Denise Lee Yohn

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About Denise Lee Yohn
Denise Lee Yohn is the go-to expert on brand-building for national media outlets, an in-demand speaker and consultant, and an influential writer.
Denise is the author of the bestselling book What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest (Jossey-Bass), the e-book Extraordinary Experiences: What Great Retail and Restaurant Brands Do, and the highly anticipated upcoming book FUSION: How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World's Greatest Companies (Nicholas Brealey, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, March, 2018.)
News media including FOX Business TV, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times call on Denise when they want an expert point-of-view on hot business issues. The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) named her blog as one of the "Top 20 Marketing Blogs that Executives Actually Read."
Denise enjoys challenging readers to think differently about brand-building in her regular contributions to Harvard Business Review and Forbes, and has been a sought-after writer for publications including Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Knowledge@Wharton, ChangeThis, Seeking Alpha, QSR Magazine, among others.
With her expertise and inspiring approach, Denise has become an in-demand keynote speaker. She has addressed business leaders around the world, including The Art of Marketing in Toronto, EXPO Marketing in Bogota, Colombia, and Entrepreneurs' Organization in Australia.
Denise initially cultivated her brand-building approaches through several high-level positions in advertising and client-side marketing. She served as lead strategist at advertising agencies for Burger King and Land Rover and as the marketing leader and analyst for Jack in the Box restaurants and Spiegel catalogs. Denise went on to head Sony Electronic Inc.’s first ever brand office, where she was the vice president/general manager of brand and strategy and garnered major corporate awards. Consulting clients have included Target, Oakley, Dunkin' Donuts, and other leading companies.
Learn more about Denise at http://deniseleeyohn.com
PRAISE FOR DENISE AND HER BOOKS
Denise Lee Yohn hit a home run with her first book, What Great Brands Do. Now she's written FUSION and it is just as provocative. Denise proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that great companies are powered by brand-culture fusion. I highly recommend this book! -- Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The New One Minute Manager® and coeditor of Servant Leadership in Action
Denise Lee Yohn's FUSION should be on every business leader's reading list this year. It provides the much-needed antidote to the culture and leadership crisis corporate America is experiencing. -- Marshall Goldsmith – The Thinkers 50 #1 Leadership Thinker in the World
Every leader—from CEOs and CMOs to start-up entrepreneurs—will find Denise's seven brand building principles inspirational and immediately useful. I wish Denise had written What Great Brands Do five years earlier—I would have made it required reading for all P&G brand builders! -- jim Stengel, former global marketing officer, P&G, and author, Grow
Yohn, a branding consultant and speaker, with an all-star client list that includes Sony, Frito-Lay, and Burger King, knows exactly what it takes to raise a brand to the top and keep it there. Here she shares techniques that can elevate a brand to icon status… Yohn’s book is helpful reading for executives and managers at all levels, and it will guide the next generation of great brands. -- Publishers Weekly review
"Best speaker of the day...a fresh perspective." -- Mike Fox Director, Global Vertical Marketing, Facebook
Denise did an amazing job at sharing with our Leadership Team her thoughtful, effective and simple approach on how best to connect Employee and Customer Experiences for companies to sustain growth over time. Her authentic communication style and connection with the audience was immediate and she captivated their attention for the entire duration of her presentation. We consider her as one of the best experts in this domain." -- Geneviève Fortier, SVP Human Resources and Public Affairs, McKesson Canada
“Denise has brought fresh thinking and insights to the challenge of re-energizing our brand and helping us differentiate in a sea of fast food sameness. She contributes a unique combination of smart analysis, category expertise, and an energizing work style.” -- Terri Funk Graham
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Jack in the Box
"Denise Yohn is that special combination of cool and professional. Our readers love the real-world advice she offers. Her focus on innovative marketing tactics that deliver real ROI is a breath of fresh air." -- Blair Chancey, Editorial Director, Food News Media
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Books By Denise Lee Yohn
It's tempting to believe that brands like Apple, Nike, and Zappos achieved their iconic statuses because of serendipity, an unattainable magic formula, or even the genius of a single visionary leader. However, these companies all adopted specific approaches and principles that transformed their ordinary brands into industry leaders. In other words, great brands can be built—and Denise Lee Yohn knows exactly how to do it. Delivering a fresh perspective, Yohn's What Great Brands Do teaches an innovative brand-as-business strategy that enhances brand identity while boosting profit margins, improving company culture, and creating stronger stakeholder relationships. Drawing from twenty-five years of consulting work with such top brands as Frito-Lay, Sony, Nautica, and Burger King, Yohn explains key principles of her brand-as-business strategy.
- Reveals the seven key principles that the world's best brands consistently implement
- Presents case studies that explore the brand building successes and failures of companies of all sizes including IBM, Lululemon, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and other remarkable brands
- Provides tools and strategies that organizations can start using right away
Filled with targeted guidance for CEOs, COOs, entrepreneurs, and other organization leaders, What Great Brands Do is an essential blueprint for launching any brand to meteoric heights.
'Leaders everywhere are trying to build great brands, but few realise how powerfully brands are shaped by the cultures of their organizations. This compelling book shows how.' -Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take
In FUSION, Denise Lee Yohn examines some of the world's greatest organizations and reverse-engineers their greatness - specifically how they've integrated what's on the inside (culture) with what's on the outside (brand) for remarkable results.
Through detailed case studies, interviews with industry leaders, findings from respected academic research and drawing on her own experience working with extraordinary brands across a broad range of sectors, Denise shows how great companies achieve the brand-culture fusion that creates extraordinary results and growth. FUSION is for those with responsibility and oversight for the core operations of their business (C-Suite and line managers) who also set the tone and direction for their companies. The book includes access to Denise's proprietary online assessment for determining how close to or how far from brand/culture integration a company is and a blueprint for achieving brand-culture fusion.
How do some stores and restaurants break through the clutter; compete with bigger, online competitors; and manage to grow and thrive when so many others fail? They earn customer love and loyalty by creatively designing and consistently delivering great retail customer experiences.
In her first bestselling book, What Great Brands Do (Jossey-Bass), brand expert Denise Lee Yohn de-mystified the brand-building process and unlocked the seven keys to great brand, including “great brands avoid selling products” and “great brands start inside.’” Now she shows how business leaders address the unique challenges and exploit the unique opportunities of the physical retail world to build great brands.
Extraordinary retail and restaurant customer experiences don't just happen; nor do they result only from excellent operations. They stem from the strong cultural foundations, deliberate planning decisions, and integrity in execution.
Denise Lee Yohn's Extraordinary Experiences profiles seven popular, powerful brands, including:
-Costco -- it sustainably grows its membership and maintains one of the highest loyalty rates in the country through an exclusive customer appeal
-Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen -- courageous company leaders fought back from near financial bankruptcy and franchisee mutiny by choosing to cultivate a servant-leader culture
-PIRCH -- a small high-end appliance chain has transformed the process of shopping for home fixtures from tedious and predictable to emotionally fulfilling
The case studies are relatable, accessible, and applicable to all companies inside or out of the restaurant or retail industries. They show how to build a great brand whether an organization is big or small, new or old, out-spent, under-resourced or facing some other challenge.
Packed with compelling stories and practical principles, Extraordinary Experiences is the brand-building and retail customer experience bible on every business leader's shelf.