Firebrand

Hyundai is putting winged badges in place of the already sparsely used Hyundai H on the Hyundai Genesis coupe and sedan. These badges were originally intended for only the Korean and Chinese markets, but now are on a third of the the North American Genesii I have seen. Hyundai Genesis owners I have talked to are actually running to their dealers to order new badges to replace their Hyundai logos if they were not fortunate enough to have the wings come from the showroom.

We have talked about how the Genesis is low on original features, and two posts back we talked about tagging on to another brands brand associations. Well the Genesis winged emblem took a little too much direct inspiration from the Bentley wing logo (as well as a now upscale brand, Mini.) According to Hyundai, the wings mean “spirit of flight and soaring above it all.” It is a clear attempt to borrow some brand equity from Bentley to give the Genesis some upscale credence. In our example with Tom Tom being inspired by Sim City, they only took inspiration for the music and look and feel of the graphic design. The Genesis badge has exactly the same architecture of the Bentley badge, and is only different in detail and not spirit.

I’ve spent a good amount of time in the Genesis sedan and have been very impressed with it, given the price. If Hyundai is going to “soar above [them] all” and command a premium price for their premium car, than they are going to have to have original features. Right now, they are flying behind the pack just at a lower price.

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By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an award winning industrial designer who works with large multinational brands everyday designing retail displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.

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The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of Colin Finkle’s employer, FX Displays.

You may have seen my Twitter post about the creative of the video for the Tom Tom iPhone app and car kit. What I liked about it was the associations it was creating between the Tom Tom brand and descriptors like urban, sophisticated, simple, worry free, elegant and future thinking. But then I realized why the associations were so powerful. The music, brand elements and the 3D road projected from the iPhone were inspired by a brand with all these associations powerfully built in for many people: Sim City.

What was most clear to me was the music. I always liked the music from Sim City, and probably was a pivotal driver in my love for jazz. I often work to the Sim City Rush Hour soundtrack (free download) because it is stimulating but non-distracting. The ambient music in the Tom Tom iPhone demo video is very similar. I put the connection together consciously, but for most the association is there on an unconscious level. Players who played Sim City will link the positive feelings they remember from Sim City to Tom Tom, to a certain extent. A good move, because I would be willing to bet the people interested in the iPhone car kit would be on the geekier side of the general population (I am a self admitted geek) and are more likely to have played Sim City. Even if a potential customer hasn’t, Sim City did a great job of orchestrating those feelings and why try to reinvent their great work if they are making the associations you want.

This can be done by any business. Think of a descriptor you would like your brand to be described as. What brand is best described that way? (Elegant = Mercedes, Free Spirited = Echo) Analyze that brand. What colours are they using? What sort of lines does the graphics have? What sounds do they use? How is the material composed? Look at everything that speaks to your descriptor. Don’t be afraid to integrate some of these aspects into the design of your company’s material. But put your brand’s spin on it, and give credit where credit is due.

Check out the video for yourself. I think it is very well done:

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By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an award winning industrial designer who works with large multinational brands everyday designing retail displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.

Interact with the Firebrand community – Please Comment or Email.

The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of Colin Finkle’s employer, FX Displays.

As a professional writer/editor, I enjoyed reading your recent post on speaking to your target audience.  Delivering your message in a language and tone that is understood by your target audience is one of the most important things a business owner can do.

When developing a product or service, people spend many hours thinking about the needs and wants of their target market.  Unfortunately, however, much of that knowledge often flies out the window when they develop a marketing strategy.  As an editor, I am amazed at how often I come across messages presented using the wrong language and a tone that is totally off the mark.

I think that part of the reason this may happen is because of a tendency to try and rduce costs by delivering the same message to a diverse target group.  This can be challenging, but not impossible.  The world’s best writers were masters at communicating to several audiences at once, Shakespeare for example, wrote plays that contained separate scenes that would appeal to the less sophisticated members of his audience.

Rather than trying to emulate Shakespeare however, your best approach is to take the time to develop a set of specific key messages that appeal to each of your target groups.  When doing so, think carefully about their needs and perspective.  Put yourself in their shoes whether they be expensive Prada pumps, high-tech Nike runners or even sensible Timberline deck shoes.

Let’s consider an example of a simple product used by many different types of people:  facial tissues.  Here is a description of this well-used product according delivered to two quite different target groups: young women and elderly men.

Try our delightful new brand of facial tissues. They are soft and delicate, suitable for even the most sensitive skin types.

Try our classic brand of facial tissues.  They are inexpensive and guaranteed to get the job done.

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Diane Finkle Perazzo  is a  successful freelance writer and editor and small business owner. She and her company, Wordsmith Writing and Editing Services, specialize in writing for the health care community.

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Last post we talked about how people’s attention to an advertisement is proportional to how much they need your product (need state). We also talked about how it is nice to advertise in places that your customers who need your product are is good (targetting), but real magic happens in places with people who need your product right now (hyper targetting) Using this will help you get more value for your advertising dollars. This is particularly valuable to small business owners.

But before we delve deeper, we a quick introduction to CPM so we are all on the same page. CPM stands for Cost Per Thousand. The M stands for thousand because it is the roman numeral that represents 1000. All advertising has a CPM; some media calculates it for you and some you have to calculate by dividing the cost by the audience size, multiplied by 1000- (cost / audience) x 1000. CPM rates will range based on how engaging the ad is, how rich the media is (ie. audio vs. video), how measurable the response is, etc. But highly specific audiences garner higher CPM because it helps advertisers target the audience to their typical buyers.

For example, if you have a software product that you want to advertise, obviously technology savy people are more likely to follow up after seeing the advertisement. If you are trying to decide on whether to advertise on the radio or a technology podcast, you want to consider the audience relative to CPM. Say the technology podcast CPM is twice what the radio advertisement is. The tech podcast will have an audience that is 90% technology literate, and the radio will have 30%. For every 1000 impressions on the tech podcast, 900 will be meaningful because they are to a receptive audience. The radio will only have 300 meaningful impressions. You get 3X the meaningful impressions for 2X the price with the tech podcast, getting you further ahead with more conversions per dollar. Advertiser friendly media will have media kits that break down their audience with survey results to help you decide. You will have to advertise in more places as more targeted media has smaller audiences.

This is the way B2B (selling business to business) companies and companies with targeted services survive. Advertising in mass market channels such as TV, radio and billboard wouldn’t make sense because the amount of the audience that would have a meaningful impression could be lower than a percent. Therefore trade-shows, industry magazines, and professional associations are much more worthwhile.

Today I learned about Behanced through the Creative Xpert podcast. Behanced is a company with products and services centered around creative professionals. Creative Xpert is a great place for Behanced to promote because nearly 100% of the audience could use the product. While this was an interview, not an advertisement it is improtnt to recognize there is still a CPM. Founding partner Scott Belsky had to take time out to do the interiew; time is money. There is no such thing as free promotion, well except for press!

Question of the Post: What media would be most likely to reach your target audience? What CPM would you be willing to pay for those impressions?

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By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an award winning industrial designer who works with large multinational brands everyday designing retail displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.

Interact with the Firebrand community – Please Comment or Email.

“Established in 1906″ used to be important. Now apparently it’s a liability. -Seth Godin, Tribes

Seth Godin said that in reference to instability. Marketing by virtue is trying to change and destabilize markets so that one company can come out on top, hopefully yours. The stock market also likes instability because there will be winning and loosing customers, and money can be made from both.

I agree. There is nearly nothing the same about operating in 1906 as operating in the 21st century. The fact that your company has a legacy means that your company has legacy systems that are a liability. Sure, if you have been operating for that long than you have a track record of adapting. But between the time Seth Godin wrote Tribes and now, we have seen long standing companies fall. Most of the companies we deal with as consumers are relatively new, entrepreneurial companies: Google, Wal Mart, Best Buy, Amazon, etc.

Companies are like trees. Older companies have great roots that hold them up, but they are also taller making them more likely to fall. Sure old companies can succeed and new companies can definately fail. The point is that the playing field is more level than ever, no matter how much legacy you have.

Stop putting “Est. in 19XX” in your branding. It doesn’t mean anything.

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By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an award winning industrial designer who works with large multinational brands everyday designing retail displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.

Interact with the Firebrand community – Please Comment or Email.