The Demise of Unique Brand Design
Sadly these days unique and fresh brand identity design is the exception rather than the rule. As more brands seek to become global, the trend has been for the visual language of their brand images to become more and more similar. Global branding firm Landor’s recent 2010 Trend Forecast agrees that ‘A global homogenization of design is taking place, with design blogs and online portfolios as the major culprits.’ They say ‘Companies need to rely less heavily on testing and research, which tend to nullify originality. Brands can’t just follow the herd and hope to succeed.’ And they predict ‘We’ll find larger companies willing to take risks, break the rules, and appear imperfect. Shaking up the status quo will be considered far better than disappearing into oblivion.’
Archive for February, 2010
All Brands Have Meaning
Whether carefully and strategically considered or by default, all brands hold associated meanings in the market place. Well considered brands establish a competitive brand proposition (their brand strategy) with layers of meaning to both differentiate themselves from their competitors and to connect with their audience. These brand reinforce their meaning through all of their actions or brand touch points. As a brand agency we help brands to define their meaning and create the brand design for all their communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers.
Apple Vs Microsoft
Today we compare the brand associations of consumer technology icons Apple & Microsoft.
Goodbye Bush — Hello Remarkable Ad
Working for a creative brand agency I’ve always valued remarkable advertising and marketing. One particular stand-out for me was Veet’s “Goodbye Bush” ad that ran as a quarter page in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Melbourne’s Herald Sun in January 2009. The ad was forwarded in a viral frenzy to family, friends (myself being one of them) and colleagues around the globe, by 3pm the same day had made it’s way back in the in-boxes of staff where the campaign had started – Euro RSCG’s Sydney office.
So what was it that made this ad so remarkable it created a life of its own?
Brand is not a Four Letter Word
Creating Brand Identity for Local Government
Since 1995 we have been continually engaged with defining, designing and communicating brands in the local government space. We’ve worked with more than a dozen different Local Government organisations on hundreds of projects of all sizes and all manner of description. Not-so-long ago we were invited to share that experience with a group of Victorian Marketers who all work within Local Government organisations. We put together a presentation outlining our philosophy to building brands for these unique organisations, it was titled; ‘Br@#nd is not a Four Letter Word. The title was coined as a response to the approach many Local Government organisations take to the branding process — almost too afraid to publicly discuss the project. We worked with one client over many years who implored us to “never use the ‘B’ word in front of the Councillors or Senior Execs.”
The Code of Great Annual Reporting
For 20 years we have been developing corporate brands and communications. Our work has seen
us decode much of the brand and corporate communication landscape, working for businesses across all sectors operating in national and international markets.
AR:ReView is the culmination of us turning our decoding methodology towards defining the a market oriented criteria for creating annual reporting content to global best practice standards.
As we lead the thinking for our clients on their brand definition and communication, we see AR:ReView as a natural extension of how their brands connect with their shareholders and stakeholders, answering the questions:
• How can shareholder reporting be more informative
and accessible?
• How can we best provide the information investors and the market value, in a format that is more engaging, more functional, and easier to understand? Read the rest of this entry »
When advertising and the Customer Break-Up
When it comes to brands, the old adage of the customer is always right is pretty much spot-on. Maybe it’d be more accurate to say the Customer is never wrong. With traditional ad campaigns no longer connecting with their audience at the same emotional level, it’s time for clients and agencies to say “it’s not you, it’s me” and really mean it.
Mad Mex KOs Blank Brand Canvas
A Knock-Out Brand Canvas
We’ve written many times before about the failure of most retail brands to leverage the window space of new stores whilst they’re preparing to open. “What a ripper of a brand canvas to leave blank!” we shout in frustration. “Why wouldn’t you fill those newspaper-covered frames with some fancy brand statement to delight and create anticipation for your upcoming store opening?”
Well thank the Lord we’ve been heard — and by the savvy branders at food franchise Mad Mex no-less. These guys have cooked-up a feast of brand personality, seasoned with bold and unique visual language rich in brand story telling. Check-out the eye popping windows of their soon to be opened Chapel Street store in Melbourne, Australia:
All Brands Have Meaning
Whether carefully and strategically considered or by default, all brands hold associated meanings in the market place. Well considered brands establish a competitive brand proposition (their brand strategy) with layers of meaning to both differentiate themselves from their competitors and to connect with their audience. These brand reinforce their meaning through all of their actions or brand touch points. As a brand agency we help brands to define their meaning and create the brand design for all their communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers.
A Snapshot of Brand Association
The clever people at Brand Tags have been busy collecting a comprehensive list of more than 1.7 million associations that people have with brands. The result is a unique opportunity for those brands to compare the meaning and messages of their brand communication strategy with the brand associations of a cross section of the market.
Audi Vs BMW
Today we compare the brand associations of German Luxury, Automotive brands Audi & BMW.
