Tag Archives: branding

Brand & Deliver at Bucks New Uni

Chocolate

Last week I did my Brand and Deliver talk to marketing students at Bucks New Uni in High Wycombe. As you would expect from a bunch of 18/19 year olds they were pretty brand savvy, zipping through my brand challenge in their Superdry T shirts. They really took to my chocolate positioning exercise and were quite at home chomping through value and premium bars alike. They had plenty to say about the brands they liked and didn’t like but were strangely quiet when I asked them about Facebook and social media. Was there a sense of guilt, is social media old hat, or is it really for bored office workers?

8 February 2012 Posted by Ian
Posted in Blog, Branding, Milestone, Social Media
Tags: ,
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3 Cs of branding – a remedy for new year branding resolutions…

3cs

Last year at a presentation I was giving on brands and branding a lady asked me what I considered to be the three most important characteristics of strong brand. I can’t remember exactly what I said at the time, but I can remember that my answer probably involved four factors rather than three.

The start of a new year is a classic time for organisations to take a fresh look at their brands and branding – for a quick health check, light refresh or perhaps the full rebrand workout.

If you are embarking on this process and looking for some simple critique criteria, these basic pointers may be a good place to start. So here they are, rationalised down to three essentials. And in a classic 3 C marketing format.

The three Cs of branding:

Credibility

/ Is it relevant to the values and goals of your company?
/ Is it relevant to target audience?
/ Does it give instant reassurance and trust?
/ Is it in step with today’s world?
/ Does it encourage an emotional connection as well as a rational one?

Consistency

/ Is it executed to a high standard across all applications?
/ Do your people understand your brand and its importance?
/ Is it easily recognisable – look and feel/tone of voice/behaviour?

Competitive

/ Does it stand out?
/ Does it support your USPs?
/ Does it add value?

6 January 2012 Posted by Ian
Posted in Blog, Branding, Design, Milestone
Tags: , ,

Branding fish

River Cobbler and chips anyone?

The naming and branding of fish is something that’s intrigued me for many years. It started when I discovered that the old chip shop fave Rock Salmon was actually a type of Dogfish. Of course, our job at Milestone involves the naming and branding of organisations, products, services and events. So who gets to do fish? And how do they come up with such unlikely names?

Fish Counter

Fish is good for you, so we should be eating more of it. Right, but they are also a scarce resource so we should be choosy about which ones we go for. Against this backdrop is a new sustainable selection coming to a slab near you:
Basa
River Cobbler
Pangasius
Panga
Vietnamese Catfish
Mekong Catfish

Sounding a bit fishy?

Well, the thing is they’re all the same fish. Latin name: Pangasius Bocourti, it is a type of catfish from the Mekong River in Vietnam. I’ve tried it and it’s OK – firm, white and bland. Just how we like fish in the UK. But I can’t help thinking that the confusion with the naming just leaves a bad taste, so to speak. Brands work best when they are confident and single minded. Like cod or haddock.

So, next time you’ve got a new product to name think fish. And if you can do better than River Cobbler you’re laughing.

2 December 2011 Posted by Ian
Posted in Blog, Branding, Environment, Marketing
Tags: , , ,

Mipellssed Wdors

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

This neat example demonstrates our brain’s remarkable ability to make sense of messed-up words. It works in other languages too, not just English. It shows how our brains work things out by identifying and forming patterns. To save us the effort of thinking, which is really hard work, it short cuts the gaps and gives us the answers. Good branding works in much the same way. Our eyes scan the screen, shelf, page or pack looking for reassuring visual branding cues. If it all makes sense we buy it. But if things don’t join up easily we have to stop and think. This is now hard work for us, so there’d better be some quick answers. The moment there’s any confusion we’re on to the next screen, shelf, page, pack…

3 August 2011 Posted by Ian
Posted in Blog, Branding
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