Fifteen years ago, down in a small, coastal town in South Carolina, we dipped our toes into the world of marketing to start a branding agency called Motto. We were twenty-something, had $250…
— Articles to feed your mind.
Why Extraordinary Rare Breed Leaders Can Come From Anywhere or Any Age
Unless you’ve been down in your basement binge-watching The Social Dilemma, you’re familiar with Greta Thunberg. She’s the fearless Swedish teenager who launched the global student movement against climate change in 2018…
Is Your Brand the Rebel, Hero or Lover?
There is an indescribable, alluring quality to the world’s most beloved brands. We’re enamored with the sense of nostalgia that Coke inspires. Patagonia awakens the explorer and begs us to experience the…
What Kendrick Lamar Teaches Leaders
Hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar rocked the world of high culture to its foundations when he won the Pulitzer Prize for music for his album DAMN., becoming the first non-classical, non-jazz artist to…
How Netflix Stays Nimble
From the success of its original sci-fi thriller Stranger Things to the allure of a “Netflix and Chill” night, Netflix has an untouchable coolness that many companies long to emulate. It seems…
5 Personality Traits That Could Make Your Company a Unicorn
Difficult personalities are nothing new among high-flying entrepreneurs and executives. But if managed wisely, even wildly intense people can be tremendous assets to an organization. Often, it’s the folks with outsized egos or hair-trigger tempers who prove…
5 Questions Every Startup Should Answer
The biggest challenge for startups and early stage businesses is overcoming the mindset that you don’t need to consider branding right away. The truth is you are building your brand from the moment it’s born,…
Why Being Defiant, Dangerous, and Different Will Make You a Rare Breed in the 2020’s
All we had to do was change a little, we were told, and we would be in the club. Fifteen years ago, in a small coastal town, we dipped our toes into…
Why the Best Business Ideas Are Weird
Google. GoDaddy. Zynga. Hulu. Zillow. It would be really easy to make a list of high-profile businesses with names that sound, well, dumb. Some are portmanteau words — that is, two or more words…
5 Essential Qualities of a Great Logo
Whether you are starting a new business or rebranding an existing one, creating a great logo is an essential step in the process. Designing a quality logo is not as easy as…
How to Become One of the Hottest Brands in America
“I want to be the next Apple or Nike.” Everyone thinks they can be a Jobs or Knight-like disruptor, but there’s often a disconnect between what leaders think they want for their brands…
The Audacious Secret That Every Top CEO (and Gambler) Uses to Win
Audacity gets a bad name in corporate circles, but not among the folks behind The Audacious Project. Now in its second year, the TED-backed collaborative funding initiative matches bold thinkers with visionary…
How to Avoid the 5 Branding Mistakes That Can Cost You Customers
Branding mistakes and pitfalls can plague even the most respected and established brands. Anything from bad product launches and marketing blunders to co-branding errors and controversial advertising can send your consumer base…
The Planet’s Funniest Video Store Proves Weirdness is Branding Gold
The Last Blockbuster brand might be more popular than the Blockbuster brand ever was. Why? Because it’s dry. Twisted. Weird. In brand building, weird is God.
Optimistic Leadership is Required
There’s no magic dust for overcoming difficult business challenges. But there’s one thing that makes all the difference in the world — Your attitude. I am constantly struck by the power of…
What Madonna Teaches Leaders About Blazing a Path
All our lives, we’re taught to fall in line — to conform to a set of standards that society deems acceptable. When we demonstrate our individuality, we’re often ridiculed, suppressed, or worse,…
Why Hire a Branding Agency?
Why do some business-owners have reservations about hiring a branding agency? The biggest one is cost. Other factors include lack of education of what a branding agency does and how it can…
Brand Leadership in Uncertain Times
What can we do as leaders to navigate this crazy time? How do we practice brand leadership when many of us are in complete panic mode? Leaders and business owners are in…
How to Strategically Name Your Business and Get People’s Attention
A friend in the Midwest clued me into a new food delivery service launching in Indianapolis, Columbus, and Kansas City. It sounded good…
11 Red Flags That Signal You’re a Careless Leader
I came across this quote today: “People come for great vision and leave for poor leadership.” It made me think of all the times when I’ve stepped into a company as a…
How Netflix Went from Commodity to Category Leader
Netflix continues to collect the scalps of some of the top creative talents in TV and film. Recently, they signed Kenya Barris, the creator of “Black-ish,” to a development deal. That’s just the…
Boost Your Brand With 7 Easy Hacks
Building a trusted brand should be a prime ambition for any business. A good reputation is a powerful ally in overcoming any objections a customer has to buying, and it also helps…
4 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Entrepreneurial Father
Leadership. It’s a word so far flung across the internet, its significance and meaning gets tossed around like a superfluous rag doll. At a moment when the word “leader” has become lionized…
8 Killer Tips for Female Entrepreneurs
Female entrepreneurs are growing in number, proving they can hold their own in virtually every industry. This fact doesn’t mean that women who want to start businesses have it easy. To the…
8 Simple Rules to Building a Winning Culture
Whether you are launching a new startup or the captain of a century-old business, culture matters. A positive corporate culture can be a magnet for top performers, while a toxic culture will…
The Slam Dunk Hiring Question WD-40 Asks
Every company should strive to have a tribe of stellar people whose skills and personal attributes match the company’s core values. Unfortunately, in many companies, hiring for values alignment is done poorly,…
Leadership Lessons from Chef Daniel Boulud
A few weeks ago, I stepped into a historic building-turned-playhouse in Charleston, South Carolina to attend a Food & Wine Festival fireside chat with one of America’s leading culinary authorities: legendary chef-restaurateur…
40 Immediate Ways to Be an (Even) Better Leader
You’re a good leader. You run a good organization. You have a good product and a good brand. You have good customer service. Your sales are good. You have good people on…
The Power of a Branding Workshop
Aching to tell a more compelling story about your company, product or service? Struggling to unlock new inspiration, gain a deeper understanding of what makes your brand special, or figure out how…
6 Virtues That Make Great Leaders a Rare Breed
Six months ago, my co-founder Ashleigh Hansberger and I gave a lecture to a full house of next-gen entrepreneurs. During the Q&A, a spry young woman in Warby Parker’s stood up and…
The Most Valuable Email Every Leader Should Write
After the most surprising presidential election in American history, millions of people worry what the future will hold. With so much uncertainty about the fate of industries, wages, markets, jobs, human rights,…
7 Must-Watch Inspiring Documentaries
If you’re anything like us, you love a great documentary film. These 7 must-watch masterpieces showcase incredibly fascinating and inspiring people that will leave you with a strong desire to reach for the…
5 Podcasts to Help You Crush It With Your Startup
Entrepreneurs and podcasts go hand in hand. Entrepreneurs are hungry for knowledge and curious to a fault. Podcasts unparalleled value and accessibility are instrumental in giving entrepreneurs an edge. However, it can…
Is Your Frantic Behavior Sinking Your Startup?
Frantic (adj.): Wild or distraught with fear, anxiety, or other emotion. Conducted in a hurried, excited, and chaotic way, typically because of the need to act quickly.” My phone lit up at…
5 Must Read Books for Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs are in a league of their own. They are the breed of warriors that have bloody knees and make art with it. They speak a language and follow a doctrine that’s…
Why Entrepreneurs Need a Side Hustle
Whether you’re uninspired, underpaid, or just downright unhappy, having a job you don’t love is incredibly disheartening. Luckily, a side hustle offers relief from the dullness of your day job and can be…
3 Powerful Marketing Strategies Used During the Rio Olympics
Millions of patriotic spectators across the world tuned into the excitement and passion of the 2016 Rio Olympics. The ability to view live video coverage and access near real-time updates on social media…
5 Leadership Traits Every Entrepreneur Can Learn from Elon Musk
There are a lot of ordinary companies run by average leaders. And then there are rare breeds, extraordinary visionaries like Elon Musk, who set revolutionary ideas into motion and convince people to…
How to Create Awesome Headshots
One of the most essential elements to a great company website are awesome company headshots. When I see a website or pitch deck with bad or inconsistent headshots, I cringe. It’s sloppy and…
Entrepreneur on Fire Interview With Sunny Bonnell
A few months ago John Lee Dumas, host of the inspiring podcast Entrepreneur on Fire, interviewed our co-founder and creative director Sunny Bonnell on her background, growing up a bluegrass player, branding and…
Budweiser’s Bold Move on the Star Spangled Bandwagon
Over the past decade, consumer love for hand-crafted, small-batch beers has steadily replaced the corporate-owned beers which have traditionally dominated as favorites in the great US of A. To reinforce the brand’s image…
3 Ways to Slay Your Brand Like Beyonce’s Lemonade
You’ve heard the thunderclap behind Beyoncé’s sixth album, Lemonade. Whether it’s discussion over the tracks, the profound visual album, the political, racial and social statements, or her relationship with Jay-Z, there is…
Motto’s Brand Crush — Lush Cosmetics
Crushing on Lush Cosmetics Lush Cosmetics has a colorful history thanks to a group of founders that came together through chance meetings and twists of fate, each step leading them towards the creation of…
Instagram’s Algorithm: What does it mean for brands?
If you haven’t heard by now, Instagram just released a new algorithm that will completely transform what users see on their newsfeeds. Instead of displaying posts in chronological order, Instagram will give…
The Coach Who Never Punts
The Pulaski Academy Bruins of Little Rock, Arkansas have an unorthodox approach to playing the game of football thanks to contrarian high school coach, Kevin Kelley. They never — under any circumstance…
Unlocking The Secrets of Brand Personality
Whether you’re a small startup, a well-seasoned enterprise, or a personal brand, having a distinguished personality is essential to creating a strong identity. Just like human personality, brand personality is a set…
Brand Crush with Hiut Denim
When you hear “cardigan” you think of those modest little sweaters that button down the front. But the Cardigan we’re talking about is a charming bay-side town on the far western edge…
How to Create Branded Content Your Audience Loves
Today’s consumers are enthralled with storytelling and simultaneously annoyed by advertising. As a result, brands are creating content that avoids self-promotion and instead seeks to offer something more valuable. Some companies are…
8 Branding Mistakes You’re Making Right Now
If you’re running a business right now, then you understand the importance of building a strong brand. What you may not realize is how many branding mistakes you might be making that…
10 Best Apps for Entrepreneurs: Our Favorites
We often get asked what apps and tools we use at Motto. As entrepreneurs ourselves, we rely on a collection of various apps to help us be more productive. Here is a list…
How to Write an Awesome Manifesto
MANIFESTO /ˌmanəˈfestō/ (noun): A written statement to publicly declare the intentions, motivations, or beliefs of a person or group. From the Latin manifestus — to clearly reveal, to make public. It doesn’t matter if you’re a…
6 Best Branding Books for Entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur, your business is a direct result of your passion, drive and initiative. With such high stakes, the pressure to build a brand-centric organization and create a meaningful narrative has…
10 Books To Inspire Your Creativity
In a day and age where information comes at you like a fire hydrant, it can be hard to feel like you’re keeping up, much less contributing your own breed of brilliance…
To Thine Ownself Be True – A Lesson in Authenticity
There is a great example of authenticity in Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet” Polonios says to Laertes, “This above all: to thine ownself be true.” Authenticity is the things you say and do, are the things you…
Motto’s Brand Crush – Rise
RISE, a private flight sharing company based out of Dallas, is no slave to the ordinary. Their motto, “Travel Better” is rooted in the belief that the world would be better if…
4 Strategies for Telling a Stronger Brand Story
The new year has officially arrived, and most of us are deep in the midst of fulfilling our personal resolutions. In the spirit of positive change, we’ve decided that this is the perfect…
Motto’s Brand Crush — Pirch
The moment your foot crosses the threshold into Pirch, you feel it. If someone told you were in a home appliance store, you would laugh and think they’re crazy. A gorgeous showroom…
Fireside Chat with Motto: Great Ideas on Brand Building
Join Motto’s co-founders Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger on Wed, January 27, 2016 from 6 to 8 pm at IDEA Works FW for a fireside chat on building a brand that matters. As the next…
10 Last Minute Gifts for Creatives and Entrepreneurs
Tis’ the season to be busy. No judgement here, we know you haven’t bought all of your gifts yet, that’s why we made you this list. Below are 10 badass, last-minute gifts that will…
Brand Crush with Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Our affinity for Jeni’s Ice Cream makes it our December Brand Crush on the blog. My love at first sight moment with Jeni’s was at a friends wedding in Nashville. I was…
Why Fortune Favors The Bold
Sunny and I have frequent conversations about Motto regarding our vision, purpose, values and culture. When we ask ourselves how to be better leaders, how to impact others, and what mark we…
How to Crush It With Your Social Media Strategy
There has never been more pressure on brands to succeed at social media. If you’re not crushing it on social, you are missing out on the biggest opportunity in the history of…
Cultivating Courage
The force that is Maya Angelou has long been an inspiration in my life. Despite traumatic childhood experiences, and prejudices born of race, gender and class, Angelou’s genius in poetry and prose…
What It Means to Seek Perfection
I’ve always strived for perfection in everything I do, much to the dismay of others. My obsession with the details often bothers most people, so the selection of who works alongside me has…
8 Podcasts You Should Listen To Right Now
It’s no secret that I’m a lover of many diverse podcasts. Having been a guest on several podcasts, webinars and videos – and a consumer of hundreds more, podcasts are an intellectual escape…
How to Embrace Who You Are
In her incredibly wise, moving and very public TED talk, Morgana Bailey uttered these four words, “I am a lesbian.” In doing so, she took a courageous step and revealed herself to the world.…
5 Ways Dale Carnegie Can Make You a Successful Leader
I’ve always been inspired by the teachings of Dale Carnegie. For more than 60 years, Dale’s book, “How to Win Friends & Influence People” has been devoutly read by thousands of people…
Small Giants: Choosing Great Instead of Big
When we embarked on our entrepreneurial journey, we began with a clear purpose, articulated vision and set of guiding values. Unlike the majority of the early millennial businesses that attempt to emulate the…
How to Find Purpose in Your Career
Having a deeper sense of purpose is the greatest of all human needs. We all want our lives to have meaning and to feel like what we are doing is what we…
Nusii — An Interview with Sunny Bonnell
Nathan: Today on the Nusii interviews, I’m joined by Sunny Bonnell of Motto. Sunny is co-founder and creative director of the award-winning branding firm, where she works alongside her partner in crime…
10 Branding Hacks to Grow Your Brand Without Losing Soul
Branding is a process of self-discovery — to uncover the one meaningful idea at the center of a company that makes it rise above. Branding is the deliberate effort you make to…
Want to Build Brand Character? Look to Benjamin Franklin
By the time Ben Franklin was 20 years old, he created a system of virtues to develop his personal character. The 13 virtues that he adhered to throughout his prosperous life would be practiced…
Best Advice I Ever Got — Inc. Magazine
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been an insatiable overachiever. I was often described by my parents as the one with the lion heart. In my early 20s, with…
Your Values Are Your Commandments
An organization that exists without knowing and practicing its values is like a ship sailing around the world without a compass. Lost and dangerous. I’m always surprised by how many companies fail…
Why Your Company Needs a War Cry
In 1519, Hernán Cortés and a small army of unarmored men set sail to conquer Mexico and take the world’s richest treasure. The odds were against them: no one in over 600…
A Designer’s Guide to Communicating with Clients
It’s no secret that designers and clients can struggle with communication, much the same way doctors and patients do. We have all experienced a situation where a doctor explained a simple procedure…
If I Were 22 : 12 Tips for Young Talent
As part of the Inc. GrowCo event, we went to the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. It also happened to be the week before graduation. As I walked the halls of the center, I thought about all the things I’ve learned over the years as an entrepreneur and realized I had a good bit of knowledge to share.
Five Tips for Branding Your Culture
Do you have a startup? We share five tips for branding your culture and how to implement each tip into the foundation of your business and adopt them throughout your organization.
The Difference Between a Boss and a Leader
Over the years, I’ve met various types of leaders in my consulting work with Motto — from the wildly inspirational to the blatantly tyrannical. Sadly, the ones who equate having a leadership…
Is It Time To Rebrand?
As your business evolves and grows, situations will inevitably arise that will necessitate a rebrand. Rebranding is often to refocus your brand and redefine who you are, what you stand for, and why…
Why You Should Take Your Business on the Road
I’ve always deeply held the belief that the best ideas come from exploration and experience. Eternally curious, my co-founder at Motto, Ashleigh Hansberger and I had long talked about giving up our conventional…
12 Tips to Leading an Extraordinary Company
How do you lead an extraordinary company? An inspiring brand? Here are 12 tips for leading an extraordinary company that will change the way you do business.