Brand Strategy for Innovation

2 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

A two-week crash course where founders, marketers, and innovators learn how to build a brand that people will want to root for in 2023.

Hosted by

Kelli Corney

Fractional CMO | ex: Financial Times Group, NBCUniversal

Course overview

Turn your brand into an engine for business growth

The days of lofty brand messages that don’t live up to their promise are over. 

 

Define your company's purpose, position, and personality to build trust in an increasingly skeptical world.


Get clarity on what you do, why you do it, and articulate why anyone should care.

Who this course is for

01

You’re part of a founding team looking to better position your product or service.

02

You’re a product or growth marketer who wants to add brand strategy to your skillset.

03

You work in venturing or innovation and you want to master product-market fit from a consumer perspective.

Key outcomes

Articulate your purpose to make better business decisions

Your brand is your company's north star — craft one that you can live up to and will make people want to root for you.

Narrow in on your true target audience

Ask yourself, "who will love you most?" You can't be everything to everyone, so be something great to someone specific.

Identify what you're up against in your customers' minds

Companies worry too much about their competition and not enough about the old way of doing things, which is usually what loses when you win.

Define your category so you can win it

Clarify your position in your customer's minds, or they'll do it for you — and not necessarily in a way you'll like.

See what people are saying

        This workshop has been instrumental in our growth as an early stage startup. The things we walked away with have helped us far beyond the bounds of marketing. Everything from our culture to recruitment has been built upon the frameworks we learned in this course. I rave about it to every founder I know.
Brittany Hawkins

Brittany Hawkins

Co-Founder, ELANZA Wellness
        Kelli understands how to solve small and big picture brand challenges and has the experience to deliver winning solutions. At the Financial Times she challenged our thinking, invigorated our pitches and landed us business. She is wonderful to work with, curious, imaginative, and fun!
Gareth Jones

Gareth Jones

Consultant, Financial Times
        Our team learned so much working with Kelli. We weren't strangers to brand strategy but found it challenging to work on our own. Her unique frameworks and sharp insights transformed the way we understand and talk about our company. We now have the tools to rally everyone around a well-articulated vision.
Drew McChesney

Drew McChesney

Co-Founder, Relay Design Co
        Kelli is masterful at her craft. She helped us dial back to the basics and build a brand that just clicks. We were struggling to easily describe what we do and how it's different. Now we have the clarity we need to talk to customers, investors, and each other in a unified way. Can’t recommend her and the course enough!
Catherine Hendy

Catherine Hendy

Co-Founder, ELANZA Wellness
        We needed better ways of expressing our brand but were stuck working with expensive agencies and never really making progress. Kelli pushed us outside of our comfort zone in the BEST way. We're now better at solving real problems for our customers that actually connect and have impact. If you can learn from her, you should.
Micah Rondot

Micah Rondot

Global Integrated Marketing Manager, Brown-Forman
        We were struggling to unlock Fords Gin's personality and let it shine. Kelli took us to the next level by articulating our core essence clearly and concisely without losing any of the story. If you have the chance to work with her, do it.
Simon Ford

Simon Ford

Co-Founder, Fords Gin
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Brand Strategy for Innovation

Meet your instructor

Kelli Corney

Kelli Corney

Fractional CMO | ex: Financial Times Group, NBCUniversal

Kelli picked up brand marketing at NBCUniversal, where she spent the early part of her career developing media campaigns for some of the biggest companies in the world. She went on to craft foundational messaging for >70 companies at Mightily, a creative agency she helped co-found and grow to 40 employees with billables in the millions in under five years. As a corporate VP of Marketing at Atria, she led a team of 50 people to create award-winning work while launching three new products to market. 


Since then she’s worked at the Financial Times with companies including Facebook and WeWork on their campaign messaging. Now, for the first time, she’s turning the brand strategy work she does through her consulting practice into a cohort-based course. Kelli studied creative writing and philosophy and is more interested in what moves people than omni-channel journey mapping.

About the course

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Course syllabus

01

What's a brand?

Most people think branding is about adding decoration to your product to make it attractive. It’s actually just one simple thing: the truth. We’ll break down what we mean when we talk about “branding” — both what it is and what it’s not — and get clear on why it’s one of the most important things you can do for the success of your business.

02

Purpose

Stop ruminating on wordy mission, vision, and value statements. You only need to know one thing — your purpose. By using a proven framework, we’ll establish a north star that your company and customers can rally around. You’ll be able to easily articulate why you exist and why anyone should care.

03

Position

If you don’t know what space you want to occupy in your customer’s minds, you’ll lose to brands that do. The best companies define their position early and win their category. We’ll discover your true target audience using the concentric circle model, and map a plan for the next 18 months.

04

Personality

Branding is just a thought exercise — unless it actually comes to life the moment someone interacts with your product. Define your brand’s personality and translate it into launch-ready assets.

Course schedule

2 weeks | 6-8 hours per week
  • Introductory Session

    5:00pm-5:30pm GMT | Monday

    The first Monday. Meet your instructor and other students virtually!

  • 4 Live Workshops

    500pm-7:00pm GMT | Tuesdays & Thursdays

    Workshops are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00pm to 7:00pm GMT (12:00pm to 2:00pm EST) to allow for people from as many timezones as possible to attend.

  • Office Hours

    5:00pm-7:00pm GMT | Wednesday

    Optional office hours. Book time to ask questions or get specific feedback from Kelli. Takes place both Wednesdays the course is in session.

  • Pre-work / Homework

    2-4 hours per week

    Refine your work with feedback from your instructor and fellow students in your own time.

  • Graduation

    5:00pm-5:30pm GMT | Friday

    Wrap up on the final Friday and celebrate!

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Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active learning, not passive watching

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to attend all of the live sessions in real time?
How do I get in touch?
Can I expense this course to my company?
Will there be scholarships or financial aid?
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