The Blake Project

09/21/2026

Some of the most important brand work begins when a company realizes the business has moved faster than the brand.

That was the case with our client UP.Labs, now Vantora (formerly UP.Labs).

In this new Branding Strategy Insider piece, we share the importance of building a brand around the business you are actually becoming.

For The Blake Project, this is the work we value most: helping leadership teams clarify what has changed, what matters most, and how brand can create greater enterprise value.

We're grateful to the Vantora team for trusting us with this transformation, and equally grateful to the many clients who have invited us into pivotal moments of growth, change, and reinvention over the years.

The clearest sign a company may need to rebrand isn't an outdated identity. It is a growing distance between what the business has become and what the Learn the keys to strategic rebranding through The Blake Project’s work transforming UP.Labs into Vantora—and aligning brand with business growth...

09/15/2026

People want greater control over their choices, their information, their money, and their lives.

And that creates a challenge for marketers.

There is a general feeling nowadays that things are out of control. An understatement, perhaps, but not a misstatement. People feel a loss of agency. This Consumers increasingly feel control slipping away. For brands, understanding the fight for greater agency may be key to earning trust, attention....

09/14/2026

Apple has long understood something different: creativity is not an output. It is a strategic input. Apple

Apple just introduced its new, foldable iPhone Duo. Whether you think this is fabulous or a future flop, Apple has reignited focus on the intertwined Apple’s foldable iPhone is a reminder that innovation alone is not enough. Enduring brand growth comes from combining creativity, foresight, brand s...

09/09/2026

Twenty years ago, Branding Strategy Insider began with a simple ambition: create a place where the best thinking about brands could be challenged, shared and put to work.

Twenty years ago, Branding Strategy Insider began with a straightforward ambition: create a place where people serious about building brands could find Celebrating 20 years of Branding Strategy Insider, Derrick Daye reflects on the influential thinkers, iconic brand stories and enduring ideas that h...

09/08/2026

Gap gave people the freedom to take universally available basics - jeans, T-shirts, khakis, denim jackets - and make them their own. Individuality and belonging at the same time.

But over time, Gap drifted away from its powerful brand idea. Gap

In its heyday, Target promised affordable, designer style for everyone. Anyone could afford stylish items that were ordinarily available only to those Gap’s brand strategy is returning to its roots, using democratized style, accessibility and relevance to rebuild growth and cultural connection.

09/03/2026

For decades, marketing has been built around a familiar ambition: make people want more.

More food. More purchases. More screen time. More experiences. More occasions to consume.

But what happens when people increasingly want less of more?

09/01/2026

Brand is not a communications layer. It is one of the most valuable intangible assets a business owns. In this Q&A on Branding Strategy Insider, I explore this and more with Paul Friederichsen

A Conversation With Dr. Derrick Daye on Positioning, AI and the Brand Work That Matters. Dr. Derrick Daye has spent more than two decades helping Dr. Derrick Daye explains how positioning, AI, brand culture and leadership shape brand value—and why consequential brand strategy must change the econo...

09/01/2026

Brand loyalty changes the economics of growth.

When genuine preference grows, something more consequential happens: customers become less price-sensitive, buy more, try more of what the brand introduces, and become more profitable.

What do United Airlines, YUM! Brands, Kohl’s, Ulta Beauty, and Estée Lauder have in common? Their leaders are talking about brand loyalty as a driver of Brand loyalty changes the economics of growth by reducing price sensitivity, increasing customer value and turning preference into more profitab...

08/27/2026

“Turnaround” used to describe an emergency intervention.

Now it sometimes sounds like a permanent business strategy.

Corporate jargon is pretty miserable. Executives use euphemisms and empty phrases to cover up the truth. Reading an earnings report is sometimes the

08/20/2026

Marketers want more of the one thing consumers are increasingly determined to protect: Their time.

We measure attention, engagement, browsing, consideration, and loyalty because we assume the more time people spend with us, the more valuable they become to the brand.

But the value exchange is changing.

Consumers increasingly expect value not just from what they buy, but from every moment they spend getting there.

That creates a new challenge for marketers: Stop thinking only about how to capture people's time. Start asking whether the time they give you is worth it.