On a Mission
A day with Mike Harris
Stand for Something
Building trusted brands
The Upside of the Downturn
Ten Management Strategies
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Happy Blog Day!Friday 29th August 2008 This Sunday is BlogDay! The idea was hatched with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. Bloggers are to recommend other blogs to their visitors. With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.
BlogDay posting instructions are:
Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2008 Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) Oh I almost forgot, here are mine:
Be A Smoothie CopywriterThursday 28th August 2008 I really enjoyed this blog today from the Copywriter's Crucible:
"Standing out from the crowd is difficult in any marketplace. One of the ways they (Innocent) differentiated themselves, from all the other brightly coloured labels, was through their copywriting. Their copy presents them as fun, quirky and witty. They were the plucky upstart taking on the big corporate brands, with a new approach to business, and people loved it.
Innocent drinks now dominate the UK smoothie market, and it’s in no small part due to the personality of their copywriting. So what’s your copywriting’s personality?"
Read more at http://copywriterscrucible.com/whats-your-copywritings-personality/ Creating Logo SpaceTuesday 26th August 2008 It's always interesting when briefing new designers. I have found that some issues are handled with ingenuity, freshness and innate creativity and others are lost along the way - usually when it comes to identity stewardship. Brand guidelines are extremely important in providing consistency in the visual representation of the brand and in building a uniform corporate identity. Adherence to guidelines ensures that the visual design elements of the corporate identity are applied correctly in all applications. It is extremely important that the standards are strictly followed, especially in regard to those of the logo. But what happens if there are no brand guidelines? Recently, I was involved in briefing a project where there were no establlished guidelines. The designer, in response to my brief, created a clear, crisp design yet the logo was (there's no other way of putting this) 'interfered with' by a large clump of foliage! This made the logo indistinct in favour of other graphics on the page. That is why designers should apply The Corporate Mark Clearance Zone. It sounds dramatic and all very 'logo police' but then it is vital to maintaining a clear consistent identity. The protective clearance zone is created to maintain the integrity of the corporate mark and to avoid distraction of the corporate mark from type, photographs and illustrations. Nothing should enter the clearance zone. Any logo mark should always have a minimum clearance zone of 10mm around it. This ensures clarity of communication and prevents the mark from becoming lost or crowded. Love your logo and create your own space around it! What’s the Big Brand Idea?Friday 15th August 2008 Here are some of the criteria that Strand Financial believes can create market space for its financial clients:
These are the ideas that we feel should be avoided and they form a useful filter:
I Can't Get No Satisfaction (Without Differentiation)Wednesday 13th August 2008 Poor problem resolution, long wait times and additional fees all contribute to an overall decline in customer satisfaction with retail banks, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study. The study, now in its third year, finds that overall satisfaction with the retail banking experience has decreased considerably since 2007—down 26 index points on a 1,000-point scale to 737 in 2008. In particular, dissatisfaction with fees is the most commonly reported problem by customers, as well as the second-most common reason for switching financial institutions. In addition, a rise in the number of problems experienced and problems that go unresolved, increases in wait times to see tellers or speak to phone representatives, and declines in the ease of accessing branches all contribute to the drop in satisfaction. “Many retail banks are experiencing a decline in their brand image, especially in the current economic climate, where many consumers hold banks responsible for the current housing and mortgage crisis,” said Rockwell Clancy, executive director of financial services at J.D. Power and Associates. “With customers experiencing more problems, longer wait times and more fees, that negative view is intensified.” The study also finds that retail banks that provide high levels of customer satisfaction have more highly committed customers, which are essential to financial growth. Increasing by even 5 percent the number of customers who are highly committed can lead to incremental deposit growth of 3 percent annually. “As banks struggle to meet shareholder demands, the common reaction is to focus on short-term financial gains by increasing fees and reducing staff - leading to longer wait times and poor problem resolution,” said Clancy. “But now is the time for banks to really differentiate themselves from competitors by focusing on customer service and convenience. Banks with higher levels of customer satisfaction will generate higher deposit growth and achieve better financial results over the long term.” Travelator CommentatorMonday 11th August 2008 If you've been on the travelator at Bank tube station recently, you can't have failed to notice Grant Thornton's first international advertising campaign. Based around the insight that ‘big decisions follow you around’, the ads feature people in a range of scenarios outside the office, wrestling with tough business dilemmas. These thought leadership ads are all headed with 'big questions'. It gets pretty interesting when you answer these dilemmas with some 'Create Your Own Space' thinking: Half the board say now, half the board say wait. Which is the riskiest option?
Everyone says that we are interesting times and most will sit there and watch their competitors to see ‘what shakes out’. The biggest risk lies in doing nothing allowing your competitors to take the lead. These are opportunistic times - don’t wait to differentiate your brand. Take action by finding your unique core essence now and build your brand from there.
Expanding abroad is attractive. How do we make it happen? We've missed our target two years in a row. What should I do if we miss it again? We have to reduce costs. What are the options this time? The Heat is OnMonday 04th August 2008 Everything we do as an agency is concerned with getting brands to boiling point:
First we boil everything down to a brand promise that matters to your target audiences; creating relevant differentiation.
Next, we ignite imaginations by communicating the brand promise, increasing awareness in a way that is memorable and measurable. Then, we increase the heat and velocity of delivery - living the brand promise and gaining brand traction.
Heat bonds, strengthening your brand promise; enhancing your brand, and its value, over time
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