Derrick Daye and Thomson Dawson of The Blake Project joined Bill Jachthuber on February 1, 2012 and discussed how important branding is even in a down economy and how brand licensing can play a role. With lots of examples including Kodak, to how Hush Puppy is reaching a global audience to how Apple continues to create brand value, you won’t want to miss this show.
Derrick has spent the past 20 years helping organizations release the full potential of their brands. His experience is as extensive as it is diverse, encompassing the disciplines of branding, advertising, sales promotion, and public relations. At The Blake Project he manages daily operations and serves in the delivery of brand stewardship services as a consultant and account manager.
Prior to launching The Blake Project in 2003, Derrick held rewarding leadership roles at Saatchi & Saatchi as well as at three other respected advertising agencies. He credits his focus on brand strategy with his ability to align organizations with unmet customer needs.
Derrick is quoted regularly in the business press in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Adweek, Yahoo News, BusinessWeek, London Times and has been a featured brand management expert on ABC News. In addition, he co-authors the popular branding blog Branding Strategy Insider.
He has served on a number of not-for-profit boards and is the proud founder of Marketers For Charity, an organization rallying professionals for the benefit of breast cancer research and other causes. Most notably, he has worked with The White House Press Corps, the National Basketball Association and Johnson & Johnson.
Thomson is a senior brand strategist at The Blake Project. He brings an unequalled level of expertise in branding to his clients, leading them in the collaborative discovery process that results in strong brands. He brings over 30 years of diverse strategic and creative experience to the art and science of brand development. Throughout his career, Thomson has been an entrepreneur, designer, writer, creative director, master facilitator and brand consultant to global and emerging brands in diverse industries.
Thomson’s clients range from Fortune 100 and start-up companies to not-for-profit organizations. He has guided Energizer in positioning its next generation of products, focused Jockey on where it could succeed as a lifestyle brand and helped Hewlett-Packard build an advantage for its highly anticipated ingredient brand.
Earlier in his career he founded Dawson+Company Communications, a leading corporate communications company headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A firm internationally recognized for its award winning work in brand strategy, corporate identity development, brand development, naming, corporate communications, marketing communications, branded environment design, and retail packaging.
Thomson is an avid writer, speaker and thought leader on branding, enterprise strategy, value creation and professional development. He co-authors The Blake Project’s blog, BrandingStrategyInsider.com, one of the top 50 marketing blogs on the Internet according to Advertising Age with 25,000+ marketers visiting daily.
