a ton of work for us, but it is fun work, and we are excited to get it done. It will identify us with who we really are and what we declare we will be."

The HP video will be fun to show at the beginning of branding workshops, opening up a discussion on how clarifying vision, mission, essence, and positioning of a brand, as well as defining the core customer value proposition leads to a brand (logo/visual identity) that captures the essence of your offering.

Drop a line if you have questions about how branding can be applied at the personal level!