Making Your Brand Shine with a Little Light

We all understand the importance of design when selecting how to represent one’s brand.  Color, shape, layout – these are all among the things that instinctually come to mind.   But did you ever stop to consider the role “light” plays on your target consumers?  Not many people do. Light is something we often take for granted, whether it involves walking into a fluorescently-lit grocery store, watching mesmerized as an LCD screen illuminates our living rooms, or passing in awe through the luminous neon haven that is Las Vegas.  If color and shapes represent the body of a brand, then light must undoubtedly be the heart.

Whenever one comes into contact with a brand, light molds the consumer’s perceptions associated with it.  Light is paramount to the completion of a brand experience.  We associate light with warmth.  And what does warmth do?  It brings comfort.  Warmth reminds us of safety and security. Perhaps most importantly, it creates the gateway to emotional resonances of love and affection.  The creation of this connection at a subtle level is part of what makes other companies that provide a complete brand experience so successful.  Sure, Apple’s monster success can be traced to a simple and effective product marketing strategy, but it has just as much to do with their product design.  From iPods to iPads, they all have an easy-to-use design that makes them so appealing to the average user.  But one of the first things that inevitably draw the consumer’s attention is the cool, off-blue tone of the LCD screen.  It makes everything about the product seem fresher, even down to the colors.  Like turning on a light switch, this je ne sais quoi immediately “clicks”, and we wonder how we ever lived without this product before.

As any good brand strategist knows, if you cannot convey what your brand stands for in simple, clear terms, then you do not understand where you really want to take your product. What more simple consideration is there than light? It contributes to the atmospheric experience of your brand and works to foster those initial connections between “brand” and “consumer.”  Remember that when customizing a brand experience for your target consumers, a little light can go a long way.

A Brief Lesson in CPR (Corporate Position Restructuring)

Any lifeguard worth their weight in seashells knows the value of CPR.  The technique revives victims from near death; thus, granting them a second opportunity at life.  By now you must be wondering what any of this has to do with brand strategy.  Surprisingly, everything!  Restructuring one’s brand is a great deal like going for a light swim in the ocean.  The great vastness of those intrepid waters represents the corporate marketing realm.  The strong swimmers may prove capable of handling the harsh, changing tide, but it is the struggling swimmers that deserve our attention.  They venture out into a vast ocean without the proper skills or resources necessary to ensure that they can bear those tumultuous currents.  Naturally, when one does not understand the fundamentals of swimming, the risk of drowning looms inevitable.  The same idea proves true for the small or growing businesses that think they can tread water with the big boys of the corporate marketing world.  Some businesses may successfully accomplish this feat, but most are not so lucky.

That is where branding agencies come in.  They not only throw swimmers a life preserver, they give them a vital lesson in CPR, or Corporate Position Restructuring.  They give your brand that surge of life that better enables you to get back into the water and swim with the best of them.  But having the right tools at one’s disposal will only go so far unless they are properly utilized.  CPR gets a swimmer’s heart beating again, but it does no good if the swimmer refuses to heed the warning of the lifeguard and jump right back in the water without better understanding of how to swim in that sort of environment.  Likewise, an organization cannot simply retool their brand identity and unveil it to the world without a genuine belief in the new direction it attempts to blaze forth.  The directions must be understood and felt within every level of the organization.

As a brand becomes restructured, the first subject to define is one’s brand identity.  Corporations should consider this lesson in CPR as an extension of that definition process.  In May, we discussed the importance of “building blocks” toward achieving a full realization of brand identity.  This realization included the creation of values for which your brand stands.  More importantly, however, is the practice of those values.  Simply saying that your company supports green initiatives is not enough.  Your employees and your partners hear your company say that, but what proof is there that you believe it?

Take cues from companies like Toyota who announced earlier this week the establishment of the Green Awards to “encourage, acknowledge, and award the Champions of Earth for environmental leadership.”  If you are a small business manager, starting your own rewards program might prove too far out of reach.  Instead, participation in simple outreach programs and community initiatives work just as well.  SCS Realty in New Jersey recently underwent a rebranding process and vowed to “go green” as part of its new corporate partnership with Real Living.  To prove it, they recycled all of their old logos, papers, and office equipment to demonstrate their commitment to this initiative.  Smaller businesses that lack the vast resources of corporate giants should consider this strategy in the future.  It successfully places your brand in public’s direct gaze and allows the consumer to see that your organization truly believes in the values it claims to promote.  The last thing you want to do is jump back into the water over and over again, especially in these fiscally hard times, only to need saving every time like a damsel in distress.  Clearly define your new brand positioning.  Believing in your brand direction is great, but LIVING your brand speaks volumes to your partners.

7 Examples of The New Brand Era

Branding strategies are changing, and in order for a company to survive, it too must evolve. Today it is more important than ever to effectively manage creative collaborations in order to establish and maintain a strong brand.  As Marty Neumeier details in “The Brand Gap,” there are three basic models that organizations are using to manage large-scale creative collaborations: handing over brand management to a one-stop shop, a brand agency, or an integrated marketing team.  Experienced branders prefer the third model due to the fact that the more a brand is distributed, the greater the need for centralized management. This need for centralized management of a brand has prompted many companies to hire chief brand officers, or CBOs, who manage the brand at the highest corporate level. These CBOs must be skilled enough to strategize with the CEO as well as trigger creativity among their team in order to align business strategy with customer experience.

Many companies are now discovering the need for CBOs – some companies already have a CBO, while others are on the path to having one.  Evidence of this new era of integrated marketing can be seen in 7 large companies that have reorganized their corporate structure:

• Ericsson
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts
• Samsung
• Philips
• Intel
• Microsoft
• Procter & Gamble

Ericsson

Ericsson has announced that it will change its business and engagement models.  Market units are one of their main operational functions, in addition to coordinating the company’s strategies, operations, and resource allocation.  Ericsson has also appointed a Chief Brand Officer, Cesare Avenia, to develop these strategies.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Phil McAveety, Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts has led a reorganization of the brand management group and has integrated various functions to create a sense of a single brand team.

Samsung

Samsung has said that they will start practicing a holistic marketing strategy instead of individual marketing plans as part of their effort to launch a worldwide brand campaign. The Samsung Global Marketing office lies within their Digital Media & Communication Business Unit.

Philips

Gerard Kleisterlee, President and CEO of Philips, has incorporated a marketing model into the corporate structure, leaving behind their previous manufacturing model.  Geert van Kuyck, who is the Chief Marketing Officer, acts as the voice of the consumer within the company.

Intel

Deborah S. Conrad is Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Intel and is in charge of brand management and integrated marketing communications.  Former Worldwide Creative Director of Intel, Susan Rockrise, helped to establish this integrated marketing team within the company.

Microsoft

Microsoft has reorganized its Central Marketing Group, appointing both a chief strategy officer and a chief creative officer to collaborate on marketing communications.  Mich Mathews, Senior Vice President for Microsoft’s Central Marketing Group, oversees this team and leads integrated marketing communications to customers all over the world.

Procter & Gamble

Four pillars form the organizational structure of P&G.  One of these pillars is Market Development Organizations (MDOs), which focuses on local understanding for their marketing campaigns.  P&G approaches business with the philosophy of thinking globally and acting locally. Marc S. Pritchard of the Global Marketing & Brand Building Office is the head of all global marketing campaigns.

Is your organization joining the new brand era?