There are 173 entries in Wikipedia when you look up the list of Google products. The few that I have experienced are truly amazing. Check out the
whole list. You won't believe the breadth of innovative ideas that this one organization has developed and is developing.
How innovative is your organization? How might you nurture more new ideas and become a leader in your industry as Google has done in the world of online tools?
Element Three has developed Brand Chemistry, it's own deep dive tool to help brand managers and marketers to understand the true emotional connections between their brand and its constituents. This is just one of the innovative tools you will experience when you work with the Element Three team of marketing strategy, brand development and creative execution experts.
I recently developed a talk about advertising great Bill Bernbach, one of the founders of DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach). According to
Branding Strategy Insider, Bernbach said, "You say something better if you have something to say (about your product)." And we always look for something to say. Now, whereas at the time we started (DDB) most agencies felt that once they'd found something to say they'd done their job, our point of difference was the belief that at this stage your work was only beginning."
Bernbach went on to develop advertising that started what became known as the Creative Revolution of the 60's and 70's by using insights into human nature, emotions that created the desire to purchase. His was not a scientific method but rather one based in artistry, creativity and brutal honesty. Brand communications that were developed as a result included the famous Volkswagen campaign in which the car was shown alone on a white background with headlines like, "Lemon" and "Think small." For 40 years, DDB built the brand with myriad simple, compelling messages. Other groundbreaking campaigns include those for Avis ("We try harder."), Alka Seltzer ("Thatsa spicy meatball.") and Levy's ("You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's.").
When I was a kid, I know that seeing these TV spots inspired me to later choose to work in advertising. My career started in Minneapolis during its creative heyday in the 80's (see Fallon McElligott, Carmichael Lynch) and I can attest to the legacy of Bernbach's creative approach there. It lives on still in work done in New York, London, LA, Minneapolis, Chicago and Indianapolis.
Element Three's Brand Chemistry Process, our unique deep dive discovery of the emotional core of your brand, is firmly based in the belief that, before we can create powerful brand communications, we must not only fully understand your brand's unique offering, we must also know your customer's intrinsic reasons to buy. Once we have this knowledge, we can develop advertising that I hope even Bill Bernbach would approve.
... was the title in an
article today on
Adage.com by local Ad Agency president, Tom Denari.
His focus was on the importance of getting past the rational feedback target audiences give you when conducting research and getting to a place where they are giving you their emotional reasons for making (or not making) a product or service selection.
"Isn't it common knowledge that consumers are motivated more by emotion than reason? Isn't that why brands exist? And, if we can agree that brands work on an emotional level, then why are we asking consumers to make rational judgments in testing scenarios? As soon as we ask consumers what they think of something, they stop being consumers and start becoming evaluators. They are now put in a position to think, to give rational feedback to something that is largely trying to affect their emotional or -- more accurately -- their irrational instincts. We've effectively made my mom the marketing director.
Even if a research methodology is trying to measure an emotional response, attempting to glean a valid, accurate response is almost impossible. The vast majority of this research requires consumers to use language to describe emotional responses. Unfortunately, humans have a very difficult time doing this. And even when they do, verbalizing emotion actually brings that emotion to a cognitive level. If it's cognitive, it's now rational and no longer emotional."
At our Indianapolis marketing firm,
Element Three, we have long subscribed to this line of thinking. That customers use rational reasons to justify their emotional impulse. Our Creative Advisor, Marcia Stone has created a proprietary research methodology, the Deep Dive or Brand Chemistry process, that gets to the emotional drivers behind a purchase decision.
The Deep Dive process is our most comprehensive approach to gathering customer feedback. Based on the work of Harvard Professor; Dr. Gerald Zaltman, Element Three has customized his approach to make the methodology available to small and mid-sized companies. This proprietary process captures the customer’s gut-level response to why they have chosen a specific product or service. This process can also be used to gather feedback to campaigns and creative approaches.
Through an experiential focus group, customers go through exercises and creative outlets to express their reasons for selecting a company's product or service. Coming out of this session, organizations will better understand how to focus their brand message towards the customer’s needs and how to quickly connect what you have to what they get.
For more information on our Deep Dive process,
click here.
In the past, I worked as a Creative Director...the person who hires designers and other creative folk. What I learned in this role is that HOW a creative person works with others is just as important as WHAT their work looks and sounds like. Reviewing the portfolio is only half the battle. The more important area to review is chemistry. Is this a person with whom you'd like to spend time in meetings, working late, and being under stress? Can you trust this person to deliver the goods on time, as needed?
It's the same when you're thinking of hiring a creative resource company. Make sure the work is quality. Then make sure the people are quality, too. You'll change agencies less often, build a long term relationship – and get better brand communications.
Recently I've been watching a new show, "Mary, Queen of Shops" in which a retail consultant comes into slightly tired, unsuccessful clothing boutiques and advises them on new strategies to turn their businesses around. In a very real sense, what she is doing is all about Brand Chemistry. Often, the shop has lost touch with those they serve and what is important to them. Their clothing offerings aren't as relevant as they once were though their locations are still viable.
Does this sound a little familiar? If your return on your marketing investment isn't what you'd like it to be, it may be time for an outside assessment. Let us advise you on the most effective ways to bring your brand back to its rightful place in the market. Contact Tiffany at tiffany@discoverelementthree.com to take the first step: a quick meeting to hear about your brand and its current situation.
Often, clients come to us asking for a specific piece of brand communication. They may say, "We need a web site," or "We need a brochure," for instance. Often the need to get brand communication out into the marketplace is indeed urgent. And we want to serve our clients' needs. So we will most likely take what I call the dual track.
Track One: Take care of the urgent brand communication need. If the market is moving fast, often marketers must move with the market. So we get out the needed messages.
Track Two (happening concurrently with Track One): With the client's permission, do due diligence to strategic marketing and brand understanding. If the organization hasn't yet done it, we begin with our Brand Chemistry deep dive process to completely identify the brand's unique assets and promises. We also get a clear understanding of the key audiences with whom the brand interacts. If these steps are completed already or once they are done, we find out through a variety of research processes, what the position of the brand is in its marketplace and what forces are at work that may affect the brand. From this data, we develop a complete strategic marketing plan. The marketing plan outlines goals, objectives and strategies to assure that all of our brand communications efforts are directed in the right place. The plan also includes a prioritized list of tactical recommendations (should we be creating a Web site at all or should we start with events, for instance).
Dual tracking. It works. And it puts your brand on the right track for the long run as well as the short run.
At Element Three, we offer logo creation services, along with all of our strategic marketing and brand development work. We also create whatever brand communications your organization may need to create and sustain successful relationships with your brand constituents. I believe that successful business logo creation is a very important thing. Your logo is like your name. A good one can help to build recognition through everything you do.
A cautionary note, though. Your logo is just the tip of the brand communications iceberg. Literally. It's the first thing most marketers ask for because if your logo isn't serving you well, it's like having a horribly ugly name. Or a face that's badly in need of several reconstructive surgeries. So it's fine to come in and say right off the bat, we need a new logo. Or we need to update/revise/overhaul our logo.
Because it's like your graphic 'name', your logo mark gives a signal about how your brand will likely look and feel in other brand communications. Is it modern, relaxed, classic, soft, regimented? All the communications that come later help to build upon that beginning, from brochures to Web sites to events to product design to packaging. And all of that is built upon the foundational structure of your brand (who you are). If you haven't done due diligence to discovery of your own brand's assets, let us help you with our Brand Chemistry process. See my earlier blog postings on Brand Chemistry to learn more about Element Three's unique deep dive branding process.
Maybe you've noticed the trend toward purchasing stock logos, stationery designs, brochures and Web sites online. And I see why it has happened...the technology to make and share imagery has become readily available. If you're a tiny organization with no resources, these quick and cheap resources fill a need. They can help you communicate and make you look bigger than you are, fast. So why shouldn't everyone use these brand communication resources?
Here are a few of reasons.
1. It's important that your organization and what it has to offer stands apart. It's very hard to do that if you're buying off the shelf communications, along with your competitor down the street. How will your customer tell you apart?
2. Great brands create relationships with their customers by speaking their language and showing that they understand their specific needs. (see my earlier blog posts about Brand Chemistry). These types of brand communications must be created in response to ongoing customer needs and values, not a pre-existing template.
3. Great brands create a portfolio of communications that have a consistent look and feel. That's tough to do if you're shopping around on the Web for a logo here, stationery there, a Web site over here. And your customers will be confused by the cacophony of different personalities your brand is displaying.
4. Smart marketers are strategic in how, when and where they communicate, based on their brand, their customer and the market situation. And their strategic marketing partner sits alongside them as they navigate this territory so that the smartest efforts are completed, not the easiest or quickest.
5. A better use of interactive technology, if your organization can afford it, is to offer your customers ways to create their own artifacts that represent your brand using interactive technologies. You create the framework; they make it their own.
No doubt about it, interactive technology creates a completely new marketplace for us all. Using it wisely is where the real money is.
We use Compendium for our blogging partner. Of course, the purpose of (most) blogs is to let people know a little bit about the "real" you, whether an individual or company. In many instances, the way bloggers are found is through online search for a particular subject or item. For instance, maybe you're a fan of the "Arizona Cardinals" (hey, why not?) or "Native Americans living in Cleveland", or "talentless unemployed actors" (to save time, one could also type in "Carrot Top").
On to my point: when writing in Compendium, they provide targeted keywords, which help the bloggers (moi) keep on track. The more keywords used, the stronger the post. In true 21st century coolness, there's even a keyword strength indicator, where red means "Steve, stop writing about the Arizona Cardinals" and green indicates "you're the best blogger, ever."
Today, I'm going for the green. This will be the strongest, keyword-heaviest, blog post. Ever... So, if you were looking for any (or all) of the following, sit back and enjoy (alpha order for your viewing pleasure):
Best Marketing Plans, Brand Chemistry, Brand Communication, Brand Consulting Companies, Brand Consulting Group, Brand Development Services, Brand Development Strategies, Brand Identity Development, Brand Marketing Consultants, Brand Positioning Strategy, Brand Strategy Agency, Brand Strategy Company, Brand Strategy Consultants, Brand Strategy Firm, Branding Consultancy, Business Communications Indianapolis, Business Logo Creation, Certified Brand Strategist, Corporate Brand Strategy, Creative Brand Development, Develop Brand Identity, Developing Brand Strategy, Indianapolis Ad Agency, Indianapolis Advertising Marketing, Indianapolis Brand Consultants, Indianapolis Brand Development, Indianapolis Brand Management, Indianapolis Brand Marketing, Indianapolis Business Marketing, Indianapolis Corporate Branding, Indianapolis Marketing Agency, Indianapolis Marketing Communications, Indianapolis Marketing Consultants, Indianapolis Marketing Firms, Indianapolis Marketing Plans, Indianapolis Marketing Strategy, Indianapolis Marketing Tools, Indianapolis Strategic Marketing, Logo Creation Services, Marketing Brand Development, Marketing Integration, Marketing Launch Strategy, Midwest Marketing Partner, Online Brand Strategy, Return on Marketing Investment, Strategic Brand Consulting, Strategic Brand Development, Strategic Marketing Planning, Successful Marketing Plans
There. I've officially made Code Green with the strongest blog post, ever! Call Element Three today if any of that interests you. Or, if you'd rather talk NFL football (especially the Arizona Cardinals) or wish to debate who the best hair metal bands from the eighties are, I'm ready.
A few years ago, I was asked by a well known Indianapolis marketing firm to help them get to the heart of one of their client brands. They had already done a variety of focus groups and asked all the usual questions about experiences each of the attendees had with the brand. And each attendee was passionate about their own experience and would argue intensely for their viewpoint. Yet there was no agreement or common thread that the firm could arrive at when it came to brand positioning strategy.
I found out that the focus group facilitators were asking only rational questions about attendees' brand experiences. Yet when you want to understand on a deep level what external (or internal) constituents believe about your brand, you must get past the rational level to the emotional level. This cannot typically be done as a first step. In fact, it's best not to do it in the usual way: getting a group together and asking them to share in front of each other. Emotional depth is an area best mined individually and thoughtfully.
That's how our Deep Dive Brand Chemistry Process was invented seven years ago. From the very first session, we have found that it unearths surprisingly consistent connective brand tissue even though information is never shared among participants of our sessions. Are you ready for a Deep Dive into your brand? Can you afford not to?
As part of an Indianapolis marketing, design and brand consulting group and as a teacher at Herron School of Art and Design, I hear common themes about where design is going. Many designers have come to be known for technical skills (lovingly referred to in the industry as
Mac Jockeys). Because graphics software is available to everyone, the ability to manipulate pixels alone is not enough any more. The design profession, if it is going to survive, must also add business value, something we regard highly at Element Three.
Here are just a few ways our design thinkers can add value to your business, your brand, your marketing, your brand communications:
Our Brand Chemistry Process:
PART 1: a deep dive into your brand, your operations, your brand communications and the workings of your internal team; an exploration of the marketplace and the choices available to your customer
PART 2: a deep dive into the hearts and minds of your customers that uncovers the strongest emotional and rational connections they hold with your brand
The Element Three Creative Process: working through the Element Three Creative Process with strategic creative brains outside your staff opens up ways to rejuvenate your marketing and branding efforts, from identity to advertising to interactivity
Element Three Brainstorm Facilitation: using a seasoned facilitator from outside brings fresh perspective, the ability to keep the group on track and a wealth of innovative ideas to infect your operations, your marketing, your sales or your process or product development
So many of our clients at Element Three, an Indianapolis Ad Agency, ask us how they can learn about what makes their customers tick. Because we've seen focus groups get swayed by one or two vocal participants, we know they can lead marketers astray. Mall intercepts and interviews also focus on verbal feedback, usually in response to something.
At Element Three, we've learned that a far more powerful way to get past the surface of what your customers care about (and how they connect to your brand) is to find out these four things, in order of priority:
What Customers Feel: are they comfortable with your brand? do they align themselves with it publicly and proudly? do they feel emotional resonance with your brand? or do they feel disconnection?
What Customers Create: when given the opportunity, what would your customers create for your brand that would best serve their needs? what brand communications would they imagine to represent your brand?
What Customers Do: what actions do your customers most frequently take while interacting with your brand? what actions do they avoid? what actions do they associate with your brand?
What Customers Say: the last and probably least accurate/predictable source of client information
Through Element Three's proprietary Brand Chemistry Process, we can answer these questions, giving you far more meaningful and actionable information than you're likely to get from most qualitative research techniques. Contact Tiffany Sauder at tiffany@discoverelementthree.com to learn more about Brand Chemistry.
This morning I was reading "How to Create Experiences to Bring a Brand's Story to Life" by Jennifer Rooney. She interviewed Sohrab Vossoughi, who is the founder of Ziba Design, a product development firm. (Check out some of their impressive work at their website.) Vossoughi's answer to the final question made me want to shout a resounding, "yes!" (Although I didn't because my co-workers may have thought I was losing it...) Here was the question & answer:
So what brings consumers back for more?
"Design is the process of bringing the story to life. It's about making a connection between the consumer and the story. If you tell it to the right audience, then you create trust and meaning. Consumers want to love something; meaningful, authentic relationships are what consumers are after. You've got to go back to the core - focus on what your brand is about... Then you've got to use everything to bring that brand to life, and then consumers will come back again and again for more."
This is what we help companies do here at our Indianapolis Ad Agency. Through our Brand Chemistry process, we look inside your organization to uncover the "story" of your brand. Then we take a look outside at your audience - who they are, what they do, what they want. Once we have uncovered your own unique story, then we will begin the design process with your brand strategy at the forefront of our minds. This leads to creating visuals that will tell your story and begin to resonate with your audience.
A recent Newsweek article, "What's in a New Logo?" by Blake Ellis and Josh Glasser, discussed refurbished brand identities and included these images of Apple Computer's first logo mark alongside its most recent brand mark.
Honestly, would you buy a computer or even a hard drive from the company that created the mark on the far left? Apple has become such a symbol of innovation and technology that it's hard to imagine this was once its logo mark. Strong
Brand Chemistry is created when your visual brand communications truly represent your people, products and services.
To develop visuals and brand communications that truly represent your brand, contact tiffany@discoverelementthree.com.
"Starbucks' coffee always tastes burned."
"Saturn salespeople are trained to talk to women as equals to men but you can tell they don't like it."
"Nordstrom's salespeople will walk you and your merchandise out to your car. All you have to do is ask."
These are some of the things that I've heard customers say about consumer brands. These word of mouth messages are far more powerful than any marketing messages. But how will you ever know what they are? Your customers will never tell you, whether you are a consumer brand or a business to business brand. That's why we invented the Brand Chemistry research process. It digs down deep, uncovering your customer's true 'chemistry' and underlying beliefs about your brand, through their connective brand myths and stories, evocative creations they make representing your brand and their reported actions and feelings related to them. Through Brand Chemistry, you'll learn what studies costing many times more will never tell you about your brand. Contact Tiffany Sauder at tiffany@discoverelementthree.com to learn more.
Click here for part 1 on Growth.AWARENESS.Do you have problems related to Awareness that sound something like this?
- We have a new client segment we are trying to reach that are not currently aware of our product or service and the unique benefits we have to offer
- Our organization has a new product or service extension we would like to offer our existing clients, we need help telling them about it
- My company is trying to launch a completely new product into a completely new customer segment
Here is a sampling of strategies or tactics to think on if your issue is generating awareness.
Be certain you spend ample time creating the brand positioning strategy for your product or service. Don't spend all of your time and money on product development, only to do a rush job on articulating the relevant unique selling points of your product or service.
Second, do research on your targeted customer to understand both the rational and emotional reasons they purchase. Our Indianapolis marketing firm, Element Three, has a propriety Brand Chemistry process to assist with this.
Last, be certain you fully allow for a strategic marketing planning process to respond to the intelligence gained in the market research. It is in this step you will begin to determine the tools and strategies necessary to reach your target customer.
Don't leave awareness to chance. Three key components are important 1) Brand Strategy 2) Customer Research and 3) Marketing Planning.
Do you hate it when Microsoft Word automatically capitalizes, indents or otherwise alters your copy? Do you waste precious time trying to undo its automation only to get frustrated and wish you had a different word processing option? (I highly recommend Apple's Pages application, part of its iWork suite. It doesn't overmanage your authoring experience.)
This small example is a branding lesson. Word is one of Microsoft's most-used applications. Yet its automation goes beyond helpfulness and could be interpreted as Micromanagement by Microsoft. And this in the face of Microsoft's monopoly lawsuits and loss of face against the success of the Mac platform, Apple stores, iPod, iTunes and the ever-successful iPhone.
While creating brand experiences, use a light touch. Give your customer the choices they need. Be open to feedback and consider making real changes as a result. Through positive
Brand Chemistry you'll find yourself more able to take part in meaningful relationships with your customers and your business will grow as a result.
I love this recent article from
Advertising Age,
Is Customer Service a Media Channel? Ask Zappos.Zappos has just been puchased by Amazon for $1 Billion. Their product (shoes and handbags) can be purchased at any department store, yet they've been able to stand apart by HOW they do what they do, and attract the likes of Jeff Bezos. What Zappos does so well is that they have proof-points at every turn for their tagline (and ultimately their brand position), POWERED
by SERVICE.
When we conduct our brand chemistry or brand discover sessions, many times we will hear 'Customer Service' listed by the client as a key differentiator. They believe customer service is a core component of their brand positioning strategy. But, when pushed further for proof-points of how the service level is a differentiator and how the level of service offered is superior to the competition, the claim begins to ring hollow.
No matter what your claim of distinction, be certain you can readily provide proof to your clients and prospects.
At Element Three, as part of our Brand Chemistry discovery process, we not only find out what your brand IS, we find out what your brand ISN'T.
This may seem odd at first – or at least not what you're used to getting from your brand consulting group. Yet if you don't know what's counter to your brand, you may stumble into territory that actually hurts it in the minds of your customers. It's helpful for your internal team to have a deep understanding of both the AREs and the AREN'Ts so they are sure to deliver your service, product and communications in keeping with your organization's unique point of difference...at every touch customer touch point.
My friend Tom Monahan, founder and creativity coach of Before & After, and a leader in the field of applied creativity, asserts that, to be more creative, we must ask better questions. Edward deBono, an authority in the field of creative thinking and author of 67 books on the topic, says we need to think laterally, traversing old brain patterns. I think they're both saying the same thing.
In our work as a brand consulting group, we get involved in brand positioning, marketing strategy and creative execution. Yet innovative thinking and creativity get involved at each step. By asking better questions, (how do your customers feel about your brand? what would they never tell you out loud that you must hear?) (what would happen if your marketing efforts didn't exist?) (what do you want to have as an outcome and how shall we track that?) we often get to innovative solutions for our clients. The old patterns in brand communications and marketing thinking will get you to the same end point as before.
When you work with Element Three, we'll present you with some new tools: for instance, Brand Chemistry, our immersive inside/out, outside/in brand discovery process. Or our thorough and creatively articulated marketing plan that helps you and your team adopt its strategies. These are our ways of breaking past patterns so that your brand can enjoy a different level of success than in the past.
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