Branding is the process of connecting good strategy with good creativity.

Designful companies are those that weave design thinking into the fabric of the company. In a designful company, innovation is rewarded instead of punished. Risk taking is the norm instead of the exception. Some companies have already embraced this type of culture change with impressive results.

I see "demand creation" as a 20th-century construct that's bound up with advertising. It's an outmoded view of marketing that says, "First, we build a product or service, then we advertise it into people's lives." Embedded this view is the belief that companies control brands. This is a myth. My message all along has been that brands are actually created by customers, not companies. Companies only provide the raw materials - the products, messaging, behaviors - that people use these to create brands.

To achieve originality we need to abandon the comforts of habit, reason, and the approval of our peers, and strike out in new directions.

The best design tool is a long eraser with a pencil at one end.

Design is the underlying skill that activates innovation. If you want to innovate, you've got to design.

Branding is the process of connecting good strategy with good creativity.