designing brands
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oDesigning BrandsMarket Success xhrouglt
Eraphic Distincxion
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I DEVELOPTNG A STRATEGY ]
The firstthing Slawny and his marketers did was come up with an appropriate name fortheir new
product. "0ur objective in the packaging was to try to capture all the fun, sociabil ity, and the
warm, accepting atmosphere of the caf6s-and the caf6s in particular that were already serving
our product-so we cal led i t Main St . Cafe," Slawny notes.
With their work cut out for them, Gehl's did market research among a number of different age
groups with package mock-ups supplied by an ad agency to get a feel for what consumers l iked.
Slawny presented the research results to l(elly and design director Amy Leppert, who worked with
i l lust rators to come up wi th some pre l iminary design solut ions. Slawny and l (e l ly then took the
different variations and presented them to four focus groups.
Surprisingly, the people in all the groups started mixing and matching the designs on the cans.
"They had very specific colors for very specific f lavors," Slawny says. "Chocolate is supposed to
be red, and vanil la is supposed to be blue.They had no rational explanation for this, but they were
very insistent that vanil la isn't turquoise, and chocolate isn't brown.
"There were certain visual images and cues that consumers related to better," l(elly adds. "They
liked the timeless, classic i l lustrative style-not the really fun, funky stuff. It didn't pull the right
triggers. It needed to be a l itt le more sophisticated."Jos6 0rtega rendered the final i l lustration,
and Leppert developed the "bull 's eye" Main St. Cafe brand mark in accordance with the colors
in the i l lust rat ion.
"The il lustration has so much more personality than any other product that's in a glass bottle,
except for Starbucks-but theirs isn't so much the personality of the bottle as the brand name,"
l(elly remarks.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
(}verwhelmingly, ihe focus
groups chose the f ina I des ign
(upper r igh t ) because o f i t s"t imeless, sophist icated [ook,"
Kel ly says.
"IT'S AI.L ABOUT IXPICTATIONS. THE MARKETS
WHIRE WE OOT INTO [IRST, WHERT THI CATI-
GORY REALLY DIDN'T IXIST, CONSUMIRS TRIED
US. THEN, WHEN THI GI-ASS PRODUCTS CAMI
OUI. THEY TRIID THOSE AND RIAI.IZED OURS
W A S B E T T E R . "
"\
[ ilPrEtrEilnilG THE SOTUT|ON I' - F
The strong graphics on the packaging have definitely helped boost sales of the product since i ts
introduction. According to l(el ly, "When Gehl 's took that package into l imited distr ibution on the
East Coast the distr ibutors said Main St. Cafe outsold a lot of other products in a 700 store
search.Thqy found out that the pacl(aging was the motivating driver for purchase in stores where
consumers didn't actually get to taste:test the product. Attitude and attractiveness of the package
is what compelled the consumer to pick i t up and give i t a try. Of course, once they tr ied the prod-
uct, they real ized the taste advantage for themselves.,,
Slawny adds, "We did end up with a lot more competit ion in the marlcet than we anticipated.
Rather than having one competitor, we had several. In the markets we got into very early, Main
St. Cafe continues to shine." However, in the markets where Main St. Cafe emerged after the
competit ion, the sales f igures did not match up compared to the markets they entered f irst-
largely because of the can.
"It 's all about expectations. The markets where we got into first, where the category really
didn't exist, consumers tried us. Then, when the glass products came but, they tried those andrealized ours was better," SIawny says. "But in the markets where we came.in secono/ consumers
had such bad experiences drinking pgor-tasting products from the glass, they were reluctant toeven try the can, so we've had to be more aggressive with ou.r promotions.,,
Despite that, Main St. Cafe continues to be a succe.ssful contender in the market where so many
others failed. In fac! Slawny admits that consumers brought another sell ing point to his atten-
tion. "People were e-mailing us and .say.,in,g,'There's 3o much calcium in here. It,s very low fat,,
ind \l 'm not using Main st. cafe to replace my coffeg I 'm using it to replace my Snickers bar inthe afternoon.'The use was very different_than we.actually thought, which led us, two years later,
to include a secondary message on the back of the package noting that the product is also a
healthy, low-fat snack."
He's also quick to point out that he didn't want the secondary message to interfere with the
successful design M LR had come up with. "We were very careful to make sure it was a back panel
message and that it didn/t distract from the primary message. The can packaging is one of thethings we hit correctly from day one, and we've been very careful not to mess with the front of
the packaging because the strong grlaphics have been very successful for us.,,
DESIGNING BRANDS
'ouR oBf EcnvE lN_ T!E_ PACKAGING wns ro rRy ro c4p_ruRE ALL rHEFuN, SOCIABILITY, AND rHE wAnrrr, ACCEPTING: ATMOSPHERE oF THr cnrEs.'
la b ovel
In i t ia l sa tes o f Ma in S t . Cafe have
been d i rec t l y t inked to the bo td
graph ics , even though the can is no t
as pre ferab le among consumers as
bot t led beverages in the same
category , Desp i te tha t percept ion ,
once consumers p icked up Main St .
Cafe and ac tua l l y t r ied the produc t ,
they ignored i t s g tass contenders and
purchased i t aga in and aga in .
MURR|E, LTENHARL RYSNER ASSOCIATESGALLERY
l r igh t l
When a famous Ch icago s teakhouse
in t roduced i t s legendary season ings
in the grocery a is te , the packag ing
jus t d idn ' t communica te the bo ld
qua l i t ies o f the season ings . MLR
redes igned the packag ing by
combin ing a b lack back-drop w i th a
copper b rand ident i t y , wh ims ica l
i l tus t ra t ions . and ho td co tors to
crea te an au lhent ic
gourmet - look ing i tem.
0td package
New package
W***:rvls**::J
0tdl left and abovel
As the lead ing brand in the peanut
bu t te r ca teg0ry , Sk ippy 's management
saw the need to de f ine Sk ippy in
contemporary te rms, fos te r ing
Sk ippy 's un ique tas te as the key
benef i t . MLR's ob jec t ive was to meet
th is goa l wh i le re ta in ing the s t rong
v isuaI equ i t ies o f the brand.
l left l
MLR crea ted a mul t i -d imens iona l
b randmark fo r Oasan i tha t
communica tes coo l and c r isp
a t t r ibu tes . The l igh t ly t in ted h lue
hot t le and deep t rans lucent b tue tabet
de l i ver the emot ionaI p romise tha t
Dasan i w i l [ sa t i s ty your pa le t te .
DESIGNING A BRAND FOR A START-UP
New
I
ONTARIO 2oooBRAND BY LEAPFROG DESIGN
Creating a brand marl< that represents a body of people, as opposed to a physical product or
service, is tr icl<y in i tself . But developing a brand identi ty for a diverse government body is an
overwhelming task-the branding cannot be pol i t ical ly motivated, i t has to appeal across party
l ines, and st i i l be aesthetical ly pleasing to the masses.
I THE CHALLENGE I
Leapfrog Design (Toronto,0ntar io) was asked by the Ministry of Cit izenship, Culture, and
Recreation of the 0ntario Government to undertake just such a project-create a mil lennium
brand mark for the province. "We wanted some type of visual identi ty in order to separate or iden-
t i fy the province of Ontario's ini t iat ives in the mil lennium year," explains Fred Ross, executive
d i rec to r o f the 0n tar io 2000 pro jec t . "We thought tha t someth ing more un ique than a s imp le
word mark of the province was required and that led us to the decision to develop abrand."
Jean-Pierre Veil leux, president and creative director of Leapfrog says, "This mark is not
intended to sel l anything, so i t 's not branding in the tradit ional sense where you start with an
image and you bu i ld a b rand exper ience around the serv ice or p roduc t o f fe r ing .Th is i s a ' fee l good '
mark to bui ld a sense of pride in the province. I t has to appeal to a very broad consti tuency-
there are ten mil l ion residents in 0ntario and i t 's very mult i-cultural, so we had to pay attention
to diversity and have something that satisf ied al l the dif ferent groups and not offend anybody."
"T{!S_ rytS_LK I9^l\lOT INTENDED TO SELL ANYTHING, so rrsNor BRAN DING rN rHE TRADTnoNAL sENsE wHERE you srARr wrrHAN IMAGE ANo YOU BUILD A BRAND EXPERIENCE AROUND THE
SERVICE oR pRoDUcr oFFERTNG. THrs rs A 'FEEL GooD' MARKi TO BUILD A SENSE OF PRIDE rN rHE pRovrNcE.'
l a b ove l
Th is bo td and energy- [aden execut ion
focuses on por t ray ing the dynamism
and youth fu lness o f the prov ince .
However , p rov ince o f f i c ia ls thought i t
was too loose- they wanted some-
th ing a b i t more conserva t ive .
DESIGNING A BRAND FOR A START-UP 41
Probably the biggest chal lenge for the designers is that this brand must worl< in a variety of
ways- the des ign must be f lex ib le enough to be app l ied to merchand ise such as T-sh i r ts , ha ts , andjacl<ets, while also worl<ing on government materials including stat ionery and even government
veh ic les .The c r i te r ia the Min is t ry b rought to the tab le was very res t r i c ted . " l t has to have a com-
memorative feel to i t , but i t couldn't simply be celebratory. I t has to be recognized as a symbol
o f the mi l lenn ium year , and i t has to inc lude the prov ince 's o f f i c ia l f lower , the t r i l l i um, , , Ross
exp la ins . "Th is i s a once- in -a- l i fe t ime event and i t ' s f ine to ce lebra te , bu t i t ' s no t jus t f i reworks ,
party hats, and noisemal<ers. We were lool<ing for something that wasn't too abstract because
everybody had to get i t , and l t has to contr ibute to the overal l physical appearance of anything i t
w i l l be p laced on . "
Since there were so many provisions, i t was important that Vei l leux, who was the creative
d i rec to r on the pro jec t , wor l< c lose ly w i th the Min is t ry in deve lop ing the in i t ia l d i rec t ion . "Wespent long hours a t the f ron t end d iscuss ing ph i losoph ies and approaches, and v isua l i z ing how the
brand wou ld be app l ied , " Ross reca l l s . However , he is qu ick to po in t ou t tha t the Min is t ry ,s
involvement in the implementation of the mark was only to discuss ideas up-front, not to be
invo lved in the ac tua l des iqn o f the mark .
" l thought i t was better for us to provide al l of the information to Leapfrog and not restr ict the
creativi ty, so they could provide us with something that 's excit ing and dynamic. you have to be
extremely careful no to over-direct creatives or otherwise you're going to end up with piecemeal
design that is safe," he advises. " l was afraid the designers would say, ' l t ,s not great, but i t ,s the
bes t we cou ld do w i th a l l the res t r i c t ions . ' I wanted everyone to buy in on the brand and th ink i t , s
fabu lous .Then we have a very success fu l des ign . , ,
I DEVELOPING A STRATEGY ]
With many of the objectives for the marl< stated, Leapfrog explored many design direct ions.The
designers adapted the typestyle from an exist ing tourism marl< so there was a level of continuity,
but veered away from the stately, conservative lool<. "The 2000 mark was intended to have a very
animated and organic feel ing. We wanted to give the impression of f i reworl<s, but also have a
natura l fee l , l i l<e a f lower , " Ve i l leux no tes .
Co lors were very impor tan t in the des ign process as we l l . "The co lo rs ins t i l l ed energy , v ib rancy ,
and diversity, but more importantly, this could not be seen as a part isan mark,, 'Vei l leux says.
"Every party in Canada has i ts own color-the conservative government that is now in power is
blue; the l iberal government is red; and the new democrats are green. So we couldn,t design a
marl< that people would associate with a party-i t had to be pol i t ical ly neutral. , ,
t
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S :#,
- ws 'J^.
- \ E - - -
Wtu/ {Ontario
tuwOhI|rARIO
"YOU HA\lE TO BE EXTRIMEI-Y CAREFUI. 1{OI TO O\,ER-DIRECT
C R T A T I V T S , ( ) T H T R W I S E Y O U ' R E O O I N G T O E I I D U P W I T H
P I T C E M E A I . D T S I G I ' I T H A T I S S A F T . I W A S A F R A I D T H E
D E S I O N T R S W ( ) U L D S A Y , ' I T ' S I , I O T G R T A T , B t J T I T ' S T H E
BTST WE COUTD DO WITH Att THE RTSTRICTIOI{S.'IWANT-
T D T V E R Y O I I E T O B U Y I N O I { T H E B R A N D A l I D T H I l { K I T ' S
FABUI .OUS. T l |EN WE HA\ |E A l ,ERY SUCCTSSFUI- DESIGI { . "
lahove and teftl
S ince the t r i t t ium is 0ntar io 's
officiat t lower, Leapfrog designers
incorporated i t in to these designs.
As.Jean-Pierre Vei l leux of Leapfrog
recalls, "We wanted to portray the
tri lt ium as a shooting slar that woutd
repiesent 0nta'rio..entering the new
mi[[ennium.l ..., '
'THE 2ooo MARK WAS INTENDED TO HAVE A VERY ANIMATED NruOO RGAN lC FE E L I N G. wr wANTED ro GrvE rHE rMpREssroN oF
FIREWORKS, BUT ALSO HAVE A NATURAL FEEL,LIKE n FLOWER."
In fac t , Ross adds , " l f we had seen a logo tha t appeared to have a par t i san v isua t iden t i t y , i t
wou ldn ' t have been accepted . " He a lso no tes tha t th is mar l< was in tended to bu i ld un i ty w i th in the
government by p romot ing harmony among government wor l<ers , and to c rea te a foundat ion fo r
communi ty governments w i th in 0n tar io to bu i ld the i r own ident i t ies f rom the prov inc ia l b rand.
"We found tha t i t was much more d i f f i cu l t than we had f i rs t env is ioned in te rms o f the d i f fe ren t
requ i rements , " he admi ts .
I TMPLEMENTTNG THE SOLUTTON ]
Af te r p resent ing severa l rounds o f comps, Ve i l leux was p leased tha t Min is t ry o f f i c ia ls chose the
des ign he recommended. " l l i l<ed i t be t te r than the o thers because i t has a very so f t and organ ic
qua l i t y and we l i l<ed the fac t tha t the l ines fo rming the zeroes have the fee l ing o f pyro techn ics ,
f i rewor l<s , and ce lebra t ion . We wanted someth ing tha t loo l<s l i l<e a moment in t ime lead ing up to
the ce lebra t ion , " he says .
Merchand ise w i th the 0n tar io 2000 brand was ro l led ou t in the spr ing o f 1999, and Ontar io
res idents were de l igh ted w i th the i r m i l lenn ium mar l< . In fac t , Ross says , a bomber jac l<e t tha t
featured the logo on the entire bacl<side was an instant hit with government workers who accounted
for near ly one-hundred o f the in i t ia l purchases .
C N T
Kl,aoNrAr \ ro
. } .g
-)woNTAKTO
These Ioose rend i t ions ,
remin iscent o f a f lag . suggest
p r i d e a n d b e l o n g i n g a n d p u t s
emphas is on d ivers i ty th rough
the use o f d i f fe ren t co lo r
combina t ions .
Wtl a b ove l
4 4 D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
OATTARIO ONTARIO
(Orrta,rio
2(O(O(O KWWW
la b ovel
Leapfrog designers presented several
approaches tha t p tayed o f l the
combina t ion o f a bu t te r f l y shape and
the t r i t t ium.
lab ovel
"This expression of forward
movement and energy is in tended
to convey 0n tar io 's economic and
cu l tu ra [ momentum enter ing the
new mi [ [enn ium and beyond, "
exp la ins Ve i l leux .
(Ontari(o
DESIGNING A BRAND FOR A START.UP
Ir i g ht l
Ih is s ta te ty lour ism mark fo r 0n tar io ,
a t though qu i te d i f fe ren t f rom the
eccent r i c approaches the des igners
imp lemented fo r the 2000 brand,
served as a po in t o f re fe rence. In
fac t , the same typeface was u l t imate ty
used to ma in ta in a v isua l cons is tencv .
ONreRIo
l above and r igh t l
The f ina I b rand v isua l ty t inks a t t the
essent ia l e lements together , 0n tar io ,
2000, a t r i t t ium, po t i t i ca t d ivers i ty
th rough ihe co lo rs , and the
cetebra tory tone to we lcome the
n e w m i t t e n n i u m . T h e d e s i g n i s
in ten t ionat ty f tex ib le enough to be
used in b lack-and-wh i te , as wet [ as
reversed ou t o f a b lack background
NT;W{OCANADA
oxreRlo
4 6 D E S T G N T N G B R A N D S
[ [e f t and above l
Merchand ise w i th the 0n tar io 2000
brand has been a ho t -se [ [e r in the
prov ince s ince i t s in t roduc t ion .
2M I C H A E L O S B O R N E , P R I N C I P A L O F M I C H A E L O S B O R N E D E S I G N , S A N F R A N C I S C O
Brand revital izat ion is tr icl<y for a number of reasons. i t puts the designer in the posit ion of trying to mal<e the most
of establ ished equit ies, trying not to ruin or el iminate elements that work, and trying to mal<e what worl<s, work
better.The goal is not to reinvent the wheel- just to outf i t i t with a new pair of hub caps.
Equ i t ies a re charac ter is t i cs o f a b rand tha t consumers recogn ize and o f ten re f lec t ASPECTS 0F THE DESIGN
THAT MAKE A PR0DUCT SUCCESSFUL. Frequent ly , a redes ign is executed on a b rand tha t i s wor l< ing very
well , but the redesign is done in an effort to " l<eep up with the Joneses," in reaction to new trends in the marl<et-
place, or to keep one step ahead of the competit ion.
Compan ies a lso dec ide to rev i ta l i ze the i r b rands when the des ign or pos i t ion ing is no t wor l< ing in the mar l<e t . The
product has launched, but only with part ial success. Things may have changed in the marketplace, or competit ive
products stole the spotl ight.
Designers are in a very precarious posit ion when charged with the tasl< of redesigning an exist ing brand.The goal
is to l<eep the good things and bui ld on them, but sometimes determining what is good and what is bad is tr icl<y.
Do ing the LEGW0RK and RESEARCH to bac l< up your judgments i s very impor tan t .
We approach redesigns in an evolut ionary manner.0ne technique is to get cl ients to tel l us, on a scale of one to ten,
how much they want to change their brand. One being very close to the exist ing brand, and ten is a complete redesign
and change of al l the brand elements, including the name, the logo, type style, and color. We try to get the cl ient to
answer this question by providing us with a RANGE within one to ten, not just one number.
If the cl ient determines a range between three and four, our design presentation wil l show them concepts in the two,
three, four, f ive, and six categories to show them a variety of possibi l i t ies-options which l<eep the exist ing brand
equ i t ies , cap i ta l i ze on what i s work ing in the brand, and add to i t l i t t le by l i t t le un t i l , eventua l l y , i t loo l<s new.
I t i s a b igger cha l lenge to update a b rand on ly s l igh t ly , as opposed to rad ica l l y evo lv ing a b rand. I f you rad ica l l y
change i t , you have a bigger sandbox, there are more design options. I t is much harder to stay within the one to two
range and be successful.The consumer may not even notice unti l you put the old brand presentation and the new one
s ide by s ide .Th is i s the u l t imate goa l -no t to lose your cur ren t f ranch ise wh i le s imu l taneous ly ADDING VALUE.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
REDESIGNINGOR UPDATING
A WELL.KNOWN
BRAND
AVONBRAND BY O&f tNC. DESTGN
jrtI
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
Over the past century Avon has established itself as not only a leader in the cosmetics industry,
but as a corporate powerhouse when it comes to supporting women's issues globally.To support
this position, the company wanted to update its brand image and reinforce Avon's vision as "thecompany that best understands and satisfies the product, service, and self-fulf i l lment needs ofwomen global ly . "
Regina Milanq Avon's senior manager of global communications says/ "We wanted a tagline that
would capture the company's vision in a few words. Our goal was to speak to everything that Avon
means to women-the products, personal service, philanthropic activit ies, and being a great place
for women to work." One of the original phrases proposed was, /n the compony of women. rn
English it has both l iteral and subjective meanings, but it was diff icult for people to explain in
other languages.
The next tagline- Ihe compony for women-stuck. "It summed up who we were and everybody ral-
l ied around it r ight away," Milano admits. "lt is a natural evolution of what the company has
meant in the l ives of women over a 1]4-year history. Nobody else can make this claim."
With the tagline established, a new brand identity had to be built around it.0 & J Design Inc., ofNew York City, was commissioned to fulf i l l the design of the brand. O & J Design already had awell-established relationship with Avon.They had been involved in a number of corporate projects,
one of them being Avon's Global Vision Program. "The role of this program was to heighten the
awareness of the Avon brand and its success in serving women worldwide;this differentiated Avon
from other companies," explains Barbara 0lejniczak who co-owns and operates 0 & J Design with
her husband, Andrzej. "9!,,|7i1.9he.adds, "it was confusing to have a program separate from the. . : . . t i , . . . ; . : . : . ,
identity, so Avon decid,6d tq'siffpi: lfy;all of this by integrating the Global Vision concept with its
new brand identity to crea"te 4,5ir 'png6r voice that wil l be implemented worldwide.,, '-.-.
_ ,.: .,. ..,,.,. i!i.
rrl:'; !ir', "r:,,1i ...:,.': :.&r! :i-: :': .i:rljifjl;i" ,, , s3J,41, :.. i -r.
r r , : . . . j - i ' J
E. ' -r , : - t . r . r . f , : ' : : : , J
' the company for
\ \ \ l \ \ \ \ \ \women9j'"r
. l l
" t ^ f r r ' - . . - I A 7gjr L,ompany l9r vvomen
AVt h e c o m p o n y
ArD;S vF{;Ar-f;ii
lleftl
The designers experimented with
several graphics that could represent
women and, ult imatety, Avon. Ihe first
two taglines (top) represent entrgy
and warmth. The next two designs
incorporated curves for women and
strength, and the hands in the last
design i[[ustrate support and
fr iendship of women.
lleftl
These tagline sketches explored
the possibit it ies with the existing
corporate typefaces, Futura and
Times Roman. "We experimented with
type weight and kern ing to achieve a
di f ferent emphasis for e ich. [ ine
elements were also used to create
posi t ive energy around the tagt ine, '
says Andrzej 0lejniczak of 0 & J
l les ign Inc.
REDESIGNING OR UPDATING A WELL.KNOWN BRAND
the company for,1 ,t '
" ' ., RJ * &- ?
Llre companyd {rt "a !
'1b.r'
tor\#v'omen\"*.,'d.
Ai h e c
owo
NEN '
!1le comPag>
\ip/7t6" wo*"r'
AVr f e c o m p o a y
ON!::y/
AVONthe companv
{::j-yl
AVONr h n
" o - p o u y ' J o , W O M E N \
ON::-":1/
AVONthe compcny {o r women
5t*e.H*.r.o-trb
. r E , 1 G ! 1 1 1 1 t . -
-e a: ': r r j . :
O N ,i:ti:;:::,
I DEVELOPING A STRATEGY ]
0 & J did an in-depth design explorat ion of the new tagl ine, presenting a study in dif ferent
graphic elements, type treatments, and color schemes. Although many solut ions could have
worked, Avon representatives already had a graphic element in mind-the popular l ipst ick strol<e
that had been used in the past. " l t had signif icance for people within Avon, and i t carr ied a lot of
equ i ty , " Andrze j exp la ins .
Milano adds, "The brushstrol<e or l ipst ick swash harl<s back to a design that was very popular. I t
looked as i f someone under l ined the word Avon w i th a tube o f l ips t i ck . I t was wh ims ica l and fun . "
0nce the des ign d i rec t ion was chosen, 0 & J 's c rea t ives saw more oppor tun i t ies to d is t ingu ish
Avon from other beauty companies. "The previous identi ty was rather l imited in scope and didn't
have a ful l visual vocabulary. We wanted to remedy this and create a visual system that is truly
inspi r ing, " Andrzej notes.
"These soft hues with very del icate, circular shapes create a very dist inct and unusual backdrop
to promote the beauty products," Barbara adds. One of the chal lenges O & J faced when worl<ing
with such a huge corporation was integrating a single brand identi ty across the board-from cul-
tural barr iers, since Avon has operations al l over the world, to the many phi lanthropic activi t ies
sponsored by Avon that need to carry the corporate look in promotions. Al l these special
programs were previously using separate images and identi t ies, so 0 & J-which is l<nown for i ts
comprehensive standards systems-created a standards manual for Avon to be used by al l of i ts
associates and subsidiaries. I t demonstrates how certain communications should look, how the
logo and tag l ine shou ld be used, what co lo rs a re ava i lab le , and more .
"Some o f the programs d idn ' t rea l l y have logos , so th is who le new wave o f changes insp i red smal l
groups within Avon to upgrade themselves. 0ur goal was to dist inguish one from another, but they
sti l l need to use this idea of the art ist ic, freehand, brushstroke," Andrzej explains. "We are dealing
with a lot of issues, and a lot of dif ferent people, so i t 's an educational process to mal<e them
believe that you have to use the same typeface, and you have to work within the color palette. This
is how Avon has to look. This is i ts imaqe."
Barbara adds, "We worked with the people at Avon very closely and we advised them that they
needed to s t reaml ine the number o f communica t ions and the d i f fe ren t p rograms ' ident i t ies . As
designers we bel ieve in identi t ies that give people f lexibi l i ty. That 's why we created the extended
color palette and other elements to al low people to be creative with their communications, but
s tay w i th in the overa l l look . Now everybody is ta lk ing in the same v isua l language. "
t.I
AV
AVON" , \ t
co F , t , o , j l ,
* I n " \
l a b ove l
Us ing a p ro f i le o f a woman 's
face in these des igns he lps
re in fo rce the tag l ine , The
company fo r women.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
ttI
Irf
AVON% c o m p a n u i ' w o m e n- j r* 'v
AVoN{r\*=5t lon ,o*pony{ *w.o*n , S- /
labove and [eft l
"Flowers are often associated with
women and beauty . When s tud ied
c loser , a woman 's f igure can be
s.een," notes Andrzei.
labove and [eft l
These were two o f the tag t ine des ign
var ia t ions tha t 0 & J dev ised. The
s imple curves and the emphas is on
the words the and lor give the teft
tag l ine a un ique rhy thm. The o ther
tag l ine 's ca t t ig raph ic fee t (above)
makes i t very e legant .
AVON AVON_, --*__---"-.*_""_
T H E C O M P A N Y T O R W O M E N \
ry'{*Iih\
REDESIGNING OR UPDATING A WELL.KNOWN BRAND
"As DEsTGNERs WE BELIEVE lN IDENTITIES rHAr GrvE pEopLE
FLEXIBILITY. THAT'S WHY WE CREATED THE EXTENDEDCOLOR pALErrE AND orHER ELEMENTs TO ALLOW PEOPLE ro BE
CREATIVE wrrH rHErn COMMUNICATIONS, BUr srAywrrH rHE ovERALL LooK. Now EVERYBODY lS TALKING
IN THE SAME VISUAL LANGUAGE. '
Avon chose no t to t rans la te the new tag l ine "because we wou ld never capture the emot iona l
nuances we want to convey in every language, " Mi lano exp la ins . "But when peop le see the logo,
the tagl ine, and the brushstroke together, they understand that i t 's Avon, and they get the
emotional impact of what we mean to women everywhere in the world."
Since the new identi ty has been introduced internal ly, i t has been very well received and 0 & J
cont inues to wor l< w i th Avon to ensure i t i s p roper ly imp lemented. Mi lano says o f the work ing
re la t ionsh ip w i th the des ign f i rm, "They mal<e i t the i r bus iness to rea l l y unders tand us and our
cu l tu re . They loo l<ed a t a l l ang les o f the app l ica t ion and how i t w i l l be used, and what we came
up w i th was a resu l t o f a lo t o f d ia logue back and fo r th .Our new des ign is bo ld and i t cer ta in ly
jumps ou t a t you . "
AVON, i il n e C O m t ] i l i l V i O l - ' \ i l * i l i * n
t l
'ii::,'."r..:
l teft l
U t t imate ty th is i s the des ign the Avon
representa t ives wanted lo use
because o f the fami l ia r t ips t i ck
swash. l l ' s used on a l l o f Avon 's
c0rp0ra te communica t ions inc tud ing
s ta t ionery and bus iness cards .
l l r i : , DESTGNINGBRANDS
AVON
GLOB
' I
, t\ ;{i
tr;
G L O B A L E X C H A N G E
A V O N t h e c o m p c n y f o r w o m e n-
A V O NR U N N T N G - )
-Globol Women's Circuit
N O N I h e c o m p o n y l o r w o m e n
AVO Nw o r l d w i d e f u n d f o rw o m e n ' s h e o l t h
v6 q \ r -1ffiilDL''{r.N-,. -,A
r l a . , l f
@j(g l l
f ' \ I%q9". d /
l - * t
."tr: /
A V O N l h e c o m p o n y i o r w o m e n
A V O NP R O D U C T S
FOUNDATION
AVON ihe compony lo r women
AV
WOME
N
OFEN PRISE
A V O N i h e c o m p q n y f o r w o m e n
AVONBREASTCANCERCRUSADE
A V O N t h e c o m o o n v f o r w o m e n-
labovel
Since Avon sponsors so many programs
for women, 0 & J created [ogos for
each event. To give them a common
feet , the designers incorporaied the
hand-ra inted brushstroke.
l teft and hetowl
To ensure proper usage o f the new
brand ident i l y ,0 & J devetoped Avon 's
Wor ldwide Corpora te ldent i t y
Standards manua[ . l t ' s an ex tens ive
exptora t ion conta in ing examples 0 f
how the new Avon brand ident i t y
shou ld and shou ld no t be used.
:'f"*-
: i: !
: i
: l li '
l ,1. .i .
^1**Q
. l . '
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
New
l ahove and le f t l
0 & J redes igned Avon 's corpora te
magaz ine . 0u t look , us ing the new
tag l ine and togo. The o td cover [ooked
very da ted and p la in , compared to the
new layout wh ich is much more open
and f low ing .
BUGLE BOYBRAND BY BC DESIGN AND COLE & WEBER
Building a brand based on i ts price category is nothing to be ashamed of, according to designers
David Bates and Mil<e Call<ins, principals of BC Design in Seatt le. Working with the advert ising
agency Cole & Weber (also based in Seatt le), that is exactly what they did when they were asked
to redes ign the Bug le Boy c lo th ing brand.
"We were trying to be up-front with the prices and trying not to emulate other brands," says
Bates. "We said, 'Don't try to hide the fact that you're a price-point driven store, embrace i t ' ,"
Calkins adds. "There's a huge opportunity there that 's fair ly untapped. Bugle Boy has been able
to be a low price brand without having a st igma attached to i t ."
Founded in 1977, Bug le Boy has changed dramat ica l l y s ince i t s days as a young men 's fash ion
brand.The company now makes casual clothing for women, men, young men, and boys. Bugle Boy
had stopped advert ising in many markets and, as a result, consumers forgot about the brand
altogether.
I THE CHATLENGE ]
According to Suzanne Baird, Cole & Weber's account supervisor, "The people we talked to in
focus groups reflected on the Bugle Boy brand nostalgically-they said they haven't seen it
lately and they couldn't quite pin down a Bugle Boy personality," she recalls. The image those
surveyed most often recalled was the classic commercial from the late 'B0s with the wo_man
pul l ing her car a longside a young man walk ing down the st reet and saying, ' tExcuse me. Are those
Bugle Boy jeans you're wearing?"
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
"OUR PHIIOSOPHY IS THAT IVERY POINT OI THE BRAttD
THAT TOUCHIS THE COI{SUMER MUST DILIVER THE
SAME MISSAOE-WHITr | IR IT 'S THt STORI ITSI IF . THI
MERCHANDISE IN Tt|I STORE, ADVERTISIt'|G, A WEB
SITI. TEI.EVISION, [TC. ANY MESSAGT THAT REACHIS
THI COl'|SUMER MUST DEI-IVER THE SAME BRAND
I M A G [ . "
l te l t and above l
In BC Des ign 's f i rs t round o f concepts
they presented to Bug le Boy reps , the
des igners incorpora ted ac tua I v isua ts
o f the c lo th ing fo r the in -s to re
pos le rs . "We wanted to incorpora te
the ac tua l c lo thes in the v isua ls , so i t
woutd be less fash ion-dr iven , more
ut i t i ta r ian-k ind o f l i ke a hardware
s tore , bu t t ry to he tas te fu l a t the
same t ime, " des igner Mike Catk ins
expta ins . However , Bugte Boy thought
the images were too c lo th ing
spec i f i c - they wanted someth ing tha t
spoke t0 the l ines o f c lo th ing in genera t .
.$:]. REDES1GNING OR UPDATING A WELL-KNOWN BRAND
" l swear every man in Amer ica can quote tha t commerc ia l to a f , " no tes Ba i rd . A l though tha t ad
has sL jccess fu l l y l ingered in many peop les / minds over the years , i t d id no t rea l l y speak to the w ider
ar ray o f end users o f the produc t -moms, dads , and young boys-nor communica te the low-pr ice
message.
Ron l( leip, creative director at Cole & Weber relates, "We found this to be a chal lenge-to tal<e
a brand that everybody remembers because of that one commercial and translate i t to what i t
truly is today. we had to overcome a perception that has tal<en on a l i fe of i ts own.,,
I DEVELOPTNG THE STRATEGY ]
" Bugle Boy wanted a f irm brand identi ty that would extend into al l facets of the company,,, l ( lein
says . \ \0ur ph i losophy is tha t every po in t o f the brand tha t touches the consumer must de l i ver the
same message-whether i t 's the store i tself the merchandise in the store, advert ising, a web site,
television, etc. Any message that reaches the consumer must del iver the same brand image, espe-
cial ly today because everything is so fragmented.,,
Before test ing the focus groups, Cole & Weber executives were told by Bugle Boy that the target
marke t fo r the i r merchand ise is moms because they purchase the c lo thes fo r the i r husbands and
ch i ld ren . "We l< ind o f took them on the i r word and were fa i r l y cer ta in tha t moms were indeed the
key audience, 'but we wanted to do a disaster check among dads and boys to mal<e sure we weren,t
a l iena t ing them s ince they are the end-users , " reca l l s Ba i rd .The focus groups were conducted
with four groups of mothers, two groups of fathers, as well as fr iendship pairs of boys. "When you
get a group of teenage boys together in a room, they do a lot of f launting and bragging and they
aren't very truthful or real. so, instead, we put a boy and his fr iend together and you get much
more honest responses than when they ' re in f ron t o f a bunch o f the i r peers / / / Ba i rd exp la ins .
The research indicated that the brand had a lot of potential, especial ly with mothers. "We learned
tha t we had some rea l pos i t i ve , func t iona l qua l i t ies tha t appea led to moms wi th the c lo thes-
comfort, durabi l i ty, casualness, and a value for the money. But as far as involvement with the
brand, there wasn't a tangible personali ty.There was no clear brand identi ty associated with Bugle
Boy," she adds. "So because of the lacl< of involvement with the brand, i t was only being
purchased to so lve a func t iona l p rob lem- they were jus t loo l< ing a t p r ice and qua l i t y as a way to
evaluate i t , but we al l l<now that most clothing purchases aren/t based on such rat ional decisions.
We saw that as a real problem."
"lkea was an easy model for us to reference because i t is respectable, and you can f ind something
pretty cool for a reasonable price.That's where we came up with the user-fr iendly notion, because
when you go to Ikea, everything from the way you parl< your car, to how you wall< through the
s tore , i s des igned fo r cus tomers 'conven ience, " Ca l l< ins adds . "So we s ta r ted p lay ing w i th tha t
idea, and we came up with using arrows in the design.,,
W*:*sy*:sy:"i
TO TAKE A
WE HAD
*WE FOUND THIS TO BE A CHALLENGEBRAND THAT EVERYBODY REMEMBERS BECAUSE OF ONECOMMERCIAL AND TRANsLATE rr ro wHAr rr rRULy rs roDAy.ro ovERcortle A PERCEPTION THAT HAS TAKEN ON
A LIFE OF ITS OWN.''
@@
: i ::r:,., ' . .
.:
7M n iooea Put tover
la b ovel
The second round o f concepts tha t BC l }es ign presented
to Bug le 8oy had more o f a g raph ic approach, bu t the
c t ien t asked the des igners t0 come up w i th another
d i rec t ion tha t woutd be more photography-dr iven , and
aga in w i thout focus ing too much on spec i f i c p ieces o f
c lo th ing , so the pos ters wou ld no t have to updated
everv season.
s! 7M nino"o Purover 28.
|j:?i1gyl.-il rtooi,to o *rtt **o** t*o',,o -dii
la b ovel
Ihe o td Bugte Boy togo had been
around lo r many years , bu t i t d id
not have a persona l i t y and i t d id
not communica te any pos i t i ve
brand a t t r ibu tes . BC 0es ign used
the same sans ser i f t ype face tha l
Bugte Boy had a lways used, bu t
they pu t a d i f fe ren t sp in on i l ,
pu t t ing the Bs back- to -back .
Because the designers understood the importance of appealing to moms without turning off the
kids, their graphics were intended to str i l<e a chord with the end-users as well . "They were saying
that mothers were basical ly their prime target audience, but let 's face i t , ei ther the kid's going to
wear it or not," Bates says.
"It 's true to an extent, that mothers buy i t . That 's f ine, our goal was to try to keep that customer
even i f i t 's only for the price. But we were also saying, 'What i f you made i t hip enough to attract
people that could afford to shop somewhere else without al ienating the original customer?'That 's
the approach we've been tal<ing with the design of the brand," Calkins notes.
Their f i rst concept was to incorporate people wearing the clothing in the design, but the cl ient
rejected that approach because i t would have to be updated too often as the clothing l ines change
in styles and seasons. " l t became a logist ics thing," according to Bates. ' tThis sign has to be up
for six months so they didn't want specif ic i tems of clothing in the materials."
After a couple more design rounds Bates and Call<ins came up with a more generic approach.
Instead of focusing too heavi ly on the clothing, they used generic- looking, act ion-oriented photos
and created designs that worked with the photos. "We were trying to pul l colors out of the
photos," Bates says. "We didn't want to have dif ferent colors for the departments because i f the
photos change, the colors wouldn't go with i t , so we let the photography drive the colors."
The designers also created a new logo for Bugle Boy, but they had to maintain some of the old
image. "Part of i t is their heri tage," Bates recal ls. "They want to change, but they don't want to
lose the brand equity they've bui l t . They had this san seri f uppercase font that they've been using
since the '80s, and we wanted to use some of that but downplay i t , and the upper- and lowercase
seemed l ike a natural because i t wasn't so serious."
"We wanted i t to be hyper-generic on purpose-going bacl< to the original idea that i t 's user-
f r iend ly c lo th ing , no t necessar i l y fash ion c lo thes .That 's why we p icked He lve t ica , " Ca lk ins adds .
" l t 's a standard.The whole idea is that everything is real ly unassuming about this place.We were
walking a fence-understated sophist icat ion, but unassuming."
The designers worked closely with Cole & Weber to make sure they were al l on the same page,
bouncing ideas off one another. The ad agency tested the init ial designs with focus groups and
according to Baird, "Women l iked i t .The photography captured the moment, they l iked that the
prices were prominent, and they thought the arrows would be helpful to f ind what they're looking
for.They l iked the fact that i t was everyday scenes of everyday people-there was no pretension."
W*:*rneimv:*J
@
Iahove and r igh t l
For the th i rd round, the des igners
tocused on the "user - f r iend ly "
concept . "We d id i t l i ke i t was a key
t0 a map. The c lo thes are h igh t igh ted ,
bu t aga in i t was too spec i f i c to the
c lo th ing [ ines . They wanted every
poster to he extremely f lexible,"
Dav id Bates exo la ins .i ; ; : J t * t ! i ! r , i . r i 1 . 1
: : r i i : : : i I i t i ? i i l = I
[ .,j, il'r {t i] ;t 1:: fl 3 li,f:11
':a ii. :i:i H :i t { ti j
i ;:i tji ? ti g i!3 :f;- r-: f, li :1'r:J 'r :: 1l J? 'F ? * *: l
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KAYTEE BIRDSEEDBRAND BY MURRIE, L IENHART, RYSNER ASSOCIATES
Turning a relat ively unheard of product into a popular brand through a strategic branding and
market ing campaign is a typ ica l success s to ry . But tu rn ing a $10 mi l l ion bus iness in to a $150
mi l l ion bus iness in jus t s ix years i s a lmost unheard o f . Bu t th is i s no fa i r l y ta le . Th is i s the t rue
story of l(ayTee birdseed, based in Chil ton, Wisconsin.
In 1986, l(ayTee was going through an identi ty cr isis-the company executives l<new they had a
great product, but they didn't have a sol id brand or market strategy to promote i t . Tom Ramey
was hired as vice president of sales and marketing to help re-focus the company and lead the
marl<eting and sales efforts.
"This was a very small company where the package design was done in-house, and they thought
i t looked grea t because i t a l l looked the same, " he reca l l s . " l sa id , 'Be ing the same is no t a lways
good. You do want a nice, uniform look for shelf visibi l i ty and merchandising reasons. But the
value-added, caged birds product sel ls for 40 percent more than the standard feed, and you can't
tel l the dif ference between them.'They weren't communicating the posit ioning of the products."
Ramey soon realized as well that this problem wasn't unique to l(ayTee-it was an industry
pitfall. l(ayTee needed to pump up its brand identity through the packaging, and do it before the
compet i t ion caught on.
Ct ' l t t lC ennNoS ]ffi-:i,,,,,,-'":r
l teft l
When KayTee b i rdseed was updat ing
the look fo r i t s caged b i rdseed
var ie t ies , c0mpany representa t ives
thought the packag ing needed to be
more access ib le and user - f r iend ly
so they came up w i th the p las t i c
can is te rs . MLR des igners then
incorpora ted photos o f the b i rds on
the packag ing so consumers cou ld
eas i ty iden t i f y wh ich b i rdseed they
n e e d e d "
REDEsTGNtNG oR upDArtNG A wELr.xllowt' l ennto 67
IJI
I
"THE CONCEPT WAS TO SELL THE LINE nnD MANAGE rHEsHELVEs so rHAr WE WOULD OUT-MANEUVER
THE COMPETITION.''
I DEVELOPTNG A STRATEGY ]
The f i rs t th ing Ramey d id in h is new pos i t ion was conduct focus groups w i th b i rd owners . "We
started tal l<ing to them about bird ownership and we were hearing that they are very involved with
the i r b i rds .They watch TV w i th them, they ea t w i th them, they wres t le w i th them, and they even
ta l l< w i th them," he exp la ins . Ramey a lso d id a quant i ta t i ve s tudy to de termine how many peop le
have birds, what types of birds they have, how they feed them, and where they buy their birdseed.
The des ign f i rm o f Mur r ie , L ienhar t , Rysner Assoc ia tes (MLR) o f Ch icago was then brought in to
des ign a b rand image tha t wou ld p romote and nur tu re the percept ion o f the owners ' fami l ia l
re la t ionsh ips w i th the i r b i rds .
The pacl<aging i tself became a factor in the brand design to mal<e i t more accessible and
ident i f iab le to consumers . Ramey says , "Most o f our p roduc t was in po ly bags , bu t we found ev i -
dence tha t peop le l i ked to see the food. " So the i r dec is ion was c lear - l i te ra l l y . C lear pac l<ag ing
was selected for al l of l(ayTee's caged bird treat canisters.This was an industry innovation.
I TMPLEMENTTNG A SOLUTTON ]
To d is t ingu ish i t se l f in the ca tegory , the mar l<e t ing team, a long w i th c rea t ive d i rec to r and MLR
principal Shel Rysner, decided that i t would be in l(ayTee's best interests to actual ly show pictures
o f the b i rds on the pac l<ag ing . Under Rysner 's d i rec t ion , the des igners deve loped a number o f
executions addressing the dif ferent platforms, which were then tested with consumers. "We went
to the mal ls and showed people the design and i t got the reactions and intent to purchase we were
lool<ing for on each of the packages," Ramey relates.
"The upshot of this is that we learned the potency of the brand on the package and we started
segment ing the brand, c rea t ing b i rd -spec i f i c packag ing , " Rysner reca l l s . "The concept was to se l l
the l ine and manage the she lves so tha t we wou ld ou t -maneuver the compet i t ion . "The pac l<ag ing
inc luded co lo r fu l i l l us t ra t ions o f the spec i f i c b i rds fo r wh ich the seed was in tended, so consumers
cou ld see the i r b i rd and ident i f v w i th the produc t .
6 a D E S t G N t N G B R A N D S
l teft l
KayTee had an image prob tem wi th i t s
w i ld b i rdseed var ie l ies . The packag ing
was ou tda ted and i t was no t
d is t ingu ishab le on s t0 re she lves .
I t eftl
To make the w i ld b i rdseed s tand ou t
f rom the compet i t ion , the des igners
br igh tened up the packag ing w i th
co tor fu I i [ [us t ra t ions o f w i td b i rds ,
and the Kay lee name was g iven a
much ho tder p resence.
REDESICNINC OR UPDA ING A WELr-< t lOWN BRAND 69
As Ramey puts i t , " I t 's l i l<e high-involved dog owners who l i l<e to see their dog on the package.
We whnted to tal<e advantage of that in our advert ising and pacl<aging.,,
The response to the new packaging was immediate."Our sel l ing was better because we were gorng
to the trade and tel l ing them who the consumer is, what they're looking for, and giving them the
so lu t ion , l 'Ramey exp la ins . " l t ' s a lso an indus t ry tha t I ca l l ' h igh- touch, low- tech . ,The re ta i l s to re
c le rk hasa b ig in f luence on what the .consumer w i l l purchase. Peop le w i l l go to pe t s to res to make
a purchase because someone is there to answer their questions. We used the package as a sel l ing
device and other materials were provided to the stores to help educate the retai l store person.,,
And, of course, the l<ey reason l(ayTee was such a hit with consumers is because "the pacl<age
looked great," Ramey says. \ \we got more distr ibutors to take i t on, and the velocity in retai l
stores increased as consumers picked i t up in greater numbers.,,
He attr ibutes the success of the brand to the close working relat ionship he had with Rysner and
the designers. "The more your design company is a partner with you, the more successful you/re
going to be. Shel was always a member of our team as we developed new products. Branding is
more important than advert ising because in the absence of advert ising, i t 's the only communica-
t ion you have with consumers/// Ramey concludes.
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" B R A N D I t | O I S M O R I I M P O R T A N T
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W I T H C O N S U M I R S . "
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outdoor b i rds the i r pe ts . MLR
desisners t,rrr: :i_::::::ll::.
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c a r d i n a t s . f i n c h e s , a n d s o n g b i r d s .
BU RGER KINGBRAND BY THE STERLING GROUP AND F ITCH
With l i t t le modif icat ion made to the Burger l( ing brand mark in nearly 25 years, Burger l( ing
Corporation (Bl(C) decided the brand was in need of an overhaul. The corporation wanted to
crea te a power fu l and cons is ten t b rand image tha t wou ld be communica ted to a l l consumers in
a l l touch po in ts w i th the brand- logo, s ignage, res taurant des ign , and pac t<ag ing . In o rder to do
th is , B l (C sought to de f ine and ar t i cu la te a s ing le g loba l b rand essence, wh ich wou ld then be
in jec ted in to a l l e lements o f the brand.
"Burger l ( ing wanted us to focus on the bun logo, bu t the i r ob jec t ives were rea l l y to deve lop a
high impact brand mark to reinforce the new brand e"ssence," says Marcus Hewitt, managing partner
and c rea t ive d i rec to r a t the Ster l ing Group, the f i rm commiss ioned to wor l< w i th B l (C 's b rand
team to redesign the brand. "They wanted i t to be contemporary but not trendy, and infuse more
energy into the brand.The old brand identi ty is very corporate and quiet, and everything f lows in
a s t ra igh t l ine .The type is round, the bun is round, the ye l low and red are warm and so f t co lo rs -
i t needed more impact , " he adds .
I DEVELOPTNG A STRATEGY ]
The Ster l ing Group and B l (C 's b rand team in t roduced severa l rounds o f logo exp lo ra t ions , inc lud-
ing design executions with f lames to accentuate Burger l( ing's signature "f lame broi led" cooking
technique and experimenting with dif ferent type treatments and colors. "We didn't want to add
too many other elements. I thinl< i t 's a del icate balance with a brand marl< l i l<e this because you
see i t on so many products-i t 's everywhere and you don't want i t to be too fussy," Hewitt recal ls.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
:L *&*tjt
SURCERKils
l te f t and he lowl
Burger K ing 's o ld b rand ident i t y had
n0t been updated in near ly 25 years .
" l t ' s an inc red ib ty we l l recogn ized
brand, bu t i t ' s very c0rpora te and i t
doesn ' t l i ve up to the quat i t y o f the
res taurant , " says Marcus Hewi t t ,
manag ing par tner and c rea t ive d i rec-
to r a t the Ster l ing Group, lhe f i rm
h i red to redes ign the brand.Used w i th permiss ion f rom Burger l ( ing Brands , Inc
Used w i th pern iss ion f ron Burger K ing Brands . Inc
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The des igners a lso in t roduced a new co lo r to b r igh ten up the logo wh ich t rad i t iona l l y was on ly
repreSented with red and yel low. " l t was natural to add another color. When you look at i t now
wi thout the b lue , i t loo l<s l i l<e a co lo r i s miss ing , " he no tes . "The wor ld where tha t b rand mar l<
was operating has moved on and we lool<ed at the competitors which had more elaborate logos
wi th more co lo r and ac t ion . "
The des igners re ta ined the brand. .mar l< 's bun image, wh ich is a s t rong communica tor o f the
brand's appeal, and enlarged the type so that i t extended beyond the bun, to convey the idea oT a
bigger taste and reinforce the size of the Whopper sandwich. The sl ightly t i l ted image and type
also convey a sense of energy and motion. "We were bui lding on what they had, but i t was a
signif icant change. We ref ined the type, we l<ept some of the curves and added some sharper edges,
and every element is worl<ing better than i t was," the designer says. "This is a massive franchise
bus iness and B l (C cou ldn ' t a f fo rd to have peop le no t recogn ize the brand. "
I TMPLEMENTTNG A SOLUTTON ]
With a b rand des ign es tab l i shed, F i tch , an in te rna t iona l des ign and bus iness consu l tancy , was
ca l led in to deve lop the th ree-d imens iona l aspec ts o f the brand, inc lud ing in te r io r and ex ter io r
bu i ld ing des ign and t rade dress e lements , and s ignage o f the Burger l ( ing res taurants . Consumer
research, conducted by Bl(C and Fitch, revealed underlying social aspects of the fast-food
experience that needed to be addressed. "The research helped us design the experience of the
brand-how peop le wou ld ac tua l l y l i ke to f low th rough the space, no t jus t how they wou ld l i l<e i t
to loo l< , " exp la ins Jon Ba ines , assoc ia te v ice pres ident a t F i tch .
Since the Burger l( ing franchises are al l owned and operated by dif ferent people,the interiors of
the restaurants ref lected that, which posed a chal lenge to the Fitch creatives. " ln the past, the
franchisees were given carte blanche as far as what the inside of their restaurants looked l i l<e, so
they al l lool<ed dif ferent," Baines says. "One of the main ideas that has been introduced is that
the core exper ience a t Burger l ( ing shou ld be cons is ten t . " So i t was dec ided tha t the p laces where
the customer comes in contact with the food in al l restaurants should be the same. in theorv
making this experience consistent across the board.
A major focus of the interior design is a streamlined layout for the customer ordering process.
Separate areas are now defined for order placement and picl<-up. In addit ion, menus have been
redes igned to d isp lay i tems on ly dur ing the t ime o f day when they are ava i lab le .
Another conceptthe creatives discovered from the consumer research is how people perceive their
d in ing exper ience. "Peop le l i ke to ge t the i r food fas t , bu t they don ' t necessar i l y l i l<e to ea t i t fas t
when they ' re d in ing in .They l i ke to re lax , " reca l l s Ba ines . So severa l k inds o f sea t ing areas have
been incorporated into the restaurant design, including bright open areas geared to large groups
and famil ies, and areas for more int imate dinlng. In addit ion to the tables themselves, the
ffi .?!,:L-n-u\ogilo^' .,1
Iteftl
For mos l o f the in i t ia l ske tches . the
des igners exper imented w i th the type
and bun des ign , g iv ing the brand
mark a more an imated qua l i t y to
c rea te energy and impact . They a lso
in t roduced add i t iona l co lo rs to
complement Burger K ing 's t rademark
red and vel low.
I left l
"Some o f the lhemes we looked a t
inc luded add ing f lames because o f
the equ i ty es tab t ished w i th Burger
K ing 's ' f lame-bro i led ' burgers , "
}|ewitt recal ls. Utt imatety i t was
dec ided tha t the f lames wou ld make
the brand mark look too busy .
REDESIGNING OR UPDATING A WELL.KNOWN BRAND
lJsed with permission from Burger King Brands, Inc.
rlilI
I;:
environment is also a factor. " in many fast-food restaurants you see huge posters promoting
different i tems in the dining area. We learned that people don't want to be reminded about what
they may have missed in the ordering process once they have their food in front of them,,, Baines
explains. In addit ion, strategic, focused l ighting also helps to create dist inct dining atmospheres.
The drive-thru experience has also been streamlined to the customers'advantage. pre-menus at
drive-thrus often look dif ferent than the ordering menu, so when the customer pul ls up to order
they cannot f ind the specif ic i tem they want to order. To al leviate this problem, the pre-menu is
exactly the same as the ordering menu, and order confirmation screens reassure consumers that
the order i s r igh t .
In add i t ion , Burger l ( ing des igned a t ransparent bag so peop le can see what i s ins ide o f i t w i th -
out having to open i t up and check, oftentimes holding up the drive-thru I ine. They even went one
step further-they developed a panic. button that customers wil i be able to drive up to and use i f
something is indeed wrong with their order. " l t 's a great idea because they're not holding up the
l ine and i t 's a reassurance factor to the customer,,, Baines notes.
To give new and exist ing restaurants a dist inct ive'exterior trade dress, Fitch designed a blue sculp-
tural element which wil l be retrof i t ted to exist ing restaurants. "The blue element, together with
the new site signage, introduces the new Burger l( ing trade dress,,, Baines says.
The new brand identi ty helps Burger l( ing achieve competit ive dif ferentiat ion by creating a design
that is in direct correlat ion with what consumers desire from a fast-food restaurant. Burger l( ing
wil l be rol l ing out the new brand identi ty in i ts restaurants in the coming years. So far, consumer
response has been tremendously posit ive, translat ing to strong gains in sales and traff ic at the
res taurants cur ren t ly employ ing the new look and feer .
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
I t eftl
BKC's c rea t ives , a long w i th S ter l ing ,
came up w i th th is b rand execut ion . l t
marries the best of the old with the
new. and i t exudes a much bo lder
presence w i th the en la rged type
exptod ing ou t o f the bun to convey the
idea o f a b igger tas te .
l teft l
A t t o f the packag ing , inc tud ing the
new c lear -v iew bags tha t a l low
customers to see the i r o rders .
focuses on the new brand mark . The
des igners a lso incorpora ted red and
b lue p ixe la ted shapes tha t sur round
the brand, exud ing a sense o f e i ther
rad ia t ing heat on i tems such as
burgers and f r ies , o r e f fe rvescence
on so f t d r ink cups .
REDESIGNING OR UPDATING A WELL-KNOWN BRAND
Used w i th permiss i0n f r0m Burger K ing Brands , Inc
lJsed wilh pernissi0n from Burger King Erands, Inc.
l Jsed w i th permiss ion f rom Burger K ing Brands , lnc
l teft l
The new Burger King t rade dress was
int roduced in Reno, Nevada, at th is
newty-bui t t restaurant . To incorporate
the t rade dress to ex is t ing restau-
rants, the btue " f in" that prot rudes hy
the entrance witt be retrofitted to
those bui ld ings in addi t ion to incor-
porat ing the new s ignage.
l teft l
The open f loor space, des igned by
F i tch . was c rea ted to accommodate
seat ing fo r g roups o f a [ [ s izes . The
corner booths prov ide a more so l i ta ry
eat ing exper ience.
l Jsed w i th permiss ion f r0m Burger K ing Brands , Inc
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
*THE RESEARCH HELPED US
BRAND-HOW PEOPLETO FLOW THROUGH THE
f f i f re
DESIGN THE EXPERIENCE OF THE
WOULD ACTUALLY LIKEsPAcE, NOT ,UST HOW rHEY wouLD
LIKE IT TO LOOK.''
I te f t l
The dr ink p ick -up area was devetoped
for cus tomer conven ience. The coun ler
space was des igned so t rays coutd
eas i l y s l ide over i t . and the open area
a l lows cus tomers to he lp themse lves
to re f i l t s .
t left l
The consumer o rder ing area is
d e s i g n e d t o k e e p p e o p t e m o v i n g
through the l ine by conveniently ptacing
images o f the food i tems in f ron t o f
them so they can dec ide what to
order be lo re they ge t to the counter .
REDES]GNING OR IJDDAT \G A WLL- .KNOW\ BRAN? 4T
lJsed w i th permiss i0n f r0m Burger K ing Brands , Inc
l l sed w i th permiss i0n f r0m Burger K ing Brands , Inc
SUTTER HOMEBRAND BY MICHAEL OSBORNE DESIGN
For more than 50 years Sutter Home has been providing American consumers with a variety of
affordably-priced wines. In 1947, Mario Trinchero tool< ownership of the winery, and throughout
the '50s and '60s i t was a "mom-and-pop" o rgan iza t ion , s t i c l< ing to the w ine bas ics -se l l ing reds
a n d w h i t e s f r o m a l i t t l e w i n e r y i n N a p a V a l l e y . i n t h e e a r l y l 9 T 0 s , t h o u g h , t h i n g s b e g a n t o c h a n g e .
Bob Trinchero, the eldest son of Mario, began experimenting with Zinfandel wines, and created a
l igh t -co lo red w ine w i th a s l igh t ly p ink ish co lo r and ca l led i t 0e i l De Pedr ix wh ich means "eye o f
the par t r idge . " A l though th is new wine d id no t se l l we l l a t f i r s t (on ly 2 ,000 cases the f i rs t year ) ,
according to Rob Celsi, Sutter Home's brand manager, the sweet-tast ing wine was the beginning
of someth ing b ig .
In I972, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Fire Arms informed the Trincheros that they had to
cal l the wine what i t real ly was/ so they named it white zinfandel. By the 1980s, Sutter Home was
sell ing so much of their wine-far beyond anyone's expectat ions-that they decided i t was t ime
for a new logo for the Sutter Home varietals.TheTrincheros contracted with a local designer who
came up with the stacked word marl<, which has been used ever since. "Lit t le did anyone know
how important that brand would become," Celsi says.The label evolved slowly over the years, but
by 1995 the competit ion was changing the landscape.
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l le f t and be lowl
By 1 985, Sut te r Home was a success fu l
contender fo r [eadersh ip in the w ine
category , so the company dec ided i t
was t ime fo r a new logo. A [oca l
des igner came up w i th the s tacked
word mark . wh ich changed very l i t t le
over lhe years , as you see here . l t was
not un t i I lhe mid '90s tha t the company
embarked on a new brand ident i t y to
re-es tab t ish i t se l f as a leader in the
wine indus t ry .
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REDESTGNTNG oR UpDATtNG A WELL-KNowN BRAND 81
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..THIS COMPANY IS REALLY GOOD ABOUT KEEPING THEIRFINGER ON THE PULSE OF THE MARKETPLACE-
KEEPING THEIR BRAND UPDATED ON A REGULAR BASI5. YOU CAN'T STAYTHE SAME TOO LONG rN rHrs rNDUsrRy BEcAUSE YOU'LL GET
LOST rN THE sHuFFLE."
I n 1995 . Su t te r Home upda ted
i ts brand and created a ctear ,
pressure-sensi t ive tabet . At the
t ime, i t was c lear ty d is t inct
f rom other wines on the shet l
Up to tha t t ime, Sut te r Home's wh i te z in fande l was be ing so ld in a g reen bo t t le . "A f te r a wh i le ,
the compet i t ion-wh ich had sco f fed a t Bob 's invent ion o f wh i te z in fande l s topped laugh ing and
s tar ted mal< ing i t , and they were pu t t ing i t in a c lear g lass . We found ourse lves , as the ca tegory
innovators, behind the category," Celsi explains. " l f we didn't react, the competit ion would tal<e
the ca tegory , so we went to a c lear , o r f l i n t , g lass w i th our wh i te z in fande l , and a t the same t ime
we dec ided to update our labe l . We fe l t we needed a dramat ic pac l<age update to ga in a lead over
the compet i t ion . "
The des ign f i rm a t tha i t ime came up w i th two paper labe ls tha t Sut te r Home was in te res ted in .
"We d id some consumer research and we learned tha t consumers are inundated w i th so many
wine packages.There are a lo t o f labe ls on the she l f in the w ine bus iness , so we went bac l< to the
des igners a t tha t t ime and we sa id 'We don ' t th in l< we 've gone fa r enough. We want to go
fL t r ther , " 'Ce ls i exp la ins . What they came up w i th was a c lear p ressure-sens i t i ve labe l fo r the
bott le and the necl< label remained oaper.
As Ce ls i says , "We went to town. The brand too l< o f f and we so ld s ix o r seven mi l l ion cases , and
today we ' re a t about ten mi l l ion . Th is i s fo r a cornpany tha t was mov ing about 30 ,000 cases in
I976-a t rue Amer ican success s to rv . "
I PRESENT DAY I
However , even though Sut te r Home was do ing ex t remely we l l , the mar l<e t -consc ious pro fess iona ls
there l<new i t was t ime to change aga in . "The cyc le o f innovat ion to dup l i ca t ion has been increas-
ingly shortened, where you have to change every two years/ not every f ive years," Celsi says.
"Rea l iz ing tha t , we cou ldn ' t a l low ourse lves to be in a s i tua t ion where the mar l<e tp lace te l l s us to
change our pac l<age. We a lso found ourse lves be ing dragged down by the compet i t ion because
they were l<noc l< ing o f f our pac l<age des ign , bu t a t a lower p r ice po in t . "Th is Ied Sut te r Home to
commiss ion Michae l Osborne Des ign (M0D) , wh ich has des igned w ine labe ls fo r many w iner ies
inc lud ing some o fTr inchero 's o ther b rands .
8 2 D E s G N I N G B R A N D S
FAM I LY ESTATES
la b ovel
In 1999, Sut te r l |ome 's b rand-savvy
marketers knew it was t ime to update
the brand again. However, when
Michae[ 0sborne 0es ign (M0D) was
commiss ioned to do the redes ign , the
company also wanted to introduce i ts
new name-Ir inchero Family
Estates-and inctude i t on the pack-
ag ing w i th the Sut te r Home brand.
M0B crea t ives exp lo red severa l con-
cepts for the name ptate, start ing
wi th th is one. M0D des igner Miche[ [e
Regenbogen says o f the des ign ,
"They're an l tal ian family, and we
wanted i t to took l ta l ian . Th is des ign
looks l ike an otd ttuit crate. We also
wanted to make sure we inc luded's ince 1890, ' because her i tage was
real ly importanl to the Trincheros."
E\o )f,uou
Sr,\EICOLLECTION
labovel
"We had heen told by the marketing
department that they wanted to
inc lude a s ignature w ine co l lec t ion , "
Regenbogen says o f th is des ign .
S I N C E t a 9 0
<\
"o,
(r)
f', {Y
la b ovel
The teaf pattern was preferred by the
Tr inchero dec is ion-makers over the
first design. "They wanted i t to be
s imp ler and they d idn ' t t i ke the T- i t
tooked t i ke an i ron brand. "
Regenbogen reca l l s . "so we focused
on the . lea f des ign . "
E5{
FAMlwT3'^'.=la hovel
Ih is des ign was u l t imate ly chosen fo r
the name sea l . The des igners removed
"s ince 1890" because the w ine and the
name he ld the i r own w i thout th is
phrase. "We jus t pu t the bes t e lements
together , " Regenbogen admi ts . "We
created the grapes in Adobe l l lustrator
and we spen l a g rea t deaI o f t ime
mak ing sure they wou ld read proper ly
on the bo t t les because they ' re go ing to
be rea[[y t iny."
Michael 0sborne, creative director for the Sutter Home project, says, "This company is real ly
good about keeping their f inger on the pulse of the marl<etplace-l<eeping their brand updated on
a regular basis according to the market and the industry. They have some very savvy brand
managers who l<eep th ings mov ing .You can ' t s tay the same too long in th is indus t ry because you, l l
ge t los t in the shuf f le . "
There was also another major consideration for the redesign. The Trinchero family had changed
the company name from Sutter Home to Trinchero Family Estates, and Sutter Home Winery was
retained as a brand name. "We saw this as an opportunity to introduce that to the public,, , says
Miche l le Regenbogen, sen io r des igner on the pro jec t . "The reason they are chang ing the i r name
is because i t adds perceived value and consistency to the company. I t takes them a step up: Sutter
Home is no t the umbre l la anvmore . "
Celsi adds, "There's a great degree of product pari ty out there regardless of the category, and
consumers wil l buy the cheapest brand for a lot of products, since they al l kind of perform at the
same level. Take store brand tomato sauce, for instance: I t 's not much dif ferent than name brand
tomato sauce anymore, as opposed to ten or f i f teen.years ago where there was a marked dif fer-
ence. We wanted to ensure that people saw our brand marl< as a qual i ty marl< in a sea of labels,
where there are very few brands, but a whole lot of bott les on the shelf. , ,
M0D created several concepts that did not deviate too far from the current pacl<aging. "We
thought i t should be a very evolut ionary move, versus revolut ionary. On a scale of one to ten, i t
didn't real ly make sense for us to move past a three or a four.There is a tremendous amount of
equity and we didn't want to confuse the current consumers," 0sborne explains. The Trincheros
also wanted to give the whole brand a more upscale image. As a result, they have implemented a
new glass shape for the 1.5 l i ter bott les, and they are moving from a screw top to a cork and
capsu le f in is6 .
€ D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S :
l a b ove l
Ihe nex t phase in the process
was des ign ing the w ine [abe ls .
A t though th is f i rs t des ign [ooks
very s imi la r to the o td tabet
des ign , there are subt le
d i f fe rences . For ins tance, a
d i f fe ren t fon t i s used, and the
.co lo rs have been mod i f ied . The
Tr inchero Fami ly members
s ignatures were in t roduced in the
background as wet t .
labove l
The des igners s ta r ted in t roduc ing
the togotype on one l ine w i th th is
des ign . Th is approach a lso
inc luded a p ic tu re o l the
Tr inchero fami ly . "Th is was our
f i rs t s tep t ry ing to incorpora te
the Trincheros with Sutter J|ome,"
Regenbogen says .
l left l
The s ignature ser ies was
in t roduced in th is des ign . l t
cap lu red the her i tage w i th the
c lass ic w ine tabet , s igned by the
p ro p r i e to rs .
la b ovel
Ihe ct ients were reatty drawn to
th is des ign . " Ihey t i ked i t
because i t ' s very c lean and we
in t roduced the Tr inchero word
mark . The c lear labe[ rea t ly
s tood ou t on the she l f . None o f
the compet i to rs were do ing any-
th ing tha t tooked l i ke th is , "
Regenbogen exp la ins . l |owever ,
they were no t f in ished ,us t ye t .
" Ihe c l ien ts d idn ' t fee l there was
enough o f a co lo r burs t on the
labe[ - lhere wasn ' t any th in g
drawing your eye to i t . Co lo r i s
someth ing they used [as t t ime as
a d i f fe ren t ia to r in the var ie ta ts , "
the des igners adds .
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
Osborne says, "We experimented with the Sutter Home word marl<, where i t appeared as two
stacled words. But we thought that part icular type treatment looked too old-fashioned, so we
suggested putt ing i t on one I ine with a new type treatment.They've had thatword mark for nearly
2O years and they thought that 's were the equity was, but we showed them that they can st i l l l<eep
their brnand equity-the stacl<ed word mark alone wasn't i t ."The designers also suggested drop-
ping an old Sutter Home seal, as well as an i l lustrat ion that had appeared on the label. "You take
four or f ive l i t t le things out that add up to a big thing, but at the same t ime you can't look at the
new design and not l<now it 's Sutter Home," Osborne acknowledges.
The new package included the addit ion of a "Signature" designator for the dif ferent varietals,
such as S ignature Chardonnay. Regenbogen exp la ins , "Par t o f the prob lem is tha t Sut te r Home
was always considered a value-oriented wine. Part of the solut ion was to elevate the Sutter Home
brand image and perceived value.They want to attract new wine drinl<ers while retaining the loyal
consumers the w ine a l readv has . "
A seri f typeface was used for the Sutter Home Winery name, which gives the wine a more upscale
fee l , and M0D h i red a ca l l ig rapher to d i f fe ren t ia te the var ie ta ls in the brand. "Ca l l ig raphy and
scripts in general are hard to read unless you do them correctly, so that was a chal lenging part,"
Osborne admits. "And since these are varietals, the names chardonnay, cabernet, and so on, have
to be easy to read to mal<e a consumer's purchase decision as easy as possible."
The new labe l wou ld a lso e l im ina te the paper nec l< labe l - there 's now one la rge , c lear labe l . A
fo i l -s tamped emblem was added, car ry ing theTr inchero Fami ly Es ta tes name.The resu l t ing des ign
is an elegant, upscale representation of the Sutter Home Vineyards brand. "We've increased the
perceived quali ty of the brand with the elegant label design, and by introducing the Trinchero
Fami ly Es ta tes name to the packag ing , " Ce ls i says .
" T H E R E ' S A G R E A T D E G R E E O F P R O D U C T P A R I T Y O U T
THERI RIGARDTISS OF THE CATIGORY. AI{D CONSUMERS
W I I . I B U Y T H I C H I A P I S T B R A N D F O R A t O T O F P R O D .
U C T S , S I N C E T H E Y A I . I . K I 1 ' | D O F P E R F O R M A T T H I S A M I
t I V E I . . . . W I W A N T I D T O E N S | J R E T H A T P E O P L E S A W O U R
BRAND MARK AS A OUAI"ITY MARK Il'| A SEA OF I.ABEI.S,
WHIRE THIRI, ARI VIRY FEW BRANDS, BUT A WHOIT LOT
d6
0 F B 0 T T L I S 0 1 ' l T H E S H t t F . "
The f ina t des ign d i rec t ion fo r var ie ta ls incorpora tes a h in t o f
co lo r to d i f fe ren t ia te the var ie ta ts and make the des ign s tand
out on the shet f . "The co lo rs we 've chosen are d i f fe ren t f rom
what they had in the pas t . l t ' s ac tua t ty a meta l l i c co tor as
opposed to meta l t i zed paper l i ke they had be fore . so the
co lo rs a re toned down and more soph is t i ca ted , " Regenbogen
says . Cat l ig raph ic le t te r ing was a tso incorpora ted fo r the
var ie ta l des ignators .
REDEStGNtNG oR upDAlNG A WELL,KNowN gnnNo 8z
MICHAEL OSBORNE DESIGNGALLERY
tr i g ht l
In add i t ion to the Sut te r Home
var ie ta ls , T r inchero Fami ty Es ta tes
makes severa l o ther b ran .ds o l w ine .
i n c l u d i n g t h i s o n e d e s i g n e d b y M 0 D .
To capture the her i tage o f the
var ie ta ts , the bo t t les a re adorned
wi th e legant g rapev ine i l l us t ra t ions
and an asymmet r ica l word mark . The
capsu les o f the th ree var ie ta ls have
un ique descr ip t i ve copy and co lo rs
fo r easy d i f fe ren t ia t ion on the she[ f .
D E S I G N ] N G B R A N D S
; ' a
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t teft l
M0D incorpora ted pressure-sens i l i ve
[ahets on the Montev ina packag ing to
g ive the brand more she l f impact . Ihe
s t r iped c losure and go ld sun icon
capture a t rad i t iona t l ta t ian fee l ing .
Iabove]
Named a f te r an l ta t ian seapor t , th is
l ine o f p remium var ie ta ls was
des igned by M0D. C lear . p ressure-
sens i t i ve [abe ls serve as a h idden
s tage to showcase the e legant .
meta t t i c go td word mark and r i ch
cotor pa te t te .
\ \ ! * - * * t '
l a b ove l
The Sot6o brand, a lso f rom Tr inchero
Fami ly Es ta tes , was redes igned by
M0[ ) to in t roduce th ree new f ru i t -
f lavored w ines . Ihe sun on the back
labe l i s v is ib te f rom the f ton t . The
cotor fu I des ign speaks to a vas t
t rans i t iona l aud ience o f new wine
dr inkers .
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iiM I C H A E L C O N N E L L , M E D I A A R T I S T S , I N C . , I T A L Y
r,?4:i;.+i5qrs;lln:1-lFr5,af|:if iilr,.iiitlitii$il-r,i:ilq ;.,ritfi4t1;r,,,rii:i!iiirr.;.!:r:,,i ,3ii.ijji..:. irxiEjl
A brand is a brand is a brand. Whether i t is a niche or mass market brand, the dynamics of the brand func-
t ion equa l ly . I t i s the env i ronment in wh ich the brand l i ves tha t i s d i f fe ren t , and tha t changes the ru les o f how
it wi l l impact a specif ic market. I t helps to think of brands as people with personali t ies, character traits, styles,
and an env i ronment in wh ich thev l i ve .
I de f ine and v isua l i ze the brand and i t s en t i re un iverse , c rea t ing a to ta l b rand exper ience and ensur ing com-
p le te comprehens ion fo r a l l dec is ion makers , and, more impor tan t ly , i t s n iche mar l<e t . My ph i losophy on
B R A N D I N G T 0 N I C H E M A R K E T S i s b y i n l a r s e E { I U A L T 0 T H A T 0 F M A S S M A R K E T B R A N D I N G . T n
fact, i t is not the branding process that changes but the way in which you do your RESEARCH,
The branding process is a general discipl ine that helps put the elements together that wi l l identi fy and give
incept ion to a b rand. Whether o r no t i t w i l l even be a mass marke t b rand w i l l become apparent dur ing the
research and definit ion phases.
Niche brands are bui l t for specif ic markets and embody determinate qual i t ies and characterist ics, while a
mass market brand may be more ambiguous, al lowing broader interpretat ion. Since the target audience is very
specif ic, you need to be specif ic with your sample-use focus groups instead of broad tele-research.
A few factors that I personally bel ieve are important in niche samples are:
1) Do your own homeworl<. l(now the market well . Don't let the marl<eting experts do al l the worl< for you.
2) Part icipate in the sample so that you can get an up-close and personal understanding of the sample results.
As designers, we have a knack for understanding emotion-based responses and need to be present to interpret
the unwrit ten results.
3) Once you have clear direct ion for your brand, test i t . Get out of your off ice and tal l< to people in the nrcne
mar l<e t . You w i l l be surpr ised by how much ins igh t you w i l l rece ive .
4 Final ly, I bel ieve that in niche branding i t is the detai ls that make the dif ference. This is why you need to
be so involved in the research. Anyone can "general ly" understand a market, but i f you do not understand the
under ly ing cu l tu re o f your n iche , i t w i l l k i l l any hope fo r success .
W-i:sv\+iflr:
BRANDINGFOR NICHEARKETS
ROXAN E PHARMACEUTICALSBRAND BY THE DELOR GROUP
The DeLor Group, based in Louisvi l le, l (entucky, has honed ln on a brand specialty that most
des ign f i rms wou ld shy away f rom-pharmaceut ica ls . " l t ' s un l i l<e any o ther indus t ry . The
pharmaceutical environment is very regulated and there are an awful lot of things you can,t say,,,
l (en DeLor , p r inc ipa l o f the f i rm says . " l t ' s hard fo r peop le in the des ign bus iness to wor l< . in
pharmaceuticals because you have to be tremendously patient and you compromise a lot. 1t tal<es
s ign i f i can t ly more t ime fo r lega l i t ies -and somet imes i t ' s jus t no t log ica l . I t o f ten t imes isn , t a
good match for designers and that 's why you don't see a lot of real ly great worl< being done in
the pharmaceutical arena because creatives don't want to invest that l<ind of t ime in the detai ls., ,
S ince DeLor 's f i rm has done a lo t o f work in the pharmaceut ica l a rena, he dec ided to cap i ta l i ze
on h is exper t l se and contac t compan ies he thought had a des ign oppor tun i ty fo r bu i ld ing brands
with specif ic levels of expert ise, l i l<e products associated with cancer or H IV. Roxane
Pharmaceuticals, a leader in the pal l iat ive care industry, was one of the companies the design f irm
targe ted w i th i t s campaign . Accord ing to DeLor , "The goa l w i th pa l l ia t i ve care is to make peop le
who have chron ic and pa in fu l i l l nesses comfor tab le , as opposed to be ing in such severe pa in they
can't take care of"themselves. I t 's not a major blockbuster I ike antibiot ics or a cure for HIV, but
i t 's a way to l ive with these i l lnesses and manage the pain.,,
Although Roxane offers several drugs for pal l iat ive care, i t did not have a single brand under
which to marl<et them. "After seeing some of the other things we've done, they knew what they
needed, but they didn't know how to do i t . They had to somehow t ie these things together so wheri
the i r sa les peop le wa lked in f ron t o f doc tors , the doc tors cou ld have a ho l i s t i c sense o f the i r
por t fo l io , " DeLor reca l l s .
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
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RESCUETHERAPY 15JUSTA FEWDMPSAWAY
labove. le f t , and be lowl
I t ' s c tear f rom these v isua ts (above) tha t
Roxane d id no t have a s t rong ident i t y in the
pat l ia t i ve care marke tp tace . The co l la te ra l
mater ia ls were tex t -heavy , dark , and
un in te res t ing . The new brand ident i t y ( te f t and
be low) c rea ted by Ihe [ )eLor 0 roup, has much
more v isua I appea l in p r in t appt ica t ions ,
employ ing co lo r fu I i t tus t ra t ions and a c tean,
open layout .
l l lustrat ions, Joseph Fiedler, Linda Frichtel, HeatherH o l b r o o k . a n d M i c h a e I M o r e n k o .
BRANDING IoR NICIE MARKLIS 4 [&- - - - i ! "
to , Imr ru l in r . H' t s
J i i : :# €d'
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"WE TRY TO HELP OUR CLIENTS UNDERSTAND rnnr rHEywANr A sERrEs oF pRoDucrs TO SELL UNDER THAT UMBRELLA or
LEAD ERS H lP, AND rHArs wHAr A BRAND DoEs.'
I THE CHALLENGE ]
"Roxane had come to the conc lus ion tha t they rea l l y hadn ' t pu t the i r s take in the sand w i th
pa l l ia t i ve care . A lo t o f the compan ies tha t dea l w i th pa in d rugs don ' t rea l l y have a por t fo l io .
Roxane thought somebody needed to address pa l l ia t i ve care , " DeLor des igner l (ev in Wyat t
exp la ins . " l t ' s sor t o f a ho t top ic -peop le a re wor r ied about ass is ted su ic ide because many
peop le in chron ic pa in jus t can ' t l i ve w i th i t anymore . You can main ta in l i fe w i th these drugs .
Peop le do no t have to d ie in pa in . We were ca l led in to bund le th is and f igure ou t the bes t way to
put this together and communicate the message."
There 's a lso a s t igma a t tached to the concept o f p rescr ib ing drugs to peop le in severe pa in . DeLor
says , "As you go up the in tens i ty cha in assoc ia ted w i th pa in , you ge t in to p roduc ts l i l<e Morph ine ,
which are regulated by the federal government for use, even more than the standard Rx drugs.
Genera l p rac t i t ioners and even doc tors who t rea t cancer a re hes i tan t to use h igh ly cont ro l led sub-
stances l i l<e Morphine because of patients gett ing addicted to i t and al l the negative attr ibutes.
But the real i ty is, that happens less than f ive percent of the t ime."
A l though Roxane does have compet i t ion in the pa l l ia t i ve care arena, DeLor says i t ' s p robab ly on ly
one of three companies that is real ly committed to the products that treat not only the pain, but
products that deal with the symptoms caused by the pain medications. For example, there are
compan ies tha t on ly se l l med ica t ions tha t dea l w i th the s ide e f fec ts o f the pa in d rugs wh ich
inc lude nausea and vomi t ing . But , he adds , Roxane is the on ly one tha t has es tab l i shed the
formali ty of the brand. "What we're doing for Roxane is making the equation that they are the
leader in the ca tegory and we es tab l i sh tha t leadersh ip pos i t ion . Other peop le a ren ' t ta lk ing about
i t in the broader sense o f pa l l ia t i ve care , they ' re ta lk ing about i t in te rms o f manag ing pa in o r
managing symptoms. We try to help our cl ients understand that they want a series of products to
se l l under tha t umbre l la o f leadersh ip , and tha t ' s what a b rand does , " he exp la ins .
The DeLor Group uses the same brand ing fo rmula w i th i t s pharmaceut ica l c l ien ts as i t does w i th
i ts indus t r ia l and serv ice- re la ted c l ien ts . "F i rs t you es tab l i sh a focus or pos i t ion in the marke t -
p lace , and then you bu i ld a l l the produc ts underneath i t to suppor t tha t pos i t ion . So when peop le
th ink o f Roxane, we want them to th ink o f pa l l ia t i ve care , and then we want them to th ink o f the
products that worl< under that umbrel la," DeLor notes. What typical ly happens with these
produc ts i s tha t the doc tor w i l l know the name o f the drugs , bu t w i l l no t know who mal<es the
94 O t t 'O* ' t n t * o to i l
Oral MorPhtneAdvanced Cancer
l above and r igh t l
S ince pa t l ia t i ve care is s t i t [ a re la t i ve ly new
disc ip l ine fo r some phys ic ians , these book le ts
were devetoned to educate them about the
t rea tment , and g ive them c l in ica I gu ide t ines fo r
prescr ib ing pa in med ic ine . The DeLor Group a lso
des igned the fo lder so a l l the mater ia ls cou ld be
presented to phys ic ians in one handy bund le .
Mb,/
l teft and betowl
To in t roduce the concept o f pa [ [ ia t i ve care to
pat ien ts , The 0eLor 0 roup deve loped a ser ies o f
educat iona l b rochures and book le ts . "Th is i s a
good pr imer fo r somebody who 's go ing to be on
th is med ica t ion , to he lp them and the i r fami l ies
unders tand what pa l l ia t i ve care is , " exp la ins
Kev in Wyat t . a des igner on the pro jec t .
I"
::i1,1.i1.w&
1-. anntotNc FOR NTCHE IMARKETS ]&l
.IT'S HARD FOR PEOPLE IN THE DESIGN BUSINESS TO WORK
IN PHARMACEUTICALS BECAUSE YOU HAVE TOBE TREMENDoUSLY PATIENT o*D you
COMPROMISE N LOT.''
elderly in a lot of cases. But they were stereotypical and i t was almost condescending. We wanted
to broaden the audience here because pal l iat ive care isn't just for the elderly or people at the ends
of the i r l i ves .There are ch i ld ren , teenagers , and midd le -aged peop le undergo ing chemotherapy . "
To be t te r represent a b roader marke t -and no t a l iena te a par t i cu la r one- i l lus t ra t ion was used
because i t is less subjective, easier to manipulate, and a much better way to communicate
Roxane's messages.
Among the th ings The DeLor Group learned, i s tha t Roxane had a reputa t ion among pro fess iona ls
as an education resource, but many of those people did not associate Roxane with the products.
"A lot of pharmaceuticals don't tal<e advantage of the corporate brand. Each product has i ts own
logo and our research shows that people don't know who makes the individual products. We had
to un-brand them and mal<e them al l one brand under the Roxane name," explains wyatt. one of
the ways they did this was through color. Roxane's corporate color had been brown, but the
crea t ives conv inced them to change the i r co lo r to b lue to so f ten the i r image.
I TMPLEMENTTNG THE SOLUTTON ]
The des ign f i rm c rea ted brochures fo r the sa les s ta f f to use as a se l l ing too l . One o f the p ieces
discusses the state of the union on pal l iat ive care. " l t doesn't promote any products. I t just
discusses the issues," wyatt says. "Sales forces used i t to go in and sel l a drug-they had never
g0ne in as a consultant, so we were trying to train them with these new tools and arm them with
the answers and in fo rmat ion to address the doc tors 'concerns and ques t ions about the drugs . "
The overal l pacl<age The DeLor Group created for Roxane has raised awareness of pal l iat ive care
and of Roxane's leadership and expert ise in the category. But DeLor says i t 's too soon to know
i f the brand 's revenues have been dramat ica l l y impacted . "Brand ing programs requ i re bu i ld ing
equity in the product or company over a long period of t ime. With Roxane, i t is a whole new way
of se l l ing , so resu l ts can ' t be measured over the shor t te rm. Bu i ld ing equ i ty requ i res pa t ience*
for the long-term investment," he explains.
P9r?':1el
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Each Roxane medication needed an
in fo rmat ion sheet to exp la in what the
product is and what i t treats. The
des igners deve loped these produc t
sheets for the satespeopte to give to
p h y s i c i a n s .
l left l
Wyat t des igned th is d i rec t -ma i l
campaign tha t encapsu la ted the
ent i re Roxane program, f rom an
overv iew o f pa [ [ ia t i ve care , to
spec i f i c in lo rmat ion on the
produc ts themsetves .
THE DELOR GROUPGALTERY
l r igh t and oppos i te bo t toml
Et i L i t t y and Company produces a d rug
ca l led Humat rope, wh ich is p rescr ibed
pr imar i l y to ch i td ren who have a
growth hormone def ic iency . To make
the med ica t ion more k id - f r iend ly , The
0eLor Group redes igned the Humat rope
co l la te ra l mater ia ls . "We came up w i th
the idea o f c rea t ing a c lub the k ids
cou ld be long to , " exp la ins Wyat t . "They
b e c a m e ' H u m a t r o o p e r s ' a n d t h e y
rece ive a backpack and o ther fun s tu f f . "
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
l a b ove l
The DeLor Group c rea ted an en t i re
c o m m u n i c a t i o n s c a m p a i g n f o r
H u m a t o g , a n i n s u l i n p r o d u c t ,
in t roduced by E l i L i t t y . A f te r
exhaust ive research and concept ing ,
the des igners came up w i th th is
comprehens ive brand ident i t y sys tem.
{*ql;N;, '.;;-;.*:1, [.
REVAMPINGA BRAND FROM DOWN UNDER,!
ili AUSTRALIA'S CHOICE iilt a
i l l BRAND BY SUTER AND SUTER DESIGN CONSULTANTS. .
When many o f us th ink o f Aus t ra l ia , we re fe r to the mov ie "Crocod i le Dundee. " However , tha t
cou ld no t be fu r ther f rom rea l i t y fo r na t ive Aus t ra l ians who ta l<e t remendous pr ide in the i r
her i tage and re l i sh the i r con t inent sur rounded by the ocean. So, when the owners o f the l ( -Mar t
stores there were faced with redesigning i ts independent brand of soft drinl<s, aptly named
Aust ra l ia 's Cho ice (AC) , they too l< tha t to hear t . Accord ing to Donna B la l<e ly , fo rmer b rand
manager a t l ( -Mar t , "The who le idea is tha t i t i s made by Aus t ra l ians fo r Aus t ra l ians , and we
d idn ' t want the pac l<age to look tour is ty . Peop le here are very p roud o f the i r o r ig ins , so we thought
th is was a grea t oppor tun i ty to capture our cu l tu re 's va lues and h is to ry th rough the pac l<ag ing . "
In 1998, Co le Myers , the company tha t owns l ( -Mar t in Aus t ra l ia ( i t i s independent f rom the U.S.
chain of l(-Marts), had two reasons for redesigning the soft drinl< pacl<aging: They wanted to go
wi th a more conven ien t ly shaped cube pac l<age and they wanted to cap i ta l i ze on Aus t ra l ia 's
cu l tu re and h is to ry in honor o f the fac t tha t the 2000 Summer 0 lympics were go ing to be he ld in
Sydney. "A t l ( -Mar t we so ld AC in what we ca l led a 's lab ' -an o ld fash ioned cor rugated board ing
produc t .That ' s the way a l l so f t d r in l<s were so ld in Aus t ra l ia un t i l Coca Co la b rought in the cube,
wh ich is a much more a t t rac t i ve and prac t ica l package, " B lake ly exp la ins . "The s lab pac l<ag ing
was unbecoming, you couldn't store i t in the refr igerator because of i ts awl<ward size, and the
pr in t ing was very coarse . "
She continues, "We also had a t ime when AC was very f lat and i t became a very stagnant brand,
so we wanted to re - launch the dr inks and pump bac l< some o f tha t b rand recogn i t ion to the
consumer/ and move into the cube format. There were no advantages to staying where we were.
The s lab pac l<ag ing ac tua l l y made the produc t loo l< more gener ic , and the o ld labe ls were
push ing our b rand down. "
D E S ] G N I N G B R A N D S,:ri:lr:..'ea
la bovel
The o ld packag ing to r Aus t ra l ia 's
cho ice was b tand and ou tda ted . " l t
d idn ' t communica te who we were-
an Aust ra l ian brand, made by
Aust ra t ians , " says 0onna B lake ly ,
fo rmer h rand manager o f K-Mar t
Austral ia.
BRANDING FOR NICHE IV]ARKETS
I DEVELOPING A STRATEGY J
Blal<ely was determined to increase the brand awareness of AC through the redesign. " l t was an
opportunity to sel l the value of the brand through the packaging. We wanted to capture the
consumer's eye and be a l i t t le dif ferent," she says. "And Austral ia doesn't have a lot of private
labels. We wanted to p lay up the tag line, You con't toste the difference. Why poy the differenceZ It was
real ly informing the consumer that this tastes just as good as the national brands, but you're going
to pay about 40 percent less."
Des igner Ph i l Su ter o f Suter & Suter Des ign Consu l tan ts was brought in to conduct the redes ign .
"Cole Myers wanted to show the public that they are an Austral ian company now and at the same
time they wanted the design direct ion to center around the greatest sport ing event of the next
mi l lenn ium," the des igner reca l l s . And what be t te r way to do th is than by us ing Aus t ra l ian images
on the packag ing?
However, as Blakely states, some guidel ines were enforced as far as which images to use. "We
didn't want to focus on photos of say, Harbor Bridge, because from a marl<eting point of view it
isolates some people i f their ci ty or town isn't on the case. The start ing point of the idea was there,
Austral ia for Austral ians, but we didn't want to make i t lool< l ike we were sel l ing to the tourists
coming over fo r the 0 lympics .That 's no t the idea o f the brand, , , she exp la ins .
Suter went to various sources to search for the sort of cultural images he thought were truly
Aust ra l ian . The f i rs t image he found was a p ic tu re o f a u te , an Aus t ra l ian co l loqu ia l i sm fo r a
u t i l i t y veh ic le o r p ic l< -up t ruc l< . "That par t i cu la r car was the f i rs t Aus t ra l ian au tomobi le des igned
and produced here, so everybody is famil iar with that here," Suter says. " l t real ly depicted the
start ing point of GM in Austral ia," Blal<ely adds. "This set the standard for the rest of the series
of images we wanted to use. We decided to tal<e away the elements of panoramic tourist pictures
and bring i t bacl< home and t ie i t bacl< to the history of Austral ia. And these are images that wi l l
last and be remembered forever in our history."
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
l left l
Ph i t Su ter used b lack-and-wh i te
photos o f images tha t represented
Aust ra t ian h is to ry fo r the packag ing .
Th is image is o f a u te - the f i rs t
Aus t ra t ian au tomobi le . "The Ho lden is
a we[ [ -known icon here , " Suter no tes
lteft l
The photos on the D ie t Lemon Crush
packag ing are o f J i l la roos and
Jackaroos- the fa rm peop le who l i ve
o f f the land. Suter exp la ins , "They ' re
sor t o f hear ty peop le wh0 can l i ve in
the bush. They usua[ [y r ide horses
and cont ro I ca t t te . "
BRANDING FOR NICHE I!lARKETs
I TMPLEMENTTNG A SOLUTTON ]i
Although some of the pictures were hard to locate, Suter managed to cul l enough photos of
Austral ian icons to go on the dif ferent AC pacl<ages. He then worked with Blakely in the design
of the packaging. Since al l the photos were black and white, they decided to play with colors that
corresponded to the soft drink f lavors for each package and they used the can as the brand
identi f ier. "At f i rst we had a monoto.ne wash of the picture of the can and i t wasn't strong enough.
I t d idn ' t s tand ou t , " B lake ly says . "Ph i l and I spent a lo t o f t ime s i t t ing in f ron t o f the computer
mov ing the d i f fe ren t e lements a round and p lay ing w i th where the co lo rs shou ld be on the
package pane ls . "
They decided to feature the can against the black-and-white bacl<ground, which were the photos.
" l increased the size of the can and made i t pop out on the packaging by adjusting the angle and
dimensions," Suter says. "And when you see that as a mass effect on the shelf where the
packages are stacked, the f irst point of contact your eyes see is the can, since the hero in this
product is the AC soft drink-the other elements are secondary.,,
A l though AC is on ly so ld in Aus t ra l ian l ( -Mar ts , response to the newly des igned produc t was
immediate. "When people walked into the stores and f irst saw the AC shelves, they said, 'Wowl
What's that?"' Blakely says. The only promotional materials the store ran for the product were
in-store posters and catalogs, but there was an increase in init ial sales.
"This product is an option for the consumer who doesn't want to buy or can't afford to buy Coca
Cola or Peps i , o r a person who isn ' t b rand consc ious . l ( -Mar t i s very much a fami ly s to re and we
know the pacl<aging is successful to the extent that chi ldren aren' l embarrassed to carry an AC
can to schoo l -wh ich is a b ig dea l , " B la l<e ly conc ludes .
t r ight l
Austra l ia is known as a sai l ing country
and when the Austra l ian team won the
Amer ica 's Cup i t was the b iggest
spor t ing event down under in recent
history.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
tt e ftl
Since Atstratia is surrounrted by the
ocean, there are volunteer l i fe savers
who actuat ly patro l the beaches.
"They post f lags at cer ta in spots. so
i f you ' re swimming between those
f lags and you' re in t rouhle, you' I be
saved." Suter says. " l {obody has ever
drowned in Australia who has swam
between the ttags, so this is a very
profound image." This photo is rlaterl
f rom the 1930s.
l left l
0uantas was the f i rs t a i r l ine to ever
leave the shores o f Aus t ra t ia . l t i s
a tso the second o tdes t a i r l ine in the
wor td .
- " t
" C O I E M Y I R S W A N T I D T O S H O W
T H E P U B I . I C T H A T T H E Y A R I A N
AUSTRATIAN COMPANY l'|OW, AND
AT'THI SAME TIMI THEY WANTED
THE DESION DIRICTION TO CTNTER
AROUND THE OREATEST SPORTING
E \ , E t ' | T O F T H E N I X T M I I I " E N N I U M . "
l a b ove l
Th is par t i cu ta r horse won the
Melbourne Cup in the 1930s, and is a
proud icon in Aus t ra l ian h is to ry .
"Because he was so s t rong, there
were cer ta in races where he had to
run under a hand icap where they
loaded h im down w i th lead we igh ts to
keep h im equa l w i th the res t o f the
horses . He was very b ig and s t rong
and popu lar . " no tes the des igner .
la b ove l
Ra is ing and herd ing sheep has a lways been
a way o f l i l e fo r Aus t ra l ian fa rmers .
Accord ing to Suter , " ln the ear ly days , the
farmers dec ided tha t cer ta in sheep wou ld
surv ive in th is count ry , so they went ou t
a n d f o u n d a M a r i n o s h e e p i n S p a i n . T h e
ear ly economy was based on the sheep to
get the na t ion go ing . "
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
lab ovel
When a l l the packages are p laced
together, they present a powertul
b rand s ta tement . " Ihese images
ins t i [ [ a sense o f p r ide in Aus t ra l ians
and re in f0 rce Aus t ra l ia 's Cho ice as
the i r b rand. " Suter says o f the ser ies .
NGEWAT THE N
MAKI AN IMPACTSSTAND
DYNAMIC GRAPHICS MAGAZINEBRAND REDESIGN BY DGM IN,HOUSE DESIGNERS
The publishers of Dynomrc Graphics Mogozine (DGM) new they had a great product when they found-
ed the desl<top publishing journal f ive years ago. I t f i l led a niche in the marketplace, providing use-
ful, creative, hands-on demonstrat ions for beginning desl<top publishers who create their own newslet-
te rs o r p romot ions . The magaz ine 's des igners and ed i to rs p rov ide insp i ra t iona l des igns and in fo r -
mative content that DGM readers can actual lv use.
But in their haste to design, print, and distr ibute the f irst issue by i ts target date, the newly-
appointed DGM staff wasn't able to establ ish a strong brand identi ty and package the magazine
in a way tha t wou ld necessar i l y appea l to adver t i sers , as we l l as consumers a t the re ta i l leve l .
DGM pub l isher M ike Hammer dec ided a comple te des ign overhau l was necessary fo r the
magaz ine to surv ive .
I THE CHALLENGE ]
"Wi th thousands o f magaz ines compet ing on re ta l l s to re she lves , hav ing a bo ld , recogn izab le
presence is essent ia l to success , " he says . Tn i t ia l y , DGM crea t ive d i rec to r Tracey Warner and
pub l ica t ion des igner Jenn i fe r Hammont ree-Jones were on ly go ing to redes ign the cover
nameplate, but they soon real ized that the magazine needed much more than a better- lool<ing
wrao0er.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
labove and left l
To inc rease re ta i I sa tes and a t t rac t
advert isers, Dyntnit Grophic
Mogozine (DGIU, was in dire need of a
make0ver, start ing with i ts cover. The
o ld cover des ign , shown here , [acked
a bo td she l f p resence and had a t i red
tag t ine .
B R A N D I N G F O R N I C H E M A R K E T S
"I f we're going to reclesign the look, then we're going to package i t better," notes Hammontree-i '
Jones. One of the biggest chal lenges was the name itself . " l t 's huge. We looked at other
magazines on the newsstands, and in most cases, the t i t les were one word in big, fat, bold, bright
type," she adds. In fact, there were discussions early on about changing the magazine name, but
for bettei, or worse,they were stuck with i t- there's too much equity in i t .They also had to retain
the word Magozineto dif ferentiate the publication from its parent company, Dynamic Graphics Inc.
Together Warner and Hammontree-Jones came up with 50 i terat ions of the cover logo-stacl<ing
the words, experimenting with different typefaces, and emphasizing either Dynomrc or Grophics. All
of the designs were posted on a wall and the entire publ ishing department, including the staff from
two other in-house publications, cr i t iqued the logos and narrowed the l ist down to a few designs.
Ironical ly, the logo everybody l i l<ed the most was the f irst one Hammontree-Jones created.
I IMPLEMENTING THE SOLUTION ]
With a direct ion chosen, the designers then had to incorporate several other elements in the name-
p la te requ i red by the pub l isher to boos t ad and re ta i l sa les , inc lud ing the Mac in tosh and M ic roso f t
Windows logos, a brief table of contents, a l ist ing of design software that would be covered in the
issue, the DGM web site address, as well as the tagline Auick, cool, creative ideas for Mac ond PC'
' ,When the decision was made to be more software-specif ic and go after advert isers, we had to
have i t on the cover and make i t clear that DGM was behind Mac and PC users. In the past we
were unintentional ly catering to a Mac audience, but with the redesign we saw an opportunity to
attract PC users and advert isers as well ," Hammer says.
A l though i t was a cha l lenge fo r the d .es igners to ma l<e a l l these e lements f i t in to the top th i rd o f
the magazine cover (which is the only part visible when placed on the newsstand with other pub-
l i ca t ions) , they managed to success fu l l y inc lude every th ing us ing a g r id sys tem. " l t was tough to
integrate al l that information, but we knew we needed al l of i t on the cover to pul l more readers
in, part icularly i f they are lool<ing for a software program they're using," admits warner.
The one advantage the designers had over the competit ion was a clean, consistent, color palette
tha t w i l l change accord ing to the cover photo . "We ' l l p ick up th ree co lo rs f rom the cover image
plus blacl<, and use that on the cover," Hammontree-Jones says. "Then those colors wil l be
car r ied th roughout the who le magaz ine . "
In add i t ion to pumping up the cover and ins ide pages w i th co lo r and graph ics , the des igners
devised a better layout system. Hammontree-Jones and Warner create a variety of themed design
demonstrat ions (demos) for each issue of DGMthat are meant to inspire readers and help them
improve their own designs. Because the demos created for each art icle lool< so dif ferent from
issue to issue, the designers were actual ly start ing from scratch each t ime they laid out an art icle,
wh ich a te up too much o f the i r t ime. The redes ign he lps the des igners s t reaml ine the i r work f low
which in tu rn l<eeps the produc t ion o f the magaz ine on schedu le .
#
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BRAND]NG FOR NICHE MARI(ETs 113
a n d p u b l i c a t i o n d e s i g n e r J e n n i f e r
H a m m o n t r e e - J o n e s d e s i g n e d s e v e r a l
MPHEG$[ogos fo r the cover . They s tacked
words . exper imented w i th d i f fe ren t
type faces , and even inser ted graph ic
e t e m e n t s i n t o t h e w o r d m a r k . 0 n e o f
Quick, cool, crealve ideas for lqm &E
the main c r i te r ia f r
redesign was that i t had to dif ferentiate
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sHELVEs, HAVING A BOLD, REcocNtzABLE pREsENcElS ESSENTIAL ro succEss.'
" I t ' s much more s t ruc tu red , " Warner admi ts . "We sec t ioned ou t the en t i re magaz ine to dec ide
where departments should go, and how many pages should be devoted to features, and so on."
"We sat down and tr ied to f igure out how to parcel things so i t would mal<e sense to us and be
he lp fu l to lhe reader , " Renee Ph i l l i ps , DGM's assoc ia te ed i to r exp la ins . "The magaz ine is now
divided into four dif ferent sections: lmagine, Create, Explore, and Review. These sections are
c lear ly ca l led ou t in the tab le o f con ten ts , so i f readers a re look ing fo r someth ing in par t i cu la r ,
say, demos or creative ideas, they can head straight for the Create section. Or, i f they're lool<ing
for specif ic software instruct ions, they l<now to look in the Explore section." in the table of
contents, each section is defined by a certain color, which is picl<ed up and run in a gradient bar
a t the bo t tom o f each sec t ion in the pub l ica t ion .The co lo r bar subt ly re in fo rces the separa teness
of each section.
Hammer says the resu l ts fo r the s ta f f a re immeasurab le . " i t cu ts down on the des ign t ime Jenn i fe r
and Tracey spend on the magazine because i t 's formatted in such a way that doesn't require them
to start from scratch each issue. I t also has a more cohesive lool< and i t 's much more compart-
mental ized," he notes. The f irst re-designed issue came out in December 1999, and already DGM
has picked up new advert isers, and retal l sales are on the r ise.Ir i g ht l
Tak ing some o f the [ogos they had come up
wi th in the f i rs t round o f comps, Warner
and Hammont ree-Jones c rea ted cover
mock-ups to see wh ich [ogo woutd work
the bes t and have the most pop on the
magaz ine rack . In add i t ion to the logo, the
des igners a lso had to incorpora te the new
tagl ine-0uirt , cool, creal ive ideas lor Moc
& PC-a br ie f t i s l ing o f top ics ins ide , the
web s i te address , and so f tware programs
that wou ld be fea tured w i th in the issue.
*WITH THOUSANDS OF MAGAZINES COMPETING ON RETAIL STORE
7 ' 4 D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
r l * @
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la b ovel
The des igners de termined tha t the top th i rd
o f the magaz ine was the ideaI spo t fo r the
namepla te to appear s ince tha t i s the on ly
par t o f the cover tha t i s v is ib le on the
newsstand. } |ammont ree-Jones p layed w i th
d i f fe ren t t rea tments , inc tud ing whether o r
no t to use a round or square do t fo r the le t -
ter i in Grophiu.
I r igh t l
Th is des ign was u l t imate ly chosen fo r the
cover s ince i t inc ludes a l l the requ i red e le -
ments in an easy-to-read format. The hierar-
chy of information was cruciaI as well- the
tag l ine and the Mac in tosh and Windows
logos were purpose ly p laced a t the top o f
the namepla te fo r ins tan t v is ib i l i t y .
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0nce the cover des ign was es tab t ished, lhe des igners went to
work on the ins ide pages o f the magaz ine . The in fo rmat ion in
the o ld tab te o f con ten ts ( top) was d i f f i cu t t to fo l tow and
inc luded t0o many graph ic e tements and fon ls " The new des ign
(betow) i s much c leaner and i t ' s d iv ided by sec t ions so readers
can eas i l y f ind what they ' re look ing fo r .
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0 td tayout :i::':1. :': 'Layouts for DGI4 changed drastical ly from issUe to issue*they
lacked a visuaf coni inuity which made departments dif f icult to identi !y,Pub l isher Mike l lammer wanted the des igners to re f ra in f rom us ing , lr igh t -hand 0peners , such as lhe one shown here , and ins lead,openevery a r t i c le and depar tment w i th a 'spread.
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Io g ive the magaz ine a more cons ls ten t took . Hammont ree-Jones andwarner incorpora ted a coror sys tem tha t co inc ides w i th the tab te o fc'ntents. For example, corors used in the tahte of contents"for a cortaindepar tment a re a tso emptoyed in a co lo r g rad ien t across th ,e bo t tomof deparlmenl pages. To make them stand apart from featurqart jstes,depar tment t i t les a re p laced in the top te f t corner , and the same
'
t ype face is now emptoyed in every headt ine o f every depar tmen i . , :
UNIVERSITY OF PIONEERBRAND BY MURPHY DESIGN
Pioneer Standard Electronics has taken a fresh approach to employee orientat ion. Not only does
the electronics manufacturer provide training through i ts on-site school, University of Pioneer, i t
also encourages employee growth through a progressive program designed to empower and motivate
people to further their careers within the company. However, the curr iculum materials bing used
by the University were not faci l i tat ing and l iving up to the dynamic nature of the program.
"We needed a tool to organize the orientat ion and help people navigate through i t ," says Doreen
Dietsche, training and development project manager. The previous materials were contained in a
plain binder and the information was practical ly out of date before i t could be assembled and
distr ibuted. "We wanted something to excite, educate, and empower new employees, and to provide
them with standardized information. A lot of employees were frustrated because they couldn't
f ind the too ls and resources to he lp them in the i r jobs , " she exp la ins .
Gayle Patterson, vice president of organizational development, founded University of Pioneer in
1993. Although there was a training department in place before that t ime, the new program
models i tself after a real university complete with a l ibrary, research center, white papers, and a
s ta f f tha t des igns and de l i vers t ra in ing . When Mark Murphy , p r inc ipa l o f Murphy Des ign , was
brought in, he was init ial ly hired to design an attract ive-looking binder and some folders that
would contain al l the information. But he says, that notion was short- l ived. "We discovered that
what they real ly needed was a box that would house several resources. I wanted to combine visual
elements and dif ferent terminology that was unique to the university, and to give i t a consistent
look , "Murphysays . "Essent ia l l y ,wewantedto focus theUnivers i ty ' smiss ions ta tementandmal<e
it more user-fr iendly."
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
labovel
Io supplement and support Pioneer
Standard Electronics t ra in in g
pr0gram, aptly catted University of
Pioneer, the company needed to
implement a standard system and
make i t more accessib le to a[ [
employees. Murphy 0esign 's solut ion
was to create a box that would hotd
al [ the t ra in ing mater ia ls .
BRANDING FOR NICHE MARKETS
.WE WANTED SoMETHING To EXCITE, EDUCATE, AND EMPOWER ruTwEMPLoYEEs, AND ro PROVIDE
INFORMATION. A Lor oFBEcAUSE THEY CoULDN,T FIND TH E
THEM WITH STANDARDIZEDEMPLOYEEs WERE FRUSTRATE DTOOLS AND RESOURCES
ro HELP THEM tN rHEtR ,oBs."
To v isua l l y t ie the program together , Murphy co l labora ted w i th i l l us t ra to r S teve D inn ino , who
rendered a l l the images fo r the l< i t . He c rea ted two i l lus t ra t ions fo r the box and two fo r the b inder ,
and the des igners u t i l i zed them on a l l the d i f fe ren t components o f the l< i t . "The who le idea was
to deve lop an i l l us t ra t ion o f peop le harves t ing f ru i t , " Murphy re la tes . "The f ru i t represents
l<nowledge and persona l g rowth , so the peop le a re cu l t i va t ing oppor tun i ty and secur ing i t and
work ing in un ison. We a lso wanLed Lhe i l lus t ra t ;ons to be br ighL, Lo c rea te in te res t and d iscovery . "
D ie tchse and l (e l l y Carson, manager o f t ra in ing and deve lopment a t P ioneer , were en l i s ted to
organ ize the mass ive amount o f in fo rmat ion tha t was to be inc luded in the l< i t .They dec ided on a
h ie rarchy fo r the in fo rmat ion to de termine what peop le wou ld pu l l ou t o f the l< i t f i r s t , and then
Murphy pu t a l l the in fo rmat ion in a fo rmat tha t was a t t rac t i ve and easy to use . "Mar l< made
every th ing jus t l< ind o f mesh together , " D ie tsche says .
Mater ia ls in the l< i t inc lude a b inder conta in ing a l l the human resources in fo rmat ion and benef i t s ,
four o r ien ta t ion boo l< le ts , a magaz ine , and a card game. Murphy says he p lanned how the
i l lus t ra t ions wou ld wor l< w i th a l l the mater ia ls in the l< i t . "We cropped spec i f i c par ts o f the
i l lustrat ions to use on the covers of the bool<lets and the magazine," he notes,
The k i t has been very success fu l fo r the Un ivers i ty . "En"p loyees are impressed w i th Lhe k i t and
have rece ived i t very we l l . I t ' s a g rea t way to we lcome someone in to our o rgan iza t ion and le t
them l<now we wanL Lhem to be success fu l , " D ie tsche says . "The sa les and mar l<e t ing peop le a re
exc i ted about the magaz ine because they can use i t as a se l l ing too l to show to the i r cus tomers . "
Murphy ac l<nowledges tha t the t ra in ing peop le were very b rave to b r ing in a des igner to co l labo
ra te w i th them. "1 g ive them a lo t o f c red i t fo r chang ing the i r cur ren t way o f th in l< ing and d is -
cover ing how des ign can in tegra te and pac l<age the i r message to mot iva te peop le to respond to
i t , " he savs .
l te f t and be towl
l l lus t ra to r S teve D inn ino rendered four
i t lus t ra t ions wh ich were d issec ted and
used fo r a l l the t ra in ing mater ia ls . Ihe
peop le harves t ing f ru i l represent
co-workers a t a l I d i f fe ren t Ieve ls
w i th in P ioneer work ing together and
reap ing the benef i t s .
l left l
A b inder and se t o f in fo rmat iona l
book le ts a re inc luded w i th in the k i t .
The b inder mater ia ls can be updated
as the in fo rmat ion changes. To save
money. a l l the book le t covers were
pr in ted on 0ne press fo rm. wh i le the
in te r io rs were pr in ted two-coror on
separa te fo rms. Each book le t has i t s
own i l tus t ra t i ve ident i t y and co lo r
s c n e m e .
"l 0rvt IPr0NEIR STANDARD REPRTSENTATTVESI
A I O T O F C R E D I T f O R C H A N G I N G T H E I R C U R R I } | T
WAY OI THINKINO AND DISCO\'ERING HOW DESIGN
C A N I I I T I G R A T T A N D P A C K A G I T H E I R M E S S A G E
I O M O T I V A T I P E O P L I T O R T S P O l ' | D T O I T . "
lteftl
The 0ame o f 0 r ien ta t ion was
deve loped by Mark Murphy to add
fun to the program ass ign ing
pro jec ts to employees and
encourag ing camarader ie . The
cards a lso doubte as a puzz le -
when a l l the p ieces are pu t
together , i t i s one o f D inn ino 's
i l lustrat i ons.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
l left l
For Pioneer Mogozine, Murphy and his
team o f des igners used s tock ph0t0g-
raphy and i t lus l ra t ions to ba lance the
f low o f in fo rmat ion and l igh ten up the
corpora te miss ion s ta tement .
l teft l
The en t i re t ra in ing program is t ied
together with the i l lustrat ions.
Murphy notes, "Yl le wanted to give
the un ivers i ty a c0ns is ten t [ook , and
the bright colors create interest
and discoverv."
BRANDING FOR NICHE MARKETS
MAMMUT OUTDOOR GEARBRAND BY MEDIA ARTISTS INC.
Mammut Mounta ineer ing , based in Swi tzer land, has been in bus iness fo r more than a century
prov id ing h igh-end mounta ineer ing equ ipment and appare l . However , even though the company
offered premium quali ty, high-priced products, the brand was not l iv ing up to that standard. "They
are one of the top European mountaineering companies, but the brand had never been a priori ty
fo r the company/ " says Michae l Conne l l , c rea t ive d i rec to r a t Med ia Ar t i s ts Inc . (MAI ) , based in
Italy. "They weren't paying attention to the brand."
In I994, Mammut b rought in MAI to eva lua te i t s image and brand ident i t y and deve lop a b rand
pos i t ion ing brochure wh ich wou ld conta in bus iness ph i losoph ies about the brand and the d i f fe ren t
produc t ca tegor ies . Conne l l was in fo rmed tha t the company 's v is ion and miss ion was to "bu i ld the
wor ld 's f ines t a lp ine and c l imb ing equ ipment . " However , tha t v is ion was no t be ing communica ted
in the marl<et.
"We lool<ed at the brand, i ts brand assets, and how they were communicating the brand vision in
the marke t , " Conne l l exp la ins . "The i r campaigns and ca ta logs were over loaded w i th p roduc ts ,
colors, and information, but they were just kind of there. There wasn't any sense of logic or brand.
Mammut was present ing a $500 techn ica l jacke t and $ :SO pa i r o f techn ica l pants a t the same
level that a mass-marl<et brand might present i ts products. So you bui ld a very expensive and
technical product and then at the end of the day you showcase i t l ike a classif ied ad. I t was l<i l l ing
the brand 's va lue . "
MAI was no t in i t ia l l y g iven the job to des ign the consumer ca ta log , because Mammut was s t i l l
working with another design f irm. "This f irst project was l<ind of a test to see i f we understood
the market, and more importantly what we could bring to their brand," Connell admits. For the
brochure, Connell and his associates decided the best approach was to present abstract blacl<-and-
white product photography side-by-side with color act ion imagery and combine i t with brand
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
l te f t and be lowl
Mammut 0u tdoor Gear bad ly needed
a n u p d a t e d b r a n d i m a g e . T h e a d s a n d
consumer ca ta l0gs fa i ted to represent
the h igh qua l i t y p roduc ts the company
has been se [ [ ing fo r the las t cen lu ry .
" Ihe ca ta logs they were d is t r ibu t ing
had lo ts o f p roduc ts w i th tons o f
co tors , bu t they were lus t k ind o f
lhere- there wasn ' t a fash ion sense. "
says MichaeI Conne[ [ o f Med ia Ar t i s ts
Inc . (MAl ) , the des ign f i rm tha t even-
tua [ [y revamped the Mammut b rand.
iljl1ltGld-ti, !*!,r:*3ffi
ph i losophy tex t , b r ing ing to l i fe the i r m iss ion and va lue propos i t ion . "Th is p ro jec t took us to the
next step with the company," he says. "After we presented this project they began to see clearly
how they could visual ly communicate their brand message in the marl<et."
In 1995, MAI was commiss ioned to do the consumer ca ta log and adver t i s ing campaign-
Mammut 's two most impor tan t communica t ions channe ls .The des igners f i rs t e l im ina ted a l l the
unnecessary materials and information that clouded the brand message, to give more importance
to the key products. "0ur branding strategy was to mal<e the top product from each category a
part of the brand message, much l ike Porsche, Ferrari , and Prada might do. Product sex appeal
creates brand image," Connell says.
Along with Mammut's product managers and product design team, MAI creatives assisted in
deve lop ing the ph i losophy fo r a l ine o f c lo th ing tha t was to be the i r s ignature ser ies . "We don ' t
develop products, but we bui ld the stories around them. We worked on colors and we pioneered
the idea to develop the Extreme series because i t supports the branding strategy that we were
imp lement ing , " Conne l l no tes . "The produc t was the image, and produc t was v i ta l in pos i t ion ing
the brand. I f you looked at the marl<et at the t ime, everybody was exhibit ing beauti ful landscape
imagery.They al l lool<ed the same and few were effect ively presenting their products."
In 1996, MAI continued to evolve this brand strategy by introducing imagery that i l lustrated the
challenges and rewards of the sports that Mammut's products are used for.The Absolute Alpine
campaign evolved with the addit ion of black-and-white photos of the most renowned peaks in the
wor ld , c lass i fy ing them as A lp ine , wh i le the Mammut p roduc t was shown in fu l l co lo r and
c lass i f ied as Abso lu te A lp ine . I
"The message was clearly stat ing the vision of the brand," Connell says. "That year was a
continuation of the same concept, but upgrading i t by bringing in new elements. When you're
bui lding a brand i t 's key that you maintain continuity and that your brand message remains
focused over t ime."
Fol lowing great success with the Absolute Alpine campaign, Mammut decided to dif ferentiate and
enhance the communica t ions fo r the c l imb ing produc ts in 1997. "For the c l imb ing ca tegory , we
developed a pay-off to support the launch of a new product innovation. To i l lustrate the new
technology, i t was decided to use art i f ic ial animal fur as the outer fabric, which in turn led us to
llt
It
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
" T H E P R O D U C T W A S T H E I M A G E . A N D
PRODUCT WAS VITAI IN POSITIONIN6 T,'HE
BRAl'ID. IF YOU I.OOKTD AT THE MARKET AT
T H I T I M T , E V I R Y B O D Y W A S E ) ( t | I B I T I N G
BEAUTITU[ [At'|DSCAPE IMAGERY. THEY ALI.
LOOKID THI SAMI AND FEW WIRE EFFEC-
T I t , E L Y P R E S E N T I l l O T H T I R P R O D U C T S . "
l a b ove l
Conne[ [ and h is assoc ia tes a t MAI came up
wi th the Abso lu te A lp ine campaign to rea l ty
push the Mammut b rand and show o f f the
produc ts . "We took on the idea to p resent
the i r p roduc ts as i f they are museum
pieces , " he says . "We p laced the produc ts
aga ins t the b lack background wh ich he tped
pos i t ion them as h igh end hecause the co tors
o f the produc ts themse lves are rea l l y bo ld
and s t rong. "
la b ovel
Focus ing 0n the ex t reme spor ts en thus ias ts ,
MAI cap i ta t i zed on the Abso lu te A tp ine ,
campaign , focus ing on s0me o f the grea tes t
mounta in peaks in the wor ld . "We s ta r ted
br ing ing in more icons and co lo rs to
communica te d i f fe ren t va lues or fea tures
for each produc t , " Connet I exp la ins .
labove and left l
In 1994, MAI was g iven the task o l
repos i t ion ing Mammut 's b rand image
and c rea t ing a b rochure to suppor t
the company 's pos i t ion . Ihe des igners
crea ted an upsca le ca ta log th rough
the use o f bo td photograph ic images
and revers ing type aga ins t the dark
background.
BRANDING FOR NICHE MARKETS
la b ovel
To c rea te awareness o f Mammut 's revo lu -
t ionary c l imb ing harness , MAI dev ised an
ad campaign tha t on ty an ex t reme c t imber
coutd apprec ia te . "We deve loped a new
campaign spec i f i ca l l y fo r c l imb ing and,
more spec i f i ca t ty , fo r th is p roduc t , " no tes
Connet l . The des igners a lso redes igned the
Mammut ca ta log and s t reamt ined the
techn ica l in fo rmat ion to make more room
for the I roduc ts .
the concept for the Harness the Beast campaign," explains Connell . "Using the visual of the
beasVzebra harnesses coupled with a portrait of Mammut's star cl imber with his face painted
wi th zebra s t r ipes , we were ab le to ta l l< about the common fears hurd led by spor t c l imbers and
estab l i sh an emot iona l l ink be tween core c l imbers and the brand. " Over a th ree year per iod ,
Mammut 's adver t i s ing had evo lved f rom s imp le p roduc t ads to h igh impact ads w i th messages o f
brand ph i losophy, p roduc t endorsement , and brand image a l l wrapped in one campaign package.
Since these products are primari ly used by extreme sport enthusiasts, Mammut's catalogs were
pac l<ed w i th p roduc t and techn ica l in fo rmat ion re la t i ve to mounta ineer ing and c l imb ing , bu t i t
clouded and confused the presentation of the products. MAI's team solved this problem by reducing
the format and increasing the number of pages, al lowing minimal products per page and chromatic
harmony between the products and the scenic imagery. They also created a separate black-and-
wh i te pub l i ca t ion packed w i th use fu l in fo rmat ion he lp ing the cus tomers sa fe ly use Mammut 's
gear .These s imp le tac t i ca l so lu t ions re tu rned a wea l th o f b rand va lue th rough increased produc t
impor tance and brand image.
By the end o f 1997, Mammut had exper ienced grea t success in sa les and the company had ga ined
a s t rong pos i t ion in the h igh-end marke t . "They had s tepped up to the b ig Ieagues and become one
of the top brands in Europe, not necessari ly from a size point of view, but as a dynamic brand,"
Conne l l says . But th is was no t the end o f the s to ry .
0nce Mammut secured th is pos i t ion , they rea l i zed tha t the h igh-end mar l<e t i s a l im i ted mar l<e t
w i th low marg ins and i t wou ld be d i f f i cu l t to become the g loba l p layer tha t Mammut asp i red to
be.Together w i th Mammut 's marke t ing team, MAI ana lyzed the op t ions fo r g rowth .The dec is ion
was taken to sub-brand Mammut, adding a new category, Mammut-Outdoor, to the exist ing two,
Mammut-A lp ine and Mammut-C l imb ing . Sub-brand ing Mammut wou ld leverage the ex is t ing
brand equity and market momentum. Now the chal lenge was to dif ferentiate the new category
f rom A lp ine and C l imb ing w i thout compromis ing the h igh-end pos i t ion lng o f the brand. Mammut
cou ldn ' t re ly on the produc ts a lone to se l l the image, s ince they ' re no t dea l ing w i th a $500 jac l<e t
anymore . " l f you loo l< a t a Porsche, you don ' t need a Io t o f scenery a round i t .The produc t i s the
image. However, i f you go to a lower-end product, yqu need a lot of hip-hop around i t to create
exc i tement because the produc ts themse lves are no t so exc i t ing , " Conne l l exp la ins .
"We s ta r ted o f f by deve lop ing a new v isua l con lmun ica t ions s ignature and language, permi t t ing
the sub-brand to communicate i ts new marl<et offering, making i t a complete outdoor brand not
jus t fo r the ex t remis t , " the des igner says . "From the t ree- l ine up is the a lp ine reg ion . I t ' s h igh end.
From the t ree- l ine down is where th is new group 's p layground w i l l be . " The new tag l ine tha t i s
incorporated for consumer communications is Mammut 0utdoor.. .For ol l wolks of l i fe.fhe desiqners
sub-branded the Mammut logo so tha t the ident i t y was changed on ly s l igh t ly .
Since the lower-t iered products have been launched, the company grew more than 35 percent in
1998 alone. Mammut is one of the fastest growing brands in Europe, and i t is currently expanding
in to the U.S. marke t .There is no doubt tha t the s t rong brand pos i t ion ing deve loped by MAI over
recent years revived the century-old company.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
al
l r igh t and he towl
In 1997, Mammut dec ided to ro t l ou t a lower -pr iced
produc t [ ine , so MAI deve loped a new s t ra tegy to
promote i t . "We came up with dif ferent ways t0 get
dea lers in to the t rade shows and ge t the word ou t , "
Connet [ admi ts . "Now the produc t i sn ' t s0 sexy , s0 we
used f r iend t ie r co tors , and the imagery was very h igh
satura ted , the p ic tu res are b tu r red , g iv ing a sense o f
movement . " The ads , as we[ [ as the ca ta togs and
produc t b rochures , a re Iess techn ica I and more
consumer f r iend ty than the ex t reme produc t p romot ions '
" I I Y O U I - O O K A T A P O R S C H E , Y O U D O N ' T
N I E D A I O T O F S C E l ' | E R Y A R O U N D I T . T H I
PRODUCT IS THE IMAG[. HOWEVER, IF YOU
OO TO A IOWER-END PRODUCT, YOU NEED A
I . O T O T H I P - H O P A R O U N D I T T O C R E A T E
E X C I T E M E N T B E C A U S E T H E P R O D U C T S
T H E M S E I - V I S A R I ] i O T S O T X C I T I N G . "
BRANDING FOR N!Cf: $Ai(-
MEDIA ARTISTS INC.GALLERY
I rrrrr{@
labove and [eft]
Whi le a noted leader in the winter spor ts-
wear industry , K2 requi red a complete ly
unique market ing st rategy in order to
successfu l ly [aunch i ts new appare[ [ ine,
Blood Cet ts , which is focused on a young
target market . "0ur hrochure design
juxtaposed funky shots and underground
imagery, communicat ing the youthfut , s t reet
image common among teens today," Connet [
says of MAI 's design approach for the brand.
W**l::xu::mlnJ
E!I-r -
lbetowl
Fash ion hrand C inz ia Rocca had a beaut i fu l
p roduc t bu t tacked the means o f reach ing
i ts in te rna t ionat c0nsumers . "We breached
th is gap by dev is ing a po in t -o f -purchase
pr0gram, inc lud ing l ree-s tand ing w indow
disp tays and an e igh t -page consumer
tea f te t dep ic t ing h igh t igh ts f rom the
cot lec t ion , " saYs Connet [ '
la b ovel
Fabr ic manufac turer , Catamai Corpora t ion ,
needed a more organ ized and cons is ten t
brand h ie rarchy . MAI res t ruc tu red the com-
pany 's p roduc t t ine by group ing the tex t i les
in to four per fo rmance ca teg0r ies ' and g iv -
ing each ca teg0ry i t s own Iogo, wh ich is
used th roughout the Ca lamai campaign . "We
elabora ted on each labr ic g roup, de t in ing
the ind iv iduat quat i t ies and per fo rmance, "
exp la ins Conne l [ . Ihe newly o rgan ized
brochure exp la ins the qua l i t ies o f each fah-
r i c in de ta i l .
B R A N D I N G C O i \ :
Ii
STEVEN DUPUIS , PR INCIPAL OF THE DUPUIS GROUP, WOODLAND H ILLS , CAL IFORNIA
0n the average, chi ldren see more than 5,000 branded media messages per day. We l ive in an over-st imulated
society where new brands and products are constantly being generated. So when i t comes to developing new
brands fo r ch i ld ren , i t i s never a s imp le task and i t i s very unpred ic tab le . You need to f ind ou t wh ich brands
they respond to and, furthermore, which ones they accept.
Understanding this marl<et can be very chal lenging-i t is in a constant state of change, so when i t comes to
creating or revital izing exist ing brands many issues have to be considered.The most important aspect of the
process is to KN0W WHO THE CUSTOMER I5 . Des igners a re more success fu l in c rea t ing brands tha t the
target market wi l l accept i f they actively tal<e part in marl<et research. This includes actual ly observing
chi ldren in the age group and demographic the brand is intended to serve. With this understanding we can
bet te r connect our c l ien ts 'ob iec t ives to our cus tomers 'des i res .
Brand ing fo r ch i ld ren is a lso a doub le-edged sword , because you have to WIN THE ACCEPTANCE 0FTWO
CUSTOMERS:THE PARENT AND THE CHILD.The parent i s loo l< ins fo r b rands they t rus t w i th p roduc ts
that are,qual i ty- and value-driven, while the chi ld is lool<ing for products that are fun and entertaining.
Ch1ldren's brands also need to be MARKETED T0 SPECIFIC AGE GR0UPS. You cannot be everything to
every chi ld. For instance, you can create a brand that appeals to both genders for chi ldren up to the age of
four or f ive. But as they get older, there is a pretty clear spl i t , so there are products that appeal to the
specif ic sexes, l i l<e Barbie for gir ls and G.I. Joe for boys.
Once a brand has been accepted by l<ids, there is no guarantee that i t wi l l have longevity. Constant evaluation
of the brand per fo rmance and STAYING CONNECTEDTOYOUR CUST0MERS wi l l s ive you an edse in
this excit ing and ever-changing market.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
BRANDINGFORcHlLDREN
BUBBA PRODUCTLINEBRAND BY THE DUPUIS GROUP
Creat ives a t The DuPuis Group admi t they have a lo t o f fun deve lop ing brand ident i t ies fo r
ch i ld ren 's p roduc ts - the i r b ra ins to rming room is decora ted in k ids co lo rs , and is f i l l ed w i th an
assortment of toys. The group even hosts a l<ids'day about every six months so the designers can
observe chi ldren in act ion. "We invite al l of our kids and their fr iends to come to the off ice and
s tay a l l day , " says Steven DuPuis , p res ident and c rea t ive d i rec to r o f the DuPuis Group. "We g ive
them toys to play with and watch them interact. I t gives us the opportunity as designers to be able
to see f irsthand what's going on. I t 's definitely something we focus on here-i t 's our specialty./ /
"We had a couple of jobs from Mattel that were running simultaneously, so i t was a great oppor-
tunity to bring the kids in," Richard Mantor, vice president of cl ient services says. "But i t damn
near k i l led us , " he adds jo l< ing ly . DuPuis a lso encourages h is c rea t ives to v is i t a nearby shopp ing
mall and toy stores to observe chi ldren interacting with each other, and to see what they purchase.
With this proactive approach and enthusiasm for the chi ldren's market, i t is no wonder The
DuPuis Group has become a leader in the k ids ca tegory , des ign ing brands fo r every th ing f rom
ch i ld ren 's snacks and p laces ch i ld ren v is i t , such as Bask in Robb ins , to c rea t ing packag ing fo r
Barb ie CD-R0Ms and o ther ch i ld ren 's tovs .
When Mattel purchased Tyco in 1998, many ofTyco's exist ing products needed to be updated and
some o f the l ines were ex tended.The DuPuis Group was pu t in charge o f two main produc t l ines
in the Tyco conversion-the gir ls act ivi ty l ines, which consisted of Fashion Magic and the Plush
l ine , wh ich inc luded a l i t t le l<nown bear ca l led Rea l Ta lk in 'Bubba. Mantor exp la ins , "Bubba was
a popu lar i tem and Mat te l wanted to ex tend the l ine , so they bas ica l l y 'Mate l l i zed ' i t and gave
Bubba a l i t t le more ident i t y because the o ld package was no t very impact fu l and d idn ' t rea l l y
speak to who this Bubba character was."
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
labove and left l
The I }uPu is 0 roup i l lus t ra to r A t
Nanakonpanom d id these in i t ia t
ske tches fo r the Bubba on Board
packag ing . 0 r ig ina t ty , the des igners
wanted to inc tude a g i r [ on the
packag ing p tay ing w i th Bubba, bu t
they dec ided tha t wasn ' t speak ing
enough to Bubba 's obnox ious
persona l i t y . " l |e i sn ' t jus t a cuddty
t i t t te teddy bear , " says Steven 0uPu is .
" l |e 's a [oud-mouth backseat d r iver . "
L__:uqtf Gigtlr,? I t\ . .ffi
I
iai
"The or ig ina l b rand was l< ind o f f la t and i t d idn ' t have much d imens ion , " adds DuPuis . * i t d idn , t
speal< enough to the chi ld and the excitement that this product real ly has." Mattel extended Real
Ta lk in ' Bubba to o ther charac ters , inc lud ing Bubba on Board , Get t in 'wet Bubba, and Nascar
Bubba.
Accord ing to Tosh io Sh imoda, fo rmer d i rec to r o f Large , Smal l , P lush , and Ac t iv i t y p roduc t l ines(LSPA) a t Mat te l , "Rea l Ta l l< in 'Bubba appea led to bo th boys and g i r l s . In i t ia l l y ,Tyco thought i t
would only appeal to gir ls because i t was cute and cuddly, but boys l i l<ed him too because he,s aj o l<ester."
The c rea t ive team admi t ted ly had a lo t o f fun deve lop ing the brand. In fac t , B i l l Cor r idor i , v ice
president/creative director at The DuPuis Group says, "We sat around in brainstorming sessions
and laughed and joked, and we became Bubba. We helped develop his personali ty for the
packaging based on Mattel 's foundation of Real Tal l<in'Bubba.The concept was to have a sassy
passenger with Bubba on Board-a nightmare back-seat driver. He's very obnoxious.,,
"Bubba's character was an issue," says Shimoda. "The name Bubba has a southern connotation,
bu t we d idn ' t want h im to loo l< l i ke a h i l lb i l l y . He 's sharp and w i t ty , and because o f tha t , he was
developed to be put in other situations l i l<e the Gett in'Wet and Nascar versions.,,
A l Nana l<onpanom executed the i l l us t ra t ions fo r a l l th ree o f the packages, and Nobuko 6omine,
the senior design director, acted as l iaison between Mattel and the creatives, mal<ing sure every-
thing was in l<eeping with Mattel 's requirements. Shimoda notes, "The i l lustrator did a fantastic
job- i t was very tongue- in -cheek w i th k ids and adu l ts . , ,
The packaging was turned into a jalopy complete with bugs in the radiator, a rag in the gas tank,
and bandages on the head l igh ts . "The en t i re box he 's s i t t ing in i s par t o f h is persona l i t y .There ,s
something interesting on every single panel that speaks to that l<ind of irreverent persona inside,,,
DuPuis exp la ins . " l t a lso go t away f rom look ing l i ke a teddy bear o r a cu te l i t t le toy .The brand ing
spoke to the personali ty of the toy and i t has a much stronger appeal on the shelf. , ,
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
I teft l
S i n c e t h e p a c k a g i n g f o r B u b b a o n
Board was go ing to he a d i tap ida ted
ja lopy , the des igners c rea ted a logo
tha t looks [ i ke a dented up [ i cense
pta te , jus t bare ly c l ing ing to the
screws ho ld ing i t in p lace
lteft l
Nanakonpanom crea ted th is sp lashy
l o g o f o r G e t t i n ' W e t B u b b a i n
Photoshop. "We rea l l y wanted to
capture the essence o f the toy . s ince
i t can be taken in the ba th tub or
swimming poo l , " exp la ins DuPuis .
l r igh t l
For Nascar Bubba. the des igners
crea ted rac ing e tements to go on
the race car packag ing . S ince
Mat te I a tso owns ] |o t Whee ls , i t
was a na tura I to inc lude tha t on
the packag ing w i th the l ' l ascar
[ogo and a b tack-and-wh i te
checkered l tag .
BRAND NG rO* Cn ' rO*e r ' - - " " $$
In fact, the package has become part of the toy, because instead of throwing i t in the garbage,
many consumers l<ept the ja lopy box as a ho ld ing p lace fo r Bubba. "Rea l Ta lk in 'Bubba 's successors
were very successful mainly due to the pacl<aging because i t was part of the personali ty.
Consumers that looked at i t real ly l iked i t because wasn't an ordinary stuffed animal package,"
Sh imoda exp la ins .
The pac l<ag ing fo r Get t in 'Wet Bubba is f i l l ed w i th co lo r fu l i l l us t ra t ions c rea ted by Nana. " l t ' s
such a busy pac l<age and i t ' s fun- i t ' s a lmost l i l<e a F ind Waldo , " Mantor says . "The who le idea
was to translate this same personali ty into an underwater guy-a toy l<ids take in the bathtub or
poo l , " Cor r idor i re la tes .
A natural extension to the l ine was Nascar Bubba, because as Du Puis relates, "You tal<e this irrev-
erent character and he's going scuba diving, and you know he's going to go to the races. I thinl<
Nascar was a given." Mattel got permlssion to l icense the Nascar logo, and i t f i ts nicely with the
company 's Hot Whee ls d iv is ion . Nascar Bubba wears a he lmet and i t s packag ing is remin iscent
of a race car.
The Bubba l ines have been very success fu l s ince the re lease o f Bubba on Board in 1998- i t
became the number seven sel l ing toy. "Any Bubbas after Real Talkin'were very successful mainly
due to the pac l<ag ing , " Sh imoda says . " [The Du Pu is GroupJ unders tood Mat te l ' s marke t ing
objectives."
D E s t G N t N G e n n N o s l
ONSUMERS
rHE pAcKAGE HAs BEcoME PART OF THE TOY, BEcAUsEINSTEADKEPT THE
OF THROWINGfALoPY eox AS A
IT IN THE GARBAGE, MANYHOLDING PLACE FoR BUBBA.
Ioppos i te , r igh t , and be low]
Ihe packag ing fo r a l [ th ree Bubbas
proved to be very success fu t se t l ing
po in ts . Not on ly does i t house the
produc ts , k ids cons ider i t par t o f the
toy . Not ice how no space is wasted on
any o f the packages-every pane l i s
br igh t ly co lo red and loaded w i th fun
i m a g e s .
f*-*^*-JG ro- *,trDR* *&
EXPERT ADVICEFRoM THE DUPUIS GROUP
:ill:'"
'THE DUPUIS GROUP
The DuPuis Group has success fu l l y deve loped brand s t ra teg ies fo r severa l ch i ld ren 's p roduc ts over
recent years - in fac t , i t ' s the f i rm 's spec ia l ty . "0ur unders tand ing o f ch i ld ren prov ides our c l ien ts
wi th a knowledge resource , " says Steven DuPuis , p res ident and c rea t ive d i rec to r o f the f i rm. "We
watch what 's go ing on w i th l< ids and what 's popu lar today and tha t rea l l y g ives us a pu lse o f how
we need to oos i t ion produc ts . "
" l t ' s go t ten a lo t eas ie r as o f la te because o f the success o f a {o t o f the ch i ld ren 's packag ing we 've
done-c l ien ts now l i s ten to us more , " re la tes R ichard Mantor , v ice pres ident o f c l ien t serv ices .
"Brand managers and mar l<e t ing managers ge t a lo t o f numbers in f ron t o f them, bu t they never
get to the how and why.Why is th is p roduc t se l l ing? How come th is i s a phenomenon tha t appea ls
to bo th boys and g i r l s? How has th is happened?"
"Many t imes the c l ien t won ' t l i l<e what we 've come up w i th , bu t we te l l them, 'You ' re no t sup-
posed to l i ke i t because th is i s geared fo r ch i ld ren , " ' says DuPuis . "Th is i s p robab ly one o f the
b igges t cha l lenges we face . Brand managers tend to be l ieve tha t they l<now what i s t ru ly bes t , and
somet imes they are r igh t f rom the mar l<e t ing s ide , bu t we ' re coming in f rom the v isua l s ide . We ' re
f ind ing tha t a lo t o f them have los t the connect ion w i th the i r cus tomers because o f the day- to -
day s tu f f o f jus t ge t t ing the i r jobs done- they don ' t have the t ime to go ou t and exper ience how
the i r cus tomers make the i r purchase dec is ions . "
!$ - f;r;yr;;91ii, ,:
l teft l
The l }uPu is 0 roup re -pos i t ioned
Mat te l ' s Fash ion Mag ic [ ine w i th a
lu t t packag ing sys tem tha t expresses
a mag ica l , f ree-sp i r i ted s ty te . The
des igners used bo ld purp le and
ye l tow co lo rs on- the packag ing to
g ive the produc t sheU impact .
l left and betowl
Bask in Robb ins wanted to c rea te
an area w i th in i t s s to res tha t k ids
coutd ident i f y as the i r own, w i thout
comple te ly remode l ing and
redecora t ing ex is t ing s to res . The
des igners came up w i th the name
Frozone and used ou t rageous co lo rs ,
g raph ics , and produc t names (D i r t &
Worms, Sku l l i c ious) to sec t ion o f f
the k ids-on ty a rea o f the s to re .
l I tus t ra t ions g ive ice c ream f lavor
descr ip to rs on the w indows above
the ice c ream fo r ch i ld ren who are
too smal l to see in to the d ipp ing
cab ine ts . Bask in -Rohb ins a tso
launched a new l ine o f k ids bever -
ages , wh ich The DuPuis Group
des igned, ca l led Rad ica I B las t .
B R A N D I N G F O R C H I L D R E N
la b ovel
Mat te l asked The 0uPu is Group
to g ive the Pot ly Pocket logo a
face l i f t and g ive i t a more
contemporary look to enhance
the l ine 's image. The des igners
beve led ou t the edges o f the
typeface and added shad ing
wi th in the le t te rs , then backed
i t up w i th a d rop shadow to
g ive the Iogo more prominence
on the package.
In fac t ,The DuPuis Group hos ts a l< ids 'day where they inv i te c lose to 20 ch i ld ren o f var ious ages
to spend the day at the off ice and play with merchandise that the f irm is currently developing
branding strategies for.The creatives are able to glean information from observing the chi ldren's
play patterns as well as learn what kids of certain age groups are drawn to, and the dif ferences
between gender preferences.
"Play patterns are very dif ferent for boys and gir ls. Boys want something very active.They always
want to be mov ing . G i r l s l i ke to ta l l< , " Mantor exp la ins . "On g i r l s 'no teboo l<s you see so f t , cudd ly
creatures, and i f you look at boys'notebooks i ts aggressive, duel ing creatures or wrestl ing stars-
i t ' s a l l done th rough an i l lus t ra t i ve s ty le . "
DuPuis adds , " l t a lso depends on the age group. Wi th the so f t look you ' re go ing fo r th ree to f i ve
year olds, and i t wi l l lool< dif ferent as they get older. Characters are very important when the chi ld
is younger, but as they get olderi they don't relate to them as much."
The hardest job, the creatives admit, is when a brand manager doesn't know the age group for the
targe t mar l<e t . "You look fo r the core aud ience, " B i l l Cor r idor i , v ice pres ident and c rea t ive d i rec-
tor explains. " l f they don't have that, we attempt to create i t based on their f indings."
Co lors a re very impor tan t in communica t ing the concept fo r ch i ld ren 's pac l<ag ing , and somet imes
it 's hard to l<eep up with the trends. "Colors change dramatical ly from year to year-same with
graph ics , " DuPuis says . "Th is mar l<e t i s very much d ic ta ted by t ime* i t sw ings back and fo r th a
lot. That 's why so many products fai l . This marl<et is extremely f ickle and i f you're not r ight on
target you're going to lose."
" l t 's incredibly fast, especial ly in international marl<ets and with the Internet," Mantor agrees.
" l f the big companies can't get to the marl<et on t ime, they've missed i t ."
"Product l i fe cycles are pretty short. I t could be popular now, but in a few years i t 's pass6. I t 's
constantly revolving into something new," DuPuis says. "You start to look at what's happening
wi th our ch i ld ren- the amount o f mov ies and l i censed produc ts they ' re be ing bombarded w i th
every day. I t 's disheartenlng the l<ind of disposabll i ty we have for products. The competit ion is
tough and there's constantly something new that kids want. That 's why we are always having to
be on that edge and l<now what's going on out there. You have to take r isl<s. You can't be
conserva t ive in th is marke t to have a maior h i t on vour hands . "
ffi}-1ev:se*
)
III
lab ovel
The Jewel rY 0es igner CD-R0M was
one of f ive packages in Mattet 's l lew
Media l ine . The 0uPu is des igners
crea ted a sh immer ing , iewet took ing
brand tha t added va lue and fun to the
packag ing and se t i t aPar t f rom the
other C0s in the col lect ion. A large
shot o f Barb ie in t roduc ing the produc l
was p laced in the fo reground to
leverage the strength of the Barhie
b ran d .
Iteftl
"Wi th a ta rge t aud ience o f mothers o f
ch i td ren ages f i ve to ten , we took a
'cyberspace N in tendo-esque '
approach to the overa l l g raph ic look , -
says Steven [)uPuis, president of The
DuPuis Group. The CYberJu ice (
embedded in the d ig i ta t ga laxy iu ice
swi r l de f ines the hrand persona l i t y .
"OUR UNDTRSTANDINO OT CHITDRTN PROVIDES
OUR CLITNTS WIT[| A KNOWLIDGE RESOURCE.
WT WATCH WHAT'S OOING ON WITH KIDS AND
WHAT'S POPULAR TODAY AND THAT REALTY
G I V E S U S A P U L S E O T H O W W E N E E D T O
P O S I T I O N P R O D U C T S . "
SODEXHOBRAND BY
MARRIOTT SERVICESHANSON ASSOCIATES INC.
Gi l Hanson o f Hanson Assoc ia tes Inc . in Ph i lade lph ia was faced w i th a un ique cha l lenge when he
was asked to develop a brand for a food service division of Sodexho Marriott Services, a new
bus iness tha t was fo rmed when Mar r io t t Corpora t ion par tnered w i th Sodexho in 1998. Because
he was worl<ing for the school food services division, the new brand needed to appeal to two very
d i f fe ren t aud iences : the cus tomers , who are the k ids , and the c l ien ts , wh ich inc lude the schoo l
boards and the distr icts that hire them.
"We needed to c rea te someth ing tha t wou ld be 'k id p re fe r red , mom approved, " ' reca l l s Hanson.
"This is a very volat i le target audience, because l<ids change, and three years from now it 's a
dif ferent audience, so we needed to develop a brand that could be updated in a few years."
Accord ing to J im F isher , v ice pres ident o f Mar l<e t ing and Produc t Deve lopment a t Sodexho
Marriott , creating a brand for the school services division was an opportunity to contemporize the
school cafeteria system and make i t more appealing to i ts customers. " l did not want to rol l out
something that just had better signage," he says. " l t has to have substance."
While Marriott has an outstanding tracl< record in the hospital i ty industry, this new partnership
had to be hand led de l i ca te ly so as no t to d i lu te the Mar r io t t b rand. And a l though Sodexho (based
in Par is ) has a th r iv ing $10 b i l l i on food serv ice bus iness wor ldwide , i t does no t have as much
consumer recognit ion in the States, so the IVlarr iott name was retained.
S ince Sodexho Mar r io t t serves more than 5 ,000 schoo ls in the Un i ted Sta tes , bu i ld ing a b rand
that would appeal across the board became Hanson's primary goal. "We felt i f we understood
what the l<ids want, that would be the bacl<bone of our pitch," Hanson says. An init ial session with
a group of high school students provided the designers with the information they needed to l<ick
off the oroiect.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
I te ftl
The f i rs t cha l tenge fo r l |anson
Assoc ia tes in des ign ing a new brand
for Sodexho Mar r io t t ' s schoo l d in ing
program is to unders tand the cus-
tomers ' {s tudents } mindset . Three
concept des igns represent ing the
var ious brand pos i t ions and personat i -
t ies -spor ts , homemade, and MTV-
were presen led to a core group o f h igh
schooI k ids . The pre le r red des ign ,
MTV, c lear ly addressed cus tomers '
p re fe rences .
I teft]
A f te r care fu I ana]ys is o f the i r in i t ia I
research , Hanson Assoc ia tes deve looed
lour des ign a l te rna t ives , each repre-
sent ing a d i f fe ren t aspec t o f c0n tem-
p0rary cu t tu re . The four des ign se ts
were d is t r ibu ted to e igh t d in ing un i ts
f rom four reg ions across the Un i ted
States lor quanti tat ive test ing. With
more than 6,000 responses, i t was ctear
that Number 2 was the preferred style,
as chosen by s ix ty -seven percent o f
the resoondents .
B R A N D T N G r o * . r , o n r * $
"We found out that al l the l<ids eat at convenience stores; the social environment is just as important
as the food as far as they're concerned; and they l ike going places that are cool,, , Hanson notes.
when the l< ids were as l<ed what they thought was coo l , they sa id MTV and spor ts . , ,we a lso
learned something very interesting-the best food is made at home by mom, which coincidental ly,
they don't get that often anymore," the deslgner adds. In addit ion, he learned that when l<ids dine
out, they most often go to diners and family restaurants.
Hanson 's team o f des igners deve loped th ree d i f fe ren t des ign d i rec t ions or persona l i t ies based on
these f indings to present to formal focus groups across the country. They included homemade,
sports, and MTV. Rather than dividing the test groups by geography l ike East, central, and west
Coast, the l<ids were divided by their more immediate surroundings and upbringing -urban,rural,
middle class suburbs, and aff luent suburbs. "We assume that kids in inner-city Chicago are similar
to l<ids in inner-city Boston or Los Angeles, same with the other groups," Hanson says. "There,s
a common ground across the count ry . "
The designs were then presented to two age groups*f i f th and tenth graders. Overwhelmingly, the
MTV loo l< was chosen. As Hanson re la tes , " ln focus groups you don ' t ge t a look , you ge t a mood. , ,
The designers then created four designs based on the MTV look to test quanti tat ively. "We did
what we cal l a beauty contest with l<ids from eight schools across the country-about 6/OOO
l< ids , " Hanson says . A l l the des igns were co lo r fu l var ia t ions o f a contemporary , s ty l i sh look . S ix ty -
seven percent of the kids zeroed in on one design.
The next phase of the projectwas coming up with a name. Sodexho Marriott 's business dining service
is l<nown to i ts customers as Crossroads Cuisines, so the company wanted to maintain that name
for i t s schoo l serv ices d iv is ion . "The schoo l d iv is ion is very s imi la r to the bus iness d in ing serv ice .
The colors and graphics are dif ferent, but the concept of a food court is the same, as wel as some
of the produc ts , " exp la ins F isher . "Mar r io t t i s the bus iness s ide o f the bus iness*our c l ien ts know
that but the customers don't . You would never say the Sodexho Marriott Caf6, because that doesn't
mean any th ing to peop le . "
DEslGl.lf_GglND-L I
I
la b ovel
The t rade dress arch i tec tu re inc tuded
welcome ident i f i ca t ion s igns , overhead
sta t ion ident i f ie rs , menu boards ,
and counter top d isp tays . A cont inuous
arch i tec tu ra I accent was deve loped
to inc rease brand persona l i t y w i th
max imum f tex ib i t i t y and pr ice
e f f i c ienc ies .
" W E l l I I D E D T O C R I A T E S O M E T H I N O T H A T
W O U I . D B [ ' K I D P R T I E R R E D , M O M A P P R O V I D . '
T H I S I S A V E R Y V O I A T I I . E T A R G E T A U D I E N C I .
B I C A U S I K I D S C H A N O E , A N D T H R I E Y E A R S
I R O M N O W I T ' S A D I I F I R E N T A U D I E l ' | C [ . S O W I
NEEDED TO DEVEI.OP A BRAilD THAT COUID BE
U P D A T I D I N A I E W Y E A R S . "
l a b ove l
0nce the des ign d i rec t ion was chosen,
a name needed to be des ignated fo r
the schoo l d in ing serv ice . P tay ing o f f
t h e b u s i n e s s d i n i n g n a m e -
Crossroads Cu is ines-Hanson and h is
des ign team came up w i th the name
Crossroads Cu is ines Caf6 , and tweaked
the type and graph ics fo r the brand 's
retro imagery.
;-l' ;li -tir-!]1l.:j-* :$
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"In the food industry i t 's very hard to trademarl< or own a name," Hanson notes. "So we trade-
marked the design, or image." Playing off the name Crossroads Cuisines, the designers designat-
ed the school services division Crossroads Caf6, so i t would be more effect ive on the cl ient side to
sel l the programt yet appeal to the l<ids with the style of a trendy caf6.
Food s ta t ions were ident i f ied s imp ly by food ca tegor ies such as P izza , Sa lsa , and Gr i l l . "Usua l ly
what happens in food service and restaurants is that instead of having a product, you have a menu
and the menu is driving the brand. In other words, a great restaurant is only as good as the food
it serves," the designer explains. "And this is for kids-they see i t everyday and the brand
becomes meaningless whereas the food i tem doesn'1."
In addit ion to the brand having a cool style, i t needed to be functional and cost-effect ive. The
designers created menu boards, welcome signs, countertop displays, as well as l ively, colorful wall
coverings to brighten up what is otherwise a plain-looking cafeteria. The signs are computer-
generated prints that are laminated to Lexan for durabi l i ty.They are then magnetical ly mounted
to the walls, so in a few years when the imagery lool<s dated, new graphics wil l be generated and
remounted.
The reaction to the brand has been very posit ive-both from the cl ient point of view, as well as
the customers. " l t 's contemporary, i t 's energetic and the cl ients I ike i t because i t increases the
student part icipation. The kids can relate to this better," says Fisher, who also notes that the
people who operate the school caf6 play an integral role in i ts success. "I f they aren't happy or
excited about this, i t ls going to show in the product.The main thing I I ike is that we're treating
the customers as though they have competit ive options."
D E S I 6 N I N G B R A N D S
l above and le f t l
S ince a gener ic approach was
determined lo r the lood s ta t ion
ident i f ie rs , the des igners combined
v iv id co lo rs and v isua ls , combined
wi th ova t and t rapezo id shapes
to c rea te the s ignage. The s imp le
name identi f iers attowed for clear
readab i l i t y , wh i le c rea t ing in te res t
a n d f u n .
B R A N D I N G F O R C H I L D R E N 14*
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i:.HANSON ASSOCTATES tNC. x: :1 ; , , GALLERY , ,1 :.r1l
l r igh t l
Hanson Assoc ia tes was asked to
update F in tand ia Vodka 's b rand image
for i t s Nor th Amer ican cus tomers .
"Marke t research ind ica ted tha t U.S.
consumers who pre fer impor ted
premium vodkas were no t buy ing
F in land ia . l l was perce ived as
fore ign . co td , and d is tan t , " G i I Hanson
recat ts . To g ive the brand a more
re f ined image and be t te r she l f
p resence, the dark [abeI was removed
f rom the o td packag ing ( fa r r igh t ) and
the bo t t le was redes igned w i th a
smooth , me l ted- ice tex tu re . S ince the
new brand ident i t y was in t roduced in
Apr i t 1998, F in tand ia 's U.S. sa tes have
increased 25 fe rcent .
lteftl
Ias t ing k i ts were devetoped fo r
F in land ia 's sa les reps to use as a
se t t ing too t . " l t ' s a lo t l i ke a w ine-
tas t ing k i t - i t ge ts the d is t r ibu tors
and bar tenders t0 tas te the 0r0duc t
and compare i t to the compet i t ion , "
l |anson says . A l l the components o f
the k i t fea ture the met ted- ice tex tu re
seen on the bo t t les .
la b ovel
Chase Manhat tan Bank needed to
crea te a separa te b rand ident i t y fo r
i t s mutuat funds d iv is ion , bu t i l s t i t t
needed to v isua t ty t ie in w i th the
bank 's o ther ventures . Hanson
Assoc ia tes came up w i th a g lobe icon
represent ing the bank 's d ivers i f ied ,
g lobaI marke t .la b ovel
There were many cha[ [enges Hanson faced w i th the redes ign o f the Coo l
Whip hrand. l t was a t ready a leader in desser t topp ings , own ing more than
70 percent o f the ca tegory , bu t i t needed a more contemp0rary appearance,
as we l l as a d is t inc t i ve Iook fo r each o f i t s p roduc t var ie t ies -Regutar , L i te ,
Free , and Ex t ra Creamy. Hanson rep taced the prev ious ly -used photographs
wi th i l tus t ra t ions o f f ru i t be ing d ipped in to the Coo l Whip and rec ipes were
moved f rom the backs o f t ids to the ou ts ide o f the tubs fo r eas ie r read ing .
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BRANDINGWEIRDNESS
YTV BRANDBY BIG BLUE DOT AND YTV STAFF
When YTV was in t roduced in Canada in 1988, i t was the on ly ch i ld ren 's b roadcas t ing ne twor l< in
the count ry a t tha t t ime. Though i t was ex t remely success fu l , i t d idn ' t have an es tab l i shed brand.
" ln the ear ly J "990s , we recogn ized the need to c rea te a s t rong brand ident i t y and d is t ingu ish our -
se lves f rom o ther ne twor l<s , " exp la ins Do lores l (ea t ing-Mal len , c rea t ive d i rec to r a t YTV.
In 1992, after hearing Scott Nash, founder of Big Blue Dot, speak about the importance of branding
to kids at the Promax/BDA conference, YTV representatives approached him to asl< for his help
in deve lop ing the i r b rand. "They as l<ed us to conduct an aud i t o f the YTV brand and ta l l< to them
about how to develop the brand further because they felt they were growing, and they perceived
there was go ing to be compet i t ion , " Nash reca l l s .
The f irst meeting with Nash was a del ightful eye-opener for the YTV staff. "Scott spol<e in-depth
about ch i ld ren and the i r persona l i t ies and what you need to do fo r l< ids , versus adu l t aud iences .
We were th r i l l ed tha t there was somebody who cared about the ch i ld ren 's mar l<e t l i l<e we d id , and
who recognized that l<ids are not passive viewers-they want to be entertained just l i l<e everybody
e lse , " l (ea t ing-Mal len says .
"We ' re sor t o f l i l<e c rea t ive v is ionar les in tha t we come in , do our wor l< , and i f we do our work
we l l , the ne twor l< goes o f f and tu rns i t in to someth ing grea t , " exp la ins Jan Cra ige S inger , p res i -
dent o f B ig B lue Dot . The c rea t ive team deve loped a brand s t ra teg , and wor l< ing c lose ly w i th
YTV's c rea t ive team, they came up w i th some icons and brand e lements to he lp de f ine the YTV
persona l i t y . We crea ted an env i ronment -a p lace the k ids wou ld want to go , " S inger says . "YTV
was sor t o f l i ke a hang ou t where l< ids wou ld want to spend t ime. "The on-a i r an imat ions fea tured
a toas ter tha t pops up green toas t , a so fa cha i r , and a d inosaur -a l l car ry ing the YTV name.
752 D E S i G N I N G B R A N D S
l above and r igh t l
In 1992, B ig B tue Dot devetoPed a
s t rong v isua I b rand fo r YTV by focus-
ing on icons to por t ray Y IV as a p lace
for k ids to hang ou t . "The ident i t y
was bu i t t a round ob iec ts tha t ex is ted
wi th in a spec i f i c p lace tha t was YTV,"
expta ins Scot t l ' l ash o f B ig B lue Dot .
"But they were fun ob lec ts . [ i ke a
so fa , o r toas ter tha t pops up green
toas t . o r a sku l t , o r a d inosaur . "
" W I W E R E T H R I T I - I D T H A T T H E R E
WAS SOMEBODY WHO CARID ABOUI
T l | E C H I I . D R E N ' S M A R K E T L I K E W I
D I D , A N D W H O R I C O G N I Z I D T H A I
K I D S A R E N O T P A S S I V I V I E W E R S -
T H E Y W A N T T O B I E N T I R T A I t ' | E D
J U S T I I K I I V E R Y B O D Y I I S I . "
I teft l
I n 1 9 9 7 , Y T V o n c e a g a i n n e e d e d t o
re invent i t se t f as compet ing ne tworks
began ea t ing in to YTV's ra t ings . Thus ,
the Wei rd ne twork was born . Even
though we i rd can be in te rpre ted many
d i f fe ren t ways , B ig B lue Dot devetoped
a s ty le gu ide fo r YTV's des igners
wh ich inc luded a co lo r pa te t te , t ype
s ty te gu ide t ines , and gu ide l ines on how
to c rea te a we i rd a t l i tude . lhe Book
o l Wei rd even has a " touch" sound
sys tem. so when a cer ta in i con is
touched on the a t tached p tas t ic pane[ ,
a cor respond ing sound b las ts ou t .
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B R A N D I N G F O R C H I L D R E N
"Over the years I would see them infrequently and get updates as to what was happening.They
grew and got better programming, and they also developed this teri i f ic att i tude for the on-air
promos-there's a quir l<iness to the promos that is very dist inct ive,,, Nash says.
ISTARTTNG OVER I
Though the brand was extremely successful, over the years the competit ion was growing, and
imitators fol lowed. \n 1997, Nash was cal led in to help the network update their brand image
once again. "Things real ly changed in the environment because of the increased competit ion," he
notes. "The other networks were copying the YTV style as well . So much so, that i t was hard to
even dist inguish i t from the competit ion, and to complicate things further, there were paral lel
programming issues making YTV perceived as the old brand. ' ,
"When you add the cumulative effect of al l those things together, i t started to capture some of
our aud ience. We sa id 'We ' re no t go ing to s i t here and wa i t fo r our aud ience to e rode. We ' re go ing
to be proactive," ' l (eating-Mallen recal ls. " l t was t ime to reinvent ourselves.,,
Big Blue Dot creatlves did a reassessment of the YTV brand and lool<ed at the emerging compe-
t i t ion that was attract ing some of YTV's audience. "We looked at one network in part icular to
see why kids were tuning to i t ," Nash says. "And there was a clear reason to be there. I t wasn't
about being a kids'network. I t was a place that offered what kids wanted, which was cartoons.
Since there are so many networks clamoring for kids'attention, we took our cue from that and
decided to offer up something that wasn't packaged for kids, but offer something that kids wanted.,,
Through focus group test ing, the creatives learned to l isten beyond what the kids were saying, to
what they meant. For example, i f a chi ld says something is good, i t 's not necessari ly good. "Good
is non-committal to most kids. I t 's not an expression of great excitement," Nash advises. "But i f
a kid says something is funny, that 's very straightforward and makes a commitment. I f a chi ld
says something is weird, i t 's at least interesting to them."
Big Blue Dot's creatives delved into the research and came up with a branding strategy."We went
back to YTV and we told them to stop cal l ing themselves the kid network, and start offering
someth ing k ids want . You wou ldn ' t ca l l candy 'k ids food. 'You 'd ca l l i t what i t i s , " Nash exp la ins .
"We said that one of their great assets that they should promote is 'weird. 'We suggested that
they should become the Weird network, and that they del iver on that promise.,,
"When this was presented to us, we sat bacl< for about f ive minutes and then everyone real ly
bought into i t ," l (eating-Mallen says. "At f i rst we had a few reservations about weird, but when
we started thinking about i t , weird actual ly meant that we are funny, and quirky, and unpre-
dictable. I t real ly ref lected our programming and who we were.There was an eclect ic feel to this
weirdness, which we loved."
Nash adds, "We presented i t sheepishly because i t seemed l ike a r isky notion, but they embraced
it. I t was one of those meetings you hope for, where everybody is applauding afterwards. Everyone
at YTV and Big Blue Dot, seemed to understand that we could have a lot of fun with this."
T h e Y T V d e s i g n e r s c r e a t e d t h e o n - a i r a n i m a t i o n s t h a t h a v e e s t a b l i s h e d Y T V a s t h e l e a d e r i n t h e c h i l d r e n ' s
t e l e v i s i o n p r o g r a m m i n g c a t e g o r y . H e r e a r e j u s t a f e w e x a m p l e s o f t h e m a n y " p e r s o n a l i t i e s " t h e s t a t i o n h a s
a d o p t e d . D o l o r e s l ( e a t i n g - M a l l e n , o f Y T V , s a y s , " 0 n e o f m y b i g g e s t d e s i r e s w a s t o t a k e t h e i c o n s o u t o f t h e k n o w n
i n t o t h e f a n t a s y . I r e a l l y w a n t e d t o g i v e k i d s a f a n t a s y t r i p a n d a p p e a l t o t h e i r s e n s e o f i m a g i n a t i o n . "
la h ovel
The Rubber Ch icken was des igned to show a
more vu lnerabte s ide o f YTV. l t he tp tess ty
bounces around the TV screen and f ina t ly
lands on i t s back , p re tend ing tha t a t t i s f ine
la b ovel
Marv in , the exp lo rer , i s an unusuaI mush-
room that can jump, f ly, hover and st ick to
wa l ls due to h is spr ing , je t tu rh ine g i l t s , and
suc t ion cup bo t tom. Marv in 's a lways exc i ted
about th ings and tha t can make h im ra ther
clumsy.
la b ovel
The Photon ic Crus tacean is one o f the newer ,
more k id - f r iend ly i cons . l t s coo l t ransparent
she[ [ te ts you see i t s g lowing ins ides .
la b ovel
lhe 0c topus is the c razy c rea ture tha t h ides
under everyone 's bed. 1 |e i s f r iend ly , b r igh t ,
and a lways wants t0 come out and p tay .
la b ove l
The Man ic Mach ine is the techno log ica l
hybr id o f a Formula 0ne rac ing car and the
nex t door ne ighbor 's annoy ing dog, Barky .
la b ovel
Space L i ty was des igned w i th g i r t power in
mind. Reoor ts have i t tha t she 's the robot ic
space dudet te tha t t {ASA as t ronauts saw
f loa t ing ou ts ide the i r rocke t sh ip in 1969.
ltettl
Sreed CannibaI is the Manic Machine 's
bra iny cousin. An overs ized bra in was
surgical ly imptanted in to th is dragster
motorcycte body to make i t th ink faster
than a comouter .
I
, *o ro , ro ro * i n l t o * t t I
*SINCE THERE ARE SO MANY NETWORKS CLAMORING FORKIDS'ATTENTION, wE rooK ouR cuE FRoM rHAr AND DECIDED TO
OFFER UP SOMETHING THAT WASN'T PACKAGED FORKlDs, BUr oFFER soMErHrr,rc THAT KIDS WANTED."
With the i r concept accepted , B i9 B lue Dot went bac l< to the t renches and deve loped a Wei rd s ty le
gu ide fo r the ne twor l< to fo l low wh ich inc ludes a co lo r pa le t te , and t ips on how to keep the we i rc l -
ness in perspective without going overboard. The YTV creative team then ran with the concept,
d issec t ing i t and lnvent ing what we i rd wou ld Ioo l< l i l<e . l (ea t ing-Mal len admi ts , "We 've taken th is
weirdness very seriously. I t 's a great focus for us, and there's a lot of lat i tude, because you can
continuously reinvent weird." The new tagl ine for the stat ion became Keep i t weird.
When YTV launched Wei rd in September 1998, i t focused on a new ta rge t aud ience as we l l .The
old tagl ine was You Rule, and i t was targeted to chi ldren ages nine to fourteen, but in real i ty six
to eleven year olds were the base audience. "with weird, we decided to go bacl< to who we
actua l l y reach, and what we 've d iscovered s ince the launch is tha t no t on ly has our s ix - to e leven-
year -o ld aud ience increased, bu t our n ine to four teen numbers a lso inc reased, even thouqh we
weren ' t go ing a f te r them," says l (ea t ing-Mal len .
Shor t l y a f te r launch ing Wei rd , YTV's ra t ings s ta r ted to inc rease dramat ica l l y and the ne twor j<
has increased i ts audience by 30 percent, which is 75 percent larger than the nearest competit ion.
The YTV des igners c rea ted a d is t inc t i ve loo l< th rough the i r un ique i l lus t ra t ion s ty le and an imated
characters. "we've got great art directors, producers, and designers, and they've created a
wonder fu l , we i rd loo l< fo r Y fV, " l (ea t ing-Mal len says .
Sa l ly T inda l , o f YTV med ia re la t ions , adds , "The young l< ids say they don ' t even need to see the
YTV logo, they jus t need to see the i l l us t ra t ions and bac l<qrounds to l<now i t , s yTV. , ,
"They do great worl<," Nash says of YTV's creative team. "They're a very dedicated group of people.
The tone doesn ' t sound l i l<e i t ' s a l l B ig B lue Dot because i t ' s rea l l y YTV's commi tment to pay ing
out on the brand and unders tand ing tha t they need to choose a course and run w i th i t .They have
the r igh t peop le in p lace to t ru ly bu i ld a b rand qu ic l< ly and e f fec t i ve ly , , ,he nores .
7 5 5 D E S t c N T N G B R A N D S
:,,:*,Xi::::::,:::t.1,,,:;t,:::,;::;,::;:r...:i::l:i::..::i.::,:l::';::.:::l:::::::
w.
l ahove and [e f t ]
Promo spots a re se t aga ins t funky ,
co lo r fu l backgrounds c rea ted by the YTV
d e s i g n t e a m . T h e u n i q u e s p i r a l d e s i g n i s a
recogn izab le e lement a t [ on i t s own, as
shown wi th the insec t i con . "K ids know
they ' re watch ing YTV when they see the
backgrounds. That ' s how bo ld and
d is t inc t i ve i t i s , " no tes Sa l ty T inda l o f YTV
media re la i ions .
B R A N D N G F O R C H I L D R E N t57
l a b ove l
B ig B tue Dot has c rea ted severa I b rand
ident i t ies under the N icke lodeon brand
arch i tec tu re fo r i t s many programming
ventures . The Games and Spor ts channet (0aS)
brand was deve loped by B ig B lue 0o t in 1999.
0es igner Mike Faxon says , "The d iamond
shape cou ld be a lo t o f d i f fe ren t th ings , t i ke
the shape o f a game board or the shape o f a
baseba[ [ d iamond. and i t can be f i t ted in w i th
d i f fe ren t tex tu res and backgrounds depend ing
on the program sub lec t mat te r . "
lahove and [eft ]
Nogg in i s a channe l and web s i te co-opera ted
by N icke todeon and Ch i td ren 's Te tev is ion
Workshop to p resent the i r l ib ra ry o f p ro-
gramming. such as re runs o f Sesame St ree t .
Ied Smykat , a des igner on the pro jec t says ,
"A lo t o f the des ign was dr iven around the
logo in te rms o f sp l i t -sc reen e lements . The
logo is a lways i l l us t ra ted on the lower ha l f o f
the k id 's face and the top par t can be a lmost
any th ing , bu t i t needs to c0mple te the head. "
r l 8 D E S T G N t N G B R A N D S
BIG BLUE DOTGALLERY
labove and [eft ]
Not on ty d id the c rea t ives deve lop on-a i r
iden t i t ies , they l rans lo rmed the YIV look to
pr in t fo r i t s magaz ine Whoo! l t i s packed
wi th games, YTV t r i v ia , and upcoming
programming in fo rmat ion .
B R A N D I N G F O R C l I I L D R E N 1 5 9
BG Des ign
157 Yesler Way, No. 316
Seatt le, WA 98104
206-652-2494
BIG BLUE DOT
63 Pleasant Street' Waiertown, MA 02472
6L7-923-2583
www.bigblue.com
The Bonsey Design Partnership
179 River Val ley Road
River Va l ley Bu i ld ing
Level 5 Unit I
Singapore l-79033
]tt 65 339 0428
www.bonseydesig n.com
Gole & Weber
308 0ccidental Avenue South
Seatt le, WA 98104
206-447-9595
' The Delor Group
613 W. IVlain Street
Louisvi l le, l<Y 40202
502-584-5500
www.oelor.com
The DuPuis Group
21700 oxnard Street, Suite 2040
Woodland H i l l s , CA 91367
818-776-2722
www.d upu isgro u p.com
Dynamic Graphics Magazine
6000 N. Forest Park Drive
Peoria, IL 61614
309-688-2300
www.dgusa.com
Fitch
10350 0lentangy River Road
Worthington, 0H 43085
614-84t -2 r23
Hanson Associates
133 Grape Street
Philadelphia, PA 19127
215-487-705r
Leapfrog Design
200 Adelaide St. W., Ste. 400
Toronto ,0N
Canada M5H 1W7
416-340-7040
www. Ieapf rogdesign.com
Media Art ists Inc.
Via Marconi 10/A
2 4 0 2 1 A l b i n o ( B G )
Italy
]tr 39 35 7747!5
Murphy Design
1814 E.40th Street
C leve land,0H 44103
2t6-36r -1238
www. mu rphydesig n.com
325 W. Nuron St . , Sui te 812
Chicago, IL 60610
312-943-5995
www.m l rdesign.com
0 & J D e s i g n I n c .
I0 W. 19th Street
New Yo rk , NY 10011
Michael 0sborne Design
444 De Haro, Sui te 207
San F ranc i sco , CA94107
475-255-0125
www.modsf.com
SME Power Branding
28 W. 25th Street , 5th Floor
New York, NY 10010
2L2 -924 -5700
www.smepowerb rand i ng.com
Ster l ing Group
Empire State Bui ld ing
17 th F loo r
New York, NY 10118
212 -329 -4652
www.goster l ing.com
Suter & Suter Design Gonsultants279a Moray St .
South Melbourne Victor ia
Austra l ia 3205
011 61 3 96828666
YTV Ganada, Inc.
64 Jef ferson Avenue, Uni t 18
Toronto M6l( 3H3
Canada
www.ytv.com
b r " r ' r i , I r - A i J O
Murrie Lienhart Rysner & Associates 416-534-1197
212-242-Lo8o jlfu, * &:.R . R:www.designcarrot.com
@
I Acknowledgements j
I 'd l ike to thanl< my husband, Ted, for t ransforming our spare bedroom into a wonderfu l wor l<space, fora lways l is tening to me and showing interest in my wor l<, and for h is abi l i ty to a lways mal<e me laugh. I musta lso thanl< a l l o f the designers who contr ibuted thei r brancl ing expert ise ancl wonderfu l pro jects to mal<e th isbool< possib le ' And f ina l ly , I 'm eternal ly gratefu l to my parents, Glen and IVlargy Schrubbe, for thei r j i fe t imesupport and encouragement.
Designing Erands
ContenB
Introduction
I I . Designing a Brand for a Start-up ]
Los Angeles AvengersSME Power Brand ing
CAY DA Tea, UnileverThe Bonsey Design Partnership
Main St. CafeMurr ie L ienhar t Rysner Assoc ia tes
0ntar io 2000Leapfrog Design
[ 2 . Redes ign ing or Updat inga Wel l -Known Brand l
Avon0&J Des ign
B u g l e B o yBC Des ign
l(aytee BirdseedMurr ie L ienhar t Rysner Assoc ia tes
Burger l ( ingSter l ing Group
S utter H omeIVlichael 0sborne
48
I O
3 0
66
ilrI
t
{
8 0
l r
[ 3. Branding for Niche Markets ]
Roxane PharmaceuticalsThe DeLor Group
Austral ia's Choice soft drinl<Suter and Suter Design Consultants
Dy no mi c G ro ph ics M ogozi neDynomic Grophics Mogozine Staff
University of PioneerMurphy Des ign
Mammut 0u tdoor GearMed ia Ar t i s ts Inc .
L34
9 0
9 2
[ 4. Branding for Children ]
Bubba produc t l ineT h e D u P u i s G r o u p
Sodexho MarriottHanson Associates
YTVBig B lue Dot
Directory
1 1 0
144
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INTRODUCTIONG I L H A N S O N , P R I N C I P A L O F H A N S O N A S S O C I A T E S , P H I L A D E L P H I A
Today we l ive in a branded world. Brands are more than logos and marketing jargon. They are
icons of our society, ref lect ing our personal preferences, values, and l i festyles. Many of us view our
self identi ty through the brands we support and buy. Whether i t 's a car, computer, wine, or even
where we do our banking, we create brand relat ionships with what feels good, what supports us
emotional ly, and what helps define us to others. We feel a certain trust and aff ini ty to "our"
brands. That personal relat ionship is the dif ference between buying a BMW or Volvo, a Dell or
Macintosh, or between Louis Jadot and Mondavi.
In this communications media age, brands act l ike discriminating beacons, enabling us to pre-
Qualj fy our purchase decisions. As consumers, we have to make so many choices in so l i t t le t ime
we a l low the brands to gu ide us to the r igh t cho ice . Wi th d is t inc t persona l i t ies bu i l t by cu l tu re ,
advert ising, colors, shapes, and sound, brands become larger than any one product or service,
iepresenting mult iple l i festyle value systems. We learn to trust and respect our brands as a
val idation and confirmation of what is a better choice.
To truly understand and exploit a brand's potential, marketers and designers al ike need to under-
stand how and why i t interacts with i ts target audience. They need to have a clear vision of the
brand's core values and be wil l ing to stay in touch with the customer's relat ionship with the brand.
Just as cri t ical, is the need to be able to look into the future to determine how to l<eep the brand
fresh in order to meet new generations of customers.
Volkswagen demonstrated this in the late'90s through a synchronized brand attack designed to
capture a new young customer base. They accomplished this goal with the successful launches of
the new Beetle and Passat models. Both cars are careful ly associated with a part icular buyer.The
brand, the product, and the customer are l inked emotional ly in one complete brand experience.
As we look towards the new century, the customer wil l be motivated to make a purchase i f the
product or service provides value and rat ionale. What wil l weaken the sale most often is losing
touch with the customer, disassociat ion with the brandls core value to the customer, and
fragmented brand communications. Packaging, advert ising, print materials,electronic communi-
cations, and al l other message carr iers must be l inked and synchronized to the product and
service as one brand experience.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
EDWARD M. O 'HARA, SENIOR PARTNER & CHIEF CREATIVE OFF ICER OFSME POWER BRANDING, NEW YORI ( C ITY
Developing a visual identi ty for a new brand is just the t ip of the iceberg-everything that precedes i t rel ies on
intense brand analysis and evaluation of that brand's posit ive attr ibutes and whom the brand wil l be targeting. This
is how design and branding professionals integrate business know-how with consumer research in order to create
and design successful brand images.
Working with start-up brands is the most fun because the process at i ts inception is al l "clean-slate thinl<ing." We
lay the foundation for brands and their future growth as well as create the basis for al l of that brand's business
activi t ies to fol low. I t is a very satisfying experience for al l involved.
In the beginning, the branding team has to start with the. development of a brand architecture. This wil I govern the
brand not only from a design and identity development standpoint, but it wil l also determine the look and feel of
all marketing communications and advertising efforts. Most importantly, the brand architecture process delivers the
brand essence, the brand positioning statement/ and an in-depth analysis of the target consumer's demographic and
psychographic profi les-key components in the building of a brand.
BRAND ARCHITECTURE begins with the establishment and assessment of the positive attributes of the brand
(consumer benefits) and then identif ies those attributes as either intrinsic (physical) or extrinsic (emotional)
properties of the brand.These brand assets are further analyzed to reveal the BRAND ESSENCE-a few words or
thoughts that represent the brand to the core and target consumer. Brand essence is the heart and soul of the brand
and only when i t is establ ished should the process begin.
The next step is BRAND P0SITIONING statement development, which is defined as the consumer's sense of the
tangible and intangible benefits of the brand and why it is better than the competit ion. Brand positioning serves as
a guidel ine for marketers to sel l the i r brand to TARGET CUST0MERS.The consumer study completes the brand
architecture process and allows (after a creative brief is developed) for the brand design team to begin. The
creative team now knows the brand's essence/ positioning, and to whom they are speal<ing.
This strategic branding approach to designing start-up brands wil l give marketers, designers, and consumers the
clearest picture of that brand and guarantees brand success.This methodology communicates crit ical brand imagery
to target consumers/ thus creating motivating purchase intent and Iong-term brand equity. It is a fun and enlight-
ening process, and for start-up brands it is essential to their success and longevity.
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
DESIGNINGA BRAND FOR A
STARTIUP
AVENGERS AFL TEAMBRAND BY SME POWER BRANDING
Ed 0'Hara, senior partner and chief creative off icer at SME Power Branding in New Yorl< City,
does not think there is any dif ference between branding for sports teams-which is his f irm's
niche-or any other service or product. in fact, he got his start in consumer branding, and he says
h is en t r6e in to spor ts "happened by dumb luck .One s low day o f my l i fe I p icked up the Red Boo l<
of advert isers and decided to drum up some new cl ients. I went under A, and there was Adidas.
The woman there said she was taking a new posit ion in major league baseball as vice president
o f c rea t ive serv ices , and I asked her i f I cou ld ca l l her , and she sa id 'yes , " '0 'Hara reca l l s . "She
had no resources and I was showing her toothpaste and soap packaging. She hired us to do a cen-
tenn ia l mark fo r the St . Lou is Card ina ls and then a l i cense program ca l led Rook ie League.Then
we started hawl<ing this work to other leagues, to col leges, to other teams, and eight years later
we're the dominant brand identi f ier in sports."
That dumb luck has afforded SME the opportunity to develop brands for NBA teams, including
the Utah Jazz, as well as major sport ing events such as the 1999 World Series, the Nokia Sugar
Bowl , and the 1999 NBA F ina ls b roadcas t on the NBC te lev is ion ne twork . So i t was no surpr ise
that Casey Wasserman, owner of a newly formed Los Angeles Arena Footbal l League (AFL)
team, commiss ioned SME to deve lop a b rand fo r h is team.
I THE CHALLENGE ]
"Being in Los Angeles, it was very important for me to compete in every way, but most
importantly in perception, with the Lakers, Dodgers, Cl ippers, and l( ings-we needed to be a f irst-
class team, and one of the most obvious representations of that is in the brand, from the name
and logos down to uniforms and letterhead," Wasserman explains. " l focused on f inding a f irm
that could fulf i l l those needs al l the way across the board for an extended period of t ime, and SM E
was identi f ied to me pretty quicl<1y."
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
iI
tanF
IIi
trt-'
l above and r igh t l
0nce the name Avengers was chosen
for the new Los Ange les AFL leam,
SME Power Brand ing des igner
Chung-deh T ien came up w i th severa I
concepts . "A t f i r s t I lus t thought o f a
Greek mytho tog ica l charac ter o f a
very t rad i t iona l s ty t i zed war r io r , " he
says . T ien a lso incorpora ted a h0rse
in to the des ign , and some var ia t ions
using the letter tr .
" W I N I I D E D T O B E A I I R S T - C L A S S T E A M .
A t | D O N T O T T H E M O S T O B \ , I O U S R T P R E .
S E N T A T I O N S O T T H A T I S I N T H E B R A N D .
FROM THE l'|AME At'|D LOGOS DOW]'| TO UNI.
f O R M S A I ' I D L E T T T R H T A D . "
"you wANT To HAvE TAGLTNES THAT MOTIVATE A PURCHASE. rrHoPEFUrrv GETS PEOPLE OFF OF TH EIR
COUCHES nruo spENDTNG MoNEy oN youR TEAM."
The f i rs t th ing Wasserman and SME crea t ives d id was come up w i th a name fo r the AFL team.
" l had in ten t ions o f ge t t ing a name tha t was LA-based, bu t I cou ldn ' t f ind any tha t I l i l<ed , so
then i focused on a name tha t was un ique and insp i res a lo t o f emot ions , " Wasserman says . " l
d idn ' t want to be another ca t o r dog- tha t was t i red and o ld and bor ing to me. "
0'Hara recal ls, "We had to create the attr ibutes that the brand would have and we had to
suggest name candidates that would meet those brand attr ibutes or assets." So, he asked
Wasserman to identi fy his vision for the team, and how he wanted consumers to perceive i t .
Specif ic characterist ics he suggested were contemporary, aggressive, professional, and elegant.
"Th is he lps us focus our energ ies to come up w i th a more qua l i f ied so lu t ion , " O 'Hara says . "So
we had names l ike l(nights, Avengers, and Bombers. Avengers was chosen, which I was happy
wi th , because I th ink tha t name can mean a lo t o f th ings to a lo t o f peop le . And the des ign
objectives of the brand became extensions of those attr ibutes-contemporary, fresh, elegant.
0nce the name was de termined, SME des igners went to the drawing board and came up w i th
severa l des ign approaches. Chung-deh T ien , SME sen ior des igner says , " l ca l l i t the shotgun
approach, where you come up w i th as many ideas as you poss ib ly can. "
As Wasserman recal ls, "They came back with sixteen designs. I t was pretty clear from the start
what route we were going to go down, but we continued to explore three or four other routes
as we l l . "The des lgn tha t was u l t imate ly chosen " represented what I thought Avengers shou ld
be- i t was more than jus t an A, i t was more than jus t a horse , i t was more than a l l those th ings .
I t rea l l y cap tured the myth ica l and war r io r type qua l i t ies I thought Avengers had, " he says .
SM E a lso came up w i th a tag l ine fo r the team.0 'Hara exp la ins , "Here 's a new ownersh ip g roup
that has to sel l t ic l<ets and attract sponsors/ so we lool< at the same attr ibutes and posit ioning
statement, and we came up with C/oim YourTurf! An avenger is someone who can claim and
phys ica l l y ta l<e cont ro l , and tu r f has a re levance to foo tba l l . I t ' s a lso a ca l l to ac t ion .You want
to have tag l ines tha t mot iva te a purchase. I t hopefu l l y ge ts peop le o f f o f the i r couches and
spend ing money on your team."
' " ',r,:-l:,::j ,
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l above and r igh t l
S ince a [ [ the spor ts ieams incorp0ra te severa [ [ogos and
ident i t ies under one brand, SME deve loped d i f fe ren t marks
tha t wou ld appear on a var ie ty o f mater ia ls . inc tud ing
he lmets , un i fo rms, b rochures , d i rec t -ma i I p ieces , and
even a Span ish brand mark s ince Los Angetes is such a
mul t i -cu l tu ra I des t ina t ion .
la b ovel
SME used bo ld co lo rs and s t rong graph ics on the Avengers
un i fo rms. Casey Wasserman, the team owner , wanted red as
the Avengers ' p ropr ie ta ry co lo r s ince most o f the AFL teams
were us ing dark co lo rs such as dark b lue and h tack . The
home un i fo rms (seen here) a re p r imar i l y red , as opposed to
the away un i fo rms, wh ich are most ty wh i te and b lue .
DESIGNING A BRAND FOR A START-UP
t \ - F ( \ - r '
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-4y"
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The corpora te s ta t ionery inc tuded the
Avengers word mark , as we[1 as the
tagline Clcim your lurl! Eonlacl
in fo rmat ion is enc losed in a g r id -
[ i ke fo rmat in the t rademark
Avengers red and b tue .
I IDENTIFYING AND UNDERSTANDING THE CONSUMER ]
With the design and tagl ine f inal ized, Wasserman and 0'Hara needed to determine a target audi-
ence s ince the AFL is a d i f fe ren t marke t than the NFL. "AFL pr ice po in ts a re lower than the
NFL, and init ial AFL research indicated that the audience is comprised of younger guys, and i t 's
date night for a lot of these folks. I t also attracts a large minority scale-Afr ican Americans and
Latin Americans," O'Hara says. Although l i t t le market research was conducted before the team's
sol id characterist ics were defined, some of the init ial designs were presented to season t icl<et hold-
ers of the Los Angeles l( ings and Lal<ers because a cross-promotional desire was prevalent, and
it was important to get this group's opinion since the Avengers would be sharing the Staple Center
with the l( ings and Lakers.
"I 'm a big bel iever that market research is relat ively ineffect ive with things that haven't happened
yet. I f people don't have something concrete to point their f inger to, i t doesn't matter," explains
Wasserman. "Market research in retrospect is much more effect ive."
O'Hara agrees, to an extent. "You have to make a business decision to get in front of the
consumer for a disaster check. Don't make i t a democratic process," he says. "According to our
process you need a veri f icat ion from the consumer base. Many people use consumer research to
create the veri f icat ion-we just want to know if consumers l ike i t . When you start making
decisions based on every comment that every person in a focus group makes-which, by the way,
are affected, because tthe people in the groupsl inf luence each other with their comments-that 's
when we put too much credence into i t . I t gets too nitpicl<y, too passive. I l ike to see business
owners make business decisions, not get a straw vote every t ime they have to make a decision."
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
la b ovel
SME incorpora ted team sponsors '
names in to the home f ie ld g raph ics .
T h e A d i d a s a n d M c 0 o n a t d ' s I o g o s a r e
s t ra teg ica I ty p laced in var ious
pos i t ions on the f ie ld fo r h igh
v is ib i t i t y n0 mat te r where pa t rons are
seated w i th in S tap te Center .
M A N Y P E O P L [ U S E C O N S U M E R R E S I A R C H T O C R E -
ATE THE VERITICATION_WE JUST WANT TO KNOW
I F C O N S U M E R S t I K I I T , W H E N Y O U S T A R T M A K I N G
D E C I S I O N S B A S E D O N I V E R Y C O M M E I ' I T T t | A ]
I l , I R Y P E R S O N I N A F O C U S G R O U P M A K I S . . . I T
O [ T S T O O N I T P I C K Y , T O O P A S S I V [ . I L I K E T O S I I
B U S I N E S S O W I ' I E R S M A K E B U S I N T S S D E C I S I O N S , "
A unique chal lenge inherent in branding for sports teams is that there are several messages that
need to be communicated to consumers in dif ferent formats, so many logos need to be developed.
The pr imary mark is on the he lmet , accord ing to 0 'Hara . " i t has to be s imp le and i t has to com-
municate what the team is.The second logo is a word communication- LA Avengers. We also did
a Los Angeles story-just a Los Angeles I igature logo with and without the Avenger," he explains.
In add i t ion to a l l the regu la r iden t i f ie rs , SM E deve loped a Span ish brand fo r the Avengers , wh ich
translated to Vengadores, at Wasserman's request. 0'Hara says, "That was very smart of Casey
to do that so he's not al ienating himself from the Latin community. He's also having the games
broadcast on Spanish-speaking radlo stat ions."
"We've treated this the same way you would treat an NFL team.We haven't treated i t as minor
league or small t ime," Wasserman explains. "We're tal<ing al l the steps that any expansion team
would have to take in creatinq an identi tv. I think we're one of the f irst teams in the AFL to do that."
lahove and belowl
The Avengers seat ing brochures , in
bo th Engt ish and Span ish , fea ture a
d iagram o l the Stap te Center . The
seat ing char t i s co lo r -coded hy
sections so patrons can easi ly
nav iga te the i r way to the i r sea ts .
DESIGNING A BRAND FOR A START-UP
SME POWER BRANDINGTHE WHOLE BRAND FROM A TO Z
SME Power Branding attacks i ts sports projects purely from a branding perspective. "We try to
tel l brand stories that are robust and highly textured.They don't leave anything missing. In this
day and age with four or f ive logos for every team, you don't want redundancy," says Ed 0'Hara,
senior partner and chief creative off icer.
"We ' l l do the sur face graph ics fo r the p lay ing f ie ld , comple te w i th sponsors ' logos . Any th ing tha t
v isua l l y b rands a team-co lo rs , t ypograph, i l l us t ra t ions , the pos i t ion ing ls ta tement -hopefu l l y
communicates a continuity," he adds. In addit ion to designingl the team logos and creating a
brahd identi ty, S M E puts together a style guide and a graphics standards manual for usaqe of the
I o90.
But 0,Hara admits, sports branding was not always a priori ty for teams. "I t happened to become
fashionable in the early '90s and trendy to wear clothes that represented your favorite team, so
merchandising was a huge thing. In the early days we were thought of as a l icensing function-i f
you redesign your logo, you' l l sel l more T-shirts. But I 've always fought that notion," 0'Hara
explains, "because I felt i f you branded r ight, i f you've connected with your core consumer, and
you hit target consumers with your brand identi ty and communications, you're going to increase
revenue streims on al l your l ines of business-t icket sales, sponsorship, fundraising, viewership,
merchandising, and so on."
D E S I G N I N C B R A N D S
NOKIA
l te f t and fo l low ing page l
ln add i t ion to the f i rm 's work fo r
ind iv idua l spor ts teams, SME crea ted
these brands fo r p ro fess iona[ .
na t ionaI spor ts events . For ins tance,
the 1999 NBA F ina ts , 1999 Wor ld
Ser ies , and 1999 1{ok ia Sugar Bowl
icons were a1 [ c rea ted us ing an
i [ tus t ra t i ve approach and bo ld co lo rs
emphas iz ing the exc i tement and
energy o f these h igh-pro f i le events .
s"ir*ffi;^r*.-*t "* i&
D E S I G N I N G B R A N D S
"THE AUDIENCE IS TtIERE nnD You fusr HAVE ro TALK TOTHEM IN A
THEM, AND
W+IAT
LANGUAc r TH EY U N D E RSTAN D' rHAr EXcrrEsrHAr MOTIVATES A PURCHASE. rHArsYOU'VE GOT TO DO tN As MANY wAYs As PosslBLE.'
There was a lso a g rowth t rend in spor ts -spor ts became more popu lar and a l l the leagues were
add ing more teams. " l t used to be w in b ig , and we ' l l se l l more sh i r ts and t i c l<e ts . Not everybody
:an w in , " he no tes . "The San Jose Shar l<s are an unbe l ievab le s to ry . They d idn ' t have a w inn ing
season for seven years/ but they were one of the top-sel l ing teams and had high attendance at
:very home game. They d id a g rea t job w i th the i r b rand. "
. ' i i th a l l the compet i t ion in every spor ts league, mot iva t ing consumers to buy in to a par t i cu la r
:rand tal<es more than just luck-i t takes branding expert ise. As 0'Hara says, " l t may be that the
audience is there and you just have to talk to them in a language they understand, that excites
:rem, and that motivates a purchase. That 's what you've got to do in as many ways as possible."
IteftI
lncorpora l ing br igh t h tues and purp les
for the Utah Jazz brand ident i t y , SME
crea led the s t rong mounta in g raph ics
behind the Jazz word mark. The styl ized,
jagged te t te r ing has a shadow g iv ing
the i l l us ion o f a fas t -mov ing ob iec t ,
such as a basketba t t p layer in mot ion .
i-ril-erry;ff \'-P.{FI;";-&
. i renAND BY THE BONSEY DESIGN PARTNERSHTP'E:t$++=rrrm+*#+*r,,'.t,is*r*:€u-#u-\..*=-=r*u=
CAY DA TEA
When The Bonsey Design Partnership, based in Singapore, took on the task of designing a new
brand of tea for Unilever, to be distr ibuted in Vietnam, i t was an eye-opening cultural experience.
Not only was there a language barrier for the designers to conquer when creating the packaging,
they also had to identi fy and relate to the Vietnamese l i festyle and culture through the graphics.
The project l<icked off with a tr ip to the cl ient 's off ice in Ho Chi M inh City (South Vietnam) where
the designers were given an extensive descript ion of the objectives. The brief stated that the
designers needed, "to create a design for a new Vietnamese tea brand that wi l l appeal to the
Vietnamese tea drinker's heart and soul. I t is the Vietnamese tea that he can identi fy with through
the roo ts o f h is fami ly , b i r thp lace , and na t ion . 'Th is i s my tea and my cu l tu re ' . "
Init ial consumer research had already been conducted by the cl ient to support those objectives,
and i t provided useful information about the social habits and economic decision impulses of the
consumers.The designers learned that since tea is so int imately related to the Vietnamese culture,
i t i s no t an impu ls ive purchase. " ln a soc ie ty where respec t fo r e lders and h ie rarchy is impor tan t ,
so is the choice of tea offered to the guest," says l(r is Foo, senior designer at Bonsey. The cl ient
offered this example to Foo: When a man serves his father- in-law tea, i t must be superior in qual i ty
than the tea he would serve himself. So quali ty, price, and occasion play important roles in the
buy ing dec is ion .
,S:
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Des igners a t The Bonsey [ les ign
Par tnersh ip exp tored severa l v isua l
routes to present to Unilever, which
was prepar ing to d is t r ihu te a new
brand o f tea in V ie tnam. They
experimented with dif ferent type
t rea tments , as we[ [ as an ar ray o f
b r igh t co lo rs .
DESIGNING A BRAND FOR A START-UP
I TDENT|FYTNG AND UNDERSTANDTNG THE CONSUMER ]
After the init ial cl ient meeting, Bonsey's creatives were tal<en on a f ield tr ip through both North
and South Vietnam to observe the people and gain a better understanding of the commercial and
social environments f irsthand. Even though Vietnam is only a two-hour f l ight away from
Singapore, the disparit ies between the two cultures are evident. Vietnam has not attained al l the
technological and architectural advances that many Asian countr ies have come to rely on and
enjoy. In fact, the vi l lages are very much tradit ional and communal in nature, and the people
rel ish their heri tage. "They are warm and hospitable to guests and fr iends. There is great pride
and emphas is on core va lues l i l<e f r iendsh ip , f i l i a l p ie ty , and harmony, " Foo exp la ins .
The c rea t ives 'unders tand ing was c ruc ia l s ince the names be ing cons idered fo r the tea der ive f rom,
and have the i r cu l tu ra l roo ts in , the V ie tnamese cu l tu re : Lang Xua, mean ing o ld v i l lage , and Cay
Da, meaning Banyan tree. Foo also acl<nowledges the importance of understanding the past. "0ne
cannot attain an understanding of current Vietnamese behaviors without basic l<nowledge of the
t rad i t iona l cu l tu re , " she says .
Most V ie tnamese peop le s t i l l l i ve in v i l lages , so the te rm Lang Xua is s ign i f i can t . A v i l lage has
physical attr ibutes, l ike a bamboo thicl<et that sets the parameters of the community area. Within
this compound there are areas that are designated for certain social act ivi t ies and these areas set
the h ie rarch ica l s ta tus o f communi ty members . For example , there is a ma in ha l l where the e lders
gather to discuss community issues. " l watched a group of ten elder women gathering for such an
occas ion , " Foo re la tes . "Though I cou ldn ' t unders tand the language, nor wanted to impose on
such a private affair, their serious expressions and bearing impressed upon me the signif icance of
such a moment . The o ld v i l lage is a name wh ich most , i f no t a l l , V ie tnamese can re la te to and
reca l l spec ia l memor ies . "
The Banyan tree is also an important symbol that represents the anchor point of al l the social
act ivi t ies wlthin the vi l lage, including sharing tea. Although consumers in the study strongly
indicated that the Banyan tree bore greater significance, it wasn't immediately established as the name.
"The cl ient was very focused on what they wanted to achieve with this pacl<aging. I t had to be
s imp le (consumers had to know i t was tea immedia te ly ) , V ie tnamese, and bo ld . In i t ia l l y , th is
did not sound very dif f icult , but even with al l the research materials and information to execute
an idea w i th those c r i te r ia , i t ' s a much ta l le r o rder than we imag ined, " Foo exp la ins . But , she
i..+-,
ffi" I N A S O C I E T Y W H I R E R I S P I C T
I O R I L D T R S A N D l | I E R A R C H Y I S
I M P O R T A N T , S O I S T [ | E C H O I C I O I
T I A O F I I R I D T O T H E O U E S T . "
l a b ove l
To g ive the c l ien t a be t te r perspec t ive
o l how the des ign wou ld ac tua l l y took
on the package. Bonsey 's des igners
crea ted 3D mock-ups to p resent to
Unilever.
' IT IS BONSEY DESIGN'S PRACTICE TO COVER ALL POSSIBLE ANGLESON A PROIECT, BOTH FROM A GRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE AS WELL A5A STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE. rocErHER rHrs MAKEs rrALMosr IMPOSSIBLE FOR A CLIENT TO TOTALLY REf ECT ouR
IDEAs. DEsIGNS MAY BE REFINED, BUT IF THE FOUNDATION IS
l a h o v e l
The c l ien t se t t ted on th is togo
f o r t h e n e w b r a n d o f t e a n a m e d
C a y D a , w h i c h i s V i e t n a m e s e
f o r " B a n y a n t r e e . " T h e s w o o s h
through the D represen ls the
s team tha t r i ses f rom a tea
pot 's spout "
STRONG, rHERE ARE MANv wAys ro AppRoAcH AN IDEA.,,
adds, " l t i s Bonsey Des ign 's p rac t ice to cover a l l poss ib le ang les on a p ro jec t , bo th f rom a graph-
ic perspec t ive as we l l as a s t ra teg ic perspec t ive . Together th is ma l<es i t a lmost imposs ib le fo r a
c l ien t to to ta l l y re jec t our ideas . Des igns may be re f ined, bu t i f the foundat ion is s t rong, there are
many ways to approach an idea."
The c rea t ives a lso learned tha t the packag ing fo r the new tea wou ld be d is t inc t l y d i f fe ren t f rom
t rad i t iona l V ie tnamese tea pac l<ages wh ich are so ld by tea vendors where most peop le shop, as
opposed to supermar l<e ts . Tea is most commonly so ld in la rge "coo l< ie ja rs " where the vendor
scoops the loose tea leaves (chosen by the cus tomer) in to p las t i c bags fo r sa le .The c l ien t dec ided
i t wou ld be be t te r to pu t the tea in smal l consumer-s ized boxes mak ing i t more conven ien t to use ,
and guarantee ing the tea a longer she l f l i fe .
ITHE DESTGN l
Armed w i th the in fo rmat ion they learned about the V ie tnamese cu l tu re , the des igners c rea ted
severa l th ree-d imens iona l moc l<-ups us ing bo th names to p resent to the c l ien t . Foo says the mock-
ups "a ided comprehens ion and the ab i l i t y to touch and fee l the produc t . We wanted them to be as
r e : l i q f i c : s n n s c i h l p / /
The c l ien t eventua l l y chose the Cay Da name, s ince i t was the most l i te ra l approach, so the
des igners then came up w i th concepts tha t focused so le ly on the Banyan t ree . Many o f the des igns
incorpora ted t rad i t iona l V ie tnamese images such as v i l lage women c lad in Ao Da i ( t rad i t iona l
women 's garb) shar ing tea by the t ree , o r ien ta l tea po ts , and anc ien t - loo l< ing render ings o f the
tree i tself . The creatives also experimented with dif ferent type treatments, f inal ly sett l ing on a simple,
clean seri f typeface. An aromatic swoosh coming from the teapot f lows through the letter D.
A Banyan t ree symbol was a lso incorpora ted in to the des ign on the pac l<ag ing to se t i t apar t f rom
the compet i t ion , and co lo rs were used to d is t ingu ish the Green Tea and Jasmine var ie t ies . "The
pac l<age had to have a v isua l symbol o f tea , and consumers had on ly to loo l< a t the teapot and
there wou ldn ' t be a doubt as to what i s ins ide the pac l< , " Foo exp la ins . "The pa t te rn car r ies the'V ie tnameseness 'o f the brand. And wh i le i t may no t be the one we in i t ia l l y p roposed, our deve l -
opmenta l wor l< c rea ted an oppor tun i ty to incorpora te the symbol o f the Banyan t ree . We be l ieve
th is he lps enhance the ownersh ip and ldent i t y . "
Ia b ove l
The f ina t packag ing incorpora tes
a t rad i t iona [ tea po t wh ich is
decora ted w i th a ca [ [ ig raph ic
render ing o f the Banyan t ree . Each
tea f lavor is represented with
a d i f fe ren t co lo r scheme on the
tea po t .
labovel
To ensure the brand is a lways proper-
ty represented, The Bonsey Design
Partnership developed a brand
manual .
MAI N ST. CAFEBRAND BY MURRIE, L IENHART, RYSNER ASSOCIATES
Gehl,s Guernsey Farms, Iocated in Germantown, Wisconsin, had a revolut ionary idea in the
mid-,9os-tal<e the iced cappuccino beverages they had already been sel l ing in bulk to caf6s, and
pacl<age and promote i t to the consumer market. As John Slawny, marl<eting director for the dairy
manufacturer explains, "While we found that the product was successful, only about 60 percent
o f the co f fee shops were se l l ing i t as Geh l ' s . Some o f them were ac tua l l y te l l ing the i r cus tomers
it was being made fresh in the bacl< room. This is how we l<new we had a winner product."
Unfortunately, a lot of other companies had the same idea and were already bott l ing their coffee
concoctions and making a fortune. In addit ion, Gehl 's had a qual i ty perception issue that posed a
unique chal lenge when trying to compete in this new marl<et- i t packaged i ts product in a can,
no t a g lass bo t t le .
"As a company, we are on the leading edge of some of the new dairy packaging technologies. I t
used to be that in the past the way to completely steri l ize a milk-based product put a lot of stress
on i t-you had to raise the temperature very slowly, boi l i t for about thirty minutes, then lower
the temperature very slowlr" Slawny says. \ \We found a way to do i t in a matter of seconds, but
the quick heating and cool ing put a lot of stress on the pacl<age rather than the product, and glass
bot t les and a luminum cans jus t cou ldn ' t accept tha t k ind o f s t ress . " Geh l ' s so lu t ion? Meta l cans .
"Of course," he adds, "this was a very important decision for us because you have a choice of a
better product in a less accepted package, or an inferior product in the package of the day-glass.
We felt in the long run our product was only going to survive i f people real ly got the fresh taste
from it ."
ffi' rrs*ilNrfiRe.'ffl
Fi rs t Round o f Concepts
la b ovel
John Slawny, marketing director at
0eh[ ' s Guernsey Farms, b rought in
Mur r ie , L ienhar t , Rysner Assoc ia tes
t0 c rea te Main St . Caf6 's new des ign .
S lawny had spec i f i c des ign ob jec t ives
in mind fo r the brand. MLR's Mike
Kelly reca[[s, "The consumer was a
young, soc iab le person acqu i r ing a
taste for coffee, and John real ly
wanted tha t to show on the
packag ing . "
ffi
Afler the i l luslrat ive style was
chosen fo r the packag ing , the
des igners c rea ted the "bu l l ' s
eye" b rand mark , and in tegra ted
i t w i lh the i l l us t ra t ion . "The togo
and i [ [us t ra t ion worked together
seamless ly to c rea te the brand
image, " Ket ly exp la ins . " l t a lso
qu ick ly communica tes , th rough
the color, what f lavor the
beverage is , " s ince he and
Slawny [earned in the focus
groups tha t consumers have
s t rong fee l ings regard ing what
colors go with what f lavors.
I THE CHALLENGE ]
However, Slawny real ized that consumers'perceptions were strong enough to inf luence their taste
buds. In the early stages of developing the iced cappuccino product, he tested i t with consumers
by tel l ing them they were tast ing the same product pacl<aged in three dif ferent ways: one that was
prepared fresh in the back room, one that was bott led a month prior, and one that was packaged
in a can fo r a month . "Sure enough, they wou ld te l l us how much be t te r the f resh produc t tas ted ,
and how the glass product tasted almost fresh, and how the canned product had a very t inny
f lavor . A l l th ree samples had ac tua l l y been f resh ly p repared. The meta l l i c f lavor was a l l in the i r
heads. At that point, we real ized what a chal lenge we were up against," Slawny recaus.
But Geh l ' s wasn ' t in a f inanc ia l pos i t ion to address i t s super io r pac l<ag ing process w i th supp le-
mental marketing and advert ising materials. Slawny also adds, "A process story on the package
simply wouldn't get read i f consumers passed over our brand, and pacl<age designs that real ly
focused on fresh taste were too commonplace to offer a meaningful advantage in our category.,,
The company l<new the only way they could real ly get an edge in this marl<et ini t ial ly was to have
a strong shelf presence, so the design f irm Murrie, Lienhart, Rysner and Associates in Chicago(M LR) was cal led in to create a dist inct ive brand identi ty. Mil<e l(el ly, the creative director on the
project says, "They had the technology to make a r ich, creamy, shelf-stable product. I t real ly
tastes great out of the can, but the consumer perception is that i t wouldn't taste as good because
of that. Gehl 's was concerned about that perception, even though al l the research indicated that
the product was superior tast ing and i t was probably the closest thing that you could get in the
marketplace at that t ime without going to a coffeehouse.,,
Slawny notes, "We knew that the people who were going to buy this product were very interested
in the coffee culture of the t ime, so we wanted to capture al l the feel ing of the coffee shop in the
des ign on the can-keep ing i t f resh and young, bu t no t too young. , ,
Another cha l lenge emerged dur ing the in t roduc t ion per iod : S tarbuc l<s was s imu l taneous ly
introducing i ts Frappuccino drinl<, and according to l(el ly, "starbucl<s was probably our biggest
competitor. The other brands tasted l i l<e l iouid chal l<., ,
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First Round of Concepts
la b ovel
Mike Ketty, creat ive director at
MLR, and des ign d i rec to r Amy
Lepper t deve loped these f i rs t
round concepts to p resent to
focus groups aimed at t ranslat ing
the "ca f6 exper ience" fo r Ma in
St. Cafe, Gehl 's new iced
cappucc ino dr ink p roduc t .
DESIGNING A BRAND FOR A START.UP
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