brand marketing

Rhode Island native Bryan Rafanelli’s firm last year planned 5 of 2010’s most prestigious weddings, most notably Chelsea Clinton’s. The firm also produced a series of official inauguration events in Washington D.C. for President-elect Barack Obama’s donors.

The seemingly unflappable Rafanelli spoke to a packed room in Boston, sponsored by Millennial Branding, headed by personal branding expert and bestselling author of Me 2.0, Dan Schawbel.

Adopt Bryan Rafanelli’s tactics to grow your brand

Rafanelli’s best customer is sitting in the room, but isn’t just the current client or his/her relatives
Rafanelli carries a laminated card with names of event guests who he’s researched and wants to meet
To connect to high-value individuals, find the people who will intro you to the people and sell the story
It’s not just a matter of right time right place but your business model needs to put you in the right place

What you may not know about Rafanelli Events

Paid events like Chelsea Clinton’s wedding enable the company to do more nonprofit work
Rafanelli Events works with perfect people (read high-performing and highly effective) & needs to deliver perfection
Rafanelli Events seek to reflect you, your brand: “How do we represent who you are?”
Rafanelli Events goes from design to execution: “How can we correct the snags that crop up?”

Bryan Rafanelli believes

Basic common sense is a guiding force within the company and how it interacts
The whole business is based on great people and great relationships
How you handle imperfection can lead to perfection
In addition to perfection, clients want the next best thing
Is a “big believer” in content and making connections

Nonprofit events aren’t just for the sake of throwing a party: Apply a business plan

Rafanelli neatly ties the stories behind his nonprofits to donor-clients with meaning
Auctions need to comprise great packages that speak to them: Need to know what will get them excited
Auction recipe = at least 2 couples to bid and those couples to be well-respected

A bit about Chelsea Clinton’s wedding

The venue for Chelsea’s wedding was announced only days before the event
In Rhinebeck he interacted with neighbors using basic common sense, sending bottles of wine
The village of Rhinebeck “let me be” until after the wedding, although he had spent a lot of time there
Rafanelli tried to source locally,* including special mints Chelsea really wanted

*Disclaimer having been to Rhinebeck dozens of times, this couldn’t have been easy

Rafanelli values “common sense, consensus-building, really smart people, events degree is not required.”

Watch the video of Rafanelli’s talk, truly engaging.

Brand identity isn’t simply a logo and slogan: Factors and tips for building your brand

By Alexandra Smith

Put away your iron and get out your creativity. Branding is no longer a single searing process of creating an identity, but an arrangement of many factors, a mosaic.

At Podcamp 5 Boston, Tamsen McMahon, of Sametz Associates and Brass Tack Thinking, makes branding clear, similar to a mosaic piece of art. McMahon dubs it “Mosaic Branding”

Brands are

A Vision
A Subject
An Audience
Material
Style
Resolution
- A Mosaic: Many factors carefully positioned to best represent the image you want to portray.

Brands are not

Logos
Messages
Public relations

A brand exists in consumers’ minds.

Brands answer the question: What are we about?

The answer must be abundantly clear: It’s what you represent.

Brand creation tips

Location: Where you are located has a lot to do with how you present yourself.
Audience: If you don’t know who your audience is, you know nothing about your brand. Understand all reasons why people find value in you.
Material: Own your logo, custom labels, tagline, and type.
Resolution: You must create clarity with your audience. The more pieces you put into your picture, the clearer it will be.
Consultation: You can get more information by talking to less people than more, as long as each of those people represents different stakeholder groups.
Be prepared: Be ready for something to go wrong. Own negative press. Consistently deliver pieces to your audience, so that when something goes wrong, you still have what you worked to put together.
It’s about context: Move your brand to a culture of creation. Instead of focusing on controlling individual content, focus on the context in which it is understood — the mosaic.

Start sharpening your tools and use all of the above supplies to create a brand that people will care about.

Grow your brand: From Boston to Clinton, Presidential event planner Rafanelli’s tips and insights