We think partnership and sharing is a recipe for success. As with many great partnerships, chocolate and caramel work exceptionally well too. It’s our sixth birthday, so as a big thank you to all our clients, we thought we’d celebrate by sharing a box of Charbonnel et Walker’s lightly dusted plain chocolate enrobed truffles – a recipe perfected over the years and even endorsed by the Royal Warrant. Happy birthday. Dusted.

On my MA seminar debate last week at Goldsmiths we discussed the ‘author function’ in relation to value-creation in the economic context, interrogating the notions of originality and distinctiveness posited by Foucault in his essay “What Is an Author?’. Curiously, that topic led the group to challenge the definition of brands, in the classic sense, and ask themselves: what exactly constitutes a brand? Or even, what are the elements necessary to characterize an individual or name as a brand rather than an author/individual?

To start with, in a marketing intensive environment celebrity endorsement can be an efficient way to connect with consumers. The media exposure such individuals receive facilitate the process of communication as audiences recognise personal traits and identify themselves with another individual more easily. Brands, thus, get on the fast track to reach consumers, saving time and costly marketing efforts at the same time they eliminate much of the noise in the communication process. Sometimes – most notably in the sports and fashion business – this process gets such a traction that individuals move further and trademark their names and then a brand roll-out of different lines of products and commercial enterprises ensues, sometimes very successfully (Beckham, Moss, O’Neal, etc). However, differently from brands that are formed around entrepreneurs who strive in their field of expertise (fashion houses as the most typical examples), sports people, celebrities, designers and even artists (YBA) become brands through different means.

I would like to start the argument by acknowledging the importance of IP in the process of branding. The very raison d’être of any brand lies in their ability to combine a set of signs that create a distinguishable character in relation to the competition. The audiences thus recognise and decode the signs through cognitive processes, conferring the brand with a relatively distinctive set of meanings and perceptions, that is, one brand is a thing/object and not another. More importantly, brands try to delineate the boundaries, the semiotic space around their names; firstly by constructing a coherent system of visual signs (visual identity); secondly by using the mechanisms provided by intellectual property legislation (copyright and trademark) to safeguard their identity assets against unauthorized use. So, in what way a person, or a name can be suddenly designated as a brand?

First of all, brands should be understood in accordance to the industries and markets within which they operate. As an example, FMCG brands don’t work in the same way financial services or media brands do. In fact, brands and commodities become potential media themselves. In the past three decades they have become active actors in the circuits of culture, and that is exactly where their sign-value accrues, increasing the exchange-value of their products and services as a result. Brands, thus, operate within more or less complex networks; they engage in processes of synergy, co-creation and culture that according to Jürgen Habermas (among other critical theorists from the Frankfurt School) deems the distinction between the cultural and economic spheres irrelevant in this particular case. Henceforth, in the postmodern context, individuals who get a high level of exposition and adhere to specific sets of cultural values can be transformed into successful brands with real commercial value. In that respect, anyone has the potential to become a brand. But it’s not to say it is a simple process or that it can be constructed through a formulaic approach. There needs to be a base, a starting point upon which a branding exercise can then be developed: think of popular blogs, reality show stunts, sports, art performances, and so on. There’s also the case of artists who deliberately flirt with the concept of transmuting their image/names into brands – Andy Warhol featuring in a TDK TV ad, or the establishing of Interview magazine under the ‘Warhol’ brand; Keith Haring and its PopShop enterprise that sells diverse merchandising; Damien Hirst and the resulting dialectics of art x commodity found in his assembling line/factory-like approach.

To conclude, I think that individuals have the potential to become brands but it is not a venture suitable for all. There are certain connections and network interactions that must be already in place before one starts to license its name and image to products and/or services. So, in my opinion, it’s not only the road lying ahead but, more importantly perhaps, the walked miles that count when one’s trying to build a genuine, trustworthy person/brand.

Celebrity chef, Aldo Zilli, recently commissioned Dusted to carry out a brand reinvigoration of his group of Soho restaurants in preparation for the opening of Zilli Green – a new and innovative vegetarian restaurant.

His former flagship West End restaurant, Signor Zilli Soho, has been entirely remodelled and re-branded by Dusted to celebrate Aldo’s commitment to healthy living and to fully modernise the Zilli brand. The new Zilli Green restaurant has been the catalyst for this change and will reinforce the message that vegetarian food doesn’t have to be dull or tasteless – but exciting and delicious.

When explaining the concept for the new restaurant Zilli said, “There is a big move away from meat and fish as it takes so much more energy to produce. The new restaurant will use local, organic produce, serve organic wines and be tin-free. We will recycle everything.”

Zilli Green will offer an exciting seasonal menu in stylish surroundings. Dusted have created an interior which is fresh, informal and contemporary, largely using reclaimed natural materials, reflecting Aldo’s commitment to recycling and promoting a healthier way of living.

The fresh new brand identity will be seen first as part of the restaurant signage and website – also under development by Dusted and set to showcase all the other venues within the Zilli Group including Zilli Fish, Zilli Café and Zilli Bar.

Each has it’s own unique positioning but all are based on the same ethos of good produce and a convivial atmosphere.

Zilli Green opens on Valentine’s Day this weekend.

We tasted 10 different brands of pie and scored them on nine criteria;

• Packaging
• Appearance
• Pie Access
• Pastry
• Filling
• Mince-meat to volume ratio
• Xmas Factor
• Expectation
• Reality

For consistency we ate all of our pies cold (as we only have a microwave and no one likes sweaty pastry) as well as eating them unaccompanied so not to confuse our tastebuds.

And the results are in

So it’s Duchy Originals that takes the crown of Best Mince Pie overall for 2009. Not surprising as they were also the most expensive, but don’t let that take away from their glory – they are truly delicious, with an authentic pastry case and a perfectly balanced mince-meat filling. The packaging had heritage and was made from good thick card. Coming in almost a clear 10 points behind were Tesco, Konditor & Cook and Sainsbury’s – all accomplished pies.

Note: Ms. Kruger’s homemade mince pies aren’t available to the general public as they were lovingly crafted by Maggie who resides at our office. They wold have scored better if they hadn’t been presented in some Tupperware.

The best versus the worst

No one really expected a lot from the Co-Operative’s pies and they certainly didn’t surprise with one of the panel comparing the filling to paint.

Great expectations

Some might say this is the true gauge of pie. We took the expectation score and subtracted the reality score to give us an idea of whether it was a pleasant surprise, as expected or a hideous disappointment.

So it was Greggs’ and Ms. Kruger’s pies that offered up the most pleasant surprise surpassing all expectations (not to say that the expectations were low to start with of course). Mr. Kipling gave the most dissappointment – after all, he claims to make “exceedingly good cakes”. He must have not been around for the QC on these ones. Asda, Tesco and Co-Op supplied pies that were exactly as expected.

We were going to calculate total calories consumed over the course of the audit, but though it may be better to leave this statistic a mystery – although you may be able to take a guess from the increase in the collective waist size across the business.

Have you eaten a better mince pie? Have we got it completely wrong? Let us know.

As part of the Dusted Christmas celebrations yesterday, we all took a trip out to the V&A to see the new digital art exhibition, Decode: Digital Design Sensations. The exhibition showcases the latest developments in digital and interactive design, from small, screen-based, graphics to large-scale interactive installations. It features both existing works and new commissions by established international artists who explore three themes: code, interactivity and network.

Code presents pieces that use computer code to create new works and looks at how code can be programmed to create constantly fluid and ever-changing works. Interactivity looks at works that are directly influenced by the viewer. Network focuses on works that comment on and utilise the digital traces left behind by everyday communications and looks at how advanced technologies and the Internet have enabled new types of social interaction and mediums of self-expression.

Not surprisingly, work within the interactive theme is what we had most fun with; especially Ross Phillips’ piece Videogrid, which allows users to record short videos that are broadcast in grids on a large screen, looping repeatedly until someone else records over them. The effect is of an evolving set of repeating patterns.

Decode is on at the V&A’s Porter Gallery until April and we’d highly recommend it. If you’ve time and fancy getting your hands dirty with some code of your own, take a look at Recode by Karsten Schmidt – an open source piece for the exhibition’s microsite which invites you to ‘hack’ to create your own unique version.

Caterersearch.com have just published the shortlist for all the award categories and now invite readers to vote for the final category, Website of the Year. Naturally, we think Harrison should win this, so to place your vote, visit the award website and make your selection! The winner of Website of the Year will be chosen by the readers of Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Caterersearch.com, the judging panel and the senior editors of the Caterer Group.

“The name ‘BarCamp’ is a playful allusion to the event’s origins, with reference to the hacker slang term, foobar: BarCamp arose as a spin-off of Foo Camp, an annual invitation-only participant driven conference hosted by open source publishing luminary Tim O’Reilly.”

Wikipedia: BarCamp

The event was organised by volunteers and funded by sponsors from various industries. There was a wide range of pitches, which were voted upon and then scheduled into the morning and afternoon sessions.

As usual at conferences I had a tough time deciding which sessions to choose but in the end, I went for the following:

• iPhone app development
• Intro to HTML 5
• UI/UX Web Application Interfaces
• How to get the other 9 places on Google
• How to Market Anything Online

I was disappointed to have missed Down the Rabbit Hole, Balloon Twisting, Zero Budget Film Making and Eco box Shipping Containers as Home Sweet Home, as I’m sure they turned out to be pretty entertaining! Other sessions are listed at the end of this article.

In order to give you a taste of the session content, I have provided my notes from the sessions.

iPhone app development – Jeremy Olsen & Wess Cope

This presentation was split in two. The first section, lead by Jeremy Olsen, discussed the success of particular apps on the iTunes store. It was interesting to hear the opinions, many of which encouraged the use of rich interface design over basic functionality. Discussion also surrounded ‘hit base’ apps needing a large product launch to force sales and make it into the top 100.

The second section centered around the technical aspects of app development. Wess Cope detailed his methods of app development using web services, encouraging the storage of data in Google’s App Engine. He also recommended Stanford’s free iPhone Application Programming Series.

Intro to HTML 5 – Adam Hunter

Adam led this session which touched upon some of the elements HTML5. The main items were Geolocation, drag and drop, paste across domains, canvas tag, form validation, local storage and @font-face.
A more detailed explanation with examples can be found here: HTML5 Presentation

During discussions Wess Cope recommended the use of Sproutcore. Sproutcore is used by the Apple UI team and I’m told delivers HTML5 extremely fast!

“SproutCore is an open-source JavaScript framework. Its goal is to allow developers to create web applications with advanced capabilities and a user experience comparable to that of desktop applications.”

Wikipedia: SproutCore

UI/UX Web Application Interface – Wess Cope & Justin Holt

This was an interesting session which looked at interface design and user testing. Justin Holt and Wess Cope presented their UI experiences with heels.com and sixcentral.com respectively. Heels.com recently went through an impressive re-design, based upon extensive user feedback. Justin, a designer for heels.com, highlighted need for clear layout, navigation and strong ‘call-to’ action elements on sites with such a vast amount of content.

Wess, a developer of sixcentral.com spoke of the beta testing process and the invaluable feedback from testers. By opening up the application to 100 users, from different industries, it enabled them to create an application which suited the needs of most prospective users. He also touched upon ‘hallway testing’ and importance of colour.

Recommended tools were Lighthouse (bug tracking) and Get Satisfaction (user feedback and support).

Getting the 9 other listings on page 1 of Google – Robert Enriquez

Robert presented tips which will help your site rank on page 1 of Google.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
To achieve a page one listing on Google it is important to write articles, press releases, post videos and events, utilise social media tools, submit to relevant directories and optimise your Google business listing by including targeted keywords.

Here’s a list of sites where you can post articles:

• Ezine
• Goarticles
• Buzzle
• Free Library

Press releases can be posted on the following sites:

• Prlog
• Free Press Release
• PRWeb
• Marketwire
• PRNewswire

Videos can be posted here:

• Youtube
• Metacafe
• Dailymotion
• Viddler
• TubeMogul

Digital Asset Optimization (DAO)
It is important to include targeted keywords in titles, descriptions and alt tags of your assets. The asset description should also include unique content if possible.

You should concentrate on gathering the correct ‘back links’ to your digital assets. In many cases, the sites hosting your assets (YouTube etc) may provide more than one link, it is important to reference the link which Google ranks highly.

Online Reputation Management (ORM)
In order to maintain a reputable presence online, it is important to manage your profile on social media sites such as Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook. You can use services such as KnowEm to control and even register your company name on various sites.

Universal Search
Finally, Robert encouraged the submission of content to more than 3-5 sites, which will increase the possibility of link referrals. This can be time consuming so you should use use 3rd party sites for faster and/or large submissions.

How to Market Anything Online – Corey Creed

In this session Corey introduced his 4Ps of Internet Marketing, which if you follow closely, we help you to effectively market your product online. A brief summary of the 4Ps are below:

Position Marketing
This relates to your position in search engines. Corey spoke of the importance of people knowing about your product (in order for them to find you with their keywords). You need to understand the keywords users search for to find your product and avoid concentrating on the name of your company. Google AdWords Keyword Tool can be very helpful during the keyword research phase. It may also be helpful to budget for an initial Google AdWords campaign as this is helpful in finding out user search patterns, which you can use to rank well organically in the future.

Partnership Marketing:
The importance of partnership marketing cannot be understated. It is extremely important to build trusted online partnerships, as this will help to promote your products. There are many ways to create partnerships, which include utilising trusted directories, social media networks (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook), article sites (eZine) and press release sites. Working at these relationships encourage people to learn, talk and share your products.

Permission Marketing
If a user has given you permission to market to them, the likelihood is that they know, like and trust you and are extremely valuable as they are interested in your products. In order to gain permission, it is important to encourage users to sign up for your email newsletter, RSS and social media feeds. Email newsletters are proven to work but you must take great care in presenting concise content in a well designed format. Another handy tip is to send a response exactly 24 hours after sign-up as there is a good chance that the user will be online and will remember your company.

(im)Provement
The presentation of your branding, website, emails, content and social media presence is extremely important as you need to present a professional, trustworthy image. Research has shown that users will spend more money on your website if it looks credible.

Along with branding and design, you should also assess your website analytics and recognise user patters such as ‘enter’ and ‘exit’ pages. You can also increase conversions by creating promotional pages for targeted campaigns (Google AdWords).

Talking Shop

Along with the presenters, I had a great time chatting with locals in attendance which included Josh McGlinn, Jeff Elder, Ben Ullman, Derek Hollis and David Wells. Oh and I mustn’t forget a big thanks goes to Lincoln Baxter III for sending through his notes from the marketing session!

The sessions I didn’t make

• 45 Questions about the Web
• Personal vs business brands – by @summerplum
• Manage Social Networks – by @dizzySEO
• How to write your resume
• Teaching geeks to talk to suits
• Eco box shipping containers as home sweet home
• Simple Content Management
• Fail Camp
• Future of Journalism
• Other Phones (Palm Pre)
• Creating webinars

Here are some photos and articles (via @budesigns)

• James Wilamor’s Flickr photos
• Cara Couture’s Flickr photos
• Tom Bonner’s Flickr photos
• Get a little weirder, Charlotte by Jeff Elder
• Technology, Media “Unconference” Draws More Than 100 To Area 15, by Andria Krewson
• David Zimmerman’s notes from Manage Your Social Networks

Following a thorough website re-design, Harrison commissioned Dusted to create, and strategically advise on a direct marketing campaign informing their audiences about their new website launch. Firstly, Harrison Catering aimed at leveraging its brand within the sector through a re-assessment of its on-line presence. The sublimation of its value-proposition – fresh and affordable – as well as the reinforcement of key messages – family run business, long-term relationships with clients, coherent sourcing policy  – should all be reflected throughout the website (see blog entry 05.10.09) but also consistently extended to all communications at this particular stage.

Dusted then set off to work and designed a range of highly targeted mailings directed at both existing clients and prospects. The first group was comprised of the top 50 contracts. They received a personalized box set containing a Moleskine notebook gift along with other components which emulated – and brought to life – the ‘Harrison recipe book’ concept, as seen on-line. The second mailing group required a different approach. Each single piece was personalized and contained specific information regarding the sector in which the recipients operate, e.g. maintained schools, independent schools, businesses and so on, thus optimizing the client’s budget and ensuring the messages would be of extreme relevance to each target.

As expected –  and to the client’s contentment – this action has already yielded results in the first few days after posting, generating direct response from prospects. It also got appraisal from their most valued clients who were delighted to receive a tasteful gift. This is yet another example of how positive an outcome can be when a brand coherently communicates with its customers and remain true to its values. And here at Dusted we too are very satisfied in helping Harrison to consolidate their position in their market as a genuinely ethical company.

Having never really been a huge advocate of on-line grocery shopping over physical human purchasing behaviour (I like to see what I’m buying – feel it, smell it), I find myself slowly becoming one of the statistics as the user experience and delivery of service generally lives up to expectations.

Having a large busy family, and running a growing group of businesses, the pros of convenience and spending your scarce and precious free-time doing something other than walking the isles really rings true.

What’s interesting, as with many largely traditional human behaviour patterns, is that as the Internet and retail community evolve, more and more people are starting to become pure-play evangelists; or at least think of it as a key aspect of their general leisure shopping activities. The ‘bricks-n-clicks’ model widely acknowledged as the future of retailing 10 years ago has certainly become the norm (even the local sweet shop has an e-commerce site these days) and the pure-play operators seem to have also learnt many lessons now largely fulfilling the all important brand promise of delivery.

That said, and even though the sector has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the past few years, new research has revealed many people in the UK are yet to click with online grocery shopping echoing the above.

The UK online grocery market is estimated at £4.4 billion (including sales tax and delivery charges) in 2009, having more than doubled (134% growth) in value over 2005-09. Rapidly rising food inflation, particularly in 2008, has contributed to high value growth in the sector, while dampening demand in volume terms.

However, the underlying growth has been pretty explosive. On the consumer side, rising broadband penetration and higher connection speeds, together with the steady expansion of the online grocers’ geographical coverage, has made the service accessible to more people. Meanwhile, the improvements to the online grocers’ services and rising web fluency (you are forced to do even the most basic domestic admin via a website these days) have encouraged usage.

Despite its impressive growth, online retailing still accounts for only 3% of sales of the total grocery sector, making it a niche channel in the broader context. Store-based grocers dominate the sector – Tesco alone generating more than two fifths of total sector sales. Ocado is the odd one out as the only pure-play Internet grocer, capturing 12% of the sector to rub shoulders with the second and third-largest UK food retailers, Asda and Sainsbury’s.

The key stats from the research also highlight:

• More than 3.5 million people have tried online supermarkets but would not do it again. Given their proven interest in the channel, this high-potential group needs to be convinced of tangible improvements in service, with perhaps a sweetener to encourage another trial.
• 12 million people see grocery shopping as a chore. Lucrative pools of cash-rich, time-poor shoppers could be won over by the convenience of online shopping, including functions such as saved favourites and ‘predictive’ shopping lists to make shopping even easier.
• Visible special offers and other inspiration online could boost spending among the more than 7 million shoppers who occasionally buy food online and often choose products that look interesting or that are on special offer.

Lots of this insight mirrors my initial sentiments on basic human behaviour and how we prioritise the inherent needs to do certain processes and tasks (making sure what you eat is fundamentally selected and edible).

The other interesting aspect of this kind of migration are people still like the ‘experience’ of shopping, spending their hard earned and interacting with people socially. Retailers scientifically know that if you pop in for a pint of milk you may well end up with a basket of goods, and in some cases a new TV – more so in depressed markets where it may be the only retail therapy you do! We always talk about human science at Dusted and I kind of like the fact that people are people and it’s just really choice and convenience via technology that is changing.

I wonder what I will be writing about on this subject in another 10 years? Or maybe as I dock my mobile device onto the trolley my fully augmented reality Sainsbury’s iPhone app will be audibly telling me what I usually buy on the shelves; pointing it out as I stroll around; prompting me at offers I ‘may’ be interested in that fit my profile; and by the way there’s your on-line social networking buddy Brian whom you’ve never met – he’s near the organic soup!

Photo credit: Flickr user doratagold

We’ve always prided ourselves on the longevity of our client relationships and so it can be quite a proud moment when a brand you’ve worked with for so long, gets a significant overhaul. This is certainly true of Harrison Catering – a brand I’ve worked with for over seven years – as the start of the new school term, saw the launch of their fresh new website.

A key part of the concept for the new Harrison website was to present the homepage book design as a metaphor for the business: the traditional aspect reflected in the physical retention of facts, figures and photos in a Moleskine notebook – the staple of artists, writers and thinkers for many years, from Pablo Picasso to Ernest Hemingway; the modern, innovative aspect reflected in the cutting-edge, interactive, online delivery of the notebook.

Harrison’s clients know the value of a close working relationship and how Harrison is always looking for ways to improve the service they provide. For fifteen years now Harrison have followed a strong sense of principle and integrity to their clients to create a food service they can be truly proud of – and whilst their philosophy of real food, cooked from fresh ingredients hasn’t changed, Harrison recognise that the demands and expectations of the modern consumer are ever increasing.

Fortunately Harrison’s independence gives them the freedom to be innovative and bold and they intend to maximise this for the benefit of their clients, present and future.