Over-thinking a solution is a dangerous trap to fall into as there is a point at which it just becomes mental masturbation. Ideation sessions can turn into a soapbox for some folks to get up and pontificate about how they know what builds a strong brand experience etc. Now it’s time to put all preconceived notions aside and forget about what you think makes a great brand experience. What I have found is what has been true all along: Simplicity works best. To find the answer and achieve simplicity, the ancient eastern philosophers and mystics always strived to clear their minds of clutter and too much thought. Let’s take a page from their brand-absent routine.
What I do is simple. It can work for anyone involved in designing software apps or websites: Close your eyes, take a deep breath and become the end-user for ten minutes. Then think about the steps you would take to achieve a given set of tasks and how easy it would be if you didn’t have to think about certain things. You will start to form a list in your mind of what you would rather not have to do to complete the tasks and how effortless it would be if certain blockages were not there.
If the meditative approach doesn’t work for you, try just being the laziest user you can be – no seriously, I do this very well myself. Start to sketch pictures of what it might look like to have the easiest most effortless experience. What would it look like if everything you need was there when you wanted it? What would it look like if the stuff you didn’t need wasn’t in the way? Now you should start to have some great sketches or a list of what the right experience might look like or at the very least, what the wrong experience would be. Now you’re on the right track to delivering a better brand experience. You’ve humanized it and put yourself in the consumer’s shoes to understand what should not be there and what’s missing.
Some user testing on a simple prototype might help to confirm what is on your list but realistically, your client may not have the time or budget to do this. Am I being too practical? I get that from my Scandinavian mother. This approach may not get you fame on the lecture circuit but it will keep the work under your care consistently usable. Get your designers to throw a layer of sexy on top so it can win some awards and industry praise and you might be approaching a killer brand-experience.
Read Part 1: The Thinkers
There are many digital agencies and professional online marketing companies out there that employ very smart, very popular progressively forward-thinking people who represent the knowledge power of the company. This is not a new approach. Companies have been doing this for a very long time as engineers and artists who tour the lecture circuit become brands unto themselves and do a great job of touting the brain-power behind the companies they work for. Oh, and they get paid very well doing it. 
You’ve seen them before, the cluster of text found on many websites now known as “tag clouds”.