Posts Tagged ‘differentiation’
Solar energy: commodity or branding opportunity?
By Marc Cortez, as part of the Guest Blogger Series
Spend any night waiting in line at Disneyland’s Adventure Ride and you’ll hear the usual stories of exploration, fame, and all those in search of treasures at the end of the rainbow. Standing in line this past Tuesday, however, those rainbows were turned up towards the sky, or more specifically, towards the sun.
Ah yes, the solar industry convention is in town.
Certainly solar energy’s time has come. Five years ago this event, the solar industry’s largest national convention, was held in a San Francisco office park atrium. Those of us who participated in that event—held, ironically, during a weeklong driving rainstorm—were giddy that we attracted over 3,000 people to our booths to discuss solar energy. In contrast, this year’s event filled two Anaheim Convention Center halls, attracted over 25,000 people, and occurred during the same week that President Obama announced over $200M of funded solar projects. With everyone talking about solar energy, it’s become mainstream, hasn’t it?
Well, sort of. (more…)
Dimensions of differentiation
By Rob Meyerson, RiechesBaird
Differentiate. Decommoditize. Zag. Conventional brand strategy wisdom dictates that in order to succeed, a brand must set itself apart from the competition. Examples of differentiation-driven success abound, and in fact most of the support for differentiation seems to be delivered through case study or anecdote.
But what do we mean when we say “be different?” Telling stories about brands that have succeeded by standing apart from their competition may support the point that differentiation works, but it leaves something to be desired when consulting with a client on how they can differentiate their organization. Instead of listing examples, I wonder if it’s possible to think more systematically about the dimensions along which a brand can differentiate.
I use the word “dimensions” because brand consultants (including me) are often guilty of simplifying everything down to a two-dimensional graph, plotting the competition on the axes, and pointing out where a client has room to stand apart. To illustrate, here’s one of my favorite two-axis graphs from xkcd.com, poetically entitled “F*ck Grapefruit.”
(I can hear the conference-room conversation now…
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Think twice before “evolving” your logo
By Rob Meyerson, RiechesBaird
Bill Marsh’s article in The New York Times a few days ago pointed out that a number of companies have recently redesigned their corporate logos, replacing “emblems of distant behemoths” with updates that are “non-threatening, reassuring, playful, even child-like.” The article includes a nice Flash click-through showing before and after logos. Marsh’s assessment is that these redesigns are aimed at addressing “the economy, environment, image repair,” and that while logos are meant to be differentiating, “there are striking similarities among recent redesigns.”
He’s right to point out the similarities, but the trend he’s seeing—which includes lowercase lettering, “softer” fonts, and lightened colors—began well before the recession. I first noticed it in 2005, while at Interbrand during the design of the new AT&T logo. Shortly after it launched, it seemed, Chevron and Allstate made very similar changes to their logos, incorporating lighter colors, rounder type, and highlights and shading that give the logos a 3D feel. (more…)