Nevertheless, we do expect a push towards greater (albeit not total) openness. And we expect this push to be driven by two closely related forces:

1. The brand-busting/building powers of an increasingly connected and chatty online society.

2. A very slowly growing social bias towards authenticity in branding (and away from corporatism as a desirable quality).

As a result, things are likely to keep changing in this department. In 20 years time, many of us will most likely look back at the brands of today with a mixture of nostalgia and disdain. The ‘puffery’ that local brands have scrambled to allow for within the confines of the consumer protection act* will one day appear laughable. That we once bought ‘spiritually enlightening’ room spray, believed that plastic shoes would save the world or that some cigarettes were more rugged and individualistic than others will seem outright absurd.

But this is a distant future. What of 2012? As with any long-term trend, the journey is likely to be an incremental one. This year we are on the lookout for three micro-trends towards this end.

First of all, keep an eye open for some major internal brand reality checks.

Global brands are already on the lookout for ways to more actively align their communications and actions. To be who they say they are. As customers, our BS detectors are becoming better tuned and better fuelled than ever before thanks to the WWW. Consumer activism is markedly on the rise and more vocal customers, it would seem, are up for a fight. And there is nothing that raises consumer blood pressure quite like brands that say one thing and do another. This is especially true of bigger brands. The American Marketing Association, amongst others, has commissioned and cited research that documents the high levels of damage wreaked by perceived hypocrisy on corporate and brand reputations. Our own experience in SA also suggests people often respond more negatively to inconsistency between message and behaviour than to openly bad behavior. Last year, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year was: The Activist. Expect the trickle-down of disillusionment many are feeling with political stagnation and Wall Street excess to begin hitting brands. With our IDs we vote once every five years. With our wallets we can vote daily. The good news is that this all comes with a corollary: the possibility for smarter brands to stand out by be being real and, subsequently, to be truly loved.

Our disdain for double standards is one reason why an environmentally unfriendly battery in a Prius can inspire more ire than a gas-guzzling hummer, even though the latter has a far greater environmental footprint**. Indeed, just a few moments before sitting down to write this post at the local Wellness Warehouse, I watched a member of their cleaning staff destroy the brand integrity with a can of Pledge. There she was, amongst shelves stacked with environmentally-friendly household cleaning alternatives – not an aerosol or industrial cleaning agent in sight. Wellness Warehouse’s shelves are stacked with products which make you feel better about the world just by looking at them. Made, as they are, by happily employed yoga-practicing indigenous peoples using recycled Tibetan rock salt, spring water and so forth and transported to the store by solar powered bicycles. Yet they – these very same shelves – are cleaned with a Pledge aerosol (from the Pledge Industrial Cleaning Pack according to the toxic yellow sticker that adorned it).

A decade or two ago, this kind of naughty oversight might have made it to the ear of a friend or two in the immediate vicinity. Now here it is. On a blog. The internet means you get caught out faster when you slip up and more people know about it than ever before. And the hypocrisy needn’t be explicit as it is in this case either. Cadbury’s didn’t build their brand on the promise of child-labour free chocolate. But nevertheless, chocolate bars and sad children do not mix well in the mind of the average mother. To be sure, it is implied and expected from all companies that their labour force consists of consenting adults, regardless of their industry. But kids’ treats! The global confectionery category, once populated by giant dough-children and golden bunnies is now scrambling just to assure us that consenting adults – not impoverished children – are behind their merchandise.

Secondly, expect a rise in more open and accessible brand language.

Brands are beginning to hide less behind monolithic corporate speak – especially when addressing customers. Increasingly greater experimentation with tone and nuance is helping forward-thinking brands differentiate themselves through language. Love it or hate it, Kulula is a good example. If you can stomach it – spend a few moments listening to safety and other announcements on a Kulula flight. The kind of flippant familiarity is a major departure from the normal ponsiness of airline communications. And, as annoying as many of us may find Kulula’s attempt and decorporatisation of language, Mango crew seem to be following suit with their own collection of terrible jokes. With Mango flying around half the volume of seats as similarly priced Kulula, it seems imitation really is the most sincere form of flattery.

Also, take a look at FNB’s use of tone (“Take some time to see what (FNB) is offering. You’ll find something exactly for you and much more”) vs say Nedbank (“Nedbank offers a diverse range of products and services that can be tailored to our clients specific needs…”). No prizes there for guessing which bank is trying harder to position themselves as accessible. And, in keeping with the first micro-trend above, FNB has delivered on the expectations set by the conversational tone of their copy. Gripe or moan about #FNB on Twitter and you’ll be sure to meet “FNB guy” (RbJacobs). True to their promises, he is their man on the ground, starting conversations and helping out FNB clients and ‘engagees’ on behalf of the bank before naysayers can get a foot in. And here we have South African airlines and banks – two traditionally stuffy categories. Some global players have been at it for years. Virgin is amongst them… of course. Their friendly easy-to-understand tone is pretty much all over their brand. Take a few moments to read the disclaimers at your local Virgin Active gym next time you hit that early morning Pilates class. Virgin trains? “Get where you want to be… for less”.

There was a time when companies were so detached that they often referred to themselves in the third person. Expect a more conversational approach to copy in the immediate future. To veer off course for a moment, quite a cool parallel can be found in the presentation of global affairs. Note how the tone of news anchors has changed to become more natural over the past few decades. Watch any news report from a few decades back and you’ll find its presentation eerily false and stuffy. Perhaps the underlying compulsion there was to establish authority and convey detachment. But a shift in values towards honesty and accessibility in news reporting have resulted in the presentation tone becoming more natural and sometimes outright conversational. Witness the proliferation of panel discussions, casual morning newspaper readings, debates and banter on global news channels. Still pretty false granted, but as with brands – the change is, out of necessity, incremental.

Finally, in terms of design, signaling humanity is becoming an important part of conveying openness and approachability.

The use of more handcrafted elements and the rise of imperfection as a design tactic are two ways we’ll be bringing this to life in 2012. The Japanese have long held to a cultural tradition of purposeful incompletion in design, it’s called “Wabi-Sabi”. Roughly understood – it’s based on the typically Japanese-romantic notion that true beauty is found in imperfection. Hence the random scattering of rocks in a traditional Zen Garden or the floral arrangement with a missing flower.

Here’s a more Western example of this mechanism in action: Feiyue shoes have been available locally for a couple of years now (and the trendy local distributor has recently taken to selling some of his inventory himself… out of the back of a retrofitted pop-up-shop on the back of a truck – hint: trend number 3). For those unfamiliar with the brand’s distinctive look – a Google image search will reveal all. The more design-minded will notice the marked difference between the corporate logo and its application onto the shoes themselves. Also: the lack of alignment and uneven kerning as well as the difference between the treatment of the logo on either side of the shoe. The brand in its current incarnation is only 6 years old and it’s not a small boutique brand yet the look is somehow partly unpolished and old school. The pseudo hand-written labels of the last decade were (thankfully) just the beginning. Expect a resurgence of more innovative analogue design techniques used in far more elaborate and sophisticated ways to produce quality identities and looks with a human touch.

Now what on earth does all this mean for your own brand? Well for a start don’t lie. Don’t. But being honest is just that: a start. Signaling this honesty and aligning your policies to your claims can be much more than a containment strategy. It can be a brand-building boon. One of our favourite brands is Patagonia and it’s built on brand-openness. Witness a remarkably well-meaning company that really does seem to live up to its ethos. The US brand makes clothes and equipment to enjoy the great outdoors. Consequently, staff are encouraged to spend time, on the clock, exploring the world around them. They also help customers to preserve the environment they enjoy with Patagonia by encouraging them to ‘buy less’, recycling and repairing their existing Patagonia clothes rather than buying new ones. You can see what they have to say about that here. And for a balanced outside perspective this is what the Harvard Business Review has to say about them. The company famously hires only outdoor enthusiasts and is known for its barefoot and pet-friendly corporate culture. The result, aside from an ongoing flurry of PR and a very loyal customer base? Patagonia has risen to the top of the outdoor clothing pile with sales increasing from US$ 20 million in the 1980s to nearly US$ 300 million a year.

In a nutshell, successful brands in 2012 and beyond will most likely seek to increase partially (but not totally) their degrees of perceived (and hopefully, actual) honesty and openness. The objective will be to “get real”. And this will find form in due course in increased alignment of their values and actions. Brands will move to signal this through more open and human use of language and more real and accessible design. Like Patagonia, the brands that do this first may well stand to benefit too. Taking the first to step out in the direction of a long-term trend such as this one is a powerful strategy. And it’s one we expect to start seeing more of in the year ahead.

* Side Note 1: The CPA, which otherwise frowns on outright lying as a selling technique does, in its interpretation, seem to make allowance for exaggerated claims as part of what the legal fraternity have delightfully termed “puffery”. So we can still say that deodorant will make you an object of insatiable sexual desire when it in fact will not.

** Side Note 2: You may have heard that the Prius comes at a higher overall environmental cost than many SUVs but MIT amongst others have refuted this claim.

About Engage Brandcraft

Chris Human is founding partner and strategist at Engage Brandcraft, a Cape Town based, national, full-service, owner-run brandcrafting agency with a track record of creative excellence and delivery. Their service offering is focused mainly on brand origination, which includes: brand concept development, corporate identity, naming & logo design as well as brand communication.

To be sure, horizontal brand expansion (say it often, it will make you smarter) is nothing new. Remember when mobile machinery specialists Caterpillar (CAT) started branding shoes? How about when Virgin – originally a music label – became an airline too.  Then more forgettably, a range of soft drinks? Then a rail service. Then a gym. And let us not forget the Swatchmobile… now, in collaboration with Daimler: the Smart Car.

By virtue of their power to rise above functional benefits, big brands have always possessed the ability to leverage exisiting equity and awareness to gain traction in seemingly unrelated categories. But what about these big brands’ smaller counterparts? What interests us is the rising number of more niche brand extensions and partnerships. We know that the number and strength of more focused lifestyle-oriented brands is on the up and we know that their ability to engage customers and make them feel like they belong far exceeds that of bigger more ‘public’ brands. We also know that, historically, brands with a more clearly defined set of compelling functional benefits have been more successful in their bids to capitalise on the opportunity for horizontal brand expansion (there it is again). Yamaha*, for instance, extended its reputation for ‘finely tuned’ from pianos (and reid organs) to motorcycles.

Of course, quality is important too and always will be. Brands with a poor reputation in this regard will always struggle to expand anywhere. Eskom is not opening an airline any time soon. The point here is that brand expansion or category-straddling (one brand selling say bicycles and underwear) need no longer be the preserve of large multi-national corporations. One crucial difference: whilst old-school big-brand extensions traditionally revolved around production parameters and business goals of the company, small brand extensions need to serve the same audience and bolster their passion for the niche brand that is expanding. The extension needs to help them define their lifestyle and build their perceived relationship with other brand devotees. This crucial aspect was seldom a consideration for the old school brand expansions of days gone by. Did the Yamaha street biker go home and knock out a tune on his Yamaha reid organ? No. Niche brand extensions need to happen in a direction that makes sense and compliments the original service/product’s functional benefits.

So then, new school brand extensions tend to be more about self-definition and life-style orientation (say: niche) than about sheer commercial prowess. This, in turn, opens the world of brand extensions up to a far wider pool of potential brands both big and boutique. Heard of Thule? They make bike racks and roof mounts – better known by outdoor sports enthusiasts. Now they make backpacks to carry Macbooks around in – same audience, totally different product. Monocle magazine is about to launch Monocle Radio so the plugged-in style afficianado can absorb their good taste and reflect their intellectual prowess in their choice of soundscape as well as their reading material. Then there are Pantone iPhone sleeves (and couches and mugs) so graphic designers can claim their colours and set trends for friends lower down the adoption curve – friends who previously thought Pantone was a shampoo. Nixon makes luxury watches and beanies – but the kind of people who buy them are the same: well-to-do sporty professionals who want both street and style.

Now some of these extensions are gimmicks. Others are just old-school merchandising done a little different. They say there is nothing new under the sun. But the potential of niche brands particularly to elevate emotional associations and self-definition over pure function and quality is a powerful tool when it comes to brand expansion. We think that many (not all!) smaller and niche brands will be well served by utilising this and SA is certainly no exception. We expect to see some pretty out-there extensions as brands bust through traditional category boundaries and new brands straddle them even as part of their very soul.

Back to Red Bull Mobile. Here you’ve got a high-sugar caffeinated softdrink that was successfully linked to extreme sport in a bid to highlight key attributes of the product (energy, urbanism, youthfulness and innovation to name a few). Now those same attributes are being applied to a virtual cellular network (riding on the back of Cell C’s infrastructure) even as more energy drinks enter the market to compete with the core offering. Red Bull is diversifying by focusing the equity previously and painstakingly developed in the energy drinks market but with a very specific type of person. Red Bull Mobile is already a bit of a stretch in our opinion but the point is: there it is. The tenuous link between sugary drink and cell phone network is made possible because Red Bull’s brand is far more emotive than it is functional.

As more and more focused (narrower and cross-cutting) lifestyle groupings appear, the ability to offer products and benefits under a single but compelling identity must grow, albeit to a smaller audience. It’s the brand equivalent of the much touted “narrowcasting” in which the variety of channels of information and entertainment have proliferated to allow for far more targeted content piped to far less homogenous audiences – but more on that another time.

Keep an eye out in 2012 for more interesting cases of brand primacy. On the upper end of the scale look out for single-brand / multiple-product retail experiences – A Samsung Store at your local mall for example. In this case expect low loyalty and engagement. On the middle end – perhaps a local budget airline will bring good value and bad humour to another part of SA life. While we’re on it, a Joule recycling bin certainly wouldn’t go amiss either – after all, the brand is generating more publicity than it is cars. Here, expect more emotional connection. But don’t ignore the little guys either. Architects launching jewelry ranges, boutique mineral water brands flowing over into mobile spas and graphic designers putting on culinary indabas. Here expect full-on engagement with added passion. Niche brands have the power to generate intimacy and loyalty that few big brands do and in a brandscape that is becoming increasingly cluttered those brands that leverage their success and appeal to bring more things to the same people stand to grow their businesses in 2012.

So what does this mean for Engage Brandcraft? Perhaps not an airline just yet (but thanks to Jacques and Michel at Now Boarding for the visual inspiration). Maybe a pop-up creative space for corporates or a range of executive toys. Who knows. And for your brand? Is there anything your clients have in common – an itch your brand could scratch or a parallel need/desire you could serve whilst building engagement and brand loyalty in 2012? Feel free to share suggestions, ideas and insights in the comments section below.

*Side note: Asian (and particularly Japanese) brands are, in many ways more ‘brand’ than Western brands will ever be. Yamaha has since added watches, books, toys, jetskis and hats to the things that carry their brand. Steinway still makes pretty much just pianos.

Chrisli Oostehuizen is a budding brand thinker and planner who recently joined us for her year-end internship, wrapping up her honours degree at Vega (The Brand Communications School). Here she shares shares insights and defines her experience of student vs “real” life as an aspiring brand strategist.

“This is how it works in the industry.” Yeah right.

‘The Industry’ is the one thing that no amount of theory can explain. It’s like someone telling you about a “very funny incident” and then ending off with “you should have been there”. That is how ‘The Industry’ works – until you experience it for yourself, you can’t possibly understand what it’s really like.

As an almost-fresh-out-of-Vega student I walked into Engage, expecting something like Brand Challenge (for those who don’t know, Brand Challenge is a 5-week group project, working on a real brief and it’s tough). I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised by how nice, cooperative and engaging (pun intended) a team can be. And taken aback by how far from reality college really is.

I will let you in on a few, very challenging differences between student life and real working life. Mentally preparing for these can perhaps reduce the ‘shock’ you experience when entering real life. As far as coping skill go, however, there aren’t any… it’s adapt or die (okay, maybe you won’t die…but you might get fired).

When are the marks coming out? Never.

As a student, you get frequent, quick and concrete feedback, which makes it easy to track your progress day-by-day. Rarely does a week go by without some affirmation from an all-knowing expert. And even if marks take weeks to come out, at least you are getting marks.

In the real world, the feedback you receive (from clients, your boss, whoever) is far more ambiguous and infrequent. Usually you have to decipher a vague comment or a smile…or was that a smirk…?

To be successful you have to develop a tolerance for ambiguity and be self-motivated enough to take care of business even if there aren’t routine external confirmations.

Lucky for me, the Engage team is very sweet and encouraging comments were surprisingly frequent.

Can you send me the timetable for the week? There isn’t one.

As a student you are used to a highly structured curriculum outlined by dates, terms, modules and weekly timetables. Usually you are working towards (and holding out for) a deadline at a time, knowing you can relax afterwards before the next deadline comes along. Basically, there is always light at the end of the tunnel and it is clear what the next step will be.

In real life, there is no light at the end of the tunnel…there is just more tunnel. Even though it is a structured environment, there are few directions as to what will happen next. You have to bring you A-game everyday. Always. Forever. (Or until you decide to freelance – in which case no work and all play equals no pay anyway).

At Engage plans change daily, or even hourly – and yet, everyone is always on top of everything. It’s something you get use to. And it actually keeps life exciting.

I only need to pass and then I’ll be okay? Not quite.

As a student you can choose your performance level (‘A’, ‘B’… or ‘F’ if you really love college and you want to go back for another year) and only you will face the consequences of your choice.

In the real world, however, ‘A’ level work is required at all times and also much quicker. Not only is it a company’s name that is dependent on the level of work you deliver, but also your salary.

At Engage I witnessed an ‘A’ level team at work – and most of the time late nights and early mornings are the unscheduled hours of an ‘A’ level team. Doing the bare minimum is just never an option.

Can you tell me exactly what you want me to do? No.

As a student, you get lots of direction, which means that less initiative is generally required. You are also used to a personally supportive environment with someone encouraging you, spoon-feeding you or looking after you academic well-being.

In the real world there is less support and very little time for complete briefs and tick-list directions. Ultimately, lots of initiative is required. You need to get out of your comfort zone, be resourceful and make things happen.

At Engage there is support, but not spoon-feeding. Open briefs allow for imaginative and lateral solutions, which might not have been considered before, to come to the fore.

What’s the right answer? There isn’t one.

As a student you think there is something like ‘right‘ answers to problems and questions – that the ‘perfect solution’ is out there (usually in the form of a memo).

In the real world, however, there are very few ‘right’ answers. Most of the time there will be factors (usually time) that prevent you from achieving the ideal solution and trade-offs have to be made.

At Engage I found that the only ideal solution is the one you come up with, brainstorm, rework and rework some more. There is no ‘right answer’ when it comes to creativity… but you can create something that will be the perfect solution for a specific problem.

It’s my time, I’ll spend it as I please. Oh no.

As a student you have personal control over most aspects of your student life –time, classes (or no classes) and what you will spend your (very limited) attention on. Especially concerning group work where you can focus on the work you like (“I love typing, I’ll do the typing!”) and hope that some over-eager teacher’s pet will do the rest.

Real working life is a bit like group work, except that everyone’s salary depends on it and you will mostly be responding to someone else’s directions and interests. That is until you become the CEO (or marry their son or daughter).

At Engage the team is very small and everyone is involved in everything (well almost). You are a strategic creative coffee maker and your own PA. This means that things get done much faster, no one is passing the bucket and nothing ‘falls through the cracks’ (compared to bigger agencies).

When can I take a break? Never. (Not really…but almost)

As a student, you have lots of breaks and time off – even if self-appointed. Whether it’s for holidays, to sleep late, to “middag slapie” or just to ‘chill’ with friends.

The real working world is literally a wake-up call and you will find that there is very limited time off. Work needs to get done and your desk usually doubles as a breakfast and lunch (and sometimes even dinner) table. It is actually called ‘work’ because you work.

At Engage I struggled to pinpoint when exactly the working hours are. Every morning when I arrive, the team is already working…and every evening I leave they stay on, working. Maybe they sleep there. Maybe it’s their home. Dedication.

So, is it all that scary? It depends.

Are you doing what you love?

The team at Engage is the perfect example of that. When you love what you do you don’t mind all of these changes from student life to working life. If you do what you are passionate about, you will find that the hours fly by, new briefs are exciting, after-hours are working hours and working becomes the preferred way of spending your day.

If doing what you love is not going to motivate you, think of it this way: At least you get paid… and there’s no homework over weekends.

This past Wednesday morning saw a greater-than-usual number of Cape Town design professionals pitch up at work drunk. Not because Phuza Thursday has officially been moved to Phuza Tuesday. “Phuzaness” was in fact replicated across all 4 working days of the Capetonian calendar week some time back.

Rather it was because, both as citizens of the mother city and as expressive types, we hate wasting Champagne (Cap Classique?). And since Wednesday morning 6.15 saw the official announcement come through re Cape Town’s selection as WDC 2014 – well, we had to push some cork. Clapping is, after all, very last season.

But enough rambling. Now that we’ve all sobered up (well, as much we’re going to), what does this triumph mean for us as part of Cape Town’s beautiful and genius creative population? Here are four loose thoughts on what it all means from local pariah and esteemed brand crafting firm, Engage Brandcraft.

1 Our Suspicions Confirmed

Suck it – that’s our natural first response, right? We know being creative is cool and that being Capetonian is cool but let’s not be dicks about it.

To be frank – the team here was a little taken aback – despite the profusion of yellow buttons and the moments of buzz, it turns out that none of us really expected our beloved city to win this. Why? Well, because as fiercely proud as us CT creatives are, I think sometimes we doubt ourselves a little. We suspect that we are on the bleeding edge of design in many spheres and in many ways but we just don’t know for sure. We are, after all, tucked away here in the undersubscribed South. We are 8503 KM from Barcelona, 6841 from Buenos Aires and… well, basically fairly far away from any of our global comrades in design (unless we count Jo’burg. Which we don’t).

It is super good to know that the world is with us in some small way and that our growing cumulative contribution to design here can – and has – traveled. A note of caution though is that we should probably guard against sticking our collective heads too much further up our collective creative butts. The Cape Town creative type is not known for being humble and that’s okay too. But we will probably be well served if we temper our well-deserved pride and newfound energy with a modicum of good old-fashioned friendliness. Inclusion, good will to others and all round willingness to learn, grow and look at things differently are VERY 2014.

2. Craft vs. Craft

Cape Town creatives are well placed to lead the new world marriage between design and craft. Craft as in ‘craftsmanship’ though (“making something useful/beautiful in a considered way using acquired knowledge and tools”) rather than craft as in ‘craft market’ (framing guinea fowl feathers for your guest loo).

We remember feeling all shocked and personally injured a few years back when BBC (in their usual stuffy way) gave a rather dismissive and patronising appraisal of Design Indaba. They alluded then to the immaturity of the design culture down here in the Mother City. Looking back though, their opinion that the design culture here tends towards the parochial and crafty should at least be considered. That was the year after all where the expo prize went to a rusty oil-drum turned lamp/table with cut out African patterns (probably of people with drums). The lamp in question left us confused, in need of answers and a tetanus shot.

Finding local solutions to local problems using local materials, heads and hands – that’s admirable. But that does not mean the Cape Town design world should be a craft market. We have certainly come a long way from the plastic bag chickens and bird shaped necklace pendant brigade (although these too have their place). Judging from the bid book – we won this accolade on the back of solid, useful and replicable African, South African and Capetonian design solutions. We are hoping 2014 will move design and tie-die further apart than ever in the Mother City. Out with Lost City Typefaces and in with Mark Shuttleworth’s Ubuntu (we love Ubuntu).

3. Defining Our Aethetic Common Ground

Winning the bid has no-doubt forced those involved in the process to look inwards and see Capetonian creativity from an outsider’s perspective. Let’s follow their lead.

Cape Town is a design frontier land and, as such, this is a place where a lot of different ideas and passions converge. Necessarily, there is constant reinvention, there is trial and error and – above all – there is major plurality. The diversity of design disciplines, approaches and outcomes here is formidable. From the Neighbourgoods Market and grungy Woodstock’s furniture reinventions to the shiny Design Indaba at the equally shiny (but now with ugly red evangelical lightboards) CTICC.

Diversity is in the eye of the beholder however. History suggests that communities and societies find commonality when they see themselves in a larger context from the opinion of the “other”. Perhaps then, this is a great opportunity for us to find areas of similarity between us. It’s not about forcing some kind of awkward consensus or picking a particular style or genre to represent us all; it’s just about finding common threads – things, people, moments and (perhaps above all) sources of inspiration that we can all identify with on one level or another.

So Then..

In summary then, Cape Town creatives have reason to be proud. No matter what your outtake from all of this – we can stand tall. However humble or arrogant you choose to be, however you define the Cape Town aesthetic or even if you prefer it if we didn’t, we can give ourselves a pat on the back. Way to go creative Cape Town and to all the souls, both heading and hidden, who made this all happen! May all your dreams around this project come true come true along with ours. Here’s to 2014.

After a brief detour involving a juvenile detention centre and the liberal and incorrect usage of the word“mahala” (definitely material for a blog post of its own), we arrived at the Khayelitsha Community Centre. This humble building serves the community by offering thelocal youth activities including drama, song and dance. These gifted young people are passionate about performance arts and have entertained audiences both locally and internationally. Our team enjoyed a display of talent to the beat of African drums that can get your feet moving whether or not you have a single rhythmic bone in your body. To show our appreciation for the generous invitation, we donated over 200 items of clothing to be distributed amongst the talented young artists and their community.

Special thanks to James Fernie from Uthando who made us aware of this initiative and continues to support great causes in and around Cape Town.

MTN Mobile Money and Standard Bank have partnered to bring a revolutionary online transaction technology to the South African Market. And this is how it happened…

Step 1: Create a parent brand that is original and all-inclusive. Engage Brandcraft was tasked with creating a brand (powered by MTN Mobile Money and Standard Bank) that held no preconceived ideas. Something truly different and powerful that will work in different languages and nations across Africa. A brand that represents every mobile phone and bank user equally, without bias. Our answer: Oltio (Note the shape of the logo – its robustness and connectedness and colours that signal innovation and security).

Step 2: Create a sub-brand that is a strong contender in the online transaction environment. Next MTN and Standard Bank asked us to create a brand that will become synonymous with trusted and simple online transactions. Our answer: payD (Note the visual link with the parent brand through the form and colours. The white space and SIM-shaped border allows the payD logo to be used as an endorser brand without interference form other brand identities.)

Step 3: Rollout of the brand family. Finally we were ready to launch this unique offering. And what exactly is this ”offering” you ask? Basically payD enables consumers to make online payments easily without having a credit card. The payD technology can be used by anyone who has a PIN-based debit card (or credit and cheque card) and a cell phone. It uses sophisticated encryption technology which makes it safe, smart and very simple to use. Learn more about payD.

Step 4: Write a blog article that highlights the fact that Engage Brandcraft, together with Sentient have proudly helped MTN and Standard Bank give birth to a new World standard: Done.

Legacy Parks’ launch offering is simple but powerful: purchase a piece of a natural park and protect it forever along with your memory. When the time comes, loved ones (or you) can then be quietly and respectfully laid to rest here – in the beautiful, natural and secure surroundings you have chosen (and without gravestones and other somber paraphernalia). At the same time, you’ll also preserve a piece of South Africa’s natural environment in perpetuity. The Legacy Parks concept has wide relevance and applicability (after all, we are all the target market!) – but our job was to add appeal and break the ice. As a result, we built the brand around a subtle brand paradox: a combination of ‘earnest’ BUT ‘light’.

This brand origination exercise resulted in the employment of both clear symbols and subtle nuances. At its core is the tree as an icon representing life; it’s a quiet association and not religion specific, which was important. It’s also a good starting point to emphasize that the parks are a place where nature thrives and life continues (hence ‘legacy’). We expressed this notion both in the continuity of the branch and in the payoff line, Life goes on at Legacy Parks’. We further tried to emphasise this sense of continuity in our use of recycled materials wherever possible. Click on these links to take a look at the logo and other executions to date

*For more information on the Legacy Parks offering, please visit the independently designed website: www.legacyparks.co.za

When developing a brand strategy and concept, we always try to remain cognisant of potential brand paradoxes. In our experience, identifying and developing these can often contribute to deeper brand engagement. To help present and explain this important pillar of our approach, we’d like to share an example (with our client’s kind permission) of the power of brand paradoxes in action.

Introducing Legacy Parks, South Africa’s first natural burial brand that launched mid-August 2011. To put this story in context, Legacy Parks’ current service offering is simple: purchase a piece of a protected park where a loved one can be quietly and respectfully laid to rest in a beautiful, natural and secure surroundings. At the same time, clients preserve a piece of South African natural environment in perpetuity. Powerful indeed. The Legacy Parks concept has wide relevance and applicability (as we are all the target market!) – the trick was to add appeal.

Strategically we had to convey the quiet and respectful tone required, in a way that was light enough to engage with, talk about and share. It was critical for the brand concept and the resulting visual identity that the product respected a grieving or thoughtful state of mind. BUT we had to balance the brand’s sombre side with an equally strong element of hope and peace. Together with our client, we developed this brand with a contradiction at its very heart, a balance between two seemingly opposing personality attributes. For Legacy Parks the Brand Paradox emerged through a series of structured and participative processes. The result: earnest BUT light.

From this point of departure, the tension between “earnest” and ”light” informed all of our work on the brand. Our design team had to bring this conceptual personality and identity to life across multiple touchpoints from standard collateral to infrastructure. It influenced our choice of fonts, signage substrates and even the paper stocks we chose. In every decision, we attempted to signal both seriousness and upliftment. The result is a compelling brand that is at once appropriate and different, intriguing and authentic. Thus far it has proved effective and talk-worthy.

This is not rocket science. In fact brand paradoxes rely on a very simple perceptual framework. A little tension between two seeming opposites, creates intrigue and interest and begs deeper engagement. We prefer this approach to a more narrow-minded focus on a single (or various, often similar) brand attributes.

As the world of brands proliferates and users/customer/clients become more discerning, our relationships with brands require a deeper level of complexity. We perceive other people as far more than just a single set of associations or differentiating factors. Contradictions are often what make us unique and adds depth to our distinct personalities. The same often goes for brands. As a result, we believe that a well-defined brand paradox is a very powerful starting block from which to build a compelling brand personality.

For more examples you don’t need to look far… a motorcycle brand that is both individualistic and communal, a self-depreciating (stupid) clothing label for confident (brave) people, or a bath and body store for the altruistically self-indulgent. To uncover a workable paradox, simply seek out the BUT in your brand. A playful, BUT precise exercise.

*For more information on the Legacy Parks offering, please visit the independently designed website: www.legacyparks.co.za

Join us as we share our approach, opinions and tips of the branding trade – you might even find our between-deadline-undertakings entertaining.
Please send us your comments or tweet at @Brandcrafters to join the conversation. We really value feedback, questions and even critique…and we’ll do our best to respond as soon as possible! Thanks in advance for keeping the communication lines open.

Cheers,
The Engage Brandcraft Team

In his mail to Engage, James gave us a report about Mama Gayiya, an older lady from NOAH in Khayelitsha. She was living in really bad conditions contributions were needed to help build her a new home. A couple of donations and helping hands later, and Mama Gayiya was hosting a housewarming in her brand new home!

It’s quite humbling to see how a relatively small contribution of resources and time can make such a significant difference. To James and his team, keep up the (really) great work!

Cheers,

The Engage Brandcraft Team