That’s the philosophy here at SO Creative, and we discuss exactly that in this months issue of Inspire magazine.

Click here to download a PDF of Inspire issue 42 (we feature on pages 8-9), or skip to our insights section and find out more about how Emotional branding stimulates all five senses.

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SO Creative’s approach injects welcome humour into the LighterLife brand, with a somewhat unconventional approach. Jo Stedman, Creative Director at SO Creative comments “Weight management is difficult enough without being serious all the time. We wanted to convey that working with LighterLife means you get to see the lighter side of life, too. Imagery and copy style is quirky, off-beat and with a sense of humour to reflect LighterLife’s philosophy”.

LighterLife CEO Sarah Kelly explains why the company felt the need for a change in brand direction…

“Our consumer insights work showed that the general public were fed up of being told the same old mantra by weight loss companies that all you need to do is ‘eat less, move more’ and are screaming out for a new approach that looks at their mindset and relationship with food,” she says. “With this evidence behind us, we feel confident that the new brand will be a big success and reap dividends for next year.”

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“A Press Kit is a key weapon in your brand’s armoury.”

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A press kit (also referred to as a press pack or media kit) is a key weapon in your brand’s armoury. Done well it will make all the difference to a journalist looking for their next exciting feature, done badly it will likely finish up in the wastepaper basket!

SO….What is the secret to a great press kit?

The contents of your press kit should be led by your mission: beautiful photography and samples to launch a new product range, fact sheets and biographies following a management reshuffle or a simple press release to announce an exhibition.

But while many brands spend hours agonizing over what to say to the press in their kit, most overlook the ‘WOW’ factor – or the magic that captures the jaded journalist’s attention, and compels them to look deeper. An effective press kit should engage with journalists not only factually but also emotionally, resulting in longer-term bonds and recall.

Creating a memorable press kit for stand-out

People of the press are constantly busy and distracted; they receive bucket-loads of information every day; they need to work fast with the right level of information. But they also need to have their imaginations fired by something new, so the look of the kit needs to be eye-catching and memorable.

Who wouldn’t want to receive a shoebox containing a mini football stadium that made the sound of a cheering crowd when opened (Nike), a pair of gold knuckle dusters in a wooden box (to promote Godfather II) or a heavy USB stick in the shape of a silver ingot (Tiffany)? Brands that create stand-out kits ensure that their launch or event spreads by word of mouth. Think of something that the journalist will want to shout about to colleagues in a busy editorial department.

Make sure your press kit is relevant

We’ve created some memorable press kits over the years that effectively combine clarity of information presentation with real wow factor, going on to achieve valuable press coverage.

While each kit is bespoke and unique in format, our primary goal is always the same: to get noticed and talked about. First impressions really do count, so putting the actual content aside, make sure that at first glance your press kit looks so inviting that it separates itself visually from the more standard formats and is presented so well that they are intrigued to see what’s inside.

Press Kit Examples

Lindt Creation: When you launch a food product, try appealing to food lovers’ different senses. To launch four new flavours for one of Lindt’s luxury lines, we produced a luxury press kit in the style of an indulgent box of chocolates – in sumptuous cocoa-brown velvet that not only shouted ‘eat me’ but begged to be touched. The bespoke concertina piece opened to reveal samples of the four new flavours, supported by an informational USB memory stick. Produced to support a launch event at the Dorchester Hotel in London, these luxurious press kits were gifted to the attending press.

Luxury press kit to launch a new range of Lindt chocolate

We brought industrial design to the press office with our automobile inspired press kit to help launch a F1-themed PSP game. A matt black rubber slipcase was gloss foil-blocked with a masculine Bridgestone tyre tread, sliding away to reveal a highly polished gunmetal grey box containing a brochure, press disk and UMD demo. When you shut the box, it even made a satisfying ‘click’ for extra cachet. A real boy’s toy.

Press pack to launch Sony's Formula 1 PlayStation game

There is certainly no formula for the design style and format of an effective press kit. Our brief when asked to create the kit for PlayStation game Buzz Junior, was to design something that would not only convey the facts to journalists but would also be passed on as a cool gift to their children in order to promote the game to the people that matter most.

To add to the challenge the kit also needed to hold not only the usual demo and press disks but also four controllers needed for the demo. Our Buzz Junior ‘lunchbox’ was the perfect solution. Not only did the controllers fit snugly into one half, but we also had space to include more kid appeal in the form of Buzz themed stickers, colouring book, coloured pens and a fridge magnet. The stress banana we included for the benefit of the frazzled journalists!

Our solution went beyond the brief, with a press kit that not only ended up in the hands of the target audience, but also travelled to school with them and gave Buzz more coverage in the playground!

Press kit to launch Buzz Junior PlayStation Game

When we were commissioned to create a press kit to launch the PlayStation2 console to the global media, there was no expense spared. Although a golden oldie in our portfolio, it still has pride of place as an example that achieved fantastic coverage.

Designed to imitate the console itself, it is exactly the same design and the same dimensions. With two draws that open simultaneously using a newly patented mechanism, it housed press information, a brochure and game demos, much to the disappointment of the receiving media who were convinced enough to question on air how they plugged it in! A well reported success.

There are no limits to how elaborate (or expensive) you make your press kit, as just these few examples show. But one thing’s for certain: to reach journalists for just a few moments, you need to come up with a highly creative kit to convey your brand message.

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We were incredibly busy in the studio last week putting the final touches to press packs we designed and produced for Clarion Communications, Lindt’s PR company.

We were commissioned to develop design concepts for a luxury press kit to launch four delicious new flavours within Lindt’s Creation range. Our simple, cardboard engineered solution has a soft, luxurious velvet exterior with gold foil blocking.

Being the perfectionist fools we are, we also volunteered to fulfill the press kits ourselves. As well as packing the chocolate (and resisting the temptation to eat it all), we also had to tie 100 perfect bows, ensuring the Lindt logo fell the right side up – not an easy task! Several ‘perfect bow’ YouTube clips later and the press kits looked good enough to eat!

Cassie King, Senior Account Director at Clarion Communications comments “SO Creative were a pleasure to work with and have a very can-do attitude. They delivered fantastic results for the launch which our client was very happy with. In particular, their creative approach and problem solving with the press kit created specifically for the event was fantastic.”

Following the launch party last week I fear they now lie empty and gobbled. Fortunately we managed to take some great portfolio shots.

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During the 1950s, Pantone set up in New Jersey as a commercial printer. In those days, printers used guesswork to match clients’ colours on the press, with varying results. You know the score if you’ve ever stood over a press in Milton Keynes at two in the morning.

The company recognised how important it was to get shades consistently the same for the branding process, and they began classifying their pigment stock. In 1963, the printer produced their first Color Matching System – the curiously addictive swatch cards that designers used to fan out authoritatively and refer to CMYK references, knowing that account handlers would fall into reverent silence. For the next 30 years, Pantone was the preserve of graphic designers, practically unknown outside ad agencies and printers.

Pantone diversifies into consumer products

By the 1990s, Pantone was the market leader in colour matching, and began to look at different ways of diversifying its business – and bring a palette of 1,757 colours to the general public. After all, colour is everywhere; owning it in terms of branding is a powerful position to be in.

Their ‘Pantone Universe collection’ of consumer products springs from creative partnerships with carefully chosen and managed licensees in over 100 countries that take in everything from fashion and home to the graphic arts and architecture.

They ventured into technology with the brilliant Sharp Pantone 830SH mobile phone in 15 dazzling colours; into household paint with high-quality US manufacturer Fine Paints of Europe; and infiltrated the home with chairs, mugs, salt and pepper mills, kitchen canisters, cushions, stationery and so on. They clearly hit the heights when they made an outfit for Barbie, bikes for Seletti, clothing for Gap and Uniqlo, Moleskine notebooks, watches for Swatch, Nike trainers, carpet for The Mohawk Group and a genius Rubik’s cube that was just shouting out for the Pantone treatment.

And from consumer products, it was a short sidestep to opening the Pantone Hotel in Brussels in 2010, showing off their expertise in 59 rooms that are each inspired by different Pantone colour palettes. Naturally, you can buy into all their plentiful product collaborations while you’re there.

The Pantone Hotel opened in Brussels in 2010

Thought leader: Color of the Year

The brand shows no signs of slowing their global domination, while retaining their original authority. So each year since 2000, they have declared a ‘color of the year’ that reflects the prevailing trends: this year, the honour goes to Tangerine Tango (or Pantone 17-1463 TCX for purists), a peppy red-orange that ‘gives an instant energy boost’. And they’ve swiftly applied it to a makeup line created with Sephora, a blaze of Tangerine Tango-hued false lashes, nail lacquers, cream, glitters and high-pigment lip glosses.

It’s a fascinating case study of a brand that has retained real gravitas in a technical field, but has also become an incredibly populist household name.

They must be tickled pink. Or PMS 219.

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Our first challenge – the development of their brand guidelines was a resounding success. Liz Dimmlich comments “We recently commissioned SO Creative to overhaul FSC’s global Brand Manual. Previous versions of the document had failed to capture the attention of our internal stakeholders, so we needed a new, inspiring design and refreshed text to convey a variety of (sometimes dry) information in an intelligent, engaging way. From the beginning, the SO Creative team were attentive and understanding: we gave them short deadlines, and as is often the case the project became far more involved than initially anticipated. SO hit all our deadlines, and the final product was well-received by FSC stakeholders around the globe. I thoroughly recommend the SO Creative team to anyone seeking branding expertise, and a creative team that can make the impossible possible with the friendliest of attitudes.”

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We are currently working closely with the marketing team at BIC and were delighted to be selected based upon our proven track record for conceptual design, innovation and creativity. BIC felt we were the perfect choice to inject new life into their marketing communications.

Trade Marketing Manager Sureyya Hilmi comments “SO have delivered some fanstastic print campaigns for BIC. Very tight deadlines have been met on every occasion and the level of creativity has been outstanding.”

Colourful office mural designed by SO and inspired by the long and successful history of BIC

We have not let them down yet and have successfully completed several projects already, including the colourful mural design above displayed at BIC HQ. Based on the great feedback so far we hope to to deliver many more!

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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

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We said goodbye to one of our favourite designers this month. Bret Syfert is off to Kigali in Rwanda. Along with his wife, Dorota, Bret is going to a very special place: Les Enfants de Dieu, just outside of the capital. It will be their home for the next four and a half months. It is also a home to many boys, who formerly lived on the streets.

Bret and Dorota have volunteered themselves and their time to this very special cause and we wish them all the luck in the world!

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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

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