More Than A Logo

Facebook, take credit for what you do!

2012-04-21T15:27:00.002-06:00

Facebook - THE Social Network. It's used by 800 million+ people regularly. So regularly, that there are people who check Facebook first thing when they wake up, before they go to be and, yes, sometimes in the middle of the night! Facebook has made us realise and amplify our need to be social and remain connected. They have done this so well that its market value is around 100 billion dollars!

But I read an Interbrand article the other day that made me realise, that while Facebook satisfies people's connections today, this perfectly seamless utility isn't taking credit for the role it plays in people's lives. You see, Facebook is continually inventing ways to make our lives better through sharing, connecting, etc., and while we use and benefit from these services daily, if not many times a day, we are building loyalty to those features, not the Facebook brand!

Unlike Google, Facebook has yet to give meaning to what they do - giving their brand a higher purpose than providing a utility that, as their homepage says, 'helps you connect and share with the people in your life,'

REALLY?! That can't be simply what Facebook does - it's not! So I can't help but think after reading this weak role is, why does that matter?

Google helps organise the world's information making it universally accessible and useable - now that's a role. And it's a role, whether explicitly said or not, that allows Google to grow its business in new areas, and taking what's at its core, quick, easy and effective search, to new and exciting business areas (like email, maps, translation, mobile, etc.), while maintaining the trust of its users. After all, user trust is essential because it's our information and eyeballs that's at the heart of both Google and Facebook's revenue generation.

People are more trusting of Google having access to their information than Facebook, because, through its purpose and branded actions on that purpose, people know why Google has/uses your information, and how it benefits us!

But with Facebook, on the other hand, we aren't explicitly shown in a branded way how its service and the use of our information is benefiting us, nor are we clear why it matters that we're using Facebook. This is opposite to Google, who, when I get to amazing things because of them, make sure I know it's them providing that killer service...thank you Google Maps, etc.

Being an organisation whose users are loyal to its features rather than the brand, as Facebook seems to be at the moment places it in a rather precarious situation. Because, let's be honest, we never know when the next revolutionary thing is about to pop up, and Facebook needs a strong brand to remain competitive.

So, although Facebook is incredible today, and winning because there is a critical mass of people on their site with high switching costs to move to another social network, if they don't articulate a meaningful brand purpose, which is demonstrated by taking credit for the amazing, and free, services they enable, trust in the brand will remain fuzzy and people will remain loyal to the service but not the brand. Additionally, once they establish a far reaching purpose they will be able to evolve the brand over time, with greater credibility, to ensure it's relevancy and revolutionise new areas as it has done with socialising the web.

Lets Play A Game

2012-03-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

This past week, I participated in M&C Saatchi's first hack day, Game5hack, which was 6 teams building fully functional online based games over two days. It was the first time I had ever done something like this, and I'm certainly glad I did, and it won't be the last. What a great experience!

As a strategist, who believes everything an organisation creates should be dedicated to delivering the brand's promise, it was really great to be exposed to the world of play - something that doesn't necessarily have purpose other than to be fun and entertaining! It was wonderful to let brainstorming start from a blank slate and think of fun ways to engage people and immerse them in a world of fun.

This experience has made me realise the importance of fun and game play. In fact, I see great value in brands building more play into their customer experiences. After all people respond instantly to entertaining/engaging experiences, and games are just that. And with technology becoming more mobile and social, we're able to bridge the gap between online and offline experiences, which creates a marvellous environment to introduce game play to certain elements to the brand experience.

Although the wicked 1980's arcade style game, inspired by the classic Wall Street film, we built last week was purely a game, it got me thinking about how you can take a human action/behaviour, like trading stocks, and add playful elements to make the experience more entertaining and engaging. These then work together to motivate the user/customer/person to remain involved with the game, or the brand, in the case of an organisation.

Games seems like a great way to immerse people in a brand, involving them in the content. It goes back to that Benjamin Franklin quote I love so much:

"Tell me and I'll forget,
Show me and I might remember,
Involve me and I'll understand"

The more we involve our audience in the brand, through relevant and fun experiences, the more they will be able to associate with the brand, increasing advocacy. The influential and highly motivating nature of games, makes them prime candidates to help change behaviour, teach new skills or simply maintain attention for a long period of time, which is ideal for branded experiences. However, brands must be sensitive to force the creation of games, or it seems contrived, and, frankly, people see right through this nowadays. A brand must have a relevant reason to build a game, and it should be rooted in insight based on existing human behaviour, which is relevant to the brand's purpose/role.

So for instance, McDonalds created Pick n' Play last year, which was a massive interactive billboard in Sweden where people could use their mobile devices to play ping pong on a giant billboard. This lived up to the brand's purpose of making people happy, but it also created a fun/positive way for people to engage with the brand for a long period of time, giving them a great story to share with their friends.

You can even build games into the way people interact with products, extending the brand experience beyond the tangible item. For this we can look at Lego's Life of George set. It's a lego kit that has you download a mobile app where you build various objects, take pictures of them timing how fast you are versus other players. It's another way to increase time spent with the brand, but it also creates a sense of achievement, which acts as another way to fuel brand stories furthering the brand conversation/story.

Lastly, we can look at games that are dedicated to positively influencing behaviour change like Nike+, which allows you set running challenges for yourself or even run against others. This has revolutionised Nike to begin looking at both product and service offerings. Nike+ has made the brand more relevant, defining its role and becoming a facilitator/motivator of fitness. I personally think it would be interesting to see gyms build games into their offering. I mean we see this with some fitness equipment, where they place you on a track and you can race against the person exercising next to you! What a great way to distract you from the pain/boredom of riding/running in one spot for an extended period of time!

All-in-all, I'm excited to think more about gaming and how we can incorporate play in a relevant and meaningful way to stimulate fun and exciting brand engagement. Sometimes, in business, we think everything has to be so serious (I'm one to fall into this trap) and we often forget about our love of games, and that they can make simple things, like spelling words from a collection of random letters (i.e. Scrabble), a lot of fun!

So in the spirit of 2012, which I believe to be all about engaging experiences, lets talk less and play more!

Contextual Content is King

2012-01-29T12:58:00.002-07:00

Note: This is the first program to air on TV, where people started to see a meaningful need for one of these big boxes in their home over a radio.

I've been thinking a lot about content lately, and how we've grown to be so dependent on it. But not only that, it has to be the right content on the right channel in the right moment. Content is no longer king on its own. Rather, it's contextually relevant content that's king.

This concept isn't new in the slightest.

Just look at the TV. No one could rationalise why they would ever need a TV over a radio for information and entertainment. That was until special TV programming was introduced in 1930s. It all started with a test to prove the medium's ability through its first ever television drama The Man With the Flower in His Mouth. The test was a success, and, well, the rest is history.

To prove the relevancy of this product, the TV, it needed to become the answer to a consumer need, even if that need hadn't been fully realised yet. By giving people content in a way that both satisfied their current needs and made them realise new ones (i.e. 'You mean I can see what people are doing while they speak, just like the cinema, but in my home?!"), you can carve a space in those people's lives for your offering. And the better a brand meets these needs, meaning the more relevant the solution is, the more it will be embedded in their daily routines.

Clearly, by me using an example from 1930, this is not a new concept. But what is new is that we're seeing this kind of thinking injected in the world of brand positioning and communications, blurring the lines between product development and marketing.

In the recent Most Contagious 2011 report, it talks about marketing as service design. With brands' ability to access and use consumer data, that's available because of people's digital lives, it enables brands to see gaps and/or unmet needs it can fill. Additionally, because consumers are aware that brands know more about them, they expect more relevant and ultimately less company-serving marketing being presented to them.

In fact, for people to stick with a brand these days, they expect to be to engaged in a relevant manner, which encourages their participation (collaboration in product/service/experience design) in both on- and offline arenas seamlessly, while still delivering what they want before they even have to ask.

At the heart of engagement, which is seen as a branded service more and more, is the delivery of content beyond the product extending its value. This proves the brand's value in people's lives because it's demonstrating that it 'gets' you and why you buy its products/services/etc.

But it's not content alone. There's a lot of content out there - too much in fact! It's about contextual content. Contextual content has been curated by subject matter experts and delivered to you at that moment of need.

This is where the branded service comes into play. The brand can be the subject matter expert for a topic they are known for and deliver on based on their brand purpose and existing products/services/etc. They can then create and/or curate interesting and useful (aka relevant) content and provide people access to it during a moment of need.

Take Simple - the "Worry-free alternative to traditional banking" for example. Simple is not a bank. In fact it uses another un-named bank as its banking provider, but what it does do, which is the reason for all its popularity, is overlay a service on the banking experience. This service is providing content that people feel is missing. Like being able to see real-time transaction data or using natural language to search your entire transaction history (i.e. "How much did I spend on lunches in July?"). By making this content not only more accessible but contextual, the brand is able to establish more loyalty from users because it creates an extremely useful experience.

Another example, featured in the Most Contagious 2011 report, is Sneakerpedia by Foot Locker. Sneakerpedia is a:

"Wiki-esque website [that] enables users to create a profile and then upload pictures of all the cool kicks in their collection - complete with a brief history and info on the make, model, material etc. This tagging helps the site to then archive each model correctly, creating a vast and infinitely navigable database of every significant sneaker ever bought and cherished"

Here Foot Locker has created an environment where people can collect and curate their personal shoe data, while learning from a large body of other shoe data they wouldn't normally see, to see what other amazing kicks people have and connect with those who share their passion. So not only are they offering unique content, but they're also inspiring their customers to create their own content and foster their passion! Further embedding the brand into its customer's lives.

I recently read a great quote from Mark Addicks, CMO of General Mills, which I feel sums this up perfectly:

"In 2012, many marketers will start with content as a way to engage their best customers and grow their business versus advertising...They will realise the power of content to enhance the brand experience, deliver the brand's purpose and extend opportunities for the brand to serve"

So how is your brand going to get to know its customers and their behaviour to provide branded content in a way, and at a time, that provides value to their daily lives beyond the product?
How will you make contextual content king?

Patagonia - Legally Bound to its Purpose

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Finally, a brand, other than Apple, we can express immense admiration for, or as my flatmate tweeted this week, "open-mouth kiss" - hello Patagonia!

Last week, I wrote about its Common Threads initiative, where Patagonia clearly establishes its role/purpose within the global community - "to build useful things that last, to repair what breaks and recycle what comes of its useful life"- then asks its customers to do the same to help accomplish its purpose.

Now, Patagonia has asked the government to help it truly live by its purpose without boundaries, becoming California's first Benefit Corporation. This gives Patagonia's directors legal protection to consider social and environmental benefits over financial returns!

"This new legal status was designed to embed goals into companies’ missions that go beyond profitability"

For too long, companies have had to sacrifice their brand purpose - the big hairy audacious goal they set out to accomplish upon inception - to meet the short-term demands of shareholders when going public. I'm ecstatic to see a brand who wasn't afraid to challenge the rules and ask for support from the government to ensure its ability to live up to its brand purpose everyday.

Often, shareholders are so concerned with short-term returns, that they forget to take a long-view perspective of the brand. By Patagonia actively, consistently and, now, legally living up to its brand everyday, helping reduce unnecessary purchases and creating products that will live 'forever', it establishes immense trust and advocacy for the brand, which creates demand and sustained or even increased value for itself in the long-term.

It's a step in the right direction, having brands ask for and receiving support, to create, and be truly caring, responsible and sustainable brands. I look forward to seeing more brands become Benefit Corporations or finding other creative ways to satisfy their big hairy audacious dreams! The key is not to be afraid to imagine what isn't possible today and ask for it, so it can be a reality tomorrow!

Note: Image found here

2012 - Let's Say Less and Play More

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Image Found Here

Happy 2012!!

I think we're in for another exciting year, and I'm rather pleased where branding is going, maybe slowly, but it's in the right direction...let me explain...

With so much distrust and uncertainty - lots of skepticism - towards corporations and advertising, people are more receptive to brands that are consistent in their actions, transparent with information and good to everyone around them.

However, a consistent, transparent and good brand cannot be developed through an ad campaign any more. People are too smart and have endless access to information (thanks to Google searches and social network, SMS, etc. conversations). Rather, brands have to prove this behaviour and be truly recognised for it and its brand claim, which should be or be tied to its brand purpose.

So for 2012, rather than the 'x' number of things we need to be on our radar this year, I think there is only one to focus on: brands needs to think about long-term engagement programs not campaigns.

Campaigns are born to die, which don't lend themselves to the consistency people want, no demand from their brands. Programs come from the heart of the business, and are built to grow and evolve with purpose at the root.

For a program to be successful, it requires the support of various internal parties, along with engaging and collaborating with consumers. This creates a transparent and communal environment around the brand's purpose/essence.

The ecosystem created from an initiative is beneficial for a couple reasons:

The IKEA Effect - being a part of something, either helping it take form or being involved in someway makes someone proud of their creation/involvement and, therefore, more attached to that brand stimulating loyalty and advocacy
Real-Time Consumer Insights - by having people involved enables the brand to learn more about their consumers in context with how they interact with the product, service, program, etc., creating a continuous learning loop to optimise, not only the experience/message but also the product/service being offered. This ensures your brand evolves in a way that is relevant to the market.

To encourage a deeper level of engagement, creating meaningful social connections within the brands community, created from the initiative, there needs to be a powerful motivating purpose exciting both internal staff and consumers to choose to be involved and, more importantly, stay involved.

To do this, the initiative has to be focused on something the brand actually cares about and has the ability to act on, both physically (you can actually do it) and mentally (it aligns with, or delivers on, your brand purpose). This becomes the brand's opportunity to prove what it stands for while making a positive impact in the real world.

Initiatives are by far not new, just look at the Dove Real Beauty campaign, which is a long-term campaign aimed to do good. Or Threadless, which is a highly engaging platform, nay business model! But what we're seeing is these two elements coming together more and more. So it's becoming something with relevant do-good meaning at the heart, fusing with consumer involvement and engagement to provide some kind of relevant experience that defines a role for a brand in those people's lives.

Just look at Patagonia's Common Threads Initiative where it partnered with eBay to reduce excess consumption by creating a site where people can buy pre-owned Patagonia merchandise. This proves Patagonia's role as a builder of "useful things that last, to repair what breaks and recycle what comes of its useful life", while giving its consumers a role in aiding Patagonia's mission. Consumers are asked"to buy only what [they] need, repair what breaks, reuse (share) what [they] no longer need, and recycle everything else". This initiative not only becomes a reason to believe in Patagonia's purpose, but gives its consumers the tool they need to hold up their end of the bargain, helping the brand sustain its purpose. I LOVE IT!

Consumers are beginning to expect these kinds of programs from their brands, which aids in re-building trust and loyalty, in addition to maintaining this as markets become over saturated and people spend less on things and more on life enriching experiences.

So this year, rather than just saying stuff to our consumers, let's ask them to play, hangout, share stories and build things together. After all, isn't that how some of our closest and most meaningful relationships, which we feel comfortable confiding in, are built?

Let's do the same for brands. Lets help them build ways to play and engage with their consumers over the long-term creating an ecosystem that gives them a role in their consumers' lives that they will happily welcome you into because it offers them real meaningful value.

Happy 2012!! Let's play!

Happy Holidays

2011-12-11T07:21:00.001-07:00

Note: Image from flickr

With another year coming to a close and an exciting 2012 just around the corner, I'm going to sign off from my blog while I travel back to Canada to spend some time with family and friends for the holidays!!

Thank you for continuing to follow my blog and challenge me to explore my great passion for branding and all that it encompasses and impacts! Although I would have loved to write so much more, this year was very exciting with many adventures, from making the difficult decision to leave Blast Radius, to volunteering in Tanzania for a month and then coming back to start an exciting role within the CSU (Central Strategy Unit) at M&C Saatchi!

I think next year will continue to see the importance of meaningful brands. Today's (and tomorrow's brands) will need to be delivering meaningful value beyond its products. In fact, everything it does must be built to satisfy a unmet need in its consumers' lives creating a role for itself in their daily lives. This will see a rise in the need to continually innovate to remain relevant to people, and this innovation won't be to create only new products, but rather how to evolve existing products or developing new uses and/or services around these products.

I'm very excited to see where branding is - rather than just being a branded identity, it's a branded behaviour and role in the consumer's lives!

Have a wonderful holiday season, and I look forward to chatting some more in the new year!

The Experience is the Brand

2011-11-27T05:04:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago, my flat mate, Roger, made a wrong turn and went to use the map on his Blackberry (having just switched from an iPhone - I should note not by choice), and it was anything but an intuitive experience. This led to an immediate trip to the Apple store, where he bought the new iPhone outright, and will never look back at Blackberry (BB) again.

This got us talking about where BB went wrong, and why the once market leader in smartphones seems to be stumbling all over the place.

I believe BB lost sight of its core competency - mobile business solutions. Rather than focusing on its bright spots (i.e. what it excels at), it became distracted by the seductive personal smartphone market that every smartphone manufacturer was after, forcing BB to think defensively. This caused BB to lose sight of who it is and what makes it unique, forcing BB to be reactive rather than a thought leader. Thinking defensively will always keep you at the very best #2 - you need to think individually to be #1.

BB would have been better off focusing on innovating business consumer-centric experiences that better enabled on-the-go communications. In fact, within 2 blocks of chatting, Roger and I were able to come up with a long list of helpful solutions BB could have developed had it remained focused, such as enabling the use of its devices in-flight; or forming strategic partnerships with Microsoft for collaborative working/editing while on-the-go, etc.

Another brand that seems to be losing its focus is Tim Hortons, a popular Canadian bred coffee and donut shop. I recently read that it's launching more Starbucks style coffees, like lattes and cappuccinos, to the menu. Let me be clear, Timmy's is a place you go to get a donut and a cup of Joe, or as many lovingly call it a Double Double (two sugars; two creams) not a venti Americano. To top it off, it's focusing less on donuts and introducing new foods like lasanga - sorry but a WTF is needed here. I was less than impressed when they started to bake their donuts off-site, something they used to do fresh in-store, but now this!?

This is a classic case of losing focus of the brand's essence and taking a competitive approach. Clearly, Timmy's core customer is being taken for granted, much like the BB business user, where they think, 'Ok, so we have that segment, lets go and find someone else' causing them to forget their core business and no longer develop experiences to leverage that area fully.

Lest we forget this happened to Apple in the 80s when Jobs left. Jobs started Apple with user-centered design at the heart, and when he left it switched to a competitive/defensive strategy. The company almost went under until Jobs returned in the 90s with a focused product line, which centred on its core purpose of making technology approachable, and it ensured every element of the experience communicated the brand in a way that resonated with the end user, from the products, to the stores, to the un-boxing experience. Doing this led to a 1000% increase in market value for the organisation, while practically forming a religious following of customers.

Focusing on great customer experiences pays off.

I mean, just look at one of my favourite brands, Lululemon who do this fabulously (as an aside I think it's awesome that all the brands I'm writing about today, minus Apple, are Canadian! How patriotic of me - LOL).

Lululemon has built its brand on a life philosophy, that by investing in your health, you are bettering yourself and society, elevating the world from mediocrity to greatness. What a wonderful and motivating philosophy to build a brand from.

All of its products are designed with the wearer in mind. I always love the surprise of having a new piece and thinking oh I wish it did this, then BOOM, they've already done it! They think of everything one needs to enjoy fitness, be comfortable and look great doing it.

Additionally, the feng shui friendly stores are always buzzing with staff fully engaged in conversations with customers, or as they call them, Guests, about the latest wrap or a type of fabric. This is just chatting, this is community building! Engaging consumers with the brand's philosophy motivating them to associate and live the brand, so that when they buy something, they feels as though they are bettering themselves.

Lulu continues to enable this life philosophy with additional experiences like hosting free yoga sessions for staff and Guests in its stores after-hours. It was also one of the first retailers to offer reusable shopping bags covered in inspirational quotes on personal enrichment and health, so its Guests can take home the Lululemon philosophy.

Having a strong commitment to its life philosophy and delivering it through relevant consumer experiences (products and services), has allowed them to see a 250% gain year over year -- I think that says enough!

So, it is clear, yet often difficult to see when in the daily grind, that for a brand to be successful in the long term, it needs to create experiences that are relevant to the brand's purpose/philosophy and are designed with the consumer at its heart.

Remarkable Stories = Social Currency

2011-11-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to write this post for some time now, but oddly haven't got around to putting it down.

I want to talk about stories again. I did so a year-plus ago, but it's a topic that seems to be continually popping up.

Everyone has a story to share and/or are working towards creating them. I find it slightly amusing when I'm walking around London seeing people pose for the perfect picture, which immediately makes me think - profile pic!

People are continually striving for social currency.

Social currency is a concept that comes from the social capital theory, which is about increasing one's sense of community, access to information/knowledge to help shape his/her personal brand/identity and providing status and recognition.

Clearly this is not a new concept, but with the use of social media and instant communications through mobile technology, which can share a status, image or even location, increasing the importance of defining one's personal brand. Not only that, it's resulting in an increased understanding of creating a personal brand, which is a whole other interesting blog post!

Today, the majority of millennials spend less than one hour a day offline! Yes that's right - offline. We are a hugely connected generation. There are even stats proving that Facebook is the first thing people look at when they get up and the last thing they see before they go to bed. What's equally crazy, is that there are mobile apps that monitor your sleeping patterns! This means that people are now sleeping with their mobile phones - talk about a meaningful relationship!

So, where do corporate brands come in? Well, it's important to note that brand association is so important to people, especially millennials, that it's equally ranked in importance for expression of personal identity as religion and ethnicity!

This tells us that people care a lot about the brands they associate themselves with because it will greatly impact the personal brand he/she is trying to shape for themselves. So, brands need to be able to connect with their audience on not just an emotional level, but a level that provides them with the tools to express or shape their personal brand. Making it important to feature a brands benefits in terms of the end state it creates, answering the inevitable question, "how is this going to help feature and define who I am [aka who I want to be perceived as]".

To adequately give the answer to this question, brands need to have a compelling story to tell. This enables the brand to create an experience around itself, which will captivate the audience and provide them with a increasingly meaningful end state of heightened social capital!

The root of these brand stories come from the organisation's purpose - its reason for existence; that big hairy audacious goal/idea/dream it has set out to accomplish. This provides the content to fuel the story and the way it's shared.

I believe there are 4 key ways to share your brand's story and give your hyper connected audience the social currency it wants:

1 - Movements:

This is where the brand takes an stand on something, and has the audience rally around its purpose to spread the gospel. People are usually proud to be a part of these movements if they align with their personal values and will give them the creds they're looking for, and make them feel a part of something bigger than just making another purchase.

TOMS Shoes, fits perfectly here. Its business model is designed to give back and wearing a pair of TOMS is more than wearing a pair of shoes, it says something about the kind of person you're striving to be - one that cares about the global community. We can even look to brands that are less philanthropic like Puma who has started a movement supporting After Hours Athletes, bringing people together online and offline in support of 'sports' like billiards.

2 - Legacy/Product Stories:

A classic, but I find people are craving meaningful companies with local flare or interesting background stories. In fact, the last time I was in NYC, there wasn't a place I went to that didn't have a unique story behind it, from which, I had to tell everyone about, and, to that end, I wouldn't have even gone had there been no story fuelling our interest in checking out the spot.

This works really well for restaurants, cafes, etc. One place I was recommended was Levain Bakery - it's famous for its $4 cookies - yes $4 for one cookie! Each weighs like a brick, and is totally decadent, but if it was so outrageous it wouldn't be as remarkable, and instead it would just be another place that sold cookies, rather than a notable place that sells cookies. In-n-Out Burger is another brand with a great story and discipline to live up to that story everyday.

Both of these places give people something interesting to talk about and share.

3 - Special Experiences:

Building off the desire to give people something interesting to talk about, why not give them something that also helps them seem a bit more interesting by involving them in a unique experience. This can range from involvement with the product or the brand experience on a whole.

For instance, there's this company, Wool and the Gang. It's a company that sells trendy knitting packages. In essence, this company is involving people in the creation of their products in a unique way that provides bragging rights because firstly, you made it and, second, you now have a new skill because of it!

Other experiences, can include creating a unique retail experience like Net-A-Porter did during Fashion's Night Out, where they took their online business offline and created a store window where people could actually buy items using their mobile app.

It's all about creating something that's remarkable -- something you will want to tell to others about because in doing so you will appear interesting, having taken part in these activities.

4 - Consumption Rituals

As we're seeing, the stories brands give their audiences don't have to only be about them, but rather are stories for consumers to share about themselves that happen to involve the brand. I think consumption rituals, a special way you can/should consume a product, is another way to help consumers earn social currency with brand enabled stories.

Take for instance the game of getting 'Iced'. This is where if a mate hands you a Smirnoff Ice you have to down it right there, but if you already have one, then your mate has to down both. Sure Smirnoff may never admit to creating this game, and I'm sure they didn't, because it probably came from one of their agencies. But this game has spread like wild fire, and the stories on how people are getting 'Iced' are hilarious, proving that creating a bizarre and entertaining way to consume a product can create buzz and give people stories to share

What we can take from these 4 activities is that they take the brand's purpose and turn it into remarkable experience, which involves the consumer, or story that they can't help but share with their mates! So how are you going to make your brand enable people to earn social currency and stand out?

Note: Above image from The Brand Gap

Creative & Collaborative Partnerships

2011-10-30T14:40:00.002-06:00

Note: This is The Hudson's Bay Trading Coin from 1855

In the last couple weeks, I've had the privilege to attend a couple trend briefings. One from nVision: Radical Times - Radical Response? And another from LS:N Global: The Wisdom Age. I find trends very interesting and always inspiring. So it's certain my next few posts will be inspired by what I've heard at these events.

One topic that I found particularly interesting was the idea of the trader generation, mentioned at The Wisdom Age. Essentially, this is about everyone being a brand with something to say; we want to contribute and be a part of things we believe in -- the idea of B2B and B2C is long gone. Rather, we are all traders, buying and selling / giving and receiving.

The rationale and strength behind this trend began to make more sense when I went back and looked at my notes from the nVision conference. There, I learned that 70% of people want to learn more, 50% of people want more experience, while only 30% want more stuff. Making it quite evident that people are looking for more self-fulfillment than material objects.

I think this stems from various things, but social networking and shaping our personal brands in very public arenas have played an important role in this shift. People are looking for ways to express themselves and appear interesting, unique and someone with a point of view - much like how we approach positioning brands.

We can see this in a few other stats, like the importance we place on having lots of friends has more than doubled since 2006. And interestingly, yet I'm sure it will come as very little surprise, there has been a 700% increase in the purchase of photo equipment since, I believe, 1980 (I apologise, I didn't capture the exact date range in my notes). And lastly, there has been a 40 point increase, from 21% to 61%, in the desire for personal creative expression, since 1980.

Knowing this, it's fair to say that it's important for brands to give people, more specifically their consumers/fans/ambassadors an outlet to express themselves or get involved with the brand in some way. However, there must be a reward to do so, as 70% of consumers would be interested in contributing ideas to a brand only if rewarded to do so.

The level of the reward obviously depends on the level of involvement, and the type of reward can vary from something that is monetary in value to something that contributes to their daily life.

In fairness, this isn't new. We saw this years ago with the creation of Nike ID or the ability to personalise Kleenex boxes and M&Ms. But it's evolving to be a bit more sophisticated and the benefits aren't just personalised products.

Looking at an oldie but a goodie, Threadless, has done a great job creating a highly collaborative business model that allows users to contribute designs while being able to purchase others. We also, saw this with the Keds Collective, which encouraged people to create their own custom trainers, then put them into the collective market to sell. For every pair sold their would get a percentage of the profits. This idea was then taken to the next level with the release of Kaiser Chiefs' latest album. People were asked to create their own album from a selection of 20 prerecorded songs and then create their own cover art to reflect their selection. For every one of that person's album sold, they receive a pound. Another unique example involving consumer involvement and creativity, is Heinz using Facebook to encourage people to send a personalised call of soup as a Get Well gift to friends.

Brilliant!

We're seeing people's creativity tapped into, which creates the IKEA affect, increasing brand affinity. Not only that, these brands are providing people with amazing stories to share with their community/friends, elevating their personal brand.

So, when thinking about a brand, we need to start asking ourselves, 'What are we going to do to create a creative and/or collaborative partnership with our consumers that will create a meaningful role within their lives beyond its base products and services?'

Steve Jobs Built His Click

2011-10-08T10:05:00.000-06:00

Note: Image features on the cover of The Times on Friday, October 7, 2011

This week came with a bit of a shock -- the death of Steve Jobs -- a man who had impacted the world as strongly as Johannes Gutenberg (inventor of the printing press) and Thomas Edison (inventor of the lightbulb).

I think we all knew the inevitability of this, but I don't think we expected it to be so soon.

In the past, I questioned whether Jobs was telling time - continually executing on and creating the Apple brand, without enabling others to deliver on the brand independently -- or building a clock -- creating an internal structure that provides a brand compass, enabling the brand to sustain itself well after Jobs' departure.

After his first medical leave, Apple's share price plummeted, indicating the market's lack of confidence that Apple was able to remain successful and drive long-term demand without Steve at the helm. Truthfully, I, too, felt pretty confident he was only telling time up to this point. And perhaps he was only telling time.

But clearly, Apple took note, because after each subsequent medical leave, the share price dipped less and less, indicating that the market was beginning to believe Apple could remain strong even without its iconic and legendary co-founder leading the way.

So this is proof that Steve didn't just tell time by developing tools for the mind that advance human kind, but he built the clock too!

"We will honour [Steve's] memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much"

--Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, from his email to the Apple Staff

Having said that, the real test will be a year from now, when we will see whether Apple continues to change the world in a beautiful and impactful way.

Now, in memory of Steve JObs, a person I would call a brand guru, here are a few of his philosophies, which I believe have led to Apple's brand success:

Apple's innovations come from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure they don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much
The human brain craves meaning before details. What does it mean in one sentence (i.e. iPod = 1,000 songs in your pocket)
Don't bother to create manifestos, mantras or guidelines - LIVE THEM.

Thank you Steve Jobs for teaching and inspiring us for so many years!

Just a Thought: Customers are the Brand

2011-09-26T00:00:00.000-06:00

While living in London for the past year, now, I have only had three instances where a car almost hits me while running. Oddly, the three vehicles to almost hit me were all BMWs, and since two of these 3 occurrences happened this past weekend, it had me think, "BMW doesn't like me very much, and frankly, if they keep trying to hit me, I'm not going to like them at all."

This internal dialogue inevitably turned to a thought about branding, and how a brand's customers end up representing and communicating the brand's positioning via their actions. After all, it wasn't the BMW that was almost running me over, it was the drivers, but still I thought of it as the vehicle.

I guess Abercrombie & Fitch recently began to notice who wears their clothes ends up reflecting the type of brand it is, hence they've asked Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, from Jersey Shore, to stop wearing its products.

Looking at the kind of people who associate themselves with your brand (i.e. wear, drive, use, etc.) defines the kind of brand you are. So maybe it becomes a question of targeting. If A&F didn't have half naked teenage models standing out front of its stores, with blaring clubbing music at all hours of the day and oozing of an offensive amount of cologne, maybe it wouldn't appeal to a half naked all-hours partier like "The Situation".

A&F's stores are designed to appeal to people like "The Situation" drawing them in, and then they act surprised when he's actually wearing their products? If they genuinely want to stop attracting people like "The Situation", the brand experience must change to reflect they type of people they wish to attract and feel are better suited to the brand they are or want to be.

So maybe BMW should have a test for prospect customers to see if they make the cut for being BMW drivers, which I hope includes those who don't want to accelerate when they see runners. Who knows maybe the quiz to be selected as a BMW drivers will make the brand more exclusive and stimulate greater demand... just a thought.

Louboutin isn't Louboutin without its red soles

2011-09-12T00:00:00.000-06:00

Image created by the amazing Garance Dorè

If you are a woman, or have some interest in fashion, I'm sure just by looking at the red soles of these drawn shoes, you're already thinking Christian Louboutin. A shoe brand famous for its vibrant red soles. I once saw a program on TV about luxury shoes, where Mr. Louboutin was interviewed on where he came up with the idea to paint the soles of his shoes red -- he was sitting around with one of his friends, who was painting her nails, when he started to paint the sole of a shoe and fell in love with how the shoe looked from behind. Then the rest is history...well, until now.

Recently, Louboutin has taken YSL to court on the basis of trademark infringement, as YSL is selling shoes with a red sole. Unfortunately, the judge does not believe a designer can trademark a colour. In fact, he "has made up his mind that no fashion designer should be allowed a monopoly on colour because as artists they need to be able to use a full palette".

Personally, I think the wrong argument is being made here. Sure the colour is essential, but more importantly, it's the location of the colour -- on the sole of the shoe -- which makes it quintessentially Louboutin. So rather than fighting so hard over a colour, Louboutin should be registering the design element of having a red sole as its trademark.

Frankly, I had no idea what the Louboutin logo looked like until a few years ago. Up to that point I only recognised the brand via the red soles. In fact, my friend, Jade, gave me a business card for her friend, who designed accessories for a shoe brand she couldn't remember the name of...this is the card she handed me:

I didn't need to turn the card over; I knew exactly what company she worked for -- Christian Louboutin!

If we're looking at this business card alone, it's clear that Louboutin considers its red soles a powerful trademark for its brand. I would consider this an excellent example that brand identification lies beyond the logo. Look at Apple, they even go as far to register all its products, from the shape of its iPad to its desktop icons and apps. We can also look at Coca-Cola and the original design of its glass bottles. The brief to design the Coca-Cola bottle was to create something that when held in your hand blind-folded you knew it was Coca-Cola, and when shattered into a million shards of glass you knew it was Coca-Cola.

This goes back to Martin Lindstrom's concept of smashability. The idea here, is that you should be able to take away the logo from the product and/or service, and instinctually know the brand it comes from. Louboutin clearly has this going for them just like Apple and Coca-Cola, maybe even more so, since Louboutin's logo seems secondary to its red soles.

I truly believe Louboutin must win this case over YSL selling red soled shoes. Simply for the fact that red soled shoes are a key brand identifier for Louboutin. And if we agree on the definition YSL's lawyer gives trademarks - "merely the right to indicate the origin of a product or service" - than Louboutin will win. Having said that, if they keep fighting for the colour rather than the combined power of the colour and its location on the shoe, they won't win this case. The power of the red sole, as a trademark for Louboutin, is not so much the colour as it is the location of the colour.

Google+: A new playground for the same games

2011-09-05T00:00:00.003-06:00

I've been wanting to write about Google+ for some time -- not to critique the new social platform, as I don't think it's worth making a full-on critique until I see how people use the platform and if they use it at a sustained rate like Facebook.

However, Google+ has grown at an incredible rate - 18 million users in 21 days...something that took Facebook 2.5 years to achieve, as stated in the below presentation. What interests me most about this, was something I was asked a year ago, "Is Facebook a fad?" The answer has been made clear by the launch of Google+. Facebook may come and go, but the behaviour it has strongly influenced is not a fad and won't go away.

In essence, the playground may change, from MySpace to Facebook to Google+, but the games will remain the same. If anything, people's social behaviour will only grow and evolve to a more elevated social level. After all, we've always been social creatures, and the tools have evolved to allow our social behaviour to stretch farther, to more people and faster.

So, it would be silly if brands avoided joining the social conversation, and not develop a strategy on the role its brand can play in the online social environment.

Here's a presentation I came across the other day, which I felt was a good summary of how organizations should start looking at Google+...enjoy:

Google+ for brands_ogilvy

View more presentations from John Bell

Redefining Athlete and a Brand

2011-08-29T00:00:00.003-06:00

I love it when I see a brand take on a meaningful role, aka positioning, and integrate it into every single one of its touch points creating a wonderfully fluid story no matter where you begin interacting with the brand -- and Puma has done just that.

Puma has taken its, in my opinion, tired brand, and run neon lighting through it to reinvigorate itself to make it relevant to people who aren't typically the primary target of sportswear brands -- the after hours athlete. People who like to wear trendy sportswear in casual social settings.

This all started with an award winning and moving campaign featuring a classic voiceover creating a rallying call and celebration for after hour athletes:

The success of this campaign has clearly leapt from its TV and print campaign to create a more long-term positioning for the brand and further establish its support for the after hours athlete by creating tangible brand experiences.

I first noticed this on my daily walk into work through Carnaby Street -- Puma has completely redesigned its retail experience to appeal to the after hours athlete.

Even the inside of the shop is filled with foosball, pool and ping pong tables, along with mannequins wearing clown wigs and posters featuring after hour athlete mantras. It's a massive expense and undertaking to redesign your stores, so it's clear this is a positioning Puma is dedicated to.

Not only are they creating some fabulous retail theatre for the brand's positioning, but they are also creating offline social events to encourage people to get together for after hour athlete activities around the world. Actually, I think that's another thing I love about this whole re-positioning initiative - it's talking to a global youth audience.

I'm impressed with Puma's repositioning. They have found a truly unique segment to gear their products and experiences towards, and are making a clear effort to owning and mastering this space. Not only that, their communications have been used to stimulate a movement to take part in Puma's support for those who enjoy recreational, late night, social activities.

Today, for a brand positioning claim to be truly valid, the organization must stand behind its claim through actions. These actions involve the retail experience, products, engagement activities, and any other consumer touch points. This is where Puma is succeeding and Reebok has missed the opportunity. I look forward to seeing more from Puma and all the fun things they can do with their new positioning. Having said that, only time will tell if this brand position is meaningful enough internally to continue to be delivered upon, ensuring the brand remains relevant to the market stimulating long-term demand.

What Makes a Fashion House Iconic?

2011-08-22T00:00:00.000-06:00

One of the things I love about living in London is that there are always cool and inspiring exhibits going on, and recently there was one such exhibit, which seemed to combine my two favourite things -- fashion and branding -- with or without knowing it. The exhibit was called the Masters of Style: Celebrating the Stories behind Italian Fashion.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the exhibit featured six of Italy's iconic design houses: Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Missoni & Prada.

Going through the exhibit, which featured the fashion labels' favourite images and ads they felt captured the essence of their brand and Italian heritage, I began to see clearly how fashion brands, particularly luxury fashion brands, define themselves.

Fashion is a tough business for a variety of reasons, a few being:

Each label has to create something new, fresh and innovative every six months without fail
Collections have to appeal to a global audience
The personal viewpoint of the creative director, who may or may not be the founder of the label, should be integrated
All the while, the brand's heritage and founding personality must be maintained
Not to mention they are faced with unforgiving critics that could kill the brand with one little slip

There is a lot of pressure continuously placed on fashion labels, so it's no wonder only a few succeed and even fewer rise to being iconic.

I think the way fashion houses define their brand allows them to be flexible enough to combat these tough market conditions. After reading about and observing the images chosen by and for each label, it was very clear that fashion brands are defined through a combination of two things:

1 - A stylistic point of view, such as Armani's precision cuts and subtle colour palette, or Missoni's passion for colourful knitwear. Style is forever, and from that point of view fresh fashion can rise to the surface each season. However, a strong stylistic point of view is the red thread that tells a unified brand story across seasons.

2 - Emotions they wish to evoke. There are functional brands, which provide tangible utility such as Google or Apple, and the have a brand purpose to continually provide function well into the future. Then there are emotional brands. These brands aim to stimulate various feelings and aspirations for those who engage with them. Dressing is a personal and often emotional (not in the terms of being sad, but in reference to being based on personal feelings), Miuccia Prada said it best back in 2007:

"For me, dressing is a versatile instrument that helps you express what's in your head … -- a relationship with a man, with society. Sometimes you want to appear powerful, or serious or rich. All of us want to represent something. When you meet someone, among the instruments you have – like dialogue – you also have clothes"

So it's only natural that fashion labels define themselves on the emotions they wish to create. For instance Dolce & Gabbana evokes irony and Mediterranean sensuality in all they create; Prada aims for bravery and wit, while Armani elicits elegance, understatement and assurance.

Having a strong stylistic point of view combined with a set of emotions you wish to kindle, creates a powerful and unique positioning within the market. It's brands like those featured in this exhibit that have stayed true to these key elements that have allowed them to rise to an iconic status and maintain that status over the years.

What's it all about, Rodrigo?

2011-07-31T14:47:00.000-06:00

Today, I decided to take a different approach with this post. Rather than writing a structured post, I met my opinionated and grumpy Brazilian friend, Rodrigo, to talk about a series of random topics around technology, people and brands…here’s where we ended up:

Note: Whatever is written in italics is Rodrigo and the rest is me

To start things off, I asked Rodrigo, "What should we blog about?" This was the question that got us going and stopped us dead in our tracks.

It’s difficult when you put two professionals together, on a Sunday, to talk about only one topic in an area we work with every day. Instead there are various pockets of things to discuss.

So that’s what we’re going to do – talk about a bunch of random topics.

But first, SOCIAL CURRENCY – Rodrigo had to check us into The Providores on Facebook:

Isn’t it sad that we are in a real social environment, with real people and we’re checking our Facebook? Your virtual presence should be helping your real one – not the other way around, like it has become. It’s like we care more about our invisible self…

That reminds me how much I’m beginning to hate the word ‘Like’ these days…

There’s a difference between sharing and liking something. Brands are so hung up on their ‘Like Vanity' – building their communities, striving for the largest fan base – but does this really do anything for the brand? It means so much more when a community member is moved by what the brand is doing to a point where he/she actually shares the content! That’s the value.

Couldn’t agree more! That’s why I’m tired of clients requesting another Facebook Page or application with no means to an end. “We want more likes”…but why? What value is it really going to give you or your consumers? There’s so much opportunity online to engage with qualified people and provide actual value to the community, rather than appealing to the masses and trying to win by the law of numbers – a small percentage in a big number is a big number – sure, but it’s a large number of people who don’t share the brand’s values to be a true advocate.

Facebook is interesting as it's going to seize from being a social network and become a browser. It will become the hub where we begin to access any content on the Internet. I mean we’ll see blog posts, articles, pictures, videos, etc. from our newsfeeds – in fact, I think Facebook is the second largest distributor of video next to YouTube. And with everything being shown within the page, you never need to leave facebook…

I don’t think Facebook will replace my need for Google. My network won’t be able to give me information on everything I look for on the internet. I guess Google is good when I have a specific inquiry, but Facebook may be the platform I learn about new topics or content I wouldn't come across if it wasn't for someone else posting it...

Just a thought, but tsn’t it interesting that, now, with digital TV, we fast-forward the ads, but then we go on Twitter and Facebook to follow and like brands, which, in essence, brings a version of that ad content back into our lives…

But in this situation, it’s an opt-in! People, for the most part, are choosing to get information from brands they are interested in. People can pick and choose the brands they want to hear from. And if done correctly and for the right reasons (i.e. attracting people who share common values with a specific brand), brands can engage qualified consumers/people on a more personal and meaningful level, rather than the general public, who become annoyed with ads because, really, most are not for them.

Okay, so now that we have a community of interested and engaged people – we being a brand/organization – we can give them a platform to contribute and/or be heard by the brand, like My Starbucks Idea…

Yes, it’s important to have a conversation to involve and learn from your advocates, but brands still need to have amazing curation of ideas, otherwise we just end up with normal, basic ideas…

Actually, I read a great quote from Richard Seymour, in June’s Wired magazine, saying, “Don’t ask people what they’re going to want – they don’t know”…

Totally, don’t ask people what they want, because they don’t want to think about it – it’s too much work. Over the years, I have created a list of 12 things I need to consider when designing something, and at the top of this list is, people are lazy! And it takes a lot of work to really define what we want…

So really, great crowdsourcing isn’t about asking people what they want. Instead, it’s about bringing lots of minds together to talk about specific topics. From these discussions we can learn where people’s heads are at (trends, interests, etc.), what they’re missing from the brand experience (products and/or services) or what they want more of (what the brand is doing well). Then, from here, brands can evolve based on people’s wants/needs to remain relevant.

It’s curation at a different level – it’s curating conversations.

Innovation is weird, because we tend to take it for granted. Most people don’t stop and think about the evolution of things. To me, the million-dollar ideas are about creating new processes for basic things – how to we brush our teeth without needing water, a toothbrush or toothpaste – how do we optimize something to be less reliant on certain tools.

I guess when we listen to people, we need start to redefine the problem and look at the fundamental behaviour, rather than just trying to create a new version of something…

So it's like looking at transport – rather than trying to make cars better for the environment (i.e. Hybrid, electric, etc.), we should look to change how people get from point A to point B…

Totally, like why do people need to own cars anymore? Why is ownership of a vehicle so important? I mean people only use their cars for a tiny fraction of the time they own them…

So, Rodders, we've talked about everything from virtual social vanity, to Facebook as our next browser, to crowdsourcing, to rethinking basic processes…What does all this mean?

I guess it’s interesting because we both are in marketing, typically a message-pushing business, but most of what we’ve talked about is getting people to talk and having brands listen.

You're right – the relationship between people and brands has changed. It’s more transparent and open, looking for a personal interchange, which gives people a voice to contribute, and create a more relevant experience.

But the questions remains…are brands really listening? And are they ready act on what they’ve heard?

Rodrigo Lebrun – Creative at Wieden + Kennedy, currently working on Nike

Talk with me... Not at me

2011-07-24T12:40:00.000-06:00

This week, I came across this amazing presentation from a Cannes Workshop. It talks about brand's starting movements, and I couldn't help but think this is the future of advertising.

Strawberry Frog Cannes Workshop 2011

View more presentations from Heather LeFevre

Clearly we can tell people don't want to be talked at -- instead, they want to be spoken with.

Creating movements is about organising a group of passionate advocates who rally around an idea on the rise in culture to bring change.

To a certain degree, this is what brands with purpose are trying to do -- create change or contribute to the greater whole. The key point, in the above definition, is about rallying around 'an idea on the rise in culture'. This indicates communicating your message to in a relevant/meaningful way to capture the interest of your audience.

People today are looking for meaningful brands more and more, and like I've mentioned before, this is not just a western desire, rather it's a global demand. So really, it seems like a natural evolution for more static one-way dialogues, traditional advertising, to transform into a more immersive and relevant conversation through messages and actions! After all, it's in our nature to be social and want to belong to something greater than our everyday. Brands have the power to inspire and excite people.

Lastly, movements are about the people and issues that are important to them. This is another huge opportunity for brands to leverage movement creation rather than traditional advertising, because they are engaging with their audiences in a more relevant and meaningful and the product becomes a facilitator to accomplishing that shared, overarching goal/dream/purpose.

I hope you enjoy this presentation as much as I did.

How People Talk About Brands

2011-07-09T03:15:00.000-06:00

Currently, I'm reading a book called How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, by Pierre Bayard. It's interesting because it says rather than consuming yourself in the details of books, since there are more than we could ever read in a lifetime, we should consider the context in which the book was written and the author's overall idea for the story. Bayard says it is this that will help us understand how the book fits among other literary pieces -- or in his words:

"Paying exclusive attention to an individual volume causes us to risk losing sight of that totality, as well as the qualities in each book that figure in the larger scheme"

Bayard also mentions that taking this approach is good even if you've read the book because no matter what, everyone develops their own version of the story in their mind. This is because different elements become more salient and/or significant depending on the reader, as people's divergent life experiences impact their perceptions/interpretations of the book.

I find this concept is not only good for books, but it's also a good way to view brands and how people think about them.

To understand how a brand fits, or the role it plays, in the global market, we need to consider the brand's central idea, or what I call the brand's purpose. This provides context to what the brand is about, what makes it special, and how we should view it relative to other brands.

On a more granular level, as people engage with a brand they develop their own perceptions of it, making it important to note that these perceptions are influenced by both the direct experience with the brand and the life experiences of the person interacting with the brand. These life experiences include what they've already heard about the brand.

To this point, Bayrad also mentions that books do not live on their own:

"A book is not limited to itself, but from the moment of dissemination also encompasses the exchanges it inspires"

The same is true for brands. They are greatly influenced by the stories told about them by others, who could be existing customers, ex-customers, analysts, or people who have just heard things second hand. We know it's this external world that has the greatest impact on the definition of a brand, making the salience and clarity of the central idea for a brand essential.

Lastly, this philosophy, of having a central brand idea defining its stance in the global market and accepting that the idea comes to fruition through various interpretations as people take it in differently based on their individual backgrounds, can be leveraged when taking a brand to other markets.

The brand must keep its purpose intact, but find details that resonate with people in the new market so it's interpreted in a way that adequately reflects the brand's desired position in the global market.

Who knew books and brands were so closely related...well, they are both stories to be told, experienced and interpreted. I guess they're not that different at all.

Catching-up with some great articles

2011-06-28T15:28:00.000-06:00

After coming back from Tanzania, I have been busier than expected, especially since last week I started a new and very exciting role as a senior strategist with M&C Saatchi, here in London! I will be working in their Central Strategy Unit on some exciting clients with great opportunities. I'm thrilled to work with a fully integrated agency where I can help organizations position, innovate and evolve with their purpose at the heart.

In addition to embarking on an new and amazing opportunity, I have plenty of great articles to read and catch-up on after being away for a month. So this week, rather than a post from me, I thought I would share some of the articles I have come across that have interested and/or inspired me... Enjoy:

I went to India and all I got was this lousy epiphany
(Wolff Olins Blog)
I really like what Nick Keppel Palmer is writing about these days in terms of brand collaboration and finding partners that share your values and/or purpose to deliver meaningful solutions to society, which, in turn, makes your brand more relevant to people's lives. This is a great piece about if brands want to shape the way we live, they need to be fundamentally collaborative, partnering with any player who shares a similar ambition.

Top ten ways CEO's must change to lead in the social business marketplace
This is a great post on how business leaders need to change their thinking about the organization's structure, services provided to consumers and expectations on employees, to become a more socially aware organization. I think this is particularly important considering how transparency is becoming a business imperative and social responsibility is becoming a key selection criteria when consumers are choosing a brand.

LVMH opens heritage sites to public, reasserts roots in craftsmanship
(PSFK)
I thought this was a very interesting initiative by LVMH, as it creates a wonderful reason to believe in their dedication to craftsmanship, but it also provides an experience for people to delve into the life of the various LVMH brands and immerse yourself in the brand essence continuing the brand story. This actually follows quite closely to a post I put together prior to departing to TZ - Meaningful Luxury Brands.

The Trouble with Context
(SlideShare)
This is a great presentation on what's going on with mobile technology and its influence on behaviour. More importantly, it emphasises that access to the web anywhere is becoming the commonplace. It's now fully integrated into our daily lives that we don't consciously think "I'm going online right now" when we access information on the web from one or our many mobile devices.

in.gredients
This is a cool company I came across this week. It's a grocery store that is package-free. Living in the UK, where I'm always amazed at the amount of packaging is used here, I think this is a great new grocery concept. I always get excited when I find brands that create new business concepts as a result of their meaningful brand purpose.

And here's a little something fun that always makes me smile:

Purpose Gives a Brand Legs

2011-06-14T05:22:00.000-06:00

Last year, I blogged about my favorite brand, TOMS, an organization that truly understands branding with purpose. I mean its One for One business model was created around the organization's purpose:

For every one person who buys, one person is helped.

With a purpose as grand, unique and meaningful as TOMS', it was only natural to see it evolve and grow.

Last week, TOMS launched its 'next chapter' of its One for One business. In addition to selling and giving shoes, which I have a whole new appreciation for after learning about the fungus, worms, etc. that can borrow into your feet and cause illness - even death if not treated - from exposure to mud in places like rural Tanzania, they have added eyewear to the roster.

So for every pair of TOMS Eyewear sold, they will provide sight to one person. This comes in the form of medical treatment, a pair of glasses or sight-saving surgery.

Although it's not as direct as the shoe program, it proves that innovation and growth comes quite naturally when it aligns with your purpose. Additionally, no one is left confused wondering why you chose to take the company in that direction - like how I felt this weekend when I kept stumbling across all these PEUGEOT pepper grinders...

This is only the begging for what TOMS is capable of, and I'm very excited to see how it continues to evolve and change the world one purchase at a time!

Here's a picture of a pair of my well loved TOMS shoes that kept my feet fungus and worm free while I was in Tanzania! Oh the skull next to my feet is of a hippo:

My Experience in Tanzania

2011-06-09T03:14:00.000-06:00

I just returned from an absolutely amazing journey! For the past month, I have been teaching pre-school in rural Tanzania. Let's just say, I have an entirely new appreciation for pre-school teachers and love & devotion for my career. The patience, persistence and energy needed to run a pre-school class is incredible.

However, I'm proud of the progress we made with the class throughout May. The children learned all the names of the letters in the alphabet, can write inside the lines, are grasping the concept of writing words vs. individual letters, and much much more!

Additionally, I was a house volunteer to 11 boys and girls aged 4-9 years old. I helped prepare their meals, got them ready for the day (a few socks always seemed to be missing each morning), walked them to school and read them stories before bed.

Needless to say, this past month has been very far removed from my every day, but it was an incredibly enriching and rewarding experience that I will remember for the rest of my life! I feel very lucky to have worked with an incredible organization like the Tanzanian Children's Fund.

TCF is an wonderful brand. It is truly devoted to helping develop Tanzania's future through its youth. Beyond the incredible orphanage, which provides an amazing foundation and genuine home for very deserving children, every program they're involved in, from improving the community's school, providing medical clinics, scholarships, etc., all stems from the passion to enrich Tanzania's youth helping them become contributing citizens in the future. All of this happens instinctually because the brand purpose in seared into their minds, and their hearts, making brand growth and expansion simple.

The strength of the passion behind TCF's brand purpose creates incredible motivation among its volunteers, but more importantly, for its full-time staff, who are working by 5:30am everyday in a remote area in Tanzania with a smile on their face. In fact, one staff member said they wouldn't be as willing to be at work this early if they were back in the US. But she said it's all for the kids, which makes it worth it.

It's statements like these that prove more organizations need to instil genuine purpose to the core of their business to get the best out their people and, therefore, the best out of the brand! I feel very privileged to have helped such a passionate organization make meaning this past month.

As for Tanzania - WOW - what a naturally breathtaking country, and its people make it even more spectacular. I have never felt so welcomed in any other country. It was magnificent. Sadly, the country is plagued with fundamental challenges of a lack of medical resources, access to education/information and limited exposure to opportunities, especially in rural Tanzania, which stunt the nation's progress forward. However, Tanzania is filled with opportunity waiting to be tapped, and I believe the innovative thinking to unleash its potential resides in Tanzania.

I say this because of the way they approach using new technologies. Peter, the co-founder of the Children's Village, was explaining Tanzanians' fear towards new technology, as the leaps forward are always so massive. Essentially, they go from never having a phone to getting one, but then turning around to a mobile phone only a short period after. Or going straight to computers with internet having never seen a typewriter. This leaves Tanzanians with huge adoption curves, as there is no natural evolution of technology like in developed nations.

This presents something interesting. Developed nations, who experience the gradual evolution of technologies, tend to think of new technologies in old ways, which slows the process of developing innovative ways to use these new devices/services. Whereas Tanzanians see the new technology having no old habits, which, I think, makes them more innovative when developing ways to use these technologies. Just look at how they use mobile devices -- with the most basic phones, they see the opportunity in mobility and phone credit, so now they also use their mobile phones as payment devices, which is something that seems to be taking forever to adopt in some developed nations. So if I wanted to find new ways to maximise my technology I would take it to places like Tanzania to realise its potential.

Additionally, I couldn't help but be amazed how well they come up with ideas to work around their limitations, like recycling (i.e. using Coca-Cola bottles from forever ago to making paper beads to make jewellery) to using solar power, etc. I find their limitations have created a culture looking for function and practicality over wants. Even with my running, people were amazed I was running for me and not to go somewhere.

So, I believe, it's thinking without old frameworks, while still working within given limitations that create strong innovative thinkers, who could really harness the potential of Tanzania. But like Peter said, "We first need to walk the kids to school". I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to do that for the past month, and to have experienced an amazing country with beautiful people and incredible potential.

Two Years and Counting

2011-05-24T00:00:00.007-06:00

Note: Image from Flickr

Two years and twice the fun! Yep, that's right -- I've been blogging about branding for two years now, and I'm still in love with it!

Looking back, what started as an outlet to write about a topic that interests me, has now turned into a personal brand purpose -- to help organizations around the world make meaning and live it everyday! This purpose has not only fuelled my work professionally, impacting my approach to the projects I work on, but it has also influenced who I am on a daily basis.

I'm continually on the look for organizations that are innovating ways to make meaning and remain true to their promises. Hence, I have fallen in love with TOMS shoes and am currently in Tanzania volunteering for the Tanzanian Children's Fund. These are two organizations with wonderful purpose and all their actions are geared towards delivering on that promise.

I look forward to seeing where this blog continues to take me, challenging my thinking and pushing me to hunt for brands with real, meaningful purpose at their core.

Thank you so much for reading my blog and for contributing your comments! Don't be shy -- I'm always looking for more point of views and interesting commentary to add to the content on this site, so comment away!

Thanks again for an amazing two years!

Brand = Gut Feeling

2011-05-18T00:00:00.002-06:00

Note: Definition from dictionary.com

It's be a while since I've written about the basics of branding. Recently, I began to consider the definition of 'brand' itself, which, then, made me start to think about how brands form their definitions so people know who they are and what they stand for.

According to dictionary.com, a brand is a kind, grade or make as indicated by a stamp or trademark (aka logo). OK -- so if a brand is a cue to the quality or type of product we're going to purchase and/or associate with, then where do those feelings come from?

The feelings we have towards brands, are based on our interactions with them. And it is these feelings that define the brand. Therefore, a brand is not the logo or name, nor it is an experience with an organization, as I sometimes hear it defined. Instead, the logo and name are the cues for a brand, which through personal experiences/interactions with the organization/product/service create a gut feeling towards the brand. From here the brand is defined among the general public as people discuss these experiences, using the brand name and logo as their reference point.

It's like Marty Neumeier says, the brand is not what you (the organization) says it is; rather it's what they (the general public) say it is. However, there are always ways to influence a brand's definition, and it starts from within:

Brand Definition Process

A brand cannot be created on its own. Rather, its definition is based on three key phases:

Internal Brand Definition: the brand purpose is established and perpetuated throughout the organization
Brand Delivery: this is where the organization's talent delivers on the brand creating experiences which influence people's gut feelings towards the organization
External Brand Definition: finally, to spread the gospel, people tend to share their experiences/interactions with others influencing the brand is defined to the general public

It's important to note that in this process the external brand definition has the most impact, and ends up being the primary definition for the brand. Therefore, an organization must perfect phases one and two to adequately influence how they want their brand to be defined. To ensure the internal brand message is being effectively communicated externally, it's important to (1) listen and see what's being said about the brand to alter certain initiatives influencing the external perceptions; and (2) run through this process a number of times to ensure the brand is understood internally to influence the external definition.

Phase 1: Internal Brand Definition

Great brands start with purpose. This is the crazy hairy audacious idea/dream/goal that guides the organization forward. It usually is motivating and clear to its talent so they know how to move forward and deliver on this purpose daily, without being too prescriptive.

Typically the brand purpose is broken down in two parts:

Aspiration: This is the long-term vision/milestone to accomplish the organization's purpose
Truth: This is what the brand does today to reflect its purpose

Brand's like TOMS Shoes, Nike and IKEA have such strong founding values and purpose (One for one; authentic athletic performance and democratic design) that anyone who works for one of these organizations knows what the long-term goal is and are given the exciting task to deliver on the purpose today, which brings us to phase 2...

Phase 2: Brand Delivered

This phase is essential! This is where the perceptions for the brand are established, which goes on to influence the overall brand definition. It's like Steve Jobs says, "The perception about a brand is reality" making it essential for the brand to be built into the culture of the organization so when someone interacts with the brand, a consistent brand experience is being delivered.

I recently read an article (forgive me I have forgot where) and it said that every time Apple goes to create something, the first question asked in the room is, "what's the customer experience". It's having key questions, like this, that tie to your core brand pillars, which ensure every time a person interacts with a branded touchpoint the experience influences how the brand is defined.

Phase 3: External Brand Definition

It's in this phase where the reputation -- the most dominant definition -- for the brand is established and propagated. I recently found a couple rather telling stats on Bazzarvoice saying, "The average consumer mentions specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010)" and "74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place. (Manage Smarter, September 2009)". These tell me there is little room for organizations to falter in delivering an 'on-brand' experience, or they run the risk of negatively impacting the brand's perception, or worse yet, they miss the opportunity to influence the definition at all, because people talk about brands a lot, and to a captive audience to boot! It's when people talk to others that the brand becomes defined and the gut feeling towards an organization is planted.

If this process is done correctly, you know you have successfully defined and delivered on your brand when (1) people choose you over the competition, (2) they are willing to pay a premium to have your products or use your services, and (3) when they keep coming back for more!

Off to Tanzania

2011-05-10T00:00:00.001-06:00

Today, I'm off for a month long adventure volunteering in Tanzania with the Tanzanian Children's Fund! I couldn't be more excited, as this is something I've been wanting to do for years. I feel lucky to have come across this organization, as I greatly appreciate its purpose to create a family dynamic, while providing education to these wonderful children.

Having come from a strong and supportive family and network of friends, I believe establishing a good family dynamic is the foundation that builds confidence, self-worth and an opportunistic outlook on life.

During my time in Tanzania, I will be helping prepare the children for their day and tuck them in at night. I will, also, be a teacher's aide, tutoring English and Math, along with planning and arranging playtime activities. Having benefited from an amazing education myself, I'm thrilled to pay it forward by helping with the development and education of these children. After all, these children represent the future of Africa, where 50% of the population is now under the age of 15!

While I'm away, I have lined up some blog posts to keep you full of content! I hope you stayed tuned, and if I have a chance, I will post some of my adventures and any cool brand experiences or interesting learnings I come across along the way!

See you in a month!

People Not Consumers

2011-05-04T00:00:00.007-06:00

Note: Image from Flickr

Sometimes we use words so much that they end up feeling meaningless and repetitive. That's how I feel about the word 'consumer'. I'm tired of referring to people as consumers. For awhile I wasn't sure why, other than the fact that it just seemed impersonal and generic. So, after some thought on why I feel this way, I've come to this conclusion:

People are more than consumers, and we need to start viewing people in a more all-encompassing manner.

When we look at people as consumers, we only see them as a selling challenge or opportunity. This is a very narrow and bottom-line way of approaching people. Rather, we should be looking at people as people taking note of their intricate and dynamic lives and how they interact within their environment, or with other people in their community, society etc.

I feel taking this perspective is more pertinent than ever before, because, like Umair Haque has noted on several occasions, people are looking for brands that have a point to what they do. People want to see brands contribute something of value that benefits them, society, the environment, and even the future. People expect the brands they buy to deliver beyond the product and service, contributing to their lives in a meaningful and relevant way.

An example where we can see this, is by looking at daytime TV-- odd I know -- but recently, ABC cancelled All My Children and One Life To Live, leaving them with just one soap opera. In fact, you are hard pressed to find any network to have more than one soap opera. ABC is replacing these programs with shows devoted to cooking, nutrition and health. This change in demand indicates that people want to spend their time where they can receive tangible value, which they can apply to their daily lives. I feel this is the same for brands (companies, products and services).

Brands need to stop thinking in terms of selling challenges (purposeless) and start defining the role it can play in people's lives (establishing and delivering on a purpose).

I like how Nick Kepple-Palmer, from Wolff Olins, writes about how the new way of business is more about collaboration and less about competition. This is about defining the brand's role in people's lives, finding others who share a similar purpose, and extending what the brand delivers to satisfy its role in a relevant way.

In order to do this, we need to look at people more holistically, rather than as selling challenges -- consumers. By looking at people as people, we can consider all aspects of their lives. This allows a brand to see where its purpose fits and what role it can fulfil in a person's life as an individual, community or on a global level.

By looking at people as people, it opens up greater areas of opportunity for the brand to earn its value, innovate, grow and remain relevant into the future.