After a week without power post-Irene, I decided enough was a enough and took a well-deserved vacation to the beach. While I was there I was overwhelmed daily with thoughts like the following: What in the world was she thinking? Does he realize he doesn’t look as good as he thinks he does? Why aren’t the other members in that family telling her about that?
It finally occurred to me that sitting on a beach watching people walk by in all manner of get-ups offers some spectacular metaphors for branding.
If you really have ‘got it’, flaunt it.
I saw an attractive woman at the beach with a lovely God-given body (ie, no visible plastic surgeries or implants, which makes her 20x more attractive in my book) in a suit that was meant to show it off in a tasteful manner. The cut of it was perfect for her, no bulges or unsightly wardrobe malfunction potential anywhere to be seen. While she was the envy of every woman and the desire of every man, everything about her body language said that she was awkward in her own skin. After about a half hour on the beach, despite it being warm and her having no sign of a sunburn (and having shellacked her skin with sunscreen) she wrapped herself in a caftan and put on a large brimmed hat to sit under an umbrella. I watched other people to see what their reactions were, and from what I could tell, besides wondering what her story was, most people moved away from her.
Branding moral: You can be the best looking brand out there, but if you behave in a self-conscious manner, you’ll convince others that you’re not worth squat and will therefore be overlooked.
Transparency is good—unless it’s not.
Going to the beach and being comfortable in one’s skin is awesome, but going to the beach and making everyone around you uncomfortable because you are is definitely not. This may be a little sexist, but if a woman decides to go to a public beach in America and remove her top, it’s nothing more than a momentary shock. If a man decides to go to a public beach in America and remove his shorts, that’s TMI for most people. I’m all for letting it hang out at the beach, but I certainly don’t want to see that hanging out anywhere near my three-year-old daughter.
Branding moral: If there is something about your product/service that might make potential customers uncomfortable, find a way to present it that won’t leave them feeling like they need to shower afterwards.
Be consistent in how you package your brand.
The house we rented was in a fairly dense neighborhood, so I saw a lot of people on and off the beach through the course of a week. Some take the opportunity to let their hair down very, very seriously, and while I respect that this might be the only 7 days of the year in which this can happen, it can still be shocking. While Mr. Transparency (see above) definitely won the prize for lack of clothing, I still saw a lot of people, who off the beach (and I assume in regular life) dressed extremely conservatively, wearing suits that were wildly revealing. It wasn’t often that this was a good thing, either.
I’m not coming at this from a prototypical American beach wear Puritan perspective; I appreciate feeling the sun warming my lily white skin as much as the next person, and in no way set myself up as a paragon of beach babedom. However, I do try to find suits that at least somewhat match my offshore sensibilities. After all, what if I meet a Fortune 500 client on the beach and I’m wearing a Borat suit? Would they take me seriously as a brand professional? Only if they’re looking for a Borat on the Beach sequel, I suppose.
Branding moral: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. If it doesn’t do at least two of these, it could very well be a rhino.
Psychographics and demographics matter for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that they help human beings further categorize other human beings into recognizable patterns. If this group likes chocolate and that group prefers caramel and you’re a candy seller, you can either satisfy both groups by carrying a little of both, or you can specialize in one over the other. In this manner you can manage your target audience’s needs in a way that suits your special skills, goods and services.
But what do you do if your audience doesn’t follow their own psycho/demographics when it comes to social media?
I have a client who specializes in candy for active women who range in age from nine to it’s-not-polite-to-ask, with special focus on the Millennial/Gen Y group (client’s specialty changed to protect the innocent). When I first began working with her, she warned me that her customer was not active in social media. Knowing that Gen Y is supposed to be the most social media savvy and connected audience, I thought she was being naive. In general, if Gen Y sees something they don’t like, they go online to begin to affect change for the better. Further, because her audience is also female, if they have a product complaint, they think nothing of sharing that with everyone within their circle of influence—often being recompensed for their trouble by the brands themselves.
That’s the general consensus of how they’re supposed to act; that is not how my client’s audience behaves.
Over the past year of working with her, I have learned that her audience is indeed extremely involved in social media, tweeting constantly, seemingly not caring where it lands, or even if it does. I have also learned that they are extraordinarily wary of being approached by brands, to the point of mocking me when I do so on her behalf.
For instance, I overheard a twitversation wherein two girls discussed the poor performance of a product one had purchased from my client. When the buyer (let’s call her Sam) balked at having to get her mother to drive her to the store to return the product, I engaged her in a twitversation, resulting in a rather unorthodox solution (you’ll have to trust me on this one). All went silent for a few days, but as I was curious to see if Sam’s problem was gone, I went back to her stream. Imagine my shock when I discovered that Sam and the same friend were discussing how they’d been ‘stalked’ by my client’s brand, and that they were going to block it.
Fearing for my client’s brand reputation, I contacted her and shared what I’d discovered. She stoically pointed out that she’d forewarned me that her audience was quirky. A few days later she contacted me to let me know that she’d arranged with a different manufacturer to have a competing product sent to Sam for free. I sent Sam a direct message letting her know the news and waited for her to reply with her shipping address. Curious, again I checked her stream to find that she was indeed tweeting up a storm, she just wasn’t responding to me. Eventually she did, and I shared the address with my client, who told me that the manufacturer was actually going to send two of the product, one in a color of Sam’s choice and one for her friends to try out. I, in turn, sent this info back to Sam.
And received no reply.
Two weeks later, when I checked back in with Sam to find out if she’d received the product, she tells me she’d not. Trying to prevent another badmouthing session, I advised my client. Within seconds, the new manufacturer’s social media rep contacts me and says that she contacted Sam two weeks prior (the same day I gave my client all of Sam’s information!) but that Sam had never responded. As it is It is the manufacturer’s policy not to send anything until they’ve made ‘contact’ with someone, the social media rep’s hands were tied.
Because Sam refuses to respond to the manufacturer, she is not going to receive two FREE products. So much for Gen Y being social media savvy!
If you have any similar anecdotes you’d like to share, or have any information on what might be happening with this group of young women, my client and I are eager to hear it!
I’ve been wondering the last few weeks if I’ve been drinking too much branding kool-aid.
I first wondered this when I was at a networking event a few weeks ago. The people in my little group were intelligent business owners who seemed to have a firmer grasp than usual of what branding means in today’s market. A retailer, whose store I had been to before, complained that she was losing traction with her customers because a competitor—another small business—had opened up nearby. When she asked me why I thought this might be, I explained that without doing marketing analysis I couldn’t provide a definitive answer. I did offer, completely off the cuff, that her competitor’s environmental branding was certainly compelling.
“Well, I have my logo in my store space, too.”
I provided a cursory explanation of how environmental branding was a bit more than that. To make the explanation less personal, I used ubiquitous examples such as McDonald’s and Target. I could tell she still wasn’t understanding how these companies had relied on their environments so heavily to drive business, primarily because she wasn’t able to see how each franchise and each store had the same universal look and messaging.
Changing tacks, I offered the example of a recently opened Mountain Dew skate park. Its visitors got more than just environmental branding; they got an experience. I then asked her if she’d visited the competitor’s store and, if so, what did it make her feel. She said (begrudgingly) that going in the store felt like being on vacation. I pointed out that her competitor’s logo doesn’t appear anywhere inside the store except on business cards placed at the point-of-purchase, and that the sense of ‘vacation’ was created by the store’s environment. Bringing it home, I asked, “The environment is an extremely compelling call to action for its visitors: 1) Who doesn’t like to go on vacation? This sensation will keep customers returning to the store and 2) Who doesn’t spend money more freely when they’re on vacation?” BAM; environmental branding therapy session, concluded.
The second time I thought I’d gotten too tipsy on the design drink was last week. I was having a conversation about the potential benefits of extending a company’s current branding through their corporate space. Benefits such as increased employee productivity and pride, as well as a more intimate brand experience for office visitors and potential vendors and partners.
“We don’t have the money and we’re not interested in that. We just want some art.”
I explained that what I was suggesting was not a complete overhaul of the office space, merely that they should consider how their messaging could potentially be perceived by visitors if they slapped something up that didn’t jibe with the rest of their brand message. It is possible to create environmental branding on a shoestring budget; just like with print, sometimes the best solutions are those created within tight budget parameters—you just need to be open to the opportunity.
These conversations point out that while we live in an increasingly design/branding savvy culture, many small to medium sized businesses still aren’t seeing the value in environmental branding. Sometimes this is because they don’t understand what environmental branding (or experiential branding as it’s increasingly known) means. I have found that sharing visual examples helps them free their minds. The following are just a few of my current favorites.
Images of studio reactiv’s office from Contract, environmental branding by LUX Designs
Images of Change to Win’s office via the firm who did the spectacular branding, Design Citizens
Images and text for the above images of BBC Worldwide’s Australian offices from Design Home. Experience design by thoughtspace.
“Towards the eastern façade, BBC Worldwide’s own Doctor Who Daleks lurk. Adjacent to original 1960 Dalek is a ‘not so typical’ six person meeting room [1]. Together with unique acoustic wall tiles, the distinctive aluminum ceiling and studded rubber flooring the room oozes style reminiscent of the admired TV hit series of Doctor Who. BBC Top Gear [2] is also a feature in the viewing studio where screening of promos takes place. A sweeping full height acoustic fabric wall printed with the striking ‘Stig’ creates the impressive backdrop to the surround sound studio.
Towards the middle of the floor the UKTV meeting booth nestles [3]. The Banksy inspired graphics create an urban experience together with the studded ‘booth’ seats commonly used for informal meetings or alternative work environments. The BBC Knowledge meeting room [4] offers an insight into this unique BBC concept. Interactivity and learning through life’s experiences is the focus of this themed zone.
Dancing with the Stars [5] is also captured by the elegance of the small meeting room adjacent to the reception foyer. The graceful translucent chairs accompany the heavily turned black lacquered table which sits superbly on the eye catching plush silk/wool rug. Ball bearing curtains sway in front of the full length mirrored walls to create the illusion of ‘sparkle.’ Finally, the lift enclosure is wrapped by the intensely colored master brand graphic that leads you through to reception celebrating the prominent brands. BBC Worldwide focused on the indigenous motif to link the brands and create a uniquely Australian experience.”
