Best in Brand & Innovation from September
Every month we bring you the best articles we find in brand, innovation and creativity.
This month’s list includes tips for channelling creativity and divergent thinking through happy music, how activities like doodling prevents mental fatigue, leading with your personality in creating your brand, and how brands with humor out perform their competitors.
Brands that prioritize the emotional connection between customers and brands significantly outperform their competitors. The more that positive emotional connection is inspired by humor, the better it is for brands, writes Dara Treseder for MediaPost. Make your audience laugh and you’ve tapped into one of the universal human methods for connection.
Dara Treseder @dara_johnson
How to Manipulate Your Stress Hormones – Entrepreneur
In a study published in the Journal of The American Art Therapy Association, researchers found 75% of the sample group experienced lower cortisol levels after participating in something creative. What does this mean? It means, write Deepak Chopra and Kabir Sehgal of Entrepreneur, that one can actively have an affect on their own stress hormones by strategically participating in activities like painting, music-making, crafting and building.
Deepak Chopra and Kabir Sehgal
The Positive Music and Creativity Connection – HuffPost
If there’s one type of music you should have playing while you’re channelling creativity, it’s happy music, writes Carolyn Crist for HuffPost. Divergent thinking, which involves producing unexpected and numerous answers drawing from available information, is what is specifically affected by upbeat and positive melodies. Listening to happy music isn’t a straight shot of creativity per se, but it sets the stage for creative thought to flow.
Carolyn Crist
Branding Not Optional – Forbes
A company’s brand is more than just the logo – it’s what the logo represents, the organization’s philosophy, creativity and style. And that’s not unique to any specific industry, but spans across platforms, demographics and industry. That’s why a new brand can’t start with graphic design, writes Dave McIndoe for Forbes. A new brand must have an established personality first, and everything which flows from that will convey a the brand message.
Dave McIndoe
Building Your Brand in The Local Market: 7 Ways – Customer Think
Small businesses rely heavily on the support of the local market to sustain their business. Hassan Mansoor of Customer Think curates seven ways to make the local economy work for you. Some of the most important in this list channel the importance of employee and customer support. First, know your target customers, second, make influencers out of those customers and third, make your employees your biggest ambassadors.
Hassan Mansoor @hassan_mansoor1
Why Writers Don’t Need Hard and Fast Rules – Psychology Today
The one rule doled to writers is “write first, edit later,” writes Mark D. White for Psychology Today. But it’s nearly impossible not to edit while writing, he says, and maintains that moving on to the next paragraph would be impossible if he didn’t feel satisfied with the one preceding it. The lesson here is that there is not one single rule that applies to all writers, but only suggestions that may bring some better work and more productivity. Take them with a grain of salt.
Mark D. White Ph.D.
Strategic Restructuring To Preserve The Mind – Psychology Today
To get the most out of your brain and fight post-noon distractions while working, there are small changes to make throughout the day that might extend productivity and preserve mental fatigue. Srini Pillay of Psychology Today notes the importance of strategic restructuring, from doodling while on conference calls (which increases memory) to purposeful daydreaming that can give your creativity a boost.
Srini Pillay Ph.D.
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