Latest Blog Posts
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Premier Asset Management: our latest branding project
We’ve been working on Premier’s new visual brand since August 2011, and now it’s been launched.
Premier has been through many changes over the past 20 years or so, but is now firmly established as a proven investment funds business, with a team of first-rate fund managers.
But its visual identity had not kept up with the company’s evolution, and in the Summer of 2011 the directors decided it was time for a change.
We started with research – interviewing senior members of the Premier team, creating an online staff questionnaire, and generally finding out the best things about the business.
This enabled us to identify the ‘DNA’ of the Premier brand – core qualities that differentiates it from competitors. The most important of these qualities is Premier’s INDEPENDENCE: it does things its own way; it gives fund managers unprecedented freedom; it’s independently owned, not part of a multinational group …and it works best with independently-minded advisers who don’t just follow the herd.
Next came the creative stage – bringing the brand ‘DNA’ to life with visuals. Our solution was simple: declare Premier’s independent spirit by waving a flag!
Our unique flag design is at the core of the new identity – starting with the company logo – and by applying this to everything Premier produces online and in print we’ve created the components of a powerful visual brand.
You can see examples of our other projects here.
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The other 95%
I heard on the radio this week that 95% of UK companies have less than 10 employees – and are officially classified as ‘micro-companies’. It’s quite an astonishing statistic given the amount of attention dedicated to large corporations and SMEs.
Of course, I have a branding point to make.
When we read about branding, we’re usually reading pieces about the tiny minority of business – the big ones – not the 95% of businesses that are ‘micro’. So how relevant is the branding input?
Good visual branding is a vital ingredient to the success of a business. But I think that it can make even more difference to a small – or even ‘micro’ – business.
That’s why, although we’re really proud of the work we’ve done for our large corporate clients, we’re just as keen to work for the other 95%. There’s a lot of them, and they need help to stand out from the crowd.
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Bond/sixes: Bad Straplines™
I have this thing about corporate taglines /straplines: I don’t like them. Or rather, I only like them when they’re there to perform a function, and do so realistically and truthfully. As statements they can be a bit ‘empty’, and too often they’re used to fill a space under a logo.We can argue for and against straplines until the end of time, but here are some that particularly don’t do it for me…
Believe in better
Crudely speaking, Sky are suggesting “other providers aren’t as good as us”, and maybe their satellite service IS pretty reliable (at a price). However, on Sky channels today you’ll find Verminators, America’s Top Model, Dating In The Dark, Oops TV 2, etc. And I’ve found their customer service to be no better or worse than any other corporate giant. It’s a strapline that over-promises. “Where possible, believe in slightly better”, would be more accurate.Today, Tomorrow, Toyota
In the Great Book Of Strapline Clichés, the three-word alliteration is on page one. And this one’s painful, nauseating and overblown. About ten years ago they used, “The car in front is a Toyota” – far more interesting and engaging.Helpful banking
…as opposed to the other type of banking. Where some are overblown, the aspirations of NatWest’s strapline are so modest as to be utterly invisible.We can be bothered
I guess Simply Health are trying to be irreverent, but to me the colloquial approach doesn’t feel right for a high quality provider of something so important. Fine for a plumber, but for surgery?Where do you want to go today?
Asking questions is always bold. Here, the answer for most working people is, “Well, Microsoft, where I WANT to go is irrelevant, I HAVE to go to the same place I went yesterday”. But it’s also gut-wrenchingly, eye-rollingly awful in every possible way. Aspirational. Idealistic. Hateful.For the journey
Sometimes the style of delivery is the biggest problem. The Lloyds TSB TV campaign is mawkish and lowest-common-denominator patronising, and the strapline quasi-religious. Julie Walters’ whimpering, sympathetic, “For the journey” at the end is simply the inch-thick icing on an extremely sickly cake.All this said, some might argue that a good strapline is the one you remember, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons.
But there are good strap lines out there, too. They add something. Sometimes they even mean something. So it’s only fair to cover these in another blog.
Posted by Vince on November 23, 2011
Categories:
Advertising Bond/sixes Branding Observations
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Best foot forward
You know how it is, you’re getting ready for a meeting with a potential client: it could go either way. Could be a nice little bit of business, or a waste of time.
“Should I iron a shirt? Well, this one isn’t TOO crumpled.”
“Shame about those grubby shoes, if only I could be bothered to clean them. ”
“Briefcase? There’s not much wrong with that trusty old rucksack.”I know, it’s silly. You just wouldn’t meet a new client looking like this.
So, I wonder, why are business owners prepared to put up with a logo that doesn’t match that nicely ironed shirt?
Does your business deserve a better logo? Take a look at the LogoClinic – our free branding consultation and fixed-price logo design service for SMEs.
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LogoClinic Tips: #3
When you’re developing a logo, don’t assume that it needs to have a symbol, as well as text. Some logos aren’t actually logos; they’re logotypes – created from distinctively written text alone. Some have symbols (like an animal, a swoosh or a pattern) as well as text. And some are just a symbol, with no text.
Which kind should you have? Here’s a good rule of thumb…
If your business name is short and distinctive, you’re usually better off with a logotype – the logo being your company name written in a distinctive typeface perhaps with an ‘ownable’ twist or colour combination, rather than distracting the eye and mind with a symbol. Think M&G or Cofunds.
One the other hand, if your company name is rather generic – or slightly cumbersome – adding a distinctive ‘badge’ element will help to distinguish it from its surroundings and create recognition. Prudential’s head or Invesco Perpetual’s mountain are both good examples.
And, if you have a few million pounds to spend on raising awareness by saturating your market with your logo over a few years, using only a symbol on its own – like Apple or Nike – would be kind of neat.
Does your business deserve a better logo? Take a look at the LogoClinic – our free branding consultation and fixed-price logo design service for SMEs.
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How the Russian avant garde movement influenced financial branding
While in London the other day we dropped into the Royal Academy’s latest exhibition. I’m a big fan of the Russian avant garde constructivist movement. Like, who isn’t?
They were an idealistic bunch, with a Utopian view of how their world (Soviet Russia) could be a better place to live in through design. And they went on to design it.
Sketches and paintings morphed into architectural proposals, many of which were then built, or at least influenced building design – from mass housing schemes and public buildings to radio masts and power stations.
Much of their experimental architecture has disappeared or is in ruins, but the legacy is huge. The Russian avant garde is credited with starting (or anticipating) abstract art, pop art, minimalism, abstract expressionism, brutalism, modern typography, the graphic style of punk, and so on. Its DNA is in most art and design movements that came after it.
The RA exhibition is great – especially the evocative photos of once-great buildings crumbling in their twilight years. Particularly worth a look if you’re into architecture.
So how did the Russian avant grade movement influence financial branding today? As far as I can tell, it didn’t.
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Branding – it’s a team game
A typical branding project goes something like this:
1 CEO/Exec team of company recognises need to review branding, briefs agency to help
2 Branding agency devises clever strategy to address branding issue
3 Branding agency shows creative options for making strategy look nice
4 CEO/Exec team choose a creative
5 Creative is rolled out (on website, advertising, sales support and marketing materials, etc)
6 Job doneEr, no. Job not quite done.
For any business, especially those of 20 people or more, communicating branding changes to everyone in the company isn’t just polite, it’s essential. Here’s why…
A branding review usually identifies two or three key messages that sum up the best things about a company and distils these into a ‘Big Idea’. A new visual identity (logo, colours, imagery etc) is just one output from the Big Idea.
But arguably a more important output is every member of staff taking the Big Idea and weaving it into their own role, into conversations with clients, communications, in fact every touchpoint outside and inside the company. But to do this they need to understand it, and to buy into it.
It’s an important part of what we do as branding consultants: just today we presented a new visual brand to groups of staff at an asset management business. It can be a really positive, unifying part of the process.
Make sure everyone in the business gets what the organisation stands for: it’s a principle that all sports teams follow. (The successful ones certainly do.)
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LogoClinic Tips: #2
Think of your logo as a signature, not a picture. Don’t try to tell a story with a diagram or an illustration. For a start, the logo will inevitably tend to become visually cluttered – and they work better when they’re simple and clear. But it’s also missing the point – your logo isn’t meant to be an accurate ‘depiction’ of what you do – it should be a memorable and distinctive ‘representation’ of the essence of your business.
So, if you advise on mortgages, you don’t have to feature a house in your logo. But if you advise on mortgages, and your business is called ‘Zebra Mortgages’, it might feature black and white stripes.
Does your business deserve a better logo? Take a look at the LogoClinic – our free branding consultation and fixed-price logo design service for SMEs.
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LogoClinic Tips: #1
You don’t need to include your full company name – or legal status, like ‘Ltd.’ – in your logo. It just makes the whole thing cluttered and wordy. There are practical considerations, too: with lots of words, the logo becomes illegible when it’s reduced in size.
Instead, your logo should ‘read’ as you want to be known. So if your business is called Persona Financial Advisory Partners Limited, your logo would only include the word ‘Persona’. If in doubt, ask yourself how you answer the phone.
Does your business look as good as it should? Take a look at the LogoClinic – our free branding consultation and fixed-price logo design service for SMEs.
