Archive for Branding
Explore logo designs that work — overtime!
Take one look. What’s this logo for? I’ll bet you get it on the first try.
It’s that beautifully direct and simple, whimsical and charming, cleanly sophisticated. It asks you to figure out what it represents, but it helps you along by virtue of its elegant clarity. That’s engagement with a smile, and if it’s [...]
iPad observations: has Steve Jobs already won the war?
Steve Jobs and Apple have already won this battle, if not the war: the iPad is perfectly targeted to the user and usages it’ supposed to satisfy!
Read more"HyperRealism" in online video
Interesting post (note: “article” no longer seems to hold much currency, does it, when we’re talking Web?) by Toronto-based Web video specialist Jerry Bader about using “HyperRealism” in online video. By using very stylized, insistent presentation that is reflective of your audiences’ self-perception, you connect with that audience in a more motivating way. In his [...]
Read moreThink "design thinking" for your business in 2010
This ADWEEK article on “Five Marketing Principles Brands Should Embrace in 2010″ is rife with Good Advice, but the item that sticks out for me is the role design thinking of the list. As Frank Striefler puts it:
The concept of design thinking has become highly regarded and commonly understood, but it has yet to infiltrate [...]
Is your company Schitzocultural?
Sometimes, there’s a disconnect between two different ‘cultures’ at work in any given organization. There’s the espoused culture, and the actual culture. The gulf between the two can be minimal, or it can be enormous…and it often will evidence itself outwardly, in the comportment of the troops or the behavior of the brand.
We each need [...]
Have you SWOTed your brand lately?
Your brand, like your business, can find itself under continual assault — not even directly but by the clutter by the clutter and chaos in the market that you created your brand to overcome in the first place. That static, that welter of competing voices and emerging trends…it never stops.
So you’re well-advised to re-visit your [...]
How to tank a Tiger
Recently I wrote about the nuances of sponsorships; Accenture’s kicking Tiger Woods to the curb illustrates how quickly a relationship with a “personality” can go sour. But what’s also instructive about Accenture’s actions is the fact they took such pronounced action — and did so very, very publicly.
It’s solid damage control that says a lot [...]
What’s your mission?
Here’s a compelling Fast Company article that deals with the subject of mission statements. The nut of it?
Employees, vendors, and clients don’t get stoked by fuzzy mission statements. They will line up behind concrete goals.
Branding needs to work hand-in-glove with your mission statement, too. Both offer an opportunity to create a rallying cry, a call to [...]
Rebranding basics: a checklist for success
For any B2B business that’s contemplating a rebranding effort, there are some basic guardrails to follow that’ll help drive success. Remember: any proper rebranding program is a big step, involving investments not just of time and dollars…but you’re investing the very character and culture of your business in this new identity. So here are some [...]
Read moreThe big agency death knell?
It’s not (just) the recession that’s contributing to the ills of mega-agencies like IPG. Back in the old days, competencies had to be grouped to pool people with certain skills. Ergo, big ad agencies with clustered skillsets. Or big car companies and steelmakers, etc. Big shops that try to keep it all under one roof [...]
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