A global brand building strategy is, in reality, a local plan for every market.

Word-of-mouth is powerful, trusted, and cheap.

Considering LEGO's considerable brand equity, you might expect that the company must have a marketing budget in the billions. Not so. In fact, LEGO's marketing budget is so modest that if I recorded it here, you'd probably think it was a typo. LEGO doesn't do its own talking; it lets LEGO maniacs talk for it.

Imagine a smashed stained-glass window, a page torn from a Bible, or a snippet of choral singing. You would still recognize their religious roots, wouldn't you? In 1915, Coca-Cola designed a bottle so unique that if it were smashed into thousands of pieces, from a single shard of glass you'd still be able recognize the brand. We call such a device a Smashable. It can be anything from a color to a sound, from a pattern to a smell to an icon.

Brands must make use of the inclination of consumers to be persuaded by friends.

I did however realize that only 4% of the world's population turns creative when in contact with water and thus we dialed this dimension down and changed direction.

What do Harley-Davidson, LEGO, and Apple have in common? They're all based on communities.