Fresh Strategy Meets Digital Design
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To continue our series on Brand (Brand Personality, Brand Identity, Brand Recognition) and Logo Design we wanted to share our Top 20 favourite picks for current Commercials we think are inspiring and that represent their brand well. The success of these commercials lies in the fact that they tell a story, evoke an emotion and are compelling to watch. This is where script, voiceover, music, masterful editing and high definition quality come into play.
So listed below, in no particular order, are our current day commercial favourites.
This one is a compilation of a variety of Old Spice commercials from 2011 and 2012. We couldn’t pin it down to just one Old Spice commercial. These commercials were so successful that even Sesame Street did a parody.
This commercial is age sensitive due to the fact they are promoting alcohol so you may have to sign in to YouTube to view it. In our opinion, it is otherwise rated G (General).
These commercials are about the Dove Movement for Self Esteem and how it relates to the sale of their products. Self Esteem for women is part of the brand message and brand culture. Dove wants you to know that purchasing their products contributes to the well being of your community. We think it’s pretty powerful stuff. As a result, Dove is more likely to have strong brand loyalty.
With these commercials the actor becomes instantly recognizable for the brand PLUS the tagline has gained traction as well, “Stay Thirsty, my friends”.
The brand tagline is “Trust Your Power”. With a larger budget, the Duracell brand has the luxury of inviting a celebrity to represent their brand in commercial advertisements. This carries a lot of weight when people make buying decisions; it also makes the product that much more memorable.
This commercial goes all out – yep sexy sells. Yes, it certainly does when you’ve got Adrien Brody, Gale Garcia Bernal, Andre 3000 and a few super models in your commercial. There’s something in it for everyone. Add an edgy soundtrack and you’ve got a winner — well, we think so.
It’s all about the music. At first, you think that the commercial is a bit harsh but get ready for some great humour and use of soundtrack. Humour — one of the best ways to share your brand.
Once again, the use of humour — makes for a memorable commercial. Besides, who doesn’t have a little rebel inside of themselves?!
Time and time again Axe makes the most humourous commercials — commercials that beg to be shared on social media. Who doesn’t like a good laugh? The more their commercials are shared, the more brand awareness and recognition is created.
This one tugs at the heart strings, which is what makes it such a great commercial. Adding an appropriate audio track also creates the mood.
Maxwell the Piggy was so successful in his acting debut that he’s been used in a few commercials since. The Geico Gecko and the Antelopes with Night Vision are also great commercials (not shown here).
These guys sort of took a page from Telus with their lizard emcees; but, we’ll forgive the lack of originality given that the commercials are presented in a quality way. Besides, they did put their own spin on the concept.
It’s all about the music and the video editing. Did we mention how epic the music is to the success of this commercial….. well done!
The brand culture of this organization is a weighty topic all on it’s own. We think that the producers of this commercial really hit the mark with a combination of appropriate lighting, soundtrack and high quality video production and editing.
No true Canadian could leave Tim Horton’s commercials off of the list. This commercial in particular captures the richness of Canadian heritage for both our “love of hockey” and the many immigrants who have forged a life here in Canada.
What list would be complete without one of the commercials from these guys…. of course, having the budget to include a celebrity like “The Rock” makes it even better.
This commercial is more like a short movie. Unbelievable quality with a simple brand message — be proud if you drive a Dodge Ram Truck.
We’re not quite sure how you tie a car commercial in with anti-bullying but these guys pulled it off. Great commercial.
Here’s how Vespa shows that they are always true to their brand. At the same time the commercial has appeal to their fashionable and trendy audience — the people most likely to purchase their product.
This list would not be complete without the iconic 1984 Apple Computer commercial. Directed by Ridley Scott it was nationally aired on television during the 3rd quarter of the 1984 Super Bowl football game. The message — that Apple would revolutionize the world and release us all from stagnant creativity; inspiration for the concept was taken from George Orwell’s novel by the same name, 1984.
We needed to round off our list with at least one video that had some four legged friends in it. We think this commercial is memorable with all of the necessary elements for a great branded commercial: humour, a fitting soundtrack (probably custom for the commercial), great video edits and the “cuteness” factor of our four legged friends.
Need a video to represent your brand? Need someone to help you tell your story? Call Original Ginger (www.originalginger.com) at 778.298.1966 to book your appointment.
In the meantime, stay tuned for a future article on commercials we think best represent brand evolution.
A logo is a graphic mark used by businesses, organizations or individuals to make their business easily and quickly identifiable in a positive way. Logos can be purely graphic using symbols/icons, simple logotypes/wordmarks, or a combination of both.
Examples:
Pictorial Logo
Combination
Wordmark
From the design team perspective, logo design is exciting – it’s an intriguing challenge and inspiring opportunity to make a fundamental difference in the success of a client’s business. From the client perspective it can be an intimidating and disappointing process if they have not hired a professional agency, or have not allocated a reasonable marketing budget for this purpose. On the other hand, with the right expertise, it can be a rewarding, fun, and successful process. You could say then, that it depends on which shoes you’re standing in.
THE CANUCKS ORIGINAL LOGO WAS VERY LITERAL — IT HAD THE HOCKEY STICK TO REPRESENT A HOCKEY TEAM.
If the logo design is pictorial, there are two schools of thought on whether the graphic element should show what you do. The first school of thought would dictate that if you are a painter, there should be a recognizable element in the logo like a paint brush. The second would say – you don’t necessarily have to be so literal – you can be bold and make your logo unexpected and distinctive.
Set yourself apart…. isn’t that the point?
Since a logo is a visual representation of the client brand, it’s important to use the right graphic elements and font type to influence how people feel about your brand:
TODAY’S CANUCKS LOGO IS A LITTLE MORE UNEXPECTED.
Different designers may have different processes but one thing is consistent when it comes to professional logo design; it takes time, it takes creativity and it takes some thought. That’s what sets a “professional logo design” apart from a “cheap logo design”.
Since, it is the starting point of your whole corporate image, do you really want to trust this to an online stock logo shop (yeah, that’ll be original – NOT!) or someone charging $100 and spending a total of one (maybe two) hours on one of the most fundamental components of your brand identity – your future world empire?! Hmmm. I’d go for the professional logo design if it were my business. In fact it is my business; that’s why I’m writing this article. I get enough calls from people who wasted marketing dollars doing it the wrong way first, only to have to start from scratch anyways…
So here’s some “fresh ginger” on our logo design process:
When a client comes to us saying they need a logo designed, the first thing we do is find out as much about them and their business as possible:
This process usually requires some real soul searching on their part. We don’t want them to take it lightly – it can affect their total world domination later (well maybe not total world domination – but getting noticed in all the marketing noise out there, in cyberspace especially, can be serious business).
Second, we ask them to provide examples of logos they like and why they like them, as well as logos they DON’T like and why not. We may also engage in some wordplay with the client to determine how they want people to feel about their brand. Wordplay draws out adjectives that resonate with the client so we can translate them visually with the use of shape, colour and font.It’s all about trying to get a sense of the client’s preferences for dimension, preferred layout, font styles, colour palette and shape. Do they prefer logotype/wordmark, a pictorial mark, or a combination of both. Should their logo be realistic or abstract? What is the tone of their brand personality? Will there be a tagline incorporated into the logo?
HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A LARGE BRAND WITH A TAGLINE SO SUCCESSFUL IT CAN BE USED WITHOUT THE LOGO.
ANOTHER LARGE BRAND WITH A SUCCESSFUL TAGLINE — THE TAGLINE DRIVES HOME THE FIRST THING THEY WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR BRAND – THAT IT’S ALWAYS FRESH!
Some designers work as contractors and give the client EXACTLY what they want without some “push back”.
At Original Ginger we are interested in building a long term relationship so sometimes we have to bring things into perspective for a client regarding “good” logo design or advise on typeface/fonts. They may be leaning towards less than optimal designs and not understand why they are not a good idea. In the spirit of “getting the best possible brand logo” for the Client, we are not afraid to give that little “push back” when we feel it is warranted. After all, they are paying us for our expertise in marketing and design.
Next steps – we’ve got some homework to do. Some designers shy away from visual research, preferring to look only within themselves for creative inspiration; but this may be limiting to a design solution. We like to investigate logos of client competitors, review their likes and dislikes from sample logos they sent us, and revisit logos that may have inspired us. We feel it boosts our ability to think “outside of the box”.
During our research we consider the “big picture” of where their brand currently is, and plan a creative direction appropriate to where their brand is going.
Finally, we take all of the information we have collected from previous steps in the process and put it into a creative brief. This is a document the design team can work from to ensure we are on the right track.
Now, this is where our team gets down to brainstorming ideas and concepts. It might begin with a few dozen sketches; but, eventually gets narrowed down to only a few concepts, which we pull into a tool like Illustrator.
A logo design project takes time to get the best results. The design team often benefits from moving away from a project temporarily and letting the ideas just marinate a while — mature — before working on them again with fresh creative energy.
After narrowing down and developing the best 2 or 3 logo designs, we present them to the client and encourage them to share the designs with peers and stakeholders. We look forward to gaining their feedback; after all, this isn’t about us – it’s about the client and their relationship with their target audience. Their initial reactions are important to us because they are the most genuine and authentic – someone seeing it for the first time, just as a potential customer might see it.
At this point, some clients will say, “I love the second one – it’s a go!” Other times the client will say. I like the design, but can we combine elements from all 3 concepts?” to which we might reply “Yes, absolutely” OR “No, we don’t recommend that, and here’s why.” We like the client to be engaged and informed during the process.
Colour Palette
There are always likely to be at least minor revisions to a final chosen concept. Minor revisions might consist of slightly altering the colour palette or moving or resizing graphic elements to get it just right from a client perspective.
Assuming a client does need further revisions after presentation of the concepts, we take their feedback to the drawing board and make the refinements. This is presented one final time to the Client for their approval. Assuming they now LOVE it completely, we create all the various file formats the client may require for print and web in black and white, and color. They receive these in all the appropriate file formats required for web and print.
EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE FONT FAMILY YOU ARE CONSIDERING.
Now, we are prepared for the identity development part of the process. This is optional and consists of documenting logo applications, how to work with the logo, standard layout, colour codes and typography guidelines in the form of a “brand book”.
If the client is happy we’re happy. So if it’s not popcorn day at the office already, we heat up the popper early, spring some sodas, order in lunch and just soak up the pats on the back we’re giving ourselves for a job well done. We have just been part of our client’s epic new brand launch.
While a great logo will stand the test of time, even the biggest brands have changed their logos multiple times over the years. It is the nature of a successful growing business to evolve, and changing your brand identity and logo are a part of that evolution.
Many of the items in this article can be applied to web design and social media as well. Once you’ve gone through the process of a professional logo design you’ve set the tone, you’ve chosen the fonts and colour palette, AND you’ve got the feel all sorted out.
Cheers, to your successful business empire!
Original Ginger is a Digital Agency located in the heart of historic Fort Langley, a hip and artistic suburb of Vancouver BC.
White Rock, BC based company Canadian Hardscape got started when owner, Ken Ross, set out to create a company synonymous with his personal creativity and passion for quality workmanship and design. He believes the success of every project comes as a result of an entire team communicating and working closely together to achieve the end result. Ken approached OG to help him build an online presence that represented integrity, teamwork and commitment – the foundation his company is built on.
PROJECT FACTS
Technology: WordPress CMS, PHP, CSS, XHTML, Jquery, XML
Integration: Social Media, Email Marketing
Services Used: Brand Discovery, Logo Design, Web Design, Copy Writing, Training (WordPress).
According to the Pinterest website, “Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”
We say “It’s a collection of branded storyboards on steroids”. You can show Pinners your business culture, philsophy, pricing, products and services WITHOUT saying a single word — instead you say a thousand words with a single picture! How to get your business started on Pinterest?
We could put together a written guide on “how to’s”. We could offer a step by step webinar. BUT we figured it would just be easier to SHOW YOU the power of imagery by putting together this infographic, “Hot Tips On Pinterest for Business”. Just like previous infographics we’ve shared with you, think of this one as a partial immersion into an unknown world; but in bite-sized pieces. We haven’t added EVERYTHING you can do with Pinterest to boost your business BUT it’s a great place to start…… and you have to start somewhere!
Feel free to share it around with people you think might benefit. We only ask that you keep the infographic intact and unaltered, with proper credit back to us at www.originalginger.com.
We look forward to seeing how you go about using some of our Hot Tips to create a vibrant Pinterest community. So if you find your way to Pinterest and follow us (www.pinterest.com/ogagency); we’re likely to follow you back!
One of the first things we notice with businesses new to Facebook is the ugly looking URL. It doesn’t look pretty on business cards or websites and it’s not easy to share with others. Your first priority is to choose a username for your page that most accurately reflects your brand and company. Here is a helpful link on how to set up a username: Business Page Usernames. Choose a name you can use consistently across all of your social media profiles (Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+ etc.). and ensure it is available for all profiles BEFORE you select it on Facebook. Facebook does NOT allow you to change it again. Keep in mind that your Facebook username cannot use generic terms (e.g., “beer” or “pizza”) by themselves, they must be grammatically correct, no character symbols, and there can be no excessive use of caps unless you are using an acronym.
For more comprehensive steps on how to set up your business page, visit our associated blog post “Feature Your Business Like A Rockstar”.
Facebook clearly states that cover images on personal profile pages must not contain:
If you use Facebook to carry on a contest or sweepstake, you must:
The Guidelines we list in this article are simply that – Guidelines. Facebook may change these rules from time to time so be sure to visit Facebook Page Guidelines.
We hope you find this information helpful. If you did, we’d appreciate it if you’d visit our Facebook page and “Like Us”. We are always posting helpful tips and tools for social media, web design, video production, email marketing and digital marketing. Don’t have the time to manage your own social media profiles? Give us a call — we can help.
First, I’ll share our article on why a busy business owner should spend their time and energy writing posts for a blog? Visit our article: http://www.originalginger.com/seo/why-have-a-blog/.
You don’t have to be a journalist or professional writer to have a blog. If it’s not something you feel comfortable with, hire a professional for their copy writing expertise. This is a service we also offer at Original Ginger. Call us at 778.298.1966 and we can chat about a blog package that will work for you.
With over 20 years experience, the world-class chef and founder of Vancouver, BC based company Culinary Concierge, Christine Couvelier, assists food industry clients in creating award-winning food products, services and strategies that help build their brands and keep them ahead of market trends. Christine asked OG to translate her passion for food into an exciting new online brand personality.
PROJECT FACTS
Technology: WordPress CMS, PHP, CSS, XHTML, Jquery, XML
Integration: Social Media
Services Used: Brand Discovery, Web Design, Social Media Action Plan, Copy Writing, Training (WordPress and Social Media).
Abbotsford, BC based company Dance in Motion is a leader in dance education. Comprised of a highly certified faculty, Dance in Motion works hard to develop dancers full of passion, integrity, confidence and strength. Dance in Motion asked OG to help with their online presence to increase online registrations.
Integration: Social Media
Services Used: Web Design, Photo Editing, Copywriting, SEO Re-Directs, Website Maintenance, Training (CMS).
Langley, BC based company LB Emporium is a spice boutique that captures the pleasure of spice not only at the table but in every part of life. Owners Vivian and Donna, asked OG to create a spicy web design, provide food styling and photography services to bring their products to life on screen; and integrate branded online shopping carts for both retail AND wholesale customers.
Integration: Email Marketing
Services Used: Web Design, E-Commerce (Shopping Cart), Food Styling and Photography, Training (CMS).
