Unusually, Novo Nordisk have embedded their Twitter feed into the hero slot at the top of their Sustainability section. If included at all, this is usually in the sidebar or in the footer.
The emphasis indicates the importance to Novo Nordisk of communicating with stakeholders – and dramatically draws attention to their Twitter feed. Only the last three tweets are included, which means the font used can be large, with plenty of whitespace.
And, of course, it makes a change from big hero images…
Today I had thought to report on some ideas for constructing a sustainable economy. Some other time.
Instead the ever readable Akhila Vijayaraghavan, founder of international CSR consultancy The Green Den, has written a potent blog about the treatment of women in her native Indian society.
In particular she points to the recent deaths of two baby girls named Neha Afreen and Falak, who have died through severe battering within the last 6 weeks.
Here is a bit more detail of the cases: those of a sensitive disposition should look away now.
Seagram’s (distributed by the Coca-Cola Company) is known for its Ginger Ale and line of mixers such as club soda, tonic water, and so on. In an effort to differentiate its brand as the choice for sophisticated adult consumers, Seagram’s launched a rebranding effort that includes a new logo and package design. The rebranding coincides with the Coca-Cola Company’s plans to expand the brand into new markets.
You can see the old and new logo below.
Check out the new package design below.
And see the new can design below.
The line of Seagram’s products will maintain a consistent design with color used to differentiate flavors. For example, can designs will retain the metallic color palette shown in the image to the left. Similarly, the simpler Seagram’s crest design will be used as a supporting element but notice how it still becomes a centerpiece of the design? It’s very clever.
Overall, this rebranding effort is excellent for a brand that wanted to position itself against the traditional soft drink category and stake its claim in the market of adults looking for a modern brand to offer at parties and events for mixing sophisticated cocktails.
Simple design and metallic colors might seem like an overused trick to represent brands that want to be known as high quality, luxury brands, but when the trick is executed well, it works. This design, by Hatch, demonstrates the importance of restraint in branding — a concept that’s typically associated with brand strategy, extensions, and so on but as the Seagram’s rebranding demonstrates, also applies to brand identity.
The Seagram’s product line will look much more relevant on the shelves in the liquor aisles of stores than the previous design. Of course, the rebranding will draw both supporters and detractors, but one thing is for certain — this rebranding is an improvement over the previous identity and is better aligned with the company’s goals for the brand.
What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Facebook has acquired Instagram for $1 billion — a number that few people predicted the company’s valuation would come close to reaching. At just two years old, Instagram is a mobile app that makes it easy for people to share photos with friends and families from their mobile devices when they’re on the go.
Now, those images and user information and behaviors will become part of the Facebook data mine. As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained in a post announcing the Instagram acquisition, “For years, we’ve focused on building the best experiences for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”
One might wonder why Facebook didn’t simply create its own tool to compete with Instagram, but with an estimated 25 million users, the value of Instagram comes more from the content and information that can be extracted from user behaviors than the technology. The race for social search supremacy is on and Facebook and Google are in the lead right now. Simply recreating Instagram wouldn’t help Facebook reach its goals as effectively as acquiring Instagram’s users and existing content can.
One might argue that many Instagram users are probably also Facebook users, but there is a reason why those people turned to Instagram for mobile photo sharing. Facebook doesn’t want to lose those users or the activities those users participate in on Facebook related to photo sharing. The acquisition eliminates the threat that Instagram poses.
At the same time, Facebook made an offer that Instagram couldn’t refuse. Again, the company is making a clear statement that competitors are sure to understand. After all, Facebook leaders don’t even call Facebook a social network anymore. Instead, they favor the term “social graph,” and Instagram content and user behavior are perfect additions to creating the ultimate social graph.
Of course, Zuckerberg is quick to point out in his announcement that there are no plans to make any changes to Instagram. Losing Instagram users would defeat the purpose of the acquisition. For now, enhancements will be made to integrate Instagram more seamlessly with Facebook but other changes should be minimal.
In his announcement, Zuckerberg wrote, “[Existing] features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.”
No matter how the Instagram acquisition by Facebook story evolves, one thing is for certain — photos are valuable property for brands in social media. People like to publish them, share them, and talk about them. Think about how you can integrate photos into your brand’s social media marketing strategy. How can you use tools like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Flicker, and so on to do it?
The old saying tells us that a picture is worth a thousand words. Let the power of photos work for your brand by integrating them into your social media strategy right now.
Ever since Facebook launched its new Timeline to Facebook Pages, brands have been trying to figure out how to use it to their advantage. The Timeline offers a new view of a brand’s history that Facebook users have yet to completely accept, so brands have to tread carefully.
However, finding the right ways to turn a feature that users don’t instantly accept, understand, or like into something that they love is what brands do best, so it seems like a great opportunity. At least that’s what Spotify saw when it turned its Facebook Page Timeline into an ongoing history of music.
Spotify sees the Facebook Timeline as a perfect story-telling device. Not only can brands tell their own stories using the Facebook Timeline, but people can join in by sharing their own stories, too. What better way to create an emotional connection with consumers and build a brand?
While Spotify’s Timeline is still a work in progress, a quick perusal gives you an idea of what it could become — a one-stop destination for everything and anything related to music history. Right now, Spotify is focusing on adding “huge historical landmarks” to its Facebook Timeline while keeping its Facebook content fresh with current music news. Adding an interactive crowdsourcing element to its Facebook Timeline, Spotify is asking visitors to share dates in music history that they think are significant but still missing from the timeline.
The lesson to learn from Spotify’s Facebook Timeline is simple. As new tools are launched and features are added, don’t just think about all the new content you need to create to build your brand presence. Instead, think about how you can repurpose existing content and couple it with fresh content to build a branded experience that adds value to consumers’ lives. Spotify is doing it by repurposing content from the pages of music history, and you can do it, too. That’s one of the key lessons I discuss in Content Marketing for Dummies, and it applies to both online and offline marketing as well as traditional marketing tactics and new media marketing tactics. Don’t be afraid to get creative!
Remember when the big problem for television advertisers shifted from consumers leaving the room during commercials to fast forwarding over them when they recorded the programs they watched? Next, the proliferation of DVRs made it easier than ever for people to skip commercials. Now, consumers have added another way to ignore commercials and it’s growing in popularity very quickly — simultaneously using tablet and smartphone devices while watching television.
However, all hope isn’t lost for commercials. In fact, new opportunities are being discovered to engage with consumers in new ways through television ads.
In a Nielsen study of connected device owners in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany during the fourth quarter of 2011, it was discovered that the majority of connected device owners are watching television and using their smartphones or tablet devices at the same time. Following are some of the statistics from the study.
United States
United Kingdom
Germany
Italy
Survey respondents in all four countries agreed on one thing — the activity that they do the most on their tablet and smartphone devices while watching television is checking email. This is an activity that they’re likely to do both during commercials and during programs.
Here is where the data gets interesting. Consumers are using their mobile devices while watching television to not only look up information about programs but also to look up information about products advertised on television and search for deals on those products.
Brand marketers should take note of two important findings. First, consumers are looking for product-related information on their mobile devices while watching television and often commercials are catalysts to those searches. If you thought television advertising was dead — think again. It’s more important than ever to integrate your marketing efforts and include online and mobile elements, even in your television ads.
Second, tablet owners are slightly more likely to use their devices while watching television than smartphone owners. It’s worth considering how to integrate mobile elements for specific devices (e.g., tablet vs. smartphone) into your various marketing initiatives, including television ads.
Image: Veronica Belmont
