Anatomy of online photo book branding
Anyone who knows me understands that I am happiest when I'm creating something new. My pulse races when I enter art supply and craft stores, clay studios, fabric warehouses, and boutiques centered around handmade wares. A valid vacation for me can be defined as hours spent walking the aisles of Hobby Lobby or AC Moore stores discovering or rediscovering new tools and products.
Since my entrance into branding over ten years ago, naming has been an effective way for me to maintain that tangible sense of creation. My creative abilities have taken on new challenges; fascinated with words and the construction of names I've spent the past decade constructing letter strings and word parts to yield memorable new brands for clients.
Coupling the two primary forces in my life, branding and crafting, I look at product names in a whole new light. It’s not just, "What function can that new paper punch serve for me?", but, "How in the world did they get that name through legal?"
Excuse my crafty-namer-geek approach to this post, as I explore some big craft brands and their names for photo books.
Creative Memories: StoryBook Photo Book
Descriptive, straightforward. Their positioning has always been about preserving your memories and telling your story, so this name complements the equity they have built in their brand.
My Publisher
Recently it seems has rebranded themselves into more of a modern option for photo products. The brand has always focused on giving you the tools to tap into your own design/publishing skills.
Snapfish: Photo Book
Uses the equity in their corporate name (known for photos) for their online photo books. No additional branding required.
Shutterfly
Interesting naming approach: the company uses a generic moniker of "Photo Books," but has also branded the creation process with "Custom Path" and "Simple Path" to make the process of building your book an easier task.
Winkflash / Picaboo / Kodak
Follows suit with the other online primary photo sites and focuses branding on their individual corporate names.
SmileBooks
Custom photo books that make you smile. Um, I hope so since they're my photos and I'm paying to have them preserved in a book for posterity. At least they're using a name that stands apart from the traditional, but I'm not sure it actually communicates anything differently.
Apple: iPhoto Books
I would expect nothing less (or more) from Apple. Simple continuity within their strong lineup of product brands.
Blurb
Company uses individual brands in their arsenal of options, including BookSmart (personalizing software), Bookify (creation software), and BookShow (Facebook sharing app). Bloggers and instagr.am addicts take note: you can export your blog into a custom coffee table book to pass down your witticisms for generations. I love the continuity of their brand into defining their team members as Blurberati.
Lulu
Focuses efforts on the corporate brand and uses a descriptive naming approach for the individual book types. Lulu is more of a 'self-publishing' platform that includes photo books as one type of offering. The best part about Lulu (besides their catchy, memorable name) is that customers can sell their creations through the site.
Daily deal sites bring flavor to naming
It's become a household name: Groupon ... the fusion of 'group' + 'coupon' makes sense on all fronts from a naming perspective.
The Groupon magic goes like this: Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses. They send the deals to thousands of subscribers in their free daily email, and then send the businesses a ton of new customers.
While Groupon was first to market with their daily deal platform, the success of the business model has spawned hundreds of me-too sites and companies. The trouble is, Groupon has become so popular it's now genericized for these savings sites, which are currently flooding my inbox.
Check out these similar offerings and their naming styles:
Living Social: A more modern, hip name but lacks the bar call when used in conversation. "I bought the yoga Groupon" just rolls better when said aloud.
Mamasource (by Mamapedia): A great site that does good too - they give back a percentage of your purchase to a school of your choice, and the deals last longer than a day. Perfect for those indecisive shoppers who just need a bit more time to make up their mind. This is more than a daily deal site, as they offer a lot of resources for moms. The name is cute, and clearly geared towards moms.
Plum District: Arbitrary name, but a fun daily deal site designed specifically towards mom. Plus, they reward you with Plum Dollars when you refer other people to the site (as opposed to other sites who reward you only when a referral makes a purchase).
Eversave: Cute, simple, descriptive name, and their logo is cute too.
Woot: Short moniker; the most emotional daily deal name. Uniquely captures the end benefit of scoring a great deal. The catchy name works well in vernacular too: "I just scored a Woot." Woot indeed.
What are we missing? What are your favorite daily deal sites? Does the name of the site itself make you want to sign up, or is popularity driven solely by the caliber of deals offered?
Fashion Brands Utilize Social Media to Gain New Loyalists
In the world of branding there is one thing that you can always count on; the desires of your consumer are ever-changing. In today’s economic climate the brands that survive are those that are so innovative that they meet the desires of their consumers before the individual even discovers their desire. As we prepare for the end of the 2011 year one of the many brands to position itself in this manor is Burberry.
During the past decade Burberry utilized the power of British celebrities to build a brand image of luxury, class and sophistication. While each of these words ignites positive associations, today’s consumer yearns for an innovative brand that promotes a savvy image. With this knowledge, the past year has brought us a true evolution of the Burberry culture. In February of this year they became the first ever retailer to provide a live stream of their runway show. From the center of London’s Piccadilly Circus to flagship stores throughout the world millions of viewers had the ability to watch the premier of the 2011 Fall Collection. Suddenly, the average consumer in the middle of America was privy to the same viewing party as Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Magazine.
To luxury retail consumers this endeavor was more than a simple live video stream. It was an unheard of, powerful, thought-provoking move that Burberry used to let the world know they're listening to consumers and they're ready to meet our desires in ways we never thought possible.
As an avid consumer of all things fashion, Burberry tops my list as the most impressive retail brand of the year and has me yearning for more. Their visionary way of reaching consumers has reignited my affinity for the brand and faith that they will continue to provide an unparalleled retail experience.
Contributed by: Brandi Sheehan
What's a tagline? Or a slogan? What about a mission statement?
Tagline, slogans, and mission statements. All three represent a company's image and position to some degree but all three also differ from one another in how they represent a company. But what are the differences?
Tagline: A tagline is a brief phrase that will help the corporation be well known in its industry for years to come. The main purpose of taglines is to help the organization market its products or services to a certain demographic. It also briefly states what the organization’s goals are for the product.
Slogan: Slogans are only used in certain advertising and marketing campaigns that an organization decides to take part in. The slogan changes all the time so that the slogan can be current and resonate well with consumers. Some slogans might make the consumer feel safe and include phrases such as we put our customers first or customer satisfaction guaranteed.
Mission Statement: A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company or organization. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making. It provides "the framework or context within which the company's strategies are formulated
Brand Revivals: Bringing the Past Back to the Present
Remember the Razr flip phone of the early to mid-2000's? Of course you do, because you either had one or looked on with jealousy at all your friends that had one, wishing you too could one day be as cool as them. But then came June 29, 2007, the first iPhone became available to the world, and the decline of the mighty Razr began.
In an attempt to gain the status the Razr once enjoyed Motorola announced this week that they will be reviving the brand with their new Android powered mobile device. When the Razr debuted in 2004 it quickly became the best-selling mobile device (pre-iPhone) and was one of the first devices to make a cell phone more than a necessity but a status symbol and desired accessory. When Motorola decided to revive the Razr brand with its new phone, it can be assumed they are hoping to tap into brand equity that the Razr brand once held in the marketplace.
So, with that let's take a look at why a company might want to revive a brand.
First of all, brands need reviving after they've suffered some sort loss in the market and that more than likely occurs due to two factors:
1.Reduced Functional Benefits: When customers are making a purchasing decision they look for the product that is going to meet their needs, and while a product may meet those needs at one time or another as the customer matures and grows so do their needs.
2.Increased Competition: In the world we live in change happens quickly, and we are constantly bombarded with the "latest and greatest" must-have product, and this is particularly true in the technology industry. With all these product introductions brands are being constantly challenged to stay relevant and appeal to consumers.
Why you would revive a particular brand:
1. Emotional ties: even if a successful brand started to lose steam in the market for whatever reason, there is more than likely a certain emotional tie with that brand from its heyday. After all it wouldn’t have been a success in the first place if there hadn’t been any emotional connection. Brand/Product Managers may want to capitalize on consumer's sense of nostalgia to help the new product enjoy the success of its predecessor.
2. Reduces Risk/Cost: brand revivals can be a valuable and cost-effective because there is the idea that an already known brand has a given head-start over a completely new brand, and so less needs to be spent on its introduction.
3. Brand Equity: if leveraged in the right way, and the brand equity of the original product is strong enough a new product can build on the equity the original possessed to carry itself through the product launch and beyond
GLEANING FOR MEANING!
Dedicated Addison Whitney employees gathered together early this Saturday morning at a farm in Midland, NC for Addison Whitney Helping Hands to GLEAN!
Now what exactly is Gleaning? According to Wikipedia, “Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest.” In ancient times, farmers would allow villagers to glean for self-sustainability. In modern times, humanitarian groups glean to deliver food to shelters and impoverished neighborhoods for their ultimate cause: to end societal hunger.
Addison Whitney partnered up with the Society of St. Andrew, a hunger relief nonprofit organization, to pick turnips and turnip greens. After three hours of picking turnips, dividing turnips and its greens, and loading them onto trucks, our clothes got muddy and our hands got dirty, but in the end it was all worth the while. The final count came to 2325 lbs of turnips, 1105 lbs of greens, with a total of 3430 lbs! Think about how many families this amount of food will feed! Event organizer Emily Hassell at Addison Whitney stated “This event was quite a success! I’m glad we were able to make such an impact with our gleaning efforts. It was refreshing to see people of all ages (3-50+) working as a team, and having fun in the outdoors.”
The amount of food that is wasted every year in the US can fill up “a 90,000 seat football stadium to the brim at least once every single day”, according to NaturalNews. So the next time you look down at the plate of food you are about to throw away, think about how many peoples’ lives you could have saved. Be resourceful in your food and donate to the community if you have a little extra.
Check out our pictures on Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/addisonwhitney
If you are interested in learning more about Gleaning or want to volunteer as a Gleaner, please visit http://www.endhunger.org/
Contributed by Tiffany Lan
Shopping for your Personal Brand
How many times have you heard “Those shoes are so you” or “That dress really suits your personality”? Personal style is a form of self-expression. Neon-colored tights may say “I’m a risk-taker.” An a-line skirt and a turtleneck may say “I’m conservative”. When we purchase pieces of clothing, we are defining our personal style. In a bigger picture, our personal style is but a small piece of our personal brand.
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• It may be a cause you stand for. The CEO of TOMS Shoes created the “One for One” ideology for his company that for every pair of TOMS shoes sold, one pair would be donated to a person in need, specifically ones from third-world countries.
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• It may be a passion you want to explore. Ken Jeong (best known for his role as Mr. Chow in The Hangover) actually has a medical degree from UNC Chapel Hill, but gave up being a doctor to pursue his love for stand-up comedy.
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• It may be the image you want to portray. Lady GaGa is an extremist in our generation. Some would say she is “outrageous and weird”, but in fact it is her outrageousness and weirdness that inspires people to be unafraid to show who they truly are.
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• It doesn’t have to be one aspect either; it can be a combination of many.
Contributed by: Tiffany Lan
RedaKai Has Come Alive!
It’s not often that Addison Whitney has the opportunity to name a toy or a game, but RedaKai is a perfect example of our rise to the challenge. Spin Master engaged Addison Whitney to create a name for what has become an animated television series, in a joint venture with Marathon Media, complemented by an innovative and uniquely designed trading card game. These stackable cards are made of clear plastic and feature images created by Lenticular printing, meaning that the cards appear animated as they are viewed from different angles. Additionally, Spin Master has announced plans to launch full franchise merchandise going beyond the card game.
The AW Verbal Branding team was asked to help reinvent the card aisle and rise above the typical boys’ action card games. After all, boys are not just playing a game; they are battling to ensure the safety and future of the universe. While being sure to communicate powerful and skilled, it was important to Spin Master for the name to have a somewhat foreign tone, specifically Japanese, one that would fit with the other games on the shelf. Another key direction was to include “Kai” as it serves as the basis for the franchise: it is the root of the mystical alien energy source, Kairu, and the lead character’s name, Ky Stax.
After group and individual brainstorming guided by strategic thinking and motivated by an overall excitement for this opportunity, RedaKai was created. It communicates the idea of being geared up and ready for battle. It serves as an inspiration to boys everywhere to accept the challenge to protect not just earth, but the entire universe.
Contributed by: Jenna Wise
World Expo: Nation Branding
To add to the previous blog post about nation branding, countries seem to be very interested in their reputations. They are making strides to manage their appearance in a globalized world. Countries realize that their reputation not only affects their tourism business, but also their economic stance in the marketplace. And where do countries go to brand themselves? Try the World Expo. It’s a hotspot for nation branding. Known as, “a wonderful playground of branding,” these fairs provide pavilions for each country to portray the best of its identity to the rest of the world. Kind of like a beauty contest for nations, or a tournament of cultures. Participating countries are eager to interact and impress visitors.
Another reason countries go to the Expo is to overcome negative stereotypes that may be harmful to their reputation. Social, economic, cultural or political issues from the past (like wars for example) are the main factors that shape the rest of the world’s perspective of a country. These stereotypes can be hard to break. On the other hand, stereotypes can be a good thing. With pre-conceived expectations, people have already made a connection with a nation, allowing easier engagement and interest.
Are the messages that these national pavilions send effective? It can be tricky because nations must be aware of the way they communicate with multiple audiences. They cannot just impress foreigners; they must also please their domestic audience. If communication between the two doesn’t correspond, there could be cause for dispute. Most natives see their pavilion as a source of national pride, but some others may see it unfavorably, especially if the focus is on creating a show for foreigners.
Student ambassadors that greet and guide visitors at their pavilions are an important part of a national brand. With their direct contact among visitors, they exhibit diplomacy, represent a physical presence for their country, and give a glimpse into the future of foreign relations.
There are many things to consider when managing a country’s image on a global scale. A solid nation-brand strategy requires much negotiation, compromise, and clear direction to be successful.
Contributed by Emily Hassell