With speakers including Thomas Brown – Head of Insights at CIM, Josh Graff – EMEA Marketing Director at LinkedIn and Dara Nasr – Industry Head at YouTube UK, it was a great opportunity to delve deeper into the insights and discussions around how businesses are using social media. It was a great event with lots of stats to bring back to the office.

So, who’s doing what? The CIM’s research shows that 71% of UK businesses are using Twitter, although just over a quarter are saying they are ‘just experimenting’ with social media.

Company investment in social media in 2011 was on the increase with 2012 set to grow even more rapidly. Over half of organisations who took part in the research say they are planning to improve social media skills in 2012 by investing in employee training.

Key points we took away: Experimentation is great, but without using the relevant analysis tools available you’ll never be able to measure your success. Social media is a dialogue – it’s more about listening to customers than selling them things.

Even with the global social media boom going on all around us, brands are only just scratching the surface… #SMBenchmark for more information

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?

Both the book and the film have served to remind me of my love of type. In the days when I used to be ‘hands on’ with the design and artwork process, type was my thing. I would be the font of all knowledge when it came to typefaces (excuse the pun).

I still love type, of course, after all my chickens are named after fonts. My current flock are Helvetica, Futura, Perpetua and Verdana – all classics in their own way. And now, thanks to ‘Just My Type’ I know a bit more about them, and their designers, than I did before.

For more inspiration in this field take a look at work of David McCandless and the original master Edward R Tufte.

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?

Those lucky enough to receive a Milestone Christmas gift this year will be enjoying yet another bespoke tipple created by Milestone Mixologist Ian Sutton. But as you enjoy this year’s delightful snifter, spare a thought for the little Milestone elves that have to put the whole package together.

We don’t simply take some off-the-shelf item and stick our name on it, oh no. The festive Swedish folk art inspired packaging was lovingly crafted by our recent recruit Helen, while the logistics of sourcing the multitude of ingredients fell to me. A local shortage of cinnamon caused a last minute scare (and don’t even mention the problems we had getting the correct length tubes). Luckily, Matt saved the day with a late night visit to the wholesalers.

Anyway – do enjoy this year’s concoction, many thanks for working with us on some great briefs this year, and have a great Christmas.

LOL
The Milestone Team
xxx

Traditionally, the value proposition describes the thing or things that elevate a standard commodity into a must-have brand. When times were good value propositions were often about an amazing service, experience or leading edge design, performance and innovation. They justified a higher price with superior standards.

Tesco has been on the value case for a while with ‘Every little helps’, but here are two recent campaigns built around new value propositions that reflect the current trend:

Sainsbury’s: Live Well for Less.

Kodak: Beautifully Cheap Printing.

Both neatly combine a saving message with positive benefit. Kodak has even embraced the ‘C word’ of value – Cheap. And Sainsbury’s is crediting its new line with a 6.6% rise in profits.

So, it might be time to reconsider your own value proposition: does it communicate real value alongside a big positive customer benefit? If not it might be worth talking to Milestone about our brilliantly cost effective branding services…

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 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.

Our vast array of treats has included: Lemon drizzle cake, banana cupcakes, cheesy scones, plum crumble cake, focaccia, Pudsey biscuits, cookies, tiffin, tarte tatin and apple traybake.

Children in Need is now richer … and we are now fatter!