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was over five years ago that Iomega began running the ads that paved
the way for their wildly sucessful Zip and Jaz removable storage products.
The image of a young business hipster, shot in steeply descending
wide angle from above, helped the firm destroy their competition,
Syquest, even though the Syquest product was regularly deemed the
superior performer of the two by the technology press.
All manner of high tech equipment manufacturers rapidly followed
suit, placing ads in which their own dot-com dream kids were photographed
from above, their wildly distorted and bespectacled faces beaming
upwards in smug assurance. Various other industries adopted the
look to try and appeal to the NetSet, and so it is that to this
day, even insurance ads employ the same tired, old device.
E*trade ventured into uncharted territory with its launch of a
corporate logo that used electric purple and slime green to represent
a type of financial service that had previously upheld a starchy
tradition of IBM blue and pinstrip gray for decades.
But even before the sharply contrasting colors had stopped pulsating
on the retinas of net surfers everywhere, a whole host of online
outfits were sporting a near facsimile of the heretofore outrageous
color combination. Marketing directors at all sorts of companies
have actually been heard asking identity designers "Can we
see a version using E*trade colors?"
Quit Aping Your Competition
Why are companies allowing their brand image to be reduced to a
monkeyshine? More criminal yet, who in the marketing communications
industry is promoting this sort of meaningless bandwagonism to their
clients? For whatever reason, both clients and agencies can be startlingly
spineless when it comes to developing truly creative material for
advertising and collateral, even though the proof of its efficacy
is there.
The corporate marketing VP needs to be brave. The fear of bringing
new and seemingly outrageous ideas to top management runs deep,
but taking the easy way out and presenting ideas that are safe "because
everyone's doing it" immediately relegates the company's brand
stature to second tier. Branding can definitely add to the bottom
line, but only if it makes the company stand out as opposed to letting
it blend in. Getting the brass to come to an understanding of the
power of a fresh, compelling look is difficult, but it is the key
to getting your firm noticed. Settling for a cliche means settling
for a diminished brand identity, and that could lead to reduced
revenues.
How to Get Good Ideas Past the Keepers of the Eternal Dust
Statistics are the key. If you can define your branding disucssions
in terms of rates of response and retained impression, there will
be little to no room for the kind of personal preference dismissal
that generally sinks somewhat offbeat ideas. In other words, suppose
you tromp into the CEOs office with a truly remarkable brand identity
that would define your company in an appropriate but proprietary
way. If you simply ask what the CEO thinks, you've just put the
whole project in the balance. A much more effective tack is to remember
that it's not a question of the likes and dislikes of the internal
audience as much one of what does or does not work with your target
market.
Now take that same scenario, only the first thing the CEO gets
is polling and testing data showing the market's perception of your
company or product, while your design team keeps the new identity
under wraps. Then, show the positive polling results after customer
exposure to the brand identity he's about to see. Explain how the
identity, unusual as it is, leaves the target market with a definite,
favorable impression that moves them into a mental environment that
is conducive to sales. State that the new identity is REALLY PUSHING
THE ENVELOPE and that you're not so sure...then have your design
team unveil the new brand developments, and let the CEO correct
you by saying he thinks it's a little edgy, yes, but will definitely
make the firm stand out from the competition.
"Run with it," he says. Try and not show signs of elation
until you get out of his office.
Tony Wessling is a principal
in the San Francisco-based technology branding firm, Plexus5,
and president of the firm's parent company, the Wessling Creative
Group, named one of the SF Business Times "Top Branding and Design
Firms in 2002." Wessling has over 17 years professional experience
in the creative services industry, with a background that includes
design, web development, copywriting and photography. He served
as the chair of the San Francisco Partnership's Digital Media Task
Force from 1998-2000, and holds a BFA from the University of Michigan.
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