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.’
Posts Tagged ‘corporate-communications’
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.
If you can’t beat em’, why not try and join em?
I flipped across this article from the weekends paper and found it quite interesting. Why? Because Casella Wines owners of wine label ‘Yellow Tail‘ has found it necessary to own the square bracket [...] in the wine market and is willing to fight for it.
U.S Bronco Wines label ‘Down Under‘ while trying to position itself within the cheap wine market, has replicated the visual code of ‘Yellow Tail‘ for its brandmark. By replicating the iconic Australian ‘Yellow Tail‘ bracket, Bronco Wines ‘Down Under’ label positions itself as being very much Australian made and attempts to position itself by visual cues as a Australian label. The visual cues that ‘Down Under’ has “borrowed” to position itself shoulder to shoulder with ‘Yellow Tail’ are as followed:
1/ Square Brackets around wine label name
2/ Iconic Australian Animal on the label – Yellow Tail (Kangaroo) vs Down Under (Koala)
3/ Both wines come in high-shouldered bottles
4/ Australian-centric wording in connection with the sale of Australian wine
‘Down Under’ sells for about $3, half the price of [yellow tail]. It is a touch too obvious to see who’s trying to undercut who. Casella Wines is putting its foot down, and so it should.
Tim Wood
Creative Genius
Annual Report Design Intelligence.
Succinct Reports Impress Investors
A study conducted by the University of Michigan has found that companies with hard to read annual reports have lower earnings tyhan companies with reports that are easier to read and understand. The market actually factors in to stock price what they consider to be poor stake-holder communication. As a brand strategy agency with a focus on corporate image and brand design, we have published a report on the next generation of annual reporting and shareholder communication called ‘AR:Review’. Our perspective on the next generation of shareholder reporting was reproduced in a recent issue of BRW business magazine.
If you work in the area of stakeholder communications and would like a copy of our Annual Report Review, drop us an email.
Dave.
