Luxury Design​ is now Organic.

Times have changed since gaudy accessories and gold foil symbolised luxury and wealth implied overspending on things that drained earth’s resources.

An increasing awareness around the impact of our consumption on the planet including our food supply has been accompanied by a rise in the organic and sustainable movements.

Identity design has also shifted in line with these trends.

No longer about overt bling, simplicity, muted tones, textured finishes and earthy or quirky graphics are the order of the day.

Evolved Luxury

Increasing global wealth has made luxury products and services more affordable and whilst those playing catch-up are still intrigued by glitz and glamour, new luxury has evolved to be more discreet.

The evolved luxury consumer is prepared to pay more for artisanal products and natural sources. They are willing to wait for months for unique handcrafted products in order to forgo heavy processing and drowning in a sea of sameness.

Society is moving away from conspicuous consumption and into conscious creation.

Imperfections are now prized as an indication of a products’ craftsmanship and personalisation, as is a willingness to pay more for brands that are not overly designed.

Conscious Creation

Perhaps the world needed to go through the long period of industrialization and unprecedented growth that we have seen in the last 100 years in order to reassess our values.

Next time you absolutely need to buy a new gadget or can’t live without the latest wireless headphones, ask yourself if the ones you have absolutely need replacing and reflect on the kind of world your choice will contribut to.

Let’s keep pushing to create the healthy planet we desire to live in.

Live consciously,

Brenda.

Telling your brand story.

I’ve written about the evolution and development of Marketing and Communications over time (“Marketing Era’s“, “From-functional-to-aspirational-to-meaningful-economy“). One might argue that such a discussion of trends and cycles is outdated even irrelevant, since the pace of change in society and culture today is so fast, things move on before we can dissect them.

But, I believe it is worthwhile to scope out the landscape we are working in, if for nothing else, just to know its modus operandi. Once we dissect and understand changes in people’s attitude and behavior, we will be better able to respond  – to inform policies, product development and even brand conversations. It is also important to understand the impact of these changes and how to navigate and inspire the future. After all, the intelligent brand | corporation | individual is one who can adapt and be ready for the future.

With that in mind, I believe that the current brand / communication cycle is one of conversation | experiences. It is one where stories shine. If we consider the rise of Micro-blogging sites WordPress, tumblr, Wordpad and even Pinterest and Instagram, I believe one thing they have in common is the idea of sharing our ‘stories’ with people. Even when we tweet we are sharing a ‘story’ of sorts.

Thanks to (as a result of) the digital revolution, people have become accustomed to giving more media more of their time. People spend short – sometimes long – chunks of time engaged in watching videos (Vimeo, youtube), reading (slideshare, blogs, facebook and twitter links), playing games (with all the emotions they involve). Only an interesting ‘story’ makes people do that.

If you look at the print ads below (source: Archive magazine vol.3 2012), you will see that they tell interesting stories. They engage people with an introduction, main plot and conclusion of sorts.

The notion of stories in marketing is not new. But what I believe is important is the way we look at stories from a brand viewpoint.

A brand story is not just a manifesto. Everything the brand does is part of its storyline. Unlike in the past, the ‘storyline’ doesn’t need to continue identically through all communication touchpoints. In fact, we can consider all touchpoints and all aspects of the brand as having unique stories with unique sub-plots, characters and settings across all touchpoints. They don’t all need to look or feel or sound identical. As long as they tell the story in total! At different points in time, one may outweigh the other.

So, next time you’re briefing your agency, make sure they understand and have a plan to tell your brand story though various touchpoints. And make sure each touchpoint has its own engaging story. That’s what we do for our brands ☺ It’s what keeps our work fresh, intriguing and interesting.

Where the Conversation’s at.

Here’s a nice infographic from Brian Solis that may help you decide what platforms to use for your marketing channels.

Designing the Future

I love Design for many reasons and I think it will save the world.

One of the things I love about it is that it helps us crystallise conceptual ideas into a form that people can understand and interact with. In this way, good design can be seen in medical devices that save lives, toys that bring joy and provide entertainment, or websites that deliver a great shopping experience.

For me, good design is about improving user experience and thus improving lives.

Click on the image below and watch how Hellicar & Lewis design beautiful and unique experiences.

How to spot Talented Writing from Good Writing.

I love writing and the semantics of words. Choosing the right words to write helps us structure our thoughts, communicate our ideas and establish shared meaning. That’s why improving our writing is so important.

Below is an excellent excerpt discussing the difference between good and talented writing.

Though they have things in common, good writing and talented writing are not the same.

If you start with a confused, unclear, and badly written story, and apply the rules of good writing to it, you can probably turn it into a simple, logical, clearly written story. Though it will still not be a good one. The major fault of eighty-five to ninety-five percent of all fiction is that it is banal and dull.

Now old stories can always be told with new language. You can even add new characters to them; you can use them to dramatize new ideas. But eventually even the new language, characters, and ideas lose their ability to invigorate.

Either in content or in style, in subject matter or in rhetorical approach, fiction that is too much like other fiction is bad by definition. However paradoxical it sounds, good writing as a set of strictures (that is, when the writing is good and nothing more) produces most bad fiction. On one level or another, the realization of this is finally what turns most writers away from writing.

Whereas good writing is clear, talented writing is energetic. Good writing avoids errors. Talented writing makes things happen in the reader’s mind — vividly, forcefully — that good writing, which stops with clarity and logic, doesn’t.

Samuel Delany: About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews 

Happy Writing!

Hovis Bread. The last 122 years.

Sometimes strategic thoughts are simple and ads are beautiful.

Like this one for Hovis bread, focusing on the heritage of the brand and reinforcing its expertise and authenticity.

Hello Flo

Just when you thought advertising for Feminine Hygiene products couldn’t get any more interesting (Ha!) Hello Flo went and created a highly entertaining film using a fictional young girl’s first period as inspiration to tell a very amusing story!

And their website http://helloflo.com is a highly engaging site as well focussed on everything to do with Females and Female issues.

Nice to see a brand breaking free from  the mould of the “happy girl running carefree along the beach” cliche.

Concerto Timer

How to entertain people who are waiting for their ice-cream to defrost? Hold a Concert of course! Click on the image below to watch.

Nice one.

Storytelling in Advertising

Great ads tell great stories, most advertising people agree on this. Even in a digital world, a great idea still takes the audience on an interesting journey.

So, how do we write a great advertising storyline? There are a few overarching idea arcs that good ads have in common.

An overview of Advertising Storyline Structures

1. Based on Human Insight: Where an idea captures a culturally relevant insight or trend (a category insight or a universal human insight) and links it to the brand in a relevant way. The tone of voice will vary across categories and brands (humour, camaraderie, joy, nostalgia or other emotions) but at their core, they connect with an underlying human truth.
2. Creating a fictional world: This approach builds an intriguing fantasy world that helps demonstrate a brands proposition.
3. Using Projection: Based on the human ego, this technique allows the audience to transfer or extend their hopes and desires onto the product or service being sold. This arc can also work in reverse, using fear or threat to warn the viewer of the potential dangers of making an incorrect decision. Either way, it’s about understanding the hopes and fears of the audience and then tying this up with the product in a relevant way.
4. Product demonstration is when there is a stand out or new product feature that is best showcased with a stunning demonstration.

Here are some examples to make things clearer.

Human Insight Approach

IKEA are experts in simple, lighthearted ads that effortlessly communicate its proposition in witty and insightfully creative ways. The ad below is an example of instinctive / insightful communication built on a modern cultural truth about the way we live in a digital world.

Creating a Fictional World

On the other hand, this campaign for Georgetown Optician is an imaginative story that tells the fictional story of a family obsessed with eyewear. It effectively communicates the point that Georgetown opticians are experts in glasses.

Using Projection

This campaign for NIKE, taps into peoples hopes and aspirations by empowering the audience to dream about the person they could become if they associate with NIKE.

Product Demonstration

In this ad for Apple Watch, the product does all the talking

The greatest communications are the most orginal. For your next broef, try using one of these story arcs or even breaking the mould and trying something totally new.

Genius Morphs.

I belive that rarely is there such a thing as a bad idea, just a great idea waiting to happen.

Image source: TED Talks.