Branding Agency Charlotte

Bob Noorda died last week. As the designer known the world over for giving the New Your City subway system its iconic modernist design, Noorda introduced simplicity to what (to me) still appears to be a confusing welter of express trains, dank passageways, and garbled announcements. At least the signage is friendly.

Here's an excerpt from his New York Times obituary:

"Mr. Noorda had helped found Unimark in 1965, teaming up with a group of American and European designers, including Mr. Vignelli, who initially set up shop in Chicago and Milan. Theirs was among the first international design firms to base their work on the Modernist principle that a good design could have a positive effect on all aspects of life, not just on business. An early proponent of unified branding -- the consistent use of distinctive type and imagery to identify a company -- Unimark has been credited with awakening the corporate world to Modernist design thinking."

Here at our Charlotte branding agency, we're following in Mr. Noorda's footsteps and trying to help our clients adopt and successfully use unified branding systems. Not always easy, but the payoff can be huge.
 

Brought to you by birdsong gregory's favorite computer/application/smartfone/digital lifestyle company – delivered in their own fun, clever, rapacious flavor of brand personality.

And from all of us here at our shopper-centric Charlotte agency, have a safe, peaceful, meaningful end of the year and a bitchin' Yuletide.

Some of the luckier folks here at birdsong gregory, a Charlotte branding agency, scored coveted tickets to the Neko Case show at the new Knight Theater – which adjoins the still unopened Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. The theater is on the left, museum on the right, but from the second floor of the Knight lobby a wall of glass lets the Warhols and the Giacomettis join the party.

Designed by Thompson, Ventulet, Stainback, and Associates, the Knight Theater is a 1,150 seats theater that will be the primary venue for the North Carolina Dance Theatre, and will also feature performances by Opera Carolina and the Charlotte Symphony, as well as plays, lectures, films, and epic performances by bands like the notorious Deer Tick (who opened for Neko). 

Check 'em out. 

Since 2003, Roger Federer has sported a monogram on all tennis-related clothing. But now the intertwined “RF” is back. It’s big enough to be legible in photographs. And it’s everywhere: on Roger Federer’s shoes, his duffel, his jackets, his racquet cases. Forget all the subtle functions a monogram used to perform – discreetly personalizing a gentleman’s wardrobe, helping the servants sort the shirts. What three years ago seemed a plausible, if affected, style on the part of an athlete has now transformed this international tennis superstar into a master of personal branding. 

Along the way fans and the media have speculated that the idea for the monogram had been his all along or whether his primary sponsor, Nike, made him do it.

The font – a slightly redrawn version of Bodoni, which with its cousin Didot, has been the basis for logos for Vogue, Giorgio Armani and Louis Vuitton – is a signifier of fashion at the high end, and here at birdsong gregory, our Charlotte branding agency is glad to see the stuffy old monogram emerge as clean, modern logo with loads of branding potential.

So while Nascar often trumpets the high visibility enjoyed by its sponsors, whose logos festoon cars, as well as fans’ fidelity to brands that bankroll drivers, one of the highest returns for companies’ investments actually comes not from consumers but from other companies. The biggest fish some advertisers are reeling in, it turns out, are other advertisers. Check out the story here.

• Of the 36.2 million women actively participating in the blogosphere (either as publishers or readers), 46% – or just over 16.5 million – have children at home.
• 67% of Moms online look for help making a purchasing decision.
• Overall, full-time working Moms use technology at the highest rates.
• The mobile phone is the technology used most often by Moms to communicate with their kids, and 80% say it is the direct line to their child and babysitter.

Yes, the world has gone Twitter crazy (even though the longevity of this trend is still uncertain). And, true to form, most brands (and Charlotte ad agencies) are one step behind early adopters. Over the last year or so, a lot of companies have been playing catch up, and some brands have even caught the Twitter bug.

While birdsong gregory, our Charlotte branding and ad agency, is an advocate of brands making effective use of Twitter (when it makes sense), we think it's better for brands not use Twitter until they have created and tested a measurable social network marketing strategy. Otherwise, a bland, inauthentic Twitter presence can turn this promising social channel into a PR nightmare.

For example, consider Amazon’s Twitter presence. Despite being an internet pioneer, Amazon’s approach to Twitter is disappointing. The e-commerce giant uses a ‘Twitter bot’ to automatically publish excerpts from its US blog. These tweets clutter the user’s homepage and add little value beyond that of a standard RSS feed. This is the reason the huge number of mentions the brand receives on Twitter is not matched by its followers (currently at 1200).

Amazon has really missed an opportunity in this regard. By allowing users to integrate its recommendation engine into their Twitter accounts, this online retailer could suggest products and reviews based on what individual consumers are tweeting about. If a consumer tweets about an upcoming trip to, say, Brighton, England, then Amazon could recommend clicking through to purchase the novel Brighton Rock by Graham Greene or the cult movie Quadrophenia.

To learn more about both online and offline branding, marketing, and advertising services our agency offers, please visit birdsong gregory, contact Jim Cusson at 704-332-2299, or stop by the next time you’re in downtown Charlotte.

• Direct control over the messages, branding, and promotions
• Dedication – an employee with one company in mind will be more interested in the success of that company than a social media firm with many clients
• An ability to keep a finger on the pulse of employees themselves and turn company anecdotes and internal debate into viral content

• Expense to search for, hire, train, and pay a full-time employee
• Sick days? Vacations? Accidents? Resignation?
• Lack of expertise – while there are exceptions, those who are good enough to truly understand and utilize the power of social media marketing are not going to take a “job” when they know they can make more money as part of a team working with multiple companies and consolidating the efforts whenever appropriate.
• In the viral marketing aspect of social media, one person is not able to create the level or volume of branded online marketing content that an experienced branding and marketing agency can

• Leaving it to the experts – a few social media strategy firms really know what they’re doing. They’ve accumulated the resources, accounts, profiles and contacts to take campaigns to the top, to properly build company-related social media assets, and to get the buzz heading in the right direction.
• Cost – It’s normally less expensive to hire a firm to do social media marketing compared to hiring an individual or team to work exclusively for a company.
• Set goals and monitor result  – for most companies, the convenience of being able to set the direction, sit back, and wait for results is extremely appealing.
• Changing landscape – social media sites change their procedures regularly. What works today to get a front page story on Digg or massive “retweets” on Twitter may not work tomorrow. A company who is deeply embedded, who breaths social media every day, can be a tremendous benefit.

• There are thousands of companies and individuals offering social media marketing services who can’t spell “Digg” or “Flickr”.
• Trying to distinguish between the handful of talented, results-focused firms and the thousands of ad agencies that have simply added the words “social media marketing” to their list of services.

• Cheap – all it takes is time

• Cheap – all it takes is time, a LOT of time.
• Lack of experience – there are guides, ebooks, and blogs on how to implement proper social media strategies. Some work – most don’t.
• Poor execution – having a poorly run social media strategy is worse than not having one at all.
• Regardless of what you choose, try to stay flexible. It’s important to know when something isn’t working as well as it should be.

Here at birdsong gregory, our Charlotte branding and advertising agency always counsels clients about the effective use of social media marketing, and we recommend they first speak to their target audience and figure out what messaging (and channel) would appeal to them.

I’m not sure if the manufacturer of Motrin followed our marketing advice, but judging by the enormous backlash the company faced in the fall of 2008 over it’s new Motrin “Mom-Alogue” video, I suspect they didn’t speak to a single mother (at least, they didn’t speak to any that use Twitter and baby slings). Creative Charlotte please take note.

Within hours of pushing this video out into the global social media stream, indignant "Momma Bloggers" began to punish the Motrin brand with vituperative tweats. Apparently, women still enjoy carrying their babies monkey-style, and resented Motrin's implication that offspring was a painful burden to bear.

What can the rest of us learn from this? Never assume you know your target audience. Never assume that just because you’ve created something “viral” that the sentiment will always be positive. And, always build your social media campaign with some input from those who represent ALL your target audience. As more North Carolina advertising agencies began to offer social media marketing services, there will be the increased danger of viral content going bad . . . so please think before you publish.

It's all true. Every word that falls out of these munchkins' mouths. Not only can big ad agencies be difficult, expensive, and cumbersome to work with, they can also be a bitch to work at. I know firsthand, having started my career at BBDO Atlanta, and this fun kid-filled spoof (an oldie but a goodie) always makes me want to laugh . . . and cry.

Fortunately, life at birdsong gregory is a lot more fun and rewarding than the frustration and unnecessary layers described here. As a nimble, boutique Charlotte branding agency, I get to work directly with clients on a wide variety of creative projects across the full spectrum of marketing and branding channels. And as we watch the Information Age evolve into the Network Economy, the opportunities to help companies move their brand online in meaningful, authentic ways gets me up in the morning - along with two cups of strong coffee.

To learn more about both online and offline branding, marketing, and advertising, services our agency offers, please visit birdsong gregory, contact Jim Cusson at 704-332-2299, or stop by the next time you’re in downtown Charlotte.

For Charlotte advertising agencies and marketing agencies, a successful client-agency relationship is essential to a firm’s success. We’ve written before about the qualities a client should look for in an Charlotte branding or communication agency, but obviously, sustaining a successful relationship is a two-way street. Neither just the client nor the agency can exert all the effort. On the client-side, there are a number of simple attitudes and behaviors that foster communication and create a long-term, successful client-agency relationship. So here are few characteristics we feel a client needs in order to make the partnership work.

• Instill a spirit of partnership in the relationship.

• Avoid the superior/subordinate relationship characterized by an atmosphere of mistrust, lack of respect for the agency’s expertise, and undercurrents of intimidation. These tactics have no place in a partnership. Using fear of dismissal to “deal with” an agency undermines trust and productivity. The best advertising is only created in the absence of fear. A successful joint effort is achieved only through mutual respect of intelligence and expertise.
  

• Agree on a clearly defined objective of the advertising you wish to create. Failure to define or agree upon the precise purpose of advertising dooms the creative process from the start.

• Give the agency the opportunity to be totally absorbed in your product, people, and culture. When an agency team thoroughly understands it’s client’s corporate culture, it will more likely create campaigns that endure.

• Create an environment of experimentation and be prepared to pay for failure. Great clients want advertising that stands out. However, nothing predicts mediocrity in advertising so precisely as a risk-aversion environment. Although it’s natural to want to conform to rules and formulas in quest for a measure of certainty, elements of the development process are inherently uncertain. Trust that the outcome will be viable advertising.

• Be wary of change for change’s sake.

• Be honest. If you don’t like something, say so.

• Be specific. Don’t ask for a new execution simply because this one “doesn’t do it for me”.

• Be kind. Think of the commentary as if you are evaluating the person.