Brand positioning

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Recently I was struck with this juxtaposition at Rexall: Why pay more than quadruple for a bottle of Evian versus – let’s face it – the very same thing right next to it on the shelf?

Mainly, because Evian is from France. If it was from New Jersey, we would not feel quite the same way, or be willing to part with our money with such abandon.

In branding, this is what we call a Reason to Believe. Because it comes from France, we believe that Evian (and Perrier, of course) is sophisticated. Just as we believe that Nike makes the best basketball shoes because LeBron James and Michael Jordan wear them.

The Evian rationalization, it must be said, is not exactly a fringe activity. A recent report advised that 60 bottles of Evian are consumed every five seconds worldwide. That’s approximately 378 million bottles a year. At $4.29 vs. $0.99 a bottle, that’s people collectively paying an annual premium of $1.25 billion for…nothing.

But is it really nothing? Not at all.

Notice that I did not explain why, exactly, Evian’s French origins are the key to its enormously premium pricing. That’s because you already know. That’s how clear and powerful the brand of France is in our minds.

For the record, in connection with water (and many other things), France means at least:

• Fine food and drink
• Clean natural environment
• Quality
• Luxury
• Distinction
• Exceptional taste (by which I mean discernment)

Every time they buy, every purchaser of Evian gets to not just experience these attributes in their minds, but to actually embody these attributes. To be them. And to them, it is very clearly worth it.

All of which begs the question:  What are your Reasons to Believe?

Spoiler alert: You definitely have some. In all likelihood, however, you are not voicing them in an optimally compelling way.

—

I, not AI, wrote this.

Andris Pone, BA, MBA
President
Coin Branding Inc.
andris@coinbranding.com
1 416 560 0928
www.coinbranding.com

Brand positioning

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Recently I posted on LinkedIn about Dunkin’s impending return to Canada, and how Tim’s was sure to counteract it by double-doubling down on its Canadian identity.

Turns out, Canadians are very passionate about this brand. And angry about it, too.

Hence the post’s 90,000 impressions and counting.

Below, for your convenience, you can read the post in its entirety. However, if you want to see all the comments and add your own (which I would love, and will answer), click here for the post on LinkedIn.

Here is a paste of the post:

Dunkin’ is coming back to Canada. Expect Tim’s to double-double down on its Canadian identity.

If you want to make Canadian-ness a vital part of your positioning, you at the very least must use Canadian spelling in your messaging.

Good Canadians will be able to see the obvious spelling mistake in this celebration of a huge moment in Canadian hockey history. Raising the error to the level of blasphemy is that it occurs at a physical and psychological location at the very core of our identity: centre ice.

Tim Hortons’ brand already skates on thin ice, given that it is owned by Restaurant Brands International, a Canadian company approximately 22% owned by an investment vehicle affiliated with Brazilian-founded 3G Capital, which acknowledged in its 2025 Annual Report that “So long as 3G RBH continues to directly or indirectly own a significant amount of voting power, it will continue to be able to strongly influence or effectively control business decisions of RBI.”

It will be fascinating to see how it all plays out. Mark Satov and his team at SATOV Consultants just released some proprietary research on Dunkin’s impending return, and the outlook may not be as dire as some might imagine amid a Canada-US relationship that is highly charged, to say the least, and therefore which could be negative for American entrants which have proudly traded, as Dunkin’s has, upon their American DNA.

—

I, not AI, wrote this.

Andris Pone, BA, MBA
President
Coin Branding Inc.
andris@coinbranding.com
1 416 560 0928
www.coinbranding.com

Brand = culture

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Introducing the one-second, one-word employee engagement test.

In a past hospitality job, decades ago, I remember a colleague explaining to a customer that they were not going to get exactly what they wanted.

My colleague (let’s call him Bob) framed it as an unfortunate result of a decision that “they” – meaning management – had made.

I remember thinking that Bob using “they” – blaming the problem on someone else – was a cop-out. That instead, using “we” would have at least shown he was reasonably engaged with his job.

“We,” of course, is not the highest ground. “I” is.

They – we – I. Consider it an employee engagement continuum.

If your team members are using “they,” they’ve either never bought in to what you’re doing, or have checked out.

If your team is using “we,” they are at least moderately engaged. And yet, “we” should be the minimum standard, because “they” is, well, bad.

All of this came to mind when I was getting my teeth cleaned earlier this month. The hygienist said, “I am going to do such-and-such because I don’t want such-and-such to happen to your teeth.”

She is not the dentist (wow…if there was ever a moment to run, it is your dentist using “they”). She is not the business owner. She is a dental hygienist taking ownership of her clients and I have to tell you, it felt very reassuring. I know that she is totally locked in. So I will go back.

I especially notice the they – we – I continuum at restaurants. When you have a server say, “I have these specials today and I have these beers on tap,” you know you are in the hands of someone highly engaged in what they are doing and willing to take responsibility for the quality of your experience. It is much, much more common for servers to use “we” (or “they” when they are blaming the kitchen).

“I” is heard very rarely indeed.

Some 20 years ago, I was fortunate to do some consulting work for the original owners of beerbistro, a restaurant (still) at the corner of King and Yonge in downtown Toronto. They had a wide and very thoughtfully put-together beer list, the staff were extremely well-educated on beer, and beer was an ingredient in every food item on the menu. Master chef Brian Morin and his team were running a serious restaurant, and the customers were pouring in the door.

Two expressions from that engagement have stuck with me. First was a classic saying of Brian’s: “There’s a great idea in the bottom of every beer.”

This might explain why we drank beer during our meetings. I sipped.

The other expression came from a senior member of his team, who referred to some people – a very small group of people – as having “the hospitality gene.” These people, it was explained to me, are the rare individuals who are born to be in service roles, caring for others.

Most of us experience considerable stress when serving others. These folks experience none. To them it is all a great pleasure. I will never forget the sight of Dougal, who had been a doorman at the Royal York Hotel for more than 40 years when I worked there in the late 90s, giving someone directions for the millionth time, with an enthusiasm that suggested it was the first time he had ever heard the question. THAT is the hospitality gene.

People like Dougal are the people most likely to speak in the language of “I.” At worst, “we.” And “they”? Never.

How to get your team members saying “I”?

This is a complex question, and I am not an HR expert. My contribution from the branding perspective can be this:

Your brand is your culture. They are the same thing. The logic goes like this:

A brand is what people think of you – especially, what you and your team think of yourselves and how you accordingly behave. Thus your brand is your system of beliefs and behaviours, and thus it is your culture.

So follow these three steps:

1
Make ownership a defining feature of your culture by embedding it in your brand foundation (we create them btw), being the written-down elements that define at least your:

Brand Foundation elements
Core purpose — why you do what you do, instead of merely what you do.
Position — how you are genuinely different from other advisors.
Character — how your brand acts, sounds and looks.
Reasons to believe — the proof that you are every bit as exceptional as your brand says you are.

(I am not talking about making actual equity ownership a feature of your brand, although you could do that.)

2
Assuming you are the CEO of the business, give yourself the official or unofficial title of Chief Brand Officer, and accept responsibility for ensuring every day that your team deeply understands the importance of ownership. A simple, crucial thing you can do is to start every team meeting by doing a table read of your brand foundation.

3
Repeat.

P.S. There is more here on the importance of having a brand foundation.

—

I, not AI, wrote this.

Andris Pone, BA, MBA
President
Coin Branding Inc.
andris@coinbranding.com
1 416 560 0928
www.coinbranding.com

Advisor branding

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For years, my work has been getting advisors more, better referrals. So I distilled my coaching into an online course that you can take in as little as 5 hours.

That course, launched in June, is called Attract for Advisors – and I am delighted to tell you it is selling well.

I spent 25 years creating this knowledge and 5 years distilling the very best of it into this course, so advisors can learn and apply it in 5 hours, and attract more and better referrals for many years to come.

All at less than 5% of what they would pay to work with me one-on-one.

Why aren’t advisors getting more, better referrals?
Because they have at least one of The Four Advisor Problems I’ve identified over the past decade-and-a-half:

THE FOUR ADVISOR PROBLEMS

1. Saying what you do instead of why you do it
2. Saying the same thing as other advisors
3. Looking Low Net Worth
4. Being Brand Blind

Solve those problems, get more and better referrals.

Is the course any good?
You may be wondering: Is the course any good? I asked 34-year Sun Life veteran Wayne Miller to be the first person to take it. His feedback was short and sweet:

“The content is exceptional and your delivery is even better.”

You can enrol now (or learn all about The Four Advisor Problems by taking my free Masterclass) by clicking here.

P.S. If I haven’t already worked with you one-on-one, this course could be just what you need – to get more, better referrals.

P.P.S. If you want to see all the nice things people said when the course launched on LinkedIn, click here.

—

I, not AI, wrote this.

Andris Pone, BA, MBA
President
Coin Branding Inc.
andris@coinbranding.com
1 416 560 0928
www.coinbranding.com

Advisor branding

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All advisors think they are different. But the reality is that most have positioned themselves in, and are communicating in, a way that is generic – and don’t realize it. Therefore, they are not attracting nearly the number of great referrals they seek, and they don’t know why.

They are generic because they have one of – and probably all of – The Four Advisor Problems:

THE FOUR ADVISOR PROBLEMS

1. Saying the same thing
   – They sound just like every other advisor.
2. Saying *what* they do, instead of *why* they do it
   – They think they have a unique offer – but alas, are not expressing it.
3. Looking Low Net Worth
   – Their brand looks much more random than they realize.
4. Being Brand Blind
   – They are largely unaware that they have problems 1-3. This, by the way, is normal.

THE BRANDED ADVISOR

The Branded Advisor, on the other hand, lives in a different, referral-rich universe.

They:

1. Express their unique gift
   – Because they have done the (surprisingly easy) work to figure it out.
2. Talk about *why* they do what they do
   – Based upon their one-of-a-kind origin story.
3. Look High Net Worth
   – They look and sound polished, appropriate to the pond in which they swim.
4. Are Brand Aware
   – They have an expert *interpret* what they see in the mirror.

BECOMING BRANDED

How to cross the chasm, become a Branded Advisor, and attract more and better referrals?

You solve the Four Advisor Problems by defining your unique brand — in a way that is actually different — and then using it as the foundation for everything you do.

In other words, you do it by defining your Brand Foundation:

• Core purpose — why you do what you do, instead of merely what you do.
• Position — how you are genuinely different from other advisors.
• Character — how your brand acts, sounds and looks.
• Reasons to believe — the proof that you are every bit as exceptional as your brand says you are.

Then, use your Brand Foundation to guide everything you ever do or say – so the world will understand just how different and valuable you are.

HOW TO GET MORE REFERRALS
In my online course, Attract for Advisors, I personally show you, step by step, how to define your one-of-a-kind brand in a Brand Foundation and communicate it to the world — so you can solve the Four Advisor Problems and attract more of the referrals, clients, employees, strategic partners and other opportunities you seek.

Learn more about the course, including by taking my free Masterclass, by clicking here.

Don’t be a stick figure.

—

I, not AI, wrote this.

Andris Pone, BA, MBA
President
Coin Branding Inc.
andris@coinbranding.com
1 416 560 0928
www.coinbranding.com

Brand positioning

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The essence of branding is being different. Clichés, therefore, are the antithesis of branding.

Some of the clichés I regularly see include claims that a brand:

• Is “making a difference”
• Is doing something “by design”
• Has “revolutionized” or “reinvented” its product, service or industry

It is this last one that is most depressing to see, because it is almost always a sizeable exaggeration. It is also a bummer for the reason that it is lazy, which is the polar opposite of revolutionizing or reinventing.

Angine de Poitrine does not have this problem. They are the band and viral sensation you have already heard about, or are hearing about now for the first of many times.

Earlier this month, they performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. It is not normal for a studio audience to break into cheers at multiple points midway through a band’s performance, but that is exactly what happened. Three times in one song.

Let alone for a band that plays 100% instrumentals and has only two players in it – who do not even speak, except for a few mumbles in a supposedly alien language. They wear absurdist costumes – polka-dot-saturated and reminiscent all at once of papier-maché, busking, and Monty Python. Their oversized outfits raising legitimate questions about how they can even see the instruments they play with extreme technicality in a weird jazz, electronic and progressive chaos that relies on microtones, i.e. the notes *between* the standard notes, thereby sounding somewhat off-pitch.

It results in a “math rock” style and a level of innovation celebrated by admiring and astonished legends including Shania Twain, Dave Grohl, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson (who called the band “exotic and mesmerizing”) and many others – not to mention all corners of the music press.

For its part, Rolling Stone describes Angine de Poitrine (translation: “angina of the chest”) as Spotify’s most viral band, and as having “one of the most fascinating and cataclysmic breakout years in recent Canadian music history.”

You may know that they exploded onto the scene this year after posting, as far as I can tell, a mere three YouTube videos of their playing, which earned them a spot opening for Jack White in Toronto, and now the Tonight Show appearance.

You may know in addition that they are 333-year-old alien time travellers, named Khn and Klek.

Apparently they are also from the Saguenay.

Easy listening this is not. Listening to Angine de Poitrine takes focus, dedication and quite possibly some mid-song breathers.

“This is what I imagined the future of music would be. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

So says Rick Beato, an incredibly insightful music industry insider and master multi-instrumentalist. He has six million followers on YouTube and has interviewed many music icons including Sting, Billy Joel and Robert Plant.

His POV on the costumes: “Unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

I confess that I really don’t get the music. But here is what I can say with confidence: Angine de Poitrine, starting with their weird name, are an example of the power of truly being different. They can actually say, with a straight face beneath those masks, that they are on the reinvention-revolution axis.

Even their detractors cannot help but be somewhat charmed. By the audacity of this band’s inventiveness and humour. By the virtuosity of their playing in an era of fake (AI-generated) music and even fake artists.

By their transfixing of our attention on something other than the millisecond-by-millisecond news and social cycle that is our prison.

—

I, not AI, wrote this.

Andris Pone, BA, MBA
President
Coin Branding Inc.
andris@coinbranding.com
1 416 560 0928
www.coinbranding.com

Brand naming

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We can learn something from shops that live or die on whether they can get people to pull over.

This summer I took a road trip up through Muskoka, to the shores of Lake Superior as far north as the Wawa Goose, and back home via Manitoulin Island and the ferry to Tobermory.

If you want to disconnect, this is one way to do it. For long stretches of the Trans-Canada Highway west of Sault Ste. Marie – amid the rocky shorelines and dramatic climbs – there is no signal. There are also very few people and cars, and a satisfying lack of sirens and leafblowers.

There are also very few businesses. Driving 50-100km for the next cup of coffee, or gas station or tourist trap, is standard. Of the businesses that are in existence, the great majority are independent – not part of a franchise or chain.

Which is perfect, because independent businesses often have the most creative names, something I – and many other potential customers – cannot help but notice and enjoy.

As in (notice how some are so smart, they require no explanation):

Bracebridge

1. Deli Lama & Buddha’s Bakery and Café

Wawa

1. Off the Hook
   – Fish-and-chip restaurant
2. Krazy Fries
3. Faces of Gitchee Goomee
   – A wooden mask-maker using the Ojibwe name for Lake Superior

Manitoulin Island

1. That’s What Cheese Said
2. The Codmothers
   – Fish and chip restaurant
3. Meat Boss
   – Butcher

Tobermory

1. Tacomory
2. The Hungry Hiker
3. The Net Shed
   – Tourist shop in a fisherman’s former net shed

Why are these great names? Because:

They are memorable.
– They use techniques including puns, alliteration and wordplay to anchor in our minds, making it easier for us to give them our repeat business, and refer them to others.

They are meaningful.
– They give us an immediate sense of the value proposition, and hence whether they are for us.

They are attractive.
– They have an element of fun or intrigue, making us want to check them out.

And why is it that very small businesses tend to have more creative names than larger ones?

Naming by committee, which is the trap that larger (and even some smaller) organizations fall into, can be deadly to creativity. After a certain point, extra voices around the table increase the likelihood that someone with especially poor branding / naming judgement will run the process off the rails. You may recognize this as the Dunning-Kruger effect: a psychological phenomenon in which people with low knowledge or skill in an area may overestimate how competent they are.

An owner-operated business is usually in a better position to avoid all of that.

When deciding upon a name for your business, the stakes are very high. An attractive name – a name that attracts your target audience – can make your life so much easier, and a so-so or bad moniker can repel the very customers you seek – and thereby stunt or kill your business.

I have created attractive brand names for many advisors, and also for corporations including Brookfield, Sun Life, Home Trust, Revera, The National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Tire and more.

Here are some super-short case studies:
Advisor names
Corporate names

—

I, not AI, wrote this.

Andris Pone, BA, MBA
President
Coin Branding Inc.
andris@coinbranding.com
1 416 560 0928
www.coinbranding.com

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Today, I am putting all my cards on the table.

It has been 25 years since I began my branding career, on naming and positioning assignments for organizations including Sun Life, Brookfield, Revera, Kingsett Capital, Oaken Financial, Canadian Tire, The National Ballet of Canada and many more.

It has been 15 years since I narrowed my focus to help elite #advisors at firms including RBC Wealth Management, BMO Nesbitt Burns, CI Assante, Raymond James, CIBC, QFS – and scores of independents – stand out as the one-of-a-kind superstars they are.

I have learned enormously. And I want to share it. I started down that path in 2017 by publishing Attract – my book on personal branding, in which I showed anyone how to uncover their uniqueness and stand out from the pack, thereby attracting to them the right people and opportunities.

In the years that followed, I continued to narrow my focus on working exclusively with advisors – and I started hearing something from them:

My work was getting them more, better referrals. 

Why was that a big deal? Because there is barely an advisor alive who would not like a great referral to a great client. And because getting such a great referral is not easy. And because advisors are less than thrilled, for a range of reasons, with many of the referrals they receive.

What exactly is standing in the way of advisors getting better referrals? At least one of The Four Advisor Problems I’ve identified over the past decade-and-a-half:

THE FOUR ADVISOR PROBLEMS

1. Saying what you do instead of why you do it
2. Saying the same thing as other advisors
3. Looking Low Net Worth
4. Being Brand Blind

Solve those problems, get more and better referrals.

I am very pleased to tell you that this week, I completed more than 5 years of work spent creating a product, targeted specifically to advisors, that solves The Four Advisor Problems and will thereby help them attract more and better referrals. 

That product is called Attract for Advisors. It is an online course that you can take in as little as 5 hours. I spent 25 years creating this knowledge and 5 years distilling the very best of it into this course, so advisors can learn and apply it in 5 hours, and attract more and better referrals for many years to come. 

You may be wondering: Is the course any good? I asked 34-year Sun Life veteran Wayne Miller to be the first person to take it. His feedback was short and sweet:

“The content is exceptional and your delivery is even better.”

You can enrol now (or learn all about The Four Advisor Problems by taking my free Masterclass) by clicking here.

Thank you Wayne, and the incredible team of experts who brought my vision to life:

Andrea Dubravsky of Genuweb
Donna Santos of Donna Santos Studio
Jeremy Payne
Joel Brigham of Representative Designs
Lindsay Meister
Michael Ball of Initiate Marketing
Tony Hall of See My Clients

PS. You can enrol in Attract for Advisors, or watch my free Masterclass, by clicking here.

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TD has a new ad campaign, with this tagline:

We believe the digital future is also a human one.

Megan Matthews and I discuss it in the above 30-second video; our full conversation is here.

Working with many financial advisors as I do, my mind goes immediately to what TD’s wealth management function intends to get out of this campaign (even though the campaign is for the bank in its entirety).

Although I happen to have no insider knowledge as to what TD indeed thinks (and if I did, I would not tell you), I am comfortable in saying that the Big Banks’ wealth management arms see digital / AI platforms as opportunities in some cases, and as threats in others.

The banks believe (as do I) that high-net-worth clients are best served by human advisors; helping clients avoid emotional investing mistakes is just one big reason. Those clients, who are primarily comprised of entrepreneurs and business owners, need help from humans to manage not just their portfolios, but many aspects of their complex corporate and family structures.

And so we can begin to see the tightrope that the banks are walking with We believe the digital future is also a human one. Digital and AI-driven offerings are a fact and necessity of doing business in 2026, and the banks need to trumpet their effectiveness – but not in a way that drives HNW clients into the arms of robots.

The big question for advisors: for those HNW clients, are you performing better than a robot?

I have conducted one-on-one interviews with more than 500 of my clients’ HNW clients over the past 15 years. They often tell me of a previous advisor they left, and why. Here is what they almost never say: “I was unhappy with the returns.”

Here is what they almost always say: “He or she rarely called me or met with me, and overall didn’t seem to care.”

What was lacking was not what AIs can do, which is pick stocks. What was lacking was what only a human can do, which is extend a personal touch and truly care.

If you don’t have those processes embedded in your brand, you are winging it. The remedy is to take your brand and operationalize it. I have a new program by which you can quickly and easily do that. You can read about it here.

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It must have almost killed Sidney Crosby, to not play in the Olympic hockey gold medal game vs. the United States, due to injury.

That is what I would say if I didn’t know anything about the man. Or observed his downcast placidity in the post-loss news conference, in which he and coach Jon Cooper were the only two members of the Canadian team to appear.

A reporter asked him how he came to his decision not to play.

Sid’s answer: “I’m not going to compromise our team.”

Sid also spoke in that news conference about how much the team had wanted the gold medal for Connor McDavid, a statement that in its humility was truly an astonishing inversion of reality, or at least the reality that was painted in the media before and during the Olympic tournament. It was not McDavid, but Crosby – being the captain of the team, its most senior and worshipped member, and almost certainly playing in his last Olympics – who was understood by the public to be the player for whom everyone on the Canadian team wanted to win.

Yes, Crosby scored the Golden Goal for Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Yes, he has won three Stanley Cups, and scored more than one point per game for all 20 seasons he has played in the NHL, a feat surpassing every player in history including Wayne Gretzky.

But his brand is more than that. It is the humility with which he plays – which allows Canadians in particular to project their national self-image on to him, and people more generally to project their personal self-image – that makes his brand the powerhouse it is.

People love humility in a personal brand.

That is what I would say if the world was not so full of bombast and egotists with massive and massively profitable followings.

There is indeed a continuum upon which you can pick your spot. Bombast tends to polarize, making your followers and haters enthusiastic in approximately equal measure. Humility is the safer path, less likely to inflame emotions in either direction.

Which brings me back to my opening shortlist of Crosby’s achievements: there is no avoiding that they are, in fact, the essential element to his brand. Excellence conquers all. The humility-ego axis is more tonal.

What are you shooting for?

—
See the full personal brand conversation that I had with Megan Matthews; we talked about Sidney Crosby, and also about new Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel.

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Image of Sidney Crosby by Michael Miller – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link