The summit will include a talk from Endpoint’s Strategy & Development Director, Tony Lorenz, he will be amongst an established group of branding professionals from companies such as Emirates NBD, Qatar Airways and Jumeirah Group.

To download the Arab Brand Summit agenda click here

The awards will be judged by a jury of branding experts, communications practitioners and academics from across Europe. The winners will be announced at a fabulous gala dinner, hosted by Communicate magazine, at The Brewery EC1.

For further details click here

Emirates NBD's overall position in the Index increased by 50% compared to last year, with the bank coming ahead of international heavy weights such as Nike and Avis. The study stated that "among the non-Islamic retail banks surveyed, Emirates NBD was the top performer and was the most simple brand overall. The bank got points for clear statements, concise communications, efficient transactions and its abundance of physical locations."

The online survey carried out by Siegel+Gale between August and September, 2011, surveyed over 6,000 respondents in seven countries. More than 1,000 of those were based in the Middle East. The aim was to gather perceptions on simplicity and the impact industries and brands have on people's lives in relation to simplicity.

"This is a tremendous distinction for Emirates NBD, and is a reflection of our core brand philosophy," said Vikram Krishna, Head – Group Marketing and Branding, Emirates NBD. "Since launching the brand in 2009, we have strived to integrate simplicity into every aspect of our communications with our customers, as well as internally with our staff. With a large multi-cultural customer base of one million plus, we have to communicate our products and services to people of multiple nationalities. I believe our Truth and Reality campaign was a major part of this achievement."

Emirates NBD's overall strategy has propelled the brand to the 130th most valued banking brand in the world, growing $300m to touch $1.25bn.

Following the merger between Emirates and National Bank of Dubai, two of the UAE’s largest banks, Endpoint were appointed to lead the development of a comprehensive implementation strategy to deliver the newly merged bank, Emirates NBD.  Click here to read the case study

Source: AME Info

The conference had an impressive lineup of speakers including Amanda Clay, the Head of International Brand Management for Telefonica who spoke notably on the importance of owning an employee brand, and her experience of creating one internal brand, building one culture and creating a bonding and commitment throughout the global network of Telefonica offices.

Tony Lorenz of Endpoint, spoke eloquently on the subject of what happens after a design agency hands the new visual identity and brand guidelines over to their client. He spoke about how only the skilled implementation of a brand will determine whether the investment made in strategy and creativity will bring the desired sustained returns. He also spoke about the fact that in reality for every one pound invested in strategy and design, twenty pounds on average are needed for implementation. Tony pointed out that clients need design solutions that not only work within the 2D dimensions of the brand identity, but also work practically across all 3D touch-points and assets; and the best way to achieve that is to start the implementation process from the very outset of the branding programme. 

We also heard from speakers about the relevance of the different aspects of a branding exercise including – tone of voice, digital brand management tools, cultural and language considerations to be kept in mind during a global rebranding exercise, how to build brands with emotional intelligence, and also budget management while rebranding.

John Shewell, the Head of Communications for Brighton and Hove City Council, brought an entirely new perspective to life by sharing the challenges faced by his team while rebranding the local authority. His insights on the strategic challenges of executing a rebrand for a public sector entity had everyone sitting up and taking notice. John spoke about how the council had previously lacked a human face, making it hard to give it any accountability for its achievements and the fact that people did not understand what their council tax was for, or where their money went. Shewell saw this as an opportunity to position the council much closer to the residents, and provide them with a consistent brand and experience.

The conference was a great opportunity for professionals who are involved in the different aspects of the branding world to create awareness about how they have successfully worked with the creation and implementation of brands, and managed the challenges they faced in their respective areas of expertise. Participants presented compelling examples of their experiences, collaboratively allowing everybody at the conference a helicopter view of the branding process.

The Transform conference provided excellent take away for all participants who attended, and as we predicted, is a must attend in the future for anybody who is involved in the business of brands!

Please feel free to email Shikha, in our strategy team at shikha.sabharwal@endpoint.co.uk if you'd like a copy of the presentation we made. We'd be happy to share our insights with you.

'All too often we see senior management focus enthusiastically on the front end creative aspects of a new brand identity, a rebrand or even a simple brand refresh. But, when the glamorous bit is done, the truly critical phase, the physical implementation often becomes fragmented, with control over costs and quality moving away from the brand guardian to other operational areas, such as property, facilities, IT and many other distant parts of the business', says Gideon Wilkinson, founding partner and director at Endpoint.

At the Transform conference this month, Tony Lorenz of Endpoint will be speaking with three companies (including DSM) who tackled implementation from the outset, about their experience and insights.

"We are pleased to participate in, and contribute to ‘Transform’, which is an exemplary and unique forum for anybody who is involved in the business of brands" says Graham Erickson, Creative Director at Endpoint.

For those of you who still need to register for the event, do use the unique discounted booking page for friends of Endpoint. http://www.communicatemagazine.co.uk/component/content/article/3128

We look forward to seeing a number of you at the conference later this month!

We are looking for an experienced and motivated:

Net income was $7.31bn (£4.6bn) in the three months to 25 June, 125% higher than a year earlier and a record quarterly profit for the firm. Revenue was $28.6bn, also a quarterly record.

Apple sold more than 20 million iPhones in the quarter and 9.25 million iPads.

However, iPod sales continued to slip, down by 20% to 7.54 million units.

The results assuaged concerns about the supply of the iPad 2, partly because of parts supply interruptions caused by Japan's tsunami and earthquake in March.

Apple chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said: "We are extremely pleased with our performance.

"Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25bn."

Mr Oppenheimer also said that Lion, the new version of the Mac OS X operating system, will go on sale Wednesday.

The Lion software mimics some of the features of the iPhone and iPad interface.

The company has a reputation for being conservative with its forecasts.

Shares jumped 5.3% in extended after-hours trading to their highest for a year.

SOURCE: BBC News

With the creative brand consultancy being undertaken by Hat-trick Design, Endpoint were appointed to rollout the visual rebrand across its UK sites.

As the first phase, Endpoint undertook the internal and external fit-out of eight Action on Hearing Loss offices across the UK to coincide with the centenary celebrations of the charity.

With the visual identity being a closely guarded secret, work on the graphic installation began at 5pm the day before the launch; the Endpoint team worked to ensure that Action on Hearing Loss staff began the next morning into fully rebranded offices.

Working with a charity demands the best possible value for every pound spent; Endpoint have supplied the signage for the remaining 15 sites and are developing a specification pack for Action on Hearing Loss to implement a fit-out on any future sites they acquire, to ensure brand consistency cross the estate and facilitate tight control over the clients' budget.

Action on Hearing Loss: http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/
Hat-trick Design: http://www.hat-trickdesign.co.uk/

“Our rebrand as Lumesse is the end of a long project and the start of a new chapter in our history,” said Michelle Martin, Global Head of Marketing. “The brand reflects the kind of company our people said they want to work for – vibrant, human, fun but focused, global in scale but local in execution and, above all, a business that generates fantastic outcomes for its customers and inspiring careers for their people.”

Endpoint have been working with Lumesse to help audit and plan their rebrand using the market-leading ImpactValuator™and subsequently were appointed to implement the re-branding of their signage across the globe.

 
The event is still only in its second year but attracted 300 guests and was 60% bigger than last year with entries from all over Europe.

"Its a great event for us to be part of as its not just a beauty parade but rewards the strategic aspects of rebranding and importantly the implementation side. That's what we are passionate about at Endpoint, supporting internal teams to make sure their brand is implemented effectively, consistently and cost effectively.”
 
For a full list of winners visit http://www.communicatemagazine.co.uk/transform2011enter