Santa Barbara, California - AIGA Santa Barbara, the Central Coast’s professional design association, is excited to present a 2-day workshop with Marty Neumeier, bestselling author of six books on design and innovation. Neumeier will lead an in-depth brand strategy session for creatives and marketing professionals, in which participants will learn the essential principles of brand strategy while applying them directly to their own brand or their clients’ brands.

The event, scheduled to run February 19-20, is intended for designers, brand strategists, marketing managers, advertising planners, entrepreneurs, and CEOs. Participants will work on one specific entity—a product, service, company, or new business concept.
 
“The workshop is both for people who want to transform their own brand, and those who want to apply the skills to client work. In this hands-on approach, participants will leave with a prototype for transforming a brand,” said Neumeier. “They will develop a plan to make their business more competitive, more profitable, and better aligned with its true potential.”
 
The workshop will cover several topics on branding and participants will walk away learning the new definition of branding, the role of trust in brand building, the difference between product, service, B2B, and B2C branding, the difference between purpose, mission, and vision and how to find your brand’s core purpose.
 
“We are very excited about bringing this brand workshop with Marty Neumeier back for its second year in a row,” said AIGA Santa Barbara President Keir DuBois. “Marty is a world-renowned brand strategist and author. Last year’s attendees came from all over the country and the world to participate in this highly focused workshop.”
 
“The feedback, the collaboration, and the guidance was really phenomenal,” shared Jennie Jacobs, marketing manager for a healthcare organization and 2015 workshop attendee. “I think the small group setting, paired with so much one-on-one with Marty was a powerful experience. I learned so much about what guides a successful brand.”
 
The event is limited to 18 people. Registration for the event is open now at santabarbara.aiga.org/flip2016. Interested parties are encouraged to register before the workshop reaches capacity. Prices, application, agenda and more can be found at the website.  
 
About AIGA Santa Barbara:
AIGA, the professional association for design, believes designers serve a critical role as communicators, educators and innovators. AIGA sets the national agenda for the role of design in economic, social, political, cultural and creative contexts. Founded in 1914, AIGA is the nation’s largest professional association for design, with 25,000 members. AIGA Santa Barbara is one of 70 chapters and has a Board of Directors consisting of 11 people, dedicated to developing diversified programs and connecting AIGA members with people in the community with design needs. AIGA Santa Barbara serves as a resource for local designers in all stages of their careers.
 
About Marty Neumeier
Marty Neumeier is an author, designer, and business adviser whose mission is to bring the principles and processes of creativity to industry. His series of “whiteboard” books includes The Brand Gap, widely considered the foundation of modern brand-building; Zag, named one of the “top hundred business books of all time” for its insights into brand strategy; and The Designful Company, a guide to building a culture of nonstop innovation. His latest book, The 46 Rules of Genius, lays out a universal map to innovation mastery.
 
In 1996, Neumeier founded Critique magazine, the first journal about design thinking. He has worked closely with innovative companies such as Apple, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, HP, Adobe, Google, and Microsoft to help advance their brands and cultures. He also served on the AIGA national board and developed its first mission statement since it was founded in 1914.
 
Today Marty serves as Director of Transformation for Liquid Agency in Silicon Valley, and travels extensively as a workshop leader and speaker on the topics of innovation, brand, and design.