Tag: branding

25
Mar

out of your head…

‘Hierarchy of information’

Remember those words.

Yes it is pretentious ‘designer-speak.’ But it is also one of the pivotal factors in the success of your website or digital presence.

Why, what, how?

Who, where and when?

These are all questions that must be considered when building new digital communications. One of the common questions we get asked from clients before building their websites is please justify the added expense of doing this activity. What’s the ROI? A question that once had me hiding underneath the table in worry is now one that I take delight in answering.

Whilst working with professional service firms I tend to notice that the partners tend to have good conversion rates when sitting in front of a prospective client. Their technical expertise and professionalism will usually win the day when speaking with new clients. Conversion isn’t as much a problem. Something I hear more of, is that they just don’t receive enough new qualified leads to convert.

And this really is the tricky bit.

This is where the company’s overall marketing and brand communications holds greater significance. Getting the right message to the right market gives you a better chance of getting more leads. And obviously your web presence is a pivotal part in this. We also find, when speaking with prospective clients, that if you ask any good accountant, lawyer, broker, advisor etc how they’ve helped their clients in the past. They’ll have wonderful and nuanced examples of how they’ve worked with different clients in different ways.

Call them ‘great stories’ or ‘great case studies,’ they have undoubted value to the people that are browsing your website, blog or LinkedIn profiles.

Where can you find these great stories?

Unfortunately they seem to live only in the heads of the people telling them. This clearly means that nobody, with the exception of those that know them or deal with them regularly, are going to know of the additional and specialised expertise.

A potential client almost certainly won’t.

Not only should they be online but they should be easily accessible too. Most people talk a good game but at some stage you have to show more.

Who? What? Why? Where? When? How?

Hierarchy of information means that you are brutally selective about the layering of information on your website or any communication platform for that matter.
Let’s be honest, we all try a little bit harder on a first date don’t we? We don’t show the other person absolutely everything on day 1 do we? Well not at the start anyway. We put our best foot forward and hope we build enough of a rapport for them to want to learn more. So why would you not approach your digital presence with the same attention to detail.

People in business are mightily busy.

Mightily busy.

So to just get a hearing, you have to remove every possible stumbling block between a prospect and what you can do to assist them.

I have said this before but Winston Churchill once apologised to his audience for a speech being too long because he just didn’t have the time to edit it for their ears.

You can forgive him.

He absolutely had the right idea. It’s YOUR responsibility to ensure that people get to see the right information, the information that can make a difference to them.

The information that justifies your fees.

It’s no good in your head when hundreds of people visit your website daily.

Well actually it’s really our responsability because that’s what we already do for all our clients. Hierarchy of information: layering the information in just the right way to help generate more sales leads. It takes time, intelligence and understanding but will make a significant difference.

How many client accounts do you have to win to justify the additional price of the website?

Yes, you’re right. It’s an absolute bargain.

Benedetto

About the Author

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Benedetto Bordone

Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.

10
Mar

Passion and Innovation

I think in a few years time when I look back on the loft and its journey; this last week will be one that lingers in the memory. There were SO many important events this week I wouldn’t even know where to start. But I am going to select three and try to join the dots as I go along.

On Monday, I had a very interesting meeting with a partner in a large law firm. We are working more and more with professional service firms and starting to create individual propositions to them each that better serves their needs. Loft Legal will be a specialist brand communication service for law firms looking to strengthen their brand in the marketplace. At this stage, we’re still talking it through with different people and seeing where our services can fit.

The meeting on Monday was hugely significant. When asking the legal partner about the company vision and values; not only did he know them off by heart but gave individual examples about how he had applied them in his legal work. This was fantastic, I was impressed by the passion and resourcefulness- my only question, as an aside, was why these examples weren’t more evident on their web-presence but I’ll get back to this part of the story later.

Onto the next related event…

Tuesday saw the release of the awe-inspiring ‘LaFerrari’ at the Geneva motor show – outrageous, dramatic, truly-beautiful. There are no words. I love the design of this car; Ferrari has made more ugly cars than beautiful ones in the last twenty years but this one is stunning. Above that the engineering is breathtaking. They’ve built a semi-hybrid powered car that will go to 60mph in less than 3 seconds, weighs less than 1300 kilos and laps Fiorano, the Ferrari test track more than 5 seconds quicker than its predecessor the Enzo. At first I thought, this car is 12 years in the making. But no it’s more than that – the pulling together of all the resources and expertise of a company means this car is 66 years in the making. 66 years of moving the game forward. Of using its pedigree in racing to build faster cars.

How do they continue to do this?

Innovation.

What fuels this innovation?

Passion.

Ferrari is a small company, tiny on the grand scheme of things. They do not have limitless resources. But Ferrari behaves more like ‘a cause’ than a company. Everybody at Ferrari knows what the company is about and they do a fantastic job of getting this vision across. One of the great aspects of small companies is the compactness of the organisation. The sense of a shared purpose. ‘LaFerrari’ has one or two big innovations but the main body of work is in the details. Thousands of small, iterative details that have been lovingly created to build something out of this world. Collectively they all combine to help form something incredible.

Its innovation and passion that lies at the heart of a number of companies – those are also the ones that happen to have the strongest brands in the marketplace.

Coincidentally, this was further confirmed on Thursday when Paul Fletcher of Edinburgh University put together a strong presentation on that very subject at Thursday mornings Comms Breakfast. He spoke of the problems with companies being overly-results focussed and why ‘innovation’ is the only way to climb ourselves out of difficult times. But he also spoke of the issues with innovators – difficult to manage or control, disruptive, etc. He even went as far as stating that nobody in the room would have had the patience to deal with a young Steve Jobs in their companies.

Difficult to believe as that is.

Innovation in itself is difficult to do but I was delighted that he agreed afterwards with my analysis that innovation is fuelled by passion. And that it has to be fostered from the people at the top. The relentless march of progress is driven by people that love what they do and strive for better. It’s present in all of the great causes of our time and is the invisible hand that enables people to drive companies forward.

Which takes me back to Monday’s meeting.

I am afraid to say that I was unsure if the legal sector would be a good fit for the loft. I was delighted to hear that there are culturally aware firms that were enacting on their vision. I have been saying for a long time that to build stronger brands; Behaviour is more important than words. In this meeting, the passion was evident. Passion which is sometimes difficult to see with legal firms. Imagine the possibilities if you could leverage the entire workforce – all of the junior associates, trainees, partners, managing partners, strategic partners to innovate on behalf of a company’s vision and values? Furthermore, imagine if you could leverage the entire company to communicate this online or offline.

From a ‘brand’ point of view. what can be stronger than a passionate 200-300+ brand advocates enthusiastically articulating the company message at events, dinners, when speaking with family and friends, online?

Call it advocacy, call it internal marketing, call it whatever but it’s a tremendous opportunity. I only realised on Monday that we may have an opening for ‘Loft-Legal’ and it lies in this area. Having vision is important but it has to be articulated properly. It has to be crystal clear – it’s what the likes of Ferrari do very well. But not just big multinationals you’ll find this sense of purpose in restaurants, engineering firms, charities, etc. They may not use our words – brand, vision, values etc but it’s definitely there. This is an area we can definitely help.

My company is ‘design with soul.’ But what is becoming apparent is we need the ‘soul’ bit to come from the client to do great work. What was most exciting about Monday was that we can build a service and proposition with the loft potentially innovating on our own vision. Doing something innovative and delivering something of additional value to clients. Traditional design channels work remains incredibly important – photography, fonts, graphics, motifs, messages etc. We’re amongst the very best at it but I realise that we operate in a hugely competitive marketplace and we must continue to innovate to build a better business.

Through the Finance Gap, we’ve got designs on advocacy too. But that’s a story for another day. Like I said, it’s one of those weeks I think I’ll look back on as a significant turning point. Loft Legal has the potential to make an impact for both legal firms, but other professional services too.

Watch this space.

Benedetto

About the Author

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Benedetto Bordone

Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.

07
Feb

As easy as 1,2,3…

I don’t really like ‘one-size-fits all solutions.’ Never have done. Maybe it’s due to my ‘let’s say’ diminutive stature – short in height, slim waist, broad shoulders and heavy thighs. Its proportions like these that have made finding jeans, that fit, incredibly difficult over the years and a need for a tailor after almost every purchase.

Whether its clothes or where I go on holiday; I have very particular needs and I like bespoke solutions. I need bespoke solutions. What’s more I don’t mind paying more for them. Anything less tends to just disappoint me.

Why I am I going into this?

Well recently, we’ve been working a lot on professional services, an awful lot. Some are client accounts, some are with our new venture, The Finance Gap, and in addition to that we’ve been researching other sectors such as the legal sector – who we’d like to work more with. During my research I’ve happened to stumble on some competitors offering integrated services with ‘ready-made-solution’ usually with some ingenious diagram to demonstrate the worthiness of their proccess. I am starting to get a Primark feeling here!

I’ve seen diagrams showing the marketing process, the sales process, business cycles, and social-media graphs. Now most of them look nice, look professional and they do give some structure, this is undeniable, but like my shirts before I’ve been to the tailor, they just don’t fit very well. And more importantly, they are more about getting clients in and out of the door quickly than truly addressing your particular needs.

That said, the problem I have is that these diagrams/illustrations are important, undeniably so, to show a client that you do have a process or some structure to the way you work. But some of the ones I have seen are slightly ignorant to the people that they’re suppose to be helping. It’s like saying we have answers to all of your problems before we’ve even listened to you. Like I said, it’s not that having a process is bad, it’s just that most of the ones I have seen are, a bit presumptuous and, if truth be told, a bit rubbish.

So onto mine…

Recently, with the launch of our Finance Gap (a specialist resource for companies in the finance sector), I’ve been thinking a lot about how to communicate our process. While obviously wanting to avoid one-size-fits-all- and ready-made-solutions we do need something to describe how we work, a methodology.

Now we truly don’t know whether social media is the answer for you, or an online marketing campaign or new networking groups? Why? Because we haven’t listened to your challenges yet.

I can safely say from the huge amount of research I’ve done, that most professional service companies are facing similar challenges in one way or another…

– Growing legislature requirements
– Greater commoditisation of the service
– Much tougher competition
– Poor client relations
– General mistrust of marketing/communications

I would never say Twitter was the answer, on a whim, or a funky new re-brand or telemarketing or even an app?

Why?

Bespoke problems, bespoke solutions.

Most of the time, you get what you pay for. However, I have created a process, and after much soul searching, I hope it helps to analyse the problem whilst being sufficiently flexible to meet our clients needs.

In essence, most clients in professional/finance services should be looking to…

1. Leverage existing clients and networks.
2. Analyse current business model and put a proper strategy in place to drive growth.
3. Get involved in new activities to drive new sales.

And that process is in no particular order. How we do each of the above, in what order they go and where to prioritise depends on the dialogue with the client and which areas to address first.

Activities are imperative for new sales. Analysis and strategy allows you to see what’s working and build on it. Making further sales to existing clients and asking for referrals from satisfied clients is just common sense.

I will say that it’s a never-ending cycle and one if used correctly can properly drive growth. I’ve deliberately left enough flexibility in it so, like my trousers, they can be tailored to fit.

With this in mind. I can’t end without a small plug for The Finance Gap. It’s been a bit of a journey putting a team together, but we have, and it’s a great one. Instead of having one company that claims to do everything we don’t. We have 4 exceptional individuals from companies that do one thing and do it well. We work together and lead the way in what we do. Jordan Fleming and Designate are leaders in their field for strategic marketing, what Robin Mehta, MD of Union Technology, doesn’t know about the digital landscape isn’t worth knowing and Mark Poulson is one of the UK’s leading writers and experts in Financial marketing, who also happens to have an exceptional technical knowledge of finance.

What to say about my own company, the loft?

Well, let’s just say we’re happy to put our company’s portfolio against anybody else’s to see just how strong our design work is. That is the core team; we also have exceptional partners in PR, printing, photography etc. But the beauty about what we do is that we provide a properly bespoke solution. We listen first, extensively so, analyse the best way to help and put together a strong team to help you drive growth in your business. We’re just like a good fitting suit, made to measure and appropriately personal to you.

Give me a bell if you’d like to find out more…

Benedetto

The loft is hiring>>>

About the Author

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Benedetto Bordone

Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.

17
Jan

Are you memorable?

Are you memorable, truly memorable?

I read a good book over Christmas. Now I am not one to overly indulge in ‘business books.’ Wisdom like everything else is a commodity these days and I think they only really work if you immerse yourself fully into the theology of what they’re about. Few of us have the time, discipline and patience to do so.

However, I did enjoy reading ‘Bold.’ A. Story about 12 companies who had grew their businesses considerably due to their bold actions. Gratefully, they had ‘branding & positioning,’ (what I do) at the heart of their success. But it was alongside other activities like ‘customer experience,’ ‘marketing,’ ‘HR’ etc. Now I won’t bore you with every detail of the book. But needless to say ‘boldness’ was at the heart of their argument and when discussing proposition, marketing and communication, they spoke a lot about the importance of being memorable. Truly memorable!

Having a bank that is laid out like a retail store, conducts ‘random acts of kindness’ while giving its clients a free workspace with wi_fi is memorable.

Why is this important you may ask? Well anybody who reads this and runs a business will know. Your most valuable asset as a business is your existing client bases. They are people that you’ve convinced of your company’s merit, skill and trust. That battle is a long one. Supposedly it takes five times longer to convert a new client than it does to sell to an existing one. That’s five times more time, money and effort however you quantify it. What’s more, your existing client base is your best source for referral business; the pre-qualified leads they provide only take half as much time, money and effort to convert than completely new clients.

You may see why being ‘memorable,’ ‘truly memorable’ is becoming more important. But I must qualify ‘memorable.’ ‘Memorable’ means outstanding, special, something totally new or different. Not what everybody else is doing, and no, being professional should be the absolute minimum you offer not your key differentiator. Being memorable begins with the service/product you sell, involves the way you market yourself all the way through to the customer experience itself.

In almost every sector from retail to construction to accountancy to law. There is just not enough business to go round. Every market is saturated.

I spent the whole Christmas working out myself whether the loft really is bold enough amongst our many, many competitors. Yes, we’re different, I wouldn’t dispute that. I would say in terms of the quality of our work – we’re absolutely class leading. But truth be told, in terms of ‘boldness.’ We’ve got the volume at about five for too many aspects. Forgive me, even for branding people, it’s truly hard to analyse your own communications. But this year we move that to ten.

It’s really the only way, with new clients and opportunities so hard to come by. Offering your existing clients a memorable experience that they can refer you by, is one of the quickest ways to success.

One lovely quote from the book…

”Marketing is a tax you pay for being boring”

The best way is to maximise what you have is to be memorable from the outset. Brand communication is a big part of this (you know I wouldn’t finish this blog without a plug.) So if you’re looking to embolden your business and its communications.

Drop me a line.

Benedetto

About the Author

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Benedetto Bordone

Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.

18
Dec

Rules of Engagement…

Well bombarding people with lots of technical information is not a good start. I sometimes think that our job, as a branding consultancy, is to build a bridge between our clients and their audiences.

An accountancy firm’s technical proficiency may be terribly interesting to the firm itself but in all honesty their clients couldn’t care less.

Initially at least…

I have always worked on this premise; clients don’t care HOW you do things as long as you get them done. And you only have milliseconds to interest them.

Now that may be a bit harsh. I am sure several of our clients are very interested in font weights, graphical systems and photography styles. But usually not at the beginning. Get them more into the process and that’s a different story.

‘Strictly come dancing’ is an analogy I enjoy sharing. How many people are genuinely interested in ballroom dancing?

The weekly viewing figures have 10 million souls tuning in for their weekly fix. I very much doubt they’re all ballroom dancing fanatics. However, chuck in some celebrities, Bruce Forsyth and some amusing judges and it becomes a different proposition.

It may be the fluffy stuff that engages us but we get there in the end. What businesses (and professional service firms in general) need to realise is that the fluffy stuff matters. Being interesting is the price you pay for the right to get a good hearing. It buys time and builds the bridge between your audience and the technical data of your subject matter.

It’s why the likes of Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Barack Obama are amongst the more successful politicians of our time. Just human enough to want to hear more but substantive enough to be credible. They bridge the gap between emotive content and technical credibility very well. Technical wonks like Al Gore, Gordon Brown and Hillary Clinton fall just a little bit short.

What I am finding a lot right now is that professional service companies (good companies) are still continuing to bombard their potential clients with heavy technical information at the initial point of engagement. Even, on the front page of their websites and print materials.

Why?

No offense, but would you share every last detail of yourself on a first date?

No

And yes, the other person would rightfully want to run away.

Words are lazy.

Anybody can churn out absolutely everything they’ve got.

That’s the easy bit.

Editing is where the work comes in; thinking about what to include? What to leave out? Too dry? Too coarse? Too technical? Too light even?? This is the process that makes it more palatable to the audience. It’s the most critical bit and unfortunately the most widely ignored.

It’s also where the work is.

“I’m going to give a long speech today. I haven’t had time to prepare a short one.”

Sir Winston Churchill once famously quipped. You could forgive him, he had the right idea.

Yes, the technical info is important; it’s the substance that you need to be credible. But have the good manners to give it to your audience on a need to know basis. Keep it light, make it interesting, images speak louder than words and people are impatient for you to get to the point.

The gap between what you think your client wants to hear and what they actually want to hear, when you first engage, tends to be bigger than you think.

And you only have milliseconds to close it.

I do hope I haven’t ran on…

Benedetto

About the Author

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Benedetto Bordone
Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.

22
Nov

Briefest Blog Post Ever (For Me…)

Most of my blog posts tend to be about 800 words, take about an hour to write and probably 10 minutes to read. This time I thought I would be a little more succinct. I was chatting with a client last week and was trying to briefly explain what branding is and why it would be important for their business? A regular question.

“Think of exactly what you want your client to think about when they think of your company. Then work backwards from there.”

Best effort yet I guess. We help with the ‘working backwards from there’ bit.

Give us a bell if you’d like to find out more…

Benedetto

About the Author

BB Profile Pic Small
 
Benedetto Bordone
Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.

22
Nov

BBM Troubles

I don’t know what it is. But I just seem to have a magnet-like attraction to brands in financial difficulties. Apple computers made more sense to me when they were the outsiders choice and almost going bankrupt, give me an Alfa Romeo over a BMW or Audi any day and I had a real soft spot for Borders,the book store. Rest in piece. Dont ask why? I don’t know what this trend is with me and companies facing down bankruptcy. Which leads me nicely to Blackberry. My new favourite brand.

I have had Blackberries for close to four years now. I actually first learned about them from a book I read a few years back. Unfortunately, I cant remember the name of the book, some multinational spy thriller. But this was in 2004, pre I-Phone. The fact you could have a phone that also took care of e-mails was terribly exotic sounding. They were heady days for Blackberry, the Blackberry became the default choice for corporates while traditional mobile phone companies like Nokia and Ericsson struggled with the transformation to e-mail and software giants like Microsoft similarly struggled with the hardware of their Palm devices. ‘Push E-mail’ was a simple but significant innovation that left its competitors playing catch up for quite some time.

Having a Blackberry back in the early noughties was quite something. It was the only phone to comfortably give its users access to e-mails. Its main customer demographic was the business community, the people on the move, people who would start the morning in London, end it in Shanghai with two meetings in Zurich in between. Blackberry had the premium end of the mobile phone market sown up. The huge number of celebrities using Blackberries at the time was the icing on the cake. Even Barack Obama in 2009, couldnt be drawn away from his beloved Blackberry. Brand endorsements dont come much higher. I bought mine in 2009 and I loved the fact that they provided 3 separate charging extensions for UK, Europe and the USA. It was all part of the brand feeling. This was a device for the busy, jet-setting global traveller. Yes, Its mostly fluff but I still loved it and I know I wasn’t the only one.

The arrival of the I-Phone undoubtedly gave Blackberry problems. But it was more Blackberry’s reaction to the I-Phone than the Phone itself that quickened the decline. Obviously intimidated by the cool new kid on the block, Blackberry’ death writ was initially drafted by intimidation (BB Storm.) Instead of concentrating on what made their products so cool they started playing catch-up. A rapidly growing market, may have allowed them to temporarily paper over the cracks.

But, what happened next catapulted Blackberry’s brand into the gutter. And to think it was once thought of Blackberrys greatest innovation.

BlackBerry Messenger. BBM.

BBM, 3 years ago, was a very useful feature. Allowing people to use their Blackberries to keep in touch online like a mobile MSN Messenger (remember that?) It caught the imagination. Blackberry totally changed their target market and strategy, on the basis of one innovation. The phone was snapped up by hundreds of thousands of new customers- students, adolescents, school kids. Blackberry made pink ones, green ones, sparkly ones. They sponsored festivals and supported the NME. Cheap ones like the Curve rocketed Blackberry to its most profitable year ever in 2010.

As a Blackberry owner, I remember it well. I was a bit uneasy about it all despite the success. I can always see trouble when tactics overcome strategy and I sensed the worst.

Blackberry may have cashed in and grabbed a huge dollop of market share. But BBM was not really a technology that would be difficult to replicate. So once their rivals had it, what next? Unfortunately a fundamental strategy based on an ‘easily-copiable’ innovation was a silly one.

What was worst was having the same phone as a teenager and having Blackberry playing up to it. Nothing could have tarnished their brand more. Suddenly they were no longer special, they were no longer exclusive and I for one did not want to have the same phone as a 13-year old. I remember thinking the Blackberry brand was toast. Once the relentless march of the Apple App store kicked in. They were.

The riots in the UK in 2011 by a bunch of idiotic children using BBM must have been just about the final nail. You can have no worst brand vandalisation. I cringed every time I heard the term ‘BBM’ and Blackberry used on the news during the riots.

It could have all been so different in 2007. Instead of being intimidated by the I-Phone, they should have consolidated their position. Instead of cheaper phones, they should have looked at different products built on the exclusivity and specialness of the brand. They should have innovated on the values and ideas that once made them great. Focused greater attention on the business community that once loved their Blackberries. These were the customers that would buy more expensive phones, appreciate more bespoke features and pay a higher margin per product. They should not have cheaply imitated the new kid on the block. I remember once saying to my girlfriend at the time that my BB was a tool while her I-phone was a mere toy. Well the tool started to cheaply imitate the toy. There may have been no other way. Maybe doing what I said previously is easier said than done. Apple is a formidable rival, as is Google.

Fast forward to 2012. I am glad to see fewer coloured Blackberries on sale and the new Bold I have is actually a pretty good phone. But in such a brutal market as the smart phone market where apps and availability of apps is king. The heady days of 2010 fuelled by BBM are gone. Blackberry is almost obsolete, the momentum may be too difficult to recover. Product and technical difficulties can be overcome with time but its the brand damage that will be hardest to recover. It seems unthinkable but Skoda still have brand problems, 20 years after they were taken over by VW and many, many good product lines later. For somebody that hates having the same phone as everybody else (I-Phone) and can’t fathom the thought of an Android phone. I hope BB recover their mojo soon!! Its a lesson to all not to betray their brand values. Otherwise the only person that will still buy anything will be me…

Benedetto

About the Author


 
Benedetto Bordone
Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.

14
Nov

More Pirlo, less Parker…

Most of you who know me understand that I can be slightly excitable at times. And nothing gets me more excited than watching the beautiful game, particularly in the big set piece events every second summer. As you may guess from my name, I usually support Italy, particularly as Scotland hasn’t qualified in a while. And this summer, as an Italy fan I was able to enjoy the genius of Andrea Pirlo. 131 passes made against England this summer, 114 completed. His accuracy and precision in the quarter final giving his team an almost total dominance of a game they should have won sooner. Many of you may remember Pirlos penalty which was itself, the height of precision and execution.

You may ask yourself, why am I talking about football?

Well, you see the analogy came back into my mind this week. The loft is building a new co-operative called The Finance Gap. The Finance Gap currently consists of two companies – our own and Designate Marketing in Edinburgh; we are likely to grow in size but it is our intention to offer a specialised service for the finance sector beginning with IFAs, accountancy practices and small investment houses. We are still at the pre-launch phase, discussing it with our friends and associates. The reason for my excitement is that the more we discuss it with others, the more valuable I think our service will become.

The main problem with the branding and communication work I do is that its commercial success lies, to a great extent, in where and how it is used. The most beautiful or interesting poster, website or brochure isn’t going to make the slightest bit of commercial impact if it’s aimed at the wrong market. And the biggest criticism I would have of my own sector, the creative sector, is that we aren’t really qualified to be doing the marketing part. It’s just that a lot of my colleagues seem to have forgotten that. In this respect, they are all a bit Scott Parker. Just hit it and hope for the best. The problem with a great number of marketing companies (and there are exceptions) is that many of them think they are creative agencies and offer every creative service under the sun, none of which they tend to be very good at. The general consensus among a lot of my colleagues is that lots of activity is good activity, well actually it isn’t. It’s simply wasteful.

With the Finance Gap, both the loft and Designate believe in delivering work that has the highest commercial impact. Not the highest quantity but the best quality. We don’t stray onto each other’s turfs and we can work together to benefit the client. We are the antithesis of the wasteful integrated agency.

Last week I met several associates who could become potential clients of the Finance Gap and with every good conversation we had; we began to chat about business and the challenges they faced. As with most conversations I can’t help but discuss what kind of brand they could build. I definitely believe that the loft could assist most of these companies carve out a unique position in the marketplace. So we started to talk about all of the different, interesting things that could be done to help build this great brand which I am sure would add value.

But there was one thing missing, we both had lots of ideas about how to potentially market this great brand but neither of us had a clue which way would be the most effective way. Which are the profitable revenue streams, who to target, how you find them, which channel is the most effective?

And this is where we missed the involvement of our partners Designate. Where we missed some good strategic marketing advice, not a company who wants to do lots of things for the sake of it but one that knows how to get the most out of a given marketing budget. And every company has limited resources, no matter how large.

We may be able to fire the bullets, but we need great partners to show us where to point the gun.

And that is as the heart of the Finance Gaps proposition. As a designer, I have dedicated my whole adult life to my craft, I have my 10,000 hours of experience, I probably have double that. So why would I want my company to delve into unfamiliar territory? We stick to what we’re good at and let others experts shine in their areas of expertise. Our partners in the Finance Gap, Designate have a similar expertise and focus.

It is our collective independence that allows us to stick to what we do best, but it’s our ability to work together that creates a formidable combination. One of the very good things about start-ups or smaller companies is that they are not wasteful with money, they try and eek out every last penny out of whatever budget they have. Such are the economies of scale; bigger companies tend to not be so lean. However, we don’t believe that efficient, resourceful marketing and communications should be the sole privilege of smaller companies. That doesnt mean we’re cheap but we offer tremendous value.

We want to work with our clients for a long time to help them grow but the best way to do that is by sticking to what we’re good at and collaborating where necessary. It’s why I am sure the Finance Gap is going to be such a roaring success. More Andrea Pirlo and less Scott Parker.

Watch this space!

Benedetto

About the Author


 
Benedetto Bordone
Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply a

04
Nov

Where branding ends…

As most of you that know me will know. I started out my life as a car designer. That means I trained/studied/learned everything there is to know about my subject when I was at University and my subsequent career thereafter. As part of my studies, we were taught about marketing and its importance, but you could say our role was entirely on the product development side. Being a car designer meant you always had to know about the trends in the sector – in my time it was pedestrian impact legislation, hybrid power trains, modern day digital ergonomics etc. The march of progress by the car manufacturers meant that there was a never ending cycle of improvements. Mainly for the end-user. If you stand still in the car sector, you die. Simple as that. As a consequence, the cars of today are always better than their predecessors be it in functionality, performance, safety etc. Yes, todays cars may lack the character of the older ones, but this is possibly the only exception.

In terms of marketing, I was always slightly cynical. I was always of the opinion that if you have a great product, it would market itself. I now know that it’s not as simple as that. Marketing is an integral part of the process, particularly necessary to make sure that the product and its communications reach the right people. Done well, its an art form in its own right. My scepticism was never about this area of marketing, more that clever marketing should replace great products. If this were the case, Honda would have taken over the world 10 years ago with their series of stunning ads.

I bet most of you remember the ‘cogs’ ad from 2003. How many remember the car? The Honda Accord. Ads like this and the ‘power of dreams’ were stunning, unfortunately cars like the Honda Accord were not. To this day, I remain a product guy. When considering incremental innovation; don’t just look at cars. Look at the endless innovations in the smart phone or tablet markets. It is relentless.

So you may ask where I am going with all of this?

Well on Thursday evening. I attended the Service Design Network’s official Launch at the Lighthouse and a good evening it was too. I was curious to learn more about service design. In the end it’s what I expected, mainly a way of designing services and processes in a more holistic way to improve the user experience. Kind of like product design but designing services and not products. I was chatting to one of the main guys Phil before the event and we both agreed that the ‘brand experience’ didn’t end with the marketing or the communications or even with the final product or service. The brand experience should span the entire process and even touch into operations, human resources, marketing, product, after-care etc. Its the reason I am not keen on the word brand or the term ‘branding’ as, done well, it’s a lot more fundamental than that. I am not sure I am even that crazy about ‘service design’ as a profession. My reasoning is that great companies, great organisations will always innovate endlessly based on their values/vision. For example, I doubt Michael O’Leary never stops dreaming of ways to reduce the cost of flying. And that culture is embedded from the top all the way down and touches all parts of the organisation from the final customer experience to the way the staff are trained. Frightening as that may be for us the flyer. On the other hand, a company like Bowers and Wilkins are continuously dreaming up innovative ways to create the a better sound experience. There’s something greater than branding going on here, it’s more of a cultural thing.

So where does branding end? Well despite my dislike of the term branding. The cultural elements that must inform the branding process don’t end with communications or even with the final product/service experience. It should inform everything the company does.

Where there is a real opportunity for the discipline of service design is in the traditional areas of professional services. This is an area ripe for improvement and a real shake up. Like the examples I have mentioned, there are one or two companies that are really pushing the game forward, but in general, the practices haven’t kept pace in the way they should have. For whatever reason, there just isn’t the same culture of innovation. It’s a real shame, there are some real gains to be made. People want better services. But it all starts with culture. Every company’s got it lying there somewhere. It may be dormant but it’s still there. If you need some help finding it, give us a call…

Benedetto

For those of you that want to see the ‘Cogs’ ad again… Simply wonderful

About the Author


 
Benedetto Bordone
Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.

04
Nov

Demise of commodity brand Comet

I was sad to see Comet go into administration last week. I can’t say I was a huge fan; I haven’t even been in the store since I was a little boy. Back then, they were one of the stores you could go and play with the Super Nintendo(that’s how long it’s been) while your parents roamed the store in search of electric goods. But the potential death (let’s just say they are on life support at the moment) of another established retail name is a sad one.

After hearing the news, I became curious to find out more. Its always interesting to know why these things happen. And more importantly from a consumer point of view, why would anyone shop at Comet? Particularly as I hadn’t been in such a long time. What I found didn’t surprise me. In a worryingly similar scenario to Woolworths 4 years ago; the shop was covered in discount signs – ‘buy now pay in 3 months,’ ‘interest free credit’ etc. ‘Sale’ signs everywhere. You get the point and their website was exactly the same! This was the first thing that I, the consumer, was confronted with when making contact with the Comet brand. With every element of their communications based solely on price. I could only assume that this is somewhere I go to buy cheap stuff. But one small problem, several of the products that had generous discounts were still available online elsewhere, cheaper still and all but a few mouse-clicks away. If Comet can only fight on price and even there they can’t compete, then we have a major problem. I don’t know the company’s recent history but I would hazard a guess that they’ve been stumbling along the bottom for quite a while.

So where does that leave us? Well it’s the near-death of yet another commodity brand. For those that haven’t read my blog before.

A commodity brand is one that competes only on price.

I have said this many times. The race to the bottom is a brutal one. To compete on price, to be a commodity based brand against the likes of Amazon is fighting a lost cause. It’s one that will only become more difficult in an increasingly globalised and digital economy. We’re only scratching the surface at the moment. The market is already awash with cheap stuff, the margins for traditional retailers are tiny. For the likes of Comet and similar retail brands to survive; they have to develop a compelling reason for the consumer to pay that little bit extra. They have to ask themselves…

Why should I shop at Comet?

It has to be a reason that doesn’t involve price. Value is more important than price. It could be quality of service, it could be quality of in-store experience, it could be the retail of niche products that aren’t available online. Maybe they do have to go totally digital and just have a small handful of showroom-style stores. But until the front of their stores tell me something more than ‘we are cheap.’ Then they will continue to have no brand and no business. I wish them well!

Benedetto

About the Author


 
Benedetto Bordone
Creative Director of the loft.

Benedetto runs the creative design consultancy, the loft. Based in the centre of Glasgow, the loft creates emotionally engaging brand identities.

Benedetto began his design career aged 9, sketching cars in the loft bedroom of his parents house. Even then he realised some eternal truths. Alfa Romeos are infinitely cooler than Ferraris and always have been. Time has only hardened this opinion. Since then, he has been on a journey taking him from his hometown in Kilmarnock to Coventry, studying car design aged 17, three separate spells in Italy followed where he interned, worked & freelanced for distinguished design companies – BeeStudio, Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced design & Stile Bertone.

Setting up his own business was a natural step for somebody as independently minded as Benedetto. The loft was set up in 2008 and offers a comprehensive branding and communication service to its clients. The company combines a deeply analytical approach into the clients culture and commercial targets before engaging in creative design work to build emotive brands.