So this is Christmas

No more work for a couple of days, just wishing everybody a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Why does the public sector get branding so wrong?

From a sector that was such a late adopter of marketing communications, it seems to have embraced the concepts of brands as a panacea for all ills. However the misunderstanding of some of the basic principles is like giving the young George Washington a chain saw. 

The first principles behind branding must be clarity and differentiation, but the public sector seems to spawn a myriad brands for every department, division, product, quango, agency or office. Each of these fiefdoms demands its own share of voice with the result that the poor consumer of these services is presented with a confusing tangled of ill-differentiated brands. Documents, ads, websites etc. are then covered with conflicting logos – more spattered than a decorator’s radio. No commercial organisation would spend so much time and money competing with itself for its customers’ attention. 

The work I have done with SMEs underlines that confusion as they struggle to know which organisation or department to turn to for help. 

The other point which is missed is long term investment in a brand.  Any commercial organisation thinks long and hard before changing or tinkering with their brand. They recognise their long term investment in their brand and its values.  The public sector on the other hand seems to delight in developing, changing, re-branding and re-launching faster than they can communicate with their audience. 

One thing should be understood, the most successful brands have little to do with clever ideas, cute names or flashy design. They are about clarity, consistent communications and a consistent offer. 

Keep it simple – don’t tinker – don’t change – prune, prune, prune.

Contextual research

While working on an online, brand research project I was musing on whether we can make them more situated in context and less artificial.

I remember hearing many years ago of some research into pack designs, where participants were invited to collaborate in some hall tests.  The tests were for some unrelated subject and were totally spurious.  After completing the tests the participants were invited to help themself to some products in a room on their way out… you guessed it… it was the packs they chose that were the objective of the research.

So, can we use similar techniques online, rather than just emulate paper based surveys?

I am currently investigating using virtual worlds to situate research in context as recent psychological research suggests people’s behaviour in virtual worlds is at core, the same as their behaviour would be in ‘real’ worlds.

First post or last post before Christmas?

Okay, first post, no platitudes about blogging just a kick off.  This is a general blog, but my personal interests are in branding and brand development, both online and off, but I don’t plan to be boringly business… I can be boring in dozens of other ways.