by Miriam Hara | Apr 7, 2015 | Agency, Business Success, Creative, Latest
Here’s a quiz that will help you to see if you have what it takes to work in the creative field. There are so many ways to make a living in the creative field. How do you determine if you’re cut out for heading up the ranks in the business of creative?
With the introduction of computers to the creative and advertising industries (Thanks Steve Jobs!) the definition of being creative has somewhat changed. Computers have made the business of creative easier by allowing us to push the envelope further.
However, many people today think that being creative simply involves the the ability to navigate a computer and its software, such as Photoshop or InDesign. That is not true. The mystery of being a creative goes much deeper than that. It is my genuine belief that a computer does everything for a bad designer and nothing for a good one – except provide the means for more exploration, make them quicker and of course creatively stronger!
So what are some of the common skills and characteristics of individuals that succeed to become a creative director, art director, conceptual thinker or graphic designer?
Simply answer yes or no to these 8 questions to determine your level of creative.
Don’t think about it, just answer instinctively.
1. Yes or No: You like puzzles. In fact, you excel at seeing how things fit together in a way that goes beyond just the shape of the pieces.
2. Yes or No: You are naturally inquisitive. You’re usually seeking to understand a new subject. You never grew out of the “Why?” stage from childhood.
3. Yes or No: You like doodling. You like taking pen to paper or screen and moving it about. It helps you to think and follow your thought pattern.
4. Yes or No: You can draw without the help of a computer. In fact, you usually have a sketch book with you just in case you see or experience something that inspires you.
5. Yes or No: You are an origami guru. You love understanding how a series of certain folds can lead to a beautiful paper sculpture.
6. Yes or No: Problem solving is in your nature. You like to fix things. You thrive from the challenge of taking complex problems and simplifying them. Deep down you don’t really understand how many people can’t see the solution that’s usually right there in front of them saying, “Here I am!”
7. Yes or No: You like words. From their subtle meanings, their true meanings, their double meanings, right down to the letters that make up the words. Words are a thing of beauty and joy to you.
8. Yes or No: Learning is just as necessary as breathing for you. You strive to keep up with what’s new. You like to learn about new trends, new software or new procedures. Learning means “new”, and new keeps you on your toes, creatively!
If you have answered YES to 5 or more of the above questions, then you definitely have what it takes to be creative, professionally. Now go for it, and welcome to the club!
What other characteristics do you know of that are indicative of a creative mind. Let me know!
by Miriam Hara | Apr 2, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Latest, Marketing, Social Media
There was a time (in the recent past) when brand sell was all about showcasing features and benefits to an intended target audience. With the emergence of social media, the art of the brand sell has evolved to include a very real social component. Social media has made engagement and response rate some of the main objectives for brands. With that, in the framework of brand development, the art of storytelling has become much more important. What was once brand sell, is now story sell. Now brand marketers need to wrap their initiatives around the story sell of their brand. Like it or not, engagement is where it’s at today and the way to consumers’ hearts is through storytelling.
The connection established through story sell is much deeper than brand sell.
So why not merge the two? For most of us marketers, this is nothing new. Brand sell was and is about brand storytelling, but now it is more socially inclined. Brand stories need to take their intended audience on an emotional journey. They need to connect with them on a deeper level, establishing a promise not so much in words, but in context and feeling.
Here are some pivotal components to developing good story sell:
1. What is your brand’s personality? What are its characteristics? Is it serious and no-nonsense? Is it fun? Is it highbrow? List all of them.
2. How does your brand’s personality and characteristics tie in with its potential consumers’ values? Dig deep. We like people based on their personality and characteristics, but we maintain the relationship because they connect with our values.
3. What are your brand’s preferences? What does your brand like? What does your brand dislike? What your brand doesn’t like, want or have is equally as important as what is does.
4. Who are your brand’s potential friends? We all have various types of friends. Those friends have at least one thing in common – they’re friends with us. What are the other common denominators that make your brand a fit in amongst its friends?
The social sharing of a brand story is of paramount importance to forging a deeper connection with the consumer. Entering into the zone of the consumer’s intimate social media space is where sharing your brand story is crucial. Make your next brand sell approach all about brand story sell.
Heard a good brand story lately? Please share it here with us.
by Miriam Hara | Mar 31, 2015 | Business Success, Communications, Latest, Social Media
Google makes it easy for us to search for any kind of information we want, instantaneously. It has taken the guesswork out of life. But how accurate or relevant is the information we find?
Let’s face it, Gen Y and Z are largely responsible for changing today’s marketing landscape. Not only with how to communicate with them but who is best suited to provide relevant information. Although, it’s not only Gen Y and Z that are responsible for this shift in how we access information. You can now throw in Gen X and even the Baby Boomers into the mix. All of us, no matter what generation we belong to are taking part in this evolution of communication.
How many of us say “Google it” in a day?
The internet as a platform has enabled us to find answers, offer solutions and provide advice instantly. Social Media with its content creation and emphasis on sharing is a product of this social way of thinking. There are so many opportunities within the business environment to create an on-going dialogue with niche targets. Business can provide them with the information they want, when they want it and in the way they want to receive it. However, this opens the door to a lot of misrepresentation of information.
And it’s not just business that can take advantage of the Google platform. Everyone can take advantage of it. It’s in our everyday discussions. When faced with a question that no one knows the answer to, what do we do? We take out our smart phones and Google it. Wonderful! No more debates. No more arguments! But how credible is the information? What happens after we Google it and different sources say different things? We all know Wikipedia isn’t entirely accurate. So how do we decipher what is right and what is wrong when Google provides us with a well of possible “go-to” sites for the information we seek.
Should we be taking what we find on our search from Google at face value? Should we click on the advertising results that appear first? After all, if sites are spending money to get you to their site, aren’t they going to provide the proper information?
Google has made our lives much more efficient. Instant gratification and knowledge is at our fingertips. Awesome. Knowledge is power – as long as it’s accurate.
What are your thoughts on the credibility issues that may arise from providing wrong information? I’d like to hear them.
by Miriam Hara | Mar 26, 2015 | Business Success, Communications, Creative, Latest
What makes a brainstorming session a strategic brainstorming session? Some might say, “Aren’t all brainstorming sessions essentially strategic?” Well yes and no. It might surprise many that most brainstorming sessions are an exercise in establishing creative concepts in order to facilitate the tactics set out by the strategy. That in itself is not wrong. However in order to reach the level of strategic thinking required for the next big idea it takes a lot more focus and guidance from the session leader.
Strategic brainstorming strives to develop creative concepts that go well beyond the obvious. It doesn’t speak to the how of a brand or business nor does it dwell on tactics. Strategic brainstorming takes more discipline in order to expose the bigger picture. Big-picture thinking is all about strategy and the overarching communications that encompass the call-to-actions and the tactics. How do you arrive at big picture thinking and how do you know when you get there?
All brainstorming sessions have a basic premise of establishing parameters to develop a creative concept that speaks to a desired message. Call-to-actions and creative establishing the USP of a brand or business fall into that range.
Often, many creative outcomes, whether it’s a TV ad, billboard, digital or web ad, speak to features – beautifully so. There isn’t anything more beautiful than an eloquent creative that is single focused and speaks to the brand or business core premise.
However, move the lens a few degrees north of that premise and you fall into the strategic brainstorming sphere.
Strategic brainstorming speaks to the emotive quality that umbrellas the brand or business USP and focuses on the call-to-action in a benefit-driven statement. It needs to go beyond the low-hanging fruit to determine the overarching statement or creative premise.
Creative professionals who have worked within the strategic brainstorming sphere know what I am talking about. It’s not so easy, right? It’s actually quite challenging – that’s what makes it exciting!
Strategic brainstorming takes any mandate away from colloquialisms and speaks to consumers by tugging at their hearts while resonating with their rationale side.
How do you determine if your creative brainstorming sessions have resulted in strategic creative thinking? Here are some pointers:
Do your homework: Don’t just read the documentation from the client. You need to conduct your own investigation in order to live and breathe the brand or business. This allows you to develop your own thinking about the industry, come to your own conclusions and possibly find that golden nugget idea that would otherwise stay buried.
Take the time: Allow for the information digestion. It’s important to not only read the material, but for your mind to digest the information so that it becomes part of you. Only then can you think about the brand or business as your own. This will allow you to place yourself in the intended audience’s shoes and start thinking in terms of the values that are important for the brand or business to communicate.
Originality is a must: Take the obvious and make it sing. There’s nothing better than convincing people to connect with a brand or business they already know. They are just waiting for that little push. That’s what obvious is all about. But obvious still has to be original. Concepts that stem from the proverbial low-hanging fruit and are easy to pick may lack the depth of messaging or the singularity necessary. Also, be careful not to confuse category benefits with brand benefits. These aren’t owned by any brand or business.
Dive deep: There’s a difference between snorkeling and deep sea diving. Snorkeling allows you to see many beautiful colours of fish and vegetation from the top looking down. It still provides impact but you are only looking at it near the surface. Whereas deep sea diving allows you to immerse yourself among all the beauty that lies beneath, allowing you to develop a concept that is truly full of life.
What are some of the techniques you have used for strategic brainstorming?
by Miriam Hara | Mar 24, 2015 | Business Success, Creative, Design, Latest
Packaging design has always been touted as the “art of art”. If a designer can make it as a packaging designer, they can make it anywhere! Developing great packaging design is essential for any brand. Often the package is the only advertising a product does while sitting on shelf. It goes without saying that capturing the consumer’s attention on shelf is paramount for any product.
How do you turn good packaging into great packaging?
Here are some contributing factors that make a world of difference towards the success of package design:
Production Knowledge:
It’s important to understand that a package design won’t live in the environment where it was created. Many beautiful designs falter when they are produced in mass. What’s the point of designing and presenting a package that can’t be reproduced effectively? More importantly, what’s the point of designing a great looking package that adds to the costs of goods – thereby affecting the ROI of the product? Essentially, it’s all about production: Designing with the knowledge of production and the printing processes in mind will make you a packaging design hero.
Market Understanding: Competition
It may seem to be a motherhood statement although I say this with the utmost respect: Designers shouldn’t just design. Packaging design, or any commercial design doesn’t live in a vacuum. Packaging design must compete against other products and their packaging design. Packaging design must respect the tone and character of the brand and more importantly, it must maintain its individuality. If being a me-too brand is the objective, well the design is already dictated, isn’t it?
Market Understanding: Culture and Consumer
Hand in hand with competitive evaluation is the need to assess and understand whom you are designing for. It’s important to design within the framework of the culture to make the design relevant and to have it resonate to the intended target audience. There’s a lot of marketing that goes into a packaging design, so research is key. Listening to the research feedback is monumental.
Design for Performance:
Packaging design must perform on shelf. Although I love the use of “white” space, sometimes it’s just not the right strategy to employ in order to gain optimal on-shelf performance. Depending on the product category, it’s important to see how the design works on shelf with all the visual noise that goes with it. Be honest with the design. Even though it hurts to let a “beautiful” design go, if it doesn’t perform, it will be let go eventually and the cost associated will be significant.
This is only a short list of what I view as important to creating great packaging design. Do you have any other considerations to add? I would love to hear about them.
P.S. If you love design as much as I do, download our design eBook: re:design here.
by Miriam Hara | Mar 13, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Communications, Latest, Management, Social Media
Could it be that corporate social media has seen its day in the sun? Only a few short years ago social media growth was exponential. Now it’s slowing down – almost to a crawl. Yet the explosion of the social media channel caused major corporations and small businesses alike to throw budget and people power at it.
Today, I feel that the burst of corporate social media has come and gone. Now, corporate social media as a channel has taken its place alongside the many other communications channels that are available to businesses and their brands. Corporations are reallocating the resources they once channeled into their corporate social media initiatives to other marketing, sales and customer service departments.
It wasn’t that long ago that social media as a communications channel was the place to be, especially for big corporations. Business and brands alike jumped on the bandwagon to be among the first or second waves of those to be part of the corporate social media growth phenomena.
It’s a little disconcerting that what was just recently touted as the channel to be in, is now almost an add-on in the corporate landscape. Why is this happening? Has business grown more fickle? Or is it that corporate social media initiatives haven’t delivered the desired results?
Like any emerging channel, corporate social media had a growth/learning curve. This resulted in ill-defined tasks and roles as well as a lack of understanding about realistic objectives or ROI expectations. The essence of social media is that it takes time. It takes effort and it takes patience. The expectation of a quick ROI was ill-founded. Corporations saw small businesses, entrepreneurs and even everyday people take to social media and succeed virally – thinking it was easy. Inevitably many found out that it wasn’t that easy and even if initiatives did achieve viral status, few garnered true ROI.
The state of corporate social media is really sitting on a precarious perch. It’s at risk of becoming part of corporate communications, or even worse, shared by many departments with no one strategy leading the way. Many would say that social media is part of corporate communications. Well, maybe I just see it differently.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on this? Do you agree that social media as a channel in business is moving away from what it was intended to be?
