The client:

Von Seidels specialises in protecting and enforcing IP rights in South Africa, Africa and internationally. They were recently awarded the South African IP Firm of the Year at Managing Intellectual Property’s ceremony held at the Dorchester Hotel, London, on 17 April 2013.

The brief:

The Von Seidels team approached Engage Brandcraft to develop a new branding strategy to reflect their growth, success to date and desired positioning as one of the top three IP firms in the country.

Our brief was to come up with a strategy, concept and impressive design for their new Corporate Identity. But the magic didn’t stop there… the rebranding also needed to involve the creation of a concise and well-crafted pull through of this new identity across the brand’s collateral and new website.

The challenge:

We needed to draw on the core values that have moulded Von Seidels into what it is today, whilst giving the brand a fresher identity that depicted their aims for their future. Their core values and differentiating factors include:

1. Delivering personal and friendly service.

2. Commitment to total attention to detail.

3. Offering exceptional expertise (understanding business and technical aspects of client work).

4. Going the extra mile for clients.

5. It is part of the Von Seidels culture to deal with all client enquiries swiftly and effectively, to maximize productivity.

The Corporate Identity also needed to stand out from the competition, becoming bolder and more memorable; while encapsulating the importance of creativity and ingenuity that is encompassed within the Intellectual Property Industry.

The process:

We began by delving into local competitor research and exploring examples of successful international IP firms. After much analysis and debate, the brand positioning we decided on for Von Seidels reads as follows:

“Von Seidels is a specialist IP law firm driven by people and passion and dedicated to achieving excellent results, quickly, smartly and effectively. Where there is a way, we will find it. We are not the biggest. We are the smartest.”

The brand concept was born from this positioning and inspired by what makes Von Seidels so unique; their efficiency, approachability and intelligence. These values needed to be portrayed in their branding and they also needed to be identified as a truly African IP firm, as they cater for many international clients.

The result:

The new Von Seidel’s African Swift was born! Our senior creative brandcrafter, Dijon Jones, cleverly crafted this prestigious logo (after exploring every possible option of how to incorporate a bird into a logo without it becoming cliché).

We feel that it successfully showcases the values and ethos of Von Seidels all wrapped up in an eye catching Corporate Identity. The dark blue was used to draw on the brand’s heritage and gold to illustrate their credibility, capabilities and sense of accomplishment within the space.

The website design is simple, professional and easy to navigate. Attention to detail is incorporated throughout the site, for example by using custom designed icons to represent each service on the homepage and having a simple header bar with contact details and a company profile readily available.

We are also thrilled to hear that Von Seidels had been awarded the Managing Intellectual Property’s South African IP firm of the year 2013, so the new identity can become part of the newly celebrated success for Von Seidels.

As with people, however, defining the ‘who’ of a brand is never an easy task. Elements of a CI to consider include: the product or service itself; the customer/ community experience around that product or service; the perceived personality of the product or service (which in turn should be linked to the organisational culture around it); the brand’s values and/ or principles; and the history, origins and stories associated with it.

Other components of a CI that are often overlooked include the brand’s own unique paradoxes and internal tensions, and the brand’s envisioned future -the goal and vision it shares with its market. All of these factors (and others) taken together are what define a corporate identity in the true sense of the word.

In this article we are going to focus on the core elements that make up a visual CI. The real trick is to have a design language linking them all together, so that various parts can be pulled out and used across multiple touch points, without relying on the replication of the logo to give the brand presence.

The visual interpretation of this broader understanding of CI (or visual CI) can include many facets and these are seldom the same for every brand. For Remax in the States it includes an inflatable hot air balloon; for Mc Donald’s it includes golden arches and a clown; for Singapore Airlines it includes the “Singapore Girl” and for Cell C here in SA, it included the seductive Cell C voice for a long time (although this goes beyond visual to what some commentators refer to as “sensory CI”). Generally though, a visual CI includes:

Logo

A logo fulfils four core functions:

1. To create the right first impression.

2. To give a sense of the brand’s broader identity.

3. To provide a recipe for design consistency to ensure that the brand always appears professional and synergised.

4. To provide a hook from which to hang the various impressions, experiences and associations of those who engage with the brand.

By way of example, let’s take a bank that is stuffy, old-school and staffed by dinosaurs. It embarks on an ill-informed attempt to ‘rebrand’ with a neon street-tag style logo to appeal to a more youthful market, but does not change any other elements of its identity and the way it is perceived. Would you say that the bank now has a young, fresh and hip corporate identity? We’d like to think not.

Standard collateral and stationery

This category is diversifying as brands start to get creative, go digital and break the mould. Nevertheless, it’s still important to have the basics in place: business cards, HTML email signatures, letterheads and PDF document templates. Consistent branding across these documents looks professional and helps to keep your brand top of mind. Here is a snapshot of the Engage standard collateral:

Environmental touch points

Environmental touch points are particularly important for service oriented and B2B brands. They include interiors, uniforms, signage, way-finding and a myriad of touch points specific to the industry in question. For example at Engage we are currently completing the CI pull through for a private Nigerian airline and the environmental touch points cover everything from champagne flutes, floor mats, coasters and umbrellas to name badges and uniforms. We like to practice what we preach, so here is a sneak peak of the environmental touch points in our office:

Online

Brand teams need to consider their full online presence, much of which lies outside of their control. This typically would include online assets such as websites, mobi sites and online stores, as well as social media profiles on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube etc. Then there’s also online advertising, PR/ media and a brand’s geo-location based presence, which straddles the online and “real” worlds.

Coke really does this well, with consistent and creative branding across all their platforms and campaigns. Find out all about their latest digital campaign on BrandChannel.com.

Brand differentiators

Finally there are specific touch points that set brands apart and make brands special. They either constitute points of differentiation in and of their own accord or they can convey differentiation that stems from a more intrinsic place. This can be anything from the packet of branded mints in a rental car to high profile sponsorship of the restoration of a national icon. For example Rome’s 18th Century Trevi Fountain is in the midst of a 20-month, $2.9million restoration, courtesy of the Fendi fashion house. The project combines “a love of Rome’s past with a need to preserve its future”.

Wondering how this relates to branding? Findings from the latest Target Group Index survey (the largest single source consumer brand and lifestyle survey in South Africa) suggest that “there is definitely demand in the marketplace for green-perceived brands, however in order to win the hearts and minds of consumers, marketers must be sure to get their green marketing messages aligned with consumer expectations.” In other words just sticking a green label on an existing product is not likely to be a roaring success. The more consumers understand a product, the more demanding they become about what they’ll order, buy or support.

We’re curious to see whether companies choose to incorporate their commitment to sustainability in their brand attributes or not, and how consumers respond to the different approaches. Let’s look at a couple of examples:

Toyota has firmly established itself as a ‘green brand’ in the motor industry and came out tops in the Interbrand “Best Global Green Brands” in both 2011 and 2012. The report gauges the gap between public perception of a brand’s environmental performance – or “green image” – compared to actual environmental practices using publicly available data and information. Toyota is reported to have continued to maintain environmental sustainability as part of the company’s core management priority. Interbrand also cites the expansion of the world’s first mass-produced full hybrid model, the Toyota Prius, into a full family range 15 years after the model’s launch as a further success story for the company.

Closer to home, South African bath, body and beauty newcomer Beauty Factory has a strong eco-friendly component to their growing retail brand. Their logo, which consists of a butterfly made from two leafs (signifying their more gentle approach), is just a hint. As with all Engage Brandcraft clients, integrity was critical and the principle that “great branding is inside out” was taken to heart. As a result the ethos comes to life across multiple facets and attributes of the brand experience. You’ll find a recycling bin in every store (the brand currently rewards customers with a 20% discount on a similar product when they return packaging from Beauty factory or even another brand for that matter). You’ll also see Beauty Factory converting to natural fragrances, essences and colourings across many new ranges as the brand evolves. The brand has also created two endorsement brands “We Love Local” (local sourcing and production wherever possible – currently over 90% od SKUs) and “We Love Wildlife” (anti animal testing) to encompass the brand’s commitment.

Pick n Pay has taken a more subtle approach – they haven’t incorporated a green angle in to their branding but do have a ‘goodness’ section on their website, with a feel-good video clip, and ‘goodness stories’ about various initiatives that they support.

This greening trend also extends to the online space, with apps like Eco:Speed, which gives drivers a road map on how to get where they’re going using as little fuel as possible. Offering a solution that saves money and is eco-friendly is a win-win situation for the consumer, and makes products and services like this all the more appealing.

Which brands stand out for you as having genuine green credentials, and what appeals most about each of them?

Define a brand concept

To claim its own bit of real estate and engage with an audience, an aspiring brand needs heart. The best brand heart comes in the form of a brand concept, which addresses three core things: who that brand is, what it stands for and why.

Brand concepts are difficult to define, but they’re important because they underpin everything else that the brand is, does and says. The result is cohesive and deep. Brands backed by a great concept make intuitive sense because they look, sound and act in a personable way. On the other hand, brands that aren’t founded on a solid concept tend to be boring, superficial or even confusing – which means that people are less likely to resonate with them on a meaningful level.

Each concept is different and no two development processes are the same. However we do have a couple of tricks up our sleeves to get you started:

1. Experiment: understand the production process and get your hands dirty. If you’re starting a frozen yogurt brand, visit a dairy, sit in a walk-in freezer and hitch a ride in the delivery van.

2. Engage: give away samples, talk to people, watch their reactions and absorb their feedback. The ideas will come.

3. Enlist a specialist: schedule a workshop with a professional brand-building firm – one that will work with you and help you to create a sound concept from an initial idea.

Name your business

Coming up with a name can be daunting, intricate and time consuming – but it’s the one thing that almost every brand has. In many ways it defines you. It is the hook on which people will hang the various experiences, and beliefs that they associate with your brand. Choose wisely as mistakes can be costly both in terms of lost opportunities and the price of changing your brand name at a later stage.

1. Unless you are a lawyer, dentist, doctor or boutique food/ design store, avoid naming the business after yourself.

2. Avoid generic sounding names. Look for branding fashions and run in the opposite direction. Rather consider metaphors, related words, cryptic connections and soft attributes as part of your brainstorming process.

3. Choose a name that is original and can tie back to a compelling story. Make sure the URL is available before you get too attached.

Design a logo

Take all the creative genius from the brand concept brainstorming sessions and give your designer a clear brief. Remember that your logo is the symbolic representation of your business. It’s often the first touch point a prospective customer or client will encounter, so it needs to be:

1. Unique, simple and timeless.

2. Scalable – make sure it looks good small and also in black and white.

3. Meaningful and reinforce your brand name.

Check out some examples of logos and brand concepts created by Engage Brandcraft, or chat to us to find out how we can craft or enhance your corporate identity.

The design of the poster is centred around our objectives for the year. The majority of creative agencies have a fairly predictable annual plan and budget, but this isn’t really our style… we try to reinvent ourselves and think of it as a new year’s resolution to be different in some way every year. This keeps us on our toes and is a fun way to ensure that our work is relevant to the changing landscape of the industry’s environment, as well as the clients that we work with.

The poster also gives us an opportunity to collaborate with other creative minds within our city, as we partner with designers outside of the Engage team to create a visual representation of our commitment to the year ahead. This year we’re working with local illustrator and designer Cassandra Leigh Johnson.

Cassandra describes herself as a “keen illustrator and painter, messing around with every kind of creative, messy medium I can get my hands on”. After Graduating from Vega in Cape Town and spending a few years in the industry of graphic design, she began to understand the obsession with type and all the other clean and structured elements that come with it. “I like to think of my work as a combination of the two, having morphed old obsessions with the new. I aim for versatility and a constant change in my style; I enjoy surprising those who follow my work as well as clients.” She has certainly lived up to this with our 2013 poster, a simplistic yet highly effective interpretation of Engage’s move towards digital, represented in a playful and charming manner.

This year our commitment is to engage more actively with the Digital Interactive Space. We have built a number of fantastic websites and great online campaigns for clients over the last year, and as South Africa moves increasingly online, we believe there should be a strong digital component to all of our clients’ campaigns and strategies. Our mission is to connect our clients and their brands with the magnitude of online opportunities out there.

In addition to working with our clients to consider digital opportunities more closely, our team is brushing up on their understanding of the multitude of digital marketing tools and strategies, and is embarking on a number of educational initiatives on the matter. We are also bringing specialist digital skills on board and will be opening Engage’s digitally focused sister agency soon (but more on that later).

The important thing to remember in this, and what will set us apart from others within the space, is the continued dedication to building truly engaging and iconic brands. Our digital work will put brands and people first. Technology is built for people and should not be done the other way round! Trends suggest that the world is looking for more personality and real engagement within the digital space, as technology is the vehicle, not the destination.

This is why we have selected a hands-on approach to crafting the graphics for our poster this year. It doesn’t get more real than handcrafted illustration design. The format of the poster, which is usually portrait, has been changed to landscape to represent the way that most online content is viewed on screen. Our posters have previously been printed by hand on silkscreens, and this year our printing will be done on one of the most advanced digital printing machines available, by our friends at Hot Ink. The printer is capable of printing digital Spot UV effects, which have been incorporated into the poster.

We’d love to know your thoughts about the poster, and what other innovative corporate gifts you have created or received this year.

Some of the membership benefits include access to industry events, forums and knowledge sharing; participation in award programmes and training initiatives; industry survey and research participation; Media, Advertising and Communication Sector (MAC) Charter participation; and ACA endorsement and member promotion. They’ve also got some great case studies up on their site and thought provoking articles such as their brand predictions for 2013.

Members include branding agencies and educational institutions, as well as the broader services supply-side of the industry, encompassing research and strategy, design, valuation and intellectual property. Our Strategic Brandcrafter/ Director, Chris Human shares his views about BCSA and why their philosophy fits with the Engage Brandcraft approach:

What prompted you to join BCSA and what is the appeal of being part of it?

This year we’ve made a real effort to track what’s hot and happening in the broader world of strategic and creative brand building in SA. For a long time we fantasized about getting a body like the BCSA up and running, but short on time and stature at this early juncture, it’s good to see that some industry heavyweights like Jeremy Sampson and Sean McCoy beat us to it.

BCSA is a body that understands the power of branding and its increasing relevance in the SA context, as our various disciplines gain credibility and we begin to close the gap with the kind of brand oriented thinking (as opposed to ‘marketing oriented thinking’) that has defined much of global business success over the past few decades. Basically this is a club for the like-minded. I have loads of respect for Vega (as an ex Post Grad student, now-and-then lecturer and member of the advisory council) and for founding members Interbrand Sampson and HKLM (where I did my internship many years ago).

What do you hope to get out of the membership?

After a good few years chained to our desks and focusing on our own work and profile we’ve recently started coming of age and, with that, came a promise to ourselves to spend a little more time looking up and around us. So this is a good way – I hope – to start making friends in the industry and playing nicely with other guys and girls who have been trail blazing here in SA – some since before we were born.

Do you think that the BCSA lives up to their aim to “create a vehicle that would represent the whole industry, dealing with issues pertaining to the way business is conducted and how the industry ensures sustainability of quality and of talent”?

I’ll let you know in a year’s time – although to be fair, we’ll need to take the lead and nose our way into things; signing up and putting our logo up on the BCSA site is just the first step.

How can Engage contribute to this vision?

We hope that this will be a good channel to get involved in some larger national initiatives and processes in due course (Cape Town Design Capital 2014 will hopefully form part of that). I think just by getting involved in the conversation and adding our weight to the brand-thinkers pile-on we’ll be helping a little.

What are some of the main issues that need to be addressed by the council going forward?

My personal feeling is that SA needs more brand thinkers and innovators with the power to change the way people think and act, rather than to just be able to sell stuff. Right now we need to work together to grow the industry and share our various approaches, knowledge and expertise – young and old. This starts with positive interaction, collaboration and joint creative outlets. If the BCSA can be inclusive whilst still setting high standards we’ll be well on our way. I think this question would be interesting to debate and answer together, so we’ll definitely be on our bikes and off to the next event… that’s if we’re invited

The client

Lasarow Healthcare Technologies Limited is a DNA testing service, which provides a product and service that is dedicated to assisting clients to optimize their health, strength and vitality by revealing their fitness potential and eliminating wasted time and resources.

The brief

The DNAFit team approached Engage Brandcraft for help with strategic positioning within the market, a corporate identity, website and the necessary brand collateral. They wanted to create a reliable, unique and credible brand that would spark an interest within the sports market.

Creative Brandcrafter/ Director Ian Nel says, “We had to take an existing technology, assist in turning it into a saleable product, and give it an international, eye-catching and dynamic feel. The brand needed to cater to an end-user that has an interest in enhancing their health without wasting time learning about what does not work!”

The challenge

• Find a way to mix the structure of science and the energy of sport, in a way that is accessible, and immediately appealing to the end consumer.

• Create a visual identity for the brand that treads a thin line between the highly advanced and specialised nature of the product and the practical everyday application of its results… without falling back on the typical DNA strand depiction as part of the logo.

• Create a brand that could come to life across various range extensions and linked products in the future.

• A tight timeline – we had limited time to create the brand and its associated collateral materials.

The process

We were able to meet the deadline by having open communication with the client and plenty of creative licence. A lot of research went on behind the scenes – Senior Creative Brandcrafter Dijon Jones explains how he “searched to the ends of the internet in order to understand and find the creative loophole and create differentiation around the brand!”

Dijon loved the fact that “the client was really on board with our creativity, they realised the importance of having brand synergy, and appreciated the effort that went into all the design work. I thoroughly enjoyed creating a really smashable brand logo, it was really easy to create brand collaboration throughout all touch points.”

Ian describes how they created the logo: “We chose a colour palette for each individual product and pulled through that colour into the respective products collateral. We also manipulated key elements within the main logo to represent an individual variation of the logo for each product.”

The Result

Tadaa! Visit the DNAFit website and post a comment with your feedback or LIKE on Facebook.

Six Highlights

1. Getting a business off the ground in the SA business environment is an achievement. Taking the step from freelancing to becoming business owners was a necessity (we needed to set up a company in order to employ a web coder), but also something we felt ready for – even though we didn’t have every detail planned out. Starting a business is always hard; you have to deal with a lot of red tape and it takes a serious amount of time, patience and effort. It has been an awesome journey, and I guess we were naive and headstrong enough to make it happen.

2. Moving into our first official space in the Foundry. It was just 30 sqm, but we felt rather grown up – it was a place of our own and a physical representation of our growth. I remember how we used to smoke at our desks and then quickly air out the place when clients came! (Put it down to young rebellion). At that time there were only three of us. That was 2007.

3. Getting our first international client – a UK based travel company called Africa Travel Centre. Our brief was to redo their brochure and website and I met with their copywriter in London to collaborate on the project. Landing that client was an affirmation that our work was good enough for an international audience. Since then we have continued to attract international business with clients from Angola to Dubai.

4. Bringing in our Senior Designer, and shareholder Dijon. He started as an employee but soon completed the tripod with Ian and I. Dijon help set the tone for the “only the best will do” in terms of our team structure, and set the standard for finding and retaining passionate team members. This standard has become part of Engage’s fabric, from finding new team members to working with them, building their experience and empowering them over time. When Dijon started there were a few rough edges, we used to leave him sticky-taped lessons on desk with comments like “Never send work without a spell check” and “Don’t eat your lunch whilst clients are in for meetings”! Dijon learnt a lot in a short space of time and three years later his ninth lesson was to “Join us at Afrika burn” and finally lesson 10: “Become a shareholder”. He has always been an asset to the team, and continues to amaze us with his talent.

5. Being invited to be on the Vega advisory board and giving the keynote address at their 2012 graduation (having been in their first grad class). It was very cool to be chosen, and whilst it’s a personal achievement, I feel that it’s a testament to Engage’s success. We apply much of Vega’s approach and lessons learnt there in our work, so it’s great to still have a connection with them.

6. The growth curve from the beginning of 2012 till now. Engage is bigger, more professional and operates in a more advanced and beautiful space. We now have more staff, despite the economy, and clients that we really want to work with are approaching us, rather than just the other way around.

Six Learning Points

1. People: The agency culture is very important – our philosophy is to pick staff that are keen and fit our fabric of passion, rather than people who are too cool for school. Passion really can count for more than experience; an employee with the right attitude is worth more than one that is qualified.

2. Don’t sell your soul: Don’t take on clients that don’t fit; if the client does not share your values or does not understand the value of your work you are going to run into many problems. Life is too short to work with clients that you don’t enjoy or can’t learn from.

3. The devil is in the detail: Set standards high and stick to them no matter what. Getting the details right is about reputation and your rep is your best asset.

4. Clients want to have fun: Branding is a creative process, and many clients haven’t been able to use the right side of their brain for a while. Having a branding process that is too dry and academic can strip the fun from what should be an inspiring and creative process. Our job is to make that process as enjoyable as possible, whilst committing to quality and professionalism.

5. Focus: Start by focusing on one thing, and do that one thing well. We started by focusing on crafting ID development and have grown into a full service branding agency over time. We are now applying the same logic by starting a new digital company, instead of trying to push everything out under one brand.

6. A good, positive space: Create an environment where employees want to work and are able to forget about their outside stresses. People need to feel respected and acknowledged for what they do. A happy employee is an inspired and productive one.

Six Goals

1. Expand our offering. Our goal is to be able to offer a full brand growing service that covers all aspects, starting with our new sister agency aimed at digital.

2. Service the rest of country. We have a number of clients in Joburg, but would like to become more involved in the rest of Africa, as there is a lot of potential to enhance brands that lack a professional and edgy touch.

3. Secure more high profile jobs. We plan to start actively perusing the awards environment. Because our work is fantastic, and we have a spare shelf that we need to put stuff on, awards could look really nice.

4. Actively challenge the traditional agency model. We are going to look for new ways to work with outside talent, in a well-mannered and engaging way.

5. Expand our client base. We would like to get stuck in to projects that are a little bit more altruistic and do work that benefits society and the country, rather than focusing solely on clients in a selling environment.

6. Learn and grow. We are committed to growing as a team and not becoming complacent or stagnant within the space.

If you’ve been part of this journey with us please post a comment and let us know what you’ve learnt, loved or look forward to with Engage Brandcraft.

If you’re concerned that you lack the knowledge to create a brand image and build your brand efficiently then don’t worry, you’re not alone. Here at Engage Brandcraft we’ve put our heads together to come up with a mini guide to give you a good start to branding your business and choosing a team of branding experts, should you need to do so.

Branding objectives

Whether you’re looking to create a new brand identity or rework an existing one, you need to work out what the business objectives behind the branding exercise are.

Brands without a purpose are flimsy and inherently directionless – they tend to come across as having more flash than substance and can easily take a business in the wrong direction. Brands that perform a clear business function are much less likely to fall prey to inconsistency over time, as there is a bigger picture in which those brands find their reason for being.

Kulula is a great example – its brand identity is playful in its interpretation (signals fun/ enjoyment), it’s bright and highly noticeable (builds awareness) and it’s simple and unfussy (signalling affordability).

Building your brand structure

Once you’ve figured out your objectives, structure your brand with these five things in mind. From experience, we’ve found this leads to better brands time and time again.

1. Engagement: It’s a busy world out there, full of clutter and interruptions. A good brand engages with people, it gets their attention and holds their interest. It delights and informs them. It is a welcome addition to their lives instead of an intrusion.

2. Relevance: A good brand is also relevant to the target market. It conveys information that is applicable and useful to resonate with the right people in a meaningful way.

3. Authenticity: Your brand needs to deliver on its promises – explicit and implied. Keeping it real is always a winning strategy. Never pretend to be something you’re not.

4. Consistency: A consistent brand, which follows the brand values at all times, makes a focused impression and reinforces the principles of the brand. It signals professionalism and attention to detail. An inconsistently applied brand can damage your business more than having no brand at all; it creates confusion and looks amateur.

5. Differentiation: A brand that has all four of the above-mentioned characteristics can still blend into a crowd of brands with similar concepts, promises, tones or graphic styles. That’s where differentiation comes in. In order to succeed, your brand needs to stand out from the rest. Vida e Caffe scores pretty highly on all these fronts – we think they’ve done an excellent job.

The brand’s bigger picture

A great brand needs to develop from a concept. A brand with an underlying concept tends to be much more effective because it works as part of a broader eco-system to reinforce a bigger idea.

Without a concept, branding runs the risk of coming across as fickle – just a pretty picture. At best this pretty picture will stand out in the competitive environment and become a memorable but meaningless icon. At worst it becomes a brand that no one remembers after the advert has passed.

One of Engage Brandcraft’s Johannesburg clients, Beauty Factory is a good example of a brand with an underlying concept – it is never explicitly stated but it becomes evident as customers interact with the brand through its highly conceptual store interiors, merchandising and shopping experience.

Bringing the brand to life

Take the brand concept as far as it will go. The consumer must feel like the brand has a personality, which is brought to life across every possible touch point. This does not mean put your logo everywhere. It does mean make your brand concept real in the experience of customers or clients.

If your brand stands for old-fashioned goodness and wholesomeness then your choice of company vehicle, the way the phone gets answered and your team building activities should all reinforce this.

A brand that does this really well is Nandos – there’s a story and an attitude behind everything; the brand has a persona, which is much bigger than just the logo – and the strength of that brand allows them to charge more than most other competitor chains.

A great branding team that suits your needs

Very few small businesses have resources like a team of in-house branding experts and for this reason, most small businesses tend to hire outside expertise. It can be highly beneficial for businesses to have an outside perspective, not only to gain specialised help on the branding process but also to think out the box and succeed in creating a memorable and lasting brand. Whatever you decide, when it comes to choosing a branding partner, these are a few of the things you should be thinking about:

• Do they have good branding themselves – does it attract you?

• When making contact, do they listen to your needs and show genuine interest in your business?

• Do they have a track record of satisfied clients and testimonials?

• Can they offer a full suite of strategic, design, web and copy writing services?

• When looking at their portfolio, do you like the brands that they have developed and have those brands succeeded?

If you have tips to add please post a comment or get in touch to chat about how we can assist with your branding process.

How adverts have evolved over time

Copy was king in the 30s and 40s – adverts made lengthy statements and identified brand names. This all changed in the 60’s with Bill Bernbach’s revolutionary adverts like VW’s Think Small starting a new trend – ads became smarter, savvier, and copy and art began to work together.

This led to the “golden age” of advertising in the 80s, which spawned adverts like Apple’s infamous 1984 spot. Artwork really began to take centre-stage in the 90s and copy was shortened to just a few lines, like Nike’s Just Do It adverts.

By the 2000s, the copywriter’s role had merged with that of the art director – ad agencies believed that no one had the time to read long bodies of copy. Adverts were all about the less-is-more philosophy, visual gags, and a logo in the bottom corner.

Just over a decade later this trend is starting to swing the other way. Is this a bold tactic to get busy consumers to actually pause, absorb and respond to an ad? Or maybe it’s a natural response to the growing demand for quality content? Whatever the cause, these copy driven ads needs to be highly captivating and visually impressive as well as well written.

Why we like long-copy ads

Targeted brand positioning:

As competition increases and consumers become more savvy, the positioning of a brand has become much more complex. Take car manufacturers as an example – in the past they could “claim” a unique selling point: the safest car, the most efficient car, or the fastest car. It’s a lot more difficult to sum up a product’s positioning in one line in the world we live in today. Positioning a “safe car that is still sexy but in a paired down Swedish way that is as cool for you as a young architect, as it is for your grandpa whose horn-rimmed glasses, like his old Volvo, are chic again in a retro way,” needs a little more copy than just a few simple words.

Bigger brand personality:

Some reputable brands are well known for their short punchy lines, think Bosch for example, or a brand that oozes confidence and attitude, such as Diesel. Long copy may never work for these brands; but for the rest, the ability to write great copy that consumers will read is increasingly attractive.

Long copy allows for the brand tone to shine through more strongly. Using a longer body copy can give you the opportunity to convey the brand’s personality in an established brand voice that you wouldn’t be able to do with just a sentence or two.

More interaction:

Long copy also gives advertisers the opportunity to interact with the consumer, strike up a conversation, drum home an idea or tell a story, which are all important tools for a brand builder – especially in an age where brands are competing on an increasingly overcrowded stage.

Michael Wolff, one of the top names in brand building globally, has this to say on the subject: “It has gotten harder and harder to build brands, move merchandise, convey a message, leave a lasting impression.” Think back to (or do a quick Google search if you’re under 40) all of those ads in the 60s that made an impact, told a story, made a case and offered a big idea which changed the way we think. Wolff argues that the job of the copywriter should be to get someone to read the copy; the more the reader is engaged with what you are saying – the more they engage with the brand and what you are selling.

For the year ahead I think this little micro trend speaks quite nicely to a thirst for brands, businesses and products that have something to say for themselves. Of course, it also bodes well for copywriters…