Rick Turoczy is an expert in branding and startups with over 15 years of experience. He argues that brands are defined by the emotional reactions they inspire in people rather than logical decisions. The ultimate goal of branding is to inspire illogical, emotional connections with customers in order to increase brand value. However, a brand is out of a company's control and defined by what customers say it is. For startups to influence brand perceptions, they must live where their potential customers live.

1. Inspiring illogical decisions
Rick Turoczy

2. Agenda
I talk
You interrupt with awesome questions
I talk some more
I go off on a tangent
You pull me back in
We talk about stuff you want to talk about

3. Who is this guy?

4. 15+ years of branding

5. 15+ years of startups

6. Currently run two startups

9. Why am I here?

10. Obsessed
with branding and startups

11. Disclaimer

12. I may start making strange
semantic arguments and go
flying off on tangents which
result in long-winded
diatribes that seem to have
no bearing on this class,
whatsoever

13. What is brand?

14. Contrary to what you may
have heard,
a brand is not a name, a
symbol, a typeface, a color,
an image, an ad, a Web site,
a song, a product…

15. Brand is
an emotional reaction

16. Brand is
a visceral reaction

17. Brand happens

18. Death knell for a brand?

19. It’s fine

20. Love is the goal

21. Hate is great

22. Brands crave reaction
not acceptance

23. What is branding?

24. Branding is our attempt to
manage the signals that
evoke that reaction

25. What is the ultimate goal of
branding a company?

26. Illogical decisions

27. Brand occurs in the heart
not the head

28. Great brands, therefore,
must have great heart and
great humanity

29. They must inspire
emotional connections

30. I want

31. I need

32. Good news?

33. The brand connection is
both invaluable and
valuable

34. How valuable?

35. With brand value?
$120 billion
Without brand value?
$50 billion
Image courtesy Brand Gap (c) 2001

36. Bad news?

37. Your brand is
completely and utterly
out of your control

38. Your brand is not
what you say it is

39. Your brand is
what they say it is

40. So as a startup,
how do we stand
a chance of influencing
that reaction?

41. How do we make that
connection?

42. By living where your
potential customers live

43. Example?

49. Questions?

50. Contacting me
@turoczy
siliconflorist.com/forums
facebook.com/turoczy
linkedin.com/in/turoczy
siliconflorist@gmail.com