CONSID3R BRAND

It's Art

2011-09-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

I've been in the field of design for about 18 years now. There’s only one thing that I’ve been doing longer besides the obvious stuff like breathing, eating, sleeping, etc.

In all of those years I’ve dealt with a lot of brands and brand guidelines. As a designer I felt like they were unnecessary and hampered my creative style... I was too cool for guidelines! My art needed to flow randomly creating as it went along, spewing forth creative juices like a spit-take at the comedy club. Those things are restrictive!!

Now, as a Creative Director I not only see the value of brand guidelines, I help to create them (with the use of the audience and what they like in relationship to our corporate values). They are meant to build a consistency of look and feel, to communicate trust and value, and all of the other things a corporation, mission, or want to communicate. The brand guidelines are the rule book for play of any kind of interaction with the marketplace. Follow them or die!

The truth is somewhere in the middle. There has to be a balance. You do have to understand your audience and what will communicate your particular message the best but you also have to understand that the brand guidelines are not a rule book—they are not law—they are guidelines. Not every question can be answered in such a document. On the other side, there are some things that are virtually absolute and should be followed—logo treatments for example, fonts, colors, etc. Whatever components that your place values.

So what does that mean?

You have to learn as creatives to take what the business values and find your own creative space within that. It can be done, and more importantly, Should be done. It’s all a matter of building consistency within your marketplace, and consistency is a form of trust building. It may also mean that within your environment you have tighter or looser guidelines. Follow them, find the boundaries, and THEN get really creative by staying within those guidelines and Creating!

If you’re creative this shouldn’t be a problem.

Personal Brands

2011-04-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

The talk of a personal brand is relatively old, within the past few years. (I did say "relatively" and what it's relative to depends I suppose...might be relatively new compared to personal marketing and definitely new compared to electricity.)

What is personal brand you ask? For starters, if you can imagine your name as the name of a company or organization, and the reputation that name has amongst it's friends, colleagues, peers, and associates you'd be right on target.

It's something that most of us probably don't think too much about but probably should.

There has been a few iterations of this idea that I'm familiar with over the years. Power dressing or Dress for Success for example, was the idea that the way you dress influences how people perceive you and how they relate to you. That movement if you will, addressed the idea of a visual brand but unfortunately it fell short of a complete brand identity for the individual because you might still open your mouth or pick your nose or forget necessary information. It only looks good and that's important, but it's not everything.

Another brand movement is the idea of going green or being green. Again, it's a great example of a portion of what it takes to create a personal brand identity. Here the emphasis is on what you do—not how you look and again, not what you say. But as they say actions speak louder than words...of course this assumes anybody notices you with your dreadlocks, linen clothes, bamboo socks, refusal to use chemicals, etc. Because now you stink, you look funny, and your hair...well...it's kinda nasty. And of course you still can't say anything or you'll give it all away.

All that said, indirect personal brand movements spawned by the likes of things like Verbal Judo, and How to Win Friends and Influence People all taught us how to be heard effectively. How to get our messaging right, and deliver it in a way that is received by people favorably. These focused on how to speak well but we all know that "words without actions are empty." So again... not quite there.

Finally, social networking arrived. It's taken a while to get it together, but this is a great place to bring it all together. It's not a branding movement per se, it's just a movement, but what's unique about it is that it allows the combination of your visual brand, your messaging, and your actions to all coincide. And guess what? If they don't, people will notice.

I was recently reading in Forbes online that the future of job hunting is going to be directly related to your Reputation online—even potentially more-so than your resume. As it stands, "80% of HR professionals use online reputation information as part of their hiring process, and that 70% had rejected a job candidate due to what they found online." That's not a joke.

So are you ready to take the idea that how you look, what you do, what you say, and what you want to accomplish all MUST jive? You cannot expect to be a photographer if you spend your time writing blogs on branding for example. You cannot expect to be a martial arts business owner if you don't engage your target market AND furthermore, look, act, and BE the part. There is way to much availability to information, videos, photos, and knowledge on the internet to do things half-way. You must focus and grow deep, showing those around you that know your stuff. They will talk about it. You should talk about it to. Get involved in the networks out there around your area of interest.

Caution though... DON'T market yourself or your specialty until you have perfected it. You'll only be teaching others that may have interest, that you're only mediocre.

Once you start to succeed, brag on yourself a bit. You've worked hard. Show it. Get others to show it. Build on it while it's hot.

Alright... go get your brand on.

So you think you need a logo huh?

2011-01-27T14:23:00.000-08:00

Well the question is... do you? Every new business idea seems to start with a new flipping logo. Before there's even any real thought given to target audience, roll out strategies, heck... sometimes even before the product is properly conceived.

It's like the first thing that start-ups want...and it should probably be the last.

Sorry... I rant.

There are two different types of brands that I know of: Monolithic and Independent (this is straight out of Heinz's book on brand). I prefer Monolothic and Diverse but whatev.

The idea is, you either have AN organizational identity or you have MANY identities. I work for an organization associated with many other similar organizations. Each of those organizations has a unique, but related brand. They are related because we often talk about our relationships. They are unique because they often stand on their own for what they do and are supposed to accomplish—their ends if you will. (Not bitter ends by the by.)

Sometimes there are a lot of different logos and ways of communicating that are pushed on to those who support the work we are all trying to accomplish because we rely on each other to participate.

It can be very confusing and what's confusing to an audience isn't likely to be retained or supported for very long.

Furthermore, there are many different ways that each organization reaches their audience: newsletters, emails, DM, magazines, websites, social media, etc. Each of those organizations needs to have a strong brand identity in order to be differentiated and to clarify what it is that they participate in. By doing so they can create a more focused constituency. If they don't...well...it just doesn't work.

Imagine getting several pieces of mail, each with a different logo, each with a different message and style of writing, each attempting to get your participation. That's bad enough right? Now imagine if your organization had a new logo for every program or audience touch point it created? It'd be chaos.

In this situation a monolithic brand is the only real solution. You must solidify your brand messaging, art and campaigns in order to reduce the noise. In our case we still have noise... but there's less.

On the other hand, a company as diverse as Mitsubishi needs Diverse or independent branding. Largely because in reality, they are broken up into unique divisions, each with a unique end and a unique product. Imagine if they all used the same brand? You may be confused about it because the context of the product or solution would constantly be shifting. Mistubishi cars is a different animal from it's steel so having a different look could be work.

So ask yourself, "does what I want a logo for, sufficiently require one?" Or "is their another solution that may build my brand by strengthening what I already do?"

It isn't a red-headed stepchild...

2010-10-28T04:49:00.000-07:00

So you have a brand already, but it's in need of updating right? I mean what's old is, well... old. Perhaps it doesn't feel like it's really a relevant brand any more, perhaps it simply doesn't seem to have moved in the directions you feel it should...

This doesn't always happen from neglect—though that's probably the most likely reason. It doesn't have to be a red-headed step-child issue....

From the Urban Dictionary:

With red hair being rare, a child born to non red headed parents was often assumed to be the child of an affair. Thus was treated badly, usually in the form of beatings.

No, sometimes a brand will get "old" because the culture around it will change. Or sometimes the ambassadors of a brand want it to change....

Of the two, the only thing that should dictate your brand changing is the relevance to the culture it interacts with. Personal preference isn't always relevant. HELLO?? Did you actually hear that? What you prefer may not matter to the larger culture that the brand lives in!

That said, it usually happens that personal preference will begin to change as the culture has significantly changed around a brand, thereby causing pressure on the individuals maintaining the brand to update.

Sometimes that pressure is blatant but sometimes the pressure is subtle and takes place as a by-product of cultural shift.

So how does a company or organization or individual shift their brand? Let's take the topic of diversity. It's not new but it's not old either... It may be that your business has yet to really deal with this topic.

For those of you who have yet to deal with this, I will try to put some ideas out here for you to start thinking about. I'm sure it's not exhaustive enough and I'm sure you're own situation will have some hurdles that I can't know BUT ignoring it won't help. It's NOT a red-headed stepchild.

Okay, here we go....

You want a corporate culture that is diverse. On the surface that seems easy enough. So you start committees and meetings and work at your policies to make the environment ready for "diversity."

POW!

You're ready right?

Not exactly.

The reality is, that unless your staff reflects diversity you aren't diverse. Sure, but you have to create the environment to get the staff right? Yes, but it's not all that simple...

First, you must prepare the culture of your business/org/company. To prepare the culture, you must begin a marketing campaign internally that shifts your brand. Let's say that your an all white, predominately male business. Having discussions at the leadership level are important but moving those discussions into the realm of the "common folk" in a progressive manner is necessary.

Additionally, only employing or recruiting positions within your corporate structure that don't reflect diversity at leadership levels is not being diverse. Let's call it for what it isn't—it's not diversity.

Likewise, appointing someone to a leadership level simply because they are female or from another race, and not based on their actual training and skills will be immediately seen as a token hire. A lie.

You must be willing to change at every level, for the right reasons, and make progressive attempts to do so from within, marketing to yourselves and employing divserity at every level.

I feel pretty confident in saying that by the time you are ACTUALLY diverse, talking about diversity won't be a topic. It will just be.

It's a bit of a catch-22 to be sure but it can and must be done. Brands change. Brands should. They need to be consistent in their message and when changing the need to shift subtley. Don't do the Gap thing....

Look be talkin' 'bout brand

2010-10-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

Pidgin is a form of language that is typically made up of two majority languages for purposes of trade. At least that's how the dictionary defines it.

pidg·in
n.

A simplified form of speech that is usually a mixture of two or more languages, has a rudimentary grammar and vocabulary, is used for communication between groups speaking different languages, and is not spoken as a first or native language. Also called contact language.

For fun I decided to look up the definition of brand. There are many, and a few that relate contextually. I've listed some of them for reference.

brand

n.

1. (Business / Marketing) a particular product or a characteristic that serves to identify a particular product

2. (Business / Marketing) a trade name or trademark

4. an identifying mark made, usually by burning, on the skin of animals or (formerly) slaves or criminals, esp as a proof of ownership

Okay.... maybe not number four.

So in essence brand is "wat we goin say to be represen" and pidgin is a cross language boundary bridge primarily for purposes of trade.

In essence your CORPORATE brand needs to COMMUNICATE to the AUDIENCE. Brand then is a form of pidgin marketing. We need to communicate the ideas of our corporate/organizational culture and it's value into a language that the audience can understand, that's honest and shows the value. If we do this well enough, our pidgin communication will grow.

How do we do that? First, you have to understand the language and forms of communication that your audience like. Do they like video, texting, emails, print media, sound bytes, etc. Then you need to understand what forms of communication your capable of delivering. Then pick the common ground to formulate your brand communication platforms.

This can include all aspects of visual brand such as fonts, logos, colors. Additionally, all forms of written brand such as voice, topic, and style. And, depending on your language of communication it could include other sensorty aspects of the brand such as sound, touch, smell, and taste.

How well we communicate on every level or "brand language" will ultimately determine how well our communication is received and how well the trade language of pidgin becomes established.

Can't touch this! Brand Behavior

2010-09-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

Brand has at least four, count them, four primary considerations. Each of those has sub-considerations. To re-cap, a brands primary considerations are:

Product
Environment
Behavior
Communication

ALL have to be consistent to build trust with your audience. Trust is the goal of Brand Development.

We've talked a little about product and environment in past posts but behavior hasn't made the cut yet—that is—until today!

The thing is, it's sometimes hard to think of a THING as having a behavior right? Well, assuming your product is a "thing" (which we're going to ass•ume for simplicities sake). However, what DOES have a behavior is everyone who touches your "thing"....I'm sorry, that just doesn't sound right....

What I mean is, every person who represents, delivers, builds, or speaks for your company, product, idea—your brand—represents the "behavior" of your brand.

Let's take, for instance, an unnamed huge-ish oil company that may or may not have been largely irresponsible and caused a ginormous oil spill in a certain body of large water, rendering people's livelihoods in danger, killing tons of critters, and generally wreaking havoc.

Then, let's take the fact that they were largely evasive in their approach to admittance of said responsibility for irresponsibility, and add to it that they are making it difficult for people whose livelihood has been destroyed to be compensated. I mean, ass•uming something like that actually would happen....

I'm thinking that it's probably going to hurt their brand. Sure, they could invest millions into ad campaigns talking about how they care, if said company did actually exist, and did do something irresponsible that destroyed more of our planet, but it will take much more to repair, than it would have to just do what's right to begin with.

In the end, it's not the product that has a behavior, it's how everyone involved acts. If you say you are delivering honesty as you unload the lead-based paint toys form China, that's a brand integrity issue. It's a behavior issue. It hurts your brand.

Now let's say that you own a large egg production facility.....

One Step Closer,
Sean Stark
Brand Developer

Use It—Before It Uses You!

2010-08-31T19:42:00.000-07:00

Know, do, and be the environment of your brand!

You cannot separate a brand from where your "product" is used, created, or distributed.
It's also not very distinct from its users or representatives.

So... if you want to have a flowery smelling grease and grime remover, specifically made for bikers to use in a "chop shop," you're probably in for a big disappointment.

How then, do you figure it out? Well some things are just obvious...but other things may not be. Following are some ideas to help you start figuring it out.

Ask yourself:
Is your product local or global?

In other words, is what you do or sell taking place here are someplace else? Wherever it’s taking place, that place is important. What or where is that place? Is it consistent with the audiences expectations?

As an example, in a mission organization, can you balance the idea that your work may take place in villages in Central Africa while maintaining a corporate or business like appearance here in the U.S.? Does that make sense to your audience?

Is it obvious to local audiences that what you do or sell is done someplace else?

Does your audience care about that “other place”?

Does the audience have a preconceived notion about what that other place is like?

What are some examples of the environment your product works in? The mail? The Mall? A farm? A house?

Whatever you decide, your brand must reflect honestly, where your product works, as well as the expectations your audience has on where that product works. If you can align them, your brand environment will make sense.

Any questions?

One Step Closer,
Sean
Brand Manager

Defining The Value of a Brand

2010-08-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

A GOOD brand does not stand on it's own.

It absolutely requires the acceptance or ownership of the audience it is trying to engage—or it won't be successful. It has to have some sort of value.

Technically, you can't even use the term "brand" without an audience of some sort... I mean the idea that it is a brand intrinsically suggests that someone notices it. In order for that to happen, there must be a value. You could create a brand full of wonders but if it's not valued, even if everything else about it is "right"—it simply won't matter.

So ask yourself this:
Is acceptance of your brand going to add Functional Benefit to someone's life?
Or Emotional Benefit?
Or Self-expressive/Tribal benefits?

What is meant by Functional Benefit?

Is our brand/product/message/idea adding practical value in the marketplace?
As a mission or non-profit does your brand bring practical benefit to someone?
Do you do something that cannot be accomplished by someone else?
Do you do what you do better than anyone else?

Here are some examples of brand tag-lines that you may have heard: Have it your way! We don't make *, we make it better! Just Do It!

What is meant by Emotional Benefit?

Is your product going make the audience feel better about themselves?
Safer?
Happier?
More valued?

Here are a few emotional brand tag-lines that you may know: The happiest place on earth, Have a Coke and a Smile! An Army of One!

And finally, the Self-expressive/"Tribal Benefits that a brand could address:

Is your brand unique enough and identifiable enough to have value as being elite or distinct?
Can involvement connect with the need for self-expression?
Will brand acceptance differentiate you?

Classic brands that do these things are: Mac computers, just about anything clothing related. Can't think of any tag-lines off the top of my head... it's late. :)

Generally speaking though, you can find automobile ads and manufacturers that fit into all of these categories, and honestly just about everything else out there. It's really just a matter of knowing what you're looking for.

So think about it. Where does your product / message / organization / idea fit? Wherever you decide the value is, it should lead you to the next step of figuring out via market research what your audience will accept as a brand.

One Step Closer,
Sean Stark
Brand Developer

Effective Brand Considerations

2010-08-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

In my first post I laid out the basics of what a good brand does but if you missed that, here is the summary. A good brand develops trust.

In my last post I laid out the idea of communicating your brands value effectively to your audience through Marketing.

Today, I thought we could get into those avenues or considerations that we can communicate to our audience with by using good marketing strategy.

Consider each of these areas a potential category of opportunity to communicate your brand and depending on the brand itself, some may be more or less engaging to your audience, as determined by your marketing research.

All will probably have at least some impact.

The main considerations of an effective brand are:

Product
Environment
Behavior
Communication

Each of these pieces is significant but don't take my word for it, let's look around.

Have you ever picked up fast-food at your local drive-thru window?

Here is a breakdown of how this could work for a fast-food restaurant.

Product - The food, drinks, childrens toys, price, etc.
Environment - The restaurant or even your car
Behavior - The service at the restaurant
Communication - Everything that was used to communicate

Product
When you get your food do you expect it warm or hot or cold? If so, was it actually what you expected? Why did you think it should be warm or hot or cold?

Should your food taste good? Or average? Or do you expect it to just be filler? Why do you think that way?

Is the price high or low or mid-range and how does that compare with the food you actually received or expected to receive? Why?

Do your kids choke on the fun meal toys making you pull over to resuscitate them? Does the lead-based paint come off in their mouth? Does it break immediately? Is it even fun? What does that matter?

Is the soda flat? Why do you expect it to be right?

Environment
When you get your food, is the place clean enough to eat at? Are there straws in the dispenser? Are the napkins strewn all over the place?

Is the food something that you can even eat in a car? Is it too messy? Does it require a change in driving habits to effectively eat?

Are the restrooms disgusting? Would you feel confident that everyone who works there has washed their hands?

Do your feet stick to the floor, peeling the actual rubber from your shoes when you try to move?

Why do you have these expectations?

Behavior
Are the people who are taking your order courteous?

Do they get your order correct? Do they listen well enough that you feel confident your order is going to be correct? Why do you think your order should be correct?

When working with them face to face, are they talking on a cell-phone or otherwise distracted? Does that bother you?

If you interact with anyone at the restaurant—even customers—are they polite?

Communication
Is what's expected of you clear? Are the menus easy to read and find what you want?

Do the restaurant staff mumble or speak clearly?

Do the restaurant staff make you wonder if secretly they hate you and would rather drag you behind a car rather than give you a burger?

Is it clear where to stand and what to do next?

Do they respond in a language you understand and can they understand you?

From this list, we can see a pretty good range of how this works. Maybe the next time you go through a drive-thru at some unnamed restaurant you can evaluate their brand.

Your product may not be fast-food but these principles of evaluation can still be used. Perhaps, in the long-term you can evaluate your own brand? Most people have never been taught to think about it but all people respond to it—positively, negatively or with indifference.

If you want to make your brand an Effective Brand begin to consider how it fits these ideas and be honest in your evaluation. You can't say "Have it your way." and give me something I didn't order, expecting me to be satisfied. Or "Hot, Fresh, and Fast" and it's cold, old, and slow.

One Step Closer,
Sean Stark
Brand Developer

Brands and Marketing

2010-08-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Previously I posted what I believe is the main point of branding. The big idea. The whole enchilada encapsulated in a single thing. Building trust.

The idea of trust being one of honesty and consistency between what you say your product is, does or will do and what it actually is, does or will do. Easy enough right?

So let's carry that through a bit. Let's say you are a non-profit organization. One that purports to do something good around the world. On some level it doesn't really matter what that is at this point. The assumption is that it could be clean drinking water, or cultural preservation or whatever. Or, let's assume that you own a somewhat successful retail electronics store chain. It doesn't matter. The idea is, you can't tell me you have great products, if they are ultimately not so good.

Even if they don't suck, if you tell me they are great products I will expect great products. If you tell me they are good prices I will expect the prices to be good—I may not worry so much or expect the quality to be good. Figure out what your brand is about then build it.

As you can see, the best brands will consider marketing. Being a brand developer I think the world revolves around branding. Unfortunately, if you develop a good brand, one that is honest and could build trust, it may not ever matter if you don't understand what your audience wants.

Marketing is that piece. Marketing is understanding what your audience wants and delivering it to them in that way. Brand, especially a brand that is conceived in completeness, is a significant element of that.

What does that mean? Well, if you're a good brand developer you'll understand and desire that you have good marketing, specifically good marketing research to know what matters to your audience. With that, your brand can become even more focused and more signfiicant to those who would use or support your product or services.

One Step Closer,

Sean Stark

Brand Developer

What is Branding?

2010-07-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

It seems that a blog of this nature should probably start off with a definition of what branding is in order to establish the basis for the conversation.

In my experience, most people look at branding as being about appearances primarily.

That is only partially true. It is absolutely one of the components of branding but it is by no means the totality of what is encompassed by the word branding.

As a concept, branding is the method or methods we use to communicate our "message," to an audience with the end result of building their trust.

For that to happen ALL forms of communication or methods need to be coherent or communicate the same way, with the same messages, consistent with whatever product or idea you are offerring.

Things you should ask about your branding:

Is your brand trustworthy?

If I believe in you, or your product, or your idea—is that going to be a positive or a negative experience for me?

Is your brand consistent from message to message to product or idea?

Likewise, another way to ask that question is "does the image I present, or my product, or my company, match with the quality or value of the product?"

If the answer is No to either of these then you need to go back to the drawing board and get everything aligned. This may mean that you have to cut some ideas, products, and even people free.

If the answer is Yes you're one step closer to building a successful brand.

One Step Closer,

Sean Stark

Brand Developer