Alan Siegel: On Branding and Clear Communications

Over the past three decades, Alan Siegel has become one of the best-known figures in the branding business. He has achieved the stature of both pillar of the establishment and provocative iconoclast, while building a leading brand consultancy, Siegel & Gale, devoted to positioning global companies for competitive success. As consultant, author, and commentator, Alan's influence extends from advising organizations such as Xerox, American Express, the National Basketball Association, Caterpillar, The Girl Scouts, and Carnegie Mellon University, to creating guides for the Wall Street Journal on understanding financial markets, to board-level service at American Institute of Graphic Arts, Design Management Institute, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Girls, Inc., and the Authors Guild Foundation and the American Theater Wing, where he is a TONY voter. During the 1970's, Alan pioneered simplification to such daunting documents as insurance policies, bank loan notes, mutual fund prospectuses, and all types of government communications. He criticized corporate executives, lawyers, doctors, technologists, and politicians for their murky jargon, self-important claims, and frustrating communications. During the 1980's, he popularized the idea of "brand voice." And during the 1990's, his firm championed the Internet as a powerful expression of brand strategy.