Back to the serious stuff soon...

As we're so often told, it's only a game; and there's nothing serious about games. So enjoy 'King Eric' playing on his famous 1995 interview (in which he said not a word more than "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much"):



Believe in better? Believe in better adverts - Sky's.

Vodafone and Raw Branding are now in a relationship

On Raw Branding's Facebook page, I've written that it is important that brands don't use technology to reconstruct the relationships they have with their customers but instead use it to enhance these relationships. It seems Vodafone and Raw Branding are reading from the same hymn sheet:



The action in this clip all hinges on Dad meeting up with Daughter to console her over her recent return to single life. The advert communicates, firstly, that Vodafone allows you to be contactable wherever you are - in this case, even if you're about to make a speech. Secondly, it communicates through the images of Dad talking to Daughter during his cab ride that Vodafone provides a consistently good signal, even on the move. Together, these two messages convey that Vodafone is there for you whenever you need it. Thirdly, and here's what I'm trying to get at, the advert communicates that Vodafone, as a provider of mobile technology, is not out to reconstruct the foundations of a relationship between a father and his daughter by, for example, replacing the comforting sensation of being with a loved one in a time of need for the less complete sensation of merely speaking to them on the phone. Instead, Vodafone is saying that their products can facilitate this relationship by helping you be there when you need to be.

As modern technology spreads more and more into our lives, companies and their brands must ensure that their messaging does not set out to replace experience and sensation. People aren't dummies. Companies can sell us the highest of high definition, digital 3D TVs as big as a house on which we can watch the big game on a Saturday but nothing will replace the experience of seeing that game live in the flesh. Furthermore, on a more basic level, people will never react to something funny by replacing laughter for repeatedly saying ROFL LOL, nor will they blankly say 'sad face' when upset.

Technology is just a tool. We have lived without it and we can still live without it (though this blog cannot). For brands, however, it is vital. Without it, in this internet-addicted world, some wouldn't last a second. So, brands must find a happy medium. And it seems Vodafone has...

[To be continued]

I am a brand expert

That’s right – an expert. Put me up alongside Stephen Hawking and Physics, Sir Alex Ferguson and football management, and Steve Jobs and the above black-turtle-neck-blue-jeans combo. I’ve had a mere ten days work experience at a brand consultancy and a totally unrelated degree, but I’m still a brand expert. And so are you, whatever your experience.

It was recently estimated that consumers (what a horrible word – since when do the people ‘consume’ anything other than food and drink?) are subjected to over 4000 marketing communications per day. Is this figure exaggerated? Well firstly, let’s clarify what a marketing communication really is. Wikipedia tells us, in its never unreliable manner, that MarCom is defined as ‘a message and any related medium used to communicate with the market’. It goes on to cite advertising, branding, graphic design, marketing, packaging, PR and sponsorship as just some examples of MarCom. So, if I look up from my desk and around my computer I can count ten marketing communications, through brand logos, names or unique designs. If I look back at my laptop, I can count another 31 examples through similar media. So, from the few seconds that it took me to count those messages, it is not impossible to envisage the above estimation as being true, in which case it adds up to 1,460,000 marketing communications in one year. It is also estimated that we remember just 5% of those messages and shed the others, directed by our personal response to a brand’s messaging. This efficient separation of the wheat from the chaff is just one reason why we are all brand experts.

Another reason is adequately portrayed in the below image. I bet you’re able to spot which global brands these first letters belong to.



From matching the letter with the brand name, you also probably have a, at least general, idea as to what the brand stands for. This little experiment is adapted in the image below, too. We can all instantly spot that the brand image doesn’t match the brand name. It is this – a minute glimpse at a brand’s communication – that gives a brand such power over the people to whom they market. What’s more, in contrast, it is this glimpse that gives the people such power over the brand as from it, we can swiftly decide, from our past experience and relationship with the brand, whether to file its message in the 95% of communications that we forget every day, or the 5% that we remember.



This word, relationship, is the crux of another reason why we are all brand experts. If we think of words that are connected to our perception of ‘relationship’, we think of loyalty, trust, honesty, reliability, understanding and much more. I can certainly think of one sustained relationship that I have with a brand – Apple. Apple is loyal and reliable to me in that it is consistent in producing quality products. I trust it to carry on producing these quality products, I understand its products and position in the market and it has always been honest in its messaging... Well, that is until recently. The saga with the iPhone 4 has left a rare sour taste in the mouths of many regular (and crucially, first-time) Apple customers due to the unclear and not consistently honest messaging over the seemingly simple issue with their new product’s antenna signal. When the time comes for me to look for a new smartphone, I will certainly consider other brands when previously I would have not have hesitated at buying an iPhone. Apple and I will be on a break. You see, while personal relationships are more like partnerships, relationships between a customer and a brand are led almost wholly by the customer (one anomaly is ISPs' threat to ban illegal downloaders). Crucially, it is this that qualifies each and every one of us as a brand expert for if, as Stevie Wonder recently joked on stage in London, ‘this relationship has turned into a relationshit’, we can always pack up and consider as a replacement one of those 4000 marketing communications we receive everyday.

An introduction to Raw Branding

This blog will focus on the relationships that brands have with their customers and will look at how they might be enhanced. The point of view expressed will be that of branding novices (but brand experts… see ‘I am a brand expert’) and young people who are interested in how brands and branding will be adapted by the rapid rise of technology. Any comments are welcome.