citizenbay

A Lesson from Urban Planners for Brands and Agencies - Sensory Branding

2009-11-18T22:46:03+00:00

I lived many years ago in Barcelona and was a huge fan of the city's commitment to urban planning. From the support of the Modernisme movement of Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner & Puig i Cadafalch to the structures for the Olympics, Barcelona always seems to be braver than most cities.

Whilst on a much smaller scale, I came across this fantastic example of how the city gets things right. It is a bus stop that is designed to help Blind and partially sighted people find a bus stop.The special path provides a tactile signal to blind folk that they have reached a bus stop, and helps direct them to the seats.

Saw this from the always excellent psfk site...

The sense of TOUCH is a powerful marketing tool. By considering the tactile strategy for a brand, companies and agencies alike might find powerfully engaging ideas that communities want.

Are Media Agencies CREATIVE? Not according to Sir Martin Sorrell

2009-09-18T10:22:57+01:00

So Media Agencies have for the last 20 years pushed themselves out of the shadow of the advertising agency.

Media Agencies offer new services, new divisions, media neutral planning, comms strategies, branded content and consumer experience solutions...

Yet for all this effort, it seems that MEC, Mediacom and Mindshare are hitting their heads against the wall...

It must be hard enough to convince clients to take a media agency on for services other than old school media planning and buying, but to have to face the lack of interest by their boss must be frustrating...

In a recent article found here, he announces that he will be looking for significant savings in the back offices of WPP's advertising agencies.

"we aren't doing enough … My ideal is you have one back-office for all the brands within ten years."

Interestingly he does not see savings in the creative departments, even though other agencies are outsourcing the planning function and using freelance creative teams.

Later in the article, he confirms he is not in favour of combining the advertising agency networks.

Why? Because, he says, unlike areas like media buying,

"there are no economies of scale for creative businesses."

So media businesses, are like the back offices of advertising agencies, NOT creative.

The Oxford English Dictionary has the word creative as:

• adjective involving the use of the imagination or original ideas in order to create something.

So, it seems that Sir Martin Sorrell sees the WPP Media Agencies as entities that do not fall within 'creative businesses'. So essentially it seems he sees them as void of imagination or original ideas that help create something for their clients...

oh dear...

Distinctive beer, not a distinctive brand logo

2009-07-21T14:13:00+01:00

Organic beer in Copenhagen, originally uploaded by citizenbay1.

In Copenhagen, my old friend Helene Venge took me for a walk along the wonderful waterfront. We grabbed a beer and a sit down after a while. The beer, a local organic one called Thy Pilsner was pretty good. But here is my problem. Just look at the logo. In a market of Carlsberg and Tuborg and others, why would a beer that has something contemporary (organic) to offer, go for such an ordinary visual design? Wasn't this eer crying out for a fresh approach to visual branding? A missed opportunity.

Copenhagen Design ethic.

2009-07-20T00:26:00+01:00

Enjoyed my trip to Copenhagen this week. Managed to find some time to catch up with old friends and new, along with a chance to see some of the city. One thing that struck me was the complete commitment to design detail. Even the drains are intriguing...

I headed through the old meat-packing district and came across the wonderful inco logo and buildings.

Walking along Pilestraede there was just shop after shop with clean distinctive logos.

Norr typeface , originally uploaded by citizenbay1.
Any students of font or visual design just have to walk down this street in Copenhagen to be inspired...

Also a lesson for brands who wish to be brave in the face of competitors who copy others all the time.

more photos from the copenhagen trip here

Data is the new Oil (by Gerd leonhard futurist)

2009-07-17T21:12:05+01:00

Data is the new Oil (by Gerd leonhard futurist)
Originally uploaded by gleonhard

Came across this on Gerd Leonhard's flickr page...

He says:

Having access to information on what people do, what they like, who they are, where they are, where they go to, what they buy, the click streams, the digital bread crums, the digital exhaust... that's the new oil!

Cool point. My little contribution to this would be that Oil has value only when it is used to fuel a car, a plane.

Data similarly is of value when it is a Fuel for other things.

Data is presently flooding the market. In the world of data, OPEC could not survive with their cartel methods of price control.

So data is abundant. And data is not expensive. Yet, data is not an end in itself.

Data is Fuel for other things, like Insight. And I mean real business insight, not the kind of stuff I see passed off for insight.

While everyone rushes for the data, they are not dealing with the issue of what they will do with the New Oil.

What business engines are being built right now?

The excitement for me is in the construction of Ideas and Insight from the Data Fuel. The challenge for companies is the default reaction to see data as the end to itself (e.g. immense fortunes spent on CRM systems that go nowhere).

Smile...you are in The Hospital Club Lift

2009-05-26T12:16:08+01:00

Turning a negative experience into a positive one. It's what I call Flip Marketing.

I will be entering this one into the Best Lift/Elevator in the World.

Over to you to vote...

Hospital Club Lift

Originally uploaded by citizensound123

The Best LIFT in the world: How a lift (elevator) can reflect your brand

2009-05-26T11:12:52+01:00

Right. You get in a lift. A confined space. With people you don't know. You choose the floor. Someone might even ask you to push the button for another floor too. You look up at nothing. You look sideways or to the floor for no apparent reason. This really is time in your day where joy rarely features.

In thousands of offices every day, employees, clients, customers and suppliers all travel a few floors in the metal box. Some suffer from claustrophobia, others from bad body odour, while others just struggle with standing next to the 'crazy one'.

Occasionally, someone decides to share personal information (we try not to listen, but we just can't help it can we?)

However, a few smart cookies have been making the 'lift experience' into something other than entering the void, Star Trek style.

Some years ago, I came across IKEA getting clever in a lift. They transformed a lift into a cosy room, where people could sit comfortably and enjoy the ride. Perfectly on brand.

Meanwhile, in Stockholm, Hotel Lydnar was a cool little hotel before it re-opened into a less rock n roll version. I stayed there a few times and loved their lift. A lift that had a panel of buttons that allowed you to select the type of music you wanted for the journey ('Can I have the 3rd floor and some reggae please?'). A perfect way to travel...

So, what lift gets the award for the Best Lift in the World?

Any suggestions please share...

Paul Bay speaking sonics at CCP Lisbon

2009-05-19T00:27:54+01:00

Paul Bay speaking sonics at CCP Lisbon
Originally uploaded by citizensound123

So here I am speaking at the CCP conference in Lisbon, with my podium and my very own seat...just brilliant. And the sticker on my laptop seemed to work perfectly with the environment. If you want to read more about my speech on the Sound of Brands, then head to the citizensound blog

CCP Lisbon conference area

2009-05-19T00:20:42+01:00

CCP Lisbon conference area
Originally uploaded by citizensound123

I spoke at the CCP conference in Lisbon last week. I enjoyed my time there. Stunned by the location of the CCP this year. A huge old iron smelting factory that is now a stunning shell. The organisers put on as close to a DIY conference as you could imagine. All seats, tables and even the walls to showcase Portuguese creative talent, were built out of cardboard boxes. Genious.

Doodle Business: Visualising your strategy

2009-03-17T17:05:50+00:00

Companies and individuals are questioning their own future, working out what their short term and longer term options are. Change direction, stick with the plan, shift strategies?

Outside advisers can help, and given citizenbay helps companies with their approach to consumer relationships, I guess I would say that.

Ultimately though, no-one but the company/individual can decide the right route for themselves, no matter how many consultants/third parties get involved or case studies are analysed.

I have found that a useful way to help shape direction is doodling, drawing, scribbling, mindmapping. There are some good software out there. I have played around with Inspiration which works pretty well for all sorts of mindmapping needs. I even use it in client meetings, tidy up the map afterwards and send it back to the client as a visual representation of next steps of a project. Beats a word document status report any day!

However, this is merely a little step in to the world of visualising business strategy.

For me, this is the kind of thing I like.

This was created for a speaker at SBSWi by Sunni Brown, who you can find here. For some, this is just not workable in a company. Yet when such a visual is created by the group, everyone who contributes to the session has a little stake in what has been created.

This is not new though. In my time at Levi Strauss, I had the pleasure and privilege to work with Dan and Meredith Beam from Beam Inc. They would not only help the organisation shape their strategic direction, but turn them into visual feasts that would energise everyone. The visuals were created by their son, Drew, at the time (now working at Farenheit 212), but now have other great illustrators with them. You can find a link to Meredith and Dan here.

So if you are a company working out the business direction or an individual working out where to go, sometimes you might find clarity comes with crayons and colouring...