Brand & Marketing Terms

Whilst reviewing some bits, I came across an early guide for understanding brand & marketing terms. I'll be honest, and cannot remember where this came from (so apologies to the original author), but I didn't want that to stop me sharing it with you, as I thought it might be useful to some of you.

1. A Brand: is more than a name or logo and represents more than the product itself -represents the promise of attributes which may be tangible or invisible, rational or emotional, which represents value to its stakeholders.
2. Brand Architecture: a framework describing the relationships and/or hierarchy that exist among a company's brands and satellite (or sub-) brands that are to be supported.
3. Brand Elasticity: the flexibility of a brand to "stretch" beyond its initial product or service association (e.g., the Walkman brand is elastic enough to represent more than just the cassette-based portable music player product that introduced it).
4. Brand Equity: all the tangible and intangible assets (or liabilities) that build (or diminish) the value of a brand for its stakeholders.
5. Brand Extension: a new product or service which is introduced by using an existing brand name and leveraging the existing brand's equity (e.g., introducing our new digital music player as Network Walkman vs. creating an entirely new name).
6. Brand Hierarchy: a stratified approach to organizing brands based on their strategic importance to the company and a critical first step in developing brand architecture.
7. Brand Identity: consistent cues (visuals, sounds, etc.) that allow users to recognize a brand instantly.
8. Brand Image: the way a brand is perceived and experienced, based on all the information, rational and emotional, that stakeholders have about it.
9. Brand Loyalty: the extent to which consumers buy or use the brand vs. alternatives - developed over time based on consumers' emotional connection to and satisfaction with the brand.
10. Brand Personality: the way a brand presents itself to and relates to consumers - the way a brand behaves.
11. Brand Positioning: the perceived unique place in consumers' minds that leverages a brand's positive equities and provides differentiation from other brands and competitive advantage over them.
12. Brand Spirit: the attitude of the brand that differentiates it from others and creates the way a brand behaves.
13. Brand Stakeholder: any person(s) who has a concern or interest in the brand, including consumers, employees, stockholders, and business partners.
14. Brand Style: the differentiating way a brand expresses itself.
15. Brand Valuation: the estimation of the financial value of a brand, calculated by:
    
    -  identifying and aggregating the earnings stream of each product market using the brand name,
    -  subtracting earnings attributable to fixed assets like plants and equipment and other intangibles like people, systems, processes or patents,
    -  and then capitalizing the remaining earnings.
    
    
16. Brand Vision: a guiding light for the way a brand aims to change the world for the better.
17. Core Belief: the single most essential and enduring principle of the brand that embodies its purpose and essence.
18. CRM (Customer Relationship Management, also known as one-to-one marketing): a customer-focused business model in which a company establishes relationships with customers on an individual basis, and then uses the information it gathers to market to different customers differently.
19. Link Brand: a sub-brand that "pulls" the brand portfolio together within an organic brand architecture -- working both within and across platforms to allow integration and functionality (i.e. Memory Stick® digital storage, Psyc™ personal audio products, Sports® players and recorders, etc.).
20. Logo (or logotype): a symbol, graphic or mark legally registered for use by a single company usually to designate a brand and differentiate it from competitive offerings - one element in a brand's visual identity system (which can also include typeface, graphics, imagery, etc.).
21. Manifesto: a declaration of an organization's values and aspirations intended to drive insight and/or change.
22. Marketing Communications: is more than just advertising -- is any type of communication intended to support marketing activities including communications and materials for direct response or one-to-one, relationship-building experiences, interactive media, merchandising, point of sale, brochures, promotions, packaging, dealer kits, etc.
23. Marketing: activities which accomplish a company's objectives by anticipating customer needs and directing a flow of need-satisfying products and services to customers.
24. Organic Branding: a new, flexible model of brand architecture that illustrates the interrelationship of brands and provides space for a brand's growth through elasticity.
25. Satellite Brand: a sub-brand that is endorsed by the master brand and shares equity and value with the master brand, but also contributes equity back to the master brand by modifying the associations of the master brand in a specific context.
26. Segmentation: the grouping of people with similar characteristics to facilitate identifying the target audience.
27. Target Audience: a homogeneous group of consumers to whom a company wishes to appeal.
28. Trademark: words, symbols or marks which are legally registered for use by a single company usually to designate a brand and protect it from becoming a generic term (e.g., Kleenex® tissue, Xerox® copy machines). 

If you have more that you think need adding, then feel free to do so - again if you think you have a better definition than any of those above, then again add your comments.

Finally, if you come across this and recognise these words as your won, then please let me know so I can credit you properly.

FACEBOOK TAUNTS FROM JAIL, E-ASBOS AND MY THOUGHTS !!!

I’ve not written in a while but I’d like to discuss something topical and close to my heart – Manchester United’s appearance in Carling Cup Final on 28th (just got my tickets!!)

No – it’s about Families Utd’s call for an E-ASBO. I know from working with the families (and others in this sector) that they are ordinary everyday people with an incredible honesty, drive and dignity who deserve support. To have the people who murdered your child be able to have contact in any way is deeply upsetting and hurtful.



However putting personal emotions aside, the recent news that Facebook have agreed to remove 30 pages and Jack Straw promised changes to support this initiative are great examples of what can be done.

The excellently organised and efficiently responsive reaction from the whole team involved with Families Utd  proves that change for good can happen – as long as the collective will is there, which in this case it obviously was.

It was a victory for common sense and the little man, but what has interested me about the debate has been the public reaction from around the world. From Shanghai to Australia to America – the world has had its say.

The debate inevitably revolves around prison conditions – what should prison be?

Should they be a place for hard reflective time or one for rehabilitation?
Should they have access to game consoles, Sky TV, computers etc, whilst many decent honest people cannot afford such luxuries?

I think that a real 360 approach is needed on this specific issue. I don’t believe in censorship, but I do believe in protection. I think that Families Utd’s call for an E-ASBO is the right call – a blanket restriction on electronic usage much like the physical restrictions in a normal ASBO

I know its not fool proof, but it is a step. Further steps are needed and I think that Facebook, in this case, (where are the rest – Twitter, Bebo etc) can lead the way - if some creative technical energy can be put into addressing abuse/bullying issues then great. I mean it can’t be that hard to roughly locate the GPS co-ordinates if a mobile phone is used to upload content – a clear paper trail and proof for extending sentences.

We need to accept technology is here, and work together, not against it so we remain in control.

I also like Jack Straw’s approach to improving search/scanning equipment in prisons combined with restrictions that affect parole/probation periods. The only way to get rid of bullys is to stand up against the them and, as I said previously,  it is a small important victory which reeks of common sense.

I would love to know what you think – please spend a minute recording your honest view on what you’ve read – or alternatively (if you agree) join the campaign by either signing the E-petition here or joining the Facebook Group here.

I'll leave the last word to Barry Mizen speaking on ITN

For those who would like to see some of the projects Digital Marmalade have produced in the last 12 months

After a while of using this blog writing a few opinions and random thoughts I thought it was time to begin to 'reveal' myself a little more - so here goes....

I've been in the digital design industry since 1996 - in a time long long ago before the Internet had begin to weave its web in the UK. There have been ups and downs, regrets, opportunities, some amazing personal moments and so very stressful moments - but with all that behind me, this is about taking all that professional experience, and begin to share my thoughts and work for anyone wishing to take an interest.

So below is a slide show of some sites and projects I've helped, along with everyone at Digital Marmalade, to develop over the last 18 months or so. If you like any, then I've titled the image with the URL - so feel free to check them out and let me know in the comments area of each image

Hope you liked what you saw - I'm immensely proud of the quality and impact of the work we are currently doing, and look forward to sharing more about the working side of myself.

What's the perfect project?

This has always been an interesting question to ask yourself, and indeed your staff. When you drill down into people's suggestions and break through the obvious - then it gets really interesting.

So think about it - what would be your ideal project. At a superficial level, I'd expect you've selected a sector/idea that you've always wanted to get involved in - maybe build a football site, or do a travel site or maybe a music site.

Whatever the subject the fact is the work is the same - different pictures, different word, and maybe (if you are creative and lucky) an innovative idea - but is that an perfect project.

Maybe it's a sign of my age, or new responsibilities or even length of time in the industry but I now look beyond the subject matter, as it is basically irrelevant.

Next in line is does the project give you scope to develop - in other words being given a blank canvas, some aims and then setting off. Again, this is exciting, worthwhile and definitely very satisfying (if successful), but is it perfect? At the end of the build - a build that becomes your baby, your labour of love, you have to give it up - give it up for someone else to take forward, with their ideas (which might be different to yours) and trust me, it's very difficult - very frustrating and actually not very rewarding in the end. So nope, that's not perfect, or ultimately professionally fulfilling - except for that moment for delivery. I'd go as far as to say it's similar to what Sir Alex Ferguson says about winning trophies - once it's won, its history and you need to forget it, and focus on the next trophy. So if you land the big one, do you revel in your glory and relax, or do you strive on to outdo it, thus driving yourself onwards and upwards.

Is an perfect job one that has the potential to change lives? As it is well known I've recently started work in a particularly relevant area for myself - that of Youth Violence. Relevant for me as I have young children who will need to grow into a dangerous world full of violence, gangs and knives - well that is if you believe the press. I'm lucky enough to work with many passionate people at the very highest level and my initial perspective is words are cheap, but change is expensive....and I mean that literally. Raising money to give yourself the chance is amazingly hard - without naming names if I go to the bank to ask for £5,000 to pay off a debt, I'm pretty sure I could get that easier than if I asked for £5,000 to build a module that would make a significant difference to a target audience. Taking away the issue of whether it would work or not - the facts are it is harder. So in answer to whether working on a project that has the potential to change lives is the perfect project I'd have to say no - too much begging, politics and if I'm honest too much noise.

Is an ideal job one that pays well, on time and runs smoothly - maybe, in fact in these times probably, but ideal digital production has to be more than that.

So it must come down to an elusive combination of factors, which I can begin by saying is down to

- the people you work with
- the ability to deliver and say goodbye
- scope to change behaviour
- fair pay for a fair job

Obviously that list is not a definitive one, and I'd be interested in what additions you can come up with. However, thinking back to the majority of mid-sized work I've done in my career, it would match up with these four points - so there it is, so after all that I'd say there is not one perfect job, there are lots of perfect jobs.

So now - I'd like to ask you - directly - what is the perfect project for you?

Did the Internet create the global economic downturn?

Bear with me on this, but I can't help feeling that the growth of the Internet and general thirst for news have combined to make this recession happen much quicker and cut deeper than it would have 20 years ago.

Had people been left to react as they felt necessary then surely things would have taken longer to evolve - I recall listening to 5 Live and a conversation about why deflation was not good for the economy. I didn't realise that if prices come down then people hang on to their money waiting for a better deal meaning a stagnant economy and longer recession. The effect it had on me was that I should hang on to my money because there were deals to be had later down the line. I changed my behaviour due to information provided by my continual interaction with the net. The more discussions the more doomed it seemed we were, whilst all the while money hadn't seemed to have got much tighter - ignorance was bliss.

The other aspect that the Internet played was speed of information - news broke in America that took months to have a real impact. It was coming and went through a crazy, extreme cycle of events, but I wonder if it wasn't really known whether governments and the public might have done things a little differently. We got updates on every single aspect of the money markets, twitter grew into a mobile space and then news took an injection in terms of delivery. Now when there was a fire in a pub in Soho a couple of weeks ago - twitter picked it up and within 10 minutes though I was in Kent I knew about it - powerful stuff. The death of Micheal Jackson, the reporting around the mysteries, the grief - all delivered in super quick time where ever you are. These all combine to magnify any natural feelings, meaning the power of the Internet and it's genuine potential to move people and change their behaviour is one that is going to bring extreme highs and low in terms of its effect in the real world.

It is probably the merging of the digital space with our real space that is the interesting space - how that battle is fought, what it will be used for - if you think about it, the power of harnessing the Internet is now proven and so it could be used as a force for good - projects around social inclusion, helping improve lives in so many great ways. Alternatively it could become a force of control - modifying behaviour, providing dark connections and invading people's lives like the TV of today.

Maybe the point is both can co-exist and prosper, which means we are five steps into a five mile walk in terms of what connecting people through technology means and where it will lead. As our children (who have never known a world without the Internet) have their turn in control it will evolve beyond our considered opinions. Like our grandparents before (who remember a world before televisions) our time is now - we got the period of development, the frontier to expand and to some degree the most fun - a new technology, no rules, opportunity. In years to come regulations will be put in place, barriers put up and the opportunities dominated by corporate giants. On the massive plus side the creativity and collective brain power will move the technology where it needs to go.....quickly

So be prepared for higher highs, lower lows, more caution with amazing developments - from WAP phones to 3G to iPhone in 8 quick years....all on steroids and I can't wait.

What's next for the World Wide Web?

Back in the day, when I used to call UK companies asking them if they'd like a website, the most common UK reply was, "Internet - what's that, we'd never want one of those".

Since then we've had the dot com bubble (remember whenever you went to a party or restaurant and everyone you met had an idea that would make a million) through to the dot com bubble burst (the end is nigh) through to Web 2.0 and now Social Media.

All through that period I've wondered where the net will end up - what will be its purpose - obviously it started as a research resource, then became a marketing tool and then a set of mash-ups that would take two ideas and merge them into one.

I now believe that the web has reached its plateau - namely a tool to affect people's lives in real tangible ways - arranging social life, making friends (virtual or otherwise), photo libraries, video uploads - all fantastic - but where will it go from here - have we seen the greatest innovations, and now we are refining them and finding different ways to interact (TV, Phone, Gaming Consoles etc) or is there more to come.

I'm not sure - think we are in a round of 're-furbs' - much like pubs who need to tidy up every 5 years and come up with new concepts to sell food and drink. Sooner or later there will be a new giant step forward - and my guesses are

• Fuller video experiences (ie proper interactive videos where you choose/contribute/affect and watch content with infinite variations).
• 3D computing - not 3d models on a 2d screen, but real 3d
• Full emersive experiences in your own home - in other words no more watching nature programs, but real 360 degree experiences that are as life-like as being there.

But something is nagging me, and that is that all of the above are not real innovations - they are logic steps - where will the jump come?

Alien contact by computer? - random I know, but think about it. Many years ago, people didn't really know what was going on in London, then as television came people could watch the 1966 World Cup or the Queen's coronation. Next up was air travel - 20 years ago we didn't really know what was going on culturally in China - now it is a 10 hour flight. Globalism has come and made the world a much smaller place - with the Internet playing a huge part in that.

Whether its updates from Tibet or Tweets from Richard Branson - technology has made everything feel so much closer. I'll lay money that part of the reason that this recession came so quick and so deep was down to technology and how quickly news (and fear can spread).

So if the world is getting smaller, information reaching us much quicker and virtual contact increasing, is it so unreasonable to assume that the next giant step for mankind might be contact from space. The Sci-Fi enthusiasts amongst you have always known that Aliens have superior technology, so surely it would be the easiest method of contacting us - who knows they could already be posting blogs and using chat rooms.

Like I said very outlandish, and very unlikely, but it dreaming the impossible will , in the end, mean technical evolution - question is where do you think it will go?

What makes a good digital agency?

In the beginning, specialist companies could fulfil the dreams of clients (well, the early adopters). At that time those dreams were essentially movies on a computer or converting slides into presentations (what innocent days those were). In order to stand out from the crowd, clients were willing to pay a premium, and have projects developed in an innovative way. However as the industry grew, and new products were launched (most notably PowerPoint and more stable movie compression software) the goalposts were moved - agencies had to keep ahead of the game and moved in line with that, embracing CD-ROMs and the web. Whilst this meant a potential to grow the market, and indeed profit margins - the adopted method was to use a lot of smokey mirrors and explain it away as computer voodoo. (In fact a lot of people just saw this industry was a cash cow). I've found, in my experience, that the bigger the agency, the bigger the language, the higher the price - the silly thing, was that clients believed the more complex the language then the probability was they knew more. I'd suggest that reverse was true - in fact I'd even go as far to say that if someone can demystify it, and explain concepts, technologies in a manner that the client can understand, the it is likely that that person actually knows more about the process. That is what fuelled the dot com bubble - VPs who didn't understand, journalists who wanted to believe that this industry was a complex one, MDs who believed what the 'new kids on the block' were telling them---cunningly disguised as 'consultants' - the fact is it was quite simple.

Which brings me to the point of my subject - what makes a good agency? - aside from the expected elements - a competence to deliver what is promised, correct usage of technologies, knowledge of the potential opportunities - it is SERVICE.

That is an easy thing to say, but I'm originally from a service industry - Catering - where the motto (which is ingrained) is that the 'customer is king' - we are, after all is said and done, providing a service, where clients can be difficult, rarely say thank you, look for deals - if you want to attract them, and make sure they come back - then make sure the service is good. If you think of the top restaurants (or even any restaurant), what makes people go - sure the food, but good food can be found anywhere - it normally boils down to the service offered - bad service equals no return, good service means you can debate whether the ambience or decor was good, or if the food was as good as last time.

In relating that back to our industry, most agencies are much of a much ness, and this is a people industry. A good agency is there to provide a quality service, and always remember that. Far too often I hear of designers complained that the work is not demanding enough, or MD wanting to move clients in a different direction to fulfil their stated corporate aims - in fact sometimes you get the feeling that some agencies are doing the clients a favour by working for them - you are lucky to have me working for you on this (bit harsh but I'm sure have all seen that occasionally). I think it is no co-incidence that some of the best Account Managers / Directors - come from a Catering background - it is a thankless task, but essentially the aim of the catering industry is to provide a good service, get a tip and perhaps see them again - is that really any different?

I'd really welcome your thoughts on this, I know there are other areas that make agencies better than each other, but remember the question - what makes a good agency?