Claire Foucault
Artworker
Paris
Hi, I’m Claire and I’m one of the artworkers at The Brand Union Paris. I first started here as Junior Artworker a number of years ago but have come back after a five year period at Dragon Rouge. The people, the projects, and even the place have changed but i’m glad to be back and part of the team here.
When people ask me what my work involves, I usually tell them that I ‘play Tetris’ all day as I’m adjusting words and pictures to make them printable and closest to the creative desires of the design team.
How would I describe myself? I’d say I’m straight-forward, shy but open-minded, optimistic but realistic and I think that what we do is what defines us. Outside of work I enjoy spending time with family and in particular sharing my passions in life with my son, such as cooking, nature, cartoons…
News:
The Brand Union New York Launches Summer 2012 Internship Program
The New York office of The Brand Union has today launched a comprehensive internship program for Summer 2012. The 10 week paid program has been designed to expose students or recent graduates to the inner workings of a leading global brand agency with internships available with the Strategy, Design & Branding and Advertising teams.
Richard Bates, Chief Creative Officer at The Brand Union New York commented “This is an exciting opportunity for the next generation of creative talent to get real hands on experience working with some of the world’s leading brands. Equally exciting for the New York office is the energy and enthusiasm that student interns always bring to the work environment.”
Interested applicants should download and complete the application form and return with accompanying documentation to summer2012internship@thebrandunion.com. The closing date for applications is 12 noon, Friday 6 April 2012.
Considered candidates will be invited to attend an interview during the week of April 16 at the New York office of The Brand Union. For those not in the immediate New York area, interviews will be conducted by phone or Skype.
Priyanka Dilip
Senior Designer
Bangalore
I am a Communication Design graduate from the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. My Diploma project ‘Synchronizations’ was an interactive installation that was funded by The Ford Foundation, Delhi. The project was also exhibited at Ars Electronica, Austria in September 2005, an annual International Conference and exhibition of Interactive Arts.
I have worked on a wide range of projects like brand identities, retails stores, kiosks and cafés.
Besides design, food is my passion and you will often find me engrossed in the fine textures of food as you would me pondering over ligatures of a typeface.
Vattenfall
Vattenfall is one of Europe´s largest energy companies.
The old identity was implemented in 2001 and refined in 2003.However, the world around Vattenfall is clearly changing, and so are the requirements and demands from the stakeholders.
Vattenfall identified a need to adapt and develop its corporate identity and design to these new demands in order to keep and to strengthen its competitiveness over time.
The Visual Evolution project started in the beginning of 2010, with the aim to update, simplify and refine the current visual identity.
The new identity was launched by the end of 2010, and is right now being implemented in order to reach full brand alignment by 2012.
Press:
Brand & Rebranding – What’s in a Name?
Published by: Time Evershed, POSTonline.co.uk
Featuring: Steve Payne, Managing Partner, Dublin.
In February, Royal Bank of Scotland Insurance became the latest in a long line of insurance firms to undergo a rebrand. RBSI, now Direct Line Group, unveiled its new name and logo to make it more attractive ahead of its divestment.
It is a road more travelled by insurers. Aviva, Chartis and Ageas are all relatively new names to the industry but are the monikers of storied companies. Other rebrands are more subtle involving only a partial name change or a slow evolution of how the business trades.
So, how important is brand for insurance firms and how does rebranding affect the wider industry?
“A good brand is one that delivers on its promises; it is not just about words but about actions. That is the heart of it – absolutely delivering and sometimes exceeding on its promises. That is really important,” says Steve Payne, managing partner at The Brand Union.
“Branding is about doing business brilliantly, and getting the marketing strategy right can support that. If you see great advertising but the guy on the end of the phone does not back it up, then there’s a gap.”
Unsurprisingly, Payne believes that reputation and trust are absolutely crucial in building and maintaining a successful brand.
“If you haven’t got trust you can’t build anything. Brands need to build on trust, integrity and reputation. Without these it’s very difficult,” he says….
Payne says: “When Hibernian became Aviva in Ireland, because of the climate at that time, it immediately had a negative perception. That got worse when they sponsored the Lansdowne Road stadium. You have to understand the sense of history and cultural context around what you’re doing.”
He continues: “The successful rebrands are those that work from the inside out. If a brand is clear about its reasoning and what it means for customers, stakeholders and employees, it stands more chance of success.
“If it’s not clear from an employee perspective, it will not be clear to customers as staff are often customers too. If you can get employees aligned first it will help get the message across to customers.”
However, what if a company needs to change its name to polish a tarnished image? Can a rebrand successfully turn around an ailing company?
Payne says: “Many organisations believe a change of name or logo will jettison a negative history but that is a bad assumption. If organisations are using it for that reason the pitfall is that the market won’t accept it.”
Ewan Ferrier
Creative Director
London
Hi, my name is Ewan and I’m a Creative Director in our London office. I’ve worked for The Brand Union since 2003.
My background is as an interior designer, specifically retail and commercial environments, which is a pretty good grounding for the creation of brand experiences.
My job is to produce concepts that are abstract translations of a brand’s positioning, to challenge preconceptions about how the brand might look and feel, and to express it across multiple touchpoints … or in other words, I make brands look relevant and cool!
I love my job, but I still wish I was a pop star.
Thought:
Companies need to connect with consumers
Traditionally the first question we ask any potential client is "What is your brand purpose?"
By: Tanita Sandhu, Executive Client Director, The Brand Union Dubai
Published by: gulfnews.com
As branding consultants, traditionally the first question we ask any potential client is “what is your brand purpose”, followed by “How are you delivering on it?”. From those responses, we judge the extent to which an organisation requires a branding solution.
In the 21st century, however, standard business practices are moving on from making money, a RoI (return on investment) and shareholder satisfaction to encompass a whole new world of purpose — dovetailing consumer expectations of buying into more than just an empty brand promise.
Every company should have, a defining purpose, one that goes beyond the “sell” principle.
Questions that need to be asked and answered are why as a business you make the products you do, or the services you supply. The “what” and the “how” are for your own boardroom, not for dissemination to the public at large.
A brand-driven defining purpose can be elevated beyond an organisation’s business objectives.
It answers the seemingly philosophical question of “What are we here for?” It emphasises not just the profit principle but also highlights customer satisfaction.
This is a corporate process. It needs to begin by taking the time to sit with stakeholders to reflect on the brand’s defined purpose.
Once a unifying thought is reached, only then can you decide on the type of leadership needed, measures needed to communicate this message through your organisation to motivate stakeholders, and, most importantly, how to build relationships defined by this purpose with your customers.
Response to products
Connection and relevant communication is key. Customers have matured in their response to products, logos, packaging and trademarks.
They have become savvy about marketing gimmicks, and are now searching for products and services that suit their new lifestyles.
They are big on technology and strong on issues such as the environment, sustainability and morality.
The concept was perhaps typified by Wal-Mart. Other global brands that exemplify this new attitude over and beyond a snappy slogan include:
- P&G (To touch and improve the lives of those we serve);
- PepsiCo (Good for All Is Good for Business);
- Coca-Cola (To create value for everyone touched by our business by providing, with passion and focus, the right refreshment, at the right price, in the right place);
- McDonalds (To be our customers’ favourite place and way to eat).
These are household names supported by brand teams that are ahead of the game.
New significance
But the smallest company can take lessons from that process of defining brand purpose.
This is simply an extension of what was once perhaps intrinsic in corporate structure but has taken on new significance in an age of mass consumerism.
Purpose driven brands appreciate the following fundamentals:
- Price differential is not enough to boost sales and customer loyalty;
- The web media landscape means that noise and clutter directly impacts a consumer’s choice — any marketing budget can be wasted simply trying to be heard;
- Brands must develop not only differentiated messages but also deliver on relevance. Basing brand communications on product-based attributes is simply not enough.
Thanks to social media, there is a new breed of new brand ambassadors — online consumers who will readily share, tweet or status update their recent experience with a brand.
These can drive up important new-age measures like engagement and net-promoter scores.
In the long term, the definition of brand purpose is not only a moral imperative, it’s now becoming a tried and tested strategy to, yes, make money, sell more products, and grow shareholder value.
The old parameters of business might have changed, but the initials stay the same as purpose driven brands redefine RoI as a return on involvement.
Elke Pietzch
Consultant Director
Hamburg
Hello, I am Elke.
Being the Consultant Director at The Brand Union Hamburg, I’m responsible for our key clients such as Henkel or Emmi.
Before I joined the strategic department at the Hamburg office I worked for Kellogg’s and Procter&Gamble. As an international product manager I was in charge of new product development, creating marketing concepts, as well as leading major brands.
As I understand brand building to be the merger of heritage and vision, I took initiative and created the TBU trendmarks tool, observing the markets around the world with a huge trend-team in Hamburg to create one-of-a-kind trend forecasts for our clients.
I have experience that is the combination of young devotion, the spirit of acquainting knowledge and the long time operational background in creating innovative and sustainable projects. That’s why I love to push young talent and encourage them to develop leadership skills.
Sarah Scott
Client Manager
Cape Town
Hi! My name is Sarah and I am a client manager with over three years’ experience in strategic brand management and client relations. Prior to working in an agency, I was on the client side as a part of the Nedbank brand team and worked across the national positioning and brand promotion for the bank.
I graduated my B.Comm Marketing Honour’s (Cum Laude) from the University of Johannesburg, and was very fortunate in that I was selected during the third year of my studies to participate in a six month international scholarship in Sweden. I made many friends from all over the globe in the little town of Jönköping, and was able to experience international marketing trends and culture.
When not at work you can usually find me in a shoe shop or dining out with friends and family. I also enjoy dancing, reading and photography.
Press:
Irish Electricity Supply Board hands The Brand Union Dublin design contract
By: Stephen Lepitak, The Drum
The Electricity Supply Board in Ireland has appointed The Brand Union Dublin as it brand design agency.
Following a tender exercise, that drew 17 applications, having advertised to appoint one or more agencies to the three-year-contract last summer.
As a result of its appointment, The Brand Union Dublin will be tasked with providing creative design services for development of brand identity tools, brand guidelines, master artworks and also implement specific brand design projects when required.
Simon Bolton
CEO
Worldwide
“UP IN THE AIR”
That’s where you’ll find me. As the CEO of The Brand Union Worldwide I go where the opportunities and challenges need my support, as we build a stronger, better linked network to serve the needs of our major clients.
I consider myself an internationalist – originally I cut my teeth working on clients such as American Express, Air Canada and Shell during a fourteen year career at Ogilvy. Since then I have lived and worked in six different markets; North America, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the UK and in addition to Ogilvy I have worked with JWT and FCB Worldwide.
I have been privileged to lead our company for five years – during that time we have relaunched and rebranded the business, opened new offices and widened our offering. I have also had the chance to; ride camels, travel in balloons, climb some mountains, and take a lift to the top of the Burj Khalifa – in other words frequently up in the air!
Dave Brown
Director of Consumer Branding
Worldwide
I am the Chairman of our UK business and Global Head of Consumer Branding. I am client champion for a number of our key global accounts, including 10 of Reckitt Benckiser’s 17 power brands. Committed to mobilising and connecting our network, I have developed bespoke Brand Union methodologies to understand the value of visual brand equity and trend mapping.
Although not keen to admit it, I have over 27 years of brand design agency experience. In 1992, I founded the product branding agency, Brown Inc, part of the Added Value Group, which merged with The Brand Union in 2002.
I have a BA (Hons) degree in Graphic Design and am an executive member of the Marketing Society and D&AD. I have also won several DBA IDEA awards.
I’m a passionate chef, trumpet player and painter and my other interests include scuba diving and inventing stuff, including the next-generation Mushy Pea.
News:
The Brand Union Brings Fresh Life to New York City Icon The Lincoln Center
Youthful, New Visual Identity to Welcome Visitors to Cultural Institution
The Brand Union, in collaboration with Ogilvy & Mather, today announced the debut of an expansive new multifaceted branding campaign for Lincoln Center.
The flexible and playful branding campaign is a direct outgrowth and extension of the critically-acclaimed physical revitalization of Lincoln Center to make its public spaces and performance hall more open and welcoming. The Brand Union developed the graphic ‘pin’ element to call attention to all there is to see, hear, taste, and experience on the 16-acre campus of the culture and arts center. This identity system will be seen across the spectrum in digital and physical signage, on stairways, in publications, on the website, and on upcoming WABC PSA’s and other information channels.
A great feature of the new tagline, Lincoln Center, Seen it?, is its flexibility. It can highlight Lincoln Center’s extraordinary performances (Heard it?) as easily as the popular ‘wichcraft café in the Atrium (Tasted it?). And that adaptability is a key component of the design. Lincoln Center boasts more than five million visitors a year, with thousands of shows and activities, public spaces, free concerts, and a 21st century digital landscape. The new look captures it all.
“The goal of the new identity is to invite visitors to take a look, or another look, at the new Lincoln Center,” said Peter Duffin, Vice President of Brand and Marketing. “The new design has had a direct impact on our visitors and patrons by helping to inform and engage them in a helpful way about the variety of experiences Lincoln Center has to offer.”
About Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center is the world’s leading performing arts center. Located on 16.3 acres in New York City, the Lincoln Center complex comprises 11 Resident Organizations, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Together, these 11 institutions present thousands of performances, educational programs, tours, and other events each year in 29 separate performance venues on the Lincoln Center campus.
Since Lincoln Center first opened its doors, it has been a major contributor to New York City’s cultural life and a dynamic economic engine for the region, hosting some five million visitors annually and transforming the Upper West Side into an exciting neighborhood that is now one of New York’s most desirable places in which to live, work and visit.
News:
SENIOR LEVEL HIRES & INTERNAL PROMOTIONS AT THE BRAND UNION LONDON
The London office of global brand agency The Brand Union has bolstered its senior team with a number of significant new hires and internal promotions.
A demonstration of the agency’s committed to investing in its people, the London office has promoted Mark Chatelier to Creative Director, and Nick Thomson to Principal Consultant. Mark and Nick have both been with The Brand Union for a number of years and have been integral to the growth and development of the business.
Clare Styles joins the business as Creative Director, bringing a reputation and industry profile developed at Wieden+Kennedy, Exposure and Fitch. Mark Smith and Chris Drew further bolster the team, joining as Design Directors.
These key appointments come after a year of significant change and continued success for The Brand Union, both in London and around the world. During the course of 2011, the London business gained new leadership and won several new client relationships including Sony, GSK, Fidelity, Statoil, and Qatar National Bank. The agency has continued to grow existing key client relationships around the network.
Toby Southgate, CEO UK and Ireland, said: “Our agency is at a revolutionary point. We are evolving in engaging and innovative ways, driven by our people and fuelled by the belief that we can and should do things differently. The caliber of talent we are attracting and developing is indicative of this new approach. These appointments and elevations give us even greater momentum and immediately benefit the agency, our clients and our partners.”
Seen and Noted:
Time by John Clang
Image © John Clang
We’ve featured his work before but loved this latest series by photographer John Clang. In his own words, ‘Time’ is “a series that involves recording a location, to show the passing of time in a montage style. There is a sense of intimate intricacy of how time moves, and how people, albeit in a different time, are actually closer to one another and traveling in the same shared space.”
There’s something fascinating in the realisation that so many stories are shared through space and John’s work captures those stories captivatingly.
Thought:
Branding should be every CEO’s business
Published by: GulfNews.com
By: Tanita Sandhu, Executive Director The Brand Union Dubai
The purpose of rebranding a company, product or service is to signal change. Or it could be to protect, grow or offer direction for the next chapter of a brand’s evolution.
While the rationale for a rebrand needs to be rooted within an organisation’s business framework, the change needs to be clear through the entire entity and should be obvious at every client interaction.
Developing a strong and memorable brand requires some prerequisites — a strong business case for change and the investment of time, resources and specialised expertise. With a mandate from the board to refresh your brand, and the budget to support in-depth research and implementation, what should the CEO’s role be in the process?
The CEO will have to choose between delegating to the marketing department, with the added instruction that he or she should be intimated about the progress, or monitor each step of the process. If it is the latter, the CEO brings to bear his executive experience and in-depth knowledge of corporate strategy to the table.
Schedule
If the branding exercise is to be more than window-dressing, the CEO’s involvement is an imperative. The next requirement is time.
A two-month schedule is the minimum required to develop a differentiated brand profile that ticks every box in increasing the customer base and building the company’s reputation and overall profitability for all stakeholders.
Given below are some further non-negotiable steps:
Assign responsibility of the brand building exercise to the marketing department, but ensure a cross-functional working committee is set up to be part of the process from day one. The CEO must involve himself as a working partner.
With the committee and an external branding agency, list all the corporate and brand ambitions to ensure the evolution of a solid brand framework as a reference through every stage of development.
Give your brand consultants full access to talk to the employees; observe daily procedures and prepare an honest, unvarnished report on their observations of what the company does internally… and what’s not.
Establish benchmarks and tracking parameters to guarantee an accurate evaluation of brand penetration before and during the exercise. Managing accountability of the marketing and brand team is paramount.
For example, ask for a monthly report along with the next few steps as this provides for transparency and clarity. More importantly, this will ensure that if there is a barrier to collecting information or getting approvals, it is addressed and resolved efficiently.
Keep to a schedule. Maintain a schedule and commit to key presentation and review dates; share the board’s meeting dates and ensure those involved in the project delivery are aware of the timetable.
Communicate the outcome of the research, especially feedback from clients, potential customers and internal focus groups.
Be open about the corporate brand ambition and stress the mantra: ‘A brand is not what you say about you, but what others say about you’.
Premium brands are not built overnight. Work with the brand team to create realistic small wins, and be prepared to enact changes which have been identified as challenges during the research phase.
Nothing is more fragile or demoralising than a fledgling brand. As CEO, make it your job to be passionate about your brand and live by example. Approach and communicate with passion, enthusiasm, and real commitment and you can lead your team to transform your company into the type of brand you envision.
Sarah Maguire
Creative Director
Dublin
Like most Irish, I love to tell a good story. Uncovering the compelling story behind a brand and bringing it to life is what really drives me. And we get plenty of chances to do that here in Dublin. I joined The Brand Union in 2003 working on both corporate and consumer brands. Over the last eight years I have led the creative team on personality brands such as Cully & Sully, through to large rebrand projects such as National Lottery. Very different experiences, but both incredibly exciting and fulfilling.
As a creative director I’m challenged to think differently. As a full-time mum in my spare time, my daughter helps me to see everything with new eyes. Prior to working at The Brand Union I travelled 6000 miles to San Francisco to work as a corporate and consumer brand designer. And to meet my husband, who it turned out grew up two miles from me in Dublin. Which just goes to show that sometimes the best idea IS right under your nose.
Blackrock
In 2009, BlackRock’s acquisition of iShares from Barclays Global Investors proved to be a transformative moment. The acquisition would significantly change their business. BlackRock looked to The Brand Union for help. The combination of two power brands into one would impact everything from the name of the new entity, the visual identity, brand strategy, brand positioning, culture, and communications.
Working closely with BlackRock, we conducted extensive internal and external research, which led to key strategic insights that would guide our work and the brand. Strong recognition of the BlackRock brand and its industry-wide reputation for disciplined risk management meant that this was the master brand to keep. An evolution of the BlackRock logo signaled change and helped define the brand’s new identity.
Using our research findings, and leveraging the WPP network, we developed print, out-of-home, digital and brand engagement communications that brought a revitalized brand look and feel to life by way of the ‘Full Spectrum’ campaign. The new communications platform debuted simultaneously in key business markets worldwide and is currently active globally.
Seen and Noted:
Dog That Likes Standing on Things
Maddie the Coonhound is an ongoing daily photo project by Atlanta-based photographer Theron Humphrey who’s traveling to all 50 American states, dog in tow, over the next year. See Maddie the dog deftly balance atop national park signs, tractor trailers, tires, mailboxes and other roadside attractions in this humorous but cleverly crafted gallery.
Part of Humphrey’s ‘This Wild Idea’ project.
Guillaume Noire
Client Director
Paris
Japanese food lover, I have been awarded* MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the Paris Office Mini-Basket Championship for the season 2010. I like to travel, these past years I had two “coups de cœur”: Japan and Havana! Japan for the amazing cultural balance between past and future … and Havana as I’ve had the opportunity to visit a few times and which I definitely fell in love with for its unique culture and people.
By the way: I run beer, spirit, liquor and cigarettes projects in Paris from brand identity guidelines to video or packaging for major players in these categories, from a local to a global perspective, depending on projects.
* Self-awarded, but with strong agreement on the item “is the best player of the agency” from near 100% of my colleagues playing more than two games a day and working at the agency for more than five years.
Annette Herzel
Design Director
Hamburg
Hi, Annette here. My great passion is letters in all shapes. During the past years I have created lots of handmade alphabets. Additional to this addiction I am a Royalist (in a country without a kingdom). In the daytime I am Design Director in the department of product branding at The Brand Union Hamburg. Specialising in food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals brands, I have developed numerous packaging designs. Among them are brands within Emmi, Mars, Unilever, Kraft Foods, Queisser Pharma, Coca-Cola, Olympus and Wella. In addition, throughout my career I have had extensive experience in CI projects and as a children’s book illustrator.
After studying graphic design and illustration in Muenster, I worked in Essen at the agency ‘verb’ and then went on to found my own agency – 10MY – with four partners. My career in packaging design began in 1997, when The Brand Union was called Windi Winderlich Design.
Press:
How Will India Design Its New Identity?
Published by: Justin McGuirk, The Guardian
Featuring: Sujata Keshavan, CEO Ray + Keshavan | The Brand Union Bangalore
However you look at it, India is likely to have a significant impact on design in the 21st century. For one thing, this vast market of one billion people is busy being courted by western businesses whose own economies are contracting. But India is not just out to consume western products and lifestyles – it is looking to design as a force for change. There is much debate in India about how to live up to its growing status in the world. Design is being touted both as a tool of economic development and as a means of lifting millions of people out of poverty. So it was with great curiosity that I went to Delhi last week to take part in the India Design Forum, one of the first major conferences there on the subject.
“There’s still so little understanding of design in India,” says Keshavan. “Right now it’s become fashionable, partly because of the market success of Apple – so ‘design’ is the new buzzword.” She feels that it will take time and, inevitably, education. But for me the real question that needs resolving in India is about what design is for. There was a tension at the IDF between design as a force for systemic change and “design” as the provider of luxury lifestyles for India’s new elite. The hottest ticket in New Delhi last week was the launch of the local Architecture Digest, the magazine that specialises in the flamboyantly decorated interiors of the rich. It’s not that design needs to be treated with a hair-shirted seriousness, but the sooner the conversation moves beyond the thrill of this new found glamour, the more powerful it will be.
Mars
The American family-owned business Mars has become one of the world’s leading manufacturers of brands worldwide during it’s past 100 years of existence, with a strong market presence in Germany since 1960. The Brand Union Hamburg has been looking after various brands in their petcare, chocolate and food categories on an European level since 1995.
Terry Tyrrell
Co-founder
London
As co-founder of the company in 1976 I am incredibly proud to have worked with hundreds of talented people to help build The Brand Union into one of the world’s leading brand agencies that it has become today.
I am fortunate that with such great people managing the business I have always been able to focus on delivering outstanding results for our clients. Today, 35 years on, I continue to work with our teams across our global network to ensure that our clients are provided with world-class strategic and creative thinking. Recently, these have included UBS, Credit Suisse, BBVA, Standard Chartered, Rolls-Royce, Canon, Airtel and Deloitte, amongst others.
My colleagues sometimes ask me – haven’t you had enough, when are you going to retire? Truthfully, I never will. As long as there are people who run businesses that continue to believe in the power of brand, I expect I will be there to lend a helping hand.
Lingzi Yue
Client Services Manager
Hong Kong
Since joining The Brand Union in 2008, I have been working with various Hong Kong- and China-based brands, and managing projects across the range of corporate brand identity, strategy, naming and design. As a native of China, I have participated in branding programmes for various China-based clients such as Vitoil, China’s premium cooking oil brand produced by COFCO; OCT Hotels Group, a leading professional hotel management company jointly founded with OCT Group; as well as CIMC, one of the largest container manufacturers in the world.
I hold a Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) in Communications (Public Relations and Advertising) from Hong Kong Baptist University, and a Diploma in Hospitality Management. I am an active volunteer and participate in various charity projects. My most recent volunteer programme was to build a pre-school in Kampot, Cambodia.
Dale Williams
Account Manager
London
Hello. My name is Dale and I am an Account Manager on the consumer team in the London office. My day to day pretty much consists of lots of talking: chatting away to designers, briefing and reviewing great creative work, as well as interacting with the client, ensuring all that we do is received well and on brief. The great part about product branding is the accessibility of the designs you’ve helped create when they’ve been launched and are in shops and on the high street, available for purchase.
Originally a country boy, I moved to London after university to explore the great culture here, create new friends and experience as many interesting and diverse things as possible.
Sarah Collis
Senior Client Manager
Singapore
I joined The Brand Union as a Designer in the Middle East office in 2007 and enjoyed working on many different projects right through to 2010. I’m originally from Singapore and wanted to head back home and the opportunity arose to continue my career in The Brand Union Singapore.
The job, as my design buddies said, was a move to the ‘The dark side’ as a Senior Client Manager. Now, rather than creating mood boards and new visual languages for brands, I’m creating the briefs! It has been an enjoyable challenge and my creative background comes in handy when liaising with my colleagues and clients.
I have a keen interest in photography, travel and fashion. I’m always inspired by the stuff posted on The Sartorialist and Garance Doré blogs. In my spare time I love going to the pool or beach and practicing yoga.
News:
The Brand Union Middle East Rebrands Malabar Gold
The Brand Union Rebrands Malabar Gold and moves it from “Beauty Meets Quality” to a “Celebrate the Beauty of Life” supporting the brand’s global ambition.
The Brand Union Middle East today announced the unveiling of Malabar Gold & Diamonds identity.
From humble beginnings in Kerala India, Malabar Gold is among the most trusted jewelry brand names in India and the GCC, with over 60 retail outlets and 10 wholesale divisions, with an annual turnover of USD 2.4 billion in 2012. The company plans to establish 220 outlets across the globe with a revenue forecast of USD 6 billion by 2015.
In line with its growth ambition, Malabar Gold needed a future proof brand strategy, proposition and identity to further its expansion into international markets.
The Brand Union Middle East project team, led by Tanita Sandhu, Executive Client Director, partnered closely with the client team to deliver the new strategy and identity. “When Malabar Gold came to us, they already had a strong brand reputation and their brand was known for delivering quality products based on trust, we used this platform as a basis to build the next chapter of the brand’s ambition which was to go international” said Tanita.
Working closely with the client’s management team has been a true testimony to how a smart agency and client part- nership should work, explained Tanita. “They were committed to keeping to project timelines, attended every session, made informed yet immediate decisions as a group, allowing for an efficient turnaround and more importantly co-created their new brand which will represent their future”.
“We chose to partner with The Brand Union as they had both the global network and knowledge pool of cultural and regional understanding which they clearly demonstrated in helping us craft our new brand strategy and identity” said Mr. AP Ahmad, Chairman of Malabar Gold & Diamonds.
“Malabar Gold & Diamonds embodies the key attributes that help brands stand out – a strong sense of ambition and a commitment to providing genuine value to customers” said Ambrish Chaudhry, Strategy Director at The Brand Union. Consumer research across key markets in India and the GCC showed that the brand was valued for its authenticity, transparency and focus on quality. “We wanted to build on the strong platform of trust that the brand has earned and fuse it with the passion, optimism and celebration that jewelry evokes. This is best conveyed in the new brand identity and brand line – celebrate the beauty of life”.
Malabar Gold outlets display a wide variety of Gold, Diamond, Pearl and Platinum ornaments, catering to the requirements of its multi-cultural and multi-national customers. The majority of ornaments at Malabar Gold outlets are in 22K and diamond ornaments are in 18K. To ensure utmost levels of quality, Malabar Gold sells ornaments which are certified by international agencies such as the International Gemological Institute (IGI) and Platinum Guild International (PGI).
Thought:
Steering Clear of the Values Trap
Building Authenticity and Credibility in Financial Services Brands
By: Sergio Brodsky, Strategist & Jess Swinton, Analyst, The Brand Union London
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, messages of social accountability and human focus are dominating the communications of most financial services institutions. Earlier this year, The Brand Union undertook a global review of Commercial Banking, which involved a communications audit of 23 global banks. Our study revealed that when it comes to the values banks claim to live by, most are not only saying the same thing, but their assertions are inconsistently defined, unsubstantiated – and subsequently – forgettable and not very credible.
According to our study, the most frequently mentioned values were: Teamwork/Partnership, Innovation, Financial Expertise, Trust, Ethics, Sustainability, Integrity and Customer Focus. We believe the reason financial institutions are increasingly stating ‘softer’ values is to begin altering the vilified perception of banks in the post-crisis world into enablers of commerce and progress. However, rather than creating a more positive perception of banking, the use of undifferentiated and unsubstantiated terminology is turning potentially genuine values into the very thing financial institutions seek to avoid – more jargon, and smoke and mirrors. We’re calling this trend “The Values Trap” and the underlying reasons are:
- Values are not consistently defined and sometimes are not defined at all.
- Story-lines are not credible.
- Industry communications have become so generic that they hold no meaning.
When values are not defined and contextualised in a differentiated and ownable way, it leads to internal and external scepticism or apathy, undermining the credibility of a brand and poorly representing the company’s business strategy. Financial services’ brands should focus on their raison d’etre in order to be true to themselves. Of course, there are times that, in the spirit of progress, a company can choose to re-invent itself by adopting a transformative set of values to drive a change in culture and perception. In such a situation, these adopted values should be integrated with the current positioning to achieve a consistent and credible outcome. For example, it is very natural for Rabobank to advocate sustainability, since the value is deeply rooted in the bank’s involvement with agribusiness. However, if JP Morgan, a brand famous for its financial advisory excellence, decides to integrate the ‘environment’ into their genetic code, it should happen in a way that ‘financial expertise’ and ‘sustainability’ mutually reinforce and add value to one another.
In order to avoid ‘the values trap’, deploying certain verbal and visual tools can be helpful. Carefully crafted narratives (for e.g., an elevator speech) are powerful for storytelling. They can be more differentiating externally and more motivating internally than disjointed values. What makes the values compelling to an audience is how they are relevant to them and also how they bring to life the unique promise of that particular brand.
Powerful imagery associated with a chosen value and focusing on employees’ desired behaviour can give the brand an authentic voice. The aim is to achieve a holistic brand experience, not to retro-fit parts that will create the illusion of coherence. For example, if an ‘innovative’ bank defines that attribute as creativity in customer service, the integration of that value into their visual language in communications becomes essential for coherent delivery of the brand. This more inside-out perspective allows an organisation to deliver an authentic brand experience, through superior communication and performance.
Today, the level of accessibility offered by digital media will inevitably expose illegitimate or inconsistent claims, exposing organisations for saying one thing yet doing another. In the interest of their own credibility and – more importantly – long-term value, brands should return to their DNA to inspire and shape their culture and personality.
Thought:
Branding As We Know It Is No Longer
From: The Economist’s ‘Big Rethink 2012′ Conference
By: Sue Daun, Head of Brand Experience & JR Little, Senior Strategist, The Brand Union London
Branding as we know it is no longer. Things have changed.
Consumers are now armed with knowledge and technology. They want to have an active role in charting the course of your brand. They are highly skeptical, have high expectations, and want to share their point of view with immediacy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There is no rest, no relief and no room for complacent brands. Things are moving fast, and delivering the brand in the present moment is critical.
As brand owners, shapers, and makers, we no longer have complete control.
In the past, successful brand projects were goal-oriented, often taking the form of a launch. These projects advanced step by step, culminating in a set of brand guidelines that we pushed out to our employees and consumers. Those days are over – or they should be.
Instead of imposing brand guidelines on others, we need to foster a dialogue to which employees and consumers can contribute. No longer can a brand expect to reach its destination by developing a fixed set of milestones between point A and point B. Linear thinking and dogmatic consistency is no longer enough now that consumers are hungry for brands that continuously evolve in real-time.
A brand’s journey is no longer one-dimensional. Consumers and employees are impacting on this journey. They create shockwaves, pulses and provocations that can and should drive success into richer territories.
Today, it is no surprise that you need to invite and involve your employees and consumers from the start of any brand- building initiative. You must embrace the challenges these groups pose, and the creative contributions they have to offer. But how can you embed this inclusive mentality in the structure of the brand – how do you guideline this?
Accept that once you start your brand-building journey, your goals will change. Your initial goals are guideposts and the journey will be more successful if you constantly evaluate your progress, take advantage of new opportunities and adjust to changing consumer needs. If you adapt with your audiences’ needs and inputs, the outcome will be better than what you could have planned on your own.
We are encouraging clients to take their cues from the non-profit sector. Mission-led organisations, like non-profits, are adaptable, but remain true to their core beliefs. Vision-led marketing teams get caught up on the old-school end-goal thinking and forget that the game has changed. It’s all about the journey and developing rapport along the way.
In order to establish this way of thinking in your business, there are 4 key considerations.
Know your Truth: Your truth is a fixed element; the core of what your brand is about. A core needs to be appealing, believable and valued. Look back at what made your brand great to start with. Talk to those closest to the brand, establish what the brand perception is from speaking with consumers and employees and delve into the brand’s history. Define the tenets of your story.
You might think that this advice is only relevant to dynamic, technology-centric businesses that are constantly replacing outdated products with new ones. However, it is also applicable to businesses, like Hermès, that painstakingly perfect every aspect of the brand experience, rather than rushing to capitalize a new trend. Hermès has established itself through a few key iconic products and a belief in quality, hand-craftsmanship, and the idea that if it is worth making, it is worth taking time to do it right. This fixed belief permeates every piece of the experience from the new Rive Gauche store in Paris to the online experience to the Birkin bag, and has done so for over one hundred years. These fixed elements of the brand provide its foundation, but the brand’s structure aboveground can take many shapes. Defining how a brand’s fixed beliefs can manifest drives the rich content that the consumers crave.
Of course, the content and stories you create must be…
Relevant: Your stories must imbue your brand’s truth, but they also need to adapt in personality, tone and touchpoint to ensure your values are heard, embraced and shared by the relevant parties (or ‘segments’, if you like that word better). Brand personalities, like human personalities, are adapted to suit the audience; it’s what makes someone interesting to listen to at a party. Absolut has established its fixed elements (tenets), but it has also demonstrated a key part to real- time branding – an adaptive personality – which allows it to get the brand right for its target audience, changing with them.
Absolut is quite clear on what they are about: Swedish-ness, design-oriented, an unexpected creative personality, and clarity of product. But the way they express these qualities is tailored to different audiences. For example, world travellers and thought leaders interact with unique activations and special editions in Duty Free; the arts community interacts with the brand through highly respected projects and collaborations; regional consumers feel a sense of affiliation with the brand through city series bottles and activations; and limited edition ‘more premium’ products help reach and influence thought leaders.
We’ve discussed finding your truth and remaining relevant. But it’s also important to…
Experiment: Content, such as promotional material, is critical to the success of a branding project, but brands cannot create masses of content and expect their message to resonate. Folks at The Coca Cola Company, for example, have realized they can no longer pay their way to greatness. Their shift in strategy towards ‘content excellence’ is key to delivering stories that take on a life of their own through the consumer to the level that consumers actively participate in the story from the start. They have a voice that is embraced and provoked in Coke 24/7.
The Coca Cola Company is actively integrating its values into brand storytelling. Simultaneously, Coca Cola embraces the creative thinking of its consumers while working on the assumption that consumer interaction with the brand will provoke brand content to be as catchy and contagious as possible.
Successful branding is not about creating more and more stuff, but about challenging the norm. It’s about measuring your successes and failures and replicating the successes in other markets and categories to maximise wins.
Engage: Speed and efficiency are essential components of a branding campaign, but traditional approaches to producing and distributing content can sometimes hinder and even kill great ideas before they have developed. By limiting creation of content to your marketers, you may miss out on the opportunity to unlock other creative minds available to you, such as consumers and your wider employee base.
77% of US CEOs are revising strategies in response to consumer demand (PWC 2012 Global CEO survey).
You only need to look at Google, one of the world’s most formidable search engines, to see the benefits of allowing a little imperfection. Many are familiar with the ‘80/20’ rule. In fact, there are many 80/20 rules, but we’d like to entertain a new kind of 80/20 model. This model allows for 20% less-than-perfect experimentation and uses consumers and employees to continually challenge, create and share the platforms that are launched. Some of these platforms fail and that is ok. Google is a business that is continuously experimenting. Rather than spending years perfecting, consumer- testing and refining before taking a product live, Google gets their ideas out there 80% right. They ask their consumers to test-drive products in real-time, rather than killing ideas at their inception. Products are allowed to grow and morph to reach success, and once they have reached their potential, may give way to newer products, as in the case of Google Buzz, which helped create Google+.
Summary
- Truth, which consists of your brand’s fixed elements, is essential to branding in real-time. A clear purpose drives a brand’s truth. All stories and content should embrace it at their heart. Releasing these truths into the world should be the brand’s mission, not a task.
- Be Relevant. Consider consumer and employee desires from the beginning of the journey, not just at the end. Enable dialogue and allow room for flexibility throughout your brand project to ensure you are not target fixated. The same story can be told three or four different ways depending on the audience, place and time. As the stories, content and brand evolve, share with a wider audience. Make sure your message is reaching its target. Dynamic brand guides allow action, evolution and refinement to be captured, shared and incorporated along the journey.
- Experiment. Creative thinking can lead to innovations that result in growth. Experimentation provokes and invites dialogue, which in turn offers insights into consumer experiences of the brand and the brand’s promotional materials. This process ultimately leads to innovation. It is truly dynamic and needs to be monitored, evolved, fed with new content, and shared in new ways. To facilitate the process, consider integrating touchpoints from other categories into your business.
- Engage employees and their ideas. Such engagement should be valued and encouraged. Nurture it. Build it into the business culture. Establish an approach that shares and celebrates both successes and failures quickly throughout the company.
Branding is a journey that does not follow a clearly delineated path. In order to make the journey as successful as possible, walk alongside your consumers; don’t let them beat you to the destination.
Pernod Ricard
When Pernod Ricard acquired Absolut Vodka for €5.69 billion they chose The Brand Union as their strategic design partner to help build and grow the investment. Since then, our relationship has grown. The Brand Union now advises TAC on Absolut Vodka, Kahlua and Malibu Rum. The collaboration covers all disciplines where design is a powerful tool to develop brand equity, including innovation programs, brand identity, portfolio management, product development and retail design.
The Coca-Cola Company
Over the last few years, The Brand Union has worked with multiple divisions across The Coca-Cola Company. Teams from our New York, London, Paris and Singapore offices have partnered with their global design and innovation groups, as well as regional brand marketing teams to develop a range of initiatives from brand strategy to visual language systems to pack design.
Our work has impacted their leading brands, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Minute Maid, as well as cross portfolio initiatives focusing on sustainability.
Dina El Shalakany
Project Manager
Dubai
I joined The Brand Union after working in the field of Media Monitoring where I was researching the methods and impact of communication in the realm of social media, which has undeniably evolved into one of the most effective and targeted means of communication. I moved to Dubai almost two years ago having spent most of my life in Egypt where I began my career in marketing in an exciting and dynamic team covering the full spectrum of marketing activities at a corporate level.
I’m the kind of person that gets inspiration from everything around me – even in the mundane there is beauty whether it’s in scenery, food, cultures or people. I’m an avid enthusiast of traveling and exploring new and diverse cultures, I never fail to document, with my camera, every moment of inspiration that I meet along the way. I’m a lover of the arts, movies and music, and enjoy on outdoor activities and team sports.
Ericsson
Ericsson, currently the world’s largest mobile telecommunications equipment manufacturer, engaged The Brand Union to evolve their new brand platform.
While some of the core identity elements were in place, it was necessary to develop a strategy framework as well as cohesive identity and design system, to support brand activation.
Following the development of the brand architecture by our strategy team, The Brand Union’s design team focused on extending the identity platform and defining the principles for implementation of the brand identity across channels, products and services.
To support internal engagement and alignment with the new brand platform across the organisation, The Brand Union developed an intranet-based, ‘brand engagement channel’ for Ericsson’s brand management team. In addition to being the point of reference for strategy, principles and guidelines, it will serve as a company wide hub for brand related communications, project collaboration and interaction with brand assets.
Gemma Fulcher
Account Executive
London
I’m Gemma and I’m an Account Executive. My job role is to support the team in the
day-to-day running of our client projects, working closely with the Account Manager and the Account Director.
I graduated from Nottingham-Trent University with a BA (Hons) in Fashion Marketing & Communications and have been with The Brand Union since November 2010.
Having recently moved down to London from the Great North I am still very much enjoying exploring the city in my spare time. I also play piano and enjoy coffee, tennis and Saturdays in the pub.
SPX
SPX is a Fortune 500, multi-industrial company that lacked a unifying brand to communicate the full breadth of its offering. Operating globally with over 80 business units, SPX turned to The Brand Union in 2007 to create a brand program equal to its real business impact. Generating a compelling new presence for SPX, The Brand Union created an umbrella brand organized around the theme “where ideas meet industry.” The strategy highlighted SPX’s position at the intersection where the best thinking yields tangible results. The Brand Union designed and executed a comprehensive communications portfolio to support the Brand. The work included logo design, TV, print and online ads, a microsite, collateral, signage, and guidelines.
Currently The Brand Union is supporting SPX’s new brand architecture strategy and brand positioning with an Employee Engagement Program and a new advertising campaign. The Brand Union is also developing Branded templates out of Visual Identity work completed last year including full Brand Guidelines. The Brand Union continues to act as SPX’s lead agency leading SPX Brand Strategy and design globally and with SPX partners.
Clement Daste
Senior Designer
London
Hey everyone, I am Clem and I am senior designer at the London office. I was born in Paris and raised in the south of France in Avignon, an area famous for producing rosé wine.
I graduated from a Parisian art school in 2006, I joined Lonsdale, Ogilvy Paris and worked for various client like Vogue, Canal + Group, Longchamp, Agip Petroleum, Leclerc and Auchan. I also worked for many bands doing album cover designs, for clients in the fashion industry and for charities (SOS Racisme, Médecins Sans Frontières) and now I’m really exciting about working with more major brands at The Brand Union.
During my free time I enjoy playing drums, skateboarding and cooking real French food. I played ice hockey in France and practice my swimming at the pool regularly. I also enjoy photography, using my film, digital and Polaroid cameras. I really enjoy travelling and taking pictures all around the world.
Henkel
For more than 20 years, The Brand Union has been a strategic partner to Henkel in the home care and cosmetics categories. A broad portfolio of successful power brands, ranging from Schwarzkopf, to Fa, Right Guard, Theramed and many others, have been designed by The Brand Union.
The Brand Union Paris has been the strategic and creative partner of Henkel Int. Adhesive technologies Division since 2009 and is currently working on the 2 major global brands: Pattex and Loctite for which we ensure all major developments. A great relationship with the client has expanded over the years and we are now working hand in hand on a daily basis for Relaunch projects, Brand stretches, Innovation programs, Training sessions, and strategic and creative Consultancy.
Sarah Milech
Project Manager
Paris
After five years of marketing studies, I joined The Brand Union Paris and it is at that very moment that it all began…
Since that day, my relatives don’t understand me anymore when I talk using the TBU jargon (ASAP, TBC, FYI…) and before making any important decisions, I organise a family workshop.
I dress in grey and blue, I have started considering supermarkets as museums, and I email my work collegues to communicate. Yes indeed! My life changed that day. A different life, a special life, an original life, but SO TBU!
