Branding is in the details with Darren Horwitz of TenTen Group

Jun 12

I still remember the first time I wrote a check that had “thousand” at the end of it.

It was the deposit and first month’s rent for the first apartment I lived in after college.

Then came the five figure checks - stuff for work, cars, home, and office. We’re fortunate to live in a time and place where that’s possible to build the lives and businesses we want.

But you know what almost universally stinks about those experiences? The pen you sign with.

Here you are, making the biggest decisions of your life, betting on yourself and your future, and you’re handed a thirty cent pen to do it with.

But don’t worry: it’s got the company logo on it

They’ll splash out to custom print the pens for the biggest days of your life, but they’ve got to pinch pennies on the quality of the pen . . . or do they?

In this episode of Growing a Fruitful Brand, I interview Darren Horwitz, founder of Ten Ten Group, about how major companies like American Airlines implement their brands into the smallest details such as cocktail napkins and PowerPoint decks.

As someone who has been behind the scenes of some of America’s largest and most visible rebrand implementations, Darren advises companies to exercise restraint.

Sometimes, it’s better to give the customer a nice, unbranded pen to sign with than it is to provide a branded experience that is subpar.

Any branding move you make should always align with your business strategy first, and then it should be filtered through the lens of customer experience. If you have a good business, those two things will be very closely aligned.

Every time you interact with a customer is an opportunity to build trust and increase their lifetime value . . . or lose it. Choose wisely.

Darren shares how he helps brands make those choices in order to drive revenue by building loyal customer relationships to your company and brand.