The Brand Guy
Brand Consultant, Sydney
RICHARD SAUERMAN
Power branding that builds trust, attracts and keeps talent and customers, and stands out in the marketplace.
Richard Sauerman is The Brand Guy and has been ranked in the Global Top 30 Brand Gurus since 2014 (currently ranked 9th).
He has worked on the brand strategy at some of the world’s greatest advertising agencies (Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather, DDB, McCann Erickson) as well as in his own business, from global brands (Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Levis, Streets, Toyota, Nescafe, Vodafone) to Australian brands (Arnott’s, CSIRO, QBE, Data61, Surf Lifesaving Australia, Tourism Australia, Mortgage Choice) to start-ups (LeukBook, T-shirt Ventures).
He works closely with CEOs and Executive, HR and Marketing teams to reboot and reshape their brands and businesses, and he is an Advisory Board member.
Richard pioneered a new way of branding.
Companies and organisations he has branded in this way include QBE, CSIRO, Mortgage Choice, Data61, Macquarie Bank, Vodafone, Laborie, Lifestyle Solutions and Breast Cancer Trials.
Branding is a leadership matter
(not a marketing one).
Richard believes that one of the most effective ways to lift the performance of your business or organisation is through your brand, but not as you know it. The days when brand was a marketing function are over: Branding is now a leadership matter.
Your brand is not something the Marketing Department adds to your business, your brand is the reason your business exists. Your brand is the Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Values that propels everything your business, company or organisation says and does. This makes branding a leadership matter, not a marketing one.
It starts with your people.
You can buy an employee’s time and physical presence at a given place. But you can’t buy passion, enthusiasm, initiative, or loyalty. Organisations need to earn these things, and that’s what the right brand development does.
Your brand is your purpose and reason for being.
When it comes to attracting, keeping, and engaging people at work, money alone won’t do it. People want to be part of something that involves a cause: A larger purpose that gives them something to believe in and a chance to do work that has an impact on the world.
Your brand is that cause. Your brand is the purpose, vision and values that drives high employee engagement and performance, and the promise that attracts and keeps customers.
Why branding falls short of being powerful.
The worst thing you can do is to turn your brand’s cause into a rational, predictable set of statements that hang up behind your reception desk and sit in the “About” section on your website. And yet this is what too many companies and organisations do: They tick the boxes.
This is why most branding falls short of being powerful: It makes sense, yes, but it’s not believed and felt, and that’s the big trap you want to avoid. You don’t want a brand that just ticks the boxes and makes sense. You want a purpose-driven brand that's built on a big idea that people are going to believe and feel: that also makes sense and meets your business objectives and will enable business growth.
It means having truthful conversations in the Brand Discovery Phase about your goals, aspirations, and promises. It means trusting your intuition and backing an idea that perhaps can’t be 'proven' because it's intangible. Of course your brand positioning is backed up with tangible features and benefits, but that’s not your brand.
Great branding takes vision, passion, courage, consistency and commitment.
In order to build and maintain a successful brand strategy, you need vision, passion, brave ideas, clear strategic thinking, consistency, and commitment.
A clearly articulated and authentic brand is the most powerful way to lift the performance of your people and your sales, and to create the future you want to succeed in.
Richard has an impressive track record
Richard has done the brand strategy for over 150 brands in his career, across every business category in just about every market. Whatever the mission has been, and whatever the size of the organisation or the nature of their business, he has used the same highly effective brand development approach and frameworks to build enduring brands that transform organisations, engage people, and attract customers.
His clients include QBE (rebrand, EVP, global culture change), CSIRO (rebrand, new logo, brand identity, internal communications), Munich Re (people development, culture change), Lifestyle Solutions (rebrand, new logo, brand identity, EVP, internal communications), Breast Cancer Trials (rebrand, new name, new logo, brand identity, change communication), Hunter Water (risk communication campaign).
He has also undertaken work for IQumulate (rebrand, culture change), Mortgage Choice (rebrand, new logo, brand identity, culture change), Data61 (rebrand, new name, new logo, brand identity, campaign communication), Aquent (rebrand, culture change), Surf Lifesaving Australia (people development, campaign communication), Vincent Young Lawyers (rebrand, brand identity), and Laborie (global rebrand, new logo, brand identity, culture change).
Richard has also published two books, he appears in the media on brand-related issues, and is a sought-after speaker who delivers keynote talks and runs workshops on Real YOU, Power Branding, Branding the Inside, and Business as UNusual.
Check out Brandcraft
Richard runs a successful strategy, brand and communications agency called Brandcraft. They offer Market Research, Brand Strategy, Messaging and Architecture; Logo Design, Visual Identity, Brand Guidelines, and Web Design; Brand Communication Strategy, Brand Advertising, Employee Communications and Recruitment Advertising.
Brandcraft uses a pool of top local Sydney designers, and offers the full range of communication and marketing services by collaborating with top local digital, content creation, PR, video production and media agencies.
CONTACT RICHARD IF …
