SomeOne Designer Katrina Peel argues for a more powerful approach to developing branding…
Brands that have refused to listen are suffering. As I write, Mono channel retailers are collapsing. House of Fraser is closing swathes of stores. M&S is in retreat. Carpet Right has done it all wrong and is bust.
Thousands of jobs hang in the balance and the old school of marketeer is looking at the whole mess and thinking that if the evergreen brands of the high street are folding, what’s next for their sector. Can Fintech stay rosy? Will sport remain untouchable? Could titans continue to fall? Of course they will. But who’s next and how can the new crew learn and not only survive. But accelerate at the speed of Google…
One of my recent projects received the ultimate accolade as it was being presented for the first time to the client. ‘I like it.’ they said, ‘but is it a brand idea or an ad campaign?’
This for me is the foundation of a great project and a lot of my work stems from that position.
A brand isn’t a single move. It’s a thousand nuances.
It should be singing the brands song in every interaction. From the fixed mark to the fluidity of language and imagery.
For brands to be successful at scale they need to be ‘always on’. The key to longevity in our digital and all consuming world is to be adaptable. But not just open to change. Be catalysts for that change.
Brands need to entrance the eyes of their consumers in order to be visible. But a parade of pretty pictures isn’t enough. Every sense needs to be poked into action. Every channel of emotion can fit a channel of communication. Great brands and great branding floods these streams continually.
Telly isn’t dead.
We hear it over and over again ‘the death of advertising’ — admittedly people are watching less TV. But we’re still watching screens, in fact we’re watching more than ever. The average person is screen-fixed 8.5 hours a day, we’re consuming a mega amount of media through various channels. Brands that are fast to adapt and evolve to the way people now consume info are the ones that will survive.
Guinness long ruled TV Advertising, they delivered on brand authenticity time as again. From surfing horses to raising a pint in Chinese whispers they know how to wow on the big screen.
However these iconic brand moments are now historic moves preserved only for the few ‘who were there’ to the now generation – the generation of Netflixers and SnapChatters.
How do brands evolve without compromising on authenticity? The embarrassing dad on the dancefloor is every brands horror and their CEO’s nightmare.
Extremes are always worth learning from.
Let’s talk about Kylie Jenner — whether you’re a fan or not you will most likely have heard of the ‘Lip-Kit’. In true Kardashian style the 20-year-old has created an astonishingly successful brand. Kylie’s Cosmetics is projected to be worth over a billion by 2020. In comparison Estée Lauder and Tom Ford Beauty were said to have made £3–4 million after a decade.
The key to her success is simple, and transcends fame alone — it’s about being socially powered. She admits to spending hardly anything on advertising, rather using Instagram and SnapChat to demonstrate new products to her 97.6 million followers. Interspersed with personal moments, her brand is compelling, conversational and cashing in through and always on approach to the sell.
My approach to developing brands doesn’t involve talking up influencers and seemingly fluke heavy stunts to draw a crowd and start the cash flowing. But I’m keen on using methods that are proven to help connect to people. Of course brands are tapping into social — Gucci’s use of memes to launch Alessandro Michele’s watch collection was spot on. #TFWGucci — ‘That Feeling When” uses the work of renowned photographers, artists and illustrators in a meme like fashion.
At SomeOne we’ve been writing memes too— our latest campaign for the National History Museum uses the modern art form to engage younger visitors. “Whale hellooo there” has instantly made visiting history cooler, their visitor numbers don’t lie.
A social, connective and commercially accelerating approach to brands isn’t the preserve of the established, the rich or a lucky few.
Far from lip plumping and memes I should mention a recent project I worked on at SomeOne. The new, humble face of student property — Student Roost.‘Always on’ isn’t just about being switched on digitally. It’s about the entire experience, applying branding to hit each and every touch point successfully.
Brands that use print need to be thoughtful and do it more attentively than ever. We installed this fine-grained approach in the Roost brands actions.
It’s a daunting thing arriving in the UK as a new student, thousands of miles from home. Although you’ve booked your cosy Roost through studentroost.com and would hope it’s as welcoming on arrival as it is on screen you might still feel anxious. We designed a set of welcome postcards — a little note from a little birdy to make sure you’ve arrived safely.
Seemingly superfluous, the cards have proved to be an immense hit. With students mentioning them as one of the key moments when they arrive and sending images of them home to their friends and family.
The cards are just one part of a huge ongoing endeavour to develop an always on brand that continues to deliver positively to current and potential customers. Small and smart gestures that get students on board, rather than wallpapering their homes with patronising promos and repetitive logos.
Student Roost is a digitally native brand too, we worked to develop a unique booking system that allows students to customise their living. From flat size to flexible tenancy length we are trying to make their experience as much theirs as possible. A student contract built by students was a radical thought for the industry and it’s making waves in a notoriously lazy sector.
Opening up the ‘always on’ discussion is proving exciting.
An always on approach pushes brands to have greater ambitions. The approach demands branding structures that are much more progressive and so much more interesting to work with.
We’re working on projects in challenging sectors where flat messages with flatter branding won’t cut it. The large, complex & difficult brand challenges I’m working on benefit from an always-on approach.
These brands need to be present all the time and presented in genuinely compelling ways to multiple audiences.
The worst thing you can say in Adland might well be, that the work looks a bit too much like an Ad. But the ultimate accolade for today’s branding approach? It behaves like an ad.