Out of Control Branding: The Modder Community

If you don't play video games or race cars, you probably haven't heard too much about modding. Modding is simply the modification of a stock product to create something unique. In the case of games, there are entire communities that exist on the Web that are dedicated to creating new levels, graphics, characters, items, and even entire conversions for games. It sounds like a benign practice, but what happens when modders create something risque?

This is a major branding issue. When a video game publisher releases a product to the public, they are ceding partial control of their brand to this community who is able to transform the product into any number of permutations. There are a number of horror stories, too: Grand Theft Auto's "Hot Coffee" scandal, the nude-skin mod in Oblivion, and the "Nude Raider" mod for Tomb Raider have all made the headlines at some point for their gratuitous sex and nudity and the publishers (and developers) have taken the heat for this even though it's out of their control.

There have been 2 main courses of reaction to this:

1. Vigorous efforts from the developers to lock down the content so it cannot be edited, which is often broken by modders anyway;


2. The development of modding tools that are offered, usually free of charge, to modders so they can easily create their own content.

I firmly believe that embracing, rather than fighting, the modding community is the best course of action. Modders will always find a way to do what they do. But, if a company gives them the tools to do it, at least they have some say and some control over how those tools are used, what they are used to create, and sometimes how that material is distributed.

Brands are living things and sometimes take on a life of their own. As a brander, you have to choose if you are going to fight that change or evolve with it.

A Nail in the Retail Coffin?

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a close acquaintance of mine who happens to own a very successful chain of high-end kitchen supply stores. My question to him was "With all this doom saying about the upcoming holiday shopping season, what are you planning and what do you expect to happen?" His answer, I thought, was the smartest thing I've heard from any retailer recently.

This holiday season, most retailers are bracing for impact. They are slashing their inventory orders, deeply discounting merchandise, and hiring far fewer employees, amongst other cost-cutting measures. For example, if the average consumer is spending $600 this year instead of $1,000, retailers are preparing themselves for a 40% hit. My friend has taken a different approach. His answer: "Everyone is still out there spending money, just a lot less. My strategy is to figure out how to make sure that out of that $600, I get as much of it as I can."

How is he going to to do this? Well, you've probably guessed it--through his brand. By carefully merchandising, positioning, and promoting his stores, he is going to maximize the amount of money a shopper spends while at his store instead of simply accepting the fact that they will spend less.

A high-end brand cannot use deep discounts or tacky promotions to move merchandise without cannibalizing its market position. Instead, one must use a delicate balance of shelving, pricing, and advertising strategies that all form once cohesive approach of motivating the customer to spend just a little more. This is a difficult and potentially dangerous strategy, but for the savvy brand manager, it can make all the difference in a market like this one.

Where America Shops...including me?

I consider myself to be somewhat hip. I lived for years downtown, consider myself at heart to be an artist, and have a drawer full of black turtleneck sweaters. Imagine my dismay when I saw the Sears logo nestled inside the Land’s End catalogue! I had been buying my tees and zippered fleece there for years! They had great funky shoes with rubber soles! They had decent, not ‘old-fogey’ colors! What was Land’s End doing to me? That is where mom took me as a kid for underwear. Good grief.

Evidently, for years, Land’s End has been a sub-brand of Sears…Where America Shops. Me, along with thousands of others were averse to the brand of Sears because we got our school clothes there years ago. Now that we have graduated and are well into our careers, I suppose “we are too cool for school” and have moved along to the J Jills, Chicos, Nordstroms and other famous brands when it comes to women's clothes. Thus, Sears needed to be creative when it came time to lure us back to Sears:

• First, develop a brand that appeals to this audience: Land’s End. It would be:

1. approachable, feature product styled simply like business clothes
2. well photographed
3. athletic in nature
4. well-priced and
5. creatively colored, beyond the humdrum maroon and grey
6. a place where you could find clothes for the busy professional to wear on weekends, or among friends who don’t want to see you in your slippers and sweatpants.
7. staffed with phone-in staff that were professional, efficient, and well prepared. There wasn’t much time to hold on the phone when making your order.

• Second, maintain this customer base for several years under the Land’s End sub-brand name and experience.
  
• Third, let the “cat out of the bag” by slowly showing this customer base that they have been buying Sears product and experience all along. Do this slowly and subtly so it isn’t too much of a shock to we black turtleneck wearers.
  
• Finally, embrace this new audience as Sears customers.
  

Now, that’s how branding works.

Post contributed by Catherine Shaw.

Food Trends and Brand Expansion

Unfortunately, healthy eating is a trend. The phenomenon began in the late eighties/early nineties, and has seen many iterations: the salad boom, low-fat, low-carb, no-trans-fat, organic, etc. Recently, we have seen some popular restaurant chains adding not just new items to their menu, but entire sections. To their credit, these additions weren't simply bolted onto the menu; rather, they were smart brand extensions.

A few examples of this would be Burger King's "fire grilled" message along with its higher-end sandwiches, the TGI Friday's Right Portion, Right Price menu, and Red Lobster's new Wood-Fire Grill selections (albeit, these items are advertised as literally dripping with melted butter). The common thread within these examples is that each one is carefully integrated within the brand. Each is presented using the imagery and messaging that consumers have come to expect from these restaurants.

When introducing a new product that runs contrary to other products in your line (high-end vs. cheap burgers, slim vs. large portions, etc.), it is of the utmost importance to think ahead and plan on how you will integrate them without reinventing your brand. Usually, it is about mapping out the marketable elements of the new product and then matching them with your existing brand attributes. Do this, and consumers will see it as a natural extension, rather than an alien offering that looks like it is jumping on the bandwagon.

A Dress to Last a Decade

Today I sat at a table of new friends as they discussed how best to get the word out about their entrepreneurial efforts. They were animated about how they could get this and that deal for a logo, developed quickly for great prices. I watched in amazement, not only because my firm produces logos that support the brands we create, but also reacted to the lack of awareness in the marketplace when it comes to decisions such as these.

We are all familiar with this scene: A woman has a group of other women huddled around her, she has recently purchased the services of three of the finest craftsmen in New York. She takes a deep breath, and heads down the aisle, knowing that she looks her best…for one day.

In contrast, a brand is developed to last at least ten years. To work, it needs to have a long shelf life, be memorable, fresh, accurately represent you, and versatile—all at the same time. It is interesting when it comes to the deliverables that come after a brand is developed, that we go for the cheapest outfit to represent ourselves.

Post contributed by Catherine Shaw.

Branding Is Not for You

Attention brand and project managers: branding is NOT for you. Please allow me to explain.

Whether it is a company, a product, or nonprofit, the a brand is not at its strongest when it is developed to suit your personal tastes. Like the color blue? Fantastic--go buy a blue car. That particular name sounds good to you? Use it for when your baby is born.

Too often, I see clients steer their branding in the direction of their own wants and desires for a number of reasons. Maybe they want to leave their own personal stamp on it. Maybe they just want something that they can look at and feel good. This is completely mistargeted.

A brand exists as a promise to your customers and should be made up of elements that resonate with their needs. One cannot expect those needs to be addressed when the brand is made up of the CEO's favorite aspects of the company along with his/her favorite colors. Logos, messages, colors, fonts, and all the components that make up a cohesive brand should all be developed with the target audience in mind and - guess what? - that might not be you.

Audience Segmentation and Brand Consistency

Wouldn't it be great if every business had its own fiefdom of customers and all of those customers fit a nice little mold? That way, we could use a singular message, a singular marketing approach, sell to everyone, and all would be happy. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work like that.

The truth is, most of our businesses and organizations have multiple audiences that we have to satisfy, but we only have one brand. The real challenge in addressing all of these core groups of people is to reach out to them in a way that is unique to their needs but still brand consistent. I am unaware of any silver-bullet method to develop these approaches, but there is a framework that will guide you along your path:

• Map out the core elements of your brand and extend them out to all of the elements that go along with them
• List all of the audiences with which you need to communicate and develop profiles for them regarding what is important to them, the factors that help them make a buying decision, and demographic information about them
• Using your extended brand elements, begin to match them up with your audience profiles so you can see the path you must take to communicate within your brand
• Finally, use your paired up information to craft messages, sales pitches, and other marketing tactics that will help you to reach out to these audiences in unique ways that are still on-brand.

Recession Brands

During a recession (or "economic slowdown" if you live in Washington, DC like me), it seems as though everyone suffers. Every once in a while, though, we hear about the mythical "recession-proof" business, brand, or job and the reason as to why it is able to resist the financial condition of the market. In this case, store brands (or house brands) not only resist a recession, but thrive in it.

There are 3 tenets to a successful store-branded product that make it a powerhouse on the shelf:

1. They are usually priced lower, per volume, then their name-brand competitors,
2. Their quality is about the same as the nearest comparable product and,
3. The store's profit margin on them is typically much higher than with the name-brand products.

During a recession, people look to save money in the easiest of places, and so store brand sales rise as the Dow drops.* Because of the quality and price, store brands are the low-hanging fruit when looking to cut everyday costs and as their sales rise, so do the profits of the store.

So what can you take away from this? This is an example of a successful brand model that doesn't rely on messaging, visual appeal, or any of the other traditional branding attributes. This perfect storm of success is due to the unsung heroes of great branding: price, position, and quality.

* Ziobro, Paul. Store Brands Boost Kroger Profit. Wall Street Journal. September 17, 2008.

Support Your Brand with a Solid Name

The process of crafting a name for your product, business, or organization is much like developing a logo. You will have many iterations, different structures, options with meaning, and options that just sound good. And, of course, you will have strong opinions all around about which options are great and which are terrible.

I don't want to go into the process of naming, as there are many different schools of thought on this. Rather, I wanted to mention the importance of supporting your brand with a good name. A name isn't there simply to be a label or just to sound good--it is there as a supporting brand attribute. The name must reflect your core brand promise and whatever that message may be (playful, smart, sophisticated, etc.).

Everyone loves a good example, so here are some real world names that support and some that don't support the brands that they represent:

The Good

• Victoria's Secret. An exotic, high class woman's name paired with the idea of privacy is a surefire fit for a high-end lingerie line.
• Uno Chicago Grill. Not a great name in itself, but the change from Pizzeria Uno was a savvy transition as the restaurant chain diversified its menu and expanded into different entree options.
• Kitchenaid. It's direct to the point with 'kitchen' but insinuates how helpful the products are with the addition of 'aid.'

The Bad

• Overwaitea Foods. The Canadian supermarket chain got its name for originally selling 18 ounces of tea for the price of a pound. Now it sounds like their products will make you fat.
• Chevy Nova. Sounds great, right? In Spanish it means 'doesn't go.'
• Noblis. This health care innovation nonprofit promises that you will never know peace (bliss) by way of its constant efforts.

Using Your Own Photographs

Using your own photographs of staff, events, products, and other dimensions of your organization can be a great way to personalize your marketing materials and strengthen your brand. Rather than stock photography or illustrations, there is a feeling of authenticity and "realness" when the imagery is of actual employees, customers, or even the office.

There are, however, may pitfalls to this practice. Use some of the tips below as guidelines to using your own photography in your marketing:

• The resolution of your photos is of critical importance to their respective uses. Make sure your photos are a minimum of 300 DPI (dots per inch) for printed pieces and a minimum of 72 DPI for the Web. Nothing ruins a good marketing piece like a pixelated, poor quality photo.
• Just because you are using your own photos, doesn't mean that they can't be shot professionally. It never hurts to hire a professional photographer to ensure that your shots are in-focus, properly lighted, and look great.
• Photoshop is your best friend. Make sure someone on your team can work the program and touch up, adjust, and otherwise alter your photos for the best results.
• Always get model releases from anyone in the photos that you plan to use. This includes employees, customers, bystanders, etc. No one wants a lawsuit on their hands because of a brochure.
• Make sure the content of your photos is appropriate for your use. Your library will be filled with great images, but careful use with respect to the piece with which they are associated is important.
• Art direction still has a place in your marketing materials, even if you are using your own photos. Careful selection for theme, color palette, style, and other factors will help keep the look of each piece consistent as you use proprietary photos.

Me-Too Brands: Vacuums

Vacuum cleaners: did anyone think this was an industry that could be radically reinvented into product lines where people would willingly pay over $500 for a unit?

We can probably thank Dyson for these recent innovations. They finally created a vastly superior product and charge a handsome premium for it. The best part is that people are happy to pay for it and continue to sing the product's praises. Enter the copycat branding.

Walking through the vacuum section of any store, you will notice an interesting phenomenon. Many of the units on display have copied the body style and characteristic yellow highlights of the Dyson models (and also some of their premium pricing). This isn't all that uncommon: mimic the style, but not the functionality, of your premium competitors. Buyers aren't necessarily tricked into thinking this is the same product, but they are comforted by the fact that this less expensive alternative bears a superficial resemblance to the high-status version. Perhaps there is a little status-seeking in this as well.

Riding on the coattails of a successful competitor is, obviously, not uncommon. We see it with cars, clothing, accessories (think women's purses), electronics, and many other consumer products. The problem with this is that the copycats, almost always of inferior quality, end up eroding the first-mover's brand. Next time you shop, keep your eye out for who is the leader and who is the follower and note some of the product trends. You might want to turn that eye onto your organization's brand as well--are you the leader or are you the follower?

Packaged Goods Reign Supreme

Earlier this year, Harris Interactive held their latest brand equity study. This study, which has been held every year for 28 years, measures brand equity ratings across 39 categories on 6 different factors utilizing around 1,000 products for the survey. The report on this year's study revealed that by and large, consumer packaged good brands reign supreme over all others; 9 out of the top 10 brands can be found on supermarket shelves and of those, the newest brand is Duracell, introduced in 1964.

Should we be surprised by this? Probably not. Although there may be stronger or more well-established brands out there, these are the ones that pour billions of dollars every year into mass-media advertising, sponsorships, and promotions. Couple that with the fact that these 9 brands have all been around for 45 years or longer to build up their equity, it stands to reason that when it comes to consumer rating, these packaged good monoliths stand above all others.

Brand equity is an interesting measurement. I think this study proves that, if nothing else, it is a good indicator of how longevity and steady consumer exposure trumps marketing stunts and flash-in-the-pan bursts of advertising. Recall, however, that brand equity is a measure of the value of a brand, and not necessarily its effectiveness. For most product and organizational brands, the ability to offer a consistent and strong customer experience and attract new business is always going to be more important than that brand's intrinsic value.

CUSTOM ONLINE LOGO DESIGN - $99!! CLICK HERE!!11!

Discount, online logo development. The words alone make people like me and my colleagues shudder with disgust. But, is it really that bad? Aren't there some circumstances when quick and dirty logo design might get the job done for someone with literally no budget?

A great experiment recently concluded where the folks at Speak Up provided the same creative brief to a series of online logo developers, using an overall budget of $1,000 (total, spent on 4 different sites), and compared the results. The outcome was interesting, if not expected.

I was speaking with a colleague about this article and the whole online design phenomenon. He said the whole concept just didn't make sense. We thought it through, and here's what we came up with: If someone had one of these studios with 1 or 2 designers on hand, they could do well. If a designer sat down and did nothing but crank out logos for 8 hours a day, never throwing anything away, they could easily satisfy at least 10 or more clients each day--multiply that by 2 or more if they have a larger staff. That translates to a lot of money. This model, however, hinges on delivering quantity, without regard for quality, and hoping that most customers will be happy with the first set of designs that come to them.

And that's what you usually get: fairly low quality work for a very low price. For some people, this is just fine. For others, they are looking for something a bit better.

Previously, we discussed not overthinking a logo, but I think there is a happy medium between these 2 extremes. Unless you really have no budget or just need something out there - anything - then hire a real agency or designer. Otherwise, you'll just have to be happy with what you get.

Overthinking the Logo

Logos are funny creatures. Employees (and especially boards of directors) can become completely indignant at the idea of changing a logo. People become fiercely opinionated about colors, symbolism, image use, etc. and all of a sudden, everyone is an artist or graphic designer.

While it's great to have a logo that means something, resonates strongly with a particular audience, or is loved by all of top management, the fact remains that these attributes simply are not necessary. There may be some backlash from this, but I'm going to say it: sometimes a logo just has to look good and be easy to use.

There are a couple things to remember when developing a new logo. Remember these, and hopefully the experience will be a little more bearable and you will walk away with a usable, iconic logo:

• The logo is not for you or your employees; it's for your customers. You don't need to love the logo like your own child in order for it to be effective.
• If you are trying to create a logo that has symbolism in it that no one would understand without it explained to them (i.e. "the three stripes here stand for the three pillars of . . ."), then don't bother. You won't have the opportunity to explain it to 99% of the people who see it.
• You don't need a 100% consensus on a logo for it to be effective. Design-by-committee will always produce a bland result.
• You probably aren't going to create the next Nike "Swoosh" so don't even bother trying!
• Focus on ease of use, simplicity, and scalability. These are the factors that will really matter once you start using the logo.

Having a well-thought out, symbolic, and robust logo that everyone loves is a perfect scenario. Sometimes, however, we have to be realistic, get some work done, and deliver a product that does what it needs to.

Brand "Maturity" for U.F.C.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (U.F.C.) taps into much the same scenario as Romans that had tens of thousands heading to the coliseum cheering on their fighting. Today, television increases the number of viewers to hundreds of thousands.

The “sport” is a pay-per-view “league” using mixed martial arts in bouts that regularly end in knock out or opponent surrender. Referees often call the fight because they are afraid for the health of the losing fighter. It is like WWE, but without the actors and numbers currently competing alongside professional boxing.

U.F.C.’s first attempt at mainstream media in the early ‘90s was halted by states unwilling to publicly host the then barbaric event. The “league” was at the time no more then a no-rules brawl. In order to legalize their events, U.F.C. had to calm down its fights by slowly and slyly inserting rules in an effort to “professionalize” the sport in the minds of the general public while still keeping its blood thirsty fans.

Why is U.F.C. continually backing away from its rugged anything-goes foundation now that they’re able to host fights? Growth. There is so much growth that they attempted to make the sport an Olympic event in 2004 and are currently lobbying to be featured on ESPN. Now they are forced to adapt their image to attract new spectators and break away from the niche market they occupied before, pleasing its limited audience.

U.F.C. is not the exception. Many companies shed the ways of their founding nature as they mature and look toward expansion. Some fans of the sport see it as “selling-out” but as new fans flock to U.F.C. by the thousands, it’s easy enough for them to turn the other way.

The no holds, mixed martial arts brawls they have branded themselves with, have helped them to secure a following, but like every brand, as it matures and grows it must adapt.

Branding by Department: Accounting

An oft-overlooked venue for branding is accounting. Accounts receivable, accounts payable, book keeping, and reporting all serve their utilitarian functions, but there is opportunity here to spread your organization's brand. Some easy-to-implement methods include:

• Utilize properly branded materials (letterhead, envelopes, etc.) for all invoices/bills
• Use branded checks with properly identifiable information (i.e. don't use checks that have the name of a holding company or alternate corporate name on them)
• If you have a high-end brand, especially with large invoices, consider handwritten invoices or including a handwritten note along with the invoice
• The invoice is often the last experience a customer will have with your company, so including proper detail, thank-yous, messages, etc. is your opportunity to close the relationship with consistent branding (assuming you opened the relationship with proper branding).

Simple branding methods, such as the items above, can be put in place by just about any organization. If you are already doing some or all of these things, consider some more radical extensions of your brand into accounting:

• If you have a united, trusting, or team-based aspect to your brand, consider an open-book accounting policy that would allow all your employees to view your financial records (private companies only, obviously)
• Consider the way you prepare and send invoices: can this method be better aligned with your brand? Should large invoices be hand-delivered? Should invoices be emailed to improve convenience?
• What are the terms for your billing? Upon receipt? Net 15 or 30? Do you offer a discount for early payments? There could be an opportunity with these parameters to align them with your brand position.

Remember, these are just some suggestions. Give branded accounting some thought and develop some techniques unique to your organization and your brand.

Branding by Department

This article is the first in a series that I will be writing about how to extend branding across your entire company/organization. To truly take advantage of an organizational brand, it can't be confined to your marketing department. We will discuss how you can use your brand as a holistic tool, fully integrated within areas that most people never consider.

A brand, especially when you have hired an agency to develop it, is a serious investment. It is a tool that embodies the essence of the organization and to work properly it must be more than a short list of guidelines that gets pulled out when a new brochure is developed.

I hope that by exploring the different ways you can bring branding into the fold of accounting, human resources, sales, operations, and other typical departments, your organization will be able to harness the effectiveness that branding can have when you have succesfully and consistently connected all business functions together.

Come back soon for the first article on accounting.

Branding Converges on the National Mall

After reading a special insert into the Washington Business Journal last week, I was heartened to see that…alas!...five federal agencies and a private trust are working together to refurbish the National Mall. Now, if you are not from the DC area, you will probably be thrown off by that term “mall.” To us, it means something along the lines of “long strip of grass downtown with lots of monuments and museums.”

This is interesting considering the recent branding efforts commissioned by The DC Convention and Tourism Corporation. According to them, this town is about power, illustrated with their new tagline of “take a power trip.” The Washington DC Examiner reports how they arrived at this conclusion: “The new campaign is the result of more than a year’s worth of research that showed people most associated D.C. with the word “power.” They also thought of it as inspiring, beautiful, a place for learning, and a place to make and experience history (April 3, 2008, Examiner.com).

With the branding of cities in mind—New York did it, why not DC?—one would want to know what the customers (in this case, residents, workers, and visitors) want, prior to deciding what to deliver to them, both in kind and in deed. So one would deduce that these agencies are taking on the responsibility for the second identified interest, “[an] inspiring, beautiful, a place for learning, and a place to make and experience history.”

It is inspiring to hear this fine example of how branding works, right in the heart of our nation’s capital. It works because the brand responds to the consumer, rather than the other way around. All too often, brands emanate without regard for what is desired from their constituencies, a common mistake.

Post contributed by Catherine Shaw.

The Cult of Buffett

About a week ago, I questioned whether or not Apple had a plan to replace the great leader in their cult of personality. It turns out there is another company out there—even more successful than Apple—with a similar situation.

Berkshire Hathaway, the company with the highest individual stock price in the world, is led by the great Warren Buffett. If you are lucky enough to own a share of BH (BRK-A on the NYSE), you are welcomed at the annual shareholders' meeting in Nebraska which is more like a giant carnival than a financial conference. People converge in Omaha from all across the globe, just to have the chance to meet the guru, who has made more money than practically anyone else, through shrewd acquisitions of solid, profitable companies.

Much life Apple, Buffett is the source of the company's success. Unlike Apple, however, Berkshire Hathaway has a strong plan to replace Buffett when he eventually retires or passes away. The fact that BH has made stockholders aware of this (albeit secretive) plan, has mollified fearful investors and will probably mitigate the drop in stock price that is inevitable when Buffett departs. Acknowledgment of and planning for this brand's evolution will probably save millions of dollars for BH investors.

The Dangers of the Corporate Blog

"Start a blog! Your site needs a blog to communicate to customers!"

That's a favorite suggestion among consultants and advice-givers these days. I think this is because many of us have been led to believe that starting and running a blog is as easy typing an email and that if you post it, they will come. Sorry optimists, but that just ain't the case.

A blog can be a powerful brand extension and marketing tool. But before you jump in feet first, consider these important items to remember:

• Before you do anything, does a blog even make sense for you? Is there a need to opine and open this channel to your audiences? If your only reason to start a blog is because it's the "thing to do," just stop right now and spend your time elsewhere.
• A blog is an extension of your brand, and as an extension, it should be consistent with every other marketing effort in look, content, tone, and presentation. Pick a topic that makes sense and one that you know you'll be able to write about over a long period of time.
• People usually do not just stumble upon a new blog. You will need some sort of promotional plan to generate traffic to your new site.
• Give your readers a reason to come back. Opinions, editorials, reviews, etc. are great because it's material they can't get elsewhere.
• Blogs are easy to operate, but that doesn't mean they don't require a time commitment. Make sure you are able to dedicate a portion of your schedule to writing articles.
• Make a decision to enable or disable the commenting on your articles. Remember, if you let people make comments, be prepared to police that material for vulgar or off-color comments.
• Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT start a blog if you can't maintain a steady stream of posts. Nothing permanently sends a reader away like a blog that hasn't been updated in 3 months.

Blogs are a serious marketing tool, so treat them as such. They can be a great way to connect to your customers and constituents, but there are many common pitfalls that could turn your blog into a waste of time and effort.

A Wrigley Field By Any Other Name...

Selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field in Chicago comes up every once and a while, but this time, they might be serious. Sam Zell, owner of the Chicago Cubs, announced his consideration of the sale earlier this year to serious controversy. My question is, could Wrigley Field ever be called something else?

When a brand name is adopted by the masses and becomes a part of the culture (in this case, Chicago sports culture), it doesn't really "belong" to the legal owners anymore. I believe that if they go through with this and officially rename the field, all of Chicago will continue to refer to it as Wrigley. Just like the West's refusal to call Burma by its official moniker, Myanmar, no one in Chicago will be catching a game at EBay Field.

Does anyone still consider the original collaboration of the Wrigley name? The field has had its name so long that people don't even think of the gum company anymore—it's a cherished ballpark, not a product. Any company considering a purchase of those naming rights should think twice before bidding. It would be a long, bloody, and most of all expensive marketing battle to change the name of that park.

But, if it has to happen, may I suggest "Facebook Presents: Wrigley Field?"

Will Apple's Brand Become Its Downfall?

Wired Magazine's April issue featured a very interesting article on Apple and how it (and Steve Jobs) has built its success by breaking all of the rules. By fiercely guarding its product development, not cooperating with collaborators, not listening to customers, and generally acting as a tyrant to employees, Apple has created a juggernaut in the tech world. This persona is now fully intertwined with its design and lifestyle-heavy brand. My question is, how long can they keep this up?

It is pretty clear to an outside observer that Apple's brand stems from figurehead and chief idea-man Steve Jobs. The man single-handedly steered the Apple ship away from an iceberg and transformed it into the slick powerhouse that it is today. With so much of Apple flowing from Steve, what happens when its time for him to leave? Is Apple grooming a replacement? Do they even have a plan? Since no information escapes the black hole of 1 Infinite Loop (Apple's Cupertino HQ address), not even stockholders know for sure.

And what of Apple's insistence on the archaic engineering/marketing method of "create the product and they will come?" This, combined with a "management by tyranny" philosophy, truly makes me wonder if Apple is poised to last or if it is going to burn out. I'm sure I will be racked for saying this, but I think Apple has made some risky moves, combined with a lot of luck, and that has been a significant source of their success. I'm not saying that they are doomed to fail, I just hope that Steve has a plan.

A Real Life Illustration in Brand Value

There are a lot of naysayers out there who think that branding is a "soft" marketing tactic, with no real tangible or measurable benefits. To them I say: take a look at the superstar cities.

What is a superstar city? Wharton real estate professor Joseph Gyourko defines them as the highly-sought-after, ultra-expensive, chic places to live. They are your New York Cities, Londons, Shanghais, and Bangalores. They are centers of culture and decadence, driving trends and defining what the rest of the world will be thinking tomorrow. How does this illustrate the value of branding?

All around the world (the U.S. in particular), the economy is slumping. World stock markets are drooping, taking real estate values with them. And the superstar cities? They seem to be immune. Despite all this, they are able to maintain and even increase their property values. They are luxury brands.

We see the same in hard goods—the luxury brand is always able to charge more. Of course, professional centers like Wall St. help keep these cities afloat financially, but it is all part of an intertwined mashup of economy, style, and personality that make up these brands. If these cities can ride out rough times by way of their brand, maybe some savvy businesses can too.

Red Tag Sale

I noticed something interesting while shopping at Safeway supermarket last fall: the sale tags had changed color. Instead of the usual yellow, the tags are now the "Safeway red"—the same color as the logo.

This probably sounds like a very minor detail, one which few would notice. Consider this, though: Safeway just posted a sales increase of $19 million from the Q1 of last year. Now, I'm not saying the new red tags are the direct cause of this revenue boom, but this is what I know.

Deep hues of red elicit excitement and arousal in shoppers.* Where do you think the term "red tag sale" comes from? I know that when I looked down the aisles and saw all those bright red tags, my first thought was, "Alright! Look at all the clearance prices!" I quickly realized that these weren't clearance items, rather they were normal sale prices (or regular prices, if you're anti-club card.... but that's another article). If someone aware of this phenomena can be tricked by it, imagine the effects on people who don't even give it a second thought.

Adjustments to your color scheme aren't always going to whip your customers into a frenzy, but it is an interesting commentary on the effect of small details. Smart and careful alteration of your brand and marketing presentation can have strong overall results; do your homework, see what you can change, and experiment to figure out the details that work for you.

*http://www.jstor.org/stable/2634413

Missing the Mark - the "New" Starbucks Logo

I've been thinking about the new Starbucks brown logo "campaign." While many people have arguing about whether or not the brown logo is as good as the traditional green and black logo, I'm starting to think that most people have missed the mark about this.


I think you need to remember that the campaign is temporary and at its heart, it's really a brand exercise. Things to note:

- it's not about liking the new logo,
- it's not about the new roast,
- it's not about the return of the former CEO.

It's about reconnecting with customers, demonstrating a renewed focus on the coffee experience that brought them to Starbucks in the first place. Millions of column inches have been written about what Starbucks has done in the last couple of weeks but it seems that most of the branding blogs really missed one of the key pieces of the brand puzzle. That piece is that a brand is not dictated by the organization, rather it is by everyone else who uses and talks about the product.

It's about the customers not the company.

While I am a dyed-in-the-wool Illy Coffee consumer, I'm impressed by the thoughtfulness and implementation of this "back-to-basics" campaign.

A New Logo That Actually Works

Well played: The new logo for Al Gore's Alliance Climate Project.

By putting some faith in his agency, Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection has a new logo and it speaks volumes about the organization and its need to communicate in a very specific way. Clearly, Mr. Gore's new concern needs the help of everyone globally--the approach to the logo with the word "we" is very different than most logos where the preferred motif is "us, not you."

This openness to global collaboration is a high-point in how organizations who are trying to affect real change need to start thinking.













Logo design by the Martin Agency & Brian Collins.

Take Control of Your Brand's Images

I hope you understand I'm not talking about identity guidelines, but of the photography you use to market your company or organization. A lot of things have changed over the past 5 years with commercial photography, but two things have not:

1. Great photos are harder than ever to find.
2. Inexpensive (or free) images are now everywhere.

Over the past few years, Web sites like istockphoto.com and Shutterstock (among others) have led a revolution in royalty free stock photography. Their sales model is based on community, rather than the traditional client and photographer relationship. This position allows their prices to be very low, making this an economical solution. But the images that buyers are able to obtain are open to everyone, meaning there is no way to ensure exclusivity of any kind. Many organizations are comfortable with that--however some are now finding out otherwise.

Did you hear about the company that found the face of their advertising being used in Playboy ads selling Enzyte?

Do you know about the model simply referred to as Everywhere Girl?








Or the model whose same photo shoot has been used to sell everything from handbags to "dating services" (full story here)?

In an era where stock photo sales have exploded and using them in marketing efforts is the norm, realize that using (and more importantly relying on) inexpensive stock photography as a representation of your brand is similar to dating every person who has used that photo--and that is a scary thing.

Like A Boomerang, They Come Right Back

Logos may stand in the background for a few decades, but they always make a comeback. This can be good and bad. Take a look at this Flickr page, which shows a collection of vintage logos from a mid-70's edition of the book World of Logotypes.

Many are similar to modern logos. The logo in the top right of this page is similar to the current Motorola logo. Companies still use clear and identifiable shapes today, as well as the use of one letter to represent the brand. Since the core concepts of logo development are the same today as they were 30 years ago, so are the bad choices.

Today’s logos have a strong connection between the brand and the customer; poor logo choices do not. In these examples, many logos seem to lack that strong correlation to the brand. For example, in the United States Postal Service logo, there are nine stars. Why does the logo use nine stars? Thirteen for the original colonies or fifty for the number of states (post-1959) are the typical numbers for stars relating to the U.S. Only nine colonies were needed to ratify the Constitution, but somehow I don’t think that was USPS’ reasoning for the number. My colleague commented that many logos look like “someone just slapped it on top of a letterhead to make it official.” There may be a lot of truth to that.

When branding or rebranding your company, be sure the logo has substance. Connect it with the brand and with your target audience, but don’t over-think it. It’s okay to take hints from the past, just don’t go overboard.

Use of Graphics Today from a Branding Perspective

Today’s average consumer frequently is on the go and has little time to sit and contemplate. The world of graphics was created as a way for us to quickly and easily absorb information.

A company logo is a graphic. It’s a primary identifier for a company, but often receives too much attention for smaller business without a history to represent in a small, scrutinized image. For some, it may make sense to begin with a word mark – think Pottery Barn, FedEx and Tiffany’s as examples.

On the front page of every section, everyday, the USA Today newspaper has an info-graphic in the lower left corner. An info-graphic is a graphic that directly imparts information through words and pictures. They use them to show the revenue streams of companies, the history of a product or employee, or a visual breakdown of what all the buttons do on that new product.

When we, as consumers, see graphics in the same style we think “USA Today.” In the graphics profession, you can even hear, “Let’s use a USA Today-style chart here.” Wouldn’t it be nice if your group’s graphics were as easily recognizable, conjuring up instant references to your team? All the more reason to consider their importance carefully, and as we do with law, construction, and even coffee… leave it up to the professionals to guide you.

Last but not least, remember, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and think about how your selection reflects upon your organizational efforts. For those non-readers out there, they will rely upon them to receive clues about your group – the essence of your brand.

Check out this library of graphics working for their companies in various ways.