AMA Digital Brand Strategist, Keith Gerr with Opus Creative Talks Branding

Portland's Keith Gerr is a part of this year's AMA conference Forward '09 advisory board. He is a Digital Brand Strategist with Opus Creative and shares with us his views about branding.

What does "brandologie" mean to you?
It’s an awareness and passion for all the multi-sensory goodness that brands must embody – respect the head, touch the heart, satisfy the gut.

You've been quoted as saying "there is at least as much to be learned from your detractors as from your loyalists." Why?
Understanding why people don’t like your product or service is core data that can be plowed back into R&D. Just because someone doesn’t like your brand doesn’t mean that their criticism isn’t valid or valuable. If more companies stopped drinking their home-brewed cool-aid and hung out at the public water-cooler, they’d be amazed at what they could learn.

Why did you help create MAGNET magazine? How did you develop its brand?
While in college, I was selling ad space for a local Philly music rag – The Philly Rock Guide. Increasingly, our coverage of regional bands shifted to bands from around the country. Everyone on staff (all 7 of us) thought we should publish a magazine that would be dedicated to independent musicians and record labels – hence the birth of MAGNET. At the heart of the MAGNET brand was a desire to publicize and share our thoughts on what people should be listening to. So many good artists are ignored because they’re rejected by mainstream media and retailers. I’m proud to have been a founding member of a respected, enduring independent brand.

At Opus Creative, how do you help your clients "say hello"?
This may sound funny, but I encourage them to depend less on Opus – or any agency that they work with. I encourage clients to put their voice out there – through blogs, images, videos, podcasts etc. Branded communications has its place, but more and more, the world wants the straight dope.

Live strong or Wrist strong?
Cask-strength