Robert Jones
Robert is a strategist at Wolff Olins, the brand consultants in London, and a visiting professor at the University of East Anglia, UK.
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Location London, UK
Activity
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Robert Jones replied to Andrew Stronach
We are indeed social, tribal, irrational and emotional. We live through stories, abstractions and fictions - as Harari's wonderful book Sapiens shows us. Everyone interested in branding should read it!
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Robert Jones replied to Ben Wood
Good analysis. What kinds of things are at the edges, do you think?
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Interesting. What are examples of this shift? Why do you think it might have happened?
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Or is the dollar shop concept actually a very strong and effective brand?
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I like this - the power of signs (semiotics) in accelerating change.
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Excellent analysis.
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I love the idea that innovation starts with heartbreak. Can you give us some examples?
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I agree with this analysis, but in practice the concepts of 'brand' and 'purpose' often get intertwined in a business. It's amazing how often a project to create a company-wide purpose is led by the brand team, when it should be led by the CEO. Why is this?
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I agree, and I think some business schools are moving in this direction - we certainly are at the University of East Anglia.
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Good thought. Why is that?
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I like your rebranding of yourself!
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I agree. Very good point about start-ups. How would you convince entrepreneurs to think more deeply about their brand?
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Interesting. Yes, design is often about getting those small details right. But does that need to be some kind of big, overarching idea too? I think that's central to brand thinking.
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Very interesting. A slogan but no idea behind it. What could the idea be?
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Robert Jones replied to Lucy D
Good questions. It is indeed a jump, and takes an imaginative leap - and I don't think there's a formula for doing that. And yes, there are more points to add in afterwards - proposition (what you get) and personality (how we come across).
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Robert Jones replied to Katie C
This sounds like good strategy - providing an exemplary shopping experience - but could it perhaps be a bit generic? Is there something really special about M&S that you could add in? Maybe from its origins, or its place in national life?
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Good analysis - but is this more strategy than brand? Could there be a strong emotional idea for the brand purpose that could attract people back to flying?
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Robert Jones replied to Ben Lambe
Good way of explaining it.
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Robert Jones replied to Rob Howell
Interesting. Probably the main branding challenge for supermarkets is how to signal quality and value at the same time - squaring a circle.
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More than a financial investment, more even than an emotional one - a kind of identity investment?
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Is there maybe one thing that the CBO does need to master of?
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Yes, I agree. And it helped make plant-based mainstream.
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Yes - AI is not yet intelligent enough to avoid creating that creepiness.
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Interesting - why do you say that?
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Interesting. Our clients at Wolff Olins often tell us that the most valuable thing we do for them is to help them influence their colleagues - to get buy-in to their work, and to the very idea of brand.
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Robert Jones replied to Rob Howell
Good to hear a sceptical voice. What makes you feel sceptical?
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Robert Jones replied to Trigyan K.
Right. Why are we so influenced by our peers?
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Fascinating analysis. The brand chooses the person, rather than the other way round?
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I like this. A brand is a bond?
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Robert Jones replied to Jasmijn Tuit
Or even perhaps an identity they aspire to?
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Robert Jones replied to Ben Lambe
What exactly is the difference between product and brand?
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What are the strengths and weaknesses of the M&S brand?
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It's the hardest thing we do in branding. Why, I wonder?
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Good topic. You might be interested in this: https://www.thatexplainsthings.com/voicebox/
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That's the essence of it. How would you start to answer that question?
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Good point. Would you say we invest more than just money?
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A great brand to work for.
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I think confidence is central to being a brand consultant and to building a brand.
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I wonder if authenticity is itself a fabrication? Some brand experts think it is...
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Great idea!
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Indeed, and it's the distinctive idea behind the brand that should inspire your design work - as we'll see.
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Robert Jones replied to Enver Vetter
Do you think there's a big backlash now against data-driven, targeted marketing? Maybe the swing is back towards brands that stand for something? From data-driven push back to values-driven pull?
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Robert Jones replied to Julia R
Interesting. I wonder if people, though less loyal to particular brands, use brands even more than ever to help construct their identities, their sense of who they are?
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Fascinating. Brand v purpose. Oddly enough, companies often choose brand consultancies to help them define their purpose. I wonder why?
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I agree. Any inherent disadvantages?
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Interesting. Could an obsession with quality also be a kind of ethos?
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Robert Jones replied to Julia R
Indeed. But what if Blockbuster had expanded its brand idea from entertainment to rent to a bigger idea about entertainment whenever you want it? Could that have made it easier to move into streaming?
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Interesting. These days, is the quality of the interactivity (the UI) more important than the logo? And how does that work in the offline world?
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It totally makes sense. Are there dangers in this new openness?
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I like this. We talk about it a lot where I work, at Wolff Olins, and we agree. Yet designers and strategists are two different groups of people, and projects are often set up as strategy first, then design. So it's hard in practice to fuse the two together.
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Good thinking. How could you make the idea 'improve the existing process' sound more exciting?
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I like the logic. I guess all retailers offer service in some way - what would make Sainsbury's service special?
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Good analysis. How would you research how a company manages its brand?
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Do data and creativity take us in different directions? Does relying on data produce safe, predictable work? Adidas now thinks it's been spending too much on data-driven marketing, and not enough on brand-building: https://www.marketingweek.com/adidas-marketing-effectiveness/
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A good point. Maybe it's now too big a job for one person?
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Robert Jones made a comment
Great comments here. At the end of the course, let us know how you've done!
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Let us know how you get on!
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Melissa is clearly a great brand to learn from.
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A good thing or a bad thing?
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Interesting. 'Social impact' could mean 'becoming a thing in popular culture', like Coca-Cola and Santa Claus. Or it could mean 'making a positive difference to people's lives'. Which brands achieve the latter?
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Interesting - how would you describe Coca-Cola's social impact?
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Fascinating. The word 'brand' means so many different things. What is the extra thing that turns an ordinary furniture shop into a brand? Does it have to be a big company?
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Smart analysis.
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How would being 'truth-led' differ from being 'brand-led'? Can you think of an example?
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Interesting. What kinds of social change would make it less effective to be brand-led?
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Or is it the company's actions that shape its brand?
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I don't know about that. But car companies are increasingly intertwined. The Chinese giant Geely is now a major shareholder in Daimler. Why is this happening? Does it affect these companies' brands?
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Good to hear that word 'progress'. That, for me, is what FutureLearn is all about (as you can see in the logo).
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Good point. There's a whole theory on this called the 'service profit chain'. Happy employees make happy customers who make happy investors.
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Great point. Design is much more than cosmetic. Which companies are best at this?
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Interesting. Can you think of examples where a brand design has led brand concepts, rather than the other way round?
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Does this help? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers
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Interesting. What's the company called?
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Good question. Should people have a right to 'informed consent' to brands?
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Robert Jones replied to John Latham
You can see it all here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXJSi8cuzt8
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Robert Jones made a comment
Seven hours till we start! Do please post your questions here - ask us anything.
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Robert Jones replied to Dena Grombir
It's at 1630 BST, which is 1530 GMT. Hope that helps!
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A very instructive example. What's the 'something' it should do?
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Tell me more. What's the company? How strong would you say its brand is?
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A fascinating insight. My worry is that if we all build brands based on consumer data, every brand will be the same - because brands share the same consumers. Do we also need philosophy in order to create a distinctive viewpoint? And also to lead, rather than just follow, consumer behaviour?
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Robert Jones replied to Dena Grombir
So how does it differ from other online retailers?
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Good debate. Can a product ever be really unbranded? Or is there always some sense of who it comes from or what it feels like?
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How has Hugo Boss managed to do that, I wonder?
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So how can companies best build their brand? Most feel they should tell their story - you're disagreeing, in a very interesting way.
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Good analysis.
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Robert Jones replied to Sheena B.
So is the purpose of brands to fulfil some kind of fantasy? Very interesting.
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Robert Jones replied to Dorcas Obin
Will Nokia ever be as big again? If so, will that be because of the brand, or because of the products?
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I agree. But how many businesses really have a purpose?
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Robert Jones replied to Lisa Graham
Good point. But has tech changed the role and nature of brands, or merely the methods used to build brands?
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Absolutely right. Designing the ingredients (logo, slogan, colour and so on) is only part of the job - there's a whole cake to make out of those ingredients.
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I've tended to think of 'identity' as meaning two separate things - the purpose/proposition/personality piece, and the design piece. But you've suggested that they're aspects of the same thing - I like that.
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Robert Jones replied to Kelly Foss
I totally agree. That's the essence of the work we do in branding. What would you say are the advantages (and disadvantages) of focusing?
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Great observation. How does this differ from one country to another? I'd love to hear more views.
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Robert Jones replied to Kelly Foss
Thoughtful analysis.
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Interesting paradox: what does it mean to like a brand but not the product? What is it you like?
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A credit for the future: great thought.
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Why Samsung particularly?
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I agree. Why do you think this is happening?
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I'm delighted to hear all this.
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Robert Jones replied to Noel D
Can branding help make social media less of a burden? And make AI less frightening? These are questions we're talking about a lot at Wolff Olins at the moment.
