Made Moon Blog

Whether you’re just starting your business or your business is well underway, this question has more than likely popped into your head:

Should I have a logo?

The answer to this is really internal. You know your market, your customers and your plans for your business better than anyone. So before deciding whether or not to get a logo created, ask yourself these questions:

• Would the addition of a logo benefit my brand? In other words, would a logo amplify, enhance or highlight my overall purpose?
• Does it make sense for me to have a logo? For example, if you have a clothing line, a logo could make brand recognition that much easier and thereby customers could recognize you just on your image alone. The reverse would be, for instance, if you ran a small accounting company out of your home & and are not interested in recruiting new clients…well, investing in a logo might not make a whole lot of sense.
• What do my competitors do? Now, of course, you want to set yourself apart from your competitors but you also want to be consistent within your industry.

If after answering these questions, you’re still not sure, consider these three benefits a logo offers to your business:

1. Helps make a generic name unique: If your name is merely descriptive and/or geographic, the addition of a logo could add to the uniqueness factor of your entire brand. That uniqueness factor is what most every business should strive for - setting yourself apart from others in your industry.
2. Gives your product or service a “personality”: How can a product line or service have “personality?” Think of virtually any famous name and what it would lose if their logo did not exist. Imagine if McDonald’s didn’t have the ‘golden arches’ or Nike’s ubiquitous ’swoosh’ never existed? Would their brands be as strong today if that image wasn’t imprinted on the minds of most consumers? Would those brands have the same “personality” based on name alone?
3. Establishes brand identity: One of the goals of establishing brand identity is to get customers to remember who you are and to come back to you time and time again. Hopefully, customers will remember you by name alone. But, without a doubt, images stick in people’s minds a lot easier than mere words. By integrating a name and logo together, you’re that much closer to getting that customer to remember you and to call you again.

Consider all of the above when it comes time to make a decision about a logo. If you do decide to use a logo, you’ll want to ensure that no other party already owns rights to the same or similar logo. Then if research proves clear, you can decide if filing for a trademark is the next step.

Logos - the addition of one can become a valuable asset to your business!

Shannon Moore is the General Manager, East Coast for TradeMark Express. Since 1992, TradeMark Express has met the needs of their clients with comprehensive research, application preparation, attorney referrals and trademark consultation. For further details, please visit us on the web at http://www.tmexpress.com or call Shannon directly at 800.340.2010.

Last week, I wrote about packaging and the environment. Since then I have been flooded with a host of interesting new packaging and product introductions. Surprisingly much of the packaging innovation is coming from outside the U.S. than from our own national companies.

It seems that there is much more going on in environment legislation about packaging in other countries. In fact, at the World Packaging Organization meeting in Beijing last week it was announced that China is working to develop “green packaging” as part of its efforts to build an environment-friendly society. I also have had the opportunity to read some very interesting facts including this tidbit: the world consumes 25 billion pizza boxes annually. So, if your pizza box is “green” you can save the world.

Seriously, it’s great to make an announcement and to get the word out about all new packaging innovations, but the real test is integrating your “green” packaging products into your brand.

People are jumping on the environmental band wagon because it’s a hot topic right now. The recent Earth Day activities made people think about things that have to do with the environment. Global warming issues are on the news daily and people are looking for scapegoats as the cause. The packaging industry is often chastised for having unfriendly environmental policies. I’m not here to debate this point, but to talk about using environmental issues in a positive manner.

Let’s take the word “green” as an example. Obviously, we think of the color first.
But what about the variations of the definition that relate to packaging? How green is your packaging world?

•    Green could mean less damage to the environment;
 •    Green could be producing packaging from renewable resources;
 •    Green could be designing products for environmental sustainability;
 •    Green could be the use of less material and recyclable and degradable materials.

So “green” can be maximized for branding purposes in a host of different ways.

If you have a “green” packaging product what ways are you capitalizing on the current media exposure (in addition to send out a press announcement)? Here are a few points to consider:

•    Did you support or promote participation in any Earth Day activities?
 •    Do you belong to any one of the many organizations that support "green" and the environment?
 •    Did you orchestrate your new packaging introduction to coincide with Earth Day or other environmental events?
 •    Have you submitted your green product to the numerous packaging associations' opportunities for environmental awards?
 •    Have you submitted your package to any of the non packaging related organizations that have "environmental" awards?
 •    Do you have a plan in place that your entire staff understands and utilizes to build your "green" brand?
 •    Do they believe in being "green" (very important)?
 •    Have you looked at any websites such as treehugger.com (great site with lots about packaging) to see what they are doing?

I just saw this:
“The last day to enter our “Unexpected Green” Contest is quickly approaching - this Friday, May 5th. Just as a quick refresher, we are looking for green items you have found in normally not so green places, big box retailers, mall stores, the Exxon-Mobil gift shop (OK that might be a bit of a stretch). Send your “unexpected green” items to: CONTEST@treehugger.com and tell us that the product is, where you found it, and why you think it was an unexpected find. So, if you want to get your hands on the contest prize, a $350 gift certificate from Earth, be sure to get your entries in pronto to contest@treehugger.com”

Sure it seems a bit far fetched but Treehugger lives in the blogosphere world and we all know how important blogging is to the media. Try a quick GOOGLE search for “green packaging.” Yes, there are a few products listed but what is more important is what is not there. A huge area of untapped marketing potential is available for increasing the visibility for your packaging products.

No matter how unusual or “out there” the opportunity seems you cannot under estimate who will see and read about your “green” brand. Let me use a personal experience as an example: I wrote two e-zine issues entitled “Earth Day Battle: Packaging VS the Environment.” I received lots of new inquiries from all over the globe with a simple headline.

The branding issue I want you to think about is: (1) Is your “green” packaging product is a flash in the pan? (2) Has there been serious brand integration of the “green” message throughout your company? (3) Are you using your “green” message in all the promotion, literature and media exposure? Remember it’s never too early to plan your “green” branding campaign for Earth Day 07 and to maximize your brand.

Packaging Experts, Packaging Consultants, Packaging Speakers:

The Public Relations Department at Packaging University can connect you with the country’s top leaders, experts, consultants and speakers, in packaging and related industries. Our experts work in all facets of packaging and they will speak with you about new innovations, trends, legislation, technology, and other packaging news. Contact us if you need experts to interview, article ideas, news, hot topics, or quotes, opinions, and insights from prestigious sources.

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How many times have you heard of seen advertising for a graphic design company that states that they do branding?

If you think branding is a logo, letterhead, or web design with all the same look, and colours, then it’s true…they can “do branding”.

Let’s take a look at one of the world’s best-branded companies, McDonalds. You may not like the food, but if someone says “golden arches” you know what institution they are talking about. Mickey D, McCoffee and Big Mac all bring the same familiar name to mind. You each may have a different reaction to the thought of eating there, but any one of the many product names will trigger the bigger picture.

Think about the things you know from each of your McDonalds experiences: You know they have salty fries, the food is fast, and there is a system to everything they do. The staff often says the same things to you. You can get the same core menu items all over the world. If you take the time to think about it, you can up with a huge list of features you can count on at McDonalds.

Doesn’t that make the term “branding” when applied to logo, look and colour seem a bit of a misnomer?

We know that the concept was born in a single location in small town America. How do you think that McDonalds developed their brand? You can get the book and read all about it, but you don’t have to do that to figure out how to build your own brand.

There is no secret. It’s all about organizational culture. Brand is the personality your business has developed through your leadership and the systems you put in place. It’s having a customer know that each time they go into your business, they will be treated the same way they were last time they were there. They will see some of the same products. The staff will say hello just like they always do. The business will have the same policies and procedures…in other words…a customer can count on you to be who you were during their last experience.

No one else can create a brand for you, …unless you hired a CEO to run the business, set the parameters and standards, and writes the operational procedure manuals. Many businesses start small, with the owner doing most of the work…that’s the time to write the procedure manuals, when the person with the vision is actually doing the work and can see what works best to achieve their pre-defined results. If everyone ran their business like a well-run franchise, there would be fewer business failures and many more strong brands..

Having a strong brand means that everyone who works in your business has a clear picture of why they are there. The business could run without you, because everyone would know what they were supposed to do and how they were to treat co-workers and customers alike.

Decide who you are as a business and be the best you can be at it every day. Write down the things that you do. Decide what your goals are. Share it with your employees…and you will create a brand.

Oh… and don’t forget…you need a logo, letterhead and a web site that all convey the same message….but they are not the brand….YOU ARE!

Nancy Fraser - Nota Bene Consulting
Results Driven Advertising and Marketing
www.notable-marketing.com

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A rough guide to corporate identity

The tabloids report the millions spent by large corporate companies on their logos as a scandal… Those small swathes of colour adorning British Airways’ tail fin, ICI’s letterhead or Sainsbury’s checkout seem to come at a huge price.

So do these companies have too much money and not enough common sense? Are they victims of designer indulgence, or are they getting a good deal?

This isn’t rocket science, but it is often misunderstood, as the tabloids flagrantly show. Let’s start at the beginning. Every company has a corporate image. Every company from Joe’s One-Man Taxi Co. to IBM. It may be good, it might be bad. Put simply, corporate identity is the way in which an organisation is perceived.

Corporate identity describes the individual characteristics by which a company is recognised. It is the organisation’s sense of ’self’ - the corporate individuality or personality. Visual identity (that’s the logo) is a pretty big part of it.

So how deep into corporate identity do you want to go? Let’s really confuse matters.

The public, customers, employees, the city, all have a vastly different image of the same company. The image is an accumulation of a company’s past and present identity. Each and every encounter we have with it (by phone, in person or through the media) alters our impression. First impressions (what psychologists call the “primacy effect”) are vital to how we see the company in the future, and extremely difficult to change. Future encounters with the company and its products will only add to the mosaic already constructed in our mind (the “recency effect”), rather than replace it.

But the multi-nationals have bought far more than just a logo. They buy a carefully designed face - corporate plastic surgery, an appearance, an identity. And they’ve paid for a lorry-load of thinking behind it. They have funds and enough at stake to really do the job properly. The logo isn’t plucked from the sky, but selected with precision from thousands of others which were cast aside during its design.

A research team identifies the company’s needs (they are all so very different). A corporate ID programme uses the results and a design team is briefed. Ideas lead to solutions, and stage by stage presentation to the client for discussion and refinement.

Once completed, the ID is usually ‘rolled out’ gradually, strictly enforced by lengthy guidelines covering all possible applications. The advent of desktop publishing has both helped and hindered in-house bastardisation of corporate identity. Without consistency, the identity is ineffective, probably damaging.

There are companies in the UK still unconcerned by their image. Some feel the company is not developed enough to begin work on its image; others perceive astronomical costs, or just don’t care that their corporate communications look like the office dog ate them. And some just slap a logo on everything in sight.

You don’t have to spend millions on corporate Identity

Many household names would not exist without painstakingly designed and instigated schemes that we as customers seldom even consciously consider.
So what of those companies who don’t have millions to outlay on corporate identity programmes? Fortunately, the corporate identity for a smaller company tends to be far simpler.

Your corporate identity programme can be conducted in-house, just as the research and much of the development. Always keep it very simple, and brief an appropriate designer not a print company. Make sure you get on with them, and see some of their past work. Get a rough quote before you start. Cut down any wrong trees they are likely to bark up. Inspire them. Be direct. Be patient. Be decisive. Give them ‘creative freedom’. Ensure they get to know and understand your business. Try to see your company from the point of view of your target market.

Keep the number of presentations they make to you to a minimum. This adds importance to those meetings. Don’t compromise, but do stay open-minded. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and an investment in a well thought-out corporate identity for your business will reap its cost many times over, not to mention giving you a massive advantage over your badly-dressed competitors.

Next time you walk down the street, look out for Sainsbury’s which is certainly tasting better at last. It took their designers nearly three years to lose the ‘J’ and find a replacement for that ghastly orangey-beige. Check out Barclays’ gorgeous new global eagle. And while you’re there, you might remember that Tesco not so many years ago looked a little bit like Kwik Save does today. Next time you decide to skimp on the presentation of your company, think how much you spent on your best suit. Don’t turn up to the ball in your jeans!

Written for In Business Magazine by Jonathan Foster-Smith from Shine Design., graphic design and corporate identity consultants in Oxford. Distributed by Whatprice.