Branding Readability

To many, the visual aspects of a brand--a brand identity, or style--is what is thought of when the word brand is mentioned. With this in mind, it is interesting how often designers create identities that are unreadable. Now, I don't mean that the brand is unreadable due to poor grammar! Rather, this is due to strictly visual reasons, the sort that designers should be aware of as professionals. It is amazing how often this happens. Let's visit a few reasons identities are unreadable:

1. Font. There is a reason why Helvetica is probably the most used typeface--it is easily read. It can be reduced to a teeny tiny size and is still readable. Some of us are sick of Helvetica, and seek alternatives, and get into trouble. It is important to select a font that is truly readable at a distance. Ask someone that wears glasses to try to read it--is it overly difficult for them at a large size? Sometimes, designers argue: "This design isn't for older people anyway!" I wonder what those older people do when they can't read the packaging on a gift they want to buy for their neice or grand-daughter?...they have the onerous task of delaying their purchase due to their inability to read the text. How is that a good introduction to that product and brand? It is not good, yet remains in the hands of designers making type decisions.

2. Color. Some colors are difficult to read at any size. Try yellow or some shades of orange. for example. Light blue falls in this category too. The background color complicates matters. There is nothing like red text on a blue background--a visually vibrating mess of a combination.

The essential thing to remember with color is to make selections that are appropriate for the size and background where it appears. The best way to check is to print out a copy--on your computer monitor, it will probably be more defined and easier to read.

3. Location. Sometimes the items identifying a brand are located in a strange place or on a complicated pattern making it unreadable because the reader can't find it! Use conventional places to use text in packaging, among other design peices. There are other opportunities for creativity. If you are using photographs, illustrations, or patterned backgrounds, thoroughly test your design to make sure the text is easily read.

Cafe Bustello's Hipster Gamble

In the New York Times this Sunday is an article on Cafe Bustello coffee. This brand’s approach to growth is interesting in that they are approaching a non-traditional market base. Cafe Bustello is experiencing a growth spurt, with many good reasons for this growth. Cafe Bustello is quickly becoming a "Hipster Brand”--meaning that it is being marketed to the affluent and style leaders of the Millennial Generation. We have seen this before from a number of brands: Carthart Clothing, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Hush Puppies to name a few.

Hush Puppies went through a short period of similar growth. This is just enough to bamboozle your marketing and sales projections before the next idea (or fad) is claimed by another company!

The biggest problem for brand growth due to a “hip factor” is that it usually does not match nor extend the core customer base. It begs questions: Do I chase the new audience and hope it stays with the brand long enough to add to the current core customers?...Do I spend money for ads intended to enhance the brand for these new customers, knowing that the current customer base will probably not see these ads or be influenced by them? These are tough decisions, but in Cafe Bustello's case they can't really do either…because a large part of the new target is really the children of the current core customer base!

Advantages for Cafe Bustello's brand are:

• A loved Cuban/American Brand
  
• Available in stores in the urban centers of the Cuban community
  
• Reasonably priced
  
• Unique taste
  
• At the moment, Cuban coffee is a fresher story than Columbian coffee)
  
• Notoriously under-marketed to the mainstream.

Disadvantages of the brand include:

• Approaching a new audience that is notoriously fickle
  
• If marketed as a premium product at a new price point, this will quickly alienate the current core
  
• A lack of funds and market share to compete against the global players in the international and U.S. market
  
• As a result, Cafe Bustello may be left with an alienated core customer base.

Cafe Bustello is taking a smart approach to this particular dilemma by segmenting their audience into two groups. They are introducing new products that come prepackaged (not unlike the Starbucks "Mocha" and "Doubleshot" products") and are only marketing these towards the youth market. The original coffee is being marketed in the traditional way but with a bit of a youthful twist. This keeps the current customer base and also reaches deeper in the Cuban community with a focus on community music and artists. Hopefully this grow their brand awareness and lead to enhanced sales.

The hipsters don’t always drink what grandma drank! Thus, this approach strikes a strong mix with the senior customer base, yet potentially may gain a massive, new, affluent young base. This will be a brand worth watching.

Showering Skies

One of the best ways to make your brand work is to harness what are called key differentiators from your competitors. If you are successful at this, customers will choose your products or services because your company provides something the others do not. In addition, these differences may be geared towards specific groups of people, called target markets.

A new company that is doing the differentiation dance well these days is Emirates, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. Unlike other airlines, it has been profitable for over 20 years! If you are an investor, that is indeed a difference from airlines here in the States. Another difference is the level of luxury provided to first class guests: cabins like mini hotel rooms, complete with showers.

Overgreening

“We’re going green!” is less fresh and new these days. When it comes to branding, the green bandwagon is a full one. What does it mean to have a green brand?... To be in the green industry?...Or just form a few good green habits?

Most companies who say they are now a green brand are really forming new greener habits. They are choosing different paper sources, recycling, telecommuting, and so forth. It is not the crux of how they do business. It is not a filter with which they interview staff or determine buying decisions. It is not the essence of what is communicated in how they do business. Therefore, it is a collection of habits, rather than a brand. Companies that tend to fall in this category are said to be doing “greenwashing” according to Patricia Faulhaber who recently contributed to PRSA’s Public Relations Tactics. “More than one CEO was challenged during last year’s proxy season by investors who questioned green expenditures…” writes Bruce Harrison, elsewhere in the same publication.

Companies that are large have no trouble showing profits in this economy are at the forefront of green initiatives…again, NOT a green brand, but a green initiative. GE is so comfortable with its new innovation branch, Ecomagination, that it was proud of TV’s 30 Rock with dialog: “I’m so excited to see this trash-powered car of yours!” says Gore, to which Alec Baldwin responds “The thing is that the GE garbage car isn’t quite ready yet. Whaddaya say you throw on a pair of green tights and a cape and tell the kids how big business is good for the environment?” (Fast Company, March, 2009). Another front player with green initiatives, surprisingly enough, is Walmart. Their claims to fame include a store that was able to recycle 70% of its trash, setting itself as a potential leader in this arena for Walmart; as well as architectural elements reducing typical energy consumption. Yet, leadership for Walmart (accurately in my opinion) reports “We’re not green” (Fast Company, March, 2009).

Meanwhile, the green industry is growing, and has been selected as a trend to watch in the December, 2008 issue of Entrepreneur. Examples of companies in the green arena include Terracycle, a green business that recycles trash into fertilizer, and Pelamis Wave Power, an energy company harnessing the power of the sea. Their product lines include products that are green, but is their brand green? Not necessarily, and also, not easily! A segment of 60 Minutes on TV last autumn reported the unfortunate procedures of Denver-area recyclers of computer products—shipped right into a water supply in a foreign country. With this recent news in our memories, the companies that sell green products and services have their work cut out for them if they want their brand to be truly green.

To brand an organization successfully as green, this idea needs to be pervasive in all aspects of the organization. For example, it is a key element that is communicated visually, written about in it’s annual report and marketing materials, is included in training of staff, is conveyed to vendors, is part of how they select business methods and systems, facilities, transportation, and overall management of the company. It is everywhere. It is communicated by staff when they talk to their friends at parties on the weekend. It is something that isn’t dreamed up yesterday. It is clearly seen by customers, and is part of why their customers select them. As with all branding, it is deep, ingrained, and lasts. A great example of how this works comes from David Byrne, well known for his worldly ways. He has traveled by bicycle for decades and explains “I take a bicycle with me on tour. I don’t ride to make a point or to lower my carbon footprint—I ride because it feels good and it gets me where I want to go”(Destination, April, 2009).

Adding to Your Brand

We've talked at length about establishing a brand, defining a brand, and all sorts of different ways to work with and leverage a brand. But what if you need to add to it? Incorporating a new element into your brand can be a real challenge, especially if this element is something that is also entirely new to your organization.

McDonald's is working with this adjustment right now. The chain known for convenience, value, and consistency is now looking to build its "green" credentials and hopefully build this into its brand--not just for use as a PR tactic. The challenge here is twofold:

1. Can McDonald's actually make a big enough splash with green activities that their efforts will actually mean something?
2. If #1 is accomplished, can this be integrated successfully into the McDonald's brand?

Since this is something fairly new for the company, McDonald's needs to find a way to properly integrate its green initiatives into its communications. Much like any other group adding a new brand element, careful planning will occur, the new element will be installed across the organization's internal business processes, and finally, integrated little by little into external communications (ads, packaging, promotions, etc.).

One of the largest hurdles to overcome during this process is the check to make sure this new elements gels with the existing brand. If it does not, there is a bigger problem: why are you adding this in the first place if it doesn't make sense for the organization? Without passing this check, you'll end up shoehorning an incompatible element into your brand and sew the seeds of instability and inconsistency.

Source: Warner, Melanie. Large Fry. Fast Company, April, 2009.

Recessions Breed Cannibals

Cannibalism is always a temptation for brand managers. Brand cannibalism (at least for most people....). Who among us hasn't been tempted by an opportunity to make some quick gains by going against the brand we're charged with upholding? The problem with this is that each time we seize one of those opportunities, we eat just a little bit of our own brand.

When times are tough, making money and maintaining cash flow becomes more important then ever. Believe me, I understand that. There is, however, the consideration of short term gains versus long term sustainability of your brand. If you offer an incredible discount on your service or product in order to generate some much-needed cashflow, how can you expect customers to pay full price again once the economy recovers?

The danger of cannibilizing your brand for these short gains is that if you do it too much or too often, the brand cannot recover. A good example of this is what Starbucks is doing right now with their introduction of instant coffee to their product line (if you've listened to our interview on Marketplace Morning Edition, this might sound familiar). Starbucks is headed down a dangerous path that will forever cheapen their brand: lower quality products in an attempt to appease a wider audience and combat competition from McDonald's. The result of this will either be lower prices and thus lower quality, or an abandonment of the brand by once-loyal customers.

In the real world, however, I know that this may seem impractical. When you need cash, you need cash, and sometimes it's impossible to say no to a deal, no matter its inconsistency with your brand. If an opportunity like this comes up, try to look at all angles and see if you can't find a way to at least partially align the deal with your brand. For example, if you have to slash a price, try to make the product comparable to that cut--a scaled down or reduced version, so at least the buyer understands that they aren't getting steak at hamburger prices.