And as a designer it’s something I’ve always felt very strongly about – it’s so easy for a designer to make a huge difference. Most charities operate with virtually no marketing budget and as a result their promotion is usually amateur at best. Back in the UK, I used to aim to work with one charity at a time, to help them get their branding into shape. I did this for free, figuring my services would have a far greater impact than a cash donation in the longer term. Take a look at http://www.focusbirmingham.org.uk/ for the latest charity rebrand. “Birmingham Focus” [as they were] support people with visual impairments and other disabilities to live independent lives. Although really well known locally, the name “Birmingham Focus” sounded like they were an organization focusing on the City of Birmingham. As they expanded out of the area this caused them other issues. I switched the name to “Focus Birmingham” allowing “Focus Anywhere” and designed them a new logo based on the Braile “F” and a bespoke font, created and tested specifically for legibility, together with new literature grids etc. I was pleased to see they have since had a new website designed too.

Before that I helped a Charity called Second City, Second Chance rebrand to Step:Up [ see http://www.bland-id.co.uk/portfolio/stepUpfolio.html ]

So, to get to the point. I’m short of a charity to help. And that makes me fidgety. So does anyone out there know of a good and deserving charity that would really benefit from a rebrand or some marketing advice at least? It’s a point to note that neither Step:Up or Focus knew they had branding issues. How/why should they? It’s also worth noting that in both cases their awareness has increased by over 25% in the year that followed the rebrand.

Please get in touch. I want to do my bit.

Why does this seem to happen so often?

Redesigning a website is always a much bigger task than it first seems. Because a website echos the entire activity of a business, it inevitably causes you to question and define how you break down your operations, how customers interact with you and consider how you want to be perceived longer term. And these are branding issues, not web design issues.

The answer is simply to address your branding first. A review of your branding will ensure your brand values are in place and your logo, styling and tagline are relevant. Of course it will require you to address the very same ‘deeper questions about what it is you are trying to do‘ – but in the context of a brand review with a branding specialist – making the whole process more effective and rewarding all round.

And ultimately it means that you approach your website redesign with a detailed and informed brief, thought-through structure and a good start in terms of styling. The only down side is that you’ll have to take the time to plan your brand review before you dive into your website redesign.

Some industries are traditionally less receptive to what’s seen as ‘branding’. And in Calgary this is especially true of the Oil and Gas service industries. Uundoubtedly, branding in such industries is less critical than say, selling cell phones. But it’s more a case of focusing on differing values and triggers, than ignoring the role of branding altogether…

For example, here’s a point of view I often come across. “Branding is not important to us. Our customers buy on price alone. No amount of fancy branding is going to affect our sales – in fact it would probably put customers off.”

True enough. The customers that buy from them “on price alone” are heavily influenced by price – and fancy expensive looking branding would lead them to an expectation of higher costs.

But do they really buy on price alone?

If a price was only low because the goods were unethically sourced, they’d bulk at it. So Integrity and trust are factors too. If when they did buy the goods, they were late, then “reliability ” would become an issue. And if all the paperwork was incomplete and the staff clueless whenever the order was followed up, “professionalism” would come into the mix.

Suddenly, dealing with a “trustworthy, professional, reliable and efficient company, that has an absolute commitment to the lowest price” seems more attractive than one that “just sells cheap“.

The point is that branding doesn’t have to look or feel ‘fancy’. The whole point is that it fits your business. Done well it just helps to communicate those qualities that appeal to customers. Remember, anyone who comes into contact with your business will form an opinion of it. Whether it’s through direct contact – or your website or an advert – it’s better to control how you come across than not.

Take a look at some examples of companies that excel in a market where traditionally ‘fancy branding’ is avoided. The best example I can think of is Caterpillar. [ http://www.cat.com ]. Earth moving equipment is not traditionally associated with high end branding, but the success of the Caterpillar brand has enabled the company to expand into new markets that it never would have had the opportunity to without some excellent brand positioning. Who’d have predicted that footwear, clothing, tools – even golfing accessories could be marketed under the ‘Cat’ brand?

http://shop.cat.com/category/M37/110

New year’s resolution or not, it’s actually a great time to think about refreshing your brand. And in uncertain economic times, “refreshing” is the key. It’s a big investment to completely re-do your image. What makes far more sense is to review what you have and knock it into shape – making sure it reflects where your business is at now. This evolution, not revolution approach is far quicker and more cost effective to implement – and is sure to provide results almost immediately.

By way of example, let’s take a typical SME. It’s probably been going for around 4-7 years and has an logo and identity that was done either at the formation of the business or shortly after. The company has grown due to it’s success and so far has not had to rely on its image that much. Chances are that since the boom of the last few years, cash is now a bit tighter than it was – and looking at the branding is way off the radar.

So why look at it now?

Think about the difference between the company as it was 5 years ago and now. It’s now larger, more established and well respected. It’s market has expanded and it’s now looking for new markets and ways of selling it’s product/service. The existing brand image will be still relevant, but looking a bit dated. The effort and cost to redo everything is not appropriate, but there are undoubtedly benefits of looking that bit sharper and more professional when dealing with newer larger customers.

So what I’m advocating in essence is a cheap fix. Something that gets you where you want to be, to put you in a better shape to move the business forward [or survive another slump]. A solution that is simple and effective, without any significant investment.

The secret is to start with establishing the brand values. What is it that makes up your business’s personality. What do you stand for? From this, it’s probably a case of writing a tagline that better communicates these values together with cleaning up the logo to bring it up to date – but without changing it significantly.

This provides the advantage of being able to phase in the updating of the refreshed identity. Your main items can be updated easily. The website for example is the simplest to change. Most other items can be replaced as stocks run out.

This strategy is not for every business, but for most who fit the profile above, it will serve them well until things pick up, giving the confidence to truly focus on their brand.

Here are links to a couple of recent examples on my website:

http://www.bland-id.co.uk/portfolio/sgdfolio.html

http://www.bland-id.co.uk/portfolio/Projectone.html

The official line on the ‘old’ brand is:

“Calgary – Heart of the New West™ is a brand used to promote Calgary to the world. The image is a stylized cowboy hat bringing to mind mountains, Chinook winds, and the Saddledome. The positioning line “Heart of the New West™” links Calgary’s past, present and future in a powerful way, while speaking to Calgary’s energy and spirit.”

I accept there are many subtle hidden meanings in the logo, but to most it’s just a cowboy hat, the word Calgary and the tag line.

Which brings me to my point. All too often both clients and designers get wrapped up in the subtle complexities of a logo. To customers, it’s a much simpler gut reaction that gives them an instant ‘feeling’ for a company or brand. Can they trust it? Does it match with their expectations and experience? It’s far more important to ensure the overall impression is the desired one, rather than try to build too many complex meanings into a logo.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for clever logos but ultimately the best and most memorable logos are always the simple ones.

I wish the designers of the new logo luck and hope it’s every bit as good as the new Alberta one.