It’s that time of year…the sun is out, ice cream seems relevant again and we are turning our minds to making the most of the longer daylight hours. We’re all starting to relax a bit more as it’s sunglasses instead of snow boats, lunch on a bench not at your desk where it’s warmer.

Relaxing is a highly emotive territory – it’s a word consumers often use to describe ‘being themselves’ and enjoying life.

So, does your brand help your consumers to relax? Could it be doing more to make them happy?

Here are some other people’s thoughts on relaxation…

• ‘It is necessary to relax your muscles when you can. Relaxing your brain is fatal’ – Stirling Moss
• ‘Brands are the context of how we relax -  we kick back to adverts and product placements every day and don’t even notice that it’s business we’re watching’ – N.Tyson
• ‘The brand that helps me relax most? The AA. I can relax in the car knowing I’m safe’ – Anon
• ‘For fast-acting relief try slowing down’ – Lily Tomlin
• ‘This art of resting the mind…is probably one of the secrets in our great men’ – Captain J. A. Hadfield

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.

We have recently been looking at how brands with heritage can retain relevance and appeal without seeming outdated and too niche.  In doing this, we have come across different approaches to ageing. Whilst many approach the concept of ageing as a negative thing to dread (loss of physical fitness, slower mental processing, less time left on the clock), there are actually many positives (a calmer outlook on life, the value of experience, more time, less pressure). It’s about building on past experience to bring more value in the future and stability, not rigidity, amidst change.

What are the principles for brands ageing gracefully? Like people, they too need to embrace the future and understand that today’s ‘now’ was yesterday’s tomorrow. Evolving to retain relevance and grow in new and different circumstances can be about constant tweaks rather than scary step changes, about different applications of the same core values rather than change in personality.

So…Is your brand in need of some anti-ageing cream?

‘Apart from having a personality link, brands behave like human beings even when it comes to life cycles’ – Anisha Motwani

‘Achieving brand relevance is a strategic task that, by its very nature, is never complete in the volatile markets of our rapidly changing societies’ – Anon

‘It’s important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle’ – N. Tyson

‘Your body changes, but you don’t change at all.  And that, of course, causes great confusion’ – Doris Lessing

‘A brand is not built overnight. Success is measured in decades, not years’ – Laura and Al Ries

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.

A moment’s interruption in the 13^th week of 2011 from 5 quotes relating to ‘icons’

In the wake of Elizabeth Taylor’s death we have been talking about icons – their power, their enduring relevance and the seemingly magnetic force they have within society (both as a push and a pull).  Sometimes they are identified for doing something differently and being rebellious; sometimes they are identified for simply doing something brilliantly. Which are the brands which you would put on the Hollywood walk of fame and why?

For some, icons are projected constructs – totems or symbols which we need to believe in and look up to for our world to make sense.  For others, icons create themselves – they are people and brands which naturally stand out from the crowd and in some way inaugurate a new way of thinking about things. But they also require an audience; they need people to be drawn into them and understand their point of difference as more appealing than it is alienating or fake. Elizabeth Taylor requested before she died that she still turn up late for her own funeral, and in doing so post-humously cemented her iconic status by showing everyone that her values were as enduring and real for her as they were for her fans.

Brands, like people, have the power to influence, to inspire and to change the world they’re in. Everyone has their own opinion on the truly iconic brands which shape our world and shopping. They are totems which add value onto existing products and services by standing for something bigger than the physical product itself.

So, is your brand on the path to iconic status? Or is it at risk of losing out to bigger personalities or falling from its pedestal? Whichever track you’re on, we can help build your brand up to be an enduring star.

• ‘The brands that attain the status of icon in consumer society operate at the cultural level’ – Vince Carducci
• ‘We have a need to be religious, we need to worship, we need to build totems and shrines and icons, but nobody’s sure in honour of what’ – Robyn Hitchcock
• ‘Iconic brands draw on people who actually live according to alternative ideals. They understand the rebel’s point of view so well that they can speak with the rebel’s voice’ – Loic Bonnaillie
• ‘If I’m a star, then the people made me a star’ – Marilyn Monroe
• ‘An image is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service’ – Daniel J. Boorstin

 Borrowed with pride from all over the place.

We often take it for granted when we refer to a ‘brand’ that we all mean the same thing when we use the word.  Sometimes, however, it is useful to return back to basics and remind ourselves of the power of a really simple definition.

We believe that a ‘brand’ is more than a just a logo and is more than just an advertising campaign… a ‘brand’ is the total customer experience with a company across all of its touchpoints, as a result of buying and using the products and services sold and operated under the brand name. So, the brand name represents the overall promise of a certain experience which a company makes to its customers.

How would you describe your brand’s promise of a customer experience across all of its touchpoints? We can help you define this promise to help make your customers’ experience even more powerful than it is already and truly differentiated from the competition.

•  ‘Interactions with brands are sources of experience, experiences which influence consumer attitudes’ – P. Gomy / F. Casellas
• ‘The only source of knowledge is experience’ – Albert Einstein
• “A brand is a living entity – and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures” – Michael Eisner, CEO Disney
• “What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children” – William Blake
• “Every detail…image…shadow…placements…contributes to the user’s associations and judgements about the company they are dealing with” – Shawn Borsky

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.

As the weather gets warmer and summer season shopping starts to lure us into the shops again, we have come to discussing the cycles involved in brand recovery.  Like people, all successful brands have their ups and downs – from Virgin jeans to Skoda’s former reputation we are aware of the wax and wane of the companies around us.

We can help revitalise your brand to go some way to ensuring success for the future.

So, what are the secrets of recovery when things have been tough? Here are a few thought-starters for the weekend:

• ‘Healing is a matter of time, but it is also sometimes a matter of opportunity’ – Hippocrates
•  ‘Apologise and accept responsibility…if your message is compelling, customers may have an even stronger affinity for the brand than they did before the crisis hit’ – G. V. Johar
• ‘Brand recovery requires a return to the heart of a company, a look back at its core…and then a re-communication and strength of commitment to the positive values that started it off in the first place’ – Anon
•  ‘Think of the areas where your brand could be susceptible. Start building credibility online because you’ll need it when your goodwill is under threat’ – Rob Stokes
• ‘When we seek to understand what went wrong, we simultaneously learn what needs changing in the future – in that sense, a crisis can be a cash-cow for brands if they make the most of it’ – N. Tyson

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.