ThinkBlink: FriesenPress Author Jean-Pierre Lacroix on the Power of Emotional Branding
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The following content comes from a recent interview with FriesenPress author Jean-Pierre Lacroix conducted by Brian Cliffen, FriesenPress Employee Owner and Marketing Manager. It has been edited for length and clarity.
“When I meet with clients, I always tell them, ‘I've probably been living in your house for the last 10 years.’ It's amazing how the design work we do touches everyday lives around the world.”
As the president and founder of global branding and design agency Shikitani Lacroix Design (SLD), Jean-Pierre Lacroix knows a thing or two about the power of a first impression. Whether you’re selling yourself, a bag of chips, or a book, earning a customer’s trust is an emotional decision that happens in the blink of an eye.
When it came time for Jean-Pierre to distill over 36 years’ experience into a calling card for SLD, he wrote a book – and partnered with FriesenPress to professionally publish it in print and audio formats.
ThinkBlink Manifesto: Creating Deep, Lasting Emotional Brand Connections in the Blink of an Eye collects decades of insights of helping major consumer brands, financial institutions, and retailers find their Blink Factor – and we caught up with the author to ask him about it.
In our interview, Jean-Pierre shares the story behind the ThinkBlink Manifesto and the Blink Factor concept that has shaped the foundation of his company’s approach to branding. We discuss how the book has become a successful strategic tool for SLD, his experience creating an audiobook with FriesenPress, his expert branding advice for authors looking to establish themselves as experts, and more!
Let’s start with the ThinkBlink Manifesto, the book you produced with FriesenPress. Where did this project begin?
The ThinkBlink Manifesto book started 36 years ago, when we were doing research for Pizza Hut. Consumers weren't calling Pizza Hut "Pizza Hut", they were calling it "the Red Roof." I asked, "Well, why are you calling it the Red Roof? Why can't you call it Pizza Hut?" They said, "Well, that's how I identify with the brand." That became their nickname for it.
I did some research and found out that 40% of all communication is visual, and 80% is colour and shape. That triggered something for me as a designer: when consumers want to connect with brands, is there a way of creating a visual shortcut? I coined the phrase "The Blink Factor" coming out of that exercise back in 1993, and we registered it in 1994, about 10 or 15 years before Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink came out.
That became our North Star. We believe – and it's actually even more relevant today than when I coined the phrase – that differentiating organizations through functional benefits no longer drives growth. Growth comes from connecting emotionally with consumers through brands, focusing more on how the brand makes them feel rather than the functional benefits the product or service offers. That became the gestalt.
About three years ago, I said to myself, "I've got to leave a legacy to the industry. I really need to formalize what the Blink Factor is and how we bring it to life for brands." About 18 months ago, I started writing ThinkBlink, which details the actual process we use to bring the Blink Factor to life for brands. I wanted to summarize all that to promote the importance of emotional connections in the marketplace.
What does it signify to you, as the leader of Shikatani Lacroix Design, to distill 36 years of experience down into a process that others can learn from and follow?
The journey of writing the book was about providing value. The design industry has become very commoditized – and with AI, it’s becoming even more so.
I’ve been fortunate to live through major shifts, like the launch of the desktop computer. When that hit the design industry, clients thought, "Now that you have a computer, design should be a lot easier." But what it actually did was allow us to explore a much broader variety of design solutions in a timeframe that wouldn't have been possible using markers, pens, and rapidographs. AI is doing the same thing today, accelerating the ability to explore options – but it still takes human creativity.
Because of this market commoditization, if we want to remain relevant as a firm, SLD needs to maintain a razor-sharp point of difference. We were fortunate to trademark "The Blink Factor" back in 1993, making an emotional connection with a North Star long before it became an industry buzzword. When we first talked about it, people looked at us like we were crazy and said, "It's about functional benefits, not this fuzzy stuff. Writing the book formalizes our processes and solidifies that point of difference.
It also helps our designers when presenting concepts. Instead of subjective feedback like "I don't like this colour," the conversation shifts to strategic criteria: "Does this meet the Blink Factor principles? Does it connect emotionally?" It changes the narrative from subjective to strategic.
You mentioned how the book functions strategically to educate clients and frame conversations. How does the manifesto work for SLD as a business asset?
What we sell as a design firm is expertise and knowledge. We have 36 years of experience helping brands transform from major reinventions like Dairy Queen to small indie startups.
The book is a platform that reinforces our expertise in a growing space. From a business development standpoint, we leverage it heavily. Working with FriesenPress, we put it on Kindle and released an audiobook on Audible. When we solicit prospective clients, we often send them a free audiobook code. An educated prospect is our best prospect. Hearing the book helps them see the value of shifting from functional to emotional branding, establishing us as credible experts.
We also use the book as an anchor for our content. We publish a ThinkBlink newsletter, and during strategy or sales presentations, we use our AI assessment tool to highlight vulnerabilities a client might not be aware of. There's so much noise in the marketplace with firms vying for budget – having a crystal-clear, relevant point of difference backed by a published book gives us tangible credibility. It’s not just hearsay, it’s concrete. They can read the book, understand how it impacts their business, and apply a lot of those principles.
As a branding firm, you understand optics. Publishing a physical, printed book is a very intentional choice – what is it about the print format that appeals to you?
A printed book, hardcover or softcover, makes a statement. Everyone knows the sheer number of hours required to write content, have it peer-reviewed, and go through revision after revision. When someone physically receives your book, they recognize the commitment and thought behind it. It builds immediate credibility around your beliefs in a way an eBook simply can't.
I've written a lot of eBooks over the years, probably around 10 if you count them all. I wrote one on the future of retail banking that performed well, but an eBook doesn't carry the same weight as something physical you can hold.
I wanted to ask specifically about the audiobook creation process. What was the experience like working with FriesenPress and hearing a professional narrator bring your words to life?
I thought it was really important to have an option for the reader to listen to the books. That's how I basically listen to podcasts when I drive in the morning. I've got my favourite podcasters and I get great insights while I'm driving for 45 minutes coming into the office. I know that people absorb a lot of that information, if they're not going to read it, they're going to listen to it.
I spoke to FriesenPress and the organization was unbelievable. They put me in touch with an audio producer that reviewed the manuscript, provided four or five options of narrators, their voice tonality and then they selected one of the narrators and he read a short section of my book, the introduction of my book to really get a sense of how he articulates.
I have a French name and the company name is a bit of a tongue twister, so they worked really hard at making sure the pronunciation and the language used was easily understood. They sent me drafts of the first chapters as they're being produced. I provided some input, but there was very little need to edit what they did. Then once the book was narrated and completed, they then helped me promote it on all the different platforms, like Amazon and iTunes and all of those platforms. As an author, it was very easy. It was reasonable in price, I did get competitive prices to get a sense of what was fair, and it was extremely fair.
I really want to give a callout to FriesenPress. I've used other self-publishing platforms, and FriesenPress was unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. My previous experience with other companies for my first two books were full of typos. I would receive edited copy and there were more typos in the copy I was receiving than what I sent to them. There was this lack of trust and confidence that what I was getting was going to be accurate.
That wasn't the case with FriesenPress. The editing was phenomenal, the comments on the draft review, which is the first thing they did, and provided recommendations on areas I could improve the content was great. The whole process was great all the way up to the print quality of the books, as well as the delivery and responsiveness of my publishing team. When I send a note to Jonathan, who is my author coach, I get an immediate reaction, he will respond to an email the same day. I can’t say I was getting that from the previous firms I was using. The whole journey was easy, and from a pricing standpoint was very reasonable. I would definitely recommend FriesenPress to anybody that is considering writing a book.
Looking at self-publishing overall, what appeals to you most about this model as a business owner?
When I started writing ThinkBlink, I debated querying traditional publishing houses to negotiate a deal where they take a cut and manage distribution. But I realized my primary goal wasn't to become a New York Times bestseller or get listed on Forbes. The purpose of this book was to reinforce my expertise and serve as a business development tool within my network. Once I framed it that way, self-publishing was the obvious path.
I searched Google, saw FriesenPress, and checked the reviews. Having had bad experiences previously [with other providers], reading glowing reviews from other authors gave me the confidence to move forward.
Securing a traditional publisher is a massive, time-consuming undertaking. They receive thousands of submissions and select very few, so you spend endless energy hoping someone else will pick up the tab. Self-publishing is a much faster, easier, and more direct way to establish yourself as an expert.
As a branding expert and an author who has published multiple books, what advice would you give to a first-time author looking to establish their personal or business brand alongside their book?
As I mentioned, this is my fourth book, so I've learned from my own mistakes. If you are considering publishing your own book, I would offer three points that are pivotal:
Have a Distinct and Disruptive Insight: You are competing for reader attention against endless content. You need a clear, bold point of view that engages readers, a strong "hook." For example, our hook is: If you only market to functional benefits, you're missing 80% of your sales because 80% of purchase decisions are emotional.
Tell a Compelling Narrative: Your chapters must systematically build the argument for why that point of view is critical to the reader's success or business.
Know Your Specific Audience & Unmet Emotional Needs: Understand exactly who you are targeting and why this content matters to them. Fear of loss is a stronger motivator than desire for gain, you need to demonstrate to readers that if they don't read your book, they stand to lose something valuable.
Those would be the three things I would recommend to anybody wanting to write a book. You better have a clear point of view that is disruptive to the marketplace – it shakes the biases that exist out there. You really need to tell a compelling story through the chapters of why that is important. And you really need to understand who your target group is and how that content and insight is relevant to them.
Looking back on the ThinkBlink Manifesto, what are you most proud of regarding the book, the publishing process, and what it represents for your career?
First, I'm most proud of the fact that I actually wrote it! Writing a book requires immense determination. I set a goal in my life to publish three books, and now I’ve published four.
Second, it’s seeing how our internal organization has embraced the tenets in the book. It’s seeing how I’m impacting the learning of our employees and the application of the tenets and the way they look at our clients businesses and the challenges they face. They’ve taken up the mantra and purpose of the book. The book isn't just sitting on a shelf gathering dust – it’s actively driving our agency's work.
Third, I was in a client meeting a few days ago discussing a brand identity program, and the client said, "Out of these four options, we believe this one has the strongest Blink Factor." And so, hearing clients reiterate the principles of ThinkBlink as part of how they make key business decisions is probably the greatest sense of pride.
What’s next for you and Shikatani Lacroix Design? Are there more books in the pipeline?
We are currently having ThinkBlink translated into Mandarin through our Shanghai office, our executive director in China is handling the translation personally. English covers about half our target market, but expanding into Asia allows us to reach a global audience with the Blink Factor framework. That’s our primary focus for the rest of the year.
