As you know we have merged with Tempo Creative, you can find our monthly desktop calendars and other super posts on our Tempo Creative blog.

You can find them here:

March Desktop Calendars

Enjoy!

Attempts to define a brand make me think of the elephant parable in which different blind men describe an elephant based on what different body parts feel like.

Case in point: A collection of interviews, called Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits by Debbie Millman, that includes the world’s leading brand thinkers offering their explanations of what a brand is. Here’s a quick summary of what some of them said.

• “Something you have an unexplained, emotional connection to”
• “A promise of a certain kind of consistency and continuity over time”
• “A product with a compelling story”
• “A profound manifestation of the human condition”

With definitions like these, it’s no wonder successful brand-building remains as elusive as graceful elephant-riding.

But my work on some of the world’s greatest brands and my study of many others has taught me that a brand isn’t a thing; it’s an equation:

Brand = Culture + Customer Experience + Communication

Moreover, I’ve learned the way to create a brand isn’t through “branding.”  Typical branding activities like creating an image to serve as the face of a company, refreshing a logo or tagline in an attempt to reinvigorate the business and developing advertising campaigns to get your name out there are pointless.  Instead, strong brands are built through an extraordinary culture, remarkable customer experiences and compelling communication.

Culture. A brand starts with an extraordinary company culture, because you can’t deliver greatness to your customers if you’re not developing greatness among your employees.  A vital culture cultivates the values and norms that guide the way a company operates.

Delivering “WOW” through service and creating “a little weirdness” are the renowned cornerstones of culture at Zappos.  That company credits its culture for creating a unique service experience for customers and fueling its growth from $0 to $1 billion in less than 10 years.  Jack In the Box, the 2,200-unit fast-food chain, creates competitive advantage through its fun culture.  Because its employees and franchisees are “bold, make others laugh and celebrate good times,” the company benefits from greater engagement in training and development, product launches and new strategic initiatives.

Culture is what sustains growth over time.  Products and services may come and go, but a strong culture ensures the consistency in brand experience that customers come to trust and value.

Customer Experience. Remarkable customer experiences are the second element of the brand equation.

All companies strive to deliver products or services that are valued by its customers, but the ones with the strongest brands differentiate and delight throughout the entire customer experience.  In fact, every aspect of operations is designed with the brand in mind.

Singapore Airlines embraces innovation, technology, genuine quality and customer service as its primary brand values and attributes.  So the company pioneered many in-flight experiential and entertainment innovations, including being the first to introduce hot meals, personal entertainment systems and video-on-demand.  “Singapore Girls,” the airline’s flight attendants, are world-renowned for offering extraordinary customer service with distinctive Asian hospitality.  It also runs one of the most comprehensive and rigorous training programs in the industry for its crew to make sure the brand experience is fully and consistently delivered.

Communication. When a company has a great culture and customer experience, compelling communication complete the brand-building effort.

Communicating with your target customers educates them and allows them to know, understand and appreciate the unique value your company creates.  Communication engages the target in dialogues that enhance and extend their relationship with your company.

Ralph Lauren fuses art, fashion and technology in its dramatic brand communications.  Just as its stores are designed to create context and develop desire for its products, the company uses communication to tell stories and convey the brand’s uniqueness.  Whether it’s a website that allows customers to make their own virtual rugby shirts and beam them to store windows, or a 4-D (sight, sound, space and smell) show with London’s tony Bond Street as the backdrop, the company uses “merchantainment” (merchandising and entertainment) to create brand-building communications.

A brand really is an equation. The way a company inspires and engages its employees should be inextricably linked to how it inspires and engages its customers.  Together, culture and customer experience produce an exceptional employee base that produces exceptional results.

And only when a company has a great culture and customer experience can communication truly build the brand.  If customer experience and communication don’t add up, communication becomes nothing more than old-fashioned branding that consumers see right through.

The brand equation makes it clear that a brand is internal and external; it’s what you do and what you say.  And strong culture, customer experience and communication add up to a strong brand and a strong business.

As you know we have merged with Tempo Creative, we figured it was a good time to start posting our monthly desktop calendars on our Tempo Creative blog.

You can find them here:

February Desktop Calendars

Enjoy!

About the images

Resting in the leaves by Cactus Canine

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View of Four Peaks by Rick D’Elia

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Summit of Mt Kilimanjaro from Rick D’Elia

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To enjoy (instructions): Click the image of the wallpaper you’d like, and a larger version will open in a new window. Right click on this image, and select “Set as Desktop Background”. If that size doesn’t fit, click on the link that’s the right size for your screen and then right click the bigger image.  You’ll never forget what day it is!

Enjoy and look forward to more calendars next month!

Getting a bigger slice of the feedback pie [INFOGRAPHIC]

3 tips to establish a brand voice

Why Digital Marketing and Branding Go Hand-in-Hand

Sensory Branding Video

Table tent uses

In honor of National Beer Drinking Day…

Establish consistency with a brand handbook

Going green? Font matters

Wine Tasting- A sensory experience

Creative QR codes

StumbleUpon is starting 2012 with a friendly and bright new logo. The color orange suggests fascination, enthusiasm and attraction all qualities that reinforce the premise of StumbleUpon: introducing people to new and fascinating websites. The reasoning behind the logo is that it promotes “possibility and forward movement,” a brand message that was developed by their design agency.

Starbucks served up the new look of the company this year with a very modern and simplified version of past logos. The omission of “Starbucks Coffee Company” allows for their ever-growing market. Starbucks is not just coffee anymore, it’s ice cream and liqueur, tea, products, etc.

Canada’s Olympic Team launched a new logo that uses the colors of the Olympic rings in a prismatic fashion, but also centers the focus on the well known representation of Canada: the maple leaf.

Office for Mac icons/logos

Here we have an example of logo trends in 2011 as noted by LogoLounge. The new icons take on a ‘banded’ element and the forms are organic and three-dimensional, complete with a shadowed gradient for added oomph. The new icons strive to create a bond between millions of users who rely on these products for essays, annual reports, presentations and emails.

Culinaria is a posh grocer that prides itself on value and quality. This logo was introduced to keep up with the growing urban area of St. Louis where the inhabitants thrive on new and interesting food experiences.  Orange is exciting and seems to exclaim the new logo.

The annual Australasia Underwater Festival challenges scuba diving photographers to take the year’s best underwater photo.  This logo emulates another 2011 trend that mashes a ton of different silhouetted design elements into one to make a beautifully understood shape - in this case the world.

The Islands of Bahamas travel site has a new look - fun, colorful and festive, much like a vacation to the Bahamas would be. The use of lower case in the word ‘Bahamas’ has a friendly and welcoming tone. The most interesting fact about this logo is the shape. The shape reveals the geographical placement of the islands. View the transformation on their website.

The Arizona Technology Council, a premier trade association representing science and technology companies of all sizes and stages, launched a new logo this year that focuses on networking and connections in a more global arena. Orange and gray are very modern, technology-based colors while the connections and nodes take the shape of a cactus, representing Arizona.

The most fascinating logos take the shape of many different objects.  This bright logo may look like just a bundle of bananas in passing, but if you take a closer look that very bundle of bananas transforms into a bird. Smart!

Another simple, yet wildly creative logo. At first glance it is a simple shoe print, but it too represents an overturned bowling pin. The font is a great choice due to the fun (to some) nature of the game.

Tempo Creative is ready to ring in the New Year with a brand new logo, meshing together the three dimensional elements of web and the sensitivity of print. The logo represents the coming together of two design businesses, Tempo Creative and Miss Details Design... the tagline says it all!

PRIME FUNCTION:

To provide advanced administrative office support for Tempo Creative

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Check-in with Tempo Creative Owners and staff for:
  • Immediate projects and/or errands
  • Business errands and/or vendor drop-off or pick-ups
  • Picking up Post Box Office mail
• Answer/screen/distribute messages for all telephone calls
• Answer front door for visitors, clients and deliveries
• Coordinate and schedule office and out-of-office meetings
• Create and maintain a general office supply list
• Make sure all printers have paper
• Empties all shredders & trash cans
• Replaces air filters every 2 months
• Any other basic personal and office operations support
• Responds to emails from Operations Manager
• On an annual basis, updates Administrative Assistant section in Desk Manual
• Organize and maintain office environment
  • General pick-up and organizing
• Review and proofread proposals/documents/websites
• Manage interns
• Filing
• Manage general social media
• Keeping track of intern schedules
• Monitoring and tracking employee sick days, vacations, etc.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Knowledge of standard office policies and procedures
• Skill in developing and maintaining effective working relationships
• Skill in English composition, grammar, spelling and punctuation
• Strong attention to detail
• Proficient in Microsoft office (PowerPoint, Word and Excel)
• Familiar with Microsoft Outlook
• Familiar with Google apps
• Experience with MAC & Windows computers
• Familiar with social media platforms

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

4 years personal assistant/administrative experience; OR, any equivalent combination of experience and/or education from which comparable knowledge, skills and abilities have been achieved.

HOURS

This is a part-time position (about 30hrs/week to start)

Please send resume and cover letter to tanya@tempocreative.com

It’s a digital world out there – smartphone usage increases everyday, tablet use has exploded, and integrated marketing campaigns are everywhere! But what would all of these aspects of digital marketing look and feel like if a brand hadn’t been established? Marketing is about values – if you don’t know your values and who you are, you can’t market, you can’t establish a brand, and you can’t create integrated materials and strategies.

But it’s also a branding world – consumers are overwhelmed with choices, images, advertisements, and sales. One factor leads the consumer to make a choice: brand loyalty. Are you a Mac or a PC? Coke or Pepsi? Nike or Adidas? While these choices were traditionally impacted by advertisements, they are increasingly impacted by website design, social media presence, and search engine ranking. Companies now focus on creating connections with consumers and among consumers. It is growing more and more difficult to connect with consumers without digital marketing, and without a brand, it is impossible for consumers to even be aware a company exists. In today’s world, branding and digital are no longer options on a checklist. They are essential to every marketing strategy.

Branding provides creative direction for every piece of marketing collateral a firm will ever use. From press releases to website design, social media voice, and email signatures, a well-branded company is consistent and easy to identify and understand. Steve Jobs said, “…it’s a very noisy world. And we’re not going to get the chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.”His quote illustrates the fact that companies need unique brands to stand out, and need to truly embody their brand to survive. Companies that can’t keep up in the quickly evolving market will disappear like Pontiac, Borders, and Circuit City.

The growing importance of digital marketing and brand strategy is a key factor in the merger between Tempo Creative and Miss Details Design. For over a decade, Tempo has been Arizona’s premier web design and digital marketing firm. Miss Details Design is recognized for its brand strategy and creativity, and Tempo can now offer these crucial services in addition to our award-winning digital services. Tempo and Miss Details are proud to be Arizona’s powerhouse of both online and offline marketing design to maximize ROI for all our clients.