"a brand is more than a logo or a marque" is often how we start a brand presentation. Even though we try and deemphasise the role of the logo in a brand project theres no denying its power in conveying a message or thought, particularly to a board of directors who often need something tangible to rally behind.
Forpeople's recent re imagining of the British Airways crest is a great example of how much can be communicated through a graphic device. 'To fly, to serve' has long been BA's essence and, despite choosing to downplay it in recent years, has stuck as a figurehead for what the company stands for. The crest (above) depicts two creatures dancing across land and ocean - their wings outstretched, and a fleet of concordes bursting from a blazing sun. What does this communicate to me? Well, I see an organisation whose conquering of the skies has had global reach. I see an organisation approaching a new dawn and, perhaps even, an organisation harking back to former glory.
Heraldry has historically been considered a language in its own right (wikipedia has a pretty in depth write up on it here) and whilst we may have forgotten some of the intricacies involved in translation, a logo or marque can still be a powerful tool for communication.
I've had a little go at creating my own coat of arms. What does it say about me? Well that's up to you to read into.
The street botanist in me has observed a subtle brand strategy happening right under our noses. Those little back street car washes have been having marketing meetings and they have employed a global brand strategist! Or have they? If they haven't then who is policing the brand and ensuring such great consistency across yellow car washes up and down the land?
Have a look here or when you next pop out for lunch or at the weekend.
You may or may not have used a yellow car wash, but they are here to stay. Especially with more space becoming available on the high street and the fact we are all too lazy to wash our cars (sadly another great British past time that I enjoyed with my dad as great father son mentoring bites the dust!).
But why yellow? Yellow has it's merits as a colour. Color psychologists tell us yellow is; warming, uplifting, positive and spring-like. Yellow Pages has for decades stood up and represented local traders. Taxi's have associations with yellow and they share the car washers passion for using it to promote their services.
I find it fascinating that yellow car washes have united independently behind this colour. It says something about what's going on in our heads. It speaks of belonging to a tribe – the tribe of yellow car washers (now that sounds quite cool). It speaks about how simple business brand principles are at work even in the most modest of services.
It goes to show that often the answer is out there. Creativity sometimes holds a mirror up to business problems and reflects back the obvious that hadn't been noticed before. So here's to the yellow car wash businesses up and down the UK, their bright yellow signage, each the same from town to town, helping us wherever we are identify the great service of British car washing!
We’ve been hearing it for a while now but it seems that 2012 might finally be the year that mobile marketing finally comes into the forefront and starts to play with the big boys.
Over the past year, growth in the mobile market has risen dramatically on all fronts. With apps, mobile search advertising, game advertising and now retailers, the mobile market place is starting to deliver the numbers!
It seems that everywhere you look you can start to notice the overwhelming power mobile marketing is gaining with 4 billion phones in the world and internet usage on mobile devices set to overtake usage on desktops by 2014 you can see why people are starting to sit up and take notice.
Until now you may not have considered mobile marketing but are wondering how it relates to you or how you can incorporate it into your marketing mix. Well there are many different options and some will relate better to your business than others.
The first step is to look at the advantages to your business of Mobile advertising. Mobile Advertising broke US$3.3billion by the end of 2011 and is expected to rise to US$20.6 by 2015. The main gainers here are in the mobile paid search advertising and local mobile ads. In the US over half of all mobile ad spending is on local search ads. Of course Google are at the forefront of all of this and even recently announced that mobile websites are equally important to page rank as regular web pages. They have even set up with own ‘go mobile’ site (hotogomo.com) explaining how to optimise your websites and adverts. (infact, how many of you are reading this on your phone right now?)
The next step is to look at your Mobile SEO. 50% of all local business searches are done using a mobile device, are your keywords optimised for local mobile searches?
Another way to expand your mobile marketing is to have a go at creating your own app. With over 300,000 developed in the last three years and a predicted 29 billion app downloads this year now is the best time to be looking at the world of apps for your business. Brands have started realising the potential power of being able to push their content to mobile users with many well known retail companies, utilities and restaurant chains releasing their own branded apps across multiple platforms.
You could also try SMS marketing. Although there is nothing new about SMS marketing it is highly effective and is seen as one of the more personal advertising mediums. With nearly 8 trillion SMS messages sent this year and nearly all 4 billion mobile handsets able to receive them, it is no wonder that SMS is becoming a more popular choice.
SMS marketing is most effectively used as a way to engage customers by offering a level of service via reminders, notices and most commonly voucher codes. The other reason that SMS marketing is so effective is because it is usually opt in, which mean that people are a lot more responsive to it and therefore reactions are more positive and therefore more profitable.
So when was the last time you looked at Mobile marketing? Is it time you re thought your marketing strategy to maybe incorporate some aspects of this stable and rapidly growing marketing medium? Just something to think about for the new year ahead!
What better way to rocket into 2012 than with some great new friendships.
www.thevintner.com The Vintner are a young up and coming Chelsea wine merchant with a passion for great taste and great knowledge. Their wine list never exceeds 100 wines (meaning each is tasted and tested to perfection) and you'll never pay more than £30 a bottle. With The Vintners boundless knowledge of wine and our in-depth marketing know how, were taking wine to a new level.
www.brainbox.co It's a tough job researching The Green Board Companies products. Hours of playing with their ridiculously addictive Brainbox games, honing our memory, maths and strategy skills, all in the name of a sweet as you like marketing strategy to build their B2C database.
www.bl.uk Working with the British Library we soon found that we shared a passion for right brain innovation meets left brain strategy. Rather than horde all of that creative chemistry to ourselves we've thrown it open to the general public with our first ever collaborative brand workshop. Book your place here
Over the last few days I have followed with interest the blogosphere discussions and arguments around Apple’s latest education announcement (New York, 19th January 2012), and it has got me thinking…
…But before I begin, what was announced?
In a nutshell Apple launched 3 things that they believe will revolutionalise education:
iBooks 2 (featuring iBooks textbooks). This is the free app that enables iPad users to view stunning text books in full multi media interactivity.
iBooks Author – This is also a free app that enable Mac users to create beautiful iBooks textbooks.
iTunes U – This is another free app that I will leave someone else to write about.
Anyone can create ibook textbooks, and anyone can distribute them for free (via iBookstore). However if you want to start charging for the books through the iBookstore you can do so, and Apple will take 30% of the profits as their cut. You can’t distribute the iBooks via any other means.
…Now, back to my thinking. Much of the press/blog discussions are around the cost of production and ownership of the book. There seems to be some that believe that the licensing means that Apple wants to own the book itself (ie the content). I don’t believe that this is the case. Then there is the normal stuff about the amount that Apple make from each sales transaction (30%). I do not sit in the camp of the whingers. Apple is a business, and as the inventors they are the rule setters. So we either ignore them or work with them. Our choice.
But I DO think that there is a whole line of argument that seems to be missing, and so I will lob it into the melting pot of thinking. As a marketer, I am very interested in who owns the customer. And although this is an education announcement – it is also a business announcement. And whilst children will be educated along the way, many business opportunities will arise from this announcement. There will not just be pupils – there will be customers. Creative ideas will emerge that will create many new market opportunities. I believe that these emerging ideas will go far beyond the boundaries of traditional education.
As a marketer I work on marketing systems that build a relationship with clients/customers.Just like iTunes, iBooks challenge this marketing model, as they operate a classic indirect sales model. It will be very difficult to build relationships with these customers, because we can’t talk to them, so we have to resort to indirect marketing methodologies. Again, this is not a point for whinging, but a point for understanding. We must understand what we are dealing with.
Apple may not own the book, but they definitley own the customer.
Ps/ If Apple are as successful as they want to be in the education sector, then the iPad will become to textbooks what iPod has become to MP3 players. The iPad will be as ubiquitous as the common old text book. Genius. Scary, but genius.
Pss/ I wonder if one day Apple will re-package our data and sell it back to us. I expect so. I am sure it is in their grand plan even as I write this.
Pride is often a frowned upon virtue, but being proud of my daughter is OK. To be proud of someone elses achievement seems acceptable. In a recent survey by British Future in their State of the Nation Report for 2012 they ask "do we want to be proud of the society we have become?"
The Hopes and Fears survey found that people felt proud and excited of the 2012 Olympics and the Queens Diamond Jubilee but also embarrassed or bored by these events in the year ahead. Further results identified a strong Yorkshire pride in being British harking back to 1948 the last time the Olympics graced our lands.
Does corporate pride come from togetherness? A coming together when times are tough. When our communities are thrown together to unite or solve a challenge, even negative community issues – do we begin the journey towards something that could ultimately lead to us feeling corporately proud?
When we discover this corporate pride we become advocates. We share more interesting stories in lifts and at BBQs. We exercise a positive outlook on life. This attitude is infectious and adds great value to the energy required to getting things done, feeling more healthy and a general all round goodness.
Any successful brand will have a tribe of followers, those of us that are keen to be advocates of the product or service we love. A quick journey around the ABA office revealed some brand Love Marks our team are individually very attached to.
But would they say they feel proud of those things they love. Can a brand truly convert followers and loyalists to that higher echelon of corporate pride? In the 1970's Milton Glaser created the ultimate 'in your face' pride emblem with his I Love NY logo. Would we wear these with pride in 2012?
I am looking forward to the Queens Diamond Jubilee knees up and the buzz around London 2012. I made a new years resolution to be positive and I guess proud of London this year. Maybe this year brands that embrace a corporate sense of shared pride will gain traction amongst their followers. Brands can encourage pride, nourish it and reward it, so how can you develop a brand that followers are proud of in 2012?
Top 5 tips to make people proud of your brand:
1. Recognise togetherness as an asset
– a small welsh outdoor clothing company often holds outdoor entrepreneurial lectures in the summer, they are always sold out
2. Reward your customers and audience for their achievements
– a friend visits a restaurant regularly they always know his seat, on his 100th visit they gave him a bottle of champagne
3. Be a leader not a follower
– we recently heard about how a market research company completely reinvented how they test ads for clients – brilliant
4. Create inspiring environments
– retails brands do this really well, but if you're a business to business company you can still create an inspiration workspace
5. Turn negatives into positives
– a friend helped a leading retailer to turn around their customer service desk from a grave yard to 'the' place for staff to work
Experimentation with iPad art on a recent visit to Prague. Sitting having lunch opposite the Prague Astronomical Clock, I was inspired to get the iPad out and carry on exploring using Adobe Ideas. Such an amazing app!
In fact we have found it a really useful tool when exploring ideas in group settings with clients and partners. Drawing in front of people accelerates ideas and creates great group dynamics.
One has to be a bit careful about how you arrange these words as we shall see later. But what will be the big brand trends in the UK in 2012? Well one things for sure a lot will focus around London.
On a recent trip to the shops we adopted a little brand research which confirmed a theory for a brand prediction in 2012. Cities have always been associated with history, beginnings, fame, fortune and big brands. As we can see Prada and Milan, Donna Karan and New York. But London's big event is coming – oh yes 2012 will be the year when everyone will want to have a bit of 'brand London'.
It may be official partnerships like Visa and London 2012, official residences for Westfield (we were actually in Shepherds Bush) and Storm or more dubious connections that we have seen before - lond'on'time.
Will we see a lot more of this in 2012? With brand mashups in attempts to piggy back on the equity of bigger brands and events. Hasn't it always been going on? Just take a look down your local high street and you will see London brand creations extraordinaire!
So what's going to fuel this in 2012? The Olympics is coming to London town and we predict this will keep 'have a go' graphic designer busy from January 2012 into the distant future. LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) I am sure will be vigilant and on guard but one fears that it is already happening innocently and no doubt towards games times others will turn London into a brand frenzy with flags, tee shirts, bags and badges.
So that's one simple brand prediction for 2012, that will have a big impact on products, goods and services throughout our city. Who's to say which bit of London you can and can't use, which colour, the year, whether you will be having games at your event or if your product or service origin is here in London.
By the way, if you are confused about using the London 2012 Olympics brand logo or emblems then check out their website terms and conditions here: who is allowed
In the 1940’s an advertising exec by the name of James Webb Young published a paper on the techniques used for creating ideas. Young believed that great ideas weren't born from spontaneous eureka moments, but rather a series of exercises that anyone and everyone could follow.
The paper, ‘a technique for producing ideas’ which later went on to be published, is still widely regarded in the branding and advertising world as a must read (It can be found super cheap on amazon, and is still well worth picking up 50 years on).
Young’s first stage in the ideas process is all about data gathering. Obviously in the 1940’s this meant trawling through newspaper articles, reading books and listening to the radio. Crucially, Young makes the distinction between targeted data gathering (i.e. research on your subject matter) and contextual data gathering (anything and everything else that might have resonance). With a wealth of relevant and non relevant data at your fingertips you’re ready to start trying to piece it all together to form your idea!
Despite Young claiming his process could be used by anyone and everyone, it seems to me that a creative mind is still needed to hunt down which articles or books to read. Telling someone to effectively ‘research anything’ is a big hurdle for many to overcome. If, for example, I’m trying to come up with an ad campaign for a milkshake, which 6 books would I borrow from my local library? A book about the history of milk? An illustrated book of British dairy cows perhaps? How about Jamie Oliver's chocolate and cocoa recipes? There are literally hundreds of sources of information that could prove useful – narrowing them down is the problem!
Fortunately for us data gathering took a huge leap forward with the introduction of the internet. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg is a prime example of someone who levied the power of the net to pieced together data from multiple sources (human psychology and online networking to name just two) to form an idea.
These days data gathering is even easier. Using Twitter and RSS feeds we can literally feed ourselves a constant stream of relevant information. How do I come up with an ad campaign for a milkshake in 2011? Well one place to start would be following dairy farmers, smoothie makers, chefs and taste experts on Twitter. Add in RSS feeds from blogs like Lifehacker and I can sit back and let the ideas come to me.
We thought we would have a bit of fun, as it is the season to be jolly. Play this simple game and see if you can match back the brand assets (taglines in most cases) to their rightful home. In most cases we have taken a business brand and mashed with a retail product.
We have only used the typeface Arial and added a little proposition before each one to try and convince you the mash up is correct. Ask your self the question as you play; are these brands stronger now, weaker or were they any good in the first place? Answers on a postcard to the creative director!
The challenge starts here...
Citi Total brings robust protection to your business, helping you have complete control over your financial future:
Dell Advanced Performance is in every detail, of every component, in every product we produce:
Adidas Imagination at work – we've imagined every move you'll make, so you can stay one step ahead:
Duracell The power to do more – whatever the challenge it will last longer and be stronger with Duracell:
Budweiser for the smarter planet – the defined taste of beer for the smart occupants of planet earth:
Colgate Never Sleeps – 247 protection for your teeth healthcare, brush twice a day for protection that never sleeps:
GE Impossible is nothing – our experts come from every corner of the globe, together they know impossible is nothing:
IBM Great times are waiting with our technology powering your communities to do more:
Remember it's only a bit of festive fun, but it's gets you thinking, what do those words really mean?
(First correct postcard to the creative director will receive a prize. Actually you might find email quicker – richard@aba-design.co.uk)
Well actually they're not all blue. In fact the largest crisp producer in the UK, Walkers, who hold 47 per cent of the British crisp market, producing over 11 million bags of crisps per day, have green salt and vinegar crisp packaging! I swear they used to be blue? And even if they didn't used to be blue, all salt and vinegar crisp packaging should be blue right?
The selection of salt and vinegar crisp brands here includes, Kettle Chips, Golden Wonder, McCoys, Hula Hoops, Phileas Fogg, the list could go on and on. Colour and branding are important right? Red means stop, danger and pay attention, green means go, organic and the environment. So what about blue, cool, sky and sea – ahh yes the perfect colour for salt and vinegar would be blue. Sea, salt, fish, chips, vinegar all the right associations are made. Blue is the right colour for salt and vinegar crisps.
So why oh why does the UK's largest crisp producer buck the trend, causing endless shopper super market shelve confusion and pub garden rucks over who's crisps are who. They break the crisp sectors established mode of communal crisp packet colouring conduct. Not only do they put salt and vinegar in green packets and cheese and onion in blue but they then swap that around back to conventional coloured packets for Lays their international crisp brand.
When chatting with some crisp aficionados 2 out of 3 said "I can remember when Walkers changed their salt and vinegar crisps from blue to green", but according a Walkers online Q&A they have always been like that?
Guilty I say, not only for confusing the world of crisp munchers but for being inconsistent. Walkers may have taken the lead from 'Britain's noisiest crisps', but please Mr Walker sort out your colour coordination and save Great Britain unesscerary super shelf confusion and pub garden crisp contretemps!
Newspapers usually print their estimated readership on the front page, but as a friend pointed out recently the Metro free newspaper readership can be doubled or tripled due to the 'read and pass on' culture that has developed on buses, trains and London Underground.
Metro proudly promotes they are 'the world's most popular free newspaper' which is amazing and a great acheievement but I believe they have acheived something far greater. Something that is embedded deep in the British psyche – Britishness, being quiet on public transport, ignoring each other. Traveling day after day with the same people but never speaking or interacting, because that's who we are, how we should behave.
Since the Metro has become part and parcel of the everyday hustle bustle of commuter heaven I have observed this: people smiling as they say, "could you just pass me the (as they point at a Metro on an empty seat)" or "sorry is that your? (pointing at a Metro). No? Great could I...", "Yes please do, be my guest". Such pleasent interaction as we ask and pass on the Metro newspaper, one to another throughout many commutes across the UK.
Oh such pleasantness, politeness, smiling and nice gestures – in essence a change of behaviour!
In my world that makes the Metro a super charged brand – it's not only good, in fact the best and biggest, but it is actually changing behaviours. And to change the behaviour of the British public commuting to work in the mornings is none short of miraculous!
I watched 'Made in Dagenham' the other evening. Loved it. It has everything. A bit of British social history, story of competitive women, nostalgic romance: you name it. Something in particular captured my imagination. The references to Berni Inns. My childhood memories came flooding back: Meals at the Maidenhead Berni. Birthdays, Sunday lunches, Mothers day. Even celebrating my Dad's win on Teasy Weasy's horse in the Grand National. What happened to this household brand? On researching, it appears that the brand was blissfully ignorant on how British culture was changing and in particular how British food tastes were changing. Not moving with the times appears to be its biggest downfall.
This thought process made me consider the question - what makes a successful brand stand the test of time? And this has endorsed my total belief that a brand and business are intimately connected. Brands only continue to be successful if all of the business factors of that brand are lined up and squared off.
I have had the privilege of working with some amazing brands that have lasted the test of time. From the London Stock Exchange to Spurgeons to Johnson and Johnson. I am currently working for a fantastic charity, which started in 1854 that is re-branding - as it recognises it must modernise to survive (more of that in a future blog). They all have something in common: Great leadership that can see trends and have the insight to bring corrective change to adapt and move with the times. Leadership that can see threats from all angles (have you done a PESTEL analysis on your own organisation recently?) and see how to overcome obstacles.
Only once all of those fundamental things are right can a brand then really take flight. When we at ABA work with brands, we are as passionate about the business behind the brands as much as we are about creating great stories for those brands. I would like to think that if we were working on the Berni Inn account now, we would have been working with them and challenging them about the ways they were doing things, and not just creating nice 'stuff' for them.
There's no reason on earth why old brands can't prosper. But they do need to watch their backs.
Walking through my local shopping centre I had a profound moment. A moment that cemented in my mind that rare breed - a brand that is associated with getting the job done. In this case sucking up the dust, bits, bobs and the unwanted from shop floors, small businesses and community halls across Britain.
I saw two shop assistants consecutively shuffling to and fro with their beloved Henry, shutters half down, customers gone, but that efficient drone of a Henry can be heard and so easily identified. A perfect little symbol, not cool or high tech but brutally basic, that's why it works. The small industrial vacuum cleaner that is tough and no nonsense. Trusted and relied on across our land to ensure, tomorrow, things will look ship shape and ready for business.
The production home of this national treasure is a company called Numatic International Limited based in Shard Somerset. Over 4000 little Henrie's are born every day from a loving and skilled team of over 700 people. The more you explore Henry the more he becomes a British superhero brand. 40% exported overseas, a success possibly because of Henrie's quirky bowler hat, a postcard symbol of Britain and London overseas. The business is solely owned by Henrie's creator, the concept first realised in 1968.
But all that stuff aside, red Henry's sell themselves. We all become advocates of stuff we use that works and does the job. But the simple symbolism created around Henry adds a little personality and story telling. That makes him viral - anyone can remember the little fellow - "get one of those red hoovers, with the smile and nose, the one with the hat, the cartoon hoover!". These associations do the branding job extremely well. And they never stop working.
My walk through the shopping centre that night, past two consecutive identical situations emphasised how successful Henry is.
He's out there, he works, he smiles and everyone remembers him - genius!
This large guy has lasted for ever and is a great example of symbolism in branding. He's simple, versatile, fun and playful – everything you need to keep communicating all the good stuff about your brand.
His name is Bibendum or the Michelin Man and he is over 100 years old. Created by Marius Rossillon, Edouard and André Michelin, he is one of the world's oldest trademarks.
According to graphic design legend the creation of this great symbol almost didnt make it and came about through an incidental meeting:
"While attending the Universal and Colonial Exposition in Lyon in 1894, Edouard and André Michelin noticed a stack of tires that suggested to Edouard the figure of a man without arms. Four years later, André met French cartoonist Marius Rossillon, popularly known as O'Galop, who showed him a rejected image he had created for Munich brewery—a large, regal figure holding a huge glass of beer and quoting Horace's phrase "Nunc est bibendum". André immediately suggested replacing the man with a figure made from tires. Thus O'Galop transformed the earlier image into Michelin's symbol. Today, Bibendum is one of the world's most recognised trademarks, representing Michelin in over 150 countries." (Wikipedia 2011)
But surely he is testament to the leadership in the organisation to continually improve and refine this great symbol and be brave enough to carry on.
We've recently been experimenting with an awesome app that allows you to create interactive panoramas on your iPhone. It can be a little tricky but is hugely effective once you get the hang of it. We've popped up a couple of our more successful attempts.
The app can be found here for anybody who wants to lose an afternoon to the world of photosynth.
Just putting the finishing touches on a little identity for a friend who runs life coaching workshops. The identity references the process of brainstorming new ideas and new directions. Check out a video promoting their latest workshop below.
Sometimes we don't get a lot of time to explain to people how they should approach their brand. Our little leave behind pack of cards is designed keep people thinking about their brand long after we've left them.
We are really excited to be appointed by Cranfield University to help refresh Cranfield University School of Management marketing communications. With a fresh new illustrative approach the team really focused on those 'Cranfield moments' that make the courses so successful.
We're really excited to welcome a new member of the team here at ABA – Lola! Well it may be a little while before she's opening Photoshop but designers do seem to be getting younger ;-)
