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- Who Am I?
In this first 2025 issue of Upward with Outfront we answer the question “Who Am I” for brands and people.
WHO AM I?
Seems like a good question for 2025, doesn’t it?
At a time when your life could be turned to ashes, AI may upend your business or career and we’re not sure how interact with the world and other people – brands and people may be driven to ask, “who am I now, and who do I want to become?”
But the world isn’t waiting, and our business is brimming with entrepreneurs starting new things and companies reinventing themselves.
In this issue we talk about how to find inspiration and uncover distinctive differentiation that makes you and your business who you are. To help you build on that, in coming issues we’ll cover brand personality, pinpointing customer needs and creating cultural alignment.
Want to talk about you and your brand strategy, positioning, messaging or go-to-market plans? Great!
“It’s never too late to become who you want to be.”
Start With Beginners’ Mind
"Whatever inspiration is, it's born from a continuous ‘I don't know’."
The hardest part about figuring out who you are is being objective.
Hailing from Buddhism, “beginners’ mind” asks you to leave judgment at the door. It helps you stay curious and open to new possibilities.
Which is why it’s nearly impossible to do branding, positioning and messaging for yourself (including personal/executive branding). Unless you take an objective position, it’s very difficult to even formulate the right questions to explore.
Inspiration is our stock in trade, so we ask a lot of questions. We want to understand the brand culture and the external forces impacting the brand and audiences. We want to know how they’re impacted by politics, economics, social culture, technology, and the environment. We explore “who, what, where, when and why” which ultimately informs the brand story.
Sometimes our clients get annoyed. They think the answers are so obvious we should know them. They ask, “Why do you have to know about production, finance, HR? It’s all on our website.” Sometimes they’re embarrassed if they don’t know the answers.
We ask because 99% of the time the answers we get from CEOs and their teams don’t match. We ask because it inspires our clients to think more deeply, too.
We question customers, suppliers, board members and employees. Since most decisions involve influencers, champions, decision-makers, users and approvers, we need to create messaging that resonates across all audiences and their appropriate channels. Messaging must be aligned or there is reputational risk in this era of radical transparency.
And we ask because we’re looking for levers we can pull to achieve distinctive differentiation. We want to understand which of the 7 Ps of marketing might be the key (we’ve added two Ps of our own): Product, Price, People, Promotion, Place, Personality and Purpose.
Distinctive Differentiation
“Differentiation doesn’t come from your product or marketing. It’s a result of what the customer gets from it.”
We think differentiation comes in two sizes: “Big D and Little d.”
“Big D” differentiation is when your audiences achieve something of emotional, physical or spiritual value. It’s the key to how you can be relevant in their lives.
“Little d” differentiation can be achieved with things like language, images, and price promotions. It’s clever ads, funny social media or a nice logo.
Our goal is to identify Big Differentiation first, then both big and small differentiation are expressed in execution.
Big Differentiation is not competitive differentiation (or comparing yourself to
other people). It’s not your product or marketing (or your job, if you’re branding
yourself).
Big Differentiation is achieved when “Who Am I” is reflected in your personality traits, capabilities, and values - and they are relevant to your audiences.
Big Differentiation incorporates the needs of your audiences, your brand traits and what the culture calls for. It reflects an understanding of your audiences’ lives and their needs and expectations.
Big Differentiation doesn’t focus on features and benefits, but instead knows the emotional, physical, and spiritual value the brand provides.
Big Differentiation is the result of cultural alignment, both internal and external.
And Big Differentiation needs a heaping helping of inspiration.
Knowing who you are and being true to that will make you relevant to the right audiences.
If you ask the right questions of the right people, find inspiration in the research, and understand the emotional, physical or spiritual value you provide to your audiences, you’ll nail it.
If you continue to nurture “beginners’ mind” and talk to your audiences, and truly listen, your brand will not only be relevant, but it will remain an indispensable part of their lives.
In coming issues we’ll cover brand personality, pinpointing customer needs and creating cultural alignment. (Click here for a preview).
About Us
Outfront Solutions helps businesses strengthen their market relevance and become indispensable to their audiences through transformative marketing, communications and sales solutions. At the forefront of cultural transformation, we drive business success for companies like Apple, Accenture, Redfin and Omnicom through our unique blend of hands-on business experience, strategic marketing insights and global perspective.
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