My Journey as a Brander
DALL-E: Curt Doty
Many years ago, when I was making the transition from Broadcast Designer to Network Brander, I decided I liked this side of the creative process. There was research, insights and a logical basis to do good creative and be able to sell it. I worked with some of the best companies in the space, Pittard Sullivan and 3 Ring Circus and it took me all over the world and my work has been seen on all five continents. I am not humble bragging here, but rather providing a backdrop of my higher education in the field. I did not go back to school to get my MBA, my school was one of hard knocks. The evaporation of industries and the necessity of reinvention. My work in the late 90’s through the dot com bubble was primarily in television and success was hard to quantify as branding is not marketing. Then one of my mentors and colleagues Steve Hayman sat me down and explained what creative advertising was in the movie industry and the funny money of Hollywood. Companies do not usually have a branding budget, but they always have a marketing budget. It was eye opening. I spent the next two years learning all about consulting with another great strategist, Mike Mitchell, and did some great turn-arounds. My break in Movies came from being recruited by Universal Studios Home Entertainment which started a 5 year gig in 360 degree marketing movies. I worked with some of the greatest agencies in what was a golden age. Trailer Park, Creative Domain, One K, Cold Open, to name just a few. There were some branding opportunities with Focus Pictures, Rogue Pictures and Universal Animation. I even got to re-do the famous 1995 Harry Marks Universal Pictures ID with Ant Farm and Suzanne Kamenir when I created a combo ID for the new HD DVD format. What Universal gave me though was exposure to technology and interactive content, which I loved. It incorporated my prior learnings from the gaming industry with Electronic Arts, a branding and UX project. That started a 10 year journey working with Toshiba, Microsoft and Apple in product development. Many mobile apps later and a brush with PR and content marketing, I hung out my own shingle with a focus on branding and marketing. I am now in my 10th year with CurtDoty.co and not only revived my branding discipline, but continued my marketing and product development. My branding process has evolved and it involves wearing the various hats of strategist, writer, account manager, product manager, etc. but here it is in a nutshell.
Immersion
Our Immersion process consists of one-on-one stakeholder interviews to gain a deep understanding of your business and sector.
Core Truths
Our process is a collaborative effort to articulate five essential truths about your audience — what drives them and how to best connect and engage with them. By closely examining these five principal elements, we eventually arrive at a core truth. That core truth tells us what we must do to provoke a brand’s audience to action. It’s all about finding a point of inspiration that will help us shape a story with the power to engage.
Communication Platform
Based on these core truths, we then formulate a Vision, Mission and Position based a on a new set of Core Values. This becomes the foundation for a communication platform, which supports internal and external messaging that leads to marketing communications.
Brand Evaluation
Branding is more than a logo and encompasses the entire Customer Experience (CX). Based on the brand audit and insights gained, we can then tackle and recommend a visual identity that allows for growth and leverages any current equity. We deliver a brand style guide to guide the implementation and provide inspiration for future work.
Product Roadmap
A hands-on workshop with our consulting team will address the insights from the core truths and you will receive prioritized actionable recommendations for unlocking growth. Over the course of this 1-2 month consultation, we develop a customized growth plan for your business based on our audit of your brand, social, product, marketing, and operations.
Brand Storytelling
Telling your story must be done with more than words. Video is the most compelling media to effectively connect emotionally with your audience. We’ll develop and shoot a hero video for your business that will span all current and future marketing channels helping your brand and business PIVOT to new growth and success.
Need help with brand creation or a brand pivot, learn more here or just call me.
About the Author
Curt Doty specializes in branding, product development, social strategy, integrated marketing, and UXD. He has extensive experience on AI-driven platforms MidJourney, Adobe Firefly, ChatGPT, Murf.ai, and DALL-E. His legacy of entertainment branding: Electronic Arts, EA Sports, ProSieben, SAT.1, WBTV Latin America, Discovery Health, ABC, CBS, A&E, StarTV, Fox, Kabel 1, TV Guide Channel, and Prevue Channel.
He is a sought after public speaker having been featured at Streaming Media NYC, Digital Hollywood, Mobile Growth Association, Mobile Congress, App Growth Summit, Promax, CES, CTIA, NAB, NATPE, MMA Global, New Mexico Angels, Santa Fe Business Incubator, EntrepeneursRx and AI Impact. He is now represented by Ovationz. His new consultancy RealmIQ helps companies manage the AI Revolution.
© 2024 Curt Doty Company LLC. All rights reserved. RealmIQ is a division of the Curt Doty Company. Reproduction, in whole or part, without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher is not responsible for any AI errors or omissions.