By Paul Veness

We are all familiar with global brands such as Nike, McDonald’s and Apple.  Brands that have one set of values to communicate.  One vision.  One logo.  Wherever we travel in this exciting world of ours, their identity is instantly recognisable.  But these companies don’t just wade into a foreign territory without thinking about their impact on the local culture.  And the impact of the local culture on them.  In order to maintain their strong branding, they must adopt a localisation strategy to ensure they communicate effectively with their local markets.  The Globalisation and Localisation Association (Gala) state that “localisation is the process of adapting a product or content to a specific locale… The goal is to provide a product with the look and feel of having been created for the target market to eliminate or minimise local sensitivities”.

Research by the California State University details the widespread acknowledgement amongst global companies of the need to expand into foreign markets, with “74% of multinational enterprises believing it is most important to achieve increased revenues from global operations”.  To do this organisations require a strategic approach to their localised content, be it on marketing collateral, PR campaigns, advertising or packaging.  Although this is something that can be difficult to manage, the statistics indicate how successful a localised campaign can be.  Figures from Gala state:-

• It would take 83 languages to reach 80% of all people in the world, and over 7,000 languages to reach everyone.

• 56.2% of consumers say the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price.

• 95% of Chinese online consumers indicate greater comfort level with websites in their language; only one percent of US-based online retailers offer sites specific to China.

Global brands and their local offering…

But it’s not just about translation, though this is obviously a large part of getting your message across.  It’s also about preparing your product for a new location, culture and audience.  Take McDonald’s for example, they have mastered the subtle art of localisation with the creation of regional menu items for their international markets.  Pop into a McDonald’s in New Zealand and you can get a Kiwi burger.  In India you’ll find Chicken Maharaja-Macs on the menu.  These products are individual to the local market, but they remain true to the brand promise, illustrating, as Idealog describe, how localisation “can actually boost the brand by making it relevant to a local market”.

Perhaps one of the best examples of a localisation strategy which governs the entire ethos of a company, comes in the financial sector.  HSBC have long been known as the global bank with an understanding of local cultures.  This has been conveyed consistently through TV, printed and in-house communications.  Their strapline ‘the world’s local bank’ is the external representation of their business strategy, that of maintaining a consistent, trustworthy and informed brand right across the globe.

It is however, important to remember that localisation can go wrong. By even considering creating a local offering you are dangling perilously close to a media backlash, or somewhat humorous miscalculation which manages to offend an entire country in one fell swoop.  Only recently Rosie Baker of Marketing Week highlighted an embarrassing error made by Kraft when promoting Oreo in Russia.  I’m sure you’ve read about it.  The new name they marketed in Russia translated as ‘oral sex’.  Not the kind of image you want to promote!  And as Baker points out, “the name shows that Kraft hasn’t carried out proper due diligence to make sure that it finds a brand name appropriate for all international markets”.

There are even some brands that deliberately side step localisation.  James Bickford of Idealog cites Gucci as one such luxury brand, claiming that “internationalism is the very essence of its glamour which is why Gucci avoids diluting it with localisation”.  The Gucci brand thus maintains its aspirational, even unattainable, image.  But this example is an exception rather than the norm.

Implementing a successful localisation strategy…

Spending the time and money to localise your marketing activity should be a priority for any organisation. If not, you take the risk of losing the money you spend on your global campaign — and to repair your image, you’ve got to add public relations spend to your budget.

One of the most important things to remember is that getting localisation right doesn’t have to involve a big change to have a big effect.  The impact achieved by simply taking the time to consider local sensitivities and adapting your brand appropriately can be huge.  Premier Inn have managed this perfectly with their international hotels, specifically those in the Middle-East.  The external branding on these hotels still strictly adheres to the UK-conceived brand guidelines, with the same logo and colourways, the same ‘guest-obsessed’ brand values, but with one addition – the hotel name in Arabic sits above the main brand marque, conveying the name to both international and local customers.  This doesn’t dilute the brand, but does tell the local customer that they are important enough to be acknowledged in Premier Inn’s corporate image.  The local message is continued inside the hotel too with the inclusion of a Qibla in each bedroom – essential for guests and an example of how a small change can have a big impact.

So the lesson is, when you take your beautifully crafted product or campaign to a new market, it is vital you first understand the cultural, religious and political impact it will have, and tailor your offer accordingly.  A localisation strategy cannot guarantee success, but without one it will all but guarantee failure.

Endpoint and its international network of affiliated offices are skilled in implementing global brands, locally. If you would like to talk confidentially about a brand implementation or brand management challenge please call Tony Lorenz in London (+44 020 7089 2670) or Mathew Glover in Dubai (+971 4447 5847) – we’d be delighted to help.

References:-
http://thefinancialbrand.com/hsbc/
http://www.idealog.co.nz/global-warning
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/krafts-new-brand-means-oral-sex-in-russia/
http://bondyconsulting.com/news/
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/why-global-brands-must-be-part-of-local-cultures/
http://www.gala-global.org/why-localize
http://blog.csoftintl.com/5-reasons-why-localization-should-be-a-priority/

Accessed 15-05-2012

The BBC confirmed that under a monolithic brand structure all government departments will have the same logo to coincide with the launch of a single website, to access all government services and information.

The Royal Crest will form the basis of the new master logo, with departments ‘branding’ it in their own colour.

The spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said there “will be no cost to the taxpayer” as the changes are being developed in-house.

This is a reform which Endpoint called for back in July 2010 when Gideon Wilkinson, Managing Director of Endpoint, discussed with Neil Gibbons, Editor of Communicate Magazine, the dizzying number of brands within the UK government.

“When you take a look at central government in the UK, it is shocking to discover the sheer volume of brands in use. The UK government is comprised of 47 departments and ministries, on top of this there are hundreds of non-departmental public bodies, all of which have their own individual brands.

“Aside from the obvious observation that the cost in developing, implementing and maintaining these brand must be enormous, you have to question the need for the government to brand their departments and ministries like a consumer brand. How much does the general public come into contact with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for example – enough to warrant its own set of values, strategy and visual identity? Or would it be more sensible for these departments to take a more simplistic, unified and cost-effective approach to branding”

“This problem has arisen historically, by new Ministers who like to stamp their mark on a department.  It appears to have been acceptable to spend millions on continuously transforming government brands to reflect a Ministers new vision.”

If the implementation of the new visual identity is “done intelligently and planned correctly, it could provide the government with a more effective and unified identity with significant savings throughout the government’s term.”

To read the full interview click here

Source: BBC News

By Annie Corbishley

You wouldn’t spend thousands of pounds on a sparkling new kitchen and never clean it (or at least, pay someone to clean it for you).  You wouldn’t buy a vroomy new car and then never get it serviced, letting it slowly fall to pieces.  You wouldn’t spend millions rebranding your business with a sexy new logo, strapline and mission statement, only to forget about it the minute the signage is installed.  Oh, hang on a minute!  It would seem that some companies do…

Much emphasis has been put on rebranding choices and how the 2D logo manifests itself in the reality of 3D life.  But what about the rest of the brand?  Yes, a new logo may look pretty, but we all know that a brand is more than that.  The brand is inevitably tied up in the human experience of the product or service:

If the brilliant new e-reader in the pretty new packaging falls apart just after the warranty expires, then that’s your brand.

If the receptionist in the beautifully designed hotel foyer ignores you while she finishes chatting on her mobile phone, then that’s your brand.

And if the shiny new sign outside that swanky new restaurant gets covered in pigeon poo (sorry) that no-one bothers to clean, then that’s your brand.

As the implementors of brand identity, responsible for the ‘bits people see’ (the lighting, the wayfinding and signage, etc.), to say that the discovery of a hastily-applied bit of masking tape to a once-beautiful store directory stabs at our pride (and even a little bit at our hearts for the more sensitive of us) is an understatement.  For this achieves not the effect desired by the employee who applied said masking tape – namely, to re-direct customers to or from another department in the store – but rather, what this says to the customer is “We don’t really care about how we present ourselves to you.  We don’t really care what you think of us.  We take you for granted”.  That is the brand.  Regardless of how faithfully the logo is reproduced on their new uniform.

But so often, a maintenance programme is either shunned as being too expensive to set up, or, more commonly, not considered at all.  Many brand owners like the appeal of the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ stance which I can sympathise with.  The implementation of a rebrand is more often than not the most expensive part of the whole process.  As Endpoint co-founder Paul Veness says, “What people don’t always realise is that the implementation costs can be 20 to 30 times the design budget”.  So having just spent this amount of money, it’s no wonder that companies want to take a moment to regain a sense of composure.  Emotionally, the job is done and dusted.  The rebrand has been rolled out across the estate.  The signage is up.  Everyone can relax.

But having forked out however many thousands or millions of pounds on the hardware, shouldn’t this be seen as an investment worth protecting?  In terms of brand image, failed lighting or dirty, broken signage is never going to be desirable, and customers will notice discrepancies.  Rather than waiting for something to go wrong and reacting to it, a proactive approach to insuring your physical brand assets should be adopted.  Regular maintenance and servicing will result in enhanced performance and extended life, saving you money in the long term.

Still not convinced it’s worth the set up costs?  Let’s look at the pros and cons: 

A reactive or unplanned approach to sign maintenance is one that relies purely on emergency call-outs, which can be costly as it may involve long distance travel and out-of-hours charges.  In addition, as the engineers won’t have planned to visit the site, they may not have the right kit with them resulting in the need for a re-visit (more cost – yawn).  Similarly, the unplanned visit will very rarely coincide with a convenient time during which to carry out the work, so your customers may be inconvenienced or revenue lost while the work takes place.  Each replacement item, be it an LED light strip or new acrylic panel, will have to be ordered as a one-off which is usually the most expensive way of ordering a product.

A well thought-out and managed maintenance programme will address most of these issues.  Instead of single emergency call outs, a planned programme will minimise site disruption as work can be scheduled to take place at the most convenient time.  It will take the geography of the estate into account and minimise travel costs.  Engineers will be able to ensure they have the right kit with them, reducing the need for re-visits.  Regular inspection of each site will result in signs that are less likely to suddenly fail and ensure that they meet current health and safety measures (which should keep your legal team happy).  And of course, regular cleaning (no more pigeon poo!) can only enhance your brand image.  In addition, if a bulk store of replacement hardware is available for those times when replacing a sign or lighting element is unavoidable, you will benefit from economies of scale rather than paying that expensive one-off cost.  Of course, a reactive approach will be needed to deal with unforeseeable situations such as vandalism or storm damage, and so a contingency budget should be set aside for this.

In addition to maintenance on a practical level, continued communication with the branches of the company is equally important.  With high staff turnover in sectors such as retail and leisure, it’s essential that the thinking behind the brand is communicated clearly and regularly so that each employee feels involved and understands the reasons behind the physical manifestation of the brand that they live with day in and day out.  Communication and training, combined with regular site visits, will reduce the number of instances of masking tape on the store directory, or a regional manager deciding to ‘logo-up’ an off-brand item like a rubbish bin.

I know it’s not glamorous.  It’s not exciting.  And it doesn’t exactly get your pulse racing.  But once you’ve decided to protect your physical corporate image by putting a bit of investment in maintenance, I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

Endpoint and its international network of affiliated offices are skilled in maintaining global brands. If you would like to talk confidentially about a brand implementation or brand management challenge please call Tony Lorenz in London (+44 020 7089 2670) or Mathew Glover in Dubai (+971 4447 5847) – we’d be delighted to help.

References:-

http://www.endpoint.co.uk/how-to-set-about-rebranding-your-business/

Accessed 01-05-2012

Located in the heart of Thames Valley, Green Park was master-planned by architects Foster + Partners, who also designed the first of its buildings.  Employing over 5,500 people, the park is home to a number of blue chip organisations including Thames Water, Cisco, HSBC and Symantec, in addition to a range of cafes, restaurants and amenities.

Further creative group will lead the rebrand alongside their sister consultancy Fishburn Hedges. Creative director James Beveridge, who is leading an integrated team, said of the incumbent brand “it focuses solely on the property, rather than other benefits such as the environment and its amenities.”

By addressing brand positioning, identity design, wayfinding signage and marketing literature Further intend to “unify all of Green Park’s content and help people understand the benefits of working there”

Tony Lorenz, Endpoints Strategy & Development Director said of the project “this is an excellent opportunity for Endpoint to deliver a visual identity which will benefit the day-to-day operations of this thriving business park, making the lives of the many employees easier and enabling the parks ambitious growth plans to flourish”

Source: Green Park

Source: Further

By Matt Peberdy

The social media revolution…          

How many of you sitting there reading this have a Facebook account? I’d say it was a pretty safe bet that most, if not all, of you do – and it’s not just people that have joined the social media revolution, it’s also safe to say that your favourite brands are busy ‘Tweeting’, ‘Facebooking’ and social networking as we speak!

Take Coca Cola for instance.  On 24^th April 2012 at 14.21pm they had 41,519,428 ‘likes’ on Facebook, 66,392,817 Youtube video views and 525,470 Twitter ‘followers’.  That’s a hefty chunk of their audience I’d say!  Social media has provided them with the opportunity to reach out to the world and offer them a completely new platform on which to express their affiliation to the brand, thus spreading their popularity across the web and beyond, quite literally into the hands of their customers as they tweet on their mobile phones and watch videos on their iPads.

But what if tomorrow Coca Cola decided to rebrand to ‘Soft Drinks Co’?  Or ‘Drinks On Us’?  (Yes, I know those names are terrible but they’ll do to illustrate the point.)  Or even worse, what if PepsiCo & Coca Cola were to merge?! What would happen to those ‘likes’, ‘views’ or ‘followers’?  These are important considerations for any brand owner and it’s well worth taking some time to reflect on such implications before embarking on a social media rebrand.

The modern ‘Holy Grail’ of branding!

Research shows that by the end of 2011, there were over 500 million active Facebook users, which means 1 in 13 people on Earth use it, with half of them logged in on any given day (Digitalbuzz, 2011). That’s a lot of potential customers.

Social media can introduce your brand to a new audience.  Beyond that, it is only a tool in what should be an extensive brand toolbox, one that should be integrated into all channels and forms of communication.  Let’s take Starbucks for example.  They’ve recently  experienced an increase in brand value, coming in at number 97 on Interbrand’s Top 100 brands of 2011.  They rank 17^th in Social Media Reputation’s latest table – above such giants as Nike, Mercedes-Benz and Ikea.  By creating an engaging online presence across a variety of social media platforms and employing proactive online representatives, they have improved brand perception and forged a deeper emotional connection with their customers.

At the other end of the spectrum, there has even been an example of how a brand has taken a serious nose-dive due to social media, with RIM, the owner of Blackberry, still reeling from their global service outage in October 2011.  Noteable figureheads including Lord Alan Sugar and Piers Morgan took to Twitter to vent their anger.  With their combined following of nearly 4 million this amounted to an unpredecented level of negative press, culminating in a sharp drop in RIM’s share price.  This has continued to fall, with Blackberry slowly but surely falling out of favour with the technological generation, to the point where they are now considering withdrawing from the consumer market.

As all conquering social media can be and side from the examples of success and failure, it is also important to examine the pitfalls of rebranding your online identity or even what problems would arise from a company merger.

Rebranding social media – Where do your ‘likes’ go?

Let’s work on the hypothetical situation that PepsiCo & Coca Cola do decide to merge, therefore prompting a reactive rebrand.  A strange thought isn’t it?  Two fiercely competitive soft-drink titans kissing and making up… some would say settling their problems over a drink.

The merger of these two companies forming ‘Drinks On Us’ and creating a soft drinks ‘superbrand’ means both have well established social media presences, with millions of connections, so combining the two is surely easy and makes sense?

Wrong.

Coca Cola have a combined social media following (Facebook ‘likes’ added to Twitter followers) of 42 million, whereas Pepsi are in a clear second place with a total of 9 million.

Unfortunatley for these two global giants there isn’t a direct route enabling a company to carry their rebrand across their social media sites.  Twitter don’t allow a migration of ‘followers’, Facebook won’t merge ‘likes’ between two pages and Youtube certainly can’t conjoin video views and channel subscriptions.  This is preposterous surely?  How is it supportive to a modern and forward-thinking brand?

All social networking platforms are brands in their own right, and eventually as the platform continues to grow, we’ll end up with one big social network – your followers, ‘likes’ and subscribers will all be rolled into one.  Inevitably that will mean somebody has merged with somebody else?  So when push comes to shove social networks are going to have to provide organisations the facility to merge subscribers.  Why not now?  A quick internet search returns handfuls of articles and blogs asking for this option.  Someone, somewhere, high up in the San Francisco valleys must be listening.

So what does this all mean for the mouthwatering prospect of “Drinks On Us”?  As I mentioned, Coca Cola are leagues ahead in terms of size of their social network, and one of the two companies’ pages is going to have to bite the dust, so I guess it makes sense to strike off Pepsi.  In actual fact when we look deeper into their network, Pepsi have around one hundred thousand more Twitter followers than Coca Cola.  This throws a social-network-shaped spanner in the works, as it makes sense to get rid of Coca Cola’s Twitter page, but ultimately they are the bigger brand.  This all seems like a bit of a pickle!  I guess they’ll have to fight it out, maybe agreeing on keeping Coca Cola’s Facebook page with Pepsi’s Twitter – that way it keeps both parties happy without too much fuss.  Through all this though, we have to remember neither page will keep the original branding, purely the raw consumer connections.

So how can a rebrand be taken forward for now?

So what can a modern brand do in the interim?  It starts from scratch, it advertises down the correct pathways and hopes its newest and latest rebranding is adopted in the social media spectrum.  It could even become more popular than the original corporate website!  The important thing to remember is: social media is about reflecting brand personality in a conversational style that a wider audience can relate to.  It should support a brand’s corporate presence rather than replace it.

A well composed and regularly updated social media page can add enormous popularity to your brand very quickly, and reach a global audience even quicker – but is it worth the pain to repeat this process if a rebrand does occur?  Your social media page is now often the first thing prospective customers look for, so a well branded and integrated message is like wearing your best suit to a job interview.  I know it’s painstaking, I know it’s tedious and takes time, but yes it is worth rebranding your social media.  I’d even make it a priority. Gone are the days where a face-to-face meeting is required before doing business, your social media page can sometimes be your first introduction; and coupled with a fully integrated rebrand, can deliver a precise and impactful message.

So when thinking of establishing a social media platform for your brand, remember to evaluate all possible angles, as once your pages are active, social media can either be your best friend, or your absolute worst enemy.  Make sure it’s the former.

References:-
http://www.interbrand.com/best-global-brands-2011/
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/FB-stats-facts-2011/
http://twitter.com/cocacola
http://www.youtube.com/cocacola
http://www.facebook.com/cocacola
http://www.mysocialmediareputation.com/SMR-league_tables/
http://www.mysocialmediareputation.com/BlackBerrys-SM-Score-takes-a-dive/
http://www.facebook.com/pepsi
http://twitter.com/pepsi

Accessed 19-04-2012

By Daniel Kay

We’ve all heard the news, the high street is failing!

Once the bustling heart of a city, now just a generic mis-match of stores, reminiscent of the never-ending corridors in Scooby Doo.  Be it Bradford or Southampton, Middlesbrough or Luton, the nation’s high streets have become a continuous procession of Poundland-Bookmakers-Coffee Shop, Poundland-Bookmakers-Coffee Shop…

Even for those of us whose perfect day out does consist of 32 batteries for a pound, the 3.15 at Ascot and a Grande Caramel Macchiato there’s no denying it: the British high street is in trouble.  Research carried out by Saatchi & Saatchi found that “one in six shops is currently boarded up, rising to one in four in the centres of Rotherham, Blackpool, Grimsby and Hull.  Footfall is declining: down 10% in the last three years.  Fully a quarter of the UK’s high streets are failing, with another 11% suffering.”

We could argue that the problem – the root of all this evil – is the internet.  With the turn of the millennium and the dot-com boom, major retailers packed up their bags and headed for cyberspace, armed with the promise of lower operating costs, streamlined process management and the opportunity to reach a global customer base.  You only have to look at the list of names – most of whom were synonymous with the British high street through the 80’s and 90’s – who no longer have an offline presence – Dixons, Virgin and Barratts – to see this in action.

But with all the doom and gloom, could some interesting news from two of the internet revolutionaries signal the revival of, or at least put a greater emphasis on, the British high street?

In February 2012 Google announced plans to open its first physical store at the heart of its European Headquarters in Dublin.  This was closely followed by news from Amazon that they intended to trial an offline store close to its headquarters in Seattle.  Reports from The Telegraph suggested that “The shop (Amazon store) is being opened in a bid to gauge how profitable a chain of retail stores, in a similar vein to Apple, would be.”  That’s certainly no mean feat!

The Apple stores have undoubtedly become the iconoclasts of modern day retail.  Their stores make an average of $5,600 per square foot.  Their employees are even reported to be worth a staggering $320,000 each.  But when you look at the bigger picture and consider the profitability of these stores in relation to the company’s overall revenue it begs the question: how much are these stores actually about selling a product and how much are they about immersing the brand into our day-to-day lives?

It’s not about the sales……well not directly!!

For the 2011 financial year, Apple reported revenue of $108 billion, of which less than 10% ($10.7 billion) came via their retail stores.

Rosie Baker of Marketing Week describes how “the future of stores is not in retail’.  Instead outlets will become “emporiums for brand engagement”.  As retailers work towards creating an integrated ‘bricks and clicks’ operation, online brands will appear on the high street as part of a wider marketing strategy.

If you think about it logically there is no way that Amazon could come to the offline marketplace and try to sell their entire product collection under one roof.  It’s almost like the real life version of You Tube’s ‘April fools’ prank where they offered their entire video collection in a 550,000 disc set, delivered by your own personal fleet of shipping trucks at the cost of $3 million.  Amazon would need an entire high street to themselves.

Instead, the ‘brand emporium’ acts as a showroom for Amazon’s flagship products and their brand.  The physical presence enables them to immerse themselves in the day-to-day lives of their customers.  It gives them the opportunity to engage on a personal level and build a direct relationship with each individual.  By producing a stimulating, no pressure environment they provide consumers with the chance to discover more about the Amazon product family and have a direct experience with the Amazon brand values.

Further to this, the physical store also offers an environment where people can socialise, share and interact.  It even provides a meeting place or somewhere you can visit for a little self indulgence, further strengthening the day-to-day relationship you have with a brand.

Of course the motive behind all this is that it directs customers to their online operations.  This is something which Amazon has tried in the past through its price checking app, which offers shoppers a 5% discount if they look up the price of an item and make a purchase through their online store.  However the ‘Amazon Emporium’ is seen as a much more organic way to drive customers online, building genuine brand loyalty. An excellent example of this is John Lewis, who found that when they open a store, they see a rise in online sales for that area.

It’s necessary to point out that Amazon are only trialling their first physical store and by their own admission it will occupy a smaller, more ‘boutique-type’ venue, rather than a giant space like Apple’s super sized, global stores.  It’s also difficult to imagine that should the Amazon store be a success in Seattle they will soon be making their way into Coventry city centre, but the ideology and the brand ethos of these stores can certainly translate to the British high street.

All hail the saviour of the high street!!

Probably the most interesting thing to come out of Saatchi & Saatchi’s study, is how Generation ‘Y’ (Britons aged 16-29) feel a strong connection to their local high street.  As Campaign explains “while this generation are, without doubt, the digital natives of advertising folklore, they are not overly enamoured by online shopping.”  While young people still visit their high street, “it is becoming little more than a transactional relationship.  What was once a deeply social experience is being progressively bled dry of its humanity and sense of community.”

By following the example set by Apple and other online retailers, the British high street can be revived.  Brands can re-ignite the passion consumers have to see their high street succeed, providing a move away from the ‘identikit’ and faceless store formats parachuted to every high street in the land.  Through a greater emphasis on sociability, connecting with consumers on a human and personal level, brands can provide a unique, relaxing and social environment.  Sales will be driven by providing consumers with a retail outlet which becomes part of their everyday life and immerses them in the brands values. In essence this will bridge the gap between online and offline, enabling them to work together in something approaching perfect harmony.

So say goodbye to Poundland-Bookmakers-Coffee Shop.  Say hello to the ‘Brand Emporium’.

References:-
http://www.saatchi.co.uk/points_of_view/future_of_the_high_street
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Amazon-to-open-first-physical-shop.html
http://electricalsandelectronics.com/news/google-to-open-first-outlet
http://www.tuaw.com/apple-tops-us-most-profitable-retail-chain/
http://www.macrumors.com/apple-tops-100-billion-in-sales-for-fiscal-2011/
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/the-future-of-stores-is-not-in-sales
http://www.webpronews.com/the-youtube-collection-your-favorite-viral-hits-on-dvd

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/analysis/1116239/

Accessed 11-04-2012

John Lewis, Premier Inn and Apple came 3rd, 7th and 10th respectively in the index, which celebrates the consistency, simplicity and transparency of a brands creative execution. Compiled from interviews with more than 6,000 consumers in seven countries, the research revealed that consumers would be willing to pay a premium of more than 5% for simplified communications and experiences.

Endpoint’s client of over 13 years, John Lewis increased its simplicity score by 26% on the 2010 results, ranking at number three.  In an interview with Marketing Week, Head of Marketing Lloyd Page described how an understanding of the customer journey, the core brand positioning and consistent creative execution is integral to John Lewis.

“Where you can get it really right or really wrong is throughout the creative execution”

“We work hard to make sure our creative execution of how we tell a new story is rooted in a product or brand truth that is unique to John Lewis, and I think by combining that with our ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ pledge, our communications really resonate with people”

Premier Inn’s Marketing Director Mark Fells, in an interview with Marketing Week, explains how simplicity is vital to make sure customers get the best experience from his brand.

“Our central promise is ‘a great night’s sleep guaranteed’.  We all know what we stand for and what we work towards, which makes the marketing message quite simple because the hard work has already been done.”

Tony Lorenz, Endpoint’s Strategy & Development Director explains “Brands that score high on simplicity indices belie the ingenuity that goes into addressing a myriad of complex brand challenges and an unrelenting focus to distil these into a compelling proposition. In the fast paced world we live in, customers place a high value on simplicity.”

Source: Marketing Week

Source: Siegel & Gale

The interview, conducted by Align Marketing’s Michelle Martin, includes Paul’s insights into the adoption of branding by emerging economies, the success of a simple brand offering and the pitfalls of poor implementation planning.  Below is an extract from the interview and your chance to read the article in full.

Q. What are the top 3 things you see changing with branding?

A. “There are very few sectors that have not embraced the concept of branding, right down to governments and the public sector. This means that people have a grasp of how brands work and their role in our lives. But it also means the process of developing brands has become more complex as everyone fights to gain cut-through above the noise. What we see are those brands that achieve simplicity in their delivery are the ones that really thriving. The Googles, the McDonald’s and Apples who are admired for the simplicity of their offer.

The global crisis has meant that companies are spending less on advertising but both investing more on strengthening their brands and reviewing the way they allocate their marketing spend by channel. Very recently we saw P&G switching the focus of its marketing spend to more efficient and lower cost digital activity and this is shaping how brands are developing their touch points to reach audiences.

Consumers have a voice in the design of brands through social media, Facebook and the digital world in which we live. This means brands are having to move away from a one-way message to a two-way conversation with audiences and listening to what customers and stakeholders have to say.

To read the ‘Sticky Toffee’ article in full 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.

Endpoint are also delighted to announce our sponsorship of the 2012 Transform Conference which is being held on the same day as the awards for the first time.  The conference, in its third year, brings together some of the most influential minds in the field of branding.  This years conference will include talks from Phillip Davies, President EMEA at Siegel + Gale and Andrew Thomas, founder of Communicate Magazine, who will tackle contemporary issues such as brand storytelling, digital rebranding, brand asset management and the value of a rebrand

For further details about the Transform Awards click here

For further details about the Transform Conference click here

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