We’ve acquired too many brands. Each one has equity but we can’t support all of them. Which do we keep?
Internally we’ve been at this for four years, can you sell-in the strategy to leadership?
We’re good at following guidelines but how do I get marketers and designers to understand how and where they can flex and be creative?
We’re spinning-off and need a strategy, name, tagline, logo, visual system, messaging platform and launch plan. Have you done this before? Can we get this done in four months?
The team is working really hard but sliding backwards with the client, can you fly out and spend a few weeks with them?
We’re meeting the CSO and head of communications on Tuesday. It’s brand architecture and no one can speak to it, can you fly out to lead the conversation… we need a deck.
We have smart people but they’re not battle-proof, can you help?
We spent nine months building a strategy and leadership ripped it apart. Can you help salvage what’s relevant and build a brand for an off-site in two weeks?
We changed leadership. I’m concerned about clients and talent walking out the door. We need you to onboard the CEO and go into the trenches with staff. Can you fly out with your family for a couple of months?
We’ve built our global brand portfolio over time. If you started with a blank piece of paper, what would it look like? We want to understand the velocity of each of our brands by market.
Brand architecture is really complicated and the client can’t articulate what they want. There is a good chance this will go sideways, do you still want to take it on?
We have so many KPIs to track, which are the most important and what should we invest in?
There’s an emerging, second-tier customer. Can you help us figure out who they are and touchpoints that matter?
My product engineers can’t articulate what makes the product different, what kind of an investment am I looking at?
We’re opening up a second corporate headquarters but based in China. How do we position our brand in a way that makes sense globally and in China?
I’m afraid that a brand from China or Korea will come in and buy a competitor? How much is my competitor’s brand really worth?
We want to open up a China headquarters in Qongching. Is that the right city? What are the risks?
Can you give our global team a briefing on China and what we should focus on?
Carrier Fire & Security: Crafting a Relevant Brand and Portfolio Story
Spinning off from United Technologies gave the Carrier portfolio the freedom to build a business more closely aligned with channel priorities and end-user needs. Following two comprehensive rounds of research, the Fire & Security portfolio strategy centered on three flagship brands, two hero brands, and three product brands. Their positioning shifted from undifferentiated technical specifications to messaging that directly addressed safety and productivity needs of end-users.
Midea + Toshiba Home Appliances: A Fast-Track, Authentic Global Repositioning
Designing a Customer-Focused Entry Point into the Marketing Partners Ecosystem
Small and midsize businesses are the engine of revenue growth. Facebook recognized that its brand architecture and nomenclature system—originally designed by engineers—needed to better reflect customer needs. By exploring models based on the marketing lifecycle, business lifestage, and customer “type,” we developed a system that addressed the complex requirements of current customers while creating a springboard for future services and partnerships.
Booz Allen: Driving Client Acquisition Through an Innovation-Led Strategy
Booz Allen’s leadership recognized that their ideal civil and defense customers expect outcomes-based solutions, see themselves as change agents, and are deeply committed to their mission. Through a series of key client interviews, we developed personas grounded in the perspectives of senior buyers, contract officers, project managers, and key influencers. Mapped across the RFP lifecycle, these personas revealed each buyer group’s innovation capacity, pain points, behaviors, and barriers.
Baker Hughes: Reimagining the Category in a Post-GE Era
After integrating with GE businesses worldwide, Baker Hughes faced a pending split that required re-establishing client confidence in key markets, particularly the Middle East and North America. While still synonymous with upstream oil and gas capabilities, the brand needed to pivot—positioning itself as a seamless provider of end-to-end energy solutions, from exploration to distribution, delivered in a cleaner, more sustainable, and locally focused way.
TD Bank: Building Scalable Institutional Investment Capabilities for Global Growth
The highly fragmented institutional investment category is consolidating into two primary camps: large-scale financial services firms and highly specialized investment boutiques. While TD Bank had integrated previous acquisitions into a masterbrand system, its expansion beyond North America required a brand portfolio strategy that clearly defined the roles of its manufacturing arm (Epoch brand) and its distribution arm (TD brand).
Geisinger: Uniting the Brand Behind an Outcomes-Driven Approach to Healthcare Geisinger has long been a progressive pioneer in healthcare delivery—and one of the few category leaders successfully shifting from fee-for-service to outcomes-based care. As the organization expanded across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, its brand architecture needed to reflect both its vision and evolving service model. With a deep focus on audience segments, the architecture was organized around life stages, ensuring that the framework for current and future offerings aligned seamlessly with audience needs.
GE: Repositioning a Leaner, More Focused Icon
After a tumultuous period of leadership changes, financial instability, and business realignment, GE still retained significant brand equity in its core businesses. The brand repositioning was an opportunity to signal to the world that GE is back—more focused, stronger, and ready for the future. It reaffirmed GE as an authentic brand built on decades of industrial expertise, breakthrough innovations, and a global employee base committed to meeting client challenges and needs with determination and excellence.
Verizon: Prioritizing co-branding to strengthen the Masterbrand
As Verizon prepared to roll out 5G, the company needed to deepen understanding of the technology’s potential and its role in shaping the brand. While co-branding contracts were effective in driving short-term customer acquisitions, each partnership played a different role in long-term strategy. To unlock greater impact, I designed a strategic framework that enabled internal teams to evaluate, prioritize, and elevate high-value partnerships—strengthening the Verizon Masterbrand and ensuring alignment with future growth.
