New Ways to Connect

Who Are You? Description, Clarification and Definition in the Visualization of a Brand

July 8, 2009 9:36 AM

By Tim Woods, Senior Creative Director, The Halo Group

What is a brand?

The word brand is thrown around these days wildly and erratically, like wet pigskin on a rainy autumn Sunday. It seems that the word serves as a catchall – nebulous and mysterious. Certainly it falls into to the category of most used, but least understood terms, not unlike, say, social media or even Wall Street.

So what is your brand? How might you define it?

First, the brand is not separate from the business – it is the business. Companies often overlook truly defining exactly what or who their brand is. For the record, a brand is your personality, philosophy, culture, design aesthetic, social responsibility and, of course, your products or services, all of which create a foundation from which everything else can be built.

Once defined, you need to reflect that, or those ideals, to your employees and customers, ensuring that your staff understands and embraces this. Some think a logo and a tagline can do this. Certainly the logo is vital brand signature, and yet, a signature mark could never impart the details that give a company personality, like, for example, the importance of a company’s customer service or its commitment to renewable resources.

The idea then, would be to create a physical representation of a brand – a singular piece that could make you feel what a brand is all about. We call it a proto-brand. It’s like a brand prototype, but much bigger. We are talking about the creation of a microcosm of an entire brand, something that conveys all those important brand attributes; all wrapped up like a tasty burrito.

So why is it important? Who cares? Well, you should. First, it serves as a brand’s touchstone. It is important when a company considers new ideas and new directions, and the proto-brand serves as a northern star, a reference piece.
Creating something tactile and dimensional gives a brand substance. It offers a simplified view of a company’s culture and personality, so that both newcomers and veterans alike, who work for the brand, clearly understand what that brand stands for.

To demonstrate how Wedgwood, the 250-year-old manufacturer of fine china, would adapt to the new generation’s demand for more flexibility in their dinnerware, Halo created Wedgwood’s Universal Table, redefining today’s casual luxury dinning experience. One table mixed and matched, combining the lowest to the highest priced products, illustrating unlimited versatility, modern elegance and timeless style for the consumer. It is the ultimate mash-up of fine china with the food, music and party ideas that are the elements of an unforgettable experience.

To help re-vitalize Guy Carpenter, the 85-year-old, trusted, “white shoe” firm, we created a stop-motion animated video that transformed a white shoe to embody the brand’s core competencies – creativity, technical savvy, transparency, strength and high performance. The video was then used internally as a rallying cry for the brand’s mission going forward.

These are just a couple of examples, but what it comes down to is that the proto-brand is a mirror reminding a brand of who they are, a visual guide into the future of a focused, healthy brand.

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A Revitalization of the Old: The Rise of Indie Craft

July 1, 2009 10:17 AM

By Gillian Kindel, Account Executive, The Halo Group

Today’s pace of life has reached a fever pitch. We thrive on speed and having a constant influx of information at our fingertips about the world, our friends and our family. But recently, there has been a backlash against this obsession with being the fastest and the most connected. Instead, people are being encouraged to slow down, be more considerate of their actions and to focus on value rather than speed.

Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill Restaurant and Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, are examples within the culinary world of individuals who are taking new approaches to food culture and production. By encouraging people to think not only about the impact their decisions about food make on themselves but also on the world at large, they are helping people to become more aware of their consumption. Additionally, the recent economic downturn has forced people to become more discretionary in their spending habits, as they have less disposable income. According to Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimer, authors of Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design, what will survive this recession are products that people believe have true value, or are items that are perceived as being personal and authentic. People want to feel that they are not only spending their money in a smart way, but that they are also helping to support their local economy by actually putting a face to what they’re buying. Solution? Enter Indie Craft.

Our modern view of crafts is rooted in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which was conceptualized around the ideas of William Morris and John Ruskin, who proposed that in pre-industrial societies, people achieved fulfillment through the creative process of handicrafts. Crafts allowed people to step outside industrial society to create something personal and meaningful that they could either use in their daily lives as decoration or as a form of gift currency amongst friends. The craft scene, both then and now, is inherently social and the proliferation of online message boards, blogs and websites has caused an explosion within the craft community. What differentiates modern crafts or “indie crafts” from those of the past is the marriage of new materials, like environmentally friendly dyes or recycled materials, to more traditional types of crafting, like knitting, needlepoint and paper cutting. This most recent boom in the craft movement utilizes traditional methods, but constructs them with modern materials. As Oliver Schwaner-Albright wrote in an article about the growth of Brooklyn’s artisan food scene, the producers “share an aesthetic that’s equal parts 19th and 21st century.” Examples of this can be seen in the Mast Brothers’ production of chocolate, which utilizes the most environmentally friendly ingredients but is manufactured using 19th-century chocolate production techniques and wrapping it all up with screen-printed paper by contemporary graphic designers; or Jenny Hart, who started Sublime Stitching in Austin, Texas, and develops needlepoint designs of pop-culture imagery that can be ironed on, instead of designing patterns that focus on specific numbers and griding of stitches.

So how does this resurgence of and shift to ‘craftiness’ affect the marketing of a business? There are some guiding principals about people who are interested in and utilize Indie Crafts that can be integrated into marketing:
•    Consumers are interested in knowing the back story for what they’re buying; if there are details that can be provided about how something was produced or tell its story, that is very valuable information.
•    Consumers want to feel like they are supporting something good. What they are buying is not just another item from a big box store; rather, they can form a personal connection to the maker. The success of Etsy, an e- commerce site comprised of hundreds of independent designers, can serve as a testament to this (“Handmade 2.0” by Rob Walker in The New York Times, December 16, 2007, gives some great background).
•    Consumers want to feel like they’re getting good value for their money; purse strings are being pulled tighter than ever, and people want to believe they’re spending wisely.

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Luxury: Aspiring to a New Ideal

May 22, 2009 9:27 AM

By Mark Sutter, Chief Strategic Officer, The Halo Group

There has been a lot written lately about the death of Bling. Could the confluence of social, economic and political change finally be the consumer tipping point? Karl Lagerfeld noted a shift in global cultural values, calling it an “era of new modesty.” President Obama has called for a “new age of accountability.” Others have proclaimed that the age of consumerism is over and that emerging American values will forever change luxury brand marketing as we know it. Luxury marketers are being told that consumers are rejecting the trappings of wealth, and are instead reconnecting with family and friends, and joining a kinder, gentler, less conspicuous world of consumption. But is that really true?

It seems that with every recession we seem to get the same populist message: Luxury is dead. Restraint and simplicity will rein. According to Fortune magazine, Faith Popcorn, Chairman of BrainReserve, a consumer research firm, calls the phenomenon ‘cashing out’: less concern for material things and more emphasis on things money can’t buy. She sees it as symptomatic of “America’s fatigue with excess.” Funny thing is that quote was printed in 1990, nearly 20 years ago. Since then, three recessions have passed and arguably we have enjoyed one the most decadent luxury bull markets in American history.

So is Bling really dead? Or have we just come down with another mild case of affluenza? With each upswing, our aspirational culture proves the pundits wrong. The American capitalist culture can’t be shaken. The desire to acquire beautiful things is irrepressible.

Certainly, there’s no doubt that the way consumers value luxury brands is now under scrutiny, perhaps more so than ever before. But smart marketers have known for years that there has been a shift from conspicuous consumption to life enriching consumption.

Live Life Enriched

Consumers are aspiring to a new luxury ideal. They have become collectors of life experiences.
High-end hotels like The Ritz-Carlton have moved beyond service excellence to position themselves as global portals to new life-enriching experiences. Louis Vuitton luggage is a “worthy companion for life’s incredible journey,” and Tiffany helps you hold on to those moments that that matter most, capturing “The Story of Your Life” for all time. These are the aspirational qualities that consumers seek from luxury brands today.

All of these products offer more than status and prestige— they help consumers savor and celebrate life and connect them with the world around them. Product authenticity and craftsmanship help them tell their personal life stories. And socially responsible brands help them contribute to something larger than themselves. These brand qualities are timeless, and offer the lasting value consumers have come to expect from luxury today.

So while some in the industry are retreating or irrevocably tarnishing their brands, those that understand how to communicate the value of luxury to today’s consumers will survive, and perhaps even prosper in this downturn — emerging more powerful than ever before.

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Reporting from Millennial Island: Recession Edition

May 4, 2009 9:12 AM

by Chris Barredo, Brand Planner, The Halo Group

Because no (wo)man is an island… but all islands are special and unique, right?

Recession? What Recession?
Ok, I don’t mean to be so blasé about a financial downturn whose full potential is yet to be realized and will undoubtedly have an impact on many people. It’s just that people often cite one seminal moment or event that has shaped every generation’s identity – WWII for the Greatest Generation or The Vietnam War and Sexual Revolution for the Boomers – and many think this recession going to be the test for us Millennials.

But not so fast there. We have bigger plans, grander goals, than just overcoming a recession. There are a few Millennial traits that make us well suited for the task and that should be important to brands who count Millennials as key to their success. Ultimately, you should feel confident handing over the keys to the Porsche.

Our Confidence and Optimism will not be Overcome
If there’s one thing that’s lacking during recessionary times, it’s consumer confidence and optimism. Above all, those are the things Millennials have an overabundance of. Millennials are so confident and optimistic in their ability to succeed, what makes you think a recession – even one longer and deeper than imagined – can stop us?

For example, Generation Blend’s take away from Randstad research about the Millennial attitude towards work during a downturn sums it up nicely: “Across several metrics, Millennials are tops among all cohorts surveyed in their willingness to change jobs, and the most optimistic about the prospects for getting hired elsewhere if they move on.”

Individuality Spawns Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Another important factor in pulling an economy out of the gutter is harnessing intellectual capital and focusing it on innovation to create momentum. Millennials are the most educated generation ever and a recession will only ignite more academic endeavors as Millennials seek out new skills, new experiences, and/or return to school. According to the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) applications were up for the majority of MBA programs in 2008 and are expected to continue through the 2009/2010 school term.

Much has been made of the Millennials’ obsession with individuality, good or bad; the result is a constant belief that they can do better and that is the seed of innovation. With a majority of the generation still in school or returning to school, we have yet to experience the first true wave of entrepreneurial innovation from Millennials (if you thought Facebook was it, watch out!).

Social Responsibility is Ingrained in our DNA
While overstated, Millennials do have an affinity for environmental sustainability and both social and corporate responsibility. We recycle, celebrate Earth Day, witnessed the Berlin Wall fall and saw Enron implode. We’ve seen multiple bubbles burst. We were taught about global warming and we were in school on 9/11.

This doesn’t mean we only eat at Whole Foods or only wear Tom’s shoes and American Apparel (not yet, at least). But we gravitate towards brands that are seemingly honest and transparent, and as much as you might argue about the merits of their cause, what’s important is that they have one. Millennials know that brands, like people, are not perfect. Responsibility doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes, it means you own up to them, and, like a good Millennial, always strive to be better.

Motivating Millenials
What sets us apart from Gen Xers the most is that we are self-centered enough to believe change can start with one person. The best, most successful brands make connections by empowering, encouraging, and facilitating Millennials in their pursuit of individuality, freedom and innovation. They do so by staying positive and optimistic and back it up by being real and authentic. The 2008 election and Barack Obama’s campaign – rooted in hope and change – was a good example of how to motivate and move Millennials into action (as are the three brands listed above).

I should not be so quick to say our problems can and will be easily solved by Millennials. There are many skeptics about this generation’s ability, or inability, to overcome bumps in the road. Truth is Millennials haven’t actually done much yet. But when the smoke clears, it’ll be the Millennials leading the way. Why? Because there is no other way. Eventually you just have let go and do as Millennials do: be optimistic that we will succeed.

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The Next Big Idea is the Little Idea

April 9, 2009 4:09 PM

By Guy Sealey, Creative Director/Digital Strategy, The Halo Group

Each with unique circumstances, there are many reasons why a brand doesn’t evolve to take advantage of new market opportunities. It may be that the brand lacks clarity of vision or is just unwilling to defy category convention. It may well be it is looking hard for the “Next Big Idea” and missing the one right in front of it. Brands need to know why they are missing opportunities and analyzing them is a good thing. But, seeking out the easiest opportunities may be more useful.

In the old days — circa 1994 and before — brand communication with the world consisted of brands telling consumers who they were, what they stood for, and how the consumer should use their product or service. Consumers were more or less left to decide if they believed the brand issuing the edict or not, and that was the end of the dialogue. Brands told consumers what to think. It was a one-way street of communication.

That all changed with mobile phones and the internet. Suddenly, a second lane, one that challenged the one-way street of brand communication, was opened up. This second lane is the lane in which consumers control the brand through discussions between themselves in the interactive space. It is also a lane in which consumers tell brands directly what they are thinking.

This lane represents the biggest opportunity for brands: LISTENING and WATCHING what is being said about them, and then REACTING directly to the online chatter. The internet represents one huge feedback loop for the brand that is paying attention. No longer does a brand have to solicit surveys from consumers. On a daily basis, a brand can follow what consumers want and expect from it and then not only modify its messaging, but also change its behavior accordingly. It can make incremental improvements to either its service or product offerings based on what customers actually want.

Look at the online shoe seller Zappos, for example, and how it expanded on what it sells. The redesign of their user interface in 2008, and the expanded categories (like small electronics and cookware) are based on the company’s mind-set of finding out what the customer wants and then figuring out the best way to deliver that. CEO Tony Hsieh has said that Zappos has branched out based on what its customers would like to see from them. “If they say, ‘I wish you would sell this because I just had a horrible experience somewhere else,’ we’ll look into it.”*

In another example, Apple, notorious for not using public mediums to get feedback about its products, has recently done just that. The company conducted online surveys about Apple TV among that product’s users, partly to understand what can be changed about it, but mostly to better understand how to build more consumer interest in the device. Apple’s next big breakthrough for Apple TV may come from user feedback, either in the form of product updates or in terms of the user group understanding.

A brand can also quietly and smartly enter its customers’ dialogue in tweets and blog postings from Facebook to Ning. This is where the next big idea lies, indeed, the big idea, which is really the incremental changes that a brand makes in response to what its customers really want.

(see Apple article: http://www.edibleapple.com/apple-conducts-survey-about-apple-tv-asks-users-for-input/

*Margaret Kane for CNET newsblog April 18th, 2008 http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9921188-7.html

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