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Archives for 2014

The Evolution of Brand Red

red paint brand identityEarly in my marketing career, I worked for a large financial company that had a red and green logo. It was at that time that I learned two very important things. First, a red and green logo and brand color palette were extremely limiting creatively. Back in the day, the vast majority of marketing materials were printed. Digital marketing didn’t really exist yet, so most creative marketing initiatives had at least one component that required offset printing. To keep costs down, printing was often limited to one or two colors. When you’re limited to printing marketing materials using only the primary colors in the brand color palette, and those two colors are red and green, it’s very difficult to design a piece that doesn’t look like it fell out of a box of Christmas decorations.

The second thing I learned all those years ago was to avoid red in brand color palettes and logo design. Remember, at the time, most marketing materials were printed. To keep costs down, one or two color printing required the use of halftones. There are many very nice halftones available when you’re working with a bright, Christmas red, but they quickly shift from red to pink. Suffice it to say, pink didn’t communicate the brand image that the financial executives wanted.

Today, creative marketers think differently about the color red. There is far less offset printing being done as print advertising comes a bit closer to death each year. Printed brochures have been replaced with digital versions, and a large amount of direct mail has been replaced with email marketing. In other words, my aversion to red in brand identity color palettes is not as strong as it was 20 years ago. However, it’s still a color that should be used carefully.

The psychology of color plays an important role in brand and marketing communications. Colors evokes feelings in people both consciously and subconsciously. Red is a hot color often associated with anger. In fact, researchers have found that anxiety and aggression increases in test subjects when they’re exposed to the color red.  However, depending on the shade of red used, the meaning of the color could change. Its meaning and the emotions it elicits from people also changes depending on what part of the world they’re from.  In the United States and most of Europe, red is most often associated with aggression, energy, and danger, but in Turkey and the Ivory Coast, red is associated with death and morning.

Bottom-line, my aversion to red for brand color palettes has decreased significantly over the years, but it’s still a color that I recommend marketers use with caution. Choose the right red to match your brand image while giving you creative flexibility across all media.

For more information about the psychology of the color red in branding, take a look at the infographic from Imagibrand below. I laughed out loud when I saw the reference to red and green in the infographic since I’ve been stuck in that situation before.

brand red color psychology marketing infographic

Image: Jayesh Nair

How Brands Can Leverage the Social Impact of Facebook

social networkYour brand is probably already represented on Facebook. It probably has a Facebook Page, and one or more people from your company probably publish content on that page and respond to comments published by other users throughout the day. You might even place ads and hold promotions or other marketing campaigns on Facebook. But is your brand truly leveraging the social impact of Facebook?

According to the Social Media Update 2013, from Pew Research Center, social networkers have been significantly impacted—psychologically, behaviorally, physically, and socially—be social media tools. A study of adult internet users from the United States found that social network usage has improved social relationships and reduced isolation. For example, the average social networker is half as likely to be socially isolated than the average American. According to the data, nowhere is that shift more apparent than Facebook.

There are several social effects that brands can leverage on Facebook. By understanding varying social behaviors and how Facebook users’ social relationships and support systems work, the more successful brand marketing investments in Facebook will be. Here are four of those social effects that brand managers can leverage.

Trust

The Pew Research Center report found that Facebook users are more trusting than users of any other social network studied (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn). Building brand trust is essential to brand growth. Knowing that Facebook audiences tend to be more trusting than other social network audiences should be factored into your marketing decision-making.

Social Ties

The report also found that Facebook users have more close relationships than users of any other social network studied. In other words, there are fewer arms-length relationships on Facebook and more personalized and committed relationships. People are more invested in each other on Facebook, and that closeness can lead to stronger word-of-mouth marketing.

Support

According to the report, Facebook users get more support from their social relationships than users of any other social network studied. This social support can lead directly to powerful brand advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing.

Politics

Facebook users are significantly more politically engaged than most people, which is very important if your brand is tied in anyway to politics (directly or indirectly). The Facebook audience is more likely to be interested in and interact with politically-relevant brand content. Tread carefully in this area, but for some brands, it’s a natural fit.

Of course, you need to analyze your brand and target audience to ensure the content and conversations you publish on Facebook are representative of your brand promise and help you reach your goals. Use these Facebook social nuances to develop better brand marketing initiatives and your results should improve.

Image: Iwan Beijes

3 Ways to Structure Brand CSR in Your Company

CSR wind farmCorporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming a larger focus for corporations every day, but actually integrating CSR into your brand strategy (i.e., brand CSR) is something that more companies still need to do. While small companies typically have one person who leads the CSR effort and is responsible for everything CSR-related for the entire organization, larger corporations have a lot more people to consider. The list of stakeholders for a major corporation is very long, and keeping everyone happy is challenging.

Most companies recognize the importance of CSR and pursue initiatives to be perceived as more socially responsible, However, those initiatives come up short because they’re not fully integrated with the brand. Once you take the time to merge brand and CSR, the benefits to your brand image will increase significantly.

Following are three ways that most large companies structure resources to support brand CSR. Evaluate your company, your brand, and your resources to determine which structure will work best for your company. Choosing the wrong structure will yield limited results for your brand and company.

1. Centralized Brand CSR

Centralized brand CSR is a functional structure where CSR responsibilities are performed by a specific team within the corporate marketing department. The CSR team is tasked with developing the entire company’s CSR strategy, developing campaigns to support the strategy, monitoring results, and retooling as needed. These CSR intiatives all tie back to the brand promise, position, and image, and the centralized CSR team instructs other functional departments about requirements and timelines.

2. Decentralized Brand CSR

Decentralized brand CSR is a matrix structure where CSR responsibilities are performed by specific individuals within each brand family (e.g., the brand manager). The CSR brand team members from each brand family report to their department leader as well as to a common CSR executive. They collaborate closely to identify cross-department CSR opportunities, achieve synergies, and drive maximum results. Most importantly, they collaborate to ensure the brand is represented consistently across all CSR initiatives.

3. Integrated Brand CSR

Fully-integrated brand CSR is a flat structure where CSR responsibilities are part of every employee’s job description. This structure is most common in companies that exist for a CSR-related purpose. For example, a company that produces sustainable building materials or organic food should have a fully-integrated brand CSR structure because CSR is an integral part of the company’s mission, vision, and core values. These companies will often have a leader or small team in charge of managing and monitoring CSR activities, but the daily brand CSR focus is pushed down to the lowest possible level so each employee is empowered to make decisions that support the company’s core values and CSR focus.

Which structure does your company use? Which structure do you prefer? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Image: Jesper Baerentzen

Reputation in Oil Gas and Mining: Sharing Best Practice

sharing-best-practiceEarlier this year, I was cold-called at home by a research agency wanting to know my views on oil companies (their corporate image/reputation/behaviour/media coverage) – and of course, about one in particular.

It was a fascinating exercise to go through, given what we do, and it was interesting to think through how one’s perception of a company changes over time. I’d have loved to see the results of the research.

I’m obviously on some kind of list, because more recently I was called by a similar company wanting to know what I made of high street banks (more on that odd experience another time). It’s worth noting that the bank’s agency asked for my views on the website and the bank’s use of social media (as a customer service tool); I seem to remember that the oil company’s agency was also interested in the website.

In both cases, the agency wanted me to compare different companies in the same industry, and it is certainly true to say that what tarnishes one company’s reputation can also affect its competitors – it makes sense to consider reputation by sector.

This year’s Reputation in Oil, Gas and Mining conference will be the fourth, and, building on previous successes, Communicate have expanded it to a two-day conference – 11-12 June, 2014, in London.

Over two days, there’s obviously time for a variety of sessions, and they range from:

  • re-aligning a crisis management plan
  • through navigating the legal landscape
  • to community and activist outreach

…though the one that first caught my eye will be about communicating the corporate ethic, in which a compliance lawyer will share her experience of working on Anglo American’s anti-corruption programme.

There will be workshops, and, as before, an interactive session in which a lawyer, a journalist, a reputation advisor, and activist, a comms head and a senior PR counsel play themselves as a (fictional) crisis takes place – always a fascinating session.

Speakers include lawyers, lecturers, CEOs, several corporate comms, brand and digital executives. It’s looking good: find out more

1 in 2 Americans Read Brand Blogs

blog with mouseBrand blogs are more popular than you might think. According to research from managed WordPress hosting provider WP Engine, 46% of Americans read their favorite brands’ blogs and those brand blogs are influencing consumers’ perceptions of brands and their purchase decisions.

WP Engine found that one in two Americans say that it’s important for brands to publish blog content with one in five saying they’re satisfied with any branded content that isn’t overly self-promotional with the intent to sell products or services. Even more respondents to the WP Engine survey (two in five Americans) say they actually prefer reading content on a brand blog rather than via a third party magazine or website.

In fact, the majority of Americans say they want to read brand content, including brand blogs. They’re primarily looking for brand content that focuses on important issues (27%). On the flip side, nearly everyone (96% of survey respondents) claimed they do not want to read or view content that shows celebrities using branded products. They want useful information from brands. In fact, 32% of respondents identified the top benefit of brand blogs as enabling them to keep up with current information.

To add more evidence that brand blogs are essential parts of an integrated marketing plan today, two out of five respondents to the WP Engine survey agreed that brands that don’t publish blogs are negatively impacted. In all, 19% of respondents believe that brands that don’t publish blogs lose an important tool to communicate with consumers while 12% believe that not having a blog makes the brand look lazy. One in 10 respondents believe that a missing brand blog means the brand is less relevant to consumers.

Of course, publishing a brand blog is only the first step in leveraging a blog as a brand building tool that indirectly drives purchases, loyalty, and advocacy. Think about what your blog says about your brand. Remember, the research shows that consumers want useful information from brand blogs. They actually use that information when making purchase decisions. However, they do not want content that directly sells products and services. Direct marketing on your brand blog is a guaranteed path to failure in consumers’ minds. For consumers, failure also comes when a brand doesn’t have a blog at all, so you can’t get out of this one. Your brand needs to be present. It needs to publish useful original content, and it needs to leave the sales pitches out.

Can you do it?

Image: Svilen Milev

Luxury Brands Shouldn’t Give Up Traditional Media Yet

money affluent richIf you’re marketing a luxury brand to affluent consumers, then you might not want to follow all of the reports and statistics that say traditional media is dying or that investing in television, newspaper, and print ads is a waste of money. According to the Reaching the Wealthy Consumer report from Shullman Research Center, consumers with a net worth that exceeds $1 million are still very engaged with traditional media.

In fact, according to the report, traditional media channels rank first, second, third, and fifth in terms of reach among high net worth consumers in the United States. Television had the highest overall reach of any platform among affluent consumers for the 30 days leading up to the online study (August 20-27, 2013).

Here are rankings of reach among affluent Americans for each of the advertising channels studied:

  1. Television
  2. Websites
  3. Direct mail sent to consumers’ homes
  4. Print magazines
  5. Print newspapers
  6. Email messages
  7. Radio
  8. Facebook
  9. In brick-and-mortar stores
  10. Billboards
  11. Smartphones
  12. Movie theaters
  13. Online newspapers
  14. YouTube
  15. Shopping malls
  16. Gas stations
  17. Online magazines
  18. Tablets
  19. Twitter
  20. Medical offices

When it comes to the engagement rates for these ads, the percentage of affluent consumers who have seen ads and were actually interested in those ads shows a different ranking than the reach rankings. This is particularly in terms of the first place finisher—printed newspapers—which ranked in eighth place based on reach alone.

Here are the top 10 engagement rankings:

  1. Print newspapers
  2. Online newspapers
  3. Twitter
  4. Medical offices
  5. Shopping malls
  6. YouTube
  7. Online magazines
  8. Radio
  9. Print magazines
  10. Facebook
  11. Television
  12. Email messages (tied for 12th)
  13. In brick-and-mortar stores (tied for 12th)
  14. Smartphones (tied for 12th)
  15. Tablets (tied for 12th)
  16. Websites
  17. Direct mail to consumers’ homes
  18. Movie theaters
  19. Billboards
  20. Gas stations

While it might seem at first glance that the data is telling brand marketers to focus heavily on traditional media channels without shifting significant amounts of marketing budgets to digital advertising, a closer look tells us something different. In comparison to American consumers earning less than $1 million per year, affluent consumers are far more likely to have seen (or heard) ads on websites and in printed newspapers followed by on smartphones and in online newspapers. Clearly, mobile and digital channels drive engagement among high net worth audiences, but those engagement levels are a bit different from less affluent consumers who are more likely to have seen (or heard) ads on Facebook and YouTube than affluent consumers are.

Bottom-line, if you’re marketing a luxury brand, then you need to keep a sizable amount of your marketing budget in traditional media channels like television, print newspapers, and print magazines to not only raise brand awareness but also to communicate messages that enhance brand trust among the affluent consumer audience.

Furthermore, you should be testing digital advertising options in online newspapers, online magazines, and so on to determine which digital and new media channels are most effective for your brand and audience. The affluent audience is very different from any other audience. Purchase decisions for luxury brands are unlike any other type of brand. As a luxury brand marketer, you know this. Don’t do your luxury brand a disservice by relying on studies, reports, and statistics that don’t clearly segment the affluent audience from other audience segments. The results won’t be reliable. In fact, the results will probably be very wrong for your brand and your customers.

Image: Jenny W.