I was recently invited to speak to some talented design students at Australia’s best design school [ Enmore SIT in Sydney ]. Here is the introductory video I used to set the tone and demonstrate what it is that we do at The Sponge, that is we make brands.
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I was speaking to a gentleman that I respect last week about branding. During this discussion we touched on many critical things, but none more than the importance of a brand culture within a company. If it is not there, then it is near impossible to create a brand identity.
Why is it critical that you stand for something? Because your brand is not your logo, unless you are a faceless, voiceless, automated commodity , then it is your people and your company culture. Your customers, clients, suppliers, distributors and even your people are immersed in your company culture every day. If you have a misaligned company vision (or no vision at all), or a similarly misaligned, or meaningless set of core values (or no core values at all), then what can you honestly expect the attitude toward your company to be?
An inspiring example of an empowering Vision and Values set comes from Southwest Airlines. It is one of many examples from “The Art of Business - in the footsteps of Giants” by Raymond T.Yeh and Stephanie H.Yeh
Vision: “To provide the best service and lowest fares to the short haul, frequent-flying, point-to-point, non-interlining traveler.”
Which Yeh translate the Tao as: “Liberating people to fly - democratizing the skies”
And the Values as lifted from http://www.southwest.com/careers/culture.html
Warrior Spirit
Work Hard
Desire to be the best
Be courageous
Display a sense of urgency
Persevere
Innovate
Servant’s Heart
Follow The Golden Rule
Adhere to the Basic Principles
Treat others with respect
Put others first
Be egalitarian
Demonstrate proactive Customer Service
Embrace the SWA Family
Fun-LUVing Attitude
Have FUN
Don’t take yourself too seriously
Maintain perspective (balance)
Celebrate successes
Enjoy your work
Be a passionate Teamplayer
These values and the commonly held company vision empower every member of the Southwest Airlines to act for the good of the company within a clear set of guides. This is the culture from top down and they insist on hiring only those people with the right attitude that fit the vision. This ensures that the dream lives in every employee. In fact Southwest Airlines has created an entire committee to nurture the culture called the Culture Committee.
It is this kind of company culture which enables a design team the ideal platform to create a Corporate Identity that is substantial and tells an authentic story. It is this kind of company that is our ideal client. If your Company is lacking in these areas, fear not, it is something that you can develop with the right direction. And the difference in productivity and profitability as a result can be astounding!
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Your consultant needs to be an exceptional listener. You need to be able to trust him with one of your company’s most valuable assets.
Some of the key aspects you should look for in a design firm are:
The hunger to completely understand your business. A holistic understanding that is, including your business direction, culture, process, goals (short and long term), target market, industry and your competition. This understanding must be sound, well before any ideas are generated. A skilled consultant will help you share the information with him by asking you and the key members your team a series of structured questions. This is where all the information and inspiration is contained.
Timeless Approach to Identity Design. Powerful brands will stand the test of time. Consider that when you choose your design team because they need to believe what they will create will be around long after you have left this earth and that it will be standing strong. This makes understanding your long term goals critical, otherwise it is next to impossible to create anything meaningful that will last.
Powerful Design Skills and Ability in many mediums. It is invaluable to find a design and marketing firm that has the ability to implement the new brand through your entire collateral material, whether it is print, live or online. A firm with equally talented staff in all areas of design can offer you commanding branding at every client touch point. A touch point is any element of your business that your client touches, whether it is a business card, a sign, your website or even your voicemail.
By doing so you can eliminate the weak links created when using multiple independent firms. The weak links will occur when the creative direction has to be translated again by a new creative team and is misunderstood. It can often be purposely modified with new “creative direction” because of a “was not done here” mentality. This intentional misdirection weakens your message and dilutes your brands story.
In summary, you need a firm with a hunger to understand your business and a desire to create you a timeless brand with the ability and team to implement it powerfully across throughout your company. Simple!
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For many the turning point when your brand starts failing to accurately represent the business passes by unnoticed (to those in charge) like a cloud in the night sky. The sad thing is that these failings contribute to irreparable poor first impressions, gross misunderstanding of your offerings and less and less new business of the type you want.
There are many reasons your brand can become misaligned with your business. From the experience of The Sponge, here are the top 10 signs that it is time to rebrand your business.
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All purchasing decisions are emotionally driven. Rationalizations are all made after that moment of decision and are usually only to justify that decision. Ultimately it comes down to how you feel about it. This is why an emotionally driven message, or story, is the most important element in your print material, apart from the initial attention seeking headline or graphical alternative. Your story must address your target audiences world view, engage them and create a burning desire to want to do what you ask. Remember, the only way to get anyone to do anything is to make them WANT to do it, if you don’t achieve this, they won’t!
So the 3 keys are 1. get attention, 2. make an emotional connection with your audience with a story they identify with and creates a desire, and 3. then finally you give them ONE easy to follow instruction to carry out. This can be a direction to “Call this number now”, “Visit an outlet”, “Visit our website - www” or “Send in this coupon”, or anything else that drives them to take immediate action. Keep it simple and don’t leave it to them to work it out.
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If you are still here then you are one of the smart people. You understand that your branding and marketing material needs to be unique and creative so it can stand out from the daily clutter that comes before your target market and vies for a moment of their precious time. Then equally as important, it must be highly appealing and emotionally stimulating to these citizens so that your message is received and acted on directly.Understanding all the ins and outs of your business and fine points of your products, or services is what we thirst for and so should you. Only once you are armed with this information can anyone create highly alluring designs, a holistic marketing strategy, and specific micro strategies to convey an emotionally charged message directly to your target market. An emotionally charged message can strike a chord with your target market, increasing their understanding of the benefits you provide them and elicit a direct response, ultimately generating you more profit.
You’ve made it this far so we believe that you can be the best and brightest in your industry. Developing powerful designs and a focused marketing strategy will help you get the results you crave. Strive to create the most creative, intuitive and remarkable designs for your specific needs. Your ultimate goal should be to significantly increase your profit and add value to your life and business. Ours is!
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Have you got a goal you want to achieve? It is your job as the entrepreneur, go getter, or rising star to have the great ideas - create the goal. However, there is nothing more frustrating that having a fantastic idea and not knowing the quickest and most direct route to its fruition and successful application. This is where the assistance of a great design and marketing team comes in handy.
Working with a skilled and experienced team will enable you to evolve your idea into one which is profitable and achievable. Essentially taking your goal, or idea and creating the most direct and effective plan to achieve it. This plan includes a time line for the short and long term milestones.
Two critical strategies to employ in bringing any great idea to reality are your Design Strategy - development on all the beautiful, awe inspiring printed or electronic material to market your idea. And your Marketing Strategy - how you plan to make a big profitable splash in the market place with this exquisitely designed material. Neither of these plans should be taken lightly, they can mean the difference between a brand new Porsche or finding a new job. Your design and marketing team should be one in the same or otherwise have some kind of uncommon synergy and no expense should be spared here.
I find the following comparison enlightening. Your ideal potential customer is waiting to be picked up down the road. Imagine you can choose any car in the world to pick this customer up in that best matches your idea, what car would it be? Then budget accordingly.
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Have you out grown your current logo? Do you think you need a new corporate logo or corporate identity?
You may find that your corporate identity has been outdated due to a market, or company shift, or perhaps you are experiencing the aftermath of choosing to use a design fad, which may have seemed like a good idea at the time.
Your logo is the centrepiece of your entire corporate identity; it is the public “face” of your business. It not only reflects on the company, it reflects on you. Your logo and collateral material should convey a succinct message of who you are and what you stand for, creating an ideal first impression when presented to a potential client.
There are many reasons that your corporate identity may not be right for right now. Whatever reason you find for why yours isn’t working, it means that it is time for you to rebrand.
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