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Disposable culture is diminishing the power of brands

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By Alain Sylvain

Since at least the 1920s, brands have steered our cultural zeitgeist. They’ve done this by seeding ideas into the minds of consumers until, ultimately, they become conventional wisdom. Think about it—a brand established mass agreement on what Santa Claus actually looked like (at least, in Western popular culture). A brand also convinced us that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Another one told us that “diamonds are forever,” cementing the idea of the modern engagement ring.

Brands dictated what was culturally important and helped establish our social rituals.

And then, the internet came along and empowered consumers. They could search for their own world view, and didn’t need brands in the same way. Instead of dictating culture, brands started playing defense against it, pandering to its fleeting trends and scrambling for relevance in an increasingly mercurial world. We see this shift in at least three ways, through brands’:

Change in tone

  • Wendy’s, for example, has fully aligned its social media personality with the trending meme economy.

Aesthetics

Self-identity

  • Impossible Foods specializes in creating meat substitutes, but according to its founders it thinks like a tech company that is evolving into a food platform.
  • Victoria’s Secret stubbornly championed a narrow, aspirational vision of femininity for decades, but has since backpedaled as the body positivity trend becomes more mainstream.

Why the shift in approach?

We live in a disposable cultureP

There’s a constant influx of “new” now, and it all comes and goes at breakneck speed. Brands that once told us what was relevant are now struggling to keep up with what relevance even is. With more options than ever before, the power dynamic has shifted, and it’s resulted in a cacophony of brand voices desperately calling out to consumers who do not care to hear them through the noise.

From social media trends to fast fashion to viral news, there’s always something newer, better, and more exciting that steals our attention. And the covid-19 pandemic has further amplified this, with global online consumption doubling in just one year. Digital culture, including digital commerce, is warping our sense of how fast things need to happen. And it’s changing a lot about human societies. Namely, we’ve become accustomed to constant novelty.

With all of us stuck in a never-ending cycle of producing, consuming, and reacting to content, our brains are overworked and overwhelmed. It’s becoming harder for people to focus, and as a result, harder for brands to be relevant. In one survey, 78% of consumers reported that they feel brands never emotionally connect with them. Companies are flailing in a disposable culture because it’s virtually impossible to find strong anchor points in the chaos.

Enough with the nostalgia marketing

In attempts to keep pace with disposable culture, brands are tapping into one of humanity’s most reliable emotional levers—nostalgia—to humanize brands and to create a visage of “everlasting” by intimately bridging the gap between consumers’ experience of the past and present. We see Pepsi tapping modern pop stars for a retro, Grease-inspired commercial. We see Apple turning to nostalgia in its product design by bringing back the colored iMacs of the 1990s. We see Burger King rebranding with a logo that resembles the one used from 1969 to 1994. It’s everywhere, from the Super Bowl to the socials.

These tactics are meant to inspire comfort and warmth. But consumers are becoming wise to the ways in which brands seek to emotionally manipulate us. Our memories, in particular, feel like something that brands should not touch. Once a blissful brand dance, nostalgia now seems overused and inauthentic.

If nostalgia can no longer be relied upon as a consistent tool for navigating disposable culture, then what can be?

As our choice of which brands and products to consume becomes ever wider and our collective interest fleets ever faster, how do brands create lasting significance?

Instead of defaulting to nostalgia, brands can emotionally connect with consumers in ways that avoid exploitation and even add value:

If you own a business or play a role in building or managing a brand, consider these questions to get you started:

  1. What cause can your brand embody that reflects its authentic self and its aspirations for the future?
  2. How can your brand add an element of mystery in order to captivate your audience’s imaginations?
  3. How might your brand use a worldly perspective to challenge everyday assumptions?
  4. When, where, and how can your brand surprise people when they least expect it?

Brands may never again be the cultural leaders they once were. But brands that adapt by connecting with consumers through something more than a tiring air of nostalgia have a good chance of staying afloat (and maybe even standing out) in our disposable culture.

Feature Image Credit: Reuters

By Alain Sylvain

Sourced from QUARTZ

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Is the once-formidable tablet already in its death throes?

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The slate computer was once pegged as the ultimate laptop killer, but something changed

As lockdown started in 2020, there was a huge demand for tablets, as Covid-19 and lockdown forced people around the world to work, learn and entertain themselves at home. This actually bucked a declining trend in sales that started in 2016. But why is this? And what does it mean for digital marketing?

The marvellous, lovely, coveted tablet. The advent of the tablet even changed the usual meaning of the word ‘tablet’, from a medicinal aid (or even Scottish confectionery) to an electronic device we’d never dreamt of before they burst onto the market back in 2010.

The tablet truly laid much of the foundation for changing the way we embrace digital. However, now mobiles are larger and easier to use, I would argue the tablet is becoming less and less relevant. Sales are decreasing again after a ‘lockdown bounce’ and the form factor will start sliding into oblivion in 2022, to be fondly remembered for helping us change how we use digital devices, like the iPod did.

The initial success of Apple’s iPad encouraged other companies such as Samsung and Huawei to develop and release rival tablets. However, according to Statista, after sales peaked in 2014, the global demand for tablets then began to decrease. In 2022, worldwide tablet sales are forecast to reach 158 million units, a significant decrease from the 230 million units in 2014.

IDC data confirms this. The analyst house said in November 2021 that after five quarters of growth, driven by schools and governments blowing their budgets to provide devices for remote learning and consumers aggressively purchasing devices for learning during 2020, global tablet shipments recorded a 9.4% year-over-year decline, falling to 42.3 million units.

Tablet sales grew during lockdown year due to many reasons (their versatility, PC component shortages and a comparatively low price), but are again declining.

Evolution

So, what’s happening to a device so many of us thought we couldn’t do without? One reason is that many devices are evolving all of the time and it’s inevitable that these changes will enable them to move into territory previously occupied by other devices.

Laptops are getting even more powerful and with better graphics. But what is also happening is they’re getting smaller, thinner and lighter. And the edges around the screens are also disappearing, resulting in bigger screens. The result is something like a tablet, but potentially more powerful.

And whilst laptops are getting smaller, smartphones are getting increasingly good at performing tablet tasks, such as streaming. Smartphones screens are getting larger, whilst the devices themselves are also getting thinner and lighter.

In 2022, Statista forecasts that just 220 million phones with a screen size between 5” and 5.5” will be sold – that figure sat at 305 million in 2019. For phones with screens between 6” and 7” the 2022 forecast is for 660 million sales, against only 465 million in 2019.

The quality of mobile screens is also getting much better, with much improved resolution. In fact, this evolution has enabled the digital world to gift the English language yet another new word, the ‘phablet’.

As well as the above changes, the smartphone is always on or about you, it’s not so easy with a tablet (though some users might need bigger pockets!) and, according to the Interaction Design Foundation, they are now the preferred platform for users aged between 18 and 34, possibly because they are more likely to be ‘out and about’.

Gaming is huge, of course, and really needs a PC or console to be immersive. However, gaming on the move is more accessible for many on a smartphone; although tablets are still better, smartphones are, as previously said, much more accessible and easier to carry.

Digital marketing

Across a sample of our clients, we’ve seen a decline in the use of tablets to access websites of up to 31% from November 2020 to November 2021. This will give digital marketers much to think about. The user experience is different between tablets and smartphones, it’s not simply a matter of scaling down a site for a phone; with a smaller screen some functionality will need to be different, with less space on a screen.

There will be implications for campaign targeting when buying media. Who is using smartphones compared with laptops and tablets, for example? In which demographics is the decline of tablet usage taking place that needs addressing quickly? And what will be the implications for CRO assumptions made in the past? These will need to be looked at again due to changing user habits as they move from tablet to mobile.

And ‘more smartphone, less tablet’ increases the headache for marketers using Facebook. Updates to Apple iOS 14 change how marketers can receive tracking data from tools such as Facebook pixel. In an effort to move towards the App Tracking Transparency framework, Apple’s new policy blocks some data collection for brands and puts the emphasis on users to opt in to tracking on their device. Whilst responsible data collection and privacy is admirable, it does cause a ‘blocker’ for digital marketers that have relied on that data to optimise and target their ads and create personalised experiences. Overall, the move towards more mobile and less tablet means marketing to target audiences becomes more restrictive. However, there are some ways around this.

Old tablets never die…

Tablets won’t disappear altogether. They still have many applications that will be useful to marketers and many others; tablets are great for keeping toddlers happy, for example.

They are also great for professionals working in the field, where shop workers can show customers alternative designs and how items will look in certain situations more easily than with a smartphone. They are better for long sessions staring at a screen than concentrating on a smartphone’s relatively smaller screen. And for collaborative experiences, such as choosing new décor or a new car, tablets more likely to be used in the home.

Above all, it’s a trend that marketers must be aware of. If they are, they can take the opportunity now to help customers take advantage of slick smartphone advertising, websites and applications. No-one wants to aim their goods and services where fewer and fewer are looking.

Feature Image credit: Shutterstock.com / Lordn

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Craig is the CEO of Ultimedia and has been driving digital innovation for enterprise organisations with digital strategy since 1997. He has been instrumental in the growth of many digital businesses, including multiple digital agencies, publishers such as Guardian Media Group and Trinity Mirror, plus high profile organisations in the sport, finance, retail and ecommerce sectors.

Sourced from techradar.pro

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Entrepreneurs and small business owners: An example of growth and adaptation to new needs

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The best strategy to grow your business: Online store + Social networks.

The world has changed and continues to adapt to a new normal . In the midst of a growing process of economic recovery, we have a much more digital landscape than before. This achievement is something that companies – micro, small and medium – should undoubtedly take advantage of to better adapt to the present and prepare for the future.

At GoDaddy we want to better understand small business owners and their challenges so that we can serve them in the best way possible. This year we conducted the Entrepreneurship Survey 2021 and uncovered some fascinating data that reveals the exceptional ability of entrepreneurs to get ahead by taking a digital approach.

Even in adversity, many of the small business owners and entrepreneurs we surveyed in Mexico found a perfect opportunity to adapt their business strategy, reach new markets, and even create new businesses. Here are some of the top findings from the Entrepreneurship Survey 2021.

A new opportunity in the midst of adversity

Tough times often bring opportunities for those who can identify and adapt to the changing environment, and these small businesses show it. In Mexico, 45% of the companies surveyed were created in the last two years, indicating that they were established just before or during the global pandemic.

Likewise, small business owners have indicated that digital platforms are the best option to be close to their customers, noting that it is an opportunity they should take advantage of to market their products or services in the future. 84% of the participants declared having observed an increase in the activity in the social networks of their competitors, and 4 out of 10 have discovered more websites and / or online stores belonging to this sector.

The best strategy to grow your business: Online store + Social networks

Many small entrepreneurs were looking for opportunities to diversify their sales channels when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The survey revealed that 63% of them started selling online in response to the new environment, helping 50% offset losses in physical sales. In fact, 57% of the total respondents bet on a mixed strategy that includes both physical stores and online sales.

Currently, there are many online sales channels available, and our survey reveals that entrepreneurs are considering several of them based on what they value best for their business. For example, 73% of respondents plan to implement a website with an e-commerce within six months, and 6 out of 10 respondents consider that advertising on social networks is the best strategy to increase sales by Internet. Additionally, 69% of respondents have implemented a combined digital marketing strategy that includes social media, email, and website, among others.

This highlights the importance of using a separate e-commerce solution, such as a website with its own online store to support social channels. In this way, small business owners are in control of what happens on the Internet and can personalize the experience of their customers, which increases the connection between them and the brand. This is confirmed by the results of the survey that maintain that social networks (65%) and the creation of an online store (63%) are important tools for the strategic growth of a company.

Self-sufficient entrepreneurs

One particularly interesting aspect that the GoDaddy survey measured was how entrepreneurs initially digitized. 76% of small business owners declared having created websites for their businesses on their own and without the help of a professional, of which 59% did it themselves and 17% with the support of a family member or friend. This statistic certainly speaks to the advances in accessibility and ease of platforms, and the importance of allowing even the inexperienced to create, edit and manage their own websites.

Accessibility encourages entrepreneurs to create their own websites, which could influence those who have not yet been digitized to take that leap. Today, there are “all-in-one” tools that allow entrepreneurs to join a clear trend of digitization, without the need to be experts in programming or design. Thanks to this, today a small company can compete and stand out in the market.

The road ahead

The use of digital channels for business growth has become a necessity for present and future business strategy. Given this, respondents affirm that they want to know better or learn to incorporate social networks (67%) and a website (48%) into their businesses.

However, although we are in an increasingly digital world, many SMEs are still not convinced that incorporating this approach can be beneficial. Of the total of those surveyed who operate exclusively under a physical store model, 48% do so because they prefer face-to-face contact with their customers, 37% say they do not know how to implement e-commerce tools, 23% believe that it is expensive sell online and 12% say they don’t have time to do this digital transformation.

With advances in easy-to-use technology, these claims could now be considered myths or misconceptions that have endured over the years. A while ago, you might need strong technical knowledge; However, with the right tools it can be simple, fast and intuitive to create a website, social media presence and online store, including options designed for every need and budget. The online presence helps to break down physical and time barriers, and has become a key aspect that facilitates the establishment and growth of a business.

After analysing the results of our Entrepreneurship Survey 2021 , we are left with the firm conviction that Mexican entrepreneurs will continue to look for new ways to get ahead in the coming months. The start of a new year brings with it a renewed sense of optimism with companies that are already demonstrating their ability to innovate in the face of this new normal. We hope these results inspire small business owners nationwide to identify potential new and better strategies to help them grow throughout their entrepreneurial journey.

Feature Image Credit: Depositphotos.com

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Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

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New Data Shows What Marketers Are Looking for With Media Agency Relationships

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By Olivia Morley

Tech, co-location and in-housing are top of mind

Today’s marketers expect more from their media agencies and care less about buying clout, according to a new report by global digital agency Kepler, produced in partnership with research company Vanson Bourne.

The Media Investment Evolved report includes data sourced from 150 senior marketers at companies with at least $5 billion in annual revenue across the U.S., U.K. and Asia-Pacific region.

Tech matters more than buying clout

Compared to five years ago, today’s marketers are more concerned with managing and optimizing tech platform relationships with strategic investment planning.

Media buying and trading has also become less of a concern for marketers over time, with 42% indicating they struggled with this five years ago versus only 14% today. Marketers are less focused on traditional buying and more concerned with strategic moves, such as building relationships with platforms and bulking up in-house operations.

With 85% of senior marketers indicating that future media investment performance will be determined by data optimization more than by negotiating media buying at scale, commonly referred to as “buying clout,” agencies may find themselves at a disadvantage with marketers if they can’t utilize the right tech in the right way.

“Even very traditional marketers are becoming much more focused on driving and measuring tangible marketing outcomes,” said Rick Greenberg, Kepler’s global CEO. Today’s advertisers are increasingly aware that a small portion of the population is driving their business, resulting in the need for precision, he continued. “It’s much more about precision than it is just about mass buying clout.”

Marketers are also concerned about building relationships with tech platforms. While this has been a persistent worry over the last five years, it is becoming more so, with 55% saying it was a top concern today compared to 51% five years ago.

A large majority of respondents said they use their media agencies to collect and optimize data, underscoring the relevance of data literacy in today’s market.

In-housing and co-location are the norm

A majority of marketers expressed concern with their media partners, noting that talent and operating models are not evolving fast enough to deliver the support their organizations require. Due to this, in-housing is even more present on marketer’s minds, with 39% indicating they are struggling to develop their own internal media technology now compared to 33% five years ago.

Further, 53% of senior marketers indicating they use agencies to embed their talent within their own organization. Co-location is also a much larger concern for marketers than it was in the past, with 40% indicating they are struggling with embedding agency talent, compared to 21% five years ago, though it is not clear if the pandemic had any effect on marketers’ response to this question.

“We are also seeing many advertisers bring their partners’ staff into their office so they can sit side-by-side and work more closely together and basically achieve in-housing,” Greenberg said. Over half the clients Kepler has won in the last year are utilizing the agency to support their in-house operation.

Many other agencies (41% of respondents) are acting as consultants for brands as they build out in-housing and internal technology.

“There still is need for an expert intermediary or an expert partner to help [clients] navigate [in-housing] and use those tools,” Greenberg said. “I don’t think we should be interpreting the data to say that the age of partners is over. What we’re seeing is a real shift in the sentiment around what that partner should look like and what that partner should be doing.”

In-housing is becoming the standard, and a staggering 83% of brands said they are either currently or planning to expand their in-house media investment technology. That percentage climbed to 92% for brands, with sales higher than $10 billion annually, signalling that big companies will be the first to build out in-house media operations if they haven’t already.

But marketers expressed concerns with their agencies’ ability to work with in-house teams, with almost half indicating that their media agency partners could improve on sharing learnings and consulting with in-house teams. And 78% said that in the future they’d be looking for a talent and trading model that will morph around in-house operations.

“Agencies need to become much more flexible in their engagement models to accommodate or to meet those clients where they are, to not force clients to just adopt the traditional client-vendor arm’s length relationship,” Greenberg said. This extends to providing services that go beyond media buying, including organizational design, training, platform consultation and co-location services.

The changing landscape is pushing media agencies to become much more strategic and consultative, Greenberg added. Tactical execution is now just one piece of the puzzle.

By Olivia Morley

Olivia is Adweek’s senior reporter specializing in media agencies.

Sourced from ADWEEK

 

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9 Good Reasons to Consider Out-of-Home Advertising

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Many people think they know what OOH advertising is, but some perceptions are still very much stuck in the past.

As marketing has increasingly moved in a digital direction over the past two decades, a lot of myths and misconceptions have prevailed about “traditional” media channels. This is especially true for out-of-home (OOH) advertising. Many people think they know what OOH advertising is, but some perceptions are still very much stuck in the past.

The truth is, OOH has changed a lot over the past few years.  So here are nine reasons you should consider allocating more budget to OOH advertising in the coming year. Hopefully, you’ll come away with an entirely new appreciation of outdoor advertising, including its ability to amplify your other traditional and digital marketing efforts in a big way.

1. OOH goes way beyond brand marketing

In the past, OOH advertising was primarily used for brand marketing campaigns — think Times Square or Sunset Boulevard, where the billboards dwarf everything around them with the splashiest possible brand advertising. However, the original focus of OOH was to drive an immediate, direct response that viewers could perform even before returning home, and it still has the power to do that. In addition, OOH can also drive offline-to-online responses, because prospects can immediately take action on their phones. A study from Nielsen found that OOH is the most effective offline medium in driving online activity – delivering four times more online activity per dollar spent than TV, radio and print. This factor gives OOH huge potential to be included in any marketing mix, not just brand advertising.

2. OOH is much more than just billboards

While billboards play a substantial role in OOH, the medium is much bigger than this particular ad format. Outdoor advertising includes a range of ad formats from murals to transport wraps, branded food packaging and street furniture such as park benches. OOH can use practically any real-world surface available, and companies employing the full range of opportunities can increase their chances of reaching an audience at multiple touchpoints during a day.

3. OOH is affordable

OOH advertising has the reputation of being expensive, but it actually offers the lowest cost per thousand impressions (CPM) of all traditional media. With an average CPM of around $5, it’s a steal compared to other options available. The belief that OOH is expensive stems from the cost of billboards in places like Times Square, but it’s the location, not the medium, that determines the price. And it’s possible to uncover high-value placements even in popular locations like Times Square if you have the right data and technology at your fingertips. For advertisers looking to drive real results in a specific geographical area, there are multiple ways to do so on any budget.

4. OOH is accessible for everyone

In the past, buyers had to have close, 1-to-1 relationships with OOH media owners to get the advertising real estate they wanted at a reasonable price. Now, with OOH buying platforms, tools that offer real-time inventory availability, historical pricing data and historical performance data, buyers can access the information they need to determine which placements will give them the best return on their ad spend. The best platforms also offer pre-negotiated, low rates, so buyers can forego the hassle of haggling with media owners.

5. Local expertise is not necessary

Before OOH data tools existed, media buyers needed local expertise to uncover OOH ad placements. However, now that advertisers can search, target and measure 98% of available inventory with OOH buying platforms, the need for local expertise is obsolete. Additionally, with the data and insights built into these new tools, any media buyer has the information at their fingertips to plan and buy effective OOH placements that deliver a stellar performance.

6. OOH is easy to execute

In the past, executing OOH advertising was a long, laborious process that included sourcing, RFP-ing, haggling over price, creative development, approval, production, proofing and eventual installation. Today, some OOH buying platforms have shortened this process, even for static OOH. And since the rise of programmatic digital OOH, brands can buy and launch campaigns in 48 hours. Buyers and managers can modify, pause and resume their ads in real-time. The OOH tools available allow advertisers to perform ad buying and execution faster than ever before.

7. OOH is data-driven

One of the most powerful aspects of the newly tech-savvy OOH world is that advertisers can target audiences precisely. Ad buyers use data to pinpoint the exact OOH units most likely to reach their target audiences, and can even layer in first-party data to build accurate lookalike audiences.

Third-party, anonymized foot traffic and mobility data help advertisers understand consumer movement patterns at a granular level and identify areas with the highest densities of specific customer segments. This means companies can buy OOH ad units in areas where they will have the best possible chance of being seen.

8. OOH is measurable

Every advertiser wants to know what return they’re getting on their ad spend. With the right tools, today’s ad buyers can track, isolate and compare performance for both digital and static OOH media. They can accurately assess offline-to-online conversions, measure ROI and optimize their campaigns in real time to produce excellent results.

9. There’s lots of inventory

Many people mistakenly believe that OOH advertising operates within a highly consolidated marketplace. This couldn’t be further from the truth. OOH buying platforms make it possible to reach the many independent media owners in every market, opening doors to one-stop negotiations for strategically located placements.

OOH advertising has changed tremendously over the last few years. With the latest technology, OOH offers advertisers excellent opportunities to plan, buy and execute ad campaigns that deliver results across every objective and campaign KPI. Don’t make the mistake of thinking OOH is outdated. Take a step into the future to see how this advertising option can impact your company’s bottom line.

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Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

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The Rebrand Trend of 2021? Acting Your Age

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By Rachel del Valle

This year, heritage brands looked to their pasts to create visual identities for the multi-platform era

In a year packed with change, a certain shade of nostalgia has taken hold of branding design. A number of legacy brands, from Burger King to Campbell’s Soup to Colt 45, ABC, Zagat, and Peugeot, drew on their archives to create new looks. The unfussy lettering, crisp lines, and pared-down color palettes of these rebrands look like stylish cartoon versions of the original logos. They have the visual efficiency, if not exactly the style, of Hanna-Barbera’s golden age.

“There is something that changed this year that made this aesthetic and this approach not just acceptable, but really successful in the marketplace,” says Armin Vit, co-founder of UnderConsideration. Vit says Jones Knowles Ritchie’s Burger King rebrand, which made headlines in January, made consumers want to engage with the brand in a way that they hadn’t felt the need to before. While Vit agrees there have been more archive-referencing rebrands since then, he says it’s hard to know how many of them were already in progress before Burger King’s fresh-but-familiar look became a hit. It should be noted that despite media coverage to the contrary, JKR’s executive creative director, Lisa Smith, doesn’t characterize the rebrand as an homage to the restaurant’s glory days. While the new logo is a take on the longstanding previous Burger King sign, other elements—from the Kraft paper packaging to the elegant favicon—are entirely original.

A product shot of Burger King meals in minimal, colorful packaging against a red background.
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Burger King rebrand by Jones Knowles Ritchie.

This trend is one part practical, one part cultural. Midcentury graphic design, which straddled the print and emerging digital worlds of its time, had technical restrictions that resulted in simpler, more abstract work. Accents like drop shadows and gradients had to be done by hand. There were far fewer typefaces to choose from. So by default, most logos created between the mid 1950s and 1970s were what we now call flat design: two-dimensional, characterized by blocks of color and a general lack of filigree. While the textured visual identities of the 1990s and 2000s—think the glint on Windows 2000—don’t translate well to small-scale digital screens, the unadorned designs of the midcentury era lend themselves well to today’s multi-platform landscape.

Modern brands live in lots of places. Social media accounts, digital ads, and apps add a new dimension to the world of storefronts, websites, and print. That increased exposure, along with the forum for superficial nitpicking that the internet provides, has made consumers—and brands themselves—care more about branding than ever before. Vit pinpoints mainstream interest in corporate identity back to 2010. That year, the Gap unveiled a new logo: a black Helvetica wordmark, layered over a gradient blue box on the upper-right-hand corner. Since 1986, the retailer’s logo had been a narrow, white wordmark in a navy blue square. It was a big, unpopular change. The backlash, which played out via customer comments on Twitter and Facebook, garnered media attention. The sites that covered the debacle read like a who’s who of digital media circa 2010: Slate and Refinery29 blogged about it. Gap chairman Bob Fisher posted a response on Huffington Post. A week later, the company reverted to its former logo. While brands have long known that consumers are wont to grow attached to visual identities, Gap’s snafu showed that in the digital age, every change is subject to mass approval.

03
Colt 45’s rebrand.

While in recent decades legacy brands attempted to use design as a way to communicate their immediate relevance, the tide seems to be shifting toward visuals that convey a more timeless presence. Put another way, established brands have always had the advantage of age, but it’s only recently that they’ve started to embrace it. But is the recent spate of nostalgic rebrands simply a trend, or is it indicative of a larger shift in corporate identity among older brands? After all, zhushing up a logo from the last century is a power move that’s not available to venture-funded competition.

Most brands launching today believe that establishing an emotional connection is essential to their success. Older brands can do this simply by reminding consumers how long they’ve been around. A page from ABC’s recent internal “brand evolution” guide reads: “We have something every brand dreams of: an iconic logo. Since being crafted by the legendary designer Paul Rand in 1962, our logo has experienced many different treatments and variations as tastes and trends change—from glossy and shiny to sleek and sophisticated. Now, almost 60 years later, we’re taking this opportunity to return to our roots—redrawing, simplifying and strengthening ABC.”

Logo featuring ABC on a blurred black and white background
04
ABC’s rebrand.

Creating a connection with the past, if not your past, is also particularly appealing for up-and-coming brands that need to rationalize their existence in a market that feels like it’s expanding at an exponential rate. So says independent designer Elizabeth Goodspeed. More and more, “the brand is the story.” Being able to tie that story to something larger than a set of products or services imparts significance into otherwise redundant offerings. Goodspeed says her work has always been “nostalgia influenced,” but she’s found that inclination has been especially in demand as of late. “There were a couple years where everyone was like, ‘This is too retro,’” and now, she says, “I’m getting told, ‘It’s not retro enough.’” Goodspeed says that a vintage-inspired brand identity lends credibility, especially to new companies. “It feels counter-DTC, which often gets associated with low quality. So being able to say, ‘No, no, it’s craftsmanship, it’s heritage,’ gives it that sort of oomph.”

The prospect of what’s to come is seldom as comforting as the memory of what’s past. In future-oriented design, a sense of familiarity is replaced by possibility. But these days, branding that evokes the past seems like a surer route to a positive emotional connection than gesturing toward an amorphous future. In 2022, we can look forward to more looking backward

Feature Image Credit: Illustration by Beatrice Sala

By Rachel del Valle

Sourced from AGA Eye on Design

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The Best Lead Generation Tool For Your Service Business

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By Pia Silva

Even if you have your act together with your business branding— you have a website, a logo, business cards, and a social media account— if you’re a small service business, there’s one thing you are probably not giving the love and attention it deserves. And this one thing is your very best opportunity to take your business to the next level.

It’s having a clear, actionable, repeatable, easy-to-maintain lead generation plan. A clear set of actions you can take that will bring in qualified clients every month, warm them up, and turn them into raving fans, amazing referral sources and, best of all, paying clients.

Since there are so many options for lead generation for a service business, I recommend starting with and focusing on one clear marketing strategy, and tweaking it until it’s a reliable source of clients.

And the most powerful option for most entrepreneurs and solo service business owners?

A high-touch, one-to-many experience for your prospects.

Remember, as a service provider you don’t need thousands of clients. If you’re trying to build a profitable business that provides a lifestyle full of freedom, you just need a handful of profitable clients who will pay higher prices for valuable outcomes, rather then hourly rates for freelance-style execution.

Therefore, the best lead generation strategies will take an individual through an experience that can build trust with prospects as quickly as possible.

And there is nothing better than an interaction on video or live, in person, to build that trust and bring your brand to life for them. This is usually something along the lines of a presentation, a masterclass, or a webinar—an event or experience where they feel like they know you by the end.

If you’re a service business, like the 1-2 person branding agencies I coach, you just need 1 killer one-to-many experience that is going to quickly turn cold leads into your biggest fan club by positioning you as an expert.

And once you have this, it will quickly become your most valuable brand asset.

What Makes One-to-Many Marketing Your Most Valuable Brand Asset?

I know it sounds like the old chicken-and-egg cycle. You need a brand to inform and drive your marketing, but you need marketing to help you show off your brand.

But consider that prospects experience your brand through your marketing. People get to know you not just through the words on your website, but also how you market yourself.

The one-to-many approach is such a powerful strategy that one business owner I work with—Amanda Dahler, owner of Outspoke Design—focuses solely on helping people build their brand with a powerful presentation, class, webinar, or masterclass. The goal of her service is to take your existing brand and bring it to life in a way that puts you squarely in the position of “trusted expert.”

I recently asked Amanda for her take on this one-to-many strategy: “I see a presentation as the most high-impact, the most high-stakes, the most bang you can get for your buck as a business owner. You’ve got a room full of people who are ready to connect with you. And if you position yourself the right way and do it authentically, you have the opportunity to connect with them. It’s not like having a one-to-one sales call where you have a great relationship. You make a connection doing this with many people at one time, and there’s simply no equivalent for the amount of trust that you can build in a presentation as opposed to any other form of marketing.”

Marketing and Branding Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Speaking in front of an audience in a one-to-many setting is powerful. It turns your brand into an experience that is unique to the entire audience and yet shared between them at the same time.  That connection is what is going to make people buy.

And it doesn’t stop or start with the presentation. There are touch points before and after that contribute to the whole experience. In the end, the goal is that there’s an internal transformation within the presentation where somebody moves from sceptical to believer.

But when a client doesn’t have their brand together, it’s impossible to do this well. That’s why all marketing starts with branding. That brand work, that strategic work, is the thing that makes your one-to-many presentation punchy and memorable and powerful. It’s what makes you stand out from the rest.

How to Build Your Best Brand Asset

When I coach 1-2 person branding agencies on scaling their businesses without growing a team, using one focused, one-to-many strategy is a key method we use to bring in the biggest, most profitable clients. But you can’t do this without having your brand and business model in order. My method for doing this has been my No BS Agency model which is all about simplifying who you work with and how so you can focus on becoming an expert in one area. If you’d like to see what that model looks like, grab the free blueprint to see if you can implement this model in your business.

Feature Image Credit: illustration by Steve Wasterval

By Pia Silva

I am a partner and brand strategist at Worstofall Design where we build brands that turn expertise into profit. Unlike most branding firms, we build entire brands in days instead of months, and only work for 1-3 person service businesses. Our unique process and niche positioning has helped us to overcome the hurdles we struggled with when we were starting our business, reliably attracting a steady flow of high paying clients and allowing us to enjoy the freedom that inspired us to become entrepreneurs in the first place. At Forbes, my goal is to clarify and simplify the elusive idea of “branding,” and share practical tips and tangible steps to help businesses find their unique brand voice that leads to profit.

Sourced from Forbes

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Good News for Amazon: Advertisers Are Spending More Online

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By Parkev Tatevosian

The e-commerce giant has been gaining ground in the advertising market.

It may be a curious phenomenon that Amazon ( AMZN -1.05% ) is happy about increasing ad spending, but it’s true. Over the past few years, Amazon has built itself into an advertising giant. The company is generating an increasing share of its revenue from advertising, and since that revenue tends to be more profitable than the overall business, it’s become an essential element.

For that reason, Amazon and its stockholders must be thrilled with a recent Wall Street Journal article that highlights advertisers are spending much more online this year.

Advertisers are finding online spending more lucrative

According to GroupM, global ad spending will grow 22.5% to $763 billion this year. That’s the second revision upward from GroupM since it first gave estimates in December 2020. After many businesses had to shut their doors to customers in the early stages of the pandemic, this year has consisted of vast reopening’s worldwide. That’s given cause for advertisers to increase spending: to get the word out that they are open for business again.

Interestingly, digital advertising will encompass 64.4% of the total in 2021, up from 60.5% in 2020 and 52.1% in 2019. The rapid shift to online advertising is not entirely surprising. Typically, marketers can more effectively measure the returns from online advertising. For instance, it’s difficult to calculate how many people heard a radio advertisement or viewed an ad placed in a newspaper.

Indeed, you can get approximations by looking at estimated listener audiences or subscribers to the newspaper, but they will be far from precise. Compare that with digital ad spending, where marketers can see how many folks viewed the ad and how many clicked on a link.

Moreover, with the proliferation of online shopping, it only makes sense to increase advertising online. People browsing the internet on their computers or phones typically have a payment method on file. If they see a compelling advertisement, they are only a few clicks away from purchasing.

Amazon is already benefiting from the shift

Amazon does not break out how much it makes from advertising specifically. However, it states that one of its segments consists primarily of ad revenue. In its most recent quarter ended Sept. 30, the segment that contains advertising reported revenue of $8.1 billion. That was up by 49% from the same quarter the year before. Amazon is home to hundreds of millions of shoppers who are one click away from purchasing, making it a desired online destination for ad spending.

“We’ve also seen strong growth in our advertising products as vendors and sellers have embraced their ability to build their brands and reach customers just as they consider their purchases,” CFO Brian Olsavsky said during the company’s Q3 conference call.

Indeed, ad revenue has almost doubled at Amazon since Q2 2020, growing from $4.2 billion to the $8.1 billion mentioned earlier. As folks keep looking to Amazon for their shopping needs, advertisers will increasingly be interested in gaining their attention in the meantime.

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Feature Image Credit: Getty Images.

By Parkev Tatevosian

Sourced from The Motley Fool

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Gain a better understanding of your web audience with Analytics-Base

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Sourced from PCWorld

If you’re building a business, then it’s especially vital to understand your audience. But the data collected by most analytics tools can be really difficult to comprehend, making it that much harder to put it to work. Which is why you might consider switching to Analytics-Base, especially since it’s being offered at 48 percent off the regular price this week.

Analytics-Base is business analytics software that makes it easy to understand your clients’ behavior. It features a simple and clean interface that even beginners can make sense of, it doesn’t track IPs or use cookies, and it integrates easily with platforms like Shopify, WordPress, and Squarespace. And then, once it collects data, it presents it to you in a way that’s far easier to understand, so you can make changes that are more likely to increase sales.

This software works with any web browser, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues. You just buy it, install it, and quickly get it working for you. And since you can get a lifetime subscription right now for only $25, then it could even pay for in a matter of hours. 

Sourced from PCWorld

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12 Brand Positioning Statement Examples and Why They Work

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By Stevie Snow

What does your brand positioning statement say about you? Is your brand motivational like Nike, environmentally focused like Patagonia or a trend-setter like Outdoor Voices?

Maybe your company doesn’t sell activewear, but you get the gist. Strong brand positioning gives your target audience a solid idea of who your brand is and why they should choose you over your competitors.

As any respectable marketer in need of inspiration does, looking to other brands that you know and love — or know and compete with — will help you determine what you should incorporate in your own brand strategy.

Lucky for you, we compiled some brand positioning statement examples that will do just that.

What Is a Brand Positioning Statement?

Brand positioning is all about setting your brand apart from the crowd. A full strategy includes branding elements like your logo and tagline that build your brand’s identity.

Your brand positioning statement is a grounding summary of your products or services and how they fill specific needs for your target audience. It’s an internal tool used to ensure all brand communication and marketing efforts are consistent with the identity, purpose and values that make your brand different from others in your target market.

By and large, a brand positioning statement conveys the distinct value your brand offers customers.

Why Do You Need a Brand Positioning Statement?

A brand positioning statement helps align your internal teams so that everyone is creating and delivering on-brand user experiences.

Remember that your brand identity is all yours! More important than boiling it down into a statement is whether your brand walks the walk. Your brand strategy should ensure that your company’s values and personality shine through all of your branding, marketing and communications materials. Customers are looking for authenticity and consistency — not a perfectly polished positioning statement.

Internally, though, that perfectly polished statement could be the exact internal tool you need to make sure everyone in the organization is aligned.

What Are the Core Elements of Strategic Brand Positioning?

The elements to consider when crafting your strategic brand positioning include your target audience, target market category, customer pain points, brand promise, brand identity, core values and mission.

To position your brand and stand out from your competition, your positioning should answer questions like these:

  • Who do you serve?
  • What do you serve them with?
  • How do you serve them?
  • Why do they need your product or service?
  • How do you solve a problem for your target audience?
  • What makes your brand trustworthy?
  • How is your brand different from others that offer similar products or services?

If it helps to get your gears going, here are simple formulas you can follow to create a winning positioning statement:

  • [Brand name] provides [benefit] because [compelling reason] for [target audience] with [specific need or want].
  • [Brand name] serves [target audience] who [specific need or want]. [Brand name] offers [how your company responds to need or want] to make customers feel [outcome of buying your product or service].

How Is a Positioning Statement Different From Other Marketing Statements?

It’s worth noting that your brand positioning statement is not the same as other classic marketing statements, including your mission and vision.

For starters, your positioning statement is used internally while your other statements are often shared externally. Your mission statement is the “why” behind your brand, your vision is where you’re headed, and your brand positioning statement is the value that your brand adds to your area of focus.

Your positioning statement is also different from your value proposition, which explains the benefits and desirable outcomes of your product or service. You can use your value proposition as part of your positioning statement, but the latter will also get into your brand’s differentiators.

12 Brand Positioning Statement Examples We Love

Full disclosure: These examples are not necessarily the exact positioning statements that these brands created! As mentioned above, brand positioning statements generally stay within the four walls of an organization. That said, if executed well, you can get a good idea of how a brand positions itself because it’s woven into the fabric of all of its external messaging.

Insider tip: You can also look at press releases for clues on a brand’s positioning statement. Generally, in the “About Company” section, brands will highlight their products, services and key differentiators.

These examples from well-known brands work on a basic level because we can take a solid guess at the positioning statement that grounds the messages they share with external audiences. We’ll also let you in on more reasons why we think these brand positioning examples work so well so you can use these as inspiration when crafting your own.

1. JetBlue Airways

For travellers across the U.S., the Caribbean and Latin America, and between New York and London, JetBlue is a leading airline choice that puts customer safety and comfort first. With features like the most legroom in coach, free Fly-Fi, and award-winning customer service, JetBlue is on a mission to bring humanity back to air travel.

Why it works: Travel can be a hassle, but JetBlue is here to make it more fun and comfortable by caring for its customers and crew members like family.

2. Apple

Apple provides innovative personal technology for individuals who want the best computers and mobile devices. With several product offerings and software platforms, Apple offers a seamless and connected experience that empowers people to easily access breakthrough technology that’s designed to leave the world better than how we found it.

Why it works: With its suite of easy-to-use products, Apple makes the latest in technology accessible to everyone from tech-savvy Genius Bar employees to everyday people trying to keep up with today’s digital world. Nowadays, Apple also relies on its established brand identity and history for credibility, though its consistent branding helps position the company as a mainstay in the circle of technology leaders.

3. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a total beverage company that offers a wide range of refreshing drinks for customers around the world. With a focus on positively impacting lives, Coca-Cola is about creating happiness, reducing environmental impact throughout the supply chain, and providing thousands of economic opportunities in local communities worldwide.

Why it works: Coca-Cola is aware of the Coke vs. Pepsi debate and it distinguishes itself by being an iconic brand focused on happiness and positive impact. The company’s focus on customer needs and current trends is also likely behind their attention to sustainable practices and economic opportunities.

4. Girlfriend Collective

Girlfriend Collective is a slow-fashion and size-inclusive brand for those looking to shop for sustainably and ethically made activewear. With a deep focus on people and the planet, Girlfriend Collective is a community of responsible and well-dressed shoppers.

Why it works: Sustainable fashion is becoming a trend capitalized by greenwashing brands but with transparency from the beginning and a competitive range of sizes, Girlfriend Collective is uniquely positioned as one of the more authentic brands to choose from.

5. HubSpot

Straight from the marketing guru itself: Since 2006, HubSpot has been on a mission to make the world more inbound. Today, over 100,000 total customers in more than 100 countries use HubSpot’s award-winning software, services and support to transform the way they attract, engage and delight customers. Comprised of HubSpot’s CRM, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Service Hub, HubSpot gives companies the tools they need to Grow Better.

Why it works: HubSpot shows off its impressive reach and lineup of services to position the brand as an inbound marketing leader and top choice for effective marketing tools.

6. Slack

Slack is a leading messaging platform for business communication, used by millions to align their teams, unify their systems and drive their businesses forward. No matter the size of the team, Slack allows people to collaborate more effectively and get work done.

Why it works: While Slack serves businesses of various sizes and industries, the company’s brand positioning focuses on the universal outcomes of using the service.

7. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that empowers small businesses to launch, build and grow with help from easy-to-use marketing and commerce tools, award-winning support and inspiring content.

Why it works: With a crowded market of similar business tools, Mailchimp differentiates itself by being an approachable, one-stop shop specifically for smaller businesses that need help scaling.

8. Zoom

For people and businesses who need to meet with others virtually, Zoom offers a seamless video communications platform. As the only platform that started with video as its foundation, Zoom’s platform set the standard for innovation in intuitive, scalable and secure digital connections.

Why it works: Zoom leans on its history of being the first video communications platform to reinforce its credibility and leadership in the market.

9. LUSH Cosmetics

LUSH offers fresh, organic and handmade cosmetics for people who are conscious about the products they use on their skin. From inventing bath bombs and creating new, innovative products to ethical campaigning and fighting animal testing, LUSH has come a long way since its humble beginnings.

Why it works: LUSH isn’t shy about boasting its original inventions and activism, while also remembering its roots. This translates to a welcoming, approachable and authentic brand, as well as messaging that leads with the differentiators that encourage shoppers to choose LUSH over other cosmetic products.

10. Blueland

Blueland is the answer for those who want sustainable alternatives to traditional household cleaning products and personal care items. A cleaner planet starts at home, so Blueland’s effective products eliminate the need for single-use plastic packaging and make it easy, convenient and affordable to be eco-friendly.

Why it works: Sustainable products have a reputation for being more expensive and less effective than their traditional counterparts, so Blueland positions itself to debunk those perceptions.

11. Hollaback!

Hollaback! is a non-profit organization that’s dedicated to ending harassment in all of its forms. The organization leads a people-powered movement to raise awareness about harassment against women, the LGBTQIA+ community and other marginalized identities as well as to conduct intervention trainings for people who want to take action to ensure equal access to public spaces.

Why it works: Hollaback!’s messaging encourages supporters to attend intervention trainings and donate to the organization by communicating its mission and the impact of getting involved.

12. Volvo

Volvo is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 661,713 cars in 2020 in about 100 countries. Volvo aims to provide customers with the Freedom to Move in a personal, sustainable and safe way.

Why it works: We all know that buying a Volvo car isn’t about speed or sex appeal — it’s about safety and quality. And that’s because they’ve focused on this unique position since day one.

What Will Your Brand Positioning Statement Say About You?

We started by asking you what your brand positioning statement says about you and now we’ll leave you with the same question. As you write your own brand statement, ground yourself in your valuable differentiators and use these brand positioning statement examples for inspiration as needed.

And remember: Once you have your statement, make sure you have a strong positioning strategy in place so that your messaging repeatedly demonstrates your value to your audiences.

You know your brand’s worth, now make sure everyone else does!

By Stevie Snow

Stevie Snow is a writer at Brafton. Yes, she is named after Stevie Nicks. She’s a believer in “to life, to life, l’chaim!” because life is what brings us the Obamas, a really smooth vodka tonic and that moment on the dance floor when your favourite banger plays.

Sourced from Brafton

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