Bruce Wayne: "A man, however strong..."

"A man, however strong, however skilled, is just flesh and blood. I need to be more than a man. I need to be a symbol."

—Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, Screenplay by David Goyer

James Heaton: "Lack of a clearly..."

Lack of a clearly articulated brand proves to be inefficient in at least four ways:

1. It takes more effort and time both for the organization and the agency to create these unique products. 
2. The work requires institutional memory and tight oversight if it is not to become totally arbitrary and dependent on the whim of the designer or the organizational staff person responsible for the product.
3. The absence of any concrete guideposts makes it difficult to discuss the relative merits of one design over another, and this results in a much greater opportunity for personal taste to interfere with and slow down the process. 
4. The end product does not naturally support and enhance the brand. Each product has a brand logo, but each is in fact more about itself than the organizational brand, so each is, in essence, its own competing brand product that seeks attention on its own terms rather than contributing its message to the larger brand message

—James Heaton, Brand Impact on CSI Reports

James Heaton: "Among the many positive..."

"Among the many positive consequences of their now having a well articulated brand that is true to their organizational vision, is that the brand serves to facilitate the process of developing graphic design executions for them. Before the re-brand, every new report was a unique design concept adhering to loosely defined and mostly intuitive brand attributes. Brand acceptability needed to be vetted directly with the Executive Director. This process relied very heavily on the content of the particular report, which in and of itself is not bad, but this, along with the absence of agreed upon guidelines, resulted in only tenuous stylistic connections among reports, and both the organization and the designers had to spend a good deal of time developing and approving a design style for each report. The resulting lack of continuity is manifest even among reports designed by the same graphic designer."

—James Heaton, Brand Impact on CSI Reports

James Heaton: "When we stake out..."

"When we stake out our own brand position saying “We prefer truth,” it means we are working with our clients to uncover the most essential truths of their brand and that we are then intent on finding ways to communicate these brand truths as eloquently and effectively as possible. We are not manufacturing a brand message based on studies of what the market will believe, but what they will recognize as true to their experience of that brand. We are chipping away at the rough-hewn surface of a company or non-profit and exposing the beautiful brand truth that was only waiting to be revealed and have its story well told."

—James Heaton, Brand Truth

James Heaton: "Brands do lie and..."

"Brands do lie and I believe that when they do it is a serious strategic mistake. If, on the other hand the brand derives from the true lived experience of the brand, (brand truth) then the brand will be reinforced and strengthened by every interaction with it. This is how a brand accrues power and longevity. The brand needs to tell a true story."

—James Heaton, Brand Truth

James Heaton: "Advertising is seen by..."

"Advertising is seen by some as beautiful lies. I think that, by way of contrast, branding should be beautiful truth. Not truth with a capital “t,” not philosophical truth, but the act of keeping the brand focus on what is discovered or understood to be essentially true about the organization, product or service."

—James Heaton, Brand Truth

James Heaton: "This is to my..."

"This is to my mind an extremely good illustration of what good branding does as opposed to what advertising typically does, and why branding based on the truth can be so much more effective with so much less money. Good branding involves understanding the truth of a product or service and finding the best ways to communicate this to those naturally receptive to hearing it."

—James Heaton, Life and Pecans: Why Truth Matters

James Heaton: "By telling the true..."

"By telling the true story of [the organization and its products and services], they should almost sell themselves, generating referrals, buzz and PR, not because they are advertised a lot, but because they are truly good and when people find truly good things they spread the word."

—James Heaton, The Business of Demand Creation