by Miriam Hara | Oct 18, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative
Listen up Marketing Vice-Presidents, Professionals, Brand Managers, Ambassadors and Gurus… I know only too well that it’s hard to separate yourself from the Brand you’re responsible for. After all, you work it, live it, breath it – 24/7. You understand it intimately, better than anyone else. You define its market and potential, watch its competitors (with disdain!), develop the strategy that will give it wings, provide its raison d’être (USP). Then – fight for the budget by promising the powers that be that just around the corner, there’s profit to be had (ROI)… if only they would believe, like you believe.
When you’ve done all all that and successfully received the sought after funds, you need to entrust it to an “outsider” (yes, an advertising agency!) to communicate to the world what you know is this Brand’s promise and truth… The “how” and the “why” of it.
So off goes the agency’s team, armed with your Communications Brief, Brand Guidelines, Brand’s positioning statement, market assessment and competitor’s information. They come back with creative that responds to brief, the market conditions and provides a good solid plan on how to obtain the objective that is required for that ever elusive ROI.
That’s when it begins, the shift from professional objectivity to personal judgement. That’s when business and marketing professionals change hats and become emotional human beings. The tweaks, the design directives, the micro management of font selection, type treatment, the scrutiny, the judgement calls, all about the creative. I am not suggesting for one minute that all agency work is on target, on point or on brief. Although, I am not quite sure how it can’t be if the brief provided was correct. The development and creation of Marketing Creative and ideation is very rational. Rationality doesn’t take away from creativity. Quite the contrary, it adds to it. Marketing creative is about thinking inside the box… the box that was created by the Brand Keeper.
Assessing Brand Creative properly is as important as writing a solid Marketing Plan. It’s important to learn how to assess creative effectively and efficiently. Here are 9 questions to ask yourself when assessing Brand Creative.
- Are you walking in your targets’ shoes? Remember, you aren’t the target market, even if you fit the demographic profile. You are a Marketer, and more specifically the Marketer of this product!
- Is the product benefit easily communicated? Is the communication efficient. Does the creative speak succinctly and effortlessly about the end benefit.
- Does the creative deliver? Does it offer consumers the reasons to believe so that they can take the next step in the customer journey.
- Does the creative adhere to Brand Guidelines? A good brand agency lives by guidelines. Any agency that doesn’t isn’t a brand agency.
- Is the creative in line with the Brand Persona and the Brand Voice? This is the most subtle and intuitive part of any creative. Refer back to your communications brief for guidance.
- Is the creative original and Brand Unique? Does it provide a strong identification with the Brand… and only this Brand.
- Is it provocative? No, I don’t mean showing bare skin, I mean does it resonate and engage the audience? It must provide traction to gain brand awareness.
- Is it respectful to the Brand and its audience? Does it speak to consumers and not at them, does it value the consumer’s time and mind?
- Does it work as a unit? It’s very easy to zero in on a word, colour, or small detail. The more you focus on it, the bigger it becomes and the more you feel compelled to fix it. But don’t try to fix it yourself. Articulate what is bothering you and let the agency resolve the issue. Creative is a process, so there is always room for improvement. Make that improvement effortless by communicating the issue, rather than trying to provide the solution.
I recognize that it’s not easy to let go. Often the creative of marketing is the “fun part”. Good agencies make it appear easy, but it’s not. In closing I will only say and I know it’s hard to hear but it doesn’t matter that you, the Brand Keeper, like purple or green, or that you prefer a serif type face or the use of a particular word. In short, it’s not about you. It’s about the Brand that you have been entrusted with. and have in turn, entrusted to brand agency to ensure its healthy growth by developing a strong brand awareness and position within the market.
by Miriam Hara | Oct 5, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Design
Packaging design is not merely an essential part of branding in the world of retail products – it is the most important part of branding. Not only is it the first impression and provides the sales proposition but it must also close the deal… ultimately making the sale at the store level. Much like brand logos – in this fast paced world – it’s easy to change for the sake of change. With technology and design software making everything accessible, it has become effortless to “try this”, “change this” or “modify this”. Designs are not given the time they need to “cure” and become part of consumers’ landscape. Technology is great and it’s a fantastic tool. It has provided designers with the creative freedom to deliver on design flexibility and offer the marketing and creative industry astounding possibilities… in record time. But like everything else in life, there’s an upside and then there’s a downside to it. In this case, technology and software has given us speed and flexibility at the expense of timely conscious strategic thinking.
How does one know when the time has come to change a brand’s packaging design?
Are there particular signs to watch for? Or better yet, are there specific questions that need to be asked and answered? Here’s my list:
How long has it been since the last packaging redesign? If it has been 15 years or more, chances are the packaging should be redesigned. Consumers change within decades, and with this change come new trends and new styles. All packaging designs have a style, and eventually even the most contemporary packaging design starts to be viewed as stale or passé – more importantly, it no longer resonates with consumers. When all is said and done, the packaging needs to speak to the consumers in the way they want to be spoken to. A good way to assess packaging design fatigue is to commission packaging research.
Is the current packaging poorly designed? Does it reflect the product promise? Does it communicate what it is effectively? Or does it ask consumers to read and decipher what it’s all about? Was the current design professionally done by packaging designers? Does it stand up to the brand’s image? At the risk of sounding repetitive, the best way to determine this is through packaging research.
What’s the product sales turns? Is the product purchased weekly? Monthly? Once every 8 months? Annually? This is key for determining how many times products should engage in redesigning their packaging. For products that are purchased semi-annually or annually, redesigning packaging every year or even 2 years may lead to consumer confusion and frustration when they can’t easily find it on the shelf.
How competitive is the category? Are competitive brands constantly updating themselves with new ways of presenting their claims or providing appetite appeal? Are new brands showing up on shelf with nothing more to offer but a sexy or new package? This is often found in the soup category, where consumption patterns are high. A good source of information and insight of many retail categories and their competitive information is Nielsen.
Does the consumer base need to change? In this context, I am referring to the demographics and psychographics of the product’s consumers. Is a wider net required to captivate new consumers? Is the existing consumer franchise leaving the market … negatively impacting sales, and thus profitability.
Has the product been innovated? Is there something new to say? Has a new and improved version of the existing product been developed that will set it apart from the competition? Can it deliver “better” or “more”? If so, it is imperative to communicate that on the package, visually and boldly.
It has often been my experience that marketers, brand managers, product managers, marketing directors, marketing managers, to name a few, often tire of their package … way before the consumer does! So before you call on your advertising agency to come up with the next best design since the invention of sliced bread, take a deep breath and… well breathe… and think strategically.
by Miriam Hara | Sep 28, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Social Media
Or I should say, “Grow Brand Grow!” I often say that I see a Brand in terms of a life – it’s a natural! We speak of Brands as having a product life cycle, we speak of their maturity and we carefully have to nurture them.
In the height of social brand awareness, in today’s communications sphere, the concept of Brand as a living being has never been more true. Not only does Brand have to have a consistent presence through visual media, but it now has to have a consistent brand voice throughout it’s consistent platforms.
In the era of fast turnaround, communications technology is easy to fall into the momentum of constant change. It’s easy to react rather than reflect, assume rather than do research and actually know. We’ve gravitated from too much research and analysis to no research and quick fix strategies that fail in the long term. Don’t get me wrong, for tactics such as promotions and campaigns, quick analytical reference is fantastic to allow for tweaking and changing details. Although, from a Brand strategy and Brand development perspective, changing quickly is often not optimal. If Brand is not resonating with your audience, then quickly changing the tone and approach might not be the answer. But I digress.
The real subject of this post is to speak about Brands and Brand Evolution. Evolving Brands in today’s world can be a minefield. It’s important to be consistent with tone and voice, but also engage and add value. Prior to social media, Brands had to maintain a steady course in how they visually presented themselves to their audience and how they spoke to them through broadcast channels.
Today, the spectrum of Brand Personality has been broadened substantially: thanks to Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter, to name only a few. It’s not about presenting Brand in a one way flow. Today interaction is key. Traditional channels of advertising, or rather, as I like to term it classic advertising channels may still set the tone but new channels of advertising and engagement build intimacy with the audience. It is because of this intimacy that a Brand’s evolution pace is quickened. This challenges corporations and businesses to “engage” their Brand while having the ability to hold their position and evolve almost each and every day – while staying the course.
Working on Brand marketing as we do – being as close to the Brands that we work on and with – we tend to forget that our audience is not as intimate with our Brand, regardless of the new engagement channel. We are closer to our audiences than ever before, but still, they need a little more time to get to know it. Resisting the temptation to change it, to add to it is the hardest part of branding – even in today’s world.
by cassandr | Sep 26, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Social Media
Social media usage is no longer limited to people just being social online; it is now a major tool for marketing business and brands. As social media becomes more important for businesses, most incorporate it within their brand marketing, and in turn want to make a good ROI.
With the “newness” of social media come many unanswered questions, naturally on the results garnered by engaging in social media… on ROI, on value and on measurement.
A deciding contributing factor on results and value is a social media tactic that continues to divide opinion – namely whether or not business should venture into automated engagement. Automating social media activities is arguably a very controversial topic.
Many believe that you should never automate your social media activities because, after all, it’s supposed to be social. There is also a fair share of businesses that believe automating to be effective and less time consuming.
In today’s day and age it can be very tempting for businesses to automate their social networking workloads. After all, one less thing to constantly worry about!
Recently there has been an increasing range of softwares hitting the market that allows you to schedule and manage your tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn profiles, etc. In theory this means that you can simply set up these programs to manage your posts and then sit back and relax. It sounds perfect in theory but there are a number of potential drawbacks like irrelevancy or insensitivity.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. That’s what 3H’s Chief Creative Officer, Miriam Hara always says!
I tend to agree with this stance as I think social media shouldn’t be automated. What’s the point of using social media if you’re not being personally social? It’s like owning a Ferrari but getting a chauffeur to drive it…does that really make sense? Social Media is a thrilling channel for business to be part of. It’s fresh, it’s exciting, its very now.
It’s all about being current and staying relevant
If you’re not writing your tweets in real time, you are not taking into account what’s currently going on in the world. More importantly you can’t engage in real time. The very aspect of automation takes you out of the engagement that most brands want to harness!
It only takes seconds to turn something bad into something good… or vice versa. If there’s something relevant in your industry… or a controversy that breaks out that touches your business and brands… you want to be tweeting about that.This could have a serious impact on your company’s reputation and social standing, and sometimes there’s no coming back on top. You must take this fact into consideration that your posts are sensitive and relevant to current affairs.
Is it human? Or not?
As if this isn’t already an issue, you don’t’ want your posts or tweets being mistaken for spam! Think this through. If you have taken the time to set up a blog, develop content for that blog, established a Twitter account, then why take the shortcut on the last step and peeve off the people have taken the time to follow you and make them feel that they aren’t worthy of timely conversation.
Spread the social around!
The bottom line is that you need to look at your social media strategy and determine the approach that’s right for your business, not someone else’s. If you are a small business, with not too many employees and a lot of workload, automating your social media can be very attractive… However, I would caution against it. Social Media should be part of your business’ culture… it’s part of your business’ voice. So spread the social around! It doesn’t have to be one person who is solely responsible. If you’re a business owner, it’s a great way to develop rapport with your employees as well as with your customer’s communities.
After all, that’s what social media is all about!
I’d love to hear what you think.
Do you automate or schedule any of your social media activities? Why or why not? Do you think this approach helps or hurts a business?
by Lindsay Sleightholm | Sep 25, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative, Design
So you’ve created a brand… What was once just a nugget of an idea has been researched, developed, designed and finally brought to life. The result of all that hard work is a complete identity that will embody all the values of your product or service. Now it’s time to release that new brand into the market for whom it was created. Time to pop open the bubbly and celebrate? Well, not just yet. Before you unleash your brand into the consumer world, there’s one more important step you need to take to ensure its success: you need to provide it with proper brand guidelines to steer it in the right direction. What are brand guidelines? Brand guidelines are a detailed outline of a brand’s essence, explaining everything from brand positioning to visual identity. They will form a document that will act as a reference tool of standards. In other words, they’re an “owner’s manual” for your brand. The standards given in brand guidelines provide direction in times of potential branding mishaps – say, for instance, an inappropriate use of a logo, which would result in inaccurate brand representation. Basically, it all boils down to consistency. The role of brand guidelines is to keep a brand consistent within its identity, and a consistent identity aids strength of brand. Is there any room for maneuvering? Of course. Consistency is the key to the strength of a brand’s identity, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a little leeway allowed for. Overzealous guidelines will only serve to box your brand into a corner. If guidelines are too restrictive – simply “insert photo here” – the brand won’t be able to thrive. It must be given room to breathe within its guidelines. And the creative team working with the brand should be able to convey effective messaging, without having to check their brains at the door. Know your guidelines
What’s important to remember is that a vested interest into the inner workings of your brand needs to be present at onset. Unlike the one you use for your car, this owner’s manual isn’t just something to consult when malfunctions arise. Instead, you need to ensure everyone working with the brand understands its identity, values, culture and how it communicates to its market. Brand guidelines should not only be made available at all times, but also clearly understood and referred to often. Brand guideline must-haves
- Brand definition: A clear definition of the brand should include all aspects regarding brand positioning, brand voice and brand management.
- Logo, icon and positioning statement applications: After the brand has been defined, it then requires having a complete illustration of the brand’s logo(s) and their components as part of the visual identity.
- Colour palette: The colours associated with the brand’s visual identity make up its palette. All colour values must be indicated in their various conversions for all forms of media.
- Identity restrictions: Unacceptable identity logo usage needs to be detailed in diagram form.
- Identity sizing and clearance: Minimum sizing and a measurement for logo clear space needs to be indicated.
- Identity typography: All typefaces, their sizes and weights as well as any typesetting requirements should be outlined.
- Trademarking: Any trademarks or legal lines that need to be present on graphic material, need to be stated.
- Brand visuals: Visual elements including photography and graphics associated with the brand need to be shown.
- Sample identity usage: Examples of acceptable advertising, promotion materials or signage while adhering to brand guidelines help to solidify requirements.
Anyone who has assisted in creating a brand knows the importance of brand guidelines. Successful branding starts with a clear identity and guidelines that promote consistency in its use yet allows for brand growth. In turn, the brand can thrive and build in value. The role of effective brand guidelines is essential to keeping your brand on the track to success. How much weight do you put on brand guidelines?
by cassandr | Sep 14, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Creative, Interactive, Social Media
When you hear someone say the word Pinterest, what comes to mind? In most cases your probably thinking stay at home mom, or even your grandmother. Am I right? The service is a little more than a showcase of favourite recipes and clothes.
Things have changed. Many businesses are taking advantage of Pinterest’s highly visual platform to build brand awareness and enhance their reputation. Yes, another social media platform your business needs to be present on…I can just hear the collective sigh out there! Don’t despair. Leveraging Pinterest for your business, and establishing your presence, your promotions, and share-able content creation is easily doable. Before outlining the first you must be convinced that your business needs to be on this platform.
So why use Pinterest?
Many businesses have finally jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon. The main reason is Pinterest does something no other social media does. It presents consumers with images in a simple, fast and easy to consume manner. Brands embrace it because it tells a compelling story that allows for interpretation for each consumer, thus starting a one-to-one conversation.
1. Establish your Presence
One of the strategies for using Pinterest is to first make sure you are projecting the right business image. This can’t be stressed enough. Keep your profile professional, this includes your photos, name, pins and so on. All these aspects directly reflect your business, so it’s important to follow these guidelines.
2. Picture Promotions
Many businesses today are taking full advantage of Pinterest for a number of reasons. Many people are now making use of promotions. To start utilizing Pinterest for business promotion is simple. Just organize a promotion for your fan base, and make sure it provides them an incentive to post their own images of your products. You can also use your Twitter and Facebook pages to market your promotion beforehand to grow your community.
3. Content
On Pinterest it’s important that the boards you create reflect your business or area of expertise. This can either make or break your success of your marketing campaign. It’s key in choosing boards that are related to your niche, and it wouldn’t hurt to follow brands that are related to your business.
Summary
Pinterest platforms user base is growing exponentially, which means it’s time for more businesses to take the plunge, and get started. Here are some key words of advice: Put your best foot forward through sharing valuable images and video. Remember, the old adage… a photo is worth a thousand words… and a very powerful marketing tool.
What do you think of Pinterest? Can your business benefit from it, and how? I’d like to know.
