Memes are new to me – at least in the way they’re used on the Internet. The term used to mean a symbol/word/musical note/image that had universal understanding. It was a cultural phenominon. But in this new context, a meme is a picture/caption that may go “viral” because of its appeal to a certain audience. Anyway, this meme is sort of lame, but it does make a point.

Recently the following article appeared on the Washington Post blog. Note that it received a boat-full of comments, none of which were positive. Just goes to show that no matter what you do, people of all types can and will find fault if you ask for their opinions. That's why asking focus-group panels about their reactions to new logos – and especially new names – will bring criticism. Participants believe that's why they are there.

Anyway, here's the article and a link to the page where the comments reside.

And you can put in your two-cents by commenting in this blog, too.

AccuWeather debuted a new “brand identity system” (pretty much a fancy way of saying “logo”) earlier this week:

The “sun icon along with the ‘AccuWeather’ name appearing in a warm orange tone … is meant to reflect warmth, friendliness, and trust. … The clean design is reflective of the brand’s sharp focus on accuracy,” says the AccuWeather news release.

“The AccuWeather story is one of great scientific application, development, creativity, and ingenuity in providing the world’s most accurate weather forecasts. These new icons symbolize our distinct advantage over other weather sources,” said Dr. Joel N. Myers, Founder, Chairman, and President of AccuWeather.

What do you think of the new logo…

Comments at AccuWeather launches new 'brand identity system' – Washington Post – Washington Post (blog)

What do you think of the logo? Comment below.

So just how do you get brand changes approved by management and embraced by employees?

In a recent Forbes article, John Ellett interviewed Verchele Wiggins, Holiday Inn’s  Vice President of Global Brand Management, about the chain’s recent rebranding efforts. It’s a wide-ranging article that ends with this exchange: [Read more →]

As a professional services provider, and having helped brand more than a couple of service firms, I know professional services branding is a unique proposition. So does Hinge Marketing.

For about a year now I’ve been following the web marketing created by Hinge, a marketing services firm that consults about “branding and marketing for professional services firms”. They practice what they preach and provide valuable guidance for professional service marketers, particularly those wanting to use the Internet to capture new business.

They just did a blog outlining five brand building strategies that deserves to be brought to everyone service provider struggling to differentiate their company. It’s entitled…

Top 5 Brand building Strategies for Professional Services Firms

Here a few excerpts.

1. Content marketing
Content Marketing involves providing a steady stream of useful information to potential clients or influencers. Think educational rather than promotional. It addresses relevance, reputation and visibility.

2. Develop Visible Experts?.
Many firms have experts, but few of them go on to become well known and influential with their target client group. By deliberately developing one or more of these high-profile experts, a firm can dramatically increase the power of its brand

3. Cultivate prestigious partners
Partnering with prominent organizations to take on important projects is another proven strategy for building your professional services brand. Large, well-known businesses, trade associations or universities are all good partnering candidates

4. Seek high profile clients and case stories
There are many successful professional services firms that have been built on reputations made with a single name-brand client or a well-known case study.

5. Dominate the social media space
One of the most highly leveraged brand building strategies available to professional services firms today is based on the growth of social media. Businesses of all types are becoming regular users of social tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube

You can read the entire post here. And look around their sites for additional information they freely give to any professional firm.

If you’re looking to brand or rebrand a professional services company, I believe I can help. Just click here for more information.

In August, Microsoft introduced a new logo with the following reasoning:

It’s been 25 years since we’ve updated the Microsoft logo and now is the perfect time for a change. This is an incredibly exciting year for Microsoft as we prepare to release new versions of nearly all of our products….This wave of new releases is not only a reimagining of our most popular products, but also represents a new era for Microsoft, so our logo should evolve to visually accentuate this new beginning.

Here’s the new logo:

In contrast, here’s the old logo being replaced:

There are two things I really like about the new logo. First the design itself is truly modern, high tech and appealing. Second, it retains its ties with the past. Note the colors haven’t changed, and that they’re still configured as four arranged squares.

So Microsoft has not completely revamped its “image”. The new logo reflects and retains links with a successful heritage. [Read more →]

Several days ago I remarked in a blog post entitled “Brand vs Bland” how I thought UPS had fashioned a great brand based upon the concept of “logistics”, and how they now “own” that term.

Thinking a little further about their turn-around from “What can Brown do for You?”, it occurred to me that if you’re going to be logistic, there’s no better color for you than brown. Logistics is no-nonsense. Logistics comes from the military, and at least the US Army still wears brown. Brown is a “working” color.

According to those who study color psychology, brown denotes honesty, modesty and reliability.

So all along UPS had picked the right color, and I’m glad they ignored me and other critics for making such a big deal of their corporate color in the previous (still innocuous) What can Brown do for You? campaign.

The UPS as the logistics brand is, indeed fully integrated. There are no disconnects to turn prospects into scoffers.

Way back in the late 1970’s, Al Ries and Jack Trout introduced the concept of “positioning”. And one of the precepts they espoused was to stay away from product line extensions because they tend to dilute the mother brand, and often cannibalize it.

But people keep introducing brand extensions, some successful, some not. The latest to come to my attention is a line of body washes, deodorants and soaps exclusively designed for men introduced by Unilever under the Dove label. Yes, Dove products for men. Dove, the brand that has been catering quite successfully and exclusively to women for decades, has now consciously diluted their brand with this extension strategy.

Here’s the Dove Men+Care line.

Note they’ve incorporated the Dove logo, though the typeface is a little different, as well as the famous dove icon. The color palette is masculine, but I’m not sure the features promoted for the line are particularly compelling to men. Here’s their pitch for a body wash:

Dove® Men+Care™ Clean Comfort Body and Face Wash with MICROMOISTURE technology is clinically proven to fight skin dryness better than regular men’s body wash. This ultra-light formula rinses off easily for a refreshing clean and total skin comfort.

Below are soap packages for Men+Care and regular Dove.

I’m just amazed that the people at Unilever would extend a franchise brand based upon a very loyal and dedicated female market into a male-oriented product line. It dilutes the messaging of Dove, including their “Campaign for real beauty” self-esteem program for teenage girls. It also hopes to appeal to men who have heard the Dove story and positioned the brand as exclusively female in their collective mind’s eye.

Now I’m not against doing some line extension as Dove has done from soap to other feminine products like body washes, lotions, deodorants and shampoos. But this new line, well I’m afraid they’ve stepped over the line here.

I would rather they had established a brand new line based on a product exclusive or in some significant way differentiated their product from other male-oriented toiletries. Yes, they did differentiate by adopting the Dove signature, but it’s the wrong differentiation because it’s not relevant or creditable. I’d have advised them to begin from Ground One rather than take a chance on diluting the Dove brand with women and on convincing men that Dove can mean masculine, too.

But they didn’t ask.

Branding can be game-changing for a corporation.

Several years ago I bashed UPS for their “What Can Brown Do for You?” campaign. I thought it was vacuous and certainly did not position UPS in the field of FedEx and DHL. What’s more, just like the color, the slogan and the idea behind it were bland. Except for voicing the color there was no differentiation, no relevancy, no idea expressed.

But how things have changed at UPS. Their current campaign, “It’s Logistics” is 100-percent better and on target. They have found a differentiator, a word upon which they are positioning themselves as more than a fast, reliable delivery service. I’d go so far as to say this was the absolute best branding strategy exhibited this past year.

The idea that UPS now owns the word “logistics”, and that it is a function admired and wished to be attained by the corporate world, makes their messaging most compelling to their markets. I’ll bet they’ve found the board room doors open to UPS reps since the campaign began.

But like all great branding victories, I’ll bet this one began by UPS looking at their business – their corporate aspirations, their strengths, their assets and their culture – and developing a strategic plan to make logistics an overriding feature of their services. If need be, they changed the way they were delivering their services (both literally and figuratively). Only then would UPS enjoy the benefit of messaging about their differentiator.

Substance, not sizzle. Relevancy not ruffles.

That’s branding based on corporate strategy and corporate willingness to be customer oriented. It’s what makes brands strong and long lived.