Category: Take 5

Imagery is a vital part of any visual identity system. Building a central repository of “brand-correct” photography can be a terrific way to ensure that your images are working as hard as your other brand assets in communicating a consistent and appropriate tone across all touch points. But what’s the best way to build that library?

While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, these five will get you started in the right direction.

1. Use strategy as your guide

Just like every other aspect of your visual identity, imagery needs to reflect your distinctive personality traits and positioning in the market. Many organizations do a terrific job of building a brand platform and developing a brand positioning. They also tailor logos, color palettes, type systems and graphics to their brand strategy, but go “off the shelf” when it comes to their images. Your agency should help you define what a “branded” image looks like, both in terms of overall style as well as content. That will be the guide as you populate your library, providing you with a powerful tool that’s in alignment with all of your other brand assets.

2. The more proprietary, the better

I almost hate to say it, but the best image libraries I’ve come in contact with have been populated with commissioned, proprietary photography. By “best”, I mean most distinctive and relevant to the brand. I’m sure that seems obvious, but it’s worth a reminder. Yes, the idea of building a proprietary library from scratch can seem daunting in terms of time, logistics, and cost. But, depending on your particular criteria, it can be eminently achievable and not even as expensive as you might think. Even if it’s only for a portion of the library, you owe it to yourself and the brand to research it as an option.

3. Be creative

It’s safe to assume that you rarely have the luxury of an open-ended timeline or copious amounts of money when developing brand assets and tools. This is also likely true in other areas of your business. But, in other situations, you might be more willing to think outside the box and be extremely creative with the resources and talent to get the job done ahead of schedule and under budget. Why not with an image library as well?

Sourcing brand-appropriate photography doesn’t always mean superstar photographers, exorbitant locations or model fees. We recently supplemented the image library of a non-profit by engaging several of our photographer friends to shoot people and scenes from their day-to-day lives at their leisure over the course of a couple of weeks (all with appropriate consent and model releases). While we compensated the photographers well for their time, other expenses associated with photo shoots were avoided and the result was a set of genuine and distinctive images that fit the brand to a T.

4. Make it your own

As much as I believe in point number 2 above, the fact is: Most libraries are populated with stock images. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. The selection of high-quality stock photography out there is tremendous. But, with a little extra effort, you can make your stock-filled library feel almost as proprietary as a custom effort.

By doing some consistent post-production adjustments to visual elements such as color balance or saturation (using your identity and color system as a guide), or pre-cropping images in a unique way, you can not only make photos from different sources feel more like a unified family, but also add to their distinctiveness and alignment to your brand.

5. Don’t forget context

As you’re building your library, always keep your ultimate applications in mind. If your organization does a fair amount of web banners, for example, be sure your library contains images that can be cropped/extended for long horizontal use. Engage the owners of key customer touch points in your organization to make sure their communications needs are well-understood; not so much about style as it pertains to the brand, but specific content and format needs. A well-thought out image library is only effective if it gets put to use.

Making sense of data can be overwhelming – and the challenges only become increasingly compounded in this age of “Big Data” as more sources, bigger data sets, and less-structured content continues to be made available. But developing meaningful findings out of data is a highly thoughtful human exercise that no algorithm can ever replace.

We refer to this process as “strategy-driven insight” – an approach to collecting and analyzing data designed to achieve the stated objectives of an organization.

Here are five tips to help you focus on what is most important when it comes to packaging information in a way that is truly actionable:

1. Wear three hats at once.

Developing a meaningful narrative from data is not only about doing good research – it must also be purposeful to a company and capable of influencing the behaviors of the people that shape those organizations. This process requires that you consider the following three perspectives: -Scientific: be methodical, rigorous and logical -Business: focus attention on growth, profitability and efficiency -Human experience: integrate the personal, the emotional and the entertaining.

2. Know where you’re going, but be open to surprises.

Before you begin generating insights, create a clear direction for the path you intend to follow based on the goals of the organization. But be prepared for the unexpected. If something doesn’t fit, take a step back, reevaluate and adjust your commentary accordingly.

3. Utilize whole-brain thinking.

Convergent thinking is the process of developing clear, concise answers to a problem – this is often associated with linear and analytic “left brain” thinking. Divergent thinking is a method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions – this is often associated with intuitive and creative “right brain” thinking. Strategy-driven insights require both, so be comfortable drawing from the two hemispheres of your gray matter by embracing the chaos and contradictions experienced between exploring options and narrowing choices.

4. Follow the large and the small.

In the world of statistics, normal curves, major trends and general patterns are effective ways to map out data. But in the world of insights, it is equally important to pay close attention to the details and the outliers. Utilize both quantitative and qualitative findings – and have each inform and challenge the other.

5. Use the tenets of branding as your guide.

As the process of analyzing and translating data takes you into new territory and shines light on things you may have never seen or considered, it can quickly become confusing. To easily prioritize and organize the final story, come back to the basic questions we use when evaluating brands: is it clear, relevant, believable, and differentiating?

If you are mindful of these methods, you will be successful in transforming reams of 1s and 0s into plans that move people and businesses.

You’ve invested time and resources into creating a clear and compelling brand. Now what? Even the best strategy will go to waste if your brand isn’t properly implemented and maintained. Consistency across all touch points reinforces and turns up the volume on your brand promise. Alignment in everything you say and do is essential in building awareness and nurturing positive impressions of your company. While the underlying strategy will shape your visual and verbal expression, it is your brand guidelines that ensure the integrity of your brand image. They are a critical tool in brand management. Yet many companies file them away in a drawer and never look at them again, jeopardizing their brand investment.

Here are five tips for getting the most out of your brand guidelines

1. Paint the full picture.

Your guidelines should begin with the full brand story to put the brand expression in context. Even if it only includes a brief overview of the strategy, it will help everyone working with the brand to develop a deeper familiarity. Knowing why the expression was built the way it was fosters understanding that will enable them to better promote the company.

2. Don’t forget the exceptions.

Every brand guidelines will come with a set of dos and don’t: how to use – and how not to use – all of the elements of the visual and verbal expression. The larger a company is the more likely there will be exceptions to some rules. Outlining the known exceptions to the rules will reinforce that there are a limited number of ways a brand can be altered.

3. Share with everyone.

Don’t limit the distribution to just the marketing or communications staff, everyone in the company and even some vendors/partners should be aware of the brand and its multiple verbal and visual components. Create the document as a PDF or online tool so it is easier to share. Not only does this save printing costs, but it also makes it easy for people to store on a computer desktop for quick reference when creating a document or determining the tone of an email or a proposal to a prospect.

4. Avoid insider jargon.

Guidelines should be written for designers and non-designers alike. Many professionals outside the creative realm aren’t as up to speed on design terminology or software applications used to create materials. But everyone should have a basic understanding of how all the components work together. Use references and language that can be universally understood by everyone who uses the guidelines.

5. Appoint the brand police.

All guidelines should include a contact person (or people) who is a resource and gatekeeper for all branded materials. This person can coordinate training and tutorials and answer quick questions. They should be given the authority make decisions when the guidelines may not cover a specific usage or scenario. They should also be empowered to identify off-brand items and remove them from circulation.

In today’s “Big Data” world, it’s easy to get lost in the cacophony of numbers and statistics. Companies look for an all-encompassing dashboard to divine brand health, but with advances in data visualization and an ocean of accessible data, the options can be overwhelming.

Here are five tips to keep in mind when diving into brand research:

1. Begin at the end

Insights should lead to business decisions. It is important to understand how this part of the process fits into the bigger branding picture. By articulating the decisions the data need to inform, you can determine what research you’ll need. Perhaps someone else has already built a study that works for you. Maybe there are publicly available sources that will shape your research. Did you know the federal government is a virtual warehouse of statistics and data? There are also prepackaged reports that assess entire industries and consumer segments – by working with these you can outline what’s missing and develop your research plan.

2. Be focused

When it comes to audiences and topics, don’t ask all the “want to knows,” keep it to the “must knows.” It’s tempting to toss in a few non-essential questions when conducting a survey but don’t fall into this trap. Every question should have a distinct purpose and should be track back to inform the business decisions to be made. It may be nice to know the income bracket of the audience but unless that will be used specifically, spare the respondent and analyst.

3. Start small

Once you’ve done all the work to locate your audience, it is important to be sure you ask the right questions. Getting feedback on a small scale before launching a larger audience survey can be incredibly helpful. This can be as simple as asking a friend or colleague who fits the audience profile a few of your questions as a sanity check on your approach. This easy step can help ensure that you are on the right track with your research and make the most of your budget and time.

4. Take advantage of technology

We live in a data drenched universe – there are lots of different ways to gather information.

Technology has made research less expensive and more accessible. For example, alternatives to the traditional focus groups – chats and bulletin board responses – make qualitative research a convenient way of gathering insights.

5. Keep it simple

Innovations in research platforms provide the researcher with options to conduct highly complex studies and develop questionnaires specific to the most exact criteria. While these studies can provide a layer of sophistication, sometimes a simple rating scale can do the job. Always think back to your objectives and start with the least amount of information needed. Add complexity only as the project requires it. This will ultimately keep costs down and make life simpler for everyone.

Great packaging must establish an intimate relationship with consumers. Packaging is the only brand touchpoint where consumers are actually physically engaged with your brand 24/7. From its purchase, to its storage, to its usage and to it being discarded your packaging forms a personal relationship with consumers. Packaging must take advantage of this opportunity. It must grab attention, make that right first impression and ultimately establish an emotional connection.

Here are five tips for ensuring that your brand’s packaging is dressed for success:

1. Packaging must be the 5th P in your marketing mix

Those marketers who integrate packaging as part of their marketing mix, otherwise known as product, price, place and promotion have a better shot at success. They recognize packaging is a vital branding component from the onset. By involving internal and external cross-functional teams early in the process you with all the tools required to plan for the functional, aesthetic and emotional needs of your packaging. All components of your packaging from the top down and inside out must work in harmony to ensure that it engages with consumers on a multitude of levels—size, shape, materials, dispensing features, color, printing techniques, etc.

2. Packaging is your key differentiator

Yes, this may be an obvious statement. However, when you take a look at the statistics, you begin to understand how challenging this truly is. On average, consumers make 2.2 trips per week to the supermarket and are exposed to 40,000+ products on shelf. It is interesting to note that the total amount of products to which a consumer is exposed is almost equal to the amount of new products launched within one year. And only 5-8 percent of these new products have a chance of surviving. With numbers as staggering as these, the need for your packaging to differentiate and stand out on shelf is vital for your brand’s long-term success. With all things being equal, research has proven that consumers will use packaging as the tiebreaker in making a final purchase decision. Be smart and allocate the appropriate amount of resources that will help your packaging make a compelling statement on shelf.

3. Less is so much more

Packaging is a very valuable piece of real estate oftentimes with very limited space that needs to work extremely hard for you. While your packaging must reinforce your brand’s promise, it doesn’t have to tell the entire story. Focus on one core message that is relevant for your target audience and use the back panel and/or the web and social media to tell the complete story. Too much information can create confusion with consumers not being able to focus in on any one message. This could result in consumers paying more attention to your competition.

4. Don’t overpromise, but do over-deliver

Your packaging can fool me once, but it won’t fool me twice. One of packaging’s primary goals is to grab consumers’ attention enough to make them want to commit to trial and purchase. This is especially true if you are marketing a new product. While your packaging must dress your brand for success, it must be in alignment with consumer expectations. If what is on the inside either does not meet or exceed expectations as established by what is on the outside, you may get trial, but you will not get that much needed repeat purchase that will help guarantee long-term success.

5. Think well beyond the physical

Consumer products will always require a three-dimensional packaging for protection, transportation, storage, dispensing, etc. – something that cannot be replaced by technology. However, when developing your packaging, you must keep in mind the role technology plays in connecting your brand to consumers, especially in how the 3-D packaging is represented. It used to be that 80% of all purchase decisions were made in store. Now, it is the total opposite. The stats show that 80 percent of purchase decisions are now being made at home with consumers more diligent about using on-line research to pre-determine what they want to buy. It is no longer enough for your packaging to make a good first impression on shelf. How your packaging appears on the web, mobile and social media must be taken into consideration as more and more consumers of all ages are using technology to access information about your brand.

The few, the proud. The ultimate driving machine. The relentless pursuit of perfection. Just do it.

Great taglines deliver a simple, crisp communication of your value proposition. Great taglines don’t just happen. Capturing the essence of a brand in a handful of words requires a firm understanding of who you are (The Marines), what you do (BMW), how you do it (Lexus) and why (Nike). Only then can you turn your attention to the creative expression.

At its best, the tagline is a business asset reflecting clear strategic objectives. Here are five tips for creating a short, memorable phrase that communicates who you are OR what you do OR what makes you different.

1. Begin with a brand platform

Creating a tagline without a strategic foundation runs the risk of generating everything from internal dissent to external confusion. Know what you are trying to say before you look for memorable and meaningful ways to say it. The brand platform will serve as both guide and filter to what you say and to the tone you use in expressing it. Great taglines ring true – and the platform will clarify exactly what this means.

2. Don’t forget the context

Your name, your logo and your tagline are three pieces to a puzzle. Each piece contributes to the bigger picture – and each should rely on the others to carry some of the weight. A highly descriptive name can rely on a tagline to communicate your unique approach. A more evocative or fanciful name may need to be grounded by a more descriptive line. Strong brands find the right balance across these assets.

3. Focus

Five words or less. Maybe six or seven. You can’t say it all. Don’t try.

4. Avoid buzzwords

A strong tagline will endure beyond today to capture the aspirations of tomorrow. If everyone else is saying it, you can be sure it will feel trite before long – and it doesn’t belong in your tagline.

5. Find the hook

The trickiest part: the wordplay. Every tagline need not be clever. Many try too hard. Some work perfectly fine with a simple and straightforward approach. Yet the right balance is where the magic happens. A subtle double meaning or shift in interpretation can turn an everyday phrase into a memorable line. Explore metaphors, maybe punctuation, maybe even bad syntax. Don’t make your customers laugh – but if your tagline can work hard enough to open their eyes to what makes you special, it has more than done its job.

There are few areas of design and branding more subjective than color. Despite long-standing scientific studies of color and its effect on human behavior and psychology, the saturation of brands in any given market and the continued flattening of cultural boundaries make color selection for an identity a less-than-scientific endeavor.

That’s not to say that traditional rules of color theory should be thrown out. It simply means there are numerous criteria and inputs that can lead to the most powerful color selection for your brand’s identity. All appropriate considerations and brand objectives should be presented and weighed accordingly. Here are five things to remember when determining how to make color work for your brand.

1. Buck convention

Everyone acknowledges a key role for a brand identity is to help differentiate in a category. Yet we are still amazed at how the brands in many sectors still fall within a strict color spectrum. Don’t be afraid to go against the grain and use color as a platform for telling your distinct story, even if it raises an eyebrow or two initially. We can think of a major telecommunications brand that’s pink, a global logistics brand that’s brown and a commercial bank that’s purple.

2. Understand how color will be used

Depending on where your brand will be applied and displayed, you might think about color in a different way. While the line between B2B and B2C brands gets blurrier by the day, there are different considerations for color when your primary touch point is a retail environment versus a website. For example, if one of your critical brand expressions is internally-illuminated signage, you might want to steer clear of dark blue as a primary color, due to its notorious legibility issues in that application.

3. Two can be better than one

It’s easy to point to some great brands that a singular color in a category as a branding best practice, but ultimately that can be pretty limiting. Color combinations can be just as effective if used consistently, and in some ways they can be even more differentiating and recognizable. Think of FedEx’s purple and orange, Mastercard’s red and yellow and Harley-Davidson’s Black and Orange.

4. Look outside your category

While understanding what your peers are doing from a color standpoint, don’t forget other categories that might have a very distinct color association in terms of mindshare with the general populous. For example, it can be tough to use earth tones and not be confused with an organic foods company, and the design blogosphere is full of folks asking if pink can ever be used again without being associated with breast cancer awareness.

5. Don’t be shortsighted

We’ve been in identity design presentations where someone asks, “Well, what’s the color forecast for next season? Have we considered that?” Color forecasting for fashion, interior design and even industrial design is a very viable and powerful tool in those categories; but color in terms of identity is not a “next season” decision. It’s a 10-year-plus proposition, and needs to be considered with the criteria discussed above: differentiation, personality and attributes, primary application and yes, knowledge of basic color theory.

Hiring managers should take into consideration that hiring practices have a strong correlation to some commonly used strategic branding practices. In fact, the similarities in branding 101 and a hiring manager vetting a group of candidates and selecting one for employment are strikingly familiar. It all comes down to the consumer (i.e. the potential employer) selecting one brand (i.e. the potential employee) over another who best meets specific needs. There is no doubt that candidates must represent themselves as preferred brands in the eyes of Human Resources regardless of the industry or position for which they are applying.

Here are five lessons learned from branding when interviewing and hiring potential candidates:

1. Brand platform: understand the brand promise of the candidate

People, like brands, possess foundational elements similar to a brand platform. Keeping this in mind can be quite useful when it comes down to evaluating potential candidates. Every candidate comes with their own personal positioning, which summarizes what it is they stand for and what differentiates and makes them superior over others. Key messages around personal experiences, job skills and expertise and extracurricular activities support the positioning. Additionally, personality traits and attributes help mold and shape personality and define both verbal and visual expression. All of which ladders up to an overall promise – the core of who the candidate is.

2. Visual expression: appearances matter

Whether we like to admit it or not, first impressions oftentimes set the tone for what employers think even before the actual interview process begins. The look and style of a resume and how candidates physically present themselves are not unlike a brand’s logotype, advertising, website or packaging. Whether alone or in combination, colors, typestyles, imagery and patterns conjure immediate perceptions and establish points of distinction between candidates that can strongly influence decisions.

3. Verbal expression: it’s not just what they say, but how they say it

Similar to visual expression, verbal expression is also a significant determining factor in the selection process. Catchy headlines, relevant benefits and a clear communication hierarchy can give one product the edge over another. This also holds true for how candidates present themselves during telephone and in-person interviews. Being knowledgeable about your company and industry, clearly communicating relevant experience, effective listening and timely, written follow-ups are valuable assessment tools.

4. Brand alignment: integrating personal brand and corporate brand

A candidate’s brand platform and visual and verbal expression are key performance indicators (KPIs) that provide insights into a candidate’s ability to achieve success within an organization. In addition to performance, these KPIs will also provide insight for one of the most important hiring credentials — brand alignment. The company has a brand that reflects who it is and what it does, way beyond its logo. The brand extends to all internal and external touch points impacting processes, behaviors and communications – including person-to-person interaction. Employees living the brand is critical for company success. Therefore, hiring practices must be in alignment with the corporate brand

5. Ensure optimal ROI through on-going management

Selecting the right candidate is a mutual investment. Once a candidate is selected and an offer is extended and accepted, the hiring process is far from complete. Successful training, acclimation and integration are required in order to position your candidate for success and to help guarantee a high return on your investment. During the employee’s first year, performance evaluations at three-month intervals help keep the line of communication open, provide a forum for evaluating performance against expectations and help ensure that everyone is in alignment with the brand.

Deciding whether to grow or to remain hunkered down is a key issue for America’s business leaders today. Companies can do more to take their future into their own hands and move forward faster in the economy by addressing their brand. Here are five critical steps that a company can take to drive growth through branding.

1. Know where you are relative to the competition.

Continuously monitoring your competition will help identify where you are today and set the direction for the future. It will help to determine whether your positioning is still unique or if it needs to evolve to better separate yourself from the pack. It will also gauge the momentum of your corporate brand on multiple attributes. Familiarity and favorability measures versus your industry and the competition can provide key strategies for future growth.

2. Develop a long-term five-year brand strategy.

Your brand strategy should support your business strategy. Base the branding budget on what it will take to achieve specific revenue and asset growth goals. Branding is an investment, so establishing long-term goals today is critical for future success.

3. Communicate to the world.

Show that you are serious about your growth plans. Demonstrate how you are retooling your brand to reflect a current look at who you are. You might refresh your logo or your brand identity. Whatever you do, communicate your new brand position to both internal and external audiences.

4. Energize your employees

Your employees build your brand. Therefore, it is critical that they are in alignment with your brand. By sharing the vision, plans and direction of the company, and by training your employees to adopt the new energized culture of the company, you have a better chance for success.

5. Measure your success by evaluating the ROI.

Report the costs of branding as an investment in the company, and you can consider the returns based on the growth achieved and estimated value of the intangible asset as adding to your corporate brand.

Social media is dispersed and fluid. Brand management is centralized with limited flexibility. Yet these worlds must co-exist. As companies become increasingly social, communication is no longer the exclusive domain of Marketing and PR. Maintaining a consistent voice across all vehicles, social and otherwise, is a key challenge and hurdle for many brands. Here are five tips to help you make sure that your social media efforts contribute positively to your brand experience.

1. Have goals.

What role do you want social media to play in the brand experience? Are you looking to simply drive awareness and build followers? Or are you looking to deepen customer relationships? Or do you see opportunities to open new data streams on customer behavior? Maybe social media is mostly a channel for customer service or recruiting. Each of these requires a different plan of attack. Without goals, your efforts will be scattered, inconsistent – and a poor reflection on your brand.

2. Have a channel strategy.

You don’t sell your product in every store or advertise your brand on every network. Keep your social media efforts focused on those channels that are most important and relevant to your audiences. The “mile-wide and inch deep” approach will limit your ability to drive real relevance for your brand. A strong presence across the most important platforms for your audience is significantly more desirable than a token presence across a dozen vehicles. Great brands are not all things to all people; social media doesn’t change this.

3. Listen.

In building a brand, one of the most important things you can do is listen. How do your various stakeholder audiences see you today – and how do you need to evolve these perceptions to take you where you need to go? The ease of setting up profiles on multiple social platforms belies the difficulty in doing it well. Who’s talking about you or about your competitors – and what are they saying? What types of things are your target audiences most concerned about – and how can you positively contribute to these conversations? Before you jump in too deep, take the time to listen.

4. Be transparent.

Social media is a human environment. Great brands make human connections. The irony is that brand management tends towards rigor and inflexibility. Public, real-time engagement can be an uneasy bridge across these two worlds. Mistakes are inevitable; running from them or trying to bury them will only make them worse. Acknowledging any missteps and behaving genuinely will speak volumes for your brand while fostering credibility and trust.

5. Be committed. And be patient.

Great brands are built by a sum of experiences. This takes time. Building your brand in social media also takes time – and more resources than you think. Your presence in the social world grows one follower / comment / like at a time. Set the right expectations internally to ensure that resources remain in place for the long term. Show commitment to your audiences externally by keeping your brand fresh, active and relevant across your chosen social media channels.