Category Archives: Branding

In 2012, brands that try to convey perfection are beginning to look downright dishonest, while those who admit their mistakes and misdemeanors are gathering brownie points for their efforts.

Brand honesty leads to customer trust

In a world where we are punishing politicians, publishers and sportspeople for various lapses of judgment, you know there’s a collective shift in expectations of institutions – and that includes brands. After all, today’s all-powerful consumers are ready to boycott brands they don’t trust.

Gone are the days of a food or fashion manufacturer bleating about how great they are and expecting us to believe it; there’s just too much information too readily available to all of us. There’s no running, no hiding; the only way is to ’fess up.

Admitting to brand mistakes is appealing

Brands that get it wrong are stepping out the wings and sharing their shame – and laughing at themselves. When Lynx was pushed into removing what many deemed a sexually offensive online ad, they swiftly posted a follow-up ad featuring the model Lucy sadly handing back the props that were used in the original execution.

Lynx apologise with this follow-up advertisement

Last year, Innocent emailed customers a money-off voucher that had an incorrect barcode; the follow-up apology email they sent out suggested that their customers ‘keep [the old voucher] as a memento of our stupidity.’

And when an American Red Cross employee tweeted that they were planning to get totally hammered (or ‘slizzered’) from the corporate Twitter account instead of their personal one, the company deleted the tweet and posted “We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.” It turned into an overnight viral hit, with readers pledging donations because of their understanding stance.

Don’t stifle the customer’s voice

Negative customer feedback can easily be hidden, but a site that gives just rave reviews is now seen as suspect; to address and act upon complaints is far more effective. So when Virgin America upgraded their reservation system, customers were frustrated by the difficulties and complained en masse; Virgin didn’t delete them, but replied to the 12,000 comments individually, winning loyalty and a lot of positive feedback. After complaints about quality, Domino’s Pizza launched a month-long campaign in New York’s Times Square, where a digital hoarding communicated live-streamed both good and bad customer feed-back from Twitter. A bold move by any standard.

Domino’s Pizza live-stream of customer reviews in Times Square, New York

For some brands, even being actively disliked becomes something to not just acknowledge but celebrate as a point of difference. Marmite and Miracle Whip are both playing on the idea that people are divided between lovers and haters. So Marmite asked online consumers what their stance was under the slogan ‘Love it or Hate it’, and opened up a Facebook page that encouraged both praise and abuse.

'Love it or Hate it'

Real models add authenticity to a brand

Many fashion and cosmetics brands are finding it difficult to adapt to the new drive for honesty – after all, they’re selling themselves on the basis that everyone wants to look attractive. While M&S’s oversized model campaign of 2000 was too far ahead of its time, Dove picked up the baton and began using real people and not models in their campaigns; French cosmetic brand Make Up Forever has taken it even further, refusing to use retouched images in advertising, and basing their entire brand proposition on it.

Make Up Forever refuse to use retouched images in advertising

And finally, the ultimate in branding trust: Honest Tea set up unmanned pop-up kiosks in six US cities, asking people to leave $1 for each bottle of the product they took. The social experiment was filmed on hidden cameras and streamed live to demonstrate honesty in action. A brave move, but one totally in tune with the zeitgeist.

Jo Stedman, SO Creative, London Creative Agency

For total immersion, many brands are creating a physical presence where customers can ‘feel’ the brand’s values in the real world. It’s part of the continuing trend to create something new to capture customer attention.  Best London Branding Agency

Last week, floral champion Laura Ashley announced their intention to open a £5.8m, 49-room ‘brand showcase’ hotel, allowing guests to immerse themselves in its products and interior design sensibilities – albeit, rather bizarrely, in Hertfordshire, but that’s neither here nor there. The brand is experiencing an increase in sales with the current fashion for florals and English interiors – plus the rediscovery of 1980s colour.

It’s interesting that the brand which fell off our collective radar years ago is reasserting itself in the manner of Ralph Lauren, Armani, Versace, Bulgari and Missoni – who themselves recently provided the soft furnishings for two of the Four Seasons Resort Maui’s ultra-luxury poolside cabanas.

It’s a reminder that in this world of too much, too little, too late that brands have to adapt to hold our interest – and appeal to consumers in new and novel ways. With brands faltering, flailing and failing, it pays to think differently, reinforce your core message or even branch out into different areas.

Brands get creative for physical stand-out

Gregg’s bakery chain launched their own-brand café in Newcastle, promising to challenge the big chains with lower prices and free WiFi…

Gregg’s bakery chain launched their own-brand café in Newcastle

Cadbury set up a Cocoa House at Bluewater shopping centre, creating retro ice-cream, afternoon teas and pastries to capture the essence of the nostalgic British brand…

Novelty value makes headlines in a fast-paced retail environment where standing out is a constant challenge for marketers; Amazon and eBay both took their presence into the real world for a limited period…

eBay took their presence into the real world

…and Net-A-Porter created a Window Shop in Covent Garden that brought fashionista customers together using a combination of augmented reality, app and real store.

Net-A-Porter window shop in Covent Garden

Truly clever brands keep evolving

Truly clever brands are limbering up before the race for the finish line; adidas launched a new Runbase concept store in Tokyo that not only allowed customers to buy but hire running shoes and clothing, attend weekly running workshops, and make use of showers and lockers after a run on the nearby track. Ikea – the retailer who pioneered the idea of customers walking through room sets – is now selling flat-pack homes with their own plot of land at their store in Gateshead. And Mercedez-Benz debuted its latest range of super-stylish ergonomic furniture at the high-minded Milan Design Week in March, blending the brand’s luxury credentials with designs inspired by its cars.

Mercedez-Benz super-stylish ergonomic furniture

Even the humble Hellmann’s mayonnaise recently launched some new peppy flavours that included introduced hints of caramelized onion or a hint of wasabi to their traditional formula, showing how tastebuds have changed since the 1970s.

It’s this kind of risk-taking that brands need to build into their DNA, or risk falling into the Jurassic Park of branding – when you ‘stand still and they can’t see you.’

Jo Stedman, SO Creative, London Creative Agency

Old brands have been telling us their stories for years – through TV ads, poster campaigns and snappy slogans that reached out to as many people as possible. And it worked. We sat through thousands of ads on TV and at the movies that are big, glossy and totally interchangeable.

Dictating your message to the masses seems quaintly old-fashioned in today’s world of social media, flash mobbing and word-of-mouth. Now, consumers are allying themselves with brands that have a unique perspective, authentic point of view or engaging personality.

Here’s a thumbnail guide that shows how to make a start in telling your story:

Get right to the core of who you are

What does your organisation stand for? It sounds like an easy question but it’s notorious difficult to pin most brand guardians down on. So many companies produce similar products to others that many get overlooked; but what makes them truly different is their belief in fairness, their insistence on excellence, their super-quick service or their quirky way of communicating.

When you clearly and succinctly define these three or four ‘core values’, it creates clarity for a brand – and should determine everything the organisation is, does or produces – from the product and its packaging to staff uniforms and the environment you work in. Think of the environmentally-friendly Body Shop throwing away mountains of unwanted product or treating suppliers disrespectfully; it would chip away at what the brand stands for.

What’s the big idea?

Some brands have one really strong idea behind them that determines who they are and what makes them different from anyone else. Project 7 Purified Water in the US are dedicated to addressing worldwide issues from poverty to building the future, and the premise drives every aspect of their business from how they hire to where they work to their packaging, and it makes them unique. Gü believes in indulging in pure pleasure in life; Innocent believes that being healthy is fun and life-enhancing. Simple.

What’s the one big idea behind your brand? Be as specific as possible, so you can ‘own’ that area of the market. It could be using natural products, exceptional design, innovation…

What are your brand’s values?

Your values can define your big idea, or just be one element of your brand. Either way, it is incredibly useful to define what your brand believes in – whether cutting-edge design, sourcing local ingredients or fair trading. Tesco launched LocalChoice milk to help raise the price per litre that went to farmers; Nespresso believes in promoting fine coffee through expertise and education, so they have a dedicated concierge service is available to members. Innocent’s values are about openness and honesty, integrity and caring; you can see it in the ingredients they use, their charity work and their packaging – and they always encourage people to drop in and see them. And what’s not to love about little bobble hats on bottles to help the aged?

What’s your brand vision?

Some brands define themselves by where they want to be; as one car maker announced in the early 1900s, ‘Ford will democratize the automobile’. Maybe you want your brand to revolutionise its sector, and this in turn should define how you advertise, package, manufacture and treat your staff.

Gin artisans Sipsmith wanted revive London’s gin heritage, and handcraft in the old style the way old London gin houses did; even their name mirrors it through using the old English artisan word ‘smith’. By contrast, Absolut Vodka wanted to be the ultimate urban brand, so launched a range of city-based bottles from New Orleans to Vancouver, each with different ingredients that reflected the city’s character.

What’s your brand’s personality?

It’s once again up to you to determine what your brand is like to hang out with. Is it an authority, militant, quirky, fun, unpredictable, a best friend, super-efficient…? These character traits will translate into all your communication streams, from design and copy to customer service, presentations and even what you wear. Snog positions itself as individual, healthy and appealing to all, so its straplines of ‘Less talk, more snogging’ and ‘I like snogging more than ice cream’ hit the cheeky, all-inclusiveness on the head.

Jordans Cereals launched Macho Muesli using nutritionalists and men’s health statistics to work out the ideal ingredients for blokes, and speak in a no-nonsense, down-to-earth way: ‘It’s not bird food!’ The muesli comes in a big man-size tub and is chunkier than competing cereals. Finally, the ultimate brand expression comes from the Austrian Gut Oggau vineyard, which features a line-drawn member of the family on each different vintage, demonstrating how wines have different personalities. So grandfather Berthold’s vintage is full of energy and down-to-earth, but is mature with many stories to tell; the daughter Winifried’s wine is young, animated, refreshing and charming. Very personal and very engaging.

If your brand was sitting in a chair opposite you, how would you describe it?

Answer this question and your brand has a great starting point
to telling an authentic and compelling brand story.

Graham Parker, SO Creative – London branding agency

There’s a lot of talk about branding at the moment, from St Mary Portas and that nice Jeremy Gutsche down to some expert on the internet you’ve never heard of.

But with so many experts saying so much, it’s surprising that there’s so much mystery about it. And if making a strong brand follows a formula, then why are so many falling by the wayside?

On top of all the talk, there’s a long, long list of terms that go hand-in-hand with branding: Brand Equity, Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Brand Engagement, Brand Vision, Brand Values, Brand Building, Brand Awareness… the list goes on and on, but what does it all mean?

First of all, let’s answer the question ‘what is a brand?’…

Branding then and now

The original term ‘branding’ comes from the Wild West, when ranchers marked their cattle with a sizzling iron stamp to identify them – like thatchers and masons had been doing for centuries. The ‘brand’ was the actual mark (or logo in today’s terms). Easy.

But through the growth of advertising and the increased sophistication of consumers, a brand has become much more than just a logo. If it were, you could remove it and the brand would cease to exist. Imagine Apple products and communication without their logo: still totally recognisable. The logo is just a symbol for the brand, it is the ‘mark’ that is burned onto their products.

In his best selling book ‘The Brand Gap’, Marty Neumeier explains a brand as “a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or organisation”. This is a brilliant and accurate definition of what a brand is, but it only becomes brilliant once you delve deeper and discover how a brand is created.

The creation of a great brand

Now this is tricky. Many have attempted to define in a just a few words how to create a great brand, but I struggle to find one that does it well. More encompassing than Neumeier, but in true marketing speak is “A brand is a construct that delivers marketing promises to facilitate the formation of a mutually beneficial and evolving bond between the seller (or corporation) and its stakeholders based on functional and emotional values.”

This is more informative, but very technical in comparison to Marty Neumeier’s emotional approach. My own simpler definition is “A brand is a person’s opinion about a product, service or company that is formed upon being exposed to influences. The key to building a successful brand is a very clear idea of what opinion you want people to form and an intelligent marketing strategy to deploy it.”

And while you can’t control people’s opinions, you can influence them at every stage of your marketing. The brand ‘idea’ is what makes a product or service unique or better than it’s competitors – and it must be clearly communicated at every touchpoint. So, Apple is about simplicity of use and superlative design; Innocent is about honesty and purity; Ikea is based on the idea that good design is for everyone, Volvo is safety – you get the idea.

These central ideas are transmitted through all the brand’s touchpoints, including retail environments, advertising, staff behaviour, online plus the product or service itself.

The reason so many brands fail, is because they invest huge sums in marketing and advertising without really knowing why they exist, what they are trying to say and what makes them unique. Is there much difference between Starbucks and Costa Coffee? McDonald’s and Burger King? Gucci and Prada? People may dispute the intricacies of the product, but the big difference is the part of peoples’ minds that the brand ‘owns’.

To succeed, it is imperative to understand what it is that makes your offering the best choice in its category.

Defining the territory

Now we know that a brand is merely a person’s opinion about a company, product or service, the definitions become easier to understand:

Brand Strategy: The plan for how the brand intends to create customers. It is the strategy for delivering the influences.

Brand Proposition: The distinctive position that a brand adopts in its competitive environment to ensure that individuals in its target market can tell the brand apart from others.

Brand Awareness: A measure of consumers’ knowledge of a brand’s existence.

Brand Engagement: The process of forming an emotional and rational attachment between a consumer and a brand.

Brand Values: The amount that a brand is worth in terms of income, potential income, reputation, prestige, and market value.

Brand Equity: The difference between the prices that the consumer accepts to pay when the brand is known compared to the value of the benefit received.

Brand Identity: The visual aspects of the brand. A consistent look and feel, the style of which supports the idea.

Brand Guidelines: An instruction manual which lays down rules to ensure the idea is communicated consistently at every touchpoint.

Passionate about branding

Does your brand make sense?

For years, marketing has relied only on the way brands look – from their advertising, the way they sit on shelves and the colour of the packaging. But brands are now looking at creating emotional connections with their customers by tapping into all five senses – often with surprising results.

Open your eyes to branding opportunities

Currently, over 90% of all brand communication focus on just sight; that means leaving less than a measly 10% appealing to sound, taste, touch and smell. But emotional connections are made with a combination of all five senses.

The smell of popcorn takes you to the cinema; a champagne cork popping brings an anticipatory whoop from a room; a sniff of freshly mown grass and it’s spring… It’s these types of multi-sensory touchpoints that allow brands to create a more powerful connection with their customers, who can ‘feel’ the brand on many different levels – often in a deeply emotional way.

It’s no surprise that in-store retail is playing with sound and scent, and that packaging experts in the US are toying with resins that have feel appeal, and inks that change colour or release a fragrance when rubbed.

Who’s doing what?

The first brand to famously introduce sensory elements to their brand was Singapore Airlines, who redefined the travel experience. They devised a signature scent that the crew wore and that they sprayed on their planes and the hot handtowels; the flight attendants’ make-up was in exactly the same shade the airline’s brand colours; and even the way they spoke to and served passengers came under scrutiny. It became a seamless brand experience, and copied widely by others.

Smell it

Smell is a hugely important memory trigger, with scientists estimating that 75% of our emotions are generated by what we smell – so it’s no surprise that perfume counters are placed by the front doors of department stores to waft out over the pavement and entice people in. A Yale study found that Juicy Fruit gum and Vicks VapoRub were among the most recognized scents for adults, along with a Crayola crayon, who considered their smell was such a fundamental element of their brand that they trademarked the smell. Likewise, Play-Doh has such powerful scent associations that the company released a special Play-Doh anniversary perfume to celebrate their 50th birthday. Burger King launched its own fragrance – called Flame and smelling like ‘the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat.’ Not everyone’s cup of Darjeeling, but it sold completely out within four days.

A few years ago, the Harrods Senses promotion pumped out uplifting fragrances at each entrance, scented the store guide that customers used as well as the till receipts that were slipped into bags of purchases to take home – releasing the same pleasing scent at different touchpoints of the customer journey.

Hear it

Sound is an equally important part of the mix. Car manufacturers started inserting dampeners in door cavities to give the door closing sound a more satisfactory clunk, and Harley Davidson tried to trademark the distinctive ‘potato-potato’ sound of their motorbikes, as sound equals quality. So much so that Kellogg’s have been testing the crunching of their cereals for years in a Danish sound lab, and found that a crunchier sound meant a bigger market share; Rice Crispies that don’t ‘snap, crackle and pop’ are considered stale, even though they may not be. Schweppes too used their unique gassy sound to advantage in their “Sch you know who” campaign, and British Airways has been using carefully chosen signature music that reflects its values of quality and excellence (sadly fading) in its advertising since the 1970s.

Interesting that different brands are using sound in different ways in their propositions. Turntable Kitchen in San Francisco is monthly curated food and music discovery experience that sends out recipes and hand-selected musical pairings that appeal to several different senses for a more enriching experience. And Ferran Adria, the world’s greatest chef at El Bulli restaurant in Spain, worked with a composer to introduce an entirely choreographed a 29-minute tasting menu; an orchestral explosion was mirrored in the explosion of an olive in the diner’s mouth. He also manipulates light, smell and sound in his restaurant to give customers a truly multi-sensory experience.

Touch it

Research by Instore Research in the US says that a customer that picks up a product in a store is 96% more likely to purchase it, so making customers want to touch your products is paramount. Gü have Touch a Toblerone bar, a KitKat or a box of Pringles with your eyes shut and you know exactly what it is; and the classic Coca Cola bottle was designed in 1915 so that if you smashed it, you would still know what it was – even when dressed in other clothes.

A recent memorable collaboration was between Kid Robot and Dunny, whose set of art toys to house your condiments demanded to be squeezed, while graphic designer Rachel Long’s multi-sensory food packaging features scratch and sniff elements plus a design that invites touch. Even luxury Parisian caviar purveyor Kaviari has launched a range of dinky colourful tins aimed at the travelling gourmand who wants a slurp of caviar on the go, elevating tinned fish to a fashion accessory with an unusual shape and raised logo and designs on the lid.

What else?

Proving there are always new ways to engage customer senses, Bompas & Parr created the walk-in Alcoholic Architecture cocktail bar in London’s Soho, allowing customers in protective suits to simply breathe in a mist of vaporised gin and tonic; Moët & Chandon took a different approach in their champagne bar in Macau, which replicated the experience of opening of a bottle of bubbly by using Interactive projections of bubbles on the walls, infusing the air with the smell of champagne and covering the bar in 18-carat gold foil.

Finally, the biggest multi-sensorial branding exercise to date is when Ralph Lauren changed the outside of their Bond Street store into a 4D canvas, and commissioned an 8-minute movie clip with full soundtrack to showcase their latest collection. A projected snakeskin belt tightened around the building and huge ties billowed down the front; their new fragrance was pumped into the street, and the front of the store seemed to slide away so you could see the interior. Finally, a virtual image of Ralph Lauren himself appeared at the window.

We’re all multi-sensory beings; if brands want to engage their consumers on deeper levels, it’s time to start exploring different sensory triggers.

Read more from SO Creative – ‘Talking Sense’ as featured in Retail Focus Magazine. Click here >

A recent report from the International Luxury Travel Market states that ‘The luxury travel industry will continue to recover from the financial crisis and demand is expected to grow… sparking a gradual rise in both advance booking time and rates’.

What will also grow however, is the number of companies who offer luxury travel experiences. Some who had previously focused on general travel consumers have taken necessary steps to protect themselves through the recent financial crisis; they have re-evaluated their business plans and are now specifically targeting this resilient market. As a result, competition is set to get fiercer than ever over the next few years.

If travel operators are to succeed they will need to firmly establish themselves as authentic brands that consumers can trust.

A very different kind of market

As this luxury sector recovers, a very different kind of consumer will emerge. Companies will not be able to rely on a large pool of customers ready and willing to buy with little thought to cost. Today’s luxury consumers have higher expectations, they expect impeccable quality and service, they understand value better and research their purchases much more thoroughly. There is also evidence to suggest that luxury travellers are getting younger, explained in part by a rise in affluent young people and young executives worldwide.

Luxury travel operators will need to work hard to engage with this more discerning market. Post recession success will be dependent not only upon superb quality of service, but also a strong, cohesive brand and a strong online presence and reputation.

Luxury consumers will be looking for brands they can trust which offer personalisation and exclusivity. They will expect exceptionally designed marketing communications, inviting websites and they will be using social media to research and qualify prior to purchasing.

First steps to building a luxury brand

As competition increases companies are urged more than ever to create powerful, memorable and consistent brands. This is especially relevant for luxury brands who can increase their revenue base and brand equity, plus strengthen the base of loyal customers.

There are sizeable differences between luxury brands and other brands. A luxury brand commands a high price which is justified by exceptional quality, selectivity and personalisation. Luxury brand communication is exclusive and addresses the aspirations of a particular group of consumers.

SO Creative Director Jo Stedman comments “In order to build a persuasive luxury brand, travel operators need to assess their companies in order to identify their strongest assets, find a competitive advantage and build a unique brand story around it. This brand story is your reason for being, it is what sets you apart from the competition and it will directly inform and influence the messaging and design of all marketing communications. Design can then be used to great effect to communicate and enhance your story, encouraging consumer trust and representing your company and brand consistently.”

In order to identify a brand story companies that can draw upon their history and tradition should do so. When it comes to getting luxury consumers to spend a lot of money, timeless design sells and brands that can demonstrate timeless, everlasting style and an authentic heritage have an immediate advantage. For those that do not have a strong history, the focus could be quality, originality, attention to detail or even sustainability.

Whatever the message, it should be communicated with authority, simplicity and consistency at every touchpoint.

Connect with your consumers

To connect with your target consumers’ pursuit of a bespoke and luxurious travel experience you need to understand the key factors that contribute to their expectations.

The word ‘luxury’ instantly raises people’s expectations. Today’s luxury travel consumers expect the highest level of selectivity and personalisation. All elements of your service chain must work seamlessly, from transport and accommodation to ground services and tours. Before they experience any of this though, they first undertake the research and sourcing. This is your first (and best) opportunity to differentiate yourself.

Luxury travellers are increasingly researching and buying online and first impressions really do count. When a potential customer arrives at your website, do not underestimate the power of the design to attract or repel within seconds. You have just a few seconds to engage on exactly the right level. Your website must immediately communicate the right message to your target consumer and give an assurance that you can deliver on their expectations.

Design is especially important in the case of luxury brands as luxury consumers have frequent interaction with the finely tuned marketing strategies employed by other luxury brands they have exposure to.

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc) also play a huge part in today’s consumers purchasing decisions and you should use the internet shrewdly to build a good, knowledgable online reputation.

Once you have made a sale it is vitally important that the brand experience does not stop there. Your brand should remain in force at every level. Even internal communications have a part to play in building and protecting your brand, especially today when it is harder than ever to attract and retain staff. A great brand inspires loyalty amongst staff as well as customers.

Summing up and next steps

Whether established, repositioned or a newcomer to the industry, the first step to successful luxury travel branding is a concise understanding of who your consumers are. Only then can you create a compelling brand story to inform and direct all aspects of your marketing activity.

Done well, your brand will work hard for you. Resulting in successful engagement of your target consumer, an ability to charge a premium, a great reputation and most importantly… increased sales.

Sources:
‘What’s Next: Rebirth of Luxury’ – Mckinsey & Company
‘The Future of Luxury Travel’ – International Luxury Travel Market