Thanks Celtic Pure and AIB for raising again great questions concerning branding efficacy in your January Print Ad. Surely branding is (in a very important sense) not what you pay for but 'what you get', including what you benefit from in the purity and relevance of the product, the service, and (crucially for consumers increasingly seeking authenicity and sustainability) the deeply-held and holistic values of the producer, the distributor, the retailer...the brand.

So, is branding a benefit or a mere cost to consumers? Does the consumer really want water with a spring in its step...water which proclaims it's celtic, it's pure, it's 'soft days...bottled'?

We think so. No need to pour water on it.

Tags: brand building , brand identity

Leveraging brand power for freedom of expression?
The debate as we saw it.

As of midnight on the 18th January, the 24 hour shutdown of one of the internet’s most-visited sites, Wikipedia, caught the attention of the international press and a huge percentage of the internet-using community, including, of course, Wikipedia fans in Ireland.

In sharp protest against SOPA and PIPA – the two Bills due to be presented to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate – the English-language Wikipedia site was blacked out for 24 hours. Supporters of the Bills: SOPA (an acronym for “Stop Online Piracy Act”) and PIPA (“Protect IP Act”) argue that they rightly aim to battle piracy, counterfeiting and copyright infringement on the Web.

However, opponents argue that both Bills are badly drafted legislation that won’t be effective and, more importantly, will jeopardise free expression, privacy and innovation in the Internet. Wikipedia, in particular, harshly criticised the Bills as having the potential to seriously infringe free expression, which they say is detrimental not only to their own encyclopedia platform but to democratic internet usage on a much broader basis:

“They put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won’t have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn’t being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won’t show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.” (Wikipedia)

But playing the role of an advocate is potentially dangerous territory for a highly-influential brand like Wikipedia, particularly with so many people now depending on the site to access information. Fox News reported that, in the Wikipedia code of conduct, the brand claims to be written from a neutral point of view, to “avoid advocacy, and characterize information and issues rather than debate them.”

So what was the impact on the Wikipedia brand as a result? Undoubtedly, the move caused much controversy, creating huge global awareness for a cause that key members of the Wikipedia brand community felt to be important for the platform’s future survival.

Despite balloting its volunteer contributors and editors on whether or not to proceed with the blackout protest, some editors revealed that they would prefer that the encyclopedia stick to being a neutral repository of knowledge (foxnews.com). They wondered where the line of advocacy would be drawn, at what causes, and to what effect.

Because the Bills are designed to crack down on sales of pirated American products overseas, unsurprisingly they have the support of the film and music industry. However, also among the opponents are other global top-content websites, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter and eBay, who suggest that the Bills will bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States. Google placed a link on the home-page of their world-leading search engine which directed users to a petition urging the US Congress not to censor the Web.

However, some Ceo’s felt the blackout approach was a step too far. Dick Costollo, Ceo of Twitter, said he opposes the legislation, but shutting down the Twitter service was simply out of the question: “Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish,” he tweeted.

The day following the blackout, Wikipedia posted the following message, suggesting there is yet more to come…

One thing’s for sure, even though their brand was ‘blacked out’, in media circles Wikipedia was very much in the spotlight perhaps more than ever before - which just goes to prove that a brand blackout can be good for brand promotion. Looks like Wikipedia made the right decision for a number of reasons.


Supporting sources:

http://www.foxnews.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Tags: brand identity, brand awareness, brand building

In case we might not get the point, tell it, tell it and tell it again!



Perhaps there's an important lesson here never to under-estimate the place of logic and intelligence when it comes to labelling and customer copywriting. Don’t go on at customers about what they don’t need to know. A well thought-out copywriting and messaging strategy is vital to a good brand experience.

Tags: Copywriters, Packaging design, brand identity evolution

Our concept for Petstop brings a new lease of life to a recessionary market...

Retail investment is a brave move in tough economic times, but the team at Petstop, the Irish-owned chain of pet shops who are now expanding their international presence, and ourselves here at Bradley McGurk know that the prize is worth it for those best positioned to win the business out there.

Our brand strategists, designers and copywriters developed an exciting retail store design to help Petstop launch their brand in the UK market.

This investment in store design is a classic example of what can be achieved when you mix creativity with entrepreneurship, while anchoring this combination with a solid understanding of the strength and nature of consumer demand in the market.

Both the Petstop team and Bradley McGurk are delighted with the outcome, and the customers love it too. We would like to wish Petstop all the best for a prosperous retailing future!

If you have a store or restaurant design project that you would like to talk to us about, just call us on 01-2937766. We'd love to hear from you!

Tags: brand design, design agency, brand marketing, brand consultants, brand development

‘Winning business through better branding’

Innovation Dublin is a festival, running from the 17th October – 18th November, which celebrates and showcases the innovation and creativity that is happening across Dublin. Over the course of the month, events are held across Dublin city and county to showcase innovation in business, science, education and art. The principal aim of the festival is to provide Dubliners – whether they’re entrepreneurs, students, researchers, artists or large corporations – with an opportunity to discuss, promote and celebrate innovation in the city.

This year we are participating for our second time in the festival by running our ‘Winning Business Through Better Branding’ workshop on both the 4th and 11th November from 1:30 - 4:30pm. Read more about it below!

‘Winning Business Through Better Branding’

Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Date 1: 04/11/2011
Date 2: 11/11/2011
Time: 1.30pm
Facilitator: Brian McGurk

Event Description:

Branding is an innovation strategy. Brand development is a creative process that is ideas-driven and design-based and that thrives on innovation and entrepreneurial vision. Your vision. This workshop will platform brand innovation as both a creative process and as a strategy for business growth. It will make this process accessible to attendees, to business/brand owners, whether you have a marketing background or not. The workshop will be particularly valuable to business people who believe in brand power as a competitive strategy and as a source of market advantage. The ‘Winning Business Through Better Branding’ workshop will cover the following: a review of branding as a business driver - benchmark brands and what makes them great - how to develop your own brand: create your brand plan - how to create brand awareness - vision+identity+communications: a creative relationship, a commercial imperative.


Booking details: Please send email booking requests to karen@bradleymcgurk.com

Organiser: Bradley McGurk
Contact: Karen Rafferty
Telephone: 01-293 7766
Website: www.bradleymcgurk.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bradleymcgurk

Tags: Innovation Dublin, brand strategy , brand development, strategic branding, branding Ireland