The première issue of The Journal of the Medinge Group contains a collection of essays and thoughts, providing a window into the think-tank’s evolving vision of humanistic branding. The first issue of the Journal contains articles by 10 members of the group, on interdisciplinary subjects ranging from internet branding, strategy, PowerPoint, design, place branding to innovation. There is also an article authored by the late Colin Morley, a Medinge member who died in the 2005 London Underground bombings, and whose 2004 ‘On Conscience’ is considered a seminal essay on the topic.—Stanley Moss, CEO, The Medinge Group

All articles in this volume
http://medinge.org/journal/2007/08/

Individual articles
Malcolm Allan
Place Branding
Places—countries, regions and cities—are increasingly developing strategies for brands. This is because they find themselves in competition with each other to retain and attract talented and creative people, innovative businesses, investors and consumers. The goal: offer valuable services and meaningful experiences to those they seek to influence.

Ava Maria Hakim
Business, Brand, Innovation and Design
This article looks at the design system and its impact on value creation, business and brand. Several informative diagrams and charts included.

Patrick Harris
Giving Strategy Some Momentum
Many strategies built by organizations are ineffective. Organizations tend to build snapshots instead of harnessing momentum.

Pierre d’Huy
PowerPoint, la rhétorique universelle
Is PowerPoint an aid to communication or destructive force in the art of rhetoric? This essay in French deconstructs the controversial Microsoft presentation program from the point of view of a mediologist, making references to works by Roland Barthes and Régis Debray to support its conclusions.

Pierre d’Huy translated by Stanley Moss
PowerPoint: Rhetoric Machine
Pierre d’Huy’s commentary of the ubiquitous application, tailored to English speakers.

Nicholas Ind
Beyond Branding: from Abstraction to Cubism
This paper argues that rather than relying on the abstraction of research to get close to the customer, brand managers should work at building genuine relationships with customers by opening up the boundaries of the organization.

Colin Morley
Why More Brands Now ‘Have a Conscience’
An historically significant article written in 2004 examining the intellectual and semiotic underpinnings of brands with conscience. It is published with the permission of the estate of Colin Morley; his vision helped shaped Medinge’s yearly Brands with a Conscience awards, inspiring our yearly presentation to an NGO, named in his memory.

Ian Ryder
Linking Vision and Values with Brand (Specifically Reputation) Management
Organizations often experience failure, either because of a flawed vision, or a shortfall of values. How then do we align internal and external communications to create sustainable competitive advantage as a route to a strong brand reputation?

Jack Yan
Online Branding: a Definitive Guide
In the world of Web 2·0, the process surrounding vision, research, exposition and image differ slightly, even if the ingredients of brand equity remain the same. Loose vision, informal research and tapping into consumer advocacy all play a critical role.