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SketchUp Shows How to Rebrand after Google

SketchUp Shows How to Rebrand after Google

SketchUp logos GoogleIn 2000, a 3D modeling tool debuted called SketchUp, which was purchased by Google in 2006. Since then, SketchUp became part of the Google brand architecture, which meant the SketchUp identity was Google-ified. As Aidan Chopra explained on the SketchUp blog, “The Google years brought several logos as we responded to successive top-down branding directives. None were particularly inspired.”

You can see the evolution of the SketchUp logo as part of Google in the image to the left. The first logo is simply the original SketchUp logo with the Google name tacked on, and the logos on the bottom are later evolutions of the brand logo.

But the Google days are over for SketchUp, which was sold to Trimble in April 2012, and that means it was also time for a new brand identity. Rebranding SketchUp meant the brand could return to some of its core messages of simplicity, perspective, dynamism, friendliness, and professionalism rather than “stodginess or head-banging complexity,” as Aidan Chopra explained.

The new SketchUp logo is shown below. The new logo icon looks like a cube, which seems appropriate for a 3D modeling tool, but as Chopra points out, “It isn’t really a cube at all. The implied stairs or levels are an apt representation of our roots in architecture and other construction disciplines.” Furthermore, the chevrons in the logo icon create a series of hidden arrows pointing upwards — a nod to the “Up” part of SketchUp.

sketch up logo

Ultimately, the SketchUp logo needed to be flexible to work in diverse media, as a screen icon, and more. Any brand that’s moving out from under a massive brand umbrella like Google has an opportunity to truly stand out with a phenomenal rebranding initiative. While marketers and customers might argue that the SketchUp logo isn’t perfect, the new identity is a significant departure from its Google identity. And returning to a red color palette that points to the history of the SketchUp brand before Google owned it, is a wise decision — not to mention the fact that SketchUp finally has a desktop icon!

What do you think of the SketchUp rebranding? Leave a comment and share your thoughts about branding after parting from a well-known brand like Google.

Credibility Counts: Making the Most of Website Advertisements

transfer of affectBetween 2000 and 2011, the Internet saw a 525% growth rate, with the amount of Internet users jumped from 3 million to over 2 billion. Needless to say, the Internet is ripe territory for corporate website advertising. But it must be done correctly.

Website advertisements are characterized by a wide spectrum of efficacy. While some advertisements go unnoticed, others can be significant contributors to increases in ROI. What determines the success of a website advertisement?

Credibility is what counts.

The social psychology concept transfer of affect can explain how credibility leads to successful website advertising. Transfer of affect occurs when a person transfers positive emotions connected with one object to another object that is associated with it.

Credible Ads from a Credible Source

When applied to website advertisements, transfer of affect can be expressed in the relationship between a user’s perceived perception of credibility and their response to website advertisements. Research shows that users who believe a corporation and its website to be credible are more likely to believe that that website advertisement is credible as well. Thus, credibility transfers from corporation or corporate website to website advertisement.

Credibility affects the following:

  • User interpretation the advertisement – A high level of credibility leads to a positive interpretation of the advertisement. Low credibility can lead to derogation of the website and the corporation.
  • User attitude towards the advertisement – When the user senses credibility, they will view the advertisement as legitimate, as opposed to a mere annoyance.

Establishing Credibility

Credibility is a function of expertise & trustworthiness. An image of expertise and trustworthiness can take any corporation a long way. When a user senses these attributes, it affects their attitude towards the brand and their product purchase intentions.

  •  To establish expertise  – Provide valid, relevant, and accurate information on your website.  Be sure to eliminate any jargon  and tailor the content of your website to your target audience.
  •  To establish trustworthiness – Be sure to present your image in a way that erases any doubts in the consumer’s mind. They want to believe that your corporation has no motive for manipulation or deception.

How to maximize your website advertisements

If you are a corporation looking to increase credibility, then it is wise to place your advertisements on credible websites owned by credible organizations. Users tend to find URL domain types such as .edu, .gov, .org. and .com as highly credible.

If you are a well-established corporation, then your focus does not necessarily need to be on establishing credibility. Instead it should be on maintaining and improving your credibility. This can be done through focusing on the relevance, validity, and accuracy of your advertisements since these are powerful ways to build corporate images of expertise.

A closing note: Those corporations that host advertisements on their website should be sure each advertisement they host is relevant to their topic, as well as accurate and valid. Because, remember, the transfer of affect can go both ways; a poorly designed advertisement can cast a shadow on event the most credible websites.

References

For information on Transfer of Affect  (Krosnick, Jussim, & Lynn, 1992)

http://osil.psy.ua.edu:16080/~Rosanna/Soc_Inf/week3/693_subliminal.pdf

For information on credibility and website advertisements (Choi & Rifon, 2002)

http://jiad.org/article26

Surprising Statistics for Digital Coupon Marketing

digital couponA new study by RevTrax reveals some interesting statistics related to the relationship between consumer demographics and digital coupon conversion behaviors. The researchers studied millions of digital coupons used to drive in-store sales and cross-referenced that data with coupon activation rates by age, income, education, location, and more. Several key demographic groups demonstrated significantly different digital coupon in-store conversion rates than other groups.

Some of the findings from the study include:

Age

Older consumers are more likely to use digital coupons. “On average, a 10% increase in median age yields a 2.49% increase in activation rates for retail coupons in urban U.S. counties. Increased median age also correlates with higher activation rates for retail coupons when compared to CPG coupons (whether urban or rural).”

Millennials are least likely to use digital coupons. “On average, a 10% increase in people ages 15 to 24 resulted in a 1.20% decrease in activation rate for retail coupons in urban U.S. counties and a 1.35% decrease in activation rate for retail coupons in rural U.S. counties.”

Income

Consumers with higher incomes are more likely to use digital coupons. “On average, a 10% increase in median income yields a 1.59% increase in digital coupon activation rates for retail coupons in urban U.S. counties. Increased median income also correlates with higher activation rates for retail coupons when compared to CPG coupons (whether urban or rural).”

Employment Status

Consumers who are employed are more likely to use digital coupons. “On average, a 10% increase in unemployment rate yields 0.46% decrease in activation rate for both CPG coupons in urban U.S. counties and CPG coupons in rural U.S. counties.”

Education

Consumers with a college education are more likely to use digital coupons (in urban U.S. counties). “On average, a 10% increase in bachelor’s degree percentage yields a 0.70% increase in activation rate for retail coupons in urban counties and an extra 0.18% increase in activation rate for CPG coupons in urban counties.”

Gender

Women are more likely to use digital coupons than men (in urban U.S. counties). “On average, a 10% increase in the number of males per 100 females yields an 11.86% decrease in the activation rate for retail coupons in urban counties and a decrease of 2.46% in activation rates for CPG coupons in urban counties.”

RevTrax expects that the data revealed through this study will help brands and retailers better understand the relationship between coupons and consumer behavior and the need to align digital advertising with both ecommerce marketing budgets and brick and mortar budgets. Of course, this makes complete sense. A fully integrated marketing plan is always the most powerful marketing plan.

What do you think?

Image: Ayhan Yildiz

Can Students Find The Internship You Offer?

The following post is written by Nicola Medici, a 3rd year Economics Student from Loughborough University. She has recently completed a years internship on the FMP programme with GE, having applied to (and been through the application process for) many companies while looking for a year-long internship as part of her degree.

I thought you might find the view ‘from the other side’ interesting…

How Students Find an Internship

For many second year students, applying for an internship is the first experience of the application process for a professional job within the sector they are interested and see a career in. Therefore it is important that finding the internship—and the process that follows—is as simple as possible.

There are a multitude of platforms on which companies can advertise placement positions:

  • The easiest is on the companies careers website itself. A simple page with directions can allow the applicant to discover information about the position and essential background information on the company itself at the same time.
  • A second form of advertisement is on websites which students use to search for placement opportunities such as rate-my-placement and milkround. You put a simple one-pager onto a website with a brief description of the role you are offering. This can also include links to your website, where you may describe the position in more detail, or to an application website. From my own experience this is how several students search for placement opportunities as it allows them to search using key words and to receive pages of jobs of possible interest to search through on one simple platform.
  • The final form of advertisement is to go to universities direct. At Loughborough University, my own, we have a placements office who advertise roles directly. These comprise of A4 sheets which we are able to take away, providing simple information on the role, location, day to day tasks, how to apply etc. Many universities also offer career days where companies can come in and advertise graduate and placement opportunities. These are a fantastic opportunity for companies to advertise themselves to a wide range of students who may not even have thought of applying for the role on offer before attending.

Two Ideas for Improvement

From my experience of applying there are two areas which can be improved when advertising roles to placement students:

  • The first is the amount of information about the role which is advertised. Often people have a rough idea about what a title relates to: however our perceived opinion is often wrong. It would be useful to create some sort of handbook detailing the internship for possible applicants. Information on key skills, day-to-day tasks, areas of work, opportunities for the year ahead, and reviews from previous students would all be interesting information for applicants.
  • My second idea would be to allow applicants to contact the current intern to ask questions about the role, interview process and company. This would allow the opinion of the person currently experiencing the role to answer any questions potential applicants have. This may be less intimidating to applicants as they would be contacting somebody their own age.

Thanks Nicola!

Posting Pointers: The Psychology of Social Media Marketing

When it comes to social media, you are what you post.

Are you posting the right things at the right time? The last several years have proven social media to be a leading marketing strategy. It has taken over a domain once ruled by coercive television, radio, and print advertisements to stand on its own as an innovative method of advertising. It is dependent solely upon the relationship development between company and customer. Whether you like it, love it, or are simply waiting for its influence to fade away – social media is here to stay. And if the proliferating amount of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube icons adorning most websites doesn’t convince you, then the statistics will.

  • During 2010-2011, the net income of Facebook jumped from 606 million to 1 billion, 50 percent of this income coming solely from advertisements.
  • 47 percent of consumers in 2012 claim that social media platforms have the greatest impact on their purchasing behavior. This is up from 24 percent in 2011.
  • 77 percent of Internet users read blogs on a regular basis.
  • Individuals under the age of 30 make up over 50% of the world’s population; 96% of them claim to have joined a social network.

(Sources: www. JeffBullas.com; Universal McCann)

 Not many would argue that social media marketing is popular and powerful. But how does it work from a psychological point of view?

It’s all about image.

The power of social media marketing can be explained through a psychological concept termed social presentation. This concept is simple: appearance is important to people, especially in social situations. And people engage in certain behaviors in an effort to enhance their social image. If you look at Facebook as a continuous cocktail party, you can begin to understand how this concept applies. The social presentation theory also states that we manage our social image through purchasing name brand items that make us look good. If you replace the purchasing of brand name items with things such as ‘likes’ ‘+1’s’, status updates, photographs, and comments, then the relationship becomes clearer.

What to post? When to post? How to post?

Studies have shown that people use the Internet  to create ‘virtual online identities’.  A personal social media profile such as Facebook enables people to create these virtual identities.   For the same reasons people buy name brand clothing, people will ‘like’, ‘tweet’, or post the advertisements and companies that they feel boost their social image.

With this in mind, the secret to social media marketing is to present your company in a way that is attractive to Internet users. Internet users are constantly looking for material they can use as self-presentation leverage. So be strategic with your posts. Below are three tips from the experts on how to post effectively:

  1. Be Consistently Engaged – Post often and consistently. Psychological theories of persuasion claim that repetition plays a central role in consumer persuasion. The more they see you, the more they like you – so maximize visibility.
  2. Be Intriguing – Make your posts unique and eye-catching – and don’t shy away from using humor.  Be creative and make your marketing tactics stand out from the rest.
  3. Be Friendly  – Remember that relationship development lies at the heart of social media. Drop all corporate airs and interact on the same level as your customers.

In sum, the game of social media marketing is full of strategic moves, many of which have not even been realized.  And though there are many ways to play the social media game, one standard rule applies – create a marketing campaign that appeals to your audience.

References

For more information on the Self Presentation concept (Goffman, 1959)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Presentation-Self-Everyday-Life/dp/B000IG497Q

For more information about social media in general (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009)

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681309001232

For more on social media marketing strategy

http://coremetricscafe.com/showcase/downloads/thurs-developing-roi-driven-social-media-strategy.pdf

Personalized Branding for Absolut Vodka Means 4 Million Custom Bottle Designs

absolut uniqueAbsolut Vodka is rolling out 4 million custom bottle designs in an effort to turn the limited-edition packaging trend into an effective personalized branding tactic.

Unlike other brands that roll out limited-edition package designs for cause marketing and seasonal marketing campaigns, Absolut is going a step further by creating 4 million unique bottle designs, each slightly different from the next and all with their own identifying number. The campaign tagline and copy reads, “Absolut Unique. One of a kind. Millions of expressions.”

As Gabriel Beltrone of AdWeek explains, the “exclusivity” of the promotion targets an audience who responds to campaigns that play to vanity and drives the desire to own one of a small number of collectible branded bottles or items. Gabriel writes, “The new Absolut is meant to deliver that same dopamine kick, on steroids.”

You can see the behind-the-scenes video from the Absolut marketing team that provides more details below:


The question is whether or not the personalized branding effort by Absolut will drive the results the company wants. Producing 4 million custom designs is a unique undertaking, and already, people are talking about the brand online as a result. Will consumers flock to stores to purchase their own unique bottles? How many people will purchase Absolut in order to get a custom bottle who would not have purchased Absolut otherwise?

Absolut’s advertising has always been creative and successfully personalized the brand to fit just about any occasion or audience you can think of. Limited-edition, personalized packaging seems like a good fit for the brand overall. I’d love to see some integrated marketing efforts such as Pinterest boards and Facebook contests where people who purchase the personalized bottles can share pictures of their designs and get even more exposure for the campaign and the Absolut brand across the social web. It’s the perfect place for the brand to extend its reach into the broader consumer conversation.

What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Absolut