Improv Everywhere is a New York based collective that organise and execute awesome acts of street theatre. There brand tag line really describes it best, ‘We Cause Scenes’. Whether it’s a complex set up like the Starwars Subway Car above or the Ghostbusters homage, Who You Gonna Call? or something altogether simpler like High Five Escalator.
Posts Tagged ‘Brand’
The fresh off the block branding campaign for the limited edition Absolut Brooklyn directed by Spike Lee is now out. The integrated campaign features an ode to Brooklyn, Lee’s iconic New York home base by current beat poet Lemon Andersen. The campaign combines the brand voice and spirit of Absolut, and weaves the brand personalities of product and place through the TV spot, a Facebook page, Brooklyn Industries t-shirts and a community tie-in with Habitat for Humanity.
Absolut Spike, Absolut brand expression.
We’ve Always Applauded a Little Brand Obsession
Have you ever starred longingly at your … insert favorite snack food… and thought to yourself; “Man, I wish this was like 5 million times bigger.” Yeah, we know you have. Well, lucky there’s a place where all those giant snack dreams come true, and they even give you the recipe to do it. Read the rest of this entry »
Just found this amusing little gem of creative whimmery on the net. It’s by an artist called Brock Davis. He says; “Yesterday I was doing an interview with tpt.org regarding my recent MSCED exhibit. I was asked to try and make something “cool” during the interview itself. Looking around the room, which was quite sparse, and I didn’t have any ideas. Then I saw this electrical outlet, picked up a marker and…voila, snoutlet!”
Loved it so much we had to share.
Brock David (aka Laser Bread) is an artist and musician who works in a variety of mediums. Professionally, I work as a group creative director and art director for an ad agency in Minneapolis.
http://www.itistheworldthatmadeyousmall.com/
05.24.10
When Brand Design’s Baked-In
Designed to be Different
The very best examples of brands that touch the soul are often those with the differentiating design ‘baked-in’. Too often design is seen as the bit that wraps around the (often identical) finished product. I spotted these beautiful Moonflower soaps. Moonflower is a high-end bath and body line from the US and looks like it has beautiful design sown-in to its very DNA.
Colour affects us physiologically
and psychologically, consciously
and subconsciously. Colour is used
to shape and define our lives, our habits, our values and our feelings. The colours we choose to wear and
to decorate our homes give others personal insight into our emotions
and how we wish to project ourselves
to the world. Colour is a silent language that we all react to based-on our learned responses. Our learned associations are critical contributing factors in the way we perceive and attach meanings to colours.
Cultural Awareness
Colour is subjective. Although we may not all see the same colour, within our own cultural group the emotional response is surprisingly common. Colour is a powerful and important communication tool tied to religious, cultural, political, and social influences. While there are commonalities in the meanings of colours around the world, they may also differ greatly between cultures. It is important to be aware that different cultures attach meaning to colour in different ways. The cultural bias for colour symbolism can be very powerful. In China they use white during funerals as they associate white with winter time in which nature is dead; where-as in Western cultures black is used.
In life you often meet people who are passionate about what they do, but it is far more exciting to find someone who is completely obsessive. The beautifully colour sensitive installations of Swedish sculptor Michael Johansson are such an illustration.
“I am fascinated walking around flea markets finding doubles of seemingly unique, though often useless objects I have already purchased at another flea market. Despite the fact that
I did not have any use for them even the first time, the desire to own two of these objects becomes too strong to resist. The unique and unknown origin of the object increases my desire to want the double. This combination of the now-familiar and the new-unknown are among the various factors that come together to create the irresistable pull of these objects.”
MUJI is a highly successful Japanese retail company that sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods. What is interesting is their ‘non brand’ market positioning. They decree for themselves the status of not being a brand, but paradoxically it is the great clarity they have around who they are and who they are not that makes them such a distinctive and compelling brand.
MUJI works very hard at claiming its non brand positioning. It’s name was derived from the first part of Mujirushi Ryohin, which translates into ‘No Brand Quality Goods’. It’s website declares in the very first sentence ‘… MUJI is not a brand.’ Instead it claims that MUJI creates products with a view toward global consumption of the future. That it does not create products that lure customers into believing that ‘this is the best’ or ‘I must have this’. Instead they like their customers to feel the rational sense of satisfaction that comes not with this is the best, but this is enough. Best becomes enough.
03.10.10
The 5 keys of Council Branding
Branding for Local Government
We’ve been recently working with a regional Victorian Council, over the years we’ve worked with Local governments all over Victoria, from the City of Melbourne to the Moira Shire Council. We’re working developing their brand, evolving the brand mark, creating a visual language. and creating a brand system, they can use to easily communicate on brand. It reminded me of the key steps we’ve taken over the years, with our Local Government clients, that have delivered a successful branding project. I thought it’d be good to share them.
Working with Local Government has it’s challenges, but so does working with any organisation. They have no market, no competitors, you can’t pick another council to empty your bins or maintain your park. But they have a vital need to successfully communicate their brand to all their constituents. They need to clearly communicate where every dollar of rates has been spent. These are my 5 keys for successfully branding a Local Government, but they could apply to any organisation.
I have never experienced the pull of an authentic brand quite like I did years ago when I purchased a pair of riding boots. At the time I was an Economics teacher at a Melbourne High School, commuting to school on a motor bike and feeling the need for some foot wear that was a little more robust. I have a few frugal genes in my DNA (you would only have to have met my father to understand where they had come from) and as I ventured out on a buying excursion for some boots these genes kicked in. I arrived home with a pair of elastic sided riding boots that I had purchased from an Army disposals store – they appeared well made, looked a lot like the famous Australian boot brand RM Williams and were, you guessed it, a lot lot cheaper than RM Williams boots.
However, from day one I new that I had made a mistake. The boots I acquired were simply a cheap imitation of the brand I truly aspired to own. They made feel like the great pretender, when what I really wanted was to share in the romance of the rugged outback image of the RM Williams brand. The boots I had purchased delivered functionally, but they stood for nothing at an emotional level – in fact worse than that, each time I pulled them on I felt emotionally depleted. In branding there is no substitute for authenticity, no matter how good the imitation the wearer always feels a little second rate!
