Tag: branding

  • Creating Content That Moves People: Lessons From the Masters 2023 Video

    Creating Content That Moves People: Lessons From the Masters 2023 Video

    As a copywriter, marketing director, or golf enthusiast, you know that capturing the essence of a momentous event through words and visuals is no easy feat. But when it’s done right, it’s pure magic. The video of the first day at the Masters 2023 in Golf is a masterpiece that perfectly captures the excitement, anticipation, […]

  • Build your brand stronger than ever. 9 things to think about!

    Build your brand stronger than ever. 9 things to think about!

    In today’s competitive market, building a strong brand identity is crucial for businesses. This blog post highlights nine key components that are essential for creating a successful brand, including authenticity, sustainability, design quality, innovation, grassroots movements, differentiation, creativity, brand expression, and strategic financial management. By making sure these components are part of your branding strategy, […]

  • 10 years ago I made some predictions. True or false?

    10 years ago I made some predictions. True or false?

    Hey. As you know I’ve been writing my blog for quite some time now. Every now and then I’ve boldly stuck my nose out and predicted the future. But how right am I? Well, today we’re going to find out. As we all know, predicting the future is a risky business. Back in 2013, I […]

  • Branding is like raising a child!

    Branding is like raising a child!

    Branding is like raising a child. You’ve gotta have a clear vision of where you’re aiming yet tackle to new situations every day. Adopt to the changes in the world. Have tons of fun but never at the expense of your vision or values. Every now and then there’s a crisis. But that’s fine too. […]

  • AIDA Transformed By Digital Media. What Does It Mean To Your Brand Communication?

    AIDA Transformed By Digital Media. What Does It Mean To Your Brand Communication?

    The other day I wrote quite a long post on the future of integrated communication from a digital perspective. I stressed the fact that in order for your brand to create and maintain strongs brand  in the future you’ve gotta provide people with true values not just fun stuff that entertains. On top of that […]

  • The Kinnarps stand 2017 – Editor's Award for Best Stand.

    The Kinnarps stand 2017 – Editor's Award for Best Stand.

    After creating a new brand and design platform for Kinnarps, one of the worlds finest workspace solutions brands I was asked if I wanted to design and then lead the implementation of the Kinnarps Stockholm Furniture & Light 2017 stand. This is the short story about that project. I early explained to Kinnarps that in […]

  • Sharing some of my thoughts on viral marketing – The Viral Triangle

    Sharing some of my thoughts on viral marketing – The Viral Triangle

    Just say the word – Viral – and brand owners go bananas. It’s what you want. Communication spread all over the world without a penny in media spend. It sounds so easy but in fact, not that many videos circles the globe every year. Let me share one of my ways of increase the probability […]

  • Ten Principles of Future Branding

    Ten Principles of Future Branding

    The other day I read a great post by Joshua Porter on the Principles of Product Design. It’s an area that I’m very fond of and the post by Joshua was spot on. Then as I’m a fan of Dieter Rams and his Ten Principles for Good Design I decided to write my own ten principles […]

  • Dear CEO’s, Board Members and Top Management – what's more important? Wine or Change?

    This post is probably most stupid post one can write since CEO’s and board members seems to have decided to stay behind with the dinosaurs while the rest of us look for new ground where we can thrive and prosper. Basically on average they read three local newspapers of their own choice, Wall Street Journal, […]

  • The Ronnestam Prototyping Process. An innovation process by me leading your brand into the future

    The Ronnestam Prototyping Process. An innovation process by me leading your brand into the future

    About five years ago I launched new process that could help brands and companies to break out of their stand still and also help me in creating the right climate for change in the projects I work with. I call this process The Ronnestam Prototyping Process.   The Ronnestam Prototyping Process The Ronnestam Prototyping Process is based on a combination […]

  • 10 things I've done wrong in branding projects and that you can learn from

    A brand I haven’t created or believe in. I did however shoot the photo on a cemetery on Ireland not far from my favorite surfing spot. I’ve had the privilege of being involved in many different brand projects that have resulted in logos, graphical guidelines, advertising, POS, digital platforms, interior decoration, products, organisational impacts and future strategies. I’ve created and launched new brands […]

  • How I would run an advertising agency today to prepare for tomorrow

    We’re in the midst of a paradigm shift. In Sweden and around the world advertising agencies are fighting over clients. As I’m meeting brands both in- and outside Sweden I’m often approached by major brand owners asking me which agency I would recommend. Most of them complain over the fact that the big agencies of […]

  • Future brands are like icebergs

    Future brands are like icebergs

    We all know how what an iceberg looks like. As you approach it it looks fairly small, it’s easy to get an idea of the size, the shape and dimensions of it. However, we all know that underneath that surface the total mass of the iceberg is hidden. In fact 7/8 of the iceberg is hidden […]

  • A prototype – SJ and a journey into the future

    A prototype – SJ and a journey into the future

    You might have seen the post I’ve written about prototyping. An innovation process I’ve developed in order to help global brands understand their future needs and based on that map out strategies to move them into the future business landscape. It’s part strategy, part creative development and part visualisation. Well, here’s another prototyping project one […]

  • The Story Of BAUX Acoustic Panels

    The Story Of BAUX Acoustic Panels

    About a year ago in February 2014 one of my entrepreneurial creations was introduced. Upon my initiative, me, Fredrik Franzon, and the founding partners of design studio Form Us With Love; Jonas Pettersson, John Löfgren and Petrus Palmér founded a company called BAUX. Our idea was to create sustainable building materials that would be surprisingly functional and […]

  • Case: Branding the Volvo Ocean Race – The worlds finest off shore race

    Case: Branding the Volvo Ocean Race – The worlds finest off shore race

    Today at 14:00 CEST one of the worlds most challenging adventures and sport events starts – The Volvo Ocean Race, and I’m really proud to be a part of it. In the end of 2013 I was asked to deliver the global brand platform and creative direction for, what I consider, the worlds finest off shore race and […]

  • Branding is all about making people smile or cry

    Branding is all about making people smile or cry

    The one thing that should direct all your branding activities is exactly that. Make people smile or cry, crying as in touching someones heart. To many communication activities go by without anyone caring for them or the product they communicate. Here are 7 quick ones on branding: Create products or services that solves a real problem that matters to […]

  • Case: Turning a legendary golf course into an icon – The Ullna Golf Club rebranding project.

    Photo by Andreas Hemmingsson About a year ago I was approached by David Hamilton, board member of the Swedish Ullna Golf Club and also owner of Caddee. The Ullna Golf Club was established and designed in 1981 by the late Mr. Sven Tumba, a Swedish sports icon and golf pioneer and the same year in August, […]

  • Why design is essential to future branding

    Why design is essential to future branding

    I wrote a blogpost a couple of weeks ago about the three components of future branding; Authenticity, Innovation and Design. Today I though I’d dig deeper into the design part of branding. Why is it important, what does it mean and how do you know you’re on track. Why is design an essential part of […]

  • What makes people take action?

    The toughest question on earth. How do you make people do something? I don’t mean clicking ‘like’ on your Facebook page or follow a link only to spend 2 minutes watching a fun video. How do you actually make people see something, find out more about it and then take action. I’d say it’s harder than […]

  • Still valid. Top 10 blog posts on future branding and communication.

    In the end of 2009 I compiled the ten most read blog posts from my blog that year into a book. It’s been three years but I’d say it’s more relevant than ever. Top 10 blog post on future branding & communication ps. I’ve got some if you wanna get your hands on an old […]

  • The future for brands and companies looking to survive and thrive

    Wanna innovate your brand? Looking to start a new business? Thinking about building a product people will love? Want to make a fortune? Think no more. Connecting the digital world with the physical is the new black. 2012 was the year when we saw the first real outcomes of physical/digital products, either physical products that […]

  • Don't fall in love with technology. Fall in love with humans!

    Roland added some great value when they created the Roland TB-303 If you wanna create digital brand activities or products that actually make a difference. Don’t think technology! Too often I see cases where the entire product or a communication idea has been based on technical possibilities. This never works in the long run. No […]

  • Putting Sweden on the map at LeWeb 2012

    A couple of month before LeWeb Annika Lidne, Social Media superwoman from Sweden approached me and asked if I wanted to be a part of the Swedish Trade Council Initiative at LeWeb. Once I said “hell yes” she also asked if I would consider developing a communication concept for the event. “Hell yes! once again”. The […]

  • The three components of future brands

    Were living in the transparent century where all information ia accessible only a keystroke away. Somewhere in the world someone is working right now on project ment to disrupt your brand and your products. We all fight hard to get our 15 minutes of fame. How can we get people to talk about our brand, our […]

  • Deciding on things in a creative process. 5 things to think about.

    Ideas are like bubbles. They appear and look beautiful. But only to be gone seconds later. Catch them while you can.  I’m in the middle of building a brand platform for a brand I love. It’s been a long process and I’m only days from delivering the final document. In other words, I’m in the […]

  • When labels become art. Stranger & Stranger is better & better.

    Years ago I found out about a innovator within the Whisky industry. His name is John Glaser and he has created a brand that is called Compass Box. If you are to buy a fantastic whisky, get your hands on a bottle of Compass Box. My personal favorite is Hedonism. The other day I ran […]

  • Does your brand make people talk? Answer these 10 questions honestly!

    GoPro. A brand that emotionally breaks through the buzz with all their communication. Here worn on my helmet in St Anton Breaking through the buzz today is not easy. Everyone is looking for that golden solution that will make their brand go viral. We’re exposed to thousands of brands daily and very few actually makes […]

  • Dress your brand in quality…not quantity, when content explodes online.

    Over the years I’ve spoken and written tons of times of the importance of content. The online world has been a Klondyke for people who early understood that when content is free to publish content will also be what drives traffic. And as most

  • Case: Let's Bank with Fredrik 'Benke' Rydman and Marginalen Bank.

    If you’ve followed this blog and me for a while you know I’ve been heading the work of making one of Sweden’s newest brands come to life – The Marginalen Bank. It’s a fantastic assignment where I’ve together with Caroline Karlström have been given the honor of both creating the actual brand as well as […]

  • 15 keys to deliver a fantastic keynote presentation on stage

    Inspired by Swedish blogger Fredrik Wass who stated that he will blog for a 100 days in a row I felt I had to get my blog going again. So here we go! Photographed by Paulina while forecasting trends at the Creative Summit together with among others Brian Solis and Alf Rehn. In 2011 I was honored […]

  • If you wanna be my brand!

    If you’re my brand: Never let me down. Keep on making me smile. Stay cool. Always surprise me. Change when you need to, but stay true to your heritage. Dress nice. Make sure I don’t have to hide our love. If you do something bad – stay honest and tell the truth cause I will […]

  • Continuing building the Marginalen Bank brand with a new commercial

    As of monday this week you can spot the latest TVC created for Marginalen Bank. This sweet little flick is the latest short film (I see it more as a short film than a TVC) in a series of three (1 & 2) created by me for Marginalen Bank, the brand I took part in […]

  • The Essentials Of Great Branding Building

    There are tons of consultants (including myself) selling branding services around the world. Most tend to say (not including myself) that branding is complexed. A quick search on Google image search reveals tons of models. What if we look beyond those models and all those advices that often lead to heavy brand manuals that no […]

  • Top 100 Posts On The Future Of Communication by Johan Ronnestam Posted Between 2005 and 2011

    Some of you might have followed my blog since way back while others followed me only a couple of days. So I decided it was time to dig into Google Analytics and gather my top 100 blog posts, based on traffic, (I have written 596 to this date) between the years 2005 and 2011 for […]

  • How To Successfully Identify A Future Trend

    I’m currently working on my 2011 brand and communication prediction. While I’m working on that I drew up one of the best models I know when it comes to predicting future trends. Enjoy!

  • Social Media. It's There To Give Your Brand A Body

    We’ve all heard it before. A brand is not a logo, nor is it your products or services. Your brand is the sum of peoples feelings when they think about your brand. Or said in a more ‘techy’ way – An emotional translation of what first comes to mind when neurons fire in the brains […]

  • Case: The Story Of How Sweden's Newest Bank 'Marginalen Bank' Was Created, Implemented and Launched

    What do you do when someone asks you to sign a non disclosure agreement and then asks you to spend the coming year planning, creating, implementing and launching a new Swedish bank? Say yes of course! This is where the story of the freshly launched brand Marginalen Bank starts. Together with recidivist Caroline Karlström I […]

  • I Think I Can Beat Steve Jobs

    I am not applying for a new job as a CEO or Marketing Director, but if I did that would be my headline and I would run the brand I’d work for based on the insights that follow. Steve! Bring it on! Ok, so you’re s marketing director or even a CEO struggling to beat […]

  • The 10 Commandments Of Future Brands

    There’s a couple of things I demand from brands that make it all the way into my life. It’s really not that hard. It’s just about being prepared to sacrifice your life for what you believe in! A Tweaked Moses with the Ten Commandments by Philippe de Champaigne 1648 from Freechristimages Here are the 10 […]

  • What Transparency Will Do To Your Brand

    Today when you market a product and actually manage to make an impact the first thing that happens is that people go online, not to your brand site but to Google. Have you Googlified your brand and business? A search on your product or service reveals everything there is to be found related to that […]

  • Case ›› Re-branding: Turning A Diving Brand With A Heritage Into A Brand With A Future

    Last summer I got on a train leaving Stockholm for Gothenburg. Together with freelancing project manager, planner and colleague Caroline Karlström I had a meeting set up with diving brand Poseidon. This was the start of a project where I truly had the opportunity to work with all aspects of branding and creative communication. A […]

  • Winners of the Book on Top 10 Posts on Future Branding

    Days before 2009 ended I announced the release of my first book or whatever you wanna call it. As I did so I tweeted that the first 50 people who would retweet the message would be sent a free signed copy

  • A Book, MashUp, PDF or Whatever You Wanna Call It By Johan Ronnestam

    I’ve always wanted to write a book. This is NOT it! So far this year my blog have had more than 115 000 unique visitors and just over 240 000 visits. I’ve written more than 500 blog posts covering everything from design, gadgets, trends, technology, advertising, innovations, personal things, branding and more. About 28% of […]

  • I've Said It Before But It's Worth Repeating – We Just Wanna Have Fun

    Today Miss Swiss miss made me notice this wonderful initiative from Volkswagen called ‘The Fun Theory’. It’s one of the more refreshing campaigns I’ve seen coming out of Sweden in the last 10 years. This is good shit and to me it’s spot on brand! Or what do you think? Thank you Tribal DDB Stockholm […]

  • All Your Brands Are Belong To Us

    Last week I was contacted by Superbrands. The company that releases a book with the same name. I was asked to write a post on their blog about Branding. I know I’ve got some followers interested in that subject so I’ve decided to post the same article here too. Back in 2000 a flash based […]

  • 21 Steps on How to Monitor Your Brand Online and Keep Track of the Conversation

    And now to a very sensitive issue – monitoring. As some of you know my profession is leading brands into the future of communication. One of the more important parts of this is teaching them how to keep track of their own brands in the jungle of conversation. What are people saying about my brand, […]

  • Seduce us or excuse us – 11 ways to bring your brand up to date

    We’re fed up with boring old school advertising. We don’t want your information and rational explanations. We wanna dance, laugh, feel and love. We do not want be treated like idiots! James Dean knew how to seduce people while looking pretty darn boring. But face it. He’s dead and would be pretty out of date […]

  • The checklist that will save our world and maybe your brand too!

    Brands all over the world – Google, IBM, Nike, BMW, Porsche, Starbucks, Coca Cola & Levi Straus, they all say the think about sustainability. What about your brand? Sustainability is a beautiful word, especially in terms of how it affects brands. The true meaning of it is ‘the capacity to endure’ and that’s more or […]

  • Augmented advertising will hype your brand!

    The other day I spotted this video showcasing i-TAG augmented reality toys. It’s the result of a cooperation between toy manufacturer Mattel and James Cameron in order to support the launch of the motion picture Avatar coming in fall 2009. These next generation trading cards comes with a 3-D Web tag, called an i-TAG, a […]

  • Event based iPhone applications will move money into mobile advertising

    I play golf. I enjoy watching golf tournaments. I’m spending the summer in the lovely Swedish archipelago….without any coverage of the British Open…so I turn to the iPhone app store. There it is. The second big golf tournament iPhone application in a month. US open lead the way with their application. If you’re into sailing […]

  • There’s always room for innovation and here are 35 ways of forcing your brand into differentiation

    I often meet people or brands saying everything has been done and there’s no room for innovation in their bransch. Never, no, not in a million years! There is always room for product innovation. Sometimes all it takes is looking at your business from a different perspective. What the iPhone has done to the mobile […]

  • Mike Arauz got branding of tomorrow wired

    Found that great qoute by Mike Arauz on Advertising Lab

  • It’s really not that hard to win once you're prepared to make a fool out of yourself

    Linus Omark, the 6th most viewed video on YouTube this week. The 6th most viewed video worldwide on YouTube this week is a video showing Swedish hockey player Linus Omark, drafted 4th by the Edmonton Oilers, scoring in a friendly exhibition game against Switzerland. Linus does what every innovator would do – he dares to […]

  • We’re all digital settlers but make no mistake, we'll keep on moving once there is no more gold

    Where are we all heading. Where will we settle, MySpace, Facebook or Twitter? What technology will win? Will we all become iPhone owners or stick to Nokia? PC or Apple? When will we be pleased? Brands are spending millions and millions in order to understand where people are settling down. Once that knowledge is secured […]

  • Emotional vs rational messages in communication during global recession and Nigel Hollis

    Traveling at a 110 km per hour can be good for your brain or bad – you be the judge of that. I’m on my way home from Sälen and since I’m not behind the wheel I had some time over to get one of my thoughts out of my head. Thank god for 3G. […]

  • Skittles innovates their brand through the use of widgets and social media

    Candy brand Skittles have produced some kick ass TVC’s (Skittles leak being one of my favorites) through out the years and now they’re innovating the use of social media within fast moving consumer goods. This blog post started in my head after seeing this discussion below between two of the bloggers I’m following. David Armano […]

  • How much responsibility should a brand like Nordiska Kompaniet have?

    In Sweden our finest shopping mall is called NK or Nordiska Kompaniet. NK was founded in 1902 by Josef Sachs and his ambition was to bring together the finest merchandise in the world under one roof. This vision still stands. I today’s morning paper (yep I still read them) this ad below advertised high fashion […]

  • Let’s start a revolution – get of the boat and build yourselves a new brand transportation system.

    Let me break it to you right away – the old way of planning and executing communication is slowly sinking into the ocean of well paid consultants that doesn’t do shit for your brand and the best you can do is throw yourselves into the lifeboats, get your ass to land and then find something […]

  • An answer to Jonas Söderström and 15 things to think of when getting into conversational brand marketing.

    Blogger and planner Jonas Söderström a nice guy who’s running his own company – Planning STHLM posted a question the other day. I started to write an answer to Jonas in his commentators field but then felt I needed to elaborate a little bit more. On top of that I think my thoughts might be […]

  • Controlling your brand with creative excellence

    Who is heading your brand? Does he or she have an understanding for all, and I mean all, steps in the consumer interaction with your brand. The new generation of consumers crave 4 things from their favorite brands. These 4 things was something we found in a global focus group study we did for one […]

  • If you wanna get some brand love tomorrow you better get into the conversation today

    Branding today is about creating a brand platform, then dramatize it and start screaming to people – COME ON AND BUY MY PRODUCT. IT’S GREAT. Of course in a slightly creative and modest manner than that. But it very often about traditional advertising in classic media channels. Branding of tomorrow is about knowing who you […]

  • Get your clown suit ready if you wanna reach out to consumers in 2009

    A couple of days ago ComScore published a Top Social Media Sites 2008 list. The list that I found on Techcrunch is an interesting read since I for one thought that Facebook and MySpace would be on top. But instead we find Blogger as the largest social media site in the world. Blogger and WordPress […]

  • Brand and communication predictions for 2009 by Johan Ronnestam

    Last year, inspired by ReadWriteWeb I stuck my nose out and tried to predict what 2008 would bring us in terms of trends, technology, communication and ideas. About 70% of my thoughts were confirmed but I of course missed out on some too. 2008 is coming to an end and it’s time for me to […]

  • Absolut.com gets a more user friendly user interface but I lack Innovation.

    One of the worlds most awarded websites has been redesigned. And the way Absolut.com is heading doesn’t come as a surprise. The new site has been give an slick, well designed user and SEO friendly interface. Many parts of the site has been moved from a flash based interface to a classical CSS based interface. Everything […]

  • A short story about love

    First, I’m going to find out what she’s like. I’m gonna spend time with her, or around her since I actually don’t know her. What food does she like, white or red wine, does she like fashion, music – what kind of music? Is she into sports and if so, which sport. If not, why? […]

  • One link for the English guys och en för svenskar – and they're both about Steve Jobs

    Here comes a post that will make you think different. Yesterday I was writing on a blog post suggesting how SAAB and Volvo should think to get out of their problems. The post focused both on product development and marketing. Then today I found one link on Bjornalberts that more or less talked about the […]

  • Who the hell are you

      The image above is a screenshot from my statistics software showing you the most recent searches. 9 of the latest 18 includes ‘ronnestam’ (50%) in one way or another. So I’m wondering – who are you, what are you looking for, do you represent a brand, an agency or yourselves. Sooner or later I’ll […]

  • Något för Svenska communities och sajter att inspireras av

    Föredömligt av Facebook en dag som denna. Uppdaterat Johan Jenefeldt ropade till om Starbucks. Ytterligare ett föredöme.

  • Can extreme differentiation turn anything into luxury?

    Danish Brewery, Jacobsen Brewhouse has released the most expensive beer in the world. This little drug is called Vintage Nr. 1. The price tag is €261. It’s funny. Neil French, legendary copywriter created a campaign for Singapore Press Holdings that was to prove to clients who believed that beer could only be advertised on television, […]

  • Color is key

    I was reading a great post on the 7 ingredients of good corporate design when I found an interesting fact: “research by the Institute for Color Research reveals all human beings make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or item within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is […]

  • Apple doesn’t even seem hurt by that clean uppercut from Microsoft. But then again, who would have thought that.

    So the fight continues. I’ve written about Microsoft getting back on Apple a couple of times before. In my first post on the subject I especially commented on the fact that before Microsoft starts to spread the dollars they should take care of their product. Vista just doesn’t do it. According to Gartner only 6% […]

  • Communication is easy. It's the branding that is hard

    Right now I’m in the middle of some planning work for a Swedish brand. I’m spending quite a lot of time trying to understand their products, their target group and especially their brand. When I’m working I like to keep a drawing pad close to me so that I can write down and doodle on […]

  • “advertising is the price companies pay for being unoriginal”

      These are the words of Industrial designer Yves Behar, founder of Fuseprojects while talking at TED. Among other things Yves has designed the OLPC. (One laptop per child project). So, is this true? Well, I don’t entirely agree. But I do think that promoting a product that doesn’t live up to the standards of […]

  • UPS trampar i klaveret och visar hur man INTE beter sig när man bygger varumärken.

    Budfirman UPS har dragits in i en löjeväckande konflikt med Dan Nilsson, bloggare och entrepenör. Det hela började när Dan tyckte att han blev smått misshandlad i samband med att han skulle ta emot en importförsändelse. Det här beskrev han på ett intressant, dynamiskt och provocerande

  • Microsoft drops Jerry and Bill and strikes back at the Apple.

    According to several blogs, blogs, blogs Microsoft is shutting the Bill Gates & Jerry Seinfeild down before we even got to like the guys. I’ve been writing about this campaign before. This latest campaign from the gigantic PC dragon was heading in one direction now they’re turning in another. New York Times reports Microsoft has […]

  • Microsoft’s new advertising might very well be the most interesting case to follow ever

    Microsoft has released their second episode of Jerry Seinfield & Bill Gates. It’s a 4.32 minute long episode where Jerry & Bill spend time with a ‘real’ family. The whole thing is very interesting as it’s the most profitable company in the world that is releasing a whole new tone of voice. They will spend […]

  • BMW innovates

    Nothing impresses me like a company that has found out exactly what they should do to build their brand and then sticks to the formula. I don’t drive a BMW but I must say these guys from Germany are not far from making me into a customer.   Their brand has been closely connected with innovation […]

  • Twingly turns server problems into branding

    I pointed my browser towards Twingly when I landed on an Error 500: Internal server error page. Once there I was greeted by this beautiful error message. It’s funny how a little bit of humor makes you wanna come back…even though the service actually didn’t work. This is something many of the old companies definitely can learn from. ps. […]