I had another post in mind for today about how a mega brand is created, but then I saw these videos on Fast Company and that took a back seat. The videos combine two of my favourite things: travel and type. They are told with a visual richness that gave me flashbacks to my last trip to Europe, re-awoke my wanderlust and fired a desire to learn French that teachers never could.
Today it’s more critical than ever for companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors and make memorable connections with their consumers by creating unique, recognisable brands. Every touch point of a brand plays a vital role in brand recall, but the brandmark is the heart and soul of a brand’s image. As awareness of branding grows and more businesses invest in their brand’s identity, colour is becoming more important for companies looking to differentiate themselves visually. In today’s tech-savvy society a website is a main touch point for a brand.
What’s your Brand Image saying about Your Business?
A graphic reminder that the investment you make in your brand image today, builds a valuable business asset for tomorrow. There’s something intangible about brand image that means it is often seen as less critical to the business than other business drivers. A quick comparison of the most valuable businesses in the world and the most valuable brands in the world will show an alignment that clearly suggests investment in brand image should be seen as a necessity for all businesses – Apple being a case in point as both the most valuable tech business and the most recognizable tech brand in the world. In it’s most simple terms – how you present your business to the world through each and everyone of your brand touch-points is creating an image in the minds of your market. The big question is – what image do they have of your brand?
I don’t know about you Charlie, but I wouldn’t be going on that tour – not for all the free chocolate in the world.
Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
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Creator of Brands & Chocolate Obsessive
Wishing you and yours a truly, deeply festive season from all of us.
It is that time of the year when the age old question is asked by children all over the world, do you believe in Santa?
Santa is an amazing brand in many ways. It heavily relies on a vast number of brand ambassadors from parents to department store Father Christmases to deliver the brand, whilst at the same time lacking authenticity as most of the world doesn’t actually believe in it.
Despite all this the Santa brand has brilliant storytelling, an instantly recognizable brand visual language, creates a powerful sense of brandticipation and consistency of brand experience – I don’t know about you but my December 25ths have a definite groundhog day feel to them.
The Santa brand continues to capture the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of people – perhaps making it the most powerful brand in the world. And with a share of the wallet estimated $450 billion plus of Christmas spending in the US alone each year, I’d love to see Interbrand calculate a value for Santa’s brand equity.
For those interested in the exercise of brand thinking with a touch of Ho Ho Ho, take a look at the Santa Brand Book from Quietroom we came across this week:
Freedom of Creation, the dutch product design company that specialises in 3D printing, has teamed up with the Khatt Foundation, a cultural foundation dedicated to advancing Arabic typography and design research, to create the worlds first truly three dimensional typeface.
A Bold Brand Experience.
Playground is a specialist retailer in hiking and outdoor equipment in Sweden. Based on the theory that hiking makes people healthier and more alert, they developed this awesome in-store brand experience to launch their online store, introduce new customers to the brand and drive sales.
We love seeing brands being born, specially ones that connect with our love of good food. From the day we discovered Lord of the Fries, we loved it. They made the kind of chips we loved back in Dublin, real potatoes, double fried , served hot, crispy with a soft fluffy centre, Yum. We even made special trips into the city for some real chips and their yummy vegi-burgers. We told everyone about them, we’d revel when introducing friends to the ‘best fries in Melbourne’.
It all started out so right, a simple well delivered brand promise; real chips made with love. Everything was so on brand (even if at times it seemed a little haphazard) from the simple menu, basic iconic packaging, friendly engaging staff, simple strong brandmark it was all about the fries, the best fries and nothing but the fries.
When Brand Design Duty Calls
Occasionally in this life we lead as brand designers we all need to make sacrifices, to take a hit for the team so to speak. When the call came for me to travel to Shanghai to accept our silver Pentaward for our packaging design work for Gelati Sky, I’m proud to say I was up to the task. This year’s Pentawards ceremony was held in the Belgium pavilion at World Expo in Shanghai, and as you might expect was a truly international affair.
Ripe is a testament to a richly talented generation of new Australian designers.
Heroes. Influences. Dreams. This book does not look back. Instead, it is a celebration of the potential of those who will be the heroes of tomorrow’s generation of designers. The book is about today’s young talent. Be inspired by their work. Rest in the comfort that Australia’s design future is in the right hands. The designers featured have much in common. All aspire to reach a level of unsurpassed quality, all have established themselves as some of the future leaders within their given discipline and all of them provide us with inspirational work. This vibrant and innovative book charts exciting new directions in Australian design.
Nice Book, Nice Rap, Nice Company.
Following on from our post ‘Coffee Avenue – A Great Brand Experience on Wheels’, Kelvin Natural Slush Co., the brainchild of yet another corporate refugee turned foodie entrepreneur, just recently hit the streets
in NYC, offering a more sophisticated version of a childhood favorite — the slushie.
In an effort to adultify the slushie experience, this premium, all natural brand offers “more sophisticated,
less sweet” flavours like Spicy Ginger, Tangy Citrus, and Green & Black Tea, to which you add any number of fresh-fruit purées…and to really take it to a dessert-worthy beverage add a scoop of ice cream for a slushie float.
They also apparently make good mixers, but you’ll have to supply your own booze.
