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A Brand in Your Hand – a conversation with author Glenn Rudin
10 Plays2 days ago
The world’s first rhyming, full colour, guide to branding and messaging, is a straightforward guide to defining you or your business to the world.
Glenn Rudin is a communicator master. His strategic approach to brand messaging means that his clients can use innovative and focused messages that result in them selling more products or services. It is a claim that he backs up with his book A Brand in Your Hand.
In this episode of The Independent Minds Glenn talks to host Michael Millward about the inspiration for writing a book about branding that rhymes from start to finish.
Glenn uses examples from his career and various industries to explain how brands build their stories so that they create something for the customer that is more valuable for the customer than just the product or service that is listed on the receipt.
He describes brands as intellectual property and explains how successful brands can licence that intellectual property to be used on other products.
Glenn explains how he has positioned his book as an extension of his brand as a consultant and public speaker.
This episode includes Glenn reading some of the rhymes from A Brand in Your Hand, and a discussion of why rhyming prose is a good way to learn.
You will leave this episode understanding how brands work, and how you might adapt the commercial branding strategies to build your personal brand.
More information about Glenn Rudin and Michael Millward is available at abeceder.
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Transcript
Introduction to The Independent Minds Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to The Independent Minds, a series of conversations between Abysseedah and people who think outside the box about how work works, with the aim of creating better workplace experiences for everyone.
Meet Glenn Rudin and His Creative Work
00:00:22
Speaker
I am your host, Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abbasida. Today, my guest independent mind is Glenn Rudin, the author of the world's first fully rhyming and full-coloured business book, A Brand in Your Hand.
00:00:39
Speaker
As the jingle at the start of this podcast says, The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr. Zencastr is the all-in-one podcasting platform on which you can make your podcast in one place and then distribute it to the major platforms like Spotify, Apple, Amazon and Google.
00:00:59
Speaker
It really does make making content so easy. If you would like to try podcasting using Zencaster, visit zencaster.com forward slash pricing and use my offer code, Abesida.
00:01:13
Speaker
All the details are in the description. Now that I have told you how wonderful Zencast is for making podcasts, we should make one. One that will be well worth listening to, liking, downloading and subscribing to.
00:01:27
Speaker
As with every episode of The Independent Minds, we won't be telling you what to think, but we are hoping to make you think.
Journey from Corporate to Entrepreneur
00:01:36
Speaker
Today, my guest independent mind is Glenn Rudin, the author of the world's first Fully rhyming and full-coloured business book, a brand in your hand.
00:01:48
Speaker
Glenn is based in New York in the United States of America and I am based close to Old York in the United Kingdom. If you fancy a trip to either New York or Old York, the best place to make your travel arrangements is the Ultimate Travel Club,
00:02:05
Speaker
Because then, like me, and I'm a man with an eye for a bargain, you can access trade prices on flights, hotels, and so many more of your travel-related purchases.
00:02:17
Speaker
There is a link and a membership discount code in the description. Now, hello Glenn. Hello. How are you today? I am fantastic. Thank you very much for asking.
00:02:27
Speaker
And I hope that you can say the same. I absolutely can. it's It's really, really fascinating listening to you speak about all the different things that go into into your show. And I have to tell you that it is an absolute pleasure to be here with you. And I'm looking forward to hopefully sharing some good things for your independent mind audience.
00:02:50
Speaker
Thank you very much. Thank you. Please could we start by you telling us a little bit about who Glenn Rudin is. I have been an entrepreneur and an independent mind for virtually the last 35 years, Michael.
00:03:08
Speaker
I was working in corporate jobs here in the States in New York City. when I was younger and I quickly, quickly, I would say quickly, about 10 years, quickly tired of bosses who thought they knew everything and weren't willing to listen a bit, of companies that I saw were doing things incorrectly but didn't have an ability to listen to independent minds.
00:03:34
Speaker
And I quickly realized that as much as I could do well, in corporate America, I was never going to be happy. And so as a creative person, I decided with my independent mind that I was going to have my eyes and ears open for a career as an entrepreneur.
00:03:54
Speaker
And when the idea and the opportunity presented itself, I didn't hesitate. I jumped into it and I've been a passionate entrepreneur and independent mind for all this time since.
00:04:06
Speaker
So 30 years. What sort of business did
Building a Business with Disney Products
00:04:09
Speaker
you set up? When I was working for the last company that I was from a corporate perspective, I was a national account representative that called on big department stores and big gift chains here in the United States.
00:04:25
Speaker
ah Some of those are are still around, department stores like Macy's or or Bloomingdale's, places like that. And this was a company that specialized in and licensed goods. So I've always been enamored with and always been involved with consumer goods, things that people buy on an everyday basis. And and that really, I've had a passion for that ever since the the very, very beginning.
00:04:52
Speaker
The company that I jumped into and created virtually overnight, maybe not overnight, maybe it took literally about 72 hours to do involved this same idea of working in the licensing industry, creating products that were based on Disney licenses and selling those to various retail partners here ah in the United States and some specialty accounts as well.
00:05:19
Speaker
That was my first venture. ah that that was quite successful and led to a number of other ventures and gave me the confidence to know this was the right path for me. And i did know what I was doing and i never looked That's interesting.
00:05:37
Speaker
I am also involved in licensed products. We've been working at Abacida with The Simpsons for a very long time, well over 10 years. And we worked with The Simpsons organization to convert the world's most famous bri health and safety manager into a range of health and safety education resources, which now sell all over the world from our webshop, Workplace Learning Center, or WPLC.co.uk.
00:06:04
Speaker
It is a different way of working when you' ah you're working somebody's brand, somebody's creation, and you've licensed it It's like somebody else has gone on holiday and asked you to look after their dog.
00:06:16
Speaker
You've still got to maintain all of their brand credibility there of the the product that you are licensing, the brand that you're licensing. yeah I love that. actually love that analogy. And of course, when it when it comes to branding, maybe some people don't realize this, when you're going to work with Disney and and their princesses, right? You you pay steep amount of money for the privilege to do that.
00:06:43
Speaker
And while you are certainly responsible to make sure that you're doing things in a tasteful way, Ultimately, ultimately, you do have to go back to that licensor and you do have to get permission to make sure that whatever it is you're putting out there, they approve of and they see your vision and agree with it. So just quick, funny story about that.
00:07:10
Speaker
the the The Disney brand that I was working with, and I don't know if they had these in the yeah UK, you'd have to let me know, but here in the States, one of the biggest entertainment companies,
00:07:21
Speaker
was Ringling Brothers Circus. And one of their divisions was Disney on Ice. Now, Disney on Ice is ah representation of the Disney properties like Lion King or any of the princesses. And they translate that to an ice show.
00:07:39
Speaker
So they're actually doing the property, creating the property, following the script of the of the movies, and they're acting it out as ice skaters. So it's very, very interesting. Yes, you're using licensing trade type terminology there when you say property. It's not a building.
00:07:57
Speaker
It's the brand. It's the character. It's the things that they do. But within the industry of of licensing, they are called properties. Yes. Yes. Thank you.
00:08:08
Speaker
Right. So one of the things that we did when we were the company that I created was creating concepts to sell at the souvenir stands that had the likenesses of these Disney characters. That is the Disney IP intellectual property, which you just mentioned.
00:08:27
Speaker
And we would constantly be challenging the Disney licensing people that we were working with by sending them different renderings of different products that we wanted to develop that had the characters likenesses on them.
00:08:42
Speaker
And one of the ones, and I'll try to keep this as brief as I can, but it's a funny story that just gives you a sense for how these things work. One of the products that we came up with ah had to do with the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs property.
00:08:57
Speaker
And everybody has always been enamored. The Seven Dwarfs have always been a major attraction the that particular product line. so So that particular one, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
00:09:09
Speaker
So one of the things that sells very well at these in-venue shows are anything that have lights on them. And so we thought it would be great if we created a miner's hat based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, who were all miners, that we would create a miner's hat that had a light on it.
00:09:30
Speaker
We thought that was a slam dunk. We thought what child wouldn't want to buy that. And we thought this is something we could easily sell for 15, 20, $25 US and the margins for us, the profit margins on an item like that would have been phenomenal.
00:09:46
Speaker
And the person we submitted that concept to at Disney wrote back to us, this is a bizarre concept. We don't understand it. Internally, What our team thought was, isn't it a bizarre concept to have a woman living with seven small dwarfs?
00:10:06
Speaker
To us, that was the bizarre concept. And they didn't understand our light up hats. And so the reason I bring that up is because you realize very quickly that the company that owns these characters, these likenesses, this property, as you and I spoke earlier,
00:10:25
Speaker
maintains very tight control and you're not allowed to just go and do anything you want. So from a branding perspective, not only do you have to stay in line with what they want, but typically if you're in that licensing space,
00:10:40
Speaker
They carve it up. they They segment it incredibly so that you might just have one little fraction of the market. Maybe what you have are flashlights that you're allowed to put this likeness on, but nothing else.
00:10:55
Speaker
So it's just a really interesting thing for people who are not in the know about licensing. There is a lot to it. It's a very interesting way to make money, but there are also restrictions and things that you have to be very aware of when you go into that.
00:11:10
Speaker
It is. It's like the the top of the pile in terms of brand management is when your brand is so strong that you can license it to be used on other products.
00:11:22
Speaker
There are also organizations like the big fashion houses. It is totally impossible for an individual designer to design everything that will have their name on it, but they create licenses with a sunglasses manufacturer or bed sheets or Fragrances is a huge one. Yes, yes.
00:11:42
Speaker
Fragrances. that Everybody can buy into the designer lifestyle but with a squirt of an aftershave or a perfume. The haute couture shows that you see are what creates the brand. The perfumes, the makeups, the licensed products are where the brands make their money.
00:11:57
Speaker
And it's down to this branding and making sure that your brand marketing is is right, which is yeah all of the licensed brands, it is important that they they manage and control how their brand is used. If you're a small business and you're just starting out, you need a brand. You need to have something that people can identify you by. But I know the answer to this question is going to be, well, why not?
00:12:26
Speaker
But why write a rhyming, full-color business book about brands and brand marketing? Yeah, and it's a it's a great question.
The Inspiration Behind a Rhyming Business Book
00:12:37
Speaker
As a creative person and somebody who's also a professional speaker, one of the things that I wanted to do, one of my aspirations, was to write a book. And for a lot of professional speakers, the easiest thing to do is take one of your talks that you do and reduce it to a script, to words, and edit it into a book form. So almost in a sense, tip book.
00:13:02
Speaker
And I actually did that. I had taken someone's advice and actually did that. And as I started thinking about it, I started thinking as a creative person that this really, really wasn't a great example of my being creative.
00:13:17
Speaker
It was a lazy way to actually start doing this. And there's nothing wrong with it because if you've got good information that you put out in a talk or a speech, it's something that that you can share and it does have great value.
00:13:32
Speaker
But I challenged myself further, Michael, and I said, as a creative person, what would be a really, unique way, what would be a way to differentiate my content and really show my creative skills and hopefully a little bit of of talent?
00:13:48
Speaker
And so I decided I wanted to write a rhyming book. And I was inspired because as a a child and as a parent reading to my sons, I was a huge fan of the Dr. Seuss books, which always rhymed.
00:14:05
Speaker
which always had amazing images in them so that a child who was hearing the rhyme could see the photo and could easily put the two of those things together and say, wow, not only is this fun, but it makes sense and it makes a point.
00:14:21
Speaker
And I thought, gee, how come we have to stop having those kinds of things as children? And I thought, wouldn't people, wouldn't adults respond to this based on how much they loved it as children?
00:14:35
Speaker
And so that's why I set out to write the business world's first full color, fully rhyming book that had all kinds of great information on branding, on messaging, on personal branding and mission statement.
00:14:50
Speaker
All of these very important things for independent minds to know about. that a lot of independent minds are not necessarily exposed to because they don't necessarily take those kinds of courses in college.
00:15:04
Speaker
And so I thought, what a great way to introduce business people as well as college students to all these concepts by using rhymes and great images to go with them to get my point across.
00:15:18
Speaker
And you end up as a result, I suppose, with something that is, well, because it's the first one, it's it's unique. Right. Very, very unique. And people immediately, when they hear me talk about these rhymes, I will often use these rhymes to make a point to clients that that I'm working with or i do my own radio type show on on the the voice app Clubhouse or LinkedIn Live and things like that.
00:15:45
Speaker
And I will use rhymes from my book to punctuate a point on branding. Would you mind if I used one really quickly here to give your audience the the idea of of what exactly we're speaking about? I was just about to ask you to to share one.
00:16:01
Speaker
Okay, so this is on the topic of your brand. And the idea here behind the image is I wanted to create an image of a lighthouse that had its beam flashing all over, because that to me is the idea of your brand. It's really beaming your brand out there to anybody who who potentially might be able to see it.
00:16:25
Speaker
And the the topic of the brand, your brand is covered this way in my book. And I'll just read a couple of quick verses here. So a key part of your business will be your brand.
00:16:38
Speaker
And I will share advice that I've learned firsthand. On the following pages, I will provide a clear, comprehensive brand building guide.
00:16:49
Speaker
So what is a brand and why does it matter? When done really well, it builds lots of chatter. It's a symbol that reminds us of what you're about.
00:17:03
Speaker
It brings your idea to life and will leave little doubt. Your brand is your beacon for people to see, and it must be consistent from A to Z. There are so many reasons your brand needs to shine.
00:17:22
Speaker
If it doesn't stand out, then it's time to realign. Very succinct really, isn't it? But you can, you're almost predicting what, it's strange.
00:17:32
Speaker
your own I found myself almost predicting also so like trying to work out which words you are going to use that rhyme. And also that makes me think about the whole sort of concept of it.
00:17:45
Speaker
It's not a poem because that can be, you know that relies upon imagination as much. But it is poetry, but it's relying much more on fact.
00:17:57
Speaker
And that that is, I think, is what starts me thinking, what is he going to rhyme that with? What is he going to rhyme with matter?
00:18:06
Speaker
What can you rhyme with the word matter that actually then gets a message across about branding? Yeah, chatter. Exactly. You want people to talk about your brand. You want people to talk about your organization.
00:18:17
Speaker
If you get it right, then people can form that relationship with your brand. And that's the basis of then getting the brand loyalty so that people buy from you, even though you're more expensive than someone else.
00:18:32
Speaker
Right. And that's why i say it's a symbol that reminds us of what you're about, right? Because when we look at that symbol of what your brand is or that brand name, it reminds us of what you're about and it brings your idea to life, right? If I just show you that Nike swoosh You know what that is. It does bring that idea to life to just do it. The whole concept behind that.
00:18:58
Speaker
If you see the Tom Ford logo, I know it's you know huge in men's fashion now. It immediately evokes an image of well-dressed, well-groomed, ah handsome.
00:19:11
Speaker
Sophisticated. Right. Sophisticated. Right. All those things immediately. Yeah. Come to life. Tom Ford is one of the coolest men on the planet. Right. Because the the it's the black suit, the black shirt, the whole sort of like the confidence that comes out of the the Tom Ford image.
00:19:30
Speaker
Yes. Yes, yeah exactly. He lives his brand. Exactly right. Yeah. Exactly right. and And so that's why ah this is just in the section on branding. But the point about it is that by just reading those couple of little verses and taking the time to really think about it a little bit, this already introduces somebody to the whole idea of what it's about.
00:19:53
Speaker
Now, do you need to, if you're starting from scratch and you really don't understand a brand? Okay, so this will introduce you to the concept. And then you can head off and do your own research online or at the library and and take out thick tomes and books about the history of branding and and stories about what different brands have done.
00:20:13
Speaker
But the idea here for me was to introduce the uninitiated. the people who don't come out of business school, but have decided that this is something that they want to pursue.
00:20:26
Speaker
Where do they initially pick up this kind of information? And I thought, gee, this is a great place to introduce these concepts to somebody so they can say, yeah, you know what? I am interested in this. I think I'm going to look further into it.
00:20:42
Speaker
But by having the rhymes and the poetry and the imagery, it at least introduces an entire group of people who have not prior been exposed to these kinds of things. Now, for me, I went to school and and got a degree and you know in business management.
00:21:00
Speaker
And so these are things that for the last, again, 30 plus years have been heart and soul for me in terms of the business that I do. But I realized that there's a huge swath of the population that has had no exposure to this.
00:21:15
Speaker
And that's the other reason for doing this, because people like stories and people love rhymes, right? When we were little, at least here in the States, roses are red, violets are blue. This is what this is. That's why it's you, right? We we all respond to that. We love those cadences. And I think that's why the Dr. Seuss books got so popular as well, because they were easy on the eyes and easy on the ears.
00:21:42
Speaker
And that's really the idea behind my book, A Brand in
Understanding Branding Through Unique Literature
00:21:45
Speaker
Your Hand. Yes, if you have no marketing experience, no brand marketing experience, and you are about to embark on ah career as ah somebody who's running a business, which needs to be marketed. If you can't sell, don't market, you can't sell. If you can't sell, you don't have a business.
00:22:02
Speaker
Or even if you are working in a corporate environment, for me, it's still interesting from, i don't work in marketing, but I need to have an understanding of marketing or I'm getting into a marketing career.
00:22:16
Speaker
The whole thing about what you say is like the rhymes, the images, it all is a very, ah won't say quick, but I think the word to use is efficient way of building a level of knowledge that in a way you wouldn't get from if you were reading a textbook in a conventional textbook.
00:22:33
Speaker
Yeah. So one of the other pieces of advice that I give people, and this is not necessarily just on branding, Michael, but it's this whole idea. Now, that that again, I can't can't tell you how many times I have have conversations with people and they hear that I'm in the product development space.
00:22:52
Speaker
And usually the next comment that I hear from them is, oh, I had this great idea. Oh, I had this great idea. Now, Of course, that you know they don't want to necessarily share it with me because of this apprehension.
00:23:03
Speaker
If I tell him, is he going to take the idea? Or i don't know really the first thing about this. How am I going to pursue this thing? And am I giving away some million dollar invention before I even know what's happening with it?
00:23:16
Speaker
And this is the rhyme that I like to leave people with who who would ask that. Of course, it is possible this could be really big. your brand could provide you with an incredible gig.
00:23:32
Speaker
So don't leave it cooped up inside of your head. Start working on making it happen instead. In other words, as long as it's in your mind, it's a daydream. Yes. Once you start putting it on paper,
00:23:47
Speaker
then it starts to become a reality. So this is something that you really have thought about, put it on paper, start actually developing it. Find someone like Michael or or myself or somebody who's in this kind of space and have a discussion with them.
00:24:04
Speaker
You don't have to give away every secret about what you want to do, but at least the basic concepts so that someone can say back to you, you know, I do think you might have something good there. You should pursue it.
00:24:15
Speaker
Because for all those people out there who have it on a napkin in their drawer or ah you know have it again cooped up inside their heads, it's never going to happen if you don't pursue it.
00:24:28
Speaker
There's no guarantee that you pursue it. It's going to be a multi-million pound or multi-million dollar idea. But at least start, take the first step.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. A very good point to, uh, to draw our conversation to a close, even though there is so, so much more that I would like to talk to you about.
00:24:51
Speaker
It's, um, it's part of our brand is to think about things one mouthful at a time. How do you eat your elephant? One bite at a time for today, Glenn, thank you very much. I really do appreciate the time that you've spent today on, uh, explaining brand marketing.
00:25:07
Speaker
Thank you very much. You're welcome. And I hope the people listening have got something to think about on their ride now so that when they get into work, they actually pull out a pad and take our advice here and do something with that great idea.
00:25:22
Speaker
That would be great. And let's hear about those great ideas. Like Glenn said, let's, you know, if you've had a great idea, please um get in touch. But for the moment, thank you, Glenn, for telling me about Brand in Your Hand and for helping me to make such an interesting episode of The Independent Minds.
00:25:41
Speaker
My pleasure. I am Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abusida, and I have been having a conversation with the independent mind, Glenn Rudin, the author of A Brand in Your Hand, a rhyming full-color business book.
00:25:57
Speaker
You can find out more about both of us at abasida.co.uk. There is a link in the description. I must remember to thank the team at matchmaker.fm for introducing me to Glenn.
00:26:10
Speaker
If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests, or if, like Glenn, you have something very interesting to say, matchmaker.fm is where matches of great hosts and great guests are made.
00:26:22
Speaker
There is a link to matchmaker.fm and an offer code in the description. If you are listening to the independent minds on your smartphone, you may like to know that 3.0 has the UK's fastest 5G network with unlimited data.
00:26:37
Speaker
So listening on 3.0 means you can wave goodbye to buffering. There is a link in the description that will take you to more information about business and personal telecom solutions from 3.0 and the special offers available when you quote my referral code.
00:26:53
Speaker
The description also includes links to all of the websites that have been mentioned in this episode of The Independent Minds. That description is well worth reading. If you've liked this episode of The Independent Minds, please give it a like and download it so that you can listen anytime, anywhere.
00:27:11
Speaker
To make sure you don't miss out on future episodes, please subscribe. Remember, the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abusida is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think.
00:27:24
Speaker
Until the next episode of The Independent Minds, thank you for listening and goodbye.