A Designer's Perspective: Branding & Brand Management

Branding. It's a term that is bandied around quite frequently these days, especially in the world of social media and viral marketing. It's something that has been on my radar for quite a while, as I've been working to "brand" myself and my freelance work to a broader audience. That alone is the reasons I found last week's lecture so useful.

I'm always interested in how others have used branding to help: create successful corporate identities; launch new products; and build successful careers. One thing I've never considered was actually what went into MANAGING those brands. That's were Dennis Pitta's portion of the lecture came in. Dennis pointed out the importance of not only creating a viable brand (which he explained was not limited to goods, but included ideas, services, and people as well), but nurturing that brand through what he called "Brand Equity," a.k.a. value.

The two parts that make up this value were awareness and preference. The goal being to make your brand be the first thing that comes to a consumer's mind (the awareness part), as well as the first thing that comes to that consumer's heart (the preference part). Another important aspect of brand management that Dennis pointed out was a simple as choosing a name.

Although I would think this was a common-sense activity, I actually found myself looking back at a few of the brands I have worked on and realized that I could have used some of the simple, sage advise that Dennis imparted on us. He pointed out five guidelines for choosing brand names. A good brand name should:

• suggest product quality,
• suggest product benefits,
• be easy to pronounce, recognize and remember,
• be distinctive, and
• lack poor foreign language connotations (if at all possible).

Quite simple in concept, but I'm sure more difficult in execution. The second part of the lecture feature designer Bob Shelley taking us through his process for creating a brand identity. He pointed out his approach-which consisted of investigation/research of the brand, pencil sketching and finally bringing the concept to the computer- and his philosophy-which included such pearls of wisdom as "Don't get hung up on one approach," "Be Diverse," and "Design with Depth."

Although he brought a tremendous amount of information to the presentation, the examples he used to demonstrate really helped to put everything from the lecture into perspective and helped to see the potential of good branding.

A Designer's Perspective: A Life Less Conventional

Last week' s presentation by Chris Guillebeau was one of the most inspiring and affirming experiences of my adult life. The idea of living an unconventional lifestyle has always appealed to me and for as long as I can remember, I've always felt the desire to do something different with my life. One of my favorite quotes of all time is one that I read on a banner hanging in a bar in Fells Point. It read, "I would rather die of thirst, than drink from the cup of mediocrity." That quote sums up everything that Chris was talking about and is something that I try to live my life by.

Chris opened his presentation by asking the group, "How do we live a remarkable life in a conventional world?" A simple enough question, but one that is harder to answer than I would have thought. A small part of me is satisfied with going to a 9-5 job, working in field that has something to do to with my education and collecting a paycheck every two weeks--typical of most people I know--but the rest of me knows that that will never be enough. I can't say that I feel like I'm destined for greatness or any such nonsense like that, but I do want to make my own way in the world. To pursue a career path that is a little less ordinary has been a goal of mine for years, but Chris really got me thinking when he asked, "What do you really want out of the life and what can you offer the world that no one else can?"

The biggest thing I want out of life is to do something that I love everyday. I've said for a long time now that if can do something in comics everyday of my life (whether that's reading a comics, writing a scene, lettering a page, etc.), I would die a happy man, and that if could make a living doing it, I would die a VERY happy man. Now, obviously there are more things that I want out of life, but the rest is a little more mundane. I truly believe that you can't love what you do until you are doing what you love.

As far as what I can offer the world that no one else can; it's my unique perspective. Each one of us sees that world through different eyes and has a individual vision of the life we want. I know that I bring something special to the table and that quality will set me apart from the crowd and this is what propels me to full embrace a life of non-conformity!

A Designer's Perspective: Social Media Muscle

Last week, I was fortunate enough to hear Dr. Sean Carton, principle of IDfive (www.idfive.com) present Social Media, Memes and the Joy of Creating Social Content, in which he discussed the importance of social media as it pertains to the ever-changing landscape of advertising. One of the reason's I feel so fortunate is because social media is such a big part of my new position at the Fuel Fund of Maryland. One of my biggest responsibilities involves increasing awareness of the Fuel Fund through media services such as Facebook and Twitter.

The second reason that I feel as fortunate as I do involves my own shameless self-promotion. It's no big secret that my ultimate career goal is to be able to support myself working full-time in the comic industry. Aside from being one of the more difficult industries to break into (anything in the entertainment industry is, for that matter), there are more and more talented creators developing their own projects and marketing is the key to their success. With a flood of work hitting the internet everyday, being able to stand out in the crowd in essential. That being said, social media offers two-way communication between creator and consumer to help the creator put out the best possible product and help the consumer get the most out the money they are spending. The information I gleaned from Dr. Carton's presentation is only going to help me propel my own career through new media outlets.

Some of the most important information Dr. Carton mentioned during his presentation was the seven trends that are changing everything when it comes to marketing. They are:

1. The consumer is in control.
2. The move from atoms to bits (tangible information to digital information).
3. The move from "real time" to "my time."
4. The end of centralization.
5. The future is always on.
6. The end of the desktop.
7. The global conversation.

These concepts are what is shaping the "brave new world" in which we are living and have lent to the birth of mobile, gorilla and viral marketing, among others. In addition, Dr. Carton shared with us insights into the creation of memes, which are units of cultural information, evolution or diffusion. He presented two very different theories on there creation. The first was by Malcolm Gladwell called the "Tipping Point" theory, which relies on the concept that a few influential, 'hubs" in network can accelerate transmission and acceptance of an idea.

The second by Duncan Watts, called the "One-to-One" theory, that operates on the assumption that:

• Memes take hold because culture is ready to receive them,
• Six degrees of separation is true, but the connectors are not important,
• People influence those around them, and
• Anybody is just as likely to influence a trend.

I think that both of these theories are accurate and in use within different context. Influence can and does come in many forms.

Finally, I really found Dr. Carton's four "laws" to be very insightful. They were:

Carton's Law #1 - What works best online is what works ONLY online.
Carton's Law #2 - Technology changes quickly, people change slowly.
Carton's Law #3 - Brands are collaborations.
Carton's Law #4 - People don't interact with technology, they interact with other people.

Marshal McLuhan said that "the medium is the message" and never before has that statement held more true. Social media is the technology that facilitates conversation and conversation is key when is comes to marketing. If your product can't speak to a consumer, it might as well be SPAM.