Branding is the process in which we either create new brands or give a helping hand to brands that have lost their way. Or, in the case of brand portfolios, we optimize the brand architecture to best support the holding company’s business strategy. In most cases, this means deleting brands rather than creating new ones.
Booms have a tendency to create unnecessary and costly brands that have little or no added value to their holding company’s business strategy. In most cases, these “unnecessary brands” not only drive up costs but also add to the muddled image of their owners. More brands mean more messages. More messages make it harder for stakeholders to understand and take action. They add to the market paralysis that stands in the way of growth and ultimate success.
So, do not use more brands than you need. They drive up your costs and decrease your chances of success. Instead, focus on the brands you need and make sure that these brands are developed and supported to perform at their best.
Values, or brand values, are among the most important features of a brand, for both authorities and commercial organizations.
Our values do not only allow us to fulfil our promises to our stakeholders, but they also lay the foundations for a cultural shift in a positive direction. They allow us to be an attractive employer going way beyond our everyday duties.
When a regular nine-to-five job at a company is no longer attractive enough for prospective talent, our values suddenly become a very competitive factor. It is our experience that the process of developing successful values is all about participation and inspiration. It is a process not only for the few but for the entire organization. It is a process that, when done correctly, can act as a catalyst to bring about organizational change.
If you are interested in knowing more about how you can develop your values, please contact brand strategist Alex Holmén.
Source: Universum Global/IDEAL Employer Rankings/Business 2011
Stationery has always been a much loved touchpoint in the eyes of both designers (us included) and those who buy design. Much loved? Yes. Important? Sometimes.
With the exception of consulting organizations, stationery only amounts to a fraction of the total experience of the brand. It might not even be more important than the tiles in the restrooms.
So, how do you know which touchpoints matter the most? The two-second answer is simple: draw up the itinerary for your stakeholder journey, then make the trip yourself and let others do the same. What touchpoints did you meet the most? Which ones made the greatest impression? Which ones did you consider most important for added value?
The downside of prioritizing stationery in the wrong situation becomes apparent when it is time for activation. A worst-case scenario might leave you with an elegant serif font (which, by the way, is off-brand, but it did look beautiful on your business cards…) that is practically impossible to use on a billboard, to animate to your web or it’s in a colour that you can’t even find in the NCS for your retail environment.
The lesson to be learned here is to figure out which of your touchpoints matter the most before you develop your new identity. When your identity is optimized for your brand and business, you can enjoy the beauty of your stationery with no regrets.
This is what we did when developing the new identity for SATS. We knew that large physical environments would be our main challenge when it came to activating the brand. To overcome this, we used a bold typeface and large-scale patterns as keys for their identity. Thinking ahead is the only way to avoid the stationery effect.
Accessibility is one of the oldest types of benefits – being able to call your golf club director 5 minutes in advance, booking 3 tee times at your local golf club, or getting a table at your favourite restaurant without having a reservation. Accessibility is paramount. It gives you a feeling of freedom, respect and a sense of importance. It is worth paying extra for.
Many are the brands that make their profits on key chains and hats, instead of their core product. The fear of flooding and non-exclusivity has to be conquered. Today everyone buys premium brands. It is simply a matter of proportions: the rich buy a lot of premium brands while the poor buy them too, but not quite so often. The target group for premium brands is widening. Fast.
The technology of today allows premium brands to be exposed to a wider and wider audience. Everyone can be a premium customer at Sky or Spotify – full accessibility 24/7. Brands with a traditional business model can gain some insight from these emerging brands; keys to increasing their sales volumes without risking their premium positioning: accessibility and tailoring for the individual customer without other customers being aware of it.
You might call this a more private brand experience.
When a brand uses colour consistently, it helps us perceive and remember information easily. It is a great tool for creating brand recognition, association and loyalty. Colours create emotions – instantly and strongly; an effect that is often exploited in branding. A colour can make or break your brand, launch and/or expansion. It can differentiate you from your main competitor (read: enemy). Despite this, more brands are turning black. They are becoming black as a result of personal preference – the brand manager’s, the marketing director’s or the agency art director’s. This isn’t the way effective branding is done. Or is it?
IBM, former champion of blue, is turning black. Burger King’s new retail concept is black (associations to burned meat anyone?). Both Adidas and Nike are moving closer to more black each year. Peugeot is downsizing their blue. Opel’s yellow is more or less absent and SAAB, maybe as a visual manifestation of their inevitable disappearance, is turning grey or, from time to time even white on white. You get my drift.
If you consciously embrace the grey scale, it can be a good way to enhance other tools. Graphics, imagery, and typography can be turned into the heroes when the eye-popping colours take a step back. These days we favour the employees; they are our strongest asset. With the absence of strong colours, they are put into the limelight.
A business suit and a bridal gown are black and white for a reason – to let the wearer shine. Less colour on the façade demands higher quality in the actual content. If you dress up in something low-key, you need other tricks to gain your viewers’ attention. Remember that the apple of Apple used to be as colourful as a rainbow back in the days when it was struggling. Today it is a lifeless grey. Sparkling personalities apparently need no additional make up…
While we encourage our clients to walk less travelled branding paths, we advise them to think twice before desaturating their brands. A can of Coke needs its red colour to stand out on a crowded shelf. We might go for the wrong rental company if it were not for the bright yellow and red of Hertz and Avis. Colour continues to play its ever so important role in branding. Maybe just a little less saturated……
We live in a visual culture where images play an ever greater role. Unique imagery is therefore a tactical aid in helping people associate values with a brand. And the fact that 75% of all our sensory receptors are to be found in our eyes heightens the importance of unique imagery even more.
When service companies describe their activities, more often than not they use images of happy lively people in their best years – quite logical when you think about it as there’s no physical product to photograph. Seriously, what other way is there of capturing something like a pension insurance offer, a bank service or some sort of consultant service in picture form?
Apple and Audi are examples of two product trademarks with very distinct imagery. Consistent colours, angles and proportions together with other design elements provide a high level of recognition in all the media. But if we put in another product in its place, for example Nokia where Apple should be, or a Toyota where we are expecting to see an Audi, the impact of the imagery will be reduced considerably. So, a unique product is a good starting point when special imagery is going to be created for it.
There are several service companies who instead try to create originality by linking themselves to a well-known face that will provide a symbol for the values of the brand. In theory, Tiger Woods was a good solution for Accenture, who used him consistently in all their communication, before he put his foot in it and managed to produce quite different associations to the slogan “High performance. Delivered”. It was a short-sighted solution with a dramatic end in other words.
When we were developing a design platform for Folksam, we decided to look for a new type of imagery that would support the brand’s core values. We chose to visualize images from daily life rather than dream images. Some of the images don’t even have people in them, but instead indicate a human presence. A lone stick-back chair maybe reminds you more of your own sweet home than a picture of a whole house? A turn-of-the-century building perhaps tells you more about the need for home insurance than sparkling white teeth? We think so.
It is often said that pictures tell lies because they are not filtered by our rational filters, but a true picture can provide a true picture of your trademark and that is worth a lot.
