September 17th, 2009
Go look at something. What’s your first impression? That’s what counts. When people say first impressions are the most important this needs to be paid attention to, especially for your brand.
Your potential customer takes in everything about your brand at the point of contact. Your colors, fonts, wording and text shapes, and graphics all affect their purchase decision. What message is your brand conciously and subconsciously conveying?
Is your target market accurately receiving your message visually? What is the feeling your are looking to convey? Designing a brand that communicates your message effectively is so much more than colors text and image.
The most powerful brands know how to strike a balance between all of these elements. Any designer worth their salt knows that there’s a limit to the amount of colors, fonts, graphics and the scale and placement of all of these elements. The Golden Ratio is a good guideline to test this crucial balance.
People are generally intuitive. If you want to know how it feels to your custom er put yourself in their shoes. Envision yourself AS them, down to the precise specifics of their demographics. Are you a stay at home mom with 3 young kids concerned with family values and on a budget? Well now you are.
Separate your head from your heart then bring them back together. How does your brand feel to you? Now how does it seem to you logically? This is exactly what your potential customer is going through.
Take the time to account for your brand’s intangible qualities and you’ll see tangible reults in your bottom line.
Tags: advice, attributes, benefit, bottom line, brand, brand messages, branding, business, communicating, communication, communications, conciously, consumer, consumers, conversation, core values, corporate message, cradle to grave, cross country race, customer relationships, demographics, endurance, family values, feelings, first impression, first impressions, foster innovation, goals, golden ratio, intangible qualities, interaction, interactions, life, lifeblood, lists, long term relationship, marketing, network, networking, passion, person smile, point of contact, productivity, purchase decision, purchase decisions, retention rate, selling, social, specifics, sprint, target market, term rewards, Value, wisdom
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May 15th, 2009
What’s the difference between these two products?
Positioning.
Breyers has used all-natural ingredients for years. Their customers have taken this fact for granted as being a part of the brand identity. It’s not special anymore.
Häagen-Dazs chose to highlight this fact and market this benefit as a new luxury product.
The way they’ve ensured that their new Five product line will not cannibalize their bottom line is by this: limiting the ingredients to just FIVE ingredients. There are four essential ingredients that you must have to create ice cream. The fifth is for flavoring.
People understand that in order for them to have ‘crazy crap and the kitchen sink’ ice cream there must be more than one flavor. By limiting the scope of this new product Häagen-Dazs tells us that it’s limited and therefore special. The packaging gives off an air of luxuriousness and exclusivity by looking sparse, modern and white with minimal ornamentation. In an age of more, less truly is more.
Breyers’ step up? Take what’s already ‘All Natural’ and make it ‘Organic’:
Tags: all natural ice cream, benefit, bottom line, brand, brand identity, branding, breyers, crazy crap, essential ingredients, exclusivity, Häagen-Dazs, ice cream, ice cream brands, kitchen sink, limited, luxury product, marketing, natural ingredients, organic ice cream, organization, ornamentation, productivity, scope
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