@ronjohnsonco
Ron Johnson is the Managing Director and Co-founder of Blueprint Creative, the world’s first ‘Bhranding”, communications and design agency. Ron is also the creator of The Bhranding Equation (Branding + HR = Bhranding), a business framework designed to help companies tear down the silos between their branding and HR teams and replace those silos with powerful organizational synergies. Ron has recently published his first book called Tighten Your Shoelaces: How The World’s Leading Companies Defend and Grow Their Brands During a Crisis.
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
Ron has over a decade of practical, hands-on experience helping companies build stronger brands and stronger businesses. While Ron is passionate about all aspects of branding, he is especially passionate about helping companies build company cultures where hard work, fun and profitability can happily co-exist. Ron has coached business professionals in Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, The Cayman Islands, The US Virgin Islands, The USA, Mexico and Malaysia. Under Ron’s leadership, Blueprint Creative has won several awards (including two “Best of Print” awards) at the Caribbean leg of the American Advertising Awards (AAA), and three Barbados’ Best Employers Awards for its highly engaged company culture and HR practices.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Ron believes that brands are built from the inside, not the outside, and that HR professionals should be considered to be a part of their organizations’ branding teams. Ron is the creator of “The Bhranding Equation” (Branding + HR = “Bhranding”), a custom business framework designed to help companies tear down the silos between their branding and HR teams and replace those silos with powerful organizational synergies. Ron and his team are currently conducting groundbreaking research on the growing global trend of companies pairing their branding and HR teams to work more closely together, either on a project-by-project basis or as fully integrated units. The insights uncovered during the research will be used to help companies all over the globe to do a better job of integrating their branding and HR teams.
WRITING EXPERIENCE
Ron is the author of Tighten Your Shoelaces, which is designed to help entrepreneurs, business owners and other business decision-makers defend and grow their brands during a crisis. The book is designed to help readers navigate challenging scenarios by identifying some of the high-impact principles, strategies and tactics that many of the world’s leading companies use to defend and grow their brands during crises. The book follows a mini case study format which features several globally-recognized companies, and highlights the principles that they used to navigate various crises, including health crises, economic downturns, and unfair competitive practices. 
Some of the companies featured in the book include Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty, Ben & Jerry’s, Whole Foods, Blackberry, Burberry, Zappos, Southwest Airlines, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Oreo, Nike, AT&T, Marvel, Lego, Yellow Pages and Wells Fargo, McDonalds, KFC and GEICO. International author, John Spence, who wrote the book Awesomely Simple and who is a Top 100 Business Thought Leaders in America and Top 50 Small Business Experts in America wrote the foreword for the book.
CONDUCTED BRANDING WORKSHOPS IN
- Barbados
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Jamaica
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Miami
- Puerto Rico
- Trinidad & Tobago
FAVORITE DESSERTS
- Lemon Sorbet
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Lemonade
- Lemon anything!
CONSULTING EXPERIENCE
Ron has advised clients in several industries, including energy, banking, insurance, convenience retailing, manufacturing, accounting and security. Ron has worked on a range of brand related projects, including:
- brand audits and brand strategy roadmaps
- marketing, advertising and social media campaigns
- employee engagement and employee experience projects
- employer branding programs
- communications, public relations and crisis management assignments
RECENT SPEAKING EXPERIENCE
- Nestlé 2021 Caribbean Youth Summit (Trinidad & Tobago/Remote)
- Cayman Islands Marketing Professionals Association (CIMPA) 2021 Conference (Grand Cayman/ Remote)
- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) 2021 Practice Room (Global/Remote)
- Asia Learning and Development 2019 Conference (Malaysia)
- Insurance Association of the Caribbean 2019 Conference (Mexico)
- Human Resources Management Association of Jamaica (HRMAJ) 2019 Conference (Jamaica)
- Human Resources Management Association of Trinidad & Tobago (HRMATT) 2019 Conference (Trinidad & Jamaica)
- Cayman Islands Society of Human Resources Professionals 2019 Conference (Grand Cayman)
- Cayman Islands Society of Human Resources Professionals (CISHRP) 2018 Conference (Grand Cayman)
- Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Tourism HR 2018 Conference (Grand Cayman)
- Human Resources Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) 2018 Conference (Barbados)
- Human Resources Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) 2017 Conference (Barbados)
FAVORITE BOOKS
- Blue Ocean Shift (W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne)
- The Challenge Culture (Nigel Travis)
- Awesomely Simple (John Spence)
- Great by Choice (Jim Collins)
- Drive (Daniel Pink)
- Create Distinction (Scott McKain)
- Delivering Happiness (Tony Hsieh)
- Playing to Win (A.G. Lafley & Roger L. Martin)
- Tighten Your Shoelaces (Ron Johnson)
FAVORITE ALBUM
No Need To Argue (The Cranberries)
TRAINING SESSIONS
(4 – 6 HOUR SESSIONS)
A CRASH COURSE ON ‘BHRANDING’:
HOW YOUR COMPANY CAN DEVELOP POWERFUL ORGANIZATIONAL SYNERGIES BY TEARING DOWN THE WALLS BETWEEN YOUR MARKETING AND HR TEAMS
Summary
This training session explores how companies can gain powerful organizational synergies by pairing their marketing and HR professionals to work together.
Details
Across the globe, a quiet revolution is taking place in both the branding and HR professions.
Companies across the world are tearing down the silos between their branding and HR teams, pairing these two groups of professionals to work together on specific projects, hiring marketing professionals to work in their HR departments and, in some cases, assigning one individual or team to be responsible for both the branding and HR portfolios of their organizations. This pairing of branding and HR professionals has led, in many cases, to a hybrid role which we at Blueprint Creative refer to as ‘bhranding’. This interactive workshop is designed to examine the emerging global trend of branding and HR working together, examine the organizational synergies that can be achieved when branding and HR work together, facilitate a vigorous discussion on the trend of branding/HR integration and empower HR professionals to take the necessary steps to work with their company’s marketing department and/or branding agency. This six-hour session is designed specifically for C-suite executives (particularly, CEOs, CMOs, CHROs and CFOs) seeking to gain powerful synergies by having their branding and HR teams work more closely together.
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR HR PROFESSIONALS INTO BRANDING SUPERHEROES
Summary
You probably know your company’s HR professionals to be responsible for employee- facing initiatives stuff like recruitment, staff training and negotiating contracts. But in reality, once unleashed to achieve their full potential, these friendly neighborhood HR professionals can actually be powerful branding superheroes.
Details
This two-day workshop is designed for companies that have already made the commitment to adopt a “bhranding” philosophy and are seeking to take the bold action of fully immersing their HR professionals into their organizations’ branding program. This workshop takes a deep dive into the shared interests of your company’s marketing and explores the many synergies that your organization can benefit from by pairing your marketing and HR professionals to work hand-in-hand to achieve your company’s branding and business goals. The program also recommends specific actions which your company should take to integrate your HR team into your companies branding program. This session should be attending by the CEO and by members of the company’s marketing and HR departments.
Ron is also available for one-on-one consultations and leadership team training. For more information on Ron’s workshops, keynote speeches or training sessions, please contact Ron at (246) 436-1522 or Ron@BlueprintCreativeInc.com