An exciting new addition to London’s street furniture finally hits the road this week. The London bike hire scheme or 'Barclays Cycle Hire' goes live on Friday. The initiative encourages users to enjoy the city from a different perspective. Hopefully it will. Cycling around the city can be much more refreshing than a sticky summer tube ride!
In terms of brand collaboration I think it’s an interesting partnership. Similar initiatives include O2, which acquired the millennium dome and used it to associate the brand with great entertainment and priority ticketing tie-ins. Additionally, British Airways had a great tourism tie in offering flights on the British Airways London Eye, now owned by Merlin Entertainment.
I wonder what long term benefits will arise from Barclays Cycle Hire beyond just a strong and consistent city presence and the good will the brand is likely to elicit by helping people zip around the city in an environmentally friendly way. More...
Being responsible – economically, environmentally, socially – is not news. It’s expected. It should be a part of every brand’s business. But how should responsibility be reflected in your brand voice?
How a brand speaks about responsibility, and how it is embedded into its very personality, is more than just a great way to talk about what your brand promises – it elevates responsibility to be an integral part of your brand.
Take PUMA, for instance. Its vision – or PUMAVision™ – promises to be Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative. Great words. But how is PUMA living up to this promise?
Look no further than the Clever Little Bag. PUMA worked with industrial designer Yves Behar, and turned packaging on its head to create “the smartest shoe box ever.” The box became a bag.
According to the video, the statistics on the positive impact this will have on the environment are astounding. And further, Brandweek notes “the sneaker brand may also take its claim as a green innovator in the category and woo some consumers for whom sustainability is a major purchase consideration.”
But it’s how PUMA is talking about the Clever Little Bag that’s really caught our attention. More...
Posted by
Interbrand on
7/23/2010 2:03 PM |
Comments (1)
Tokyo is the destination this month for Interbrand CEO Jez Frampton. In this edition of Demand and Desire, Jez gets a handle on Japanese brands’ history, as well as their present and future.
Mavericks forged the surge in Japanese brands in the 1960s: engineers and electronics-geeks who wanted to make consumer products better, faster and smaller. Since then, Japan’s boom and bust economy has seen its neighbors Taiwan, China and Korea catch up.
Overall, it is a challenging time for Japanese brands’ global brand management. Japanese companies, in the past, have allowed local distributors take control of the spirit of the brand. As a result, they now face the challenge of reeling the control back in—a pressure that is becoming harder to ignore as Japan’s “Made in Japan” proposition faces new competition.
Joining Jez in the discussion of building brand equity in Japan, Toyota’s fall out, the great innovators of Japanese industry, and the command and control of an Asian brand are Atsushi Iwashita (CEO Interbrand Japan) and Interbrand’s Tokyo-based Director of Strategy Burton Blume. Together, they unravel why Japan has taken the lead when it comes to sustainability and explore the country's recent shift towards affordable leisure activities.
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Tags: jez frampton, burton blume, japan, tokyo, interbrand, sony, made in japan, mitsubishi, uniqlo, toyota, atsushi iwashita, burton blume |
Categories: Podcast
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If there's an app for that, there's a name for that
The 25th anniversary of the advent of Wi-fi got us thinking about names and technology. At the recent Fuse conference, noted inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil talked about the phenomenal leaps in human progress driven by the breakneck speed of evolution in technology.
Kurzweil’s main point to brand managers and marketers: When it comes to technology, don’t underestimate the importance of brand. Because brands – and brand names – help us make sense of the world around us.
This is particularly true of new technology, because one minute it doesn’t exist and the next it does – so we don’t have terms at hand to help us integrate it into our world. It’s why – to the horror of trademark lawyers everywhere (think genericide) – brand names come to be used as part of our everyday language. We Google ourselves, we Bing results, we TiVo that show, we Tweet the latest, we’re Wi-Fi enabled and there’s an app for that. And the list goes on.
And technology naming doesn’t just change our vocabulary, it challenges regulations. Like URLs before them, apps have created a veritable wild west in the area of trademarks. As developers push the boundaries of what’s possible, and companies of every ilk rush to create them, we’re watching a race for names with little heed for traditional claims of ownership. For now, that is, because global trademark infringement rules still apply (see our tip in App-tly Named: Five Tips for Naming Your Mobile App).
Technology changes the way we do things. Brands show us how. Names make it personal.
Paola Norambuena
Head of Verbal Identity
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    Copyright © 2010 Interbrand. All rights reserved.
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YouTube and the Guggenheim are collaborating on an intriguing collaboration called YouTube Play. Together, they are inviting creators from around the world to submit video for consideration through July 31.
Their aim is to showcase the most exciting online videos from around the world. They’ve enlisted a jury of experts to help with this effort, including Nancy Spector, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Guggenheim Foundation.
The jury will choose up to 200 works to displayed on its website and presented at the Guggenheim in New York, with additional presentations at Guggenheim museums in Berlin, Bilbao and Venice. Check out the video above.
What do you think? Cool concept or is the partnership a bit of a stretch?
Back in April, we wrote about Liquid Wrench’s multi-million dollar effort to challenge WD-40's 52 years of lubricant brand dominance. Liquid Wrench focused on targeting Do-It-Yourself experts, namely through a decidedly hip mobile text campaign.
And yet, even as Liquid Wrench has found a way to differentiate, the ever-resilient WD-40 continues to win props for staying true to its roots.
This month, to celebrate its heritage, the brand has just issued a “collector’s can.” The reproduction its original black and yellow 1950s can is being offered as a limited-edited “Now & Then Twin Pack.” More...
Posted by
Jason Baer on
7/13/2010 3:32 PM |
Comments (1)
Would an app by any other name smell as sweet? After all, software applications for mobile devices — or “apps” — seem to float above the fray, impervious to the machinations of marketers. If the app does what it’s supposed to do and does it exceptionally well, then the name is simply a handle — a necessary but inconsequential part of your app’s existence. Right?
Well, no. As veteran developers have learned through trial and error, your app’s name can be as important as the application itself. In traditional situations, a product’s name is just one part of a much larger marketing mix. Package design, advertising, point-of-sale display, promotions and more all play a role when you’re shopping for a pair of Nikes or your next iPhone – but when you’re searching for an app, nearly all of that tangible context is absent.
In Apple’s App Store, for example, users may access product descriptions and telltale screenshots only after flicking through endless product lists, with only four pieces of information to guide them: an icon (measuring less than 0.25 square inches), user ratings, the company name and the app name. The icon communicates the application’s personality and visual style; the user ratings and company name can provide some much needed credibility; but only the app’s name tells you what it is, what it’s for, and why you might just care enough to tap your screen for more info.
That’s why your app name matters more than ever before. With 225,000 third-party applications in Apple’s App Store alone, the universe of apps is becoming far too crowded to leave success to chance. Here are five tips to follow that might help you avoid a costly mistake. More...
Tags: apple, mobile device, app, apple's app store, naming, scrabble, google’s android market, at&t, mint.com, zombie hunter pro plus, dowload |
Categories: Digital, Etymology, Technology, Verbal Identity
So many companies wonder how to engage their employees in a new brand. "We've got a beautiful new visual system, we're ready to hit the 'launch' button and tell the world about what we can offer and why it's different — but we still don't really 'get' the whole engagement thing. What are we supposed to do with these behaviours?"
One of the things that I urge companies to do is to empower teams of employees to take specific, relevant action that is directly related to their jobs and use the brand as a conduit for achieving goals.
In other words, I'm not interested in hosting meetings wherein employees see the new colour palette for the brand, listen to key messages that are repeated ad nauseam, or complete a mini-quiz about what communications materials are on or off brand (I know, big organizations, the parent-child dynamic is hard to shake).
What I do mean is that companies can provide opportunities for employees to identify a number of critical priorities, and then approach the priorities through the lens of the brand. More...
It’s ubiquitous, expected – its name synonymous with a kind of freedom we are not-so-gradually taking for granted. Sometimes it’s an unexpected relief to be without it, and we realize we could, occasionally, use a little less connection. For some it’s a basic human right we fight to provide, to aid in education and progress. Its recent availability on flights came, certainly, with mixed feelings. (A blessing when you’re on that deadline, a curse when all you want to do is settle in with that book you’ve been dying to read on your Kindle or iPad).
But this much is certain: 25 years after the FCC okayed unlicensed access to radio spectrum for communications a world without Wi-Fi and all it has enabled would be, frankly, unimaginable.
That FCC decision paved the way for Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies – but its name, for some 14 years after this, remained code. More...
After 31 days of intense competition, millions of Spaniards around the world will have woken up this morning (those who bothered going to sleep, that is) to the madre of all hangovers. Meanwhile, the Oranje nation will be coming to terms with a team that for the third time in its history couldn’t quite make it over the final hurdle.
Although the curtain has been drawn for the FIFA World Cup on the field, what about the brands that spent millions securing the official partnership off it?
If there was a World Cup of brands, which ones returned home early in disgrace along with the French, and which ones ended up with a Furia Roja tattoo (The Red Fury- nickname of the Spanish soccer team) emblazoned on their chests?
During my 10-day visit to South Africa, I took in seven matches in six different stadiums (including THAT English shot that crossed the line) and was able to keep half an eye on the official partners. In particular, I noted how all tried to engage the attention of the millions — those who attended matches as well as those watching in the official fan parks, main squares and shopping malls. More...
