Branding in Motion: Part 4 of 4

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

An interview with Russell Volckmann on Branding in Motion

Image by Extra Medium

Ashley: Should (online) fashion brands keep anything extra in mind that brands in other markets may not have to worry about?

Russell:

Like any brand, fashion brand goods also require unique and lasting brand features to be successful in the market. Fashion, as the term implies, is fleeting. And herein lies a unique challenge for fashion brands–or any other fast moving consumer products (also called, “fast consumer”). How to maintain a solid unwavering and strong brand foundation, while at the same time maintaining the perception of a high level of innovation that customers expect is important, which requires constant change in brand expression. The answer will be different for each unique brand, but the challenge is the same.

Also, differentiation on the basis of brand is vitally important in case of fashion because competition is very high and each fashion brand needs to say something different. Without the differentiation created in the brand (including the product expression of that brand), the fashion brand can easily fall into becoming a commodity. And like all other commodities, the product becomes price or value based, rather than aspirationally based. Commoditization can kill any company, fashion or not. When price becomes the primary reason people buy, your fashion brand will always be susceptible to someone cheaper. In other words, fashion brands need to maintain a high level of aspiration (to buy) among customers. Specifically, I think attention to target lifestyle is key.

Interestingly, established luxury brands continue to do well even in down markets because they maintain that high level of quality and aspiration. Price may be more important in slow times, but customers often turn to lasting quality anyway, abandoning the cheaper, disposable, less innovative, lesser quality alternatives. Whatever target price point or customer, a fashion brand needs a clear proposition of fashion and value that is unique and drives brand expressions faithfully.

Part 1 > What are some key things to consider when creating an online based brand?

Part 2 > What sort of “due diligence” should brands do when conceptualizing their name/logo/etc?

Part 3 > What’s the first thing an (online) brand should do if they have a #prfail (they really mess up online)?

Branding in Motion: Part 3 of 4

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

An interview with Russell Volckmann on Branding in Motion

Image by Extra Medium

Ashley: What’s the first thing an (online) brand should do if they have a #prfail (they really mess up online)?

Russell:

Very relevant question and interesting in the way it was phrased. It implies a PR answer, but in fact more relevant for the brand attributes that need to drive the PR answer. In a sense, due diligence for any brand planning should be a disaster planning exercise also. Life happens, people mess up. However, by remaining faithful to the key attributes of your brand that early on should have been developed, those attributes should provide the answer to cleaning up messes.

The nuances of that PR response may be different for each company, but I think the basic tenets remain the same. Whatever nuances help shape the answer, the key is to be honest, authentic, and genuinely care enough to solve the challenge openly and by involving the stakeholders affected by the problem or challenge. Employees. Customers. Communities. The world. Because if you don’t do these things, and stay in alignment with your brand values, people will see right through the facade and begin shaping your brand in ways far worse than the mess-up itself. Sometimes irreparably so. As I mentioned at the beginning of our conversation, no brand can hide from the Internet, which has become a very dynamic and constantly moving forum for your brand.

Next time > Should (online) fashion brands keep anything extra in mind that brands in other markets may not have to worry about?


Part 1 > What are some key things to consider when creating an online based brand?

Part 2 > What sort of “due diligence” should brands do when conceptualizing their name/logo/etc?

Part 4 > Should (online) fashion brands keep anything extra in mind that brands in other markets may not have to worry about?

Branding in Motion: Part 2 of 4

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

An interview with Russell Volckmann on Branding in Motion


Image by Extra Medium

Ashley: What sort of “due diligence” should brands do when conceptualizing their name/logo/etc?

Russell:

“Due diligence” is an apt term, and not performing due diligence can be very costly to a company. A company needs to perform a great deal of proper positioning and planning before getting to the point of expressing the brand in terms of a company name, product name, visual identity (logos, word marks, supporting graphical devices), or other brand expressions. Spending the time and effort performing this initial due diligence will reap great rewards. The positioning and planning leads to vital platforming on which all brand expressions are built. Conversely, skipping important brand development steps leads to uninformed choices. Uniformed choices in brand will lead to mistakes in developing brand expressions such as logo or name, for example. As a building with no foundation will topple over, so will a brand without its proper platform or foundation.

Typically companies should not attempt to perform brand development in-house, and rather hire an outside professional branding agency or professional consultancy. Why? A high expertise level of respected and expert branding professionals is one reason. Another reason is that it is nearly impossible to be objective with one’s own brand. Companies tend to overlook or are unaware or vital questions concerning their brands. And a great deal of challenges await brand development internally, externally, and in the interaction between both. A simple metaphor is looking in the mirror and not seeing what everyone else is seeing.

Since the logo is something everyone recognizes as one brand expression, let’s continue to use the logo as an example.

One symptom of not performing due diligence is the common mistake of hiring graphic designers for a logo. Companies often choose designers simply because they can design, and without looking at key market, business, brand landscape (brandscape)–plus other objectives and challenges that need to drive the visual expression of that brand identity. Successful logos are not designed in a vacuum, nor are they the result of ‘liking’ or ‘not liking’ the design. And this is where so many visual identities fail.

Rather, a successful visual identity is driven by numerous factors and objectives that a logo, for example, needs to accomplish. Does it differentiate? Does it resonate with key customers? Is it flexible enough to work in a near infinite variety of environments? On products? Online? Is it immediately recognizable? Does it communicate the key drivers uncovered early on during a comprehensive brand discovery and platforming process? Will it outlast fads? Is there potential for lawsuits due to similar aspects causing intellectual property infringement? Is it meaningful? Does it resonate with company internal stakeholders after a proper gestation period? People gravitate toward the familiar because they feel comfortable with it. However, feeling familiar means doing things the same as everyone else, which does not differentiate, and therefore offers no unique value to stakeholders (internally or externally). Otherwise, no reason for anyone to buy. So, now you see why ‘liking’ or ‘not liking’ really has nothing to do with how a successful logo or visual identity is developed. Yes, a logo should work aesthetically. But like so many other brand expressions, a logo needs to create a meaningful brand experience. And thankfully, expert brand agencies have processes for getting brands there.

Next time > What’s the first thing an (online) brand should do if they have a #prfail (they really mess up online)?

Part 1 > What are some key things to consider when creating an online based brand?

Part 3 > What’s the first thing an (online) brand should do if they have a #prfail (they really mess up online)?

Branding in Motion: Part 1

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

An interview with Russell Volckmann on Branding in Motion


Image by Extra Medium

Ashley: What are some key things to consider when creating an online based brand?

Russell:

The first key assumption regarding developing any brand today is that virtually no brand can hide from the Internet. So whether a company’s business is conducted primarily online or offline is of little consequence. Brands are no longer only crafted and shaped internally then broadcasted hierarchically downward toward audiences to digest as receptacles of the brand. Company key stakeholders (employees, customers, peers, competitors) constantly interact with your brand online and shape that brand to suit their needs. And that includes a company’s brand messaging, visual identity, product or anything borne from that brand.

As a simple example, a company may find its logo in locations or environments that the original creators never intended. On social networks such as Facebook. On blogs or other online vehicles in the presence of other branded entities. Unintentionally co-branded alongside other brands. Placed in the midst of typography and colors that are not part of the company’s design system. And this has profound implications in terms of how flexible any brand needs to be—not just the logo or visual identity, but across a wide spectrum of brand expressions..

While the creators of a brand may certainly guide the intended use of the logo, they essentially have no control whatsoever over how it is used externally. Therefore an amazing amount of thought, strategy and testing needs to go into preparing a brand for the wild world externally.

In the familiar example of the logo, we need to ask how visually flexible is it in order to accommodate X number of usage scenarios, in addition to all the hard work that the logo needs to perform in order to live up to the brands core drivers–what we call the Brand Motor(TM). The logo seems simple. But in fact, distilling meaning into what drives an expression like the logo not so simple—let alone creating an expression that is flexible enough to survive in a myriad of environments—environments that are constantly in motion. That takes planning.

Just to be clear, though, the logo is not the brand. It is only one expression of the brand among sometimes hundreds of other key brand expressions specific to any one brand.

Next time > What sort of due diligence should brands do when conceptualizing their name/logo/etc?

Part 3 > What’s the first thing an (online) brand should do if they have a #prfail (they really mess up online)?

Part 4 > Should (online) fashion brands keep anything extra in mind that brands in other markets may not have to worry about?