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December 9, 2015
Star Struck – Finding a Celebrity for your Brand

Star Struck – Finding a Celebrity for your Brand

When David Beckham came to the Mall of the Emirates recently he was mobbed. Thousands blocked the mall and security had their work cut out to control proceedings. He was coming in his role as brand ambassador to endorse Adidas as a footballing icon (even though he is an ex player).

But it is his personality, built on style, success and glamour, and yet simple boyish charm that keeps him grounded and strangely ‘one of us’, that Adidas wants to engage to reinforce their position.

Brand David BeckhamDoes it work? Is it the right match? Does his personality influence the way those people perceive Adidas? Do they believe Beckham is the man he is today because he shares an ‘All In’ approach to life with Adidas? Does it make them adore the brand, be loyal, unfaltering consumers, and coerce friends, family and their social network to join the fold?

For organizations interested in harnessing the star power of celebrity brand endorsements, the first thing to understand is this: All brands have personalities. Some are sometimes dangerously unmanaged and sometimes meticulously strategized and activated. Generating the brand’s personality is essential and born of a clear understanding of the defined purpose, position and values. They are the real conduits to the target audience beyond functional needs.

Celebrities, with their pumped up, PR driven, ultra managed brand personalities are quick and easy ways to tell the story to consumers and attach it to their brand.

But it’s a big decision, the investment is considerable – David Beckham’s contract is worth US$160 mn plus profit sharing – you place all your eggs in one celebrity basket and you can’t necessarily control the way that personality behaves in the vagaries of real life – ask Nike.

Brand Nicole Kidman

But get it right and you will engage fast and furiously. This is an essential facet to know for those who want to understand the importance of celebrity endorsement. Locally celebrities have recently been enrolled in the battle for the skies. Etihad have selected Nicole Kidman for her position as glamorous, elegant, refined, and exclusive (maybe even aloof), expressing the elite premium positioning of their airline.

Brand Jennifer AnnistonEmirates in turn selected Jennifer Anniston. Still glamorous but more fun, practical and approachable someone you could probably talk to on board. Both seem appropriate with Aniston probably having more room to deepen the relationship. So far ‘hit numbers’ seem to strongly favour Anniston too.

However you choose to build and activate your brand so much of its effectiveness will come down to how well you know your brand – understanding, defining and creating a relevant and authentic brand personality and then bringing it to life consistently, sustainably and contextually. Which celebrity would you choose to be your brand’s champion?

February 8, 2014
TIPS TO GET THE MOST OUT

TIPS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF PINTEREST

Pinterest has quickly become a powerful referral tool for online traffic, which is particularly important for eCommerce businesses. With an average of 1.36 million users daily users, Pinterest has surpassed Twitter; and Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn combined in referral traffic. Currently responsible for about 40% of e-commerce traffic, one reason for this is the simple fact that high-quality, visual content sells and it’s highly engaging.

Although the premise of Pinterest’s success underscores the importance of visual content, the platform still offers relevancy for non-visual businesses to promote their company cultures or perhaps recruit new hires by pinning photos of the office, behind-the-scenes events at headquarters, speakers that come to visit, off sites. All in all, photos should be colorful, bright and interesting i.e. things that people would want to share. Always keep in mind that attractive, compelling images are more likely to get repinned over those that obviously look like ads.

Below is a guide we recently came across on how to get the most out of Pinterest for your business.

January 18, 2014
CREATE THE PERFECT SOCIAL MEDIA

CREATE THE PERFECT SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT

As any online brand managers should know, when it comes to leveraging popular social media networks, posting content that fits the audience type & function of an specific social network will naturally lead to an increase in reach and engagement.  When it comes to managing a successful social media brand presence that will contribute to the set business goals, it’s important to tailor each communication piece to a specific audience then drill down to a specific social network.

There are numerous resources freely available online to help brand managers understand and make better use of the functionality and content marketing opportunities offered by the current popular sites: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & Google+ . Below is one such resource; an infograph we came across created by ‘My Clever Agency’, which gives some indication on how to achieve better fit between your brand content & these four channels. Do you agree? Have you noticed an increase/decrease in engagement when including pictures?

November 16, 2013
THE EXPECTATION GAP

THE EXPECTATION GAP IN THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE

Last month Dubai played host to the Middle East Retail Forum, an annual unique forum where retailers and their associates come together on a common platform to discuss critical issues and trends shaping the future of Middle East retail industry and share their experience and exchange industry knowledge.

One of the interesting output reports we came across online was by digital agency FITCH, titled “The Joy of Shopping: It’s all in the mind”. An examination of what consumers want from the shopping experience, the findings are based on a 2012 survey in which 7,250 shoppers in seven markets – China, India, Brazil, Russia, USA, UK and UAE were polled. Referred to as the first quantitative global study of shopper mindstates, the survey explored today’s shoppers from a number of critical angles: 1) degree of involvement in the shopping experience, 2) satisfaction levels with current shopping experiences, 3) perceived channel preference across: store, website, app & social media, and 4) the gap between their current and ideal imagined shopping experience. To give a bit more of a truer context, polling questions were limited to three categories: electronics, groceries & fashion.

Below is a summary of some of the report findings:

Despite the entrance of e-commerce, sluggish world economies, people’s enthusiasm for the world’s favourite pastime remains high.

The electronics category enjoys the highest levels of enthusiasm for shopping across genders & income classes.

Shopping enthusiasm is felt most strongly in emerging markets. This is largely attributed to burgeoning middle classes and their enjoyment of the opportunities brought by higher disposable incomes and expanding retail choices available to them.

Shoppers in mature markets, US & UK, are less likely to describe themselves as enjoying the experiences. It is in these markets that retailers need to explore ways to re-engage customers.

Despite the emergence of e-commerce platforms and evolving use of digital tools, bricks & mortar stores are in no danger of going away anytime soon. Customers still view the physical store as the most preferred shopping channel.

People do a lot more shopping “in the mind” and don’t restrict their browsing and buying to physical stores. Retailers should work to develop an integrated and rich range of experiences that can satisfy the shopper’s need to dream about and explore new product choices as we as efficiently locate their final choices.

Readers interested in viewing the full report can do so here. In a destination like Dubai which has successfully leveraged itself as a strong player in the shopping tourism industry, ongoing surveys such as this offer useful insight on how retails brands and even shopping mall brands can continually inspire & satisfy their customers. Shoppers want to be inspired, whether they are shopping for Saturday evening’s dinner, or something to wear for a first day at work. As shoppers gain more access to brand & product knowledge and evolve their behaviours, retailers need to invest in keeping pace and matching or surpassing the shopper’s expectations.

March 25, 2012
Creating events

Creating events as brand experiences

A critical moment of interaction between brand and audience; events are the perfect opportunity for a brand to add dimensions to its existing relationships with its audiences.

Limited only by a budget and the imagination of a marketing team, events can take on any format by scale, venue or audience type. A critical face to face moment, as an investment, the event concept designed must both engage and entertain the audience whilst effectively delivering key messages. Simulating how the guest will interact with the brand before, during & after the event ensures a seamless event experience strengthening brand perception.

Therefore the attention to detail at all touch points is critical and the careful planning of the dynamic of each audience segment is important.

Below are a few elements in the event experience to consider when planning a corporate event.

Before the event – invites are the ideal tool to both set the tone – exclusivity, high profile, corporate, etc and also create excitement about the upcoming event. Invites need not just be informative in terms of details of the event, event organizers can experiment with ways of making the invites engaging or perhaps even a part of the brand experience.  See our case-study on the invitations we created for power company FAPCO’s royal event.

Guests – staging an event with a high profile guest list demands for provisions to be made for additional security detailing and a fluid event program that ensures both VIP and other guests enjoy the entire event experience.

Gifts – are a powerful tool both as brand reminders and can also be used to complete the event experience. A good brand/event gift is one that is relevant to the message, has functional use for the invited guests & has a shelf life that goes beyond the event.

Event content – the messages & format of the message delivery must be carefully planned – the speeches by nominated speakers, corporate presentations, multimedia employed & any other tools to keep the audience fully engaged at all times are very important. Also companies must bear in mind that events offer the perfect opportunity to create additional branded content for future use e.g. recordings of an inaugural event (guest testimonials, etc) can later be used to promote any similar events in the future. See our case study on the exhibition gallery we created for the Al Ain City Municipality’s inaugural Al Ain Photographia Award.

Paying attention, at the very least, to the points above will set you as an event organizer on the right path to ensure your event is both successful & memorable. Below are a few links to past events organized by Zaman:

SIKKA art fair 2011

Inauguration of the Fujairah 2 plant for FAPCO

Al Ain Photographia Award  2011

August 4, 2011
Case study

Case study – Embedding Brand Values for a Principled Group

What happens when one of the most prominent family Groups in the GCC wants to re-brand itself? Al Fahim Group is one of the oldest Group of companies that started over five decades ago with the rise of modern Abu Dhabi. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi its founder Abdul Jalil Al Fahim was a close friend of the late Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and he built his company along the same set of strong ethics and principles the late Sheikh begin the industrialization of the UAE.

The company is steadily growing after 50 years in business and with more than 3000 employees, it has now become one of the most prominent players in the region. Zaman was invited to create a contemporary identity to reflect the essence of the company’s heritage and its vision for the future. The launch of this new identity would be launched alongside the company’s celebration of its 50th anniversary.

Project highlights:

Understanding the brand – With a workforce of 3,000 people, the sheer size and diverse portfolio of the company required a full ‘soak and scope’/ understanding of Al Fahim’s business through and thorough as well as identify any discrepancies between its communicated brand positioning over the decades and its actual brand perception among its customers and other stakeholders.

Weaving a unique brand story – We then embarked on creating a brand architecture that incorporated elements of the Groups’ heritage and past celebrated milestones, with the present-day Al Fahim Group and the distinct identities and business goals of its subsidiaries together with the future plans and mission of the Group. The idea was to create strong and clear identity of the Al Fahim parent brand which would serve as a platform to elevate its current and future business subsidiaries.

‘Our Values, Our Future’, the adoption of a new identity – Once the brand story had been defined and translated into the slogan ‘Our Values, Our Future’ as well as a simple typeface representing the initials of the brand, the Zaman team devised a structured program to rollout the new identity, first internally: through a series of workshops, a top-down approach, educating senior management to get a buy-in and cascade the messaging throughout the group thus creating ownership. Second, externally – with an entire workforce on board the new brand identity we devised a communications blueprint to streamline messaging across support marketing activities active – namely advertising, direct marketing and experience-led events.

Zaman’s thoughts:

The process of re-branding, be it for an old brand with a rich heritage such as the Al Fahim Group or newer younger businesses requires the same amount of due diligence. One of the most important steps we take when working with our clients on a re-brand is to help them articulate their perceived motives for a re-brand and to challenge them to envision timeless identities that will last for decades more.
*****

July 31, 2011
Getting employee buy-in

Getting employee buy-in on your organisation’s brand guidelines

Brand guidelines in essence are go-to or reference manuals detailing an organisation’s brand identity and the necessary tools to consistently project this identity to its environment. The overall purpose of brand guidelines, as part of a holistic branding program is to ensure that the brand values, culture, structure and operations of an organisation are all aligned.

In terms of best practice, brand guidelines shouldn’t be modelled as strict dos & don’ts that stifle creativity and the implementation of the brand. Instead, best-practice brand guidelines encourage an organisation’s employees to embrace a shared understanding of the brand story and brand vision, instilling belief in the brand’s authenticity and offering relevant instructions on the application of the brand messages across various platforms even providing some opportunity for creative freedom.

At Zaman, in our work with clients requiring a brand strategy overhaul, when it comes to the brand guidelines preparation stage, as a rule of thumb, we have three identified elements that play a critical role in the build of the final guidelines. These are:

  1. Primary user – effective brand guidelines must offer relevancy for each potential user profile in the organisation (HR, accounts, marketing…)
  2. Primary use – in terms of content it must offer value by anticipating the possible needs and queries of its intended users.
  3. Accessibility for use – brand guidelines must be easily available to all and in the appropriate formats.

Companies that have undertaken a successful brand revamp can appreciate that perhaps the most effective way to implement new brand guidelines is to get a buy-in from employees across ranks.

Why?

Employees are the first line of communication between an organisation and its external stakeholders which mind you are not limited to customers but include industry partners, media, suppliers, investors as well as future employees. To this effect, brand guidelines must cater to any situation in which individuals associated with your organisation interact with others as representatives of your brand. Without internal buy-in or understanding of the revised brand even the best thought-out brand strategy is likely to fizzle into non-existence.

So how can you achieve this?

First: Instead of issuing a decree by way of an internal email memo (typical of companies with multiple geographic locations) adopt an engagement-driven approach. Consider scheduling  in a series of “soak & scope” workshops for all employees and use these platforms to clearly outline the objectives of the brand guidelines and create relevancy by demonstrating how each user profile in the organisation is to use them. Bearing in mind:

Primary user + Primary use + Accessibility for use

This type of approach not only creates a spirit of brand ownership throughout the organisation but it also ensures that your organisation is projecting a streamlined message within its environment.

Second: Consider setting up external & internal indicators or cues that can be monitored to gauge the overall adoption of the new brand strategy and the effectiveness of your new brand guidelines.  Typical external cues could be a marked positive change in customer perception resulting in a “higher ranking” versus previous position and that of your immediate competitors.  For internal cues below are a few suggestions that you might consider monitoring:

  1. Everyone in our organisation knows our brand values and can articulate them simply and clearly. (Yes/No)
  2. Everyone in our organisation understands their respective role in the delivery of our brand promise. (Yes/No)
  3. Across all ranks there is a clear understanding of what differentiates our brand from our competitors. (Yes/No)
  4. All departments from finance to frontline service delivery are aligned with our brand objectives. (Yes/No)
  5. Included in our performance management systems is an assessment of the contribution each individual makes to growing and enhancing the brand. (Yes/No)
  6. Our induction programme includes education on our brand and the role it plays in enhancing our organisation and market competitiveness. (Yes/No)
  7. Strengthening and protecting the organisation’s brand is a fundamental driver behind our organisation’s long-term goals. (Yes/No)

Does your organisation have set brand guidelines? What lessons can you share on how your organisation has or hasn’t been able to effect adoption of brand guidelines?

July 5, 2011
Hiring a brand consultant

Hiring a brand consultant – a match made in branding strategy heaven

Continuing on from an earlier post on tips for new business owners to consider in the path to building a strong brand for an established brand, the decision to rebrand should not be done on a whim nor taken lightly.

Choosing to revamp a brand simply because “it’s been 2years since we last revamped our image” is a clear recipe for disaster. At its core a brand serves as a collection of cues that convey the value proposition of a product or service to its target audiences, while differentiating itself from competitors. It takes a significant period of time to develop & nurture a brand that sits strong in the mind of the consumer unfortunately the reality is that one badly made decision can quickly undo months/years of hard work & sometimes even to the point of inciting client/consumer revolt. Think…Gap’s 2010 attempted logo rebrand, which elicited so much dislike (bordering on hate) from brand fans & industry watchers.

If you are looking to develop a long term integrated branding strategy then hiring a branding agency is a smart decision and worthy investment for your firm.

Ideally you want to work with a branding agency that works hard for you; coming on board as a partner committed to help you achieve a sustained and favourable position for your brand. Creating not just a couple of logo alternatives but a real messaging strategy: both internal (to win support from employees) and external (to make a clear impact in the market). Below is a basic checklist you can use to ensure that your relationship with your prospective brand agency is a match made in branding heaven:

  1. Articulate your needs – before you start looking for a prospective branding partner, ensure that there is an internal consensus on your requirements from a brand agency as well as your budget. Clarity here ensures that your first round of search yields relevant results.
  2. An agency’s portfolio – you want to work with an agency that is able to demonstrate its credibility & creativity through show of work done for past clients. Even better if the clients are from sectors related to yours.
  3. Get familiar with the actual servicing team – often most mid to large size branding agencies will have a separate business development team that will ‘wow’ you with their proposal but once the contract is signed you never see their faces again. Request that the actual execution team take part in early stages of your interaction with the agency this way you can use this time to gauge whether there is a good chemistry.
  4. Read between the lines – during talks with prospective agencies make note of whether the agency understands your requirements, paying particular attention to their ability to ask thoughtful questions and offer possible scenarios in terms of a strategy for your product or service.
  5. Take cues from first impressions – if you’re engaging your choice agencies via email, make note of how prompt they are in responding and their writing capabilities. Can you rely on an agency to develop messaging for your brand if they can’t spell check emails to you? Also it might be worthwhile requesting for a meeting at their premises so you can get a feel for the organisation culture. If the prospective agency’s office resembles more a call-center than a creativity hub then that’s food for thought.
  6. Stick with your gut – managers of smaller brands, who’ve never formally sought the consult of branding advisors, might feel obliged to agree with everything presented by ‘branding gurus’ with award-winning portfolios. Don’t be afraid to ask questions until you feel that the final adopted brand strategy is authentic and mirrors the personality of your aspirant brand legacy.
  7. Shop around – the creative space in the UAE and wider Middle East is coming of age. More brands are shedding their inhibitions and seeking to refresh their old market images for fresh, upbeat & even ‘fusion’ identities that leverage the multicultural element of our region. Likewise there are many agencies that are hiring the best talent to meet this demand. In a future post we’ll detail the difference between a branding agency, advertising agency and broader marketing agency.

Remember that good chemistry in your relations with your branding agency, plus trust in their commitment to your brand and open communication make for a good foundation in the road to building a strong brand.

If you’re considering revamping your current brand strategy, we’d be happy to hear from you. You can drop us a line at info@zaman.ae or head over to our main website to see how we can help you.

*Image source: Toandinh.com

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