Yesterday was a bittersweet day. We said goodbye to four summer interns; students studying visual communications at the Herron School of Art and Design. This was Element Three's first foray into hiring a larger group of interns, and I have to say it was a very positive experience.
Each student brought a unique skill set. To enhance the internship experience, our goal was to provide each with a project that would develop a personal area of interest in the design and communications realm. We fully immersed them in the day-to-day life of a marketing communications firm. Whether it was brand identity development, brand research, new package design, or developing an iPad video, this group rose to the challenge.
Three months blew by, and I think we all grew from the experience. The opportunity to bring fresh energy and talent to the mix made our office buzz. We know several of our clients had the opportunity to interact with some of our interns. A double bonus for all involved.
The experience fueled our drive to provide opportunities for design talent to grow and develop. This year's group, Andrea, Alice, Joel, and Ceverly head back to the classroom on August 23rd. We wish them every success. And, we look forward to repeating the experience with a new group next summer.
Indicators at Element Three are that pent up demand for brand identity development, brand positioning strategy, strategic marketing planning, design and advertising creative services are on the upswing. We're hopeful that this is a sign that business is finally picking up and markets are recovering from this long, hard time in our economy.
Businesses that continue to invest in their brand and marketing outreach in tough times are the ones that historically recover more quickly and build their businesses long term.
We'd like to hear from you. Have you been experiencing upward trends in your business?
In a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, according to an AP article by Martha Irvine, Irvine's article, titled, "Who develops social networking conscience? Youth, not elders", goes on to explain that those in the 18-29 age bracket tend to delete posted comments to their Facebook and other social networking sites while those in the 50-64 bracket tend not to make these deletions. The younger generation also tend to edit or delete out images from their Facebook sites that might compromise job searches or other important life events. Not so the older generation, the article (and the study) go on to say.
With the recent potential privacy and security issues that have arisen, it seems even more timely to advocate that we all take social networking advice from experts, no matter what their age. At Element Three, we currently have four interns, all under 25. So as we advise our clients on developing brand strategy for social networking, we will also be fortunate to have our own team of experts, based on their use of the medium alone. Marketing managers, talk to your twenty-something children. They know this territory!
Recently, I was searching online for visual inspiration and I came across this amazing collection of advertising concepts. As an Indianapolis ad agency, we often have opportunities to work with our clients to develop brand identity and other brand communications. But nothing comes close to the hilarity of these sorts of purely visual images.
It was a fun day today at Element Three. One of those days that makes me excited to be an Indianapolis Marketing Firm where we get to develop brands, marketing strategies and engaging creative for our clients.
We are blessed to have an incredibly talented group of interns that are joining us for the summer from Herron School of Art and Design. Alice Reiter, Ceverly Strand, Andrea Haydon and Joel Wittman are working with us on various creative marketing efforts both for Element Three and the clients we serve.
Below are some pictures of our interns in action. Element Three has been asked by a client to create a name for their new product line and they have also engaged our logo creation services to develop a full brand identity. Once it's developed, we'll be sure to post the name and logo for you to see.
Here we are in a brainstorming session centered around developing a name for the product. Armed with a brand brief, markers, post-it notes and lots of candy - we got to work.
Jamie Cousins and I hard at work!
Jamie, Andrea, Alice, Joel and Ceverly talking through various options for the client.
Recently, I asked some young designers with whom I was working to re-name a brand and go through the brand identity development process for one of our clients. The first things out of their mouths were, "Hey, let's use the initial letters of the current name and create an acronym. You know what I'm talking about. We're deluged by these things everywhere. The ACLU. AT&T. PDF. LSAT. DWI. IOU. CYA, AARP, BYOB, WWW, MRI, TWA, RCA, ITT, ICBM, IV, ID, JPG. You get the picture. We all have so many of these alphabetical shortcuts stored in our brains already. Wouldn't you like to have just one more for my organization's name? OK, I have to admit that internally, we call Element Three "E3".
If you are in the midst of naming or re-naming your organization, beware the overused Acronym World. It's easy to get sucked in and lost in the mix.
Brand Development is one of Element Three’s business disciplines, and it’s always an exciting experience when one of our clients moves into the implementation phase of launching their brand. On March 1, Connext Financial unveiled their new brand identity to their customers. Formerly known as MTC Equipment Finance, Element Three worked with the company to rename and develop a new corporate identity, which included a new logo and tag line.
Clear identification of key audiences and messaging strategies to each of those audiences formed the foundation of the launch strategy. A series of key communications incorporating print, email, and person to person contact is currently underway. The company’s new website, www.connextfinancial.com is now on line. Take a look:
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.
How often have you been making a list of potential ideas or solutions to a problem and been stuck? Why does this happen? Most likely, you are saying to yourself, "Wow, that last idea was great! I don't need to keep going," or "Gee, these ideas are lousy. I'm no good at this. I better stop."
Generating ideas is a key skill for developing brand communications. So here's a simple tip: don't stop and judge too fast. Come up with lots of ideas first. Work fast. Let yourself come up with as many ideas as possible. Think quantity, not quality. Later, go back over your ideas and judge them. Most of your ideas may not work but you'll have more good ones to choose from, too.
At Element Three, we often work with mid-size organizations to help them develop their brand create and implement marketing strategy and develop creative brand communications. Sometimes, our clients are new to these processes or to working with an Indianapolis marketing firm. Often, moving through the creative process is the most challenging part for those who are new to working with an outside creative resource.
To make things easy, we take a step-by-step approach. Once the key differentiators of the brand are identified, we create a series of potential brand boards that show how your brand might look and sound in type, copy, image and color. Once a directional board is chosen for the brand, everyone feels more confident as we develop brand identity. Next, for instance, many Indianapolis marketing firms may jump right to tight, comprehensive layouts to show creative concepts. We prefer to show several rough sketches so that the client has an early chance to give feedback. Once a rough sketch is selected and feedback is given, the entire team has a plan of attack agreed upon before moving into a tighter executional stage.
Checkpoints are good because they offer a chance for communication and clarity for the marketing partner and for the client. They also make for great creative executions.
Your logo and tag line are two of the strongest visual identity elements that link your brand to its intended audience, so it's important that they are used consistently in every communication's touch point.
When Element Three works with clients to develop their corporate identities, one of the final deliverables includes usage guidelines. This document is an important corporate manual that guides placement and usage of your identifying marks. The manual addresses:
Clear space around the logo: identity should always be surrounded by a generous field of clear space to ensure legibility and impact.
Primary color palette: defines PMS colors, CMYK values, video RGB values, and Hex values for the primary colors that make up the visual identity elements.
Secondary color palette: defines use of supporting colors for additional applications, i.e. presentations, charts, graphs etc.
Typography: defines typeface (fonts), size recommendations, and typeface alternatives based when variations are necessary.
Identity variations: defines the various use applications when placing your identity elements into different types of deliverables. Think of this as the how-to place in various mediums.
Identity misuse: provides visual representation of the "do-nots" in using identity elements.
Consistent use is one of the ways you can reinforce your company's image in the marketplace, which in turn, creates better awareness of your brand. The manual helps to guide the disciplined use of the identity elements to ensure the visual expression of your brand is executed properly.
In admitting that the business of custom photography wasn't what it used to be, a dear photographer friend of mine once wisely remarked, "Had I known the 90's would be the peak of the profession, I may have tried to enjoy it more..."
Sadly, I'm feeling the same for the design profession. While there will always be the need for quality designers (strategic and otherwise!), there certainly are signs everywhere I look signaling the profession is in trouble.
iStock's recent announcement (discussion: here, here and here) that they will soon be providing logos for companies will certainly not have an immediate impact on strategic graphic designers or brand development firms. The businesses and individuals who currently will hire firms like Element Three to do strategic brand assessments and identity development clearly value the business and strategic approach needed to successfully deploy any corporate brand initiative. In short, they aren't in the market for a $200 (or less) logo.
Yet, in the back of my mind, I can't get the thought of "good enough" out of my head. There are countless individuals, small businesses – and sadly, some not-so-small businesses - that possess a do it yourself, cheap is better mentality to all aspects of business. And, frankly, that's not a good long-term success strategy.
The question I ask is at what point in the business cycle does good enough suddenly become not good enough?
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.
It's easiest for us to think about brand touchpoints like logos, stationery, advertising, brochures and Web sites. These are the controllable things. Many organizations do a great job developing brand identity. And their brand consulting groups typically advise them (as we do) to create a set of foundational rules for the use of these tools so that they are used consistently.
Yet the most influential and memorable brand touchpoints of all is your people.
A recent airport experience highlighted this for me. I arrived at the gate of a well known airline that touts its friendliness and warmth. My colleague and I came up to the gate agent with our boarding passes. She said, "What do you want?", in a less than warm and friendly way. Taken aback, we said we wanted to check into the flight. She said, "Sit down. I'm not ready for you yet." in a brusque voice, thus undoing all the brand's communications to date.
In summary, make sure you train your people in the way you want your brand to be delivered so that what you SAY aligns with what you DO.
For a recent brand positioning project, the Element Three team was asked to clariify the structure of the brand. If you haven't heard of brand structure, it is not the same as your org chart. Brand structure determines how your brand faces the outside world. Do you lead with your overall brand name or with your products? Do you divide you messages by product line or by work process? Typically, these decisions are based on the place from which your brand derives its equity.
For instance, General Motors, leads with Chevrolet, Cadillac and its other product lines. The GM brand backs up the product lines but the product lines themselves drive equity to GM. GM adds a level of comfort to those product lines. So too is Proctor & Gamble a product-driven brand structure. These mega corporations can afford to market multiple brands unlike most organizations. Each brand you send to market represents a substantial investment in marketing costs to create awareness, credibility and intent to purchase.
Our brand consulting group can work with your organization to help you understand your brand's structure before you launch into marketing strategy, brand identity development or other strategic marketing investments. This assures that you are spending your marketing dollars in the right way by facing the market most advantageously.
Min Basadur, author of The Power of Innovation and founder of Applied Creativity, has created the Min Basadur Creative Problem Solving Profile. In it, you rate a number of descriptors about yourself. The results help you to chart out your strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the four parts of the creative process (discover the problem/develop ideas/optimize solutions/implement solutions). If you think you're not a creative thinker, think again. There are parts of the creative process that require rational, critical thinking. As part of an Indianapolis ad agency, I can vouch for that. When we develop brand communications for our clients, we need the foundational elements of the marketing plan and brand brief to keep us on track. The sexy part of the process, developing ideas and optimizing solutions, is just the part that gets all the press.
At Element Three, we welcome all creative thinkers, whether they are discoverers, developers, optimizers or implementors. If you want to learn more about the Min Basadur Profile, go to http://www.basadurprofile.com/
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
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.
Business Weeks' August 12 story, "Artists and designers are turning to data visualization to interpret the deluge of information around us, often with unexpected results", by Maria Popova, states:
"Today algorithmically inspired artists are re-imagining the art-science continuum through work that frames the left-brain analysis of data in a right-brain creative story. Some use data visualization as a bridge between alienating information and its emotional impact—see Chris Jordan's portraits of global mass culture. Others take a more technological angle and focus on cultural utility—the Zoetrope project offers a temporal and historical visualization of the ephemeral Web. Still others are pure artistic indulgence—like Koblin's own Flight Patterns project, a visualization of air traffic over North America. Here, see a slideshow of works by 21 current pioneers of the discipline."
As brand communicators, we may sometimes overlook the power of the information our clients have at their fingertips. Bringing new light to it and sharing it, in context, can be valuable to our clients' customers. Next time you're developing brand communications, don't forget the data!
In consulting with our clients specific to their brand and identity, I'll often tell them to take some risks in an effort to stand apart. A clearly defined brand strategy shoould allow some creative flexibility in terms of our ability to develop brand visuals that are on target from a brand stance, yet aren't so vanilla that they go unnoticed.
Of course, there are always those that will push the bounds of creativity... Different is good, I believe. But sometimes being different is simply stupid (albeit quite funny). Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the idea whose time may never come: a business card made of meat:
Business First is our motto at Element Three, and our Blog is designed to provide marketers and decision makers with fresh ideas and perspectives in the worlds of business, brand, marketing and design.
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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.
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