Jessica Lunsford Blog

I was chatting with a couple of friends, all of us are either copy writers or graphic designers…or both….in the advertising industry, so, naturally, our conversations leaned towards the topic. This one particular friend who works in an American advertising firm is now an Art Director, so, needless to say, he considers himself a notch higher than us mere freelancers and employees. After all, he is the one person who decides on the direction of a whole advertising campaign. He is also in-charge of a couple of large International brands of products. And during this conversation, he told me about this story that inspired me. He says that branding is so important to a product that it can either make or break a product…or even the company.

For instance, he was trying to come up with something unique for a particular brand of body wash (he thought the smell was awful because it smelt like mud…wet and totally disgusting). Guess what he did? He went the NATURAL WAY……

Obviously, it worked wonders for the product! He came up with headlines like

“So natural, you’d roll around in it”

“Just like a second skin”

“Aroma-therapeutic”

“Go back to nature”

…and the likes.

I was impressed. So happens that he brings back a lot of samples of products each time he comes back to Malaysia and this time he had the said product handy to show us - to although I didn’t think it was disgusting (he has a way with words, shall I say?”), it wasn’t your conventional bath wash. It sure didn’t smell like anything else I can get here in supermarkets.

Joe, my friend from America, said that he steered the product in the realm of conservation of the environment, going natural, using natural products, natural cleansing properties….etc and it worked wonderfully. When combined with a superb design and ad, the product sold like nothing else he had known! This was the product he thought smelt like mud, remember? And with good direction, copy and design, the product is as good as sold.

The theory is that, people’s mind accepts what they want to accept. Let me give you some examples of beautiful copy work for International brands.

“milk bath” - Johnson and Johnson. Sounds simple enough? But accordingly, many people bought the products, not because it was superb or any better than all the other Johnson and Johnson products or bath gels, it was because the ‘milk bath’ copy suggested that whenever you use the product, you’d be bathing in milk, pampering yourself, making your skin whiter and smoother. Asians will buy anything that you say can turn their skin white.

“Not perfumed, Not coloured. Just kind” - Simple.

This is a very unique stance taken by a skincare company because Simple is the first brand that suggested that you don’t need anything extra have superb skin. Simple is….well, simple, but it gives you good skin because it doesn’t make your skin look worse.

“Against animal testing” - The Body Shop.

The products being sold by The Body Shop, without a doubt, is produced without being tested on animals. This, they claim, is because the properties used to produce their products is very natural. I think placing the words “AGAINST ANIMAL TESTING” in bolded letters in all of their labels is a good idea. Anyone who loves natural products and are animal lovers will definitely stay true to The Body Shop.

“The beer only a true man knows how to appreciate”

This is a tagline being used by a well-known beer company. I am not certain of the exact words being used, therefore, I decline to name the brand and beer type. Anyway, this tagline suggests that if you’re a man at all, you’ll like this beer…..and if you don’t, you’re not a TRUE man. I am a woman and I like the beer because of its richness in taste but I absolutely object to their tagline. I suppose they have their reasons. Their target market were mostly men and if they were women who drink, they will let the tagline slide because they like the beer so much.

So, you see, the kind of branding, the kind of tagline and headlines that you use determines the direction of your product. If you use a tagline like ‘lustrous long hair”….don’t expect a lot of male customers who takes you up on your offer. So, decide on a tagline once and for all for each and every one of your products, take them very seriously and if you can’t think of anything, hire someone to do the thinking for you. Branding and copy writing is SO IMPORTANT that you’d rather pay for it than be stuck with one that gives out mixed messages.

Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and writer who has been working from her home in Selangor, Malaysia the past 6 years. She is also the author of “Raising Little Magicians”, “No products to sell” and the popular “The Lance in Freelancing” and other books. For more information, please visit http://www.marshamaung.com and for more info on her books, please visit http://www.lulu.com/marshamaung

Versace watch has released a small website for the upcomiing Valentine’s Day 2010- Versace Wish List where they offer a selection of twelve new items(including Versace watches, shoes, and bags) for you choose from for your special somebody.This site just make your task for a perfect Valentine’s Day blissfully easy. The process is as simple as registering for marriage: you decide your favorite item, add it into your wish list , then share it with everybody you know.My favorate is the Versace Eon Women’s Watch. It is done in stainless steel with refined rose gold plating. It is fitted with a decent white mother-of-pearl dial featuring diamond hour markers. It has with a rotating ring that, in my opinion, borrows the design of Bvlgari watches.

The ring features Clous de Paris’ pattern on one side, and has Versace logo on the other. This Versace Eon Women’s replica watches come with two strap option: a matching rose gold plated metal sphere bracelet, or an elegant satin strapThanks to the assist of the outique managers, the small site even offer a special customization service. You may leave a note for special engravings or spefic sizes. They will work hard to meet your requirements and make you Valentine’s Day 2010 as special as you have dreamed of.

And Versace gives extra interpretation of love-they will donate $10 to Haiti Disaster Relief for the first 500 lists shared-the point you do not have to buy the items on the wishlist you made and shared.

Oyster card wallets are the most practical and man-portable marketing tool, with long lasting life and durability. They make very functional personalised item, to put your brand-name in front of your wide audience almost each day of the year and can truly help your line of work to bring home the bacon in a hostile global market. They are a important investment and allow a number of advertisement chances for you and your business enterprise. They are very suitable for your business enterprise identity development and enable you to contend worldwide and also to gain trust and commitment for your business enterprise. These Card holders make quite multipurpose products, for your prospective client, will bar them from being tossed out.

1) Your clients will be able to journey in vogue and protect their precious travel card or ID at the same time and remembering who gave them such an deluxe present. It can be published in full gloss with a diversity of different coatings. By using your business logotype, you can all of a sudden shape this simple object into an irresistible rough-and-ready promotional instrument. This item can assist you to prompt your customers of your company name, again and again.

2) Card holders are outstanding items, insuring upper limit day-by-day brandmark strengthening and campaign longevity. These Oyster card holders can genuinely serve you through your journeying and in the most active rush hour scrum. You can as well employ them as a magnanimous present to hold dear your unique guests. They feel pro and smart and bring fantastic delight to the recipients.

3) It is a fantastic value promotional item for your aimed audience and comes in a large range of assorted colorings and conceptions. It is anti-fade and prepared of wet proof and water repellent materials. Oyster wallets will create a fantastic impact, when passed out to your work colleagues, clients, relatives or even friends on their special occasions.

4) Your clients will be able to journey in style and protect their valuable oyster card or identification at the same time and thinking of who gave them such an exquisite present. It can be printed in full colour with a variety of unique coatings. By employing your party logo, you can suddenly shape this plain object into an fascinating rough-and-ready promotional tool. This item can aid you to prompt your clients of your company brand, time and again.

5) They are graceful and cost effective items, and are available in a great range of colorings and sizings. Their brilliant colourings will make it favourable for you to find them in your purse or breif-case. They also have a logotype mounted on the cover. They are one of the most favorite promotional items and provide a outstanding means of maximizing your merchandising budget.

What’s in a brand name? Everything! Think of these brands: Coke, Barbie, Hershey, McDonalds, Madonna, Pepsi, Bono, Microsoft, Kleenex, Xerox, Steven Spielberg, Dell and GM. Did you notice that brands can be things, replicas of people and actual people? Brands are the public perception of a thing or person. Companies work very hard to establish their brand, sometimes failing when they attempt to tie a secondary product into the popular brand name. Does anyone even remember A1 chicken sauce?

The people and companies behind the above brand names are well known. They are established. They have earned the right to be positioned where they are in the public’s eye. Are you or your product clearly associated with the solution you seek to provide? What about your product? What about your name? How are you positioned in the marketplace? As an entrepreneur, a small businessperson, you have to be ever so keenly aware of every minute detail and opportunity to brand yourself. You need to be the expert. Your product must solve the problem, and the world needs to know about it. Branding therefore, may be the most important marketing challenge you face as your business plan unfolds.

It’s all about public perception. Is Coke the real thing? Does Hershey make the finest chocolate? Does McDonald’s offer the best tasting, most nutritious hamburger? Does GM make the finest cars? We have been trained by skilled marketers to make the above associations. We have been conditioned over time to accept the advertising as real, whether we actually believe it or not. Very clever indeed, these markers have been. You cannot afford to be any less convincing in your efforts.

As CEO of your own organization, you will most likely not have the extensive resources that a major company or big name star has. You probably are the marketing department, the advertising department, the sales team, the accountant and so on. As such, you must remain acutely aware of your image, the perception of each and every customer, and to a great extent, the marketplace as a whole. Your position in the marketplace, often dictated by the perceived quality of your products, your celebrity, your reputation for service, your leadership in your field and your consistency will certainly have a great deal to do with the effectiveness of your brand. You are the brand.

As the brand, you must take the position that you will always be under scrutiny, under the microscope. Assume leadership. You may not be the biggest guy in your field, but through leadership you can establish a market presence that will help you to become positioned along with the major players in your market. Take the lead on local issues or take a stand on a national issue that relates to your product, service and market. Through association, you will be perceived as a market leader, regardless of your size. Attempt to resolve a small problem and associate it with a greater one and you will achieve a level of notoriety, one that you can leverage to increase your brand awareness.

Your company must be credible. That is to say that your products and services must do what you say they will. You must also be credible personally. If you cannot be rightfully associated with your product or service offering, it will be difficult for the public to be receptive to such a contradiction. Honesty and integrity will be assets of great value to you as your marketplace gets to know you.

You must be consistent. You must find your niche, take your stance, establish some position and build from it. If you change every week or every time a new wind blows, people will not take you seriously. They will begin to doubt your leadership and find it difficult to perceive you as a credible source for your goods and services. You will lose whatever market position you have gained and whatever leadership position that you have achieved by wobbling among various directions. The public sees consistency as strength and strength as character. When you are a small company, struggling to grow, the perception of you in the marketplace is a critical factor.

Your marketing plan should certainly include these concerns as well as the incredible importance of the awareness of your market image. Since you are the brand, few components within your business plan should receive more of your attention than the development of the public’s perception of you, your evolving position in the marketplace and the development of your brand image.

Daniel Sitter is the author of the breakthrough e-book, Learning For Profit, the revolutionary how-to book providing simple, step-by-step instructions to teach people exactly how to learn new skills faster than ever before. It’s currently available from c|net’s download.com, the author’s web site http://www.learningforprofit.com/ and a variety of online book merchants. Mr. Sitter is a contributing writer for several online and traditional publications. His expertise include sales, marketing, effective learning techniques, self-improvement and general business interests.

When people mention the word “brand” they usually mean a well known, well
defined company. That’s why consumers frequently mention names such as Target, Rolex, Apple, BMW and others who have done an excellent job in crafting an image and sticking with it. Buyers know what to expect from these companies, and as long as these companies meet that expectation, they will continue to imprint their brand in the minds of our their audience. It’s pretty simple really, if you just keep in mind these two principals.

Principal One: Know your promise.

As amazing as this may seem, most companies don’t really know what it is they are
promising their clients. That’s why they have weak brands. They may have mission
statements, and can spout off why everyone should use their product or service, but
really it’s just a rambling list. Out of fear of losing audience, most companies will try
to compete on price, quality and service… and that’s a recipe for disaster. Who
wants to buy a watch from the Discount Overnight Rolex store? If you try to go after
all three areas you end up muddied in the mind of the consumer, who is trying to
put you in a box. And in this case… that’s a good thing!

A mental “box” is not that different from a set of mail room boxes. The customers
gets all these incoming “messages” and has to sort them all day. The easier you
make it for them to sort your company, and put it in a category, the easier it will be
for them to recall it when needed. Try this… think of a fast place to eat. How about
the best tasting food? And finally, the place you go if you really want to impress
someone? You can probably think of each of these categories rather quickly. And
chances are, these companies are more than happy to fill that niche without trying
to become much more.

Take a moment and write out in two or three sentences (more if you’re feeling
inspired) exactly what your brand promises. It will usually fall under three main
categories… quality, service or price. But there are nuances. Ben & Jerry’s image
contains both a quality message and a social message… one of comittment to the
community and environment.

Principal Two: Never violate Principal One.

Once you have firmly established your promise in the minds of consumers, make
sure every move you make conforms to that promise. Coke was fine to come out
with Diet Coke, Cherry Coke and a host of other flavor variations (brand extension)
but they completely missed the mark when they introduced NEW Coke. People
believed in Coke, identified with Coke and it was a part of their history. New Coke
was seen as a betrayal of the brand itself, a vote of no confidence in their core
product. “What’s wrong with the original Coke?” was the immediate question that
popped up in most minds. That’s why is so important to know what it is, and why it
is, that people buy from you and believe in you.

Know your promise and keep your promise. Pretty simple? Yet it will go a long ways
toward making your company resonate with your customer on a deep and lasting
level. And that’s a promise.

Phil’s life goal of “creating environments where people thrive” reflects his desire to
assist in personal, professional and business growth. Phil founded and ran a full
service ad agency for over 17 years and now works full time as a business naming
and branding consultant. He has authored numerous articles on naming and
branding as well as addressing groups nationwide. Phil resides with wife Michelle
and four energetic offspring outside Asheville, North Carolina. His web site can be
viewed at http://PureTungsten.com or you may reach him by e-mail at
Phil@PureTungsten.com

While we recommend that you contract with the same designer or design team while creating your brand identity materials as possible, we know that this scenario is not always possible.

Whenever you work with a designer other than the original who created your logo, stationery and marketing materials, we suggest a few practices that will prove invaluable for ensuring a consistent look and feel across all of your marketing communications.

At a minimum, make sure that you have information on:

• The Pantone Matching System (PMS) colors used in the designs. These will come in the form of a number. For example, PMS #280 is a deep blue color.

• Fonts. Ask your designer what font is used in your logo, and what secondary and tertiary fonts are used in your stationery and other marketing materials. Having this information will save a future designer many font matching headaches.

• The type of paper on which your materials are printed. In order to duplicate and keep consistent with the look and feel of your materials in future print runs, you’ll always want to have your items printed on the same type of paper.

• The printer who printed your materials. Knowing whether your materials were printed by a digital printer or a press printer can help to ensure that they are reproduced at the same quality in the future. In the case of press printing, this can save you money on additional films as well.

To make for an even smoother transition, negotiate for the original files for your designs. This can be a delicate matter, as some graphic designers do not sell the rights in the original files to their clients. If you cannot get the entire assembled files, we recommend that you negotiate for a minimum of the following pieces:

• An original file of your logo. This is typically known as a vector graphic version, which means that, if the appropriate software is available (Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand are the most common), you can scale the image up and down without losing image quality. If your logo was not created as a vector graphic (i.e., if it was created in Photoshop), then you need the largest, highest resolution file available. See our article on Logo File Formats for more information on which type of formats of your logo you should have on-hand.

• A file containing any specialized secondary graphic brand elements. Some designers will give you files containing special headers, backgrounds, illustrations, etc., so they are available for any future projects. Loss or lack of these elements keeps a new designer from knowing what original effects were used to create the design.

This information will ensure that your materials have graphics that are consistent across the board, and will save time on future projects.

About the Author

Erin Ferree, Founder and Lead Designer of elf design, is a brand identity and graphic
design expert. She has been helping small businesses grow with bold, clean and
effective logo and marketing material designs for over a decade. elf design offers
the comprehensive graphic and web design services of a large agency, with the one-
on-one, personalized attention of an independent design specialist. Erin works
closely in partnership with her clients to create designs that are visible, credible and
memorable - and that tell their unique business stories in a clear and consistent
way. For more information about elf design, please visit:

Logo design at http://www.elf-design.com