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March 19, 2014
Do Brands Matter?

DOBRANDMATTERv25

Do Brands Matter?

There is a lot of speculation on the fate of brands during the economic downturn. Many say they won’t sustain themselves. Some go further and are questioning the importance of brand identity and the meaning of luxury in adding happiness to people’s lives.

Why brands matter

Which Middle Eastern brand has invested in creativity to create a  happy workplace and build trust? Today’s client briefs, are all about saving money and making sales. The history of brands notes that their most efficient growth was achieved when they combined business strategies with meaningful purposes that served humanity and engaged the workforce. Brand guidelines were codes of ethics and their results were measured by their positive reputation.

Arab brands can survive. They’re in their infancy and can last during these trying times if they reflect the principles of Islam. To do that they must think in terms of equality, mutual respect, workforce engagement, and creating products and services that serve the community in positive ways. It is often in bad times that people engage in a more cooperative lifestyle. Arab companies can use the current economic reality to elevate their status globally.

March 8, 2014
TIMING IS EVERYTHING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

TIMING IS EVERYTHING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

Getting the right mix of posting engaging social media updates at the right times is a popular topic of discussion among brand managers. Is there a single right time to post on Twitter? Facebook vs. Instagram. All social media aren’t the same. Each social network has different kinds of users and their daily activities vary. They use these networks at various times and days to engage with the updates published. To attain maximum engagement its always advisable to consult various free resources online conducted by social media research companies and trial and error until you figure out the best days to publish your content.

Below is a recent infograph we came across on the best times and days to publish social media updates to receive the highest exposure on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest and Tumblr.

What do you think? Do your audiences’ engagement patterns with your content follow these results?

April 8, 2013
3 WAYS TO (usefully)

3 WAYS TO (usefully) LOSE CONTROL OF YOUR BRAND

TED speaker Tim Leberecht offers the three big ideas about accepting that loss of control, even designing for it — and using it as an impetus to recommit to your values.

 

December 12, 2011
Branded buildings

Branded buildings and living spaces

Project: Property branding

Buildings can have their own personality. Through branding, buildings can complement a brand’s character and express its message by standing out from the crowd. Branded environments can extend the experience of a company’s brand or even a community by using distinguished characteristics such as the use of color, names, symbols, finished materials, environmental graphics and signage.

We found an interesting contrast between some countries where there is a strong creative expression of color and branded environments in living communities or office’s, to some of Dubai’s areas that don’t really communicate much about their own character and aesthetic lack of color.

The tall beige towers in the JBR’s beachfront or the vast beige Cedre Villas community in Silicone Oasis only to mention a few, is where you can see a constant use of the color beige… beige and oh have we forgotten, more beige!

Using our imagination as a property branding agency, we ask ourselves:

Is the lack of color In Dubai is influenced by the desert? And what were to happen if some of these areas would receive an injection of color?

We felt inspired and took it our creative hands to see how one area could look like.

JBR Towers in the Marina – a somewhat dull view of a large group of towers that overlook the Dubai beachfront all in beige.

If the Cedre Villas community in Silicon Oasis, Dubai were to have some color perhaps this could be what it would look like. But still the question remains, would this be Dubai’s Silicon’s Oasis reflection of its true character?

With a little paint and some bold typography, a school designed to change the life of its students has undergone a transformation.

Yungay, Valparaiso Chile – the project is indented to blend into the urban landscape characterized by a combination of small colorful houses.

By Grace Yacoub

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October 23, 2011
Brand mascots

Brand mascots as part of storytelling

One of the key elements of storytelling is the use of characters to enable audiences to connect with the storyteller’s message. The same applies to the discipline of branding.

When companies set out to define their brand stories, the guiding objective of the story should be to connect with the intended audience both on an emotional level and a cognitive level.  To use a common marketing formula, brand stories are what build platforms of awareness, consideration and  ‘trial & buying‘ motivation from the customer’s perspective. Strong brand stories are also what ensure the repetition of this process.

In the pursuit of creating brand stories that resonate with target audiences some brands go a step further, creating fictional and real characters that live well beyond a campaign, becoming a distinctive cue that can stir up emotions long after the conclusion of a campaign. Nurtured correctly brand mascots have the potential to become a strong element for point of difference and to create better brand recall. By doing the job of personifying a brand, brand characters can transform the image of say a battery cell to a battery cell that lasts and performs much better than inferior competitor battery brands (think Duracell battery bunny).

Below is a list of a few recognizable brand characters. Can you name the brands? What other strong Arab or non-Arab brand characters can you think of?

October 5, 2011
Lost in translation

Lost in translation

Lost in translation’ is probably one of the biggest risks that brands run when designing a marketing campaign targeted at audiences spread across varying geographies, cultures and demographics.

Yet for brands that have been able to successfully mitigate these risks come industry awards and most importantly a firm thumbs-up from their global customers who are able to experience the intended emotions and reactions to the brand’s messages.

Across the seas, American telecom operator AT&T is one such brand that successfully launched a global ‘Hands’ ad campaign that won it a few industry and people’s choice awards. Although the campaign was launched a year ago, even today the creativity behind it is still worth mentioning.

The ad campaign features human hands intricately painted and posed to depict iconic images representing countries around the world in which AT&T provides roaming services to its clients. From clever depictions of The Great Wall of China, moose (Canada), carnival (Brazil), wildlife (South Africa), Royal Buckingham Palace guards, boomerang (Australia), elephants (India) and more, the result is stunning imagery that draws viewers into the artwork while communicating AT&T’s brand proposition of having more phones that work in across many markets.

Interesting. Do you have any other examples of similar campaigns?

Source: Lost-in-translation.com

Source: Convozine.com

June 26, 2011
Robert Redford, Cannes

Robert Redford talks brands at Cannes

CANNES 2011 – A good brand needs to have “authenticity” and “quality” to resonant with consumers in the 21st Century, according to Hollywood legend Robert Redford.

The star of ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ turned independent film producer, was speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Yahoo at the Cannes 2011 Festival of Creativity yesterday (21 June).

He said: “Authenticity and quality are key to great brands. Both lead to trust, and you have to have a certain amount of integrity to achieve that.”

After many years in front of the camera, Redford now manages his own brand, the Sundance Festival and Channel, which showcases smaller indie productions and recognises upcoming talent and creativity.

Redford explained the premise behind his Sundance empire is to nurture creativity and upcoming talent.

He said: “Nobody votes for a new idea. If no one believes in you, you’re going to have to grind it out yourself.”

In words of encouragement for those pushing the boundaries of creativity, he added: “You have to look at failure not as the end of the road, but as a step forward.”

We felt so inspired when we came across this interview, hearing  Robert Redford speak about Brand authenticity, to see the complete interview click here

May 5, 2011
Creating a platform for Authenticity

Creating a platform for Authenticity. Grace Yacoub speaks to Gulf News

For the online version got to http://gulfnews.com/business/media-marketing/creating-platform-for-authenticity-1.803347

Everyone loves rankings; ‘the 10 best of that’ or the ‘the 10 worst of this’. These days you just cannot navigate websites without coming across one or more of these vying for your attention. Such is their sheer proliferation.

Now, Zaman — one of the first dedicated branding agencies from the region and which knows a few things about the subject — has taken upon itself with creating a ranking list of its own. But this is no Top Ten listing.

Zaman has taken on the task of finding out the Top 100 ‘authentic’ Arab brands out there.

The process does seem straight-forward enough on the face of it, but look closely and the catchphrase ‘authentic’ strikes you. How does one filter through brands which are authentic and which aren’t? Would such an exercise be completely objective and be free of personal preferences or prejudices?

Grace Yacoub, founder and CEO of Zaman, speaks on the rationale behind the new ranking list and all the processes that went into making it.

 

Gulf News: There are so many brands out there which would fit the bill of what you are looking for. Why then this emphasis on ‘authentic’ rather than ‘popular’?

Grace Yacoub: We believe authenticity drives brands to be loved. Throughout our 16 years of practice in the Middle East, we have tried to make Arab companies focus on creating meaningful experiences around their brands.

We felt this is the only way they could penetrate a market that is saturated with international established brands. We have oriented companies to be more honest about their offering so they are perceived as real and genuine.

According to you, what makes for an authentic Arab brand? And what was the immediate need for the agency to go for this ranking list?

A brand is authentic when it has an original story that engages with the customers and it consistently delivers what it says it does.

It initiates or participates in activities that support its messages which usually match the customer’s needs and values. Most importantly, authenticity comes from business owners who have real passion and therefore keep challenging themselves to do things better.

By initiating the 100 Most Authentic Arab Brands, we wanted the companies that are behaving in an authentic way and inspire customers and brand owners better understand the ins and outs of successful brand behaviour.

We hope it will be the platform for measuring the real value of brands in the mind of the customers. Perhaps after this exercise, brand owners will learn what people truly care about.

 

Isn’t there a chance the way you arrive at the conclusions could set off protests from brands claiming their authenticity?

The platform we created for this initiative is very transparent and interactive. After selecting the brands we have monitored, we are leaving it to the public to express their liking and their feedback.

By doing so, we are hoping that brand owners will capture the feelings of people and be able to assess better what they are doing right. So far we’ve got a lot of positive reactions from various brands even those who have not been selected.

 

Are there proprietary processes you followed to arrive at the conclusions? What were the parameters to identify the wider universe of regional brands?

Our manifesto is based on three values — authenticity, taste and innovation.

The markets are saturated with products and services. In the Middle East, consumer expectation is growing especially after the financial crisis.

Today, they have become immune to hollow messages and superficial design. So branding is only effective if a product or service is wrapped up with true value.

And unless the brand is really genuine and committed to practice what it says it does, it will become obsolete. Authenticity is about honesty.

Brands need to find a way to appeal and become relevant. We believe “taste” plays a major role in presenting a message simply without fanfare.

It is about harmony and original compositions and re-compositions that make a brand live its story in an infinite dimension without looking boring or sounding phony. It is about the attention to detail that any discerned person can detect and appreciate. Nowadays customers have become more sophisticated and learned.

Consumers’ expectations are growing. Today’s game is no longer about awareness. It is about differentiation. The more original you are, the more you stand out and if your story is original, believable and credible the consumer will adopt it and even market it for you.

In the 100 Most Authentic Arab Brands, we decided to go viral to demonstrate that consumers today talk with each other before talking to brands. And if they love a concept they will drive it.

It is interesting that the brands that are most popular on our site are not necessarily the most established. Some of them are not even three years old.

 

Many of the rankings in the region are based on third-party feedback. Have you eschewed this route completely?

So far we have noticed that size and longevity don’t really matter. Also, it doesn’t matter if the company’s online fan community base is big or small.

Some of the brands that are reaching the Top Ten most voted have a very mixed number of fans. Take for example the Brand Rajadano, they have been on our Top Ten most voted list since the start.

It is a young Arab Fashion brand that has great ambitions to grow on an international platform. What is most interesting to see is that Rajadano has no Facebook Fan page, only a Twitter presence and without a large number of followers.

So far, we have noted that there isn’t a direct link between our votes and the number of fans. Our voters are responding to real experiences that they have with the brand.

They are somehow connected with the brand they like and their messages relate to pride and ownership. We have also noticed that we have managed to create a new dialogue between brands and their audiences. They are now listening to what people are saying about them and responding.

May 4, 2011
Forward-thinking and innovative

Forward-thinking and innovative – Oasis magazines tells us how they became the first magazine of its kind in Saudi Arabia.

Oasis is one of the leading arts & culture magazines within the region. Oasis continuously celebrates a rich heritage and a modern, progressive and young MENA generation that is curious, forward-thinking, innovative and savvy. Oasis Magazine is the first Saudi publication of its kind, and the leading arts & culture magazine in the Kingdom, with a section focused specifically on Saudi Arabia, featuring in-depth interviews and highlighting noteworthy accomplishments.
The publication provides seasonal updates on the best in Middle Eastern culture, arts, literature, entrepreneurship, fashion, travel, and environmental & luxury products from the objective, and relatable perspective, of a young local team and a blend of internationally renowned talents. Oasis delivers fresh new content with each issue. Its focus on exposing both Middle Eastern happenings, from events and openings to individuals that are changing
our arena, as well as worldwide activities, has been creating a global impact and a much-needed platform for f” Oasis is one of the leading arts & culture magazines within the region. Oasis continuously celebrates a rich heritage and a modern, progressive and young MENA generation that is curious, forward-thinking, innovative and savvy. Oasis Magazine is the first Saudi publication of its kind, and the leading arts & culture magazine in the Kingdom, with a section focused specifically on Saudi Arabia, featuring in-depth interviews and highlighting noteworthy accomplishments.
The publication provides seasonal updates on the best in Middle Eastern culture, arts, literature, entrepreneurship, fashion, travel, and environmental & luxury products from the objective, and relatable perspective, of a young local team and a blend of internationally renowned talents. Oasis delivers fresh new content with each issue. Its focus on exposing both Middle Eastern happenings, from events and openings to individuals that are changing
our arena, as well as worldwide activities, has been creating a global impact and a much-needed platform for forward-thinking, innovative, and creative individuals.”

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