ANNELEIGH is a career marketer dedicated to understanding and building both brands and the people who manage them into critical elements of their businesses. She has extensive experience in FMCG brands having held brand management and senior marketing positions at Procter & Gamble and National Brands (AVI Ltd). She now works with a portfolio of exceptional niche organisations in the areas of Brand Strategy, Brand Development, Implementation and Marketing Skills training.
Anneleigh is a member of the Marketing Association of South Africa, and author of “Corporation Games” published by Eyebrow at Lapa (on shelves November 2019). The Branded Blog which is, despite it’s name, not only about brands, took a long hiatus while the book was written and currently is where you can find all the info related to it. Anneleigh also loves to spend time on mountains; attempting to learn Flamenco; at great restaurants; or on the couch with Jerry the cat, a great book and a cup of tea – not all at the same time.
OUR PHILOSOPHY at The Brand Conservatory: Brands have become our equivalent to the conversation around the fire-place; or the village meeting. Brands are a means of identifying and communicating our values – whether the brand is a bottle of milk, a pair of shoes, or an NGO. What matters is what that brand says to and about me. Brands have become our short-hand way of making a statement about who we are, what we believe in and how we see the world. They are a way of connecting in a world upscaled beyond our capacity to converse with each individual in it.
Brands should be expressions of values and benefits built around products and services within sustainable business units that serve everyone – internal and external – who chooses to associate with the brand.
Brands need to be built on truth. The truth of what the brand does, what it offers and who it is. Let your brand tell the story of your business or organisation: allow it to share the heart of what you do, and why. Every organisation exists for a reason – your brand is the chance to explain that reason to everyone else and allow them to become part of that story. And if you do that well, you will flourish.