Think About It

My husband and I were traveling in the wee hours of the morning through Dayton, Ohio on Christmas Eve when we realized we weren’t going to make it to Detroit without one of us falling asleep at the wheel. It was 4:00 in the morning so for safety reasons we took the next exit determined to get a motel room to rest.

We had three choices: A Motel 6, Knights Inn and a Red Roof Inn. The Motel 6 was on the opposite side of the road and down a ways so our options became Knights Inn or Red Roof Inn. After looking at both their marks I said to Jim, “I  gravitate toward the Red Roof Inn for some reason.” He agreed and said, “Yea, it looks like Knights Inn hasn’t updated their purple and white logo since the 1960s.” I quickly added that if they hadn’t bothered to update their logo in 40 years I wondered what else they haven’t changed. We didn’t have to sleep on it… right then and there our decision was made, solely based on the revised look of a brand mark.

This trip confirms my belief in the importance of a service or hospitality industries brand mark, especially in it’s most critical application: the big, high sign you see from a distance — before you even see the building, experience their customer service or see a room.

We had no problems sleeping.

As customers have become savvier about marketing, some critics have suggested that brands don’t matter anymore. The modern customer supposedly sees brand marketing as mere hype pushing one product that’s really no different from another.

But in these days of toxic toys and poisonous peanut butter, we see that yes, brand does still matter.

Beneath the slick campaigns, a brand – a well-developed one anyway – really is a promise. That’s how brands were born in the first place, as a quick reference point for quality and reliability.

And no matter how sophisticated customers become, they still want promises they can count on. In some cases, they want those assurances more than ever. For example, the typical Generation Y consumer is deeply concerned about how products are grown and manufactured, how a company treats its employees and so on. (Read more about marketing to Generation Y in a previous post.)

The critics say it isn’t so, pointing to the increased popularity of store brands. But look deeper into this growth area and you’ll see another story. Store brands are succeeding because they’ve shed the old generic image. We no longer find big white boxes emblazoned with “CORN FLAKES” on the grocery shelf. Instead, we see the emergence of private labels such as Target’s Archer Farms. The current Archer Farms ad campaign, complete with bucolic farm scenes and poetic copy (“a masterpiece made for every palate“), is proof that even the store brands are building true brands, brands with promises that go beyond the traditional “lower price” position.

If customers do think that brand marketing is just fluff – and yes, sometimes they do think that – then as the brand stewards, we have to do a better job. We have to communicate our brands in a way that shows we are different.

How do we do that? We go back to the three key building blocks of Point of Vision's Brand Framework

1. Define the brand position. Who are we? What does our brand stand for?
   
   
2. Pinpoint the brand promise.  What can a customer can count on us to do or provide? Ideally, our promise is different from our competition’s.
   
   
3. Back it up with brand proof. Give the customer a reason to believe you can deliver on your promise. Examples of proof are a unique business process, the talent and training of your human resources, or quality control measures. This is where you build credibility, and that’s invaluable. Even if your brand promise isn’t too different from a competitor’s, if you have the proof and they don’t, you can win the brand battle.

We find that when our clients nail down their brand position, promise and proof, they discover a new clarity in how to communicate the brand to others. And with this new perspective, they can show their customers, beyond a doubt, that the brand they choose really does matter.

What do you think? Post a response to this entry – or any previous Think About It item – by December 31, 2007, and we’ll enter you into a drawing for one of two pairs of tickets to see the Atlanta Thrashers in Blueland (that’s Philips Arena for the uninitiated).

For more reading, download our Brand Framework Brief (48k PDF)

We’ve said it before, and we mean it: Consistency is the holy grail of brand communication.

But let’s not confuse consistency with stagnation.

If a company hangs around a while, there will come a time when it will need to update its visual identity – the brand mark (commonly called the logo), typefaces, colors, etc., that are used in representing the brand.

So how do you know when it’s time for a change?

Certainly, when a company’s brand evolves, the look of its brand should change with it.  So, mergers and acquisitions, expansions, or other changes that affect what’s being offered – or to whom – all are legitimate reasons to consider updating the visual identity. In these cases, the look may need to change to reflect the new character or scope of the organization.

Even when the core company hasn’t undergone significant changes, sometimes a visual identity that looks out of sync with the market needs to be refreshed. Brand managers shouldn’t chase visual fads, but they should be mindful of long-term trends. For example, Miller Lite, Burger King and the Atlanta Falcons changed their brand marks in recent years to stay in step with a young market demographic.

Most often, a change in visual identity is both a design update and a reflection of a new corporate direction. Take Holiday Inn. The company has lost considerable market share to competitors like Hilton. So company executives are correcting their course by directing their hotels to update guest rooms and improve customer service. At the same time, the company announced a change in its brand mark, getting rid of the script “Holiday Inn” in favor of a more contemporary mark: a simple, white “H.” The update gets rid of the old, dated mark, but more importantly, it serves as a signal to consumers that the company has changed.

Another good example – always setting a good example – is Apple. Apple’s genius has been in updating its look by changing colors and typefaces, never abandoning the apple-with-a-bite-taken-out-of-it icon that holds vast brand equity. When the company was born in the 1970s, its brand mark was an apple with rainbow-colored stripes. In the 1990s, the apple icon – like the iMac itself – was dressed in vibrant colors to match the company’s creative, personal image. Today, Apple is more a personal technology company than a computer company, and a high-tech grey apple logo reflects this new direction. The updated colors show the company as fresh and hip, while the consistency of the apple icon tells customers that Apple is the same company they’ve come to know and love.

It’s wise for any company that is updating its brand appearance to ask whether there is an “apple” in its visual identity – something that people connect with so deeply that it should be preserved. Abandoning your entire visual package can alienate loyal customers. In general, it’s smart to hang onto a core shape, basic color palette or main typeface and use subtle changes to give the brand new life.

What companies do you think have done a good job in updating their brand appearances? Who’s missed the mark? Let us know what you think. Post your reply to any article on our blog by December 31, and we’ll enter you in a drawing for one of two pairs of tickets to an Atlanta Thrashers game!

I was once told by someone “Clients are always right...even when they are wrong.” This has obviously stuck with me over the years. “How can this be?” I’ve pondered. Now this is not to say that I believe the world is black or white, right or wrong...quite the contrary. However, if we are to grow as people we are to explore the possibilities as partners with our Clients, that means we should hold onto our ideas, best practices and expertise as dear. And, it works both ways, we are/should not be so egotistical to believe that good ideas won’t come from our Clients as well...they can come from anyone, anywhere, anytime. But when a less than mediocre one is thrown upon the table, sometimes as a directive, we treat our clients as friends and true partners where we can feel comfortable in pushing back and say, “Let’s think about that another way, shall we?”

This isn't to say we push back subjectively either. We are usually pointing our Clients back to the discovery work previously done in order to keep the project objectives on track. This practice resonates with me at my very core, as a human being. Ladies, when you are shopping, do you prefer the superficial answer of a friend who tells you an outfit looks good on you when you know darn well it doesn’t, or would you prefer the friend who feels comfortable in saying “You know, something else might be more appropriate or look more flattering on you?” We strive to attain these all important, real and lasting relationships with our Clients. In the end, it is a win-win situation for everyone.

Like any meaningful relationship -- it’s not always easy, but always worth it.