WHEN A COUCH IS MORE THAN A COMFY SEAT...IT'S A BRAND.

2

Posted on 2:35 PM | | In



It doesn't matter if a popular brand's product is expensive and upmarket or provides mass appeal and value pricing. It doesn't matter if the brand produces a product or offers a surface. What matters is the promise held by the brand and how it delivers this promise to each of the brand's willing participants.

Let's take the case of Steve, an accomplished professional in New York's fashion industry. Steve just purchased a couch. Not the cheapest couch, but certainly not the most expensive one either. He bought a couch that supposedly reflected his fashion-forward personal style. He didn't buy it just for the comfort it provides. He didn't even buy it because it was 10 feet long or was covered in expensive imported leather. He bought THIS couch because it reflected the brand HE wants to project to those most important to him - friends, family, dates and colleagues. This couch was important. And it had to do a lot of work aside from looking good in Steve's Upper West Side loft. The couch's brand carries the weight of this extra work. This carefully chosen and well-appointed couch is supposed to evoke the right responses from Steve's primary sphere of influence. And it does.

While most of us might not admit to putting that kind of thought into buying a new couch, more and more of us are making purchase decisions while simultaneously making brand choices. For you, it might not be about a new couch, but over the kind of vehicle you drive. Or the type of house you live in. Or the jeans you wear. Few of us simply buy brands, we incorporate them into our lives and this participation makes our lives better... we buy ideas.

Most consumer items are ultimately commodities...coffee, clothes, mouthwash...but consumers don't always want to buy a commodity. They want to feel that they are getting something "extra" for some additional cost. That "extra" stuff includes all the non-physcial attributes of the item. Now let's think more specifically about Starbucks Coffee, Ralph Lauren Clothes and Scope mouthwash. Each promises to deliver something that generic coffee, clothes or mouthwash simply can't. Sometimes the brand delivers the promise of a unique experience and the confidence of a consistently good cup of coffee (like a Starbucks coffee shop), sometimes it delivers the promise of status and the confidence that status promises (such as with Ralph Lauren clothing) and sometimes it offers the promise of success in business, romance and all things social (think Scope mouthwash). Brand attributes and how they resonate with consumers are key to building a loyal participation in any brand. Learn more about the brands we've worked by visiting the WORK section of this site.

Our Work on Perfecto Brand Hits GQ

0

Posted on 9:15 AM | | In



From Sean Hotchkiss at GQ:


"Schott NYC's kick-ass Perfecto Brand launched its e-commerce site last week. The hub will operate as a separate entity from the Schott NYC and will feature seasonal lookbooks like the one shot for fall."

They go on to talk about Schott's heritage and how awesome it is that they celebrate the fact that they're "An American Original Since 1913". 


Insert smug smile and borderline pretentions & self serving "Yep" here.



Read more of GQ's article on Perfecto Brand, as well as an interview with fashion designer, Greg Chapman, here. And check out the full site, including the look book we made for Perfecto here.

Alternate Title Sequence Contest for X-Men: First Class

2

Posted on 2:56 PM | | In



Inspired by classic Sixties movie titles and prompted by a design contest, we've built a 1960s style title sequence for the upcoming X-Men: First Class film. This video has made quite the stir on the internet, being featured on Comics Alliance, the largest comic industry site on the internet, i09, Yahoo, internet watering hole, The Daily What, and prompted intrest from everyone from San Diego radio stations to the offices of the BBC. As of this writing the video has been played over 175,000 times. That is six times the population of Greenland.


Set during the midst of the Cuba Missile Crisis, X-Men: First Class tells the story of the first team coming together, before they would become the heroes and villains we know from the original X-Men Trilogy. This sequence was designed to give a very brief primer on the time period, the setting, as well as show the relationships of the characters in this film, as they are very different from the previous movies and audiences shouldn't be confused as to why Professor X and Magneto, enemies in the original trilogy, are the best of friends in this prequel.


And yes, that music is a very melancholic rendition of the 90s cartoon theme song.

SOCIAL MEDIA SAVVY 4 2011

0

Posted on 9:45 AM | | In


In Seth Godin's words: “How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”
In surveying trending topics, predictions, and social media resolutions for 2011, for which there is an endless amount of thought-provoking words in recent days, it's clear that brands have to think about their goals, of course ... but the individual, the planet and their corporate reputation are far more important.

It's a tough balancing act, but with consumers more social media weary than ever, authenticity and multitasking are key. With that in mind, here’s some thoughts from the frontlines of brands and social marketing.
• Manage expectations: Social media will remain hard for companies to execute because it goes against what business is. Social networks are about individual connections, and companies were created to detach the "business" from individuals.
• Random Acts of Kindness: Create an echo-chamber of engagement: “Consumers' cravings for realness, for the human touch, ensure that everything from brands randomly picking up the tab to sending a surprise gift will be one of the most effective ways to connect with (potential) customers in 2011.”
• Shopping On-line: With a billion consumers now online can exercise their collective buying power. The old 'club' format (think: Costco) has been given a new lease on life online, where niche communities thrive and brands are able to shift excess inventory quickly.”
• Think Eco: Green consumption' and ‘eco-superior’ products on the rise, but it's now ASS-U-ME-D. Eco cannot be a brand position unless its real.
• Resist being a narcissist: Constant tweeting and online posting about self is as offensive as its real-world counterpart, for brands and people.
• Find your audience: Commerce happens in communities of interest — not social networks.
• Small is good: The "right sizing" of the internet means great content will be hyper-personalized and real-time engagement will thrive in communities of interest (this trumps quantity of impressions delivered in one humungous "social network").

The Focus Group - Is it Dead Yet?

0

Posted on 1:51 PM | | In

If a half-century of focus groups has taught us anything, it is this: People can’t tell you what they want or what they would do with any accuracy. It’s nearly impossible to get people to tell you the truth in a traditional focus group. Instead the individuals try to fit in within the artificial social setting, here they tell you what they believe you or the group wants to hear—not what they actually think or feel. They read what the others in the room find acceptable—but, rarely provide their deep-down true emotional reactions/insight that will drive their behavior.
A simple example would be a focus group we were involved with several years ago involving a large hospital in the NE. During the data gathering process we asked people a simple question: If you were alone and suffering severe chest pains, would you call “911” for an ambulance? This would seem to be a no-brainer. An unsurprising 91% answered YES.
But, something strange happened when we cross-referenced the statistical data from the same hospital. We found that when actual chest-pain sufferers faced possible death and a choice between calling for aid in the form of a rapid response by trained medical personnel, or a slower response from untrained and emotionally-upset family members and friends, which way did an overwhelming majority of actual chest-pain sufferers intuitively choose? They went for the panicky, untrained, friend’s and- family option, hands down. The true percentage of those who called 911 was only 23%.
This seems incredibly “illogical” – not to mention stupid – unless you understand how people actually make apparently unique decisions. In this case, our role as social primates trumped medical “logic.” Our subjects wanted medical care, but they intuitively needed the reassuring presence of people with whom they shared a close personal bond — even if it meant that actual medical care was delayed.
Time and time again, large corporations follow focus group results to the letter and what does it get them – New Coke, The Pontiac Aztek, as well as, The Gap and Tropicana Orange Juice brand change flubs. My years of experience with these corporate types tells me they treat focus group data as the final word for several reasons – They don’t have to make a decision. They can better argue a point in a committee like setting with backup data. And worse yet - in the event of failure they can point to the focus group as the scapegoat.
Since large companies will always search for answers shouldn’t social media be seen as a much more decisive tool to replace focus groups? What if Tropicana listened to the chatter in blogs, a costly packaging fiasco could have been avoided. It can’t be denied that the Tropicana design architect, Peter Arnell has great insight. However, in the end the consumer did not think like the designer’s own indoor focus group survey. There’s no denyning that indoor surveys reveal important dimensions of customers’ attitude, However, we must reevaluate thier use as well as create better ways to utilize more “organic”“ social media surveys in terms of applicability and acceptability of ideas to a larger audience.
With social media, if someone is taking it upon themselves to offer an opinion, it is likely this opinion is on something they know, rather than just offering an opinion in exchange for a slice of cake, fifty bucks and a warm room. However, less specific questions mean that it can be difficult to amalgamate and benchmark responses. As opposed to “Social Media” Sample groups are larger, more educated about the product or service and brake barriers geographically. For example a participant could be sitting in the remotest area of the village and participate in a discussion about the product or service in REAL TIME.

Get Some Old School!

Posted on 1:43 PM | | In

http://stuntdoubleindustries.com/

PRODUCT QUALITY IS IMPORTANT, BUT BRANDS ARE NOT BUILT BY QUALITY ALONE.

0

Posted on 7:37 AM | | In

The MINDSHARE of the consumer is inhabited by brands with stories to tell. Not to be viewed as merely a product or service, a brand is meant to be differentiated and humanized. A brand is a promise---a promise of satisfaction, a promise of happiness. What separates one brand from another is the unique story associated with it, and the fantasy fulfillment resultantly conferred upon the consumer. A brand is merely an “empty vessel” into which people pour their emotional responses and expectations.


A brand---a good brand---is the complete and ultimate embodiment of the consumer’s desires.

“Porsche is inextricably linked with the concept of taking control.” -Dr.Ing.h.c.F.Porsche AG


“...superior athletic ability speaks to everyone’s belief in some primordial capacity for a kind of true greatness that has been obscured over time by expediency, disappointment and the general clutter of contemporary life.” -Nike


“Our role at the Coca-Cola Company is to perpetuate and develop a specialness about the brand, which takes the product above and beyond what is actually in the bottle itself. And so our purpose in life...is to be able to reach the consumer everywhere.” -Coca-Cola USA


The best brands of all time have been able to view themselves as more than a mere bauble or service---but as the synonymous code-word for the consumer’s psychological and human desire. Looking at the top five workwear brands LEVI’S®, LEE®, WRANGLER®, CARHARTT®, DICKIES® to a varying degree, all embody the ultimate in a fantasy of elite caliber that may, or may not be true. It does not matter. Words are the key to brand building. Reality, of course, rests in a visual world of shapes, colors, textures, and dimensions. But reality has no meaning without the context provided by the human mind. The mind gives meaning to visual reality by using words. Only when the mind thinks that an object is large or small, beautiful or ugly, dark or light, does that meaning arise.


It is the fundamental purpose of BRAND-BUILDING to define a unique meaning, and resultantly, manufacture relevance and necessity to the consumer. Prestige, more-so, is exuded, not proclaimed. The truly great prestige product does not declare how great it is, it permits the consumer to promote how great it is. The truly great brand knows this, and develops its IMAGE and CONSUMER MINDSHARE on all levels to substantiate the intended expectation.


So you can forget about the laundry list of wonderful attributes your product has. You can’t possibly associate them all with your brand name in a human mind. To get into the consumer’s mind you have to sacrifice. You have to reduce the essence of your brand to a single thought or attribute. An attribute that nobody else already owns in your category.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)