March 2017

What’s in a Name?

By Ken DunnBlog

Is it a box of Kleenex or a box of facial tissues? Are they cotton swabs or are they Q-tips? Is it a bottle of Coke or a bottle of soda? The panicle of branding is reached when the product itself takes on the name of the brand.

Yet branding goes beyond just the product. When you see Coca-Cola’s signature logo you may want to “Taste the Feeling” or have “A coke and a smile,” or, if you’re old enough, you’d “Like to Buy the World a Coke…”

So, is the brand a tagline, a jingle, a logo, the product itself, or does branding and corporate identity go way beyond these things?

Branding and Corporate Identity

If you’re going to help a company “brand” themselves or create a corporate identity, a logo, a tagline, and a jingle will be helpful but the brand will only be as good as the company and the products produced by that company.

Paul Rand, the famous American art director and graphic designer, explained that a logo “only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation takes on any real meaning.” And that the logo’s meaning or significance will only be as good as the product it represents.

So, if you like Pepsi you may not think much of the Coke logo. Does that mean that the Coca Cola logo is not effective?

Rand also said, “A logo doesn’t sell, it identifies.” So the logo represents the brand. The same goes for the tagline and jingle. To develop a brand or corporate identity you must start with the product itself.

Examine a Brand

Let’s take Apple as an example. The beauty of Apple products, in my humble opinion, is their ease of use. This goes all the way back to the first time I used a Macintosh computer. The idea of a using a mouse and a GUI interface instead of having to enter programming code on the keyboard was a stroke of genius. I know that it was Xerox and the developers at PARC that came up with the mouse and GUI, but it was Apple that had the vision to make it accessible to the public at large.

The vision to make products that are easy to use is just part of the Apple brand. Apple products are also sleek, clean and stylish. Once you understand that Apple’s goal is to offer consumers easy to use, stylish products then you can see how their branding follows suit. Their logo is simple and stylish. Their products come in plain white packaging with minimal text and graphics. Their stores are open, clean, and inviting. Even the employees at the Apple stores are dressed in simple, plain, and comfortable clothes.

The truth is, if Apple products were cumbersome and hard to use no amount of sleek packaging and simple, clean logos would sell their products. As Paul Rand said, the logo is only as good as the product it represents.

It’s interesting to note that Paul Rand and Steve Jobs had a similar approach to design. Rand’s designs were simple and clean. Take for example his UPS logo and the logo design for ABC television. In fact the two worked together after Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, Inc. And Rand was later featured in one of Apple’s Think different campaign.

Lessons Learned

To create a brand you must understand the goal of the product or service. Is the goal of the service to make life easier? Is the goal of the product to make you healthier? Is the goal to make your automobile run smoother? Once you understand the goal of the product then you can create the logo, tagline, jingle, packaging and all of the other necessary advertising and marketing devices to present the product to consumers.

A big step in the branding process is finding a company that can assist with developing your product along with designing and producing the marketing pieces. You’ll need a company that provides quality graphic design services along with the ability to create video, produce and disseminate online content and a print production facility that can produce and distribute your marketing materials. Depending on your product you may need a facility that can take a unique package design or point of sales design and produce a point of purchase display.

When it comes to developing a brand for yourself or someone else, remember to start by examining and understanding the product or service. And who knows, with the right logo, tagline and jingle you may come up the next big brand.

March 14, 2017

There’s Nothing New Under the Sun

By Ken DunnBlog

We’re working with a new client. They’re a non-profit and they’re looking to increase donations. We need to come up with a strategy that can help.

Coincidentally, I was scrolling through my LinkedIn feed and found an interesting post with a case study published by the United Kingdom’s Royal Mail MarketReach. The case study focused on The Salvation Army. It showed that an integrated marketing campaign, including direct mail, helped to grow new donors by 262% in 5 years.

While this is great information, my thought process went in a completely different direction. I started to think of a phrase from the book of Ecclesiastes, which says, “There’s nothing new under the sun.”

My team and I need to help this new client increase donations so should we just copy what I read in the case study? Where’s the creativity in that?

Where Does Creativity Come From?

For me creativity comes from a lot of places. A walk or a bike ride is a great way to clear my mind and get the creative juices flowing. I believe great ideas come from the subconscious mind so you need to not think about them and they’ll come to you.

Sometimes I find inspiration in what others are creating. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy going to the mailbox and seeing what other companies are doing with direct mail.

As I stared thinking more about creativity I turned to Google to see what others have to say about ideas, discoveries and creativity. I decided to look at what innovators and icons of industry had to say. Here’s some of what I found

If I have seen further, it’s by standing on the shoulder of giants. – Sir Isaac Newton

I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. – Henry Ford

We’ve been shameless about stealing great ideas. – Steve Jobs

Then I found Kirby Ferguson’s TedTalk, “Creativity is a Remix.” Ferguson believes that nothing is original. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform.

Ferguson even has a website where he sells, among other things, t-shirts with the Remix’s theme, “Copy Transform Combine.”
So, does everyone copy? Is there truly nothing new under the sun? Are the case studies I find on LinkedIn and on websites just ideas to be copied?

Designing Original Integrated and Holistic Campaigns

I have to say that many of the stats found in the integrated marketing campaign case studies are very impressive. And, we have found when creating and implementing integrated marketing communication initiatives for our own clients, that they perform better than using any single marketing channel.

Creating a direct marketing strategy for our non-profit client will probably include a targeted mailing list with a printed piece and a video production that promotes the efforts of the organization. We’ll also use some targeted social media ads with links to the donation website. All of these marketing tools should help increase donations for the non-profit.

If these are the same marketing tools used by The Salvation Army in the case study, does that mean we’re just copying their ideas? I’d like to think this is more a case of informed decision-making. After all we know that a printed piece with a nice soft touch aqueous coating we’ll create a tactile connection with the recipient. And we also know that a compelling video we’ll increase the visual appeal of the content and add a different dimension to the organization.

While we don’t want to copy other’s ideas I’m certain that our experience in non-profit fundraiser design and the top-notch designers in our Creative Services department will use proven marketing strategies to develop an effective campaign for our new client.

March 9, 2017