The Office of Tony Blair

Monocle magazine is the pioneer of the brand-fueled content. They have reconsidered the advertiser-publisher relationship and created engaging branded content throughout their magazine and into online media like podcasts. It works very well.

Brand-fueled content is content such as articles, videos and events where a brand’s values and briefs on a product where editorial control is given to the site owner (goal being a conversation started, natch). It seems to be the future. Let’s look toward the Old Spice campaign and “the Response Campaign”. Major success.

Beau Colburn captured my feelings on brand-fueled content (and the Old Spice campaign, more specifically) perfectly.

these video responses feel like a dramatic shift in “advertising.” Putting the word in quotes was intentional because I’m not really sure what this is. These responses aren’t ads. I suppose there’s a proper term like “brand extension” or the like for something like this, but this feels new.

Singapore Airlines offers a great example of the detail in which a company (or person for that matter) should go when branding itself.

Singapore airlines is the pinnacle of sensory branding and offers a full scale assault on our brains. Like any other airline, Singapore airlines employs common consistent visual themes. Unlike other airlines the company incorporates the same scent, Stefan Floridian Waters, in the perfume worn by flight attendants, in their hot towels, and other elements of their service. Flight attendants must be physically attractive and wear uniforms made from fine silk which incorporates elements of the cabin decor. The airline strives to make every customer interaction both appealing, and, equally important, consistent from encounter to encounter. It’s no wonder the airline is perennially at the top of travelers’ preference rankings.

the best bottle shape in beer drinking

I’ve uttered the same words many times as a I take a swig. I don’t really care what they do with the branding of High Life, just don’t change the bottle shape…or the price point.

Brand utility is, essentially, a brand creating *something* useful that is closely aligned with its product that brings an added value to the consumer. For further information, I recommend this great resource for understanding brand utility.

One of the examples mentioned in the above presentation is the Domino’s Pizza Tracker (created by CP+B). In a recent interview, head of interactive production, strategy and business development at CP+B discusses productized marketing (which I consider to be brand utility).

I’m excited to see more brands recognize that their most powerful brand marketing asset is the product – not the marketing message. Because of this shift in strategy, we’re beginning to see more agencies move into the product design and development space. Agencies are no longer confined to crafting the message but also empowered to create both standalone products and enhancements to existing product lines. Since digital is both media and product, it’s an ideal platform to facilitate “productized” marketing. And this means that we’re spending a larger percentage of our days creating tools rather than the ads. I get excited by the idea that I can actually now ‘use’ the marketing we make, not just watch or read it.

Since I’ve been (re)thinking of different ways to do the more formal stuff for currentblend, I thought I should mention that our Annual Report will (hopefully) be a breath of fresh air. I’d like to do something similar to Feltron, but the recent Finnair Report is something to be inspired by.

I agree with The Scout and (also)

wonder if Winkreative is behind this initiative – dressing up the pages with colorful illustrations, articles written in the form of Q&As, and a fashion review on past Finnair uniforms. Tyler Brule even makes an appearance, contributing a column of his own.

Nice interview with Andy Spade over on A Continuous Lean. Best parts to me were his point about why it’s okay to not brand everything.

It’s important to acknowledge and share.  It’s odd that people think they have to brand everything with their own name to be successful.  Certain companies are experts at certain things.  I love brands that show humility and don’t try to be all things to all people.  How many brands that got bigger got better?  I love brands that have a soul and follow their own intuition.  If each store has its own personality and soul centered around core beliefs of the brand it will connect within more people emotionally and spiritually.

The combination of orange with pink in this Dunkin Donuts rebranding is so effing hot. And, this line about why he did it is better.

“I like donuts, I like design. A little rebrand I did for fun.”

Sounds like my kind of dude. Respect.

To say Andy Spade has the life I want to live is an understatement. He built two brand (Kate and Jack Spade) and now has a branding studio/storefront, Partners & Spade, which is my dream studio/client list. Reading this New York Magazine feature only made me swoon even more for his life.

As a small elite group they believe there is a need to provide creative branding solutions across every platform. They can do it quicker and more efficiently then the traditional agency model. They can also do it cheaper without sacrificing the quality of the work. Arguably the work may be better.

I believe this to be true.