Reimagining the Audi Brand for the Future

The automotive world recently witnessed a significant shift in Audi’s visual identity. According to a report from The Verge, the luxury car manufacturer unveiled a fresh, simplified logo design tailored to the Chinese market, representing a strategic move toward a more flexible, forward-thinking image.

This Audi new logo sheds excess detail in favour of clean lines and subtle refinement. The company is aligning its branding strategy with evolving market demands, making its look more adaptable to screens, digital interfaces, and the ever-changing preferences of a younger, tech-savvy audience. The timing is crucial as Audi ramps up its e-mobility lineup, highlighting the importance of sleek, modern visual elements that resonate not only on physical vehicles but throughout digital ecosystems.

For businesses worldwide, Audi’s rebrand sends a clear message: adapting one’s visual language can be a powerful way to remain relevant, innovative, and appealing to new generations of consumers. This move illustrates that thoughtful, intentional branding can help position a company for long-term success in rapidly evolving global markets.

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When Information Design is a Matter of Life or Death

In 2008, Lloyds Pharmacy conducted 20-minute interviews with 1,961 UK adults. Almost one in five people admitted to having taken prescription medicines incorrectly; more than eight million adults have either misread medicine labels or misunderstood the instructions, resulting in them taking the wrong dose or taking medication at the wrong time of day. In addition, the overall problem seemed to be more acute among older patients.

Almost one in five people admitted to having taken prescription medicines incorrectly; more than eight million adults have either misread medicine labels or misunderstood the instructions.

Medicine or patient information leaflets refer to the document included inside medicine packaging and are typically printed on thin paper (see figures 1.1–1.4). They are essential for the safe use of medicines and help answer people’s questions when taking the medicine.

If the leaflet works well, it can lead to people taking the medicine correctly, hopefully improving their health and wellness. If it works poorly, it can lead to adverse side effects, harm, or even death. Subsequently, leaflets are heavily regulated in the way they need to be designed, written, and produced. European and individual national legislation sets out the information to be provided, in a specific order, within a medicine information leaflet.

Adding to the design challenge is the fact that the guidelines for how medicine information leaflets are designed to change from country to country, and the guidelines are often vague.

One of the changes in the 2004 European Commission directive was to ensure that all medical information leaflets ‘reflect the results of consultations with target patient groups.’ In other words, when producing a leaflet, user testing (or ‘readability testing’ as it is also known) must be done. A satisfactory test outcome is when the information requested within the package leaflet can be found by 90% of test participants, of whom 90% can show that they understand it.

The diagnostic testing method for medicine information leaflets also raises a unique challenge when designing leaflets and is more rigorous than the level of user testing most designers are used to.

Additionally, medicine information leaflets are required to be reviewed and approved by a competent authority, which varies from country to country, before being included in the packaging with the medicine.

Possible Design Improvements

How can these materials be designed so that people end up taking the medicine as directed?

One issue with medicine information leaflets seems to be that most people do not read the document from start to finish, although it contains important information. Reasons for not reading or only skimming the leaflet from start to finish could be due to the amount of information or the leaflet design.

Competing sources of information introduce additional confusion. Sometimes the pharmacist will attach to the packaging a sticker with dosage instructions. That sticker can cover the dosage instructions printed on the packaging itself.

There are now potentially three sources of dosage information: the sticker, the packaging, and the leaflet, all with different densities of information. This creates an assumption on the part of the patient that everything they will need to know will be on the sticker–a dangerous assumption because patients do not read through the whole of the medicine information leaflet.

Medicine information leaflets are usually long and contain a wealth of information and complex terminology. An option would be to provide the document written to different educational levels.

Sometimes leaflets do not make the most of headings and sectioning, which keeps people from finding quickly the information they need. Medicine information leaflets are usually minimally treated, featuring only plain text with headings in bold.

Could a more designed and illustrated appearance lead to people taking the medicine in the prescribed manner? A study suggests this is the case: Layouts that reduce text density, use purposeful sectioning, highlight key messages, and use a logical type of hierarchy helped people to find the right information more quickly.

The example shown in figure 1.5 is a step in the right direction; the different types of information have been given a diversity of treatments to provide emphasis.

Layouts that reduce text density, use purposeful sectioning, highlight key messages, and use a logical type hierarchy helped people to find the right information more quickly.

In a similar vein, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently proposed a redesign of nutrition labels on food packaging. Among the changes were putting calorie counts in large type, adjusting portion sizes to reflect how much Americans actually eat, and additional information about sugars in food.

The Lloyd’s Pharmacy research stated that older people make the most mistakes when using medicine information due to either misreading medicine labels or misunderstanding the instructions. Clearer written instructions would solve the comprehension issue; a more ‘large print’ design would enable both older and a wider variety of people to better use the leaflet.

Medicine information leaflets are often printed on thin paper and folded many times to fit into the medicine package. There is a lot of show-through from the information printed on the back of the leaflet, which decreases readability. When the leaflet is unfolded, the paper crease marks affect the readability of the text (see figures 1.3 and 1.4). A possible improvement would be to print the leaflet on a thicker paper. 

Article 63(2) of the European Commission, 2004, states that:

‘The package leaflet must be written and designed to be clear and understandable, enabling the users to act appropriately, when necessary with the help of health professionals.’

Diagnostic testing is examining an existing design to find out how it performs against the agreed performance requirements set at the scoping stage; for example, a satisfactory test outcome is when the information requested within the package leaflet can be found by 90% of test participants, of whom 90% can show that they understand it. Diagnostic testing takes the actions of people using the document as symptoms of the document’s health and is concerned with finding out what is wrong with a design. Diagnostic testing should be used iteratively—that is, repeated until its performance reaches the agreed benchmark. Diagnostic test questions are designed to see whether a consumer can find information quickly and easily and perform actions appropriately.

Conclusion

Earlier research from Lloyds Pharmacy1 and Dickinson et al. demonstrates that design and writing has the potential to make a real difference in regard to medical errors and that design, writing, and production of a medicine information leaflet can have a real positive effect on people’s health.

The design of medicine information leaflets provides some interesting challenges because they might not be seen as a typical creative graphic design job. Just because they do not contain overly designed text or graphics, however, does not mean creativity is not needed, in fact creativity is usually lacking in leaflets typically produced.

Furthermore, creativity when designing medicine information leaflets usually comes in the form of clear writing, clear layout, and user testing—more of an information design challenge rather than graphic design.

The designer’s job is to clearly communicate the desired message. The designer also has to follow guidelines—in this case, not corporate identity guidelines but guidelines laid out in legislation and vetted by a regulatory body.

Effective design can make the difference between a person deciding to read a leaflet or not, or getting the information they need about the medicine they are taking or not. And that difference can be a matter of life or death. The not so typical design challenge of medicine information leaflets shows the importance effective design can have.

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What allows the Brand to grow?

Brand growth - boost your business

Every brand needs constant growth for a few reasons. One of them is obviously higher profit. Whatever is your main reason to seek opportunities for your business, you still need to know what encourages brand growth. The knowledge will help you focus on actions and operations that are crucial and profitable. Here's what makes the brand grow.

Brand differentiation and distinctiveness 

There is a rule in marketing that is repeated over and over again like a mantra. If you want to have a successful brand, you need to make it different, or even better, distinct. What does it mean? A brand, in order to grow, has to stand out from the crowd of others. It has to be recognisable, needs to offer something unique and spring to the customers’ minds the minute they need to buy a product or service. Only distinctiveness and differentiation (or one or the other) support brand growth.

Brand availability

The brand grows when the products are sold to more and more customers every month or year. To make sure it will happen (and your audience will expand), you need to secure the brand’s availability and visibility. What good does it do to you when your brand is well-strategized, and you have put the effort in its creation, promotion and introduction on the new markets, but you have forgotten to make it available? The customers will buy those products they can find without any effort. No one will spend hours searching for a brand they heard of once or twice. If it’s not in front of my eyes, I’m not looking for it - that is the customers’ approach.

Brand growth and advertisement

If you want your brand to grow, you need to make it available and well-known to your customers. That’s when a good advertisement takes up the reins. Properly created ads will pump up your business and bring you profit. The advertisement gives some useful tools if you don’t know, e.g., how to measure brand growth.

Those who live and breathe the brand

More or less, every brand that is not entirely new on the market has its own zealots - the biggest fans who buy products, support the brand and advocate for its actions. Those are the people that can bring you, new customers, by means of word-of-mouth marketing or simply by increasing your reach online. Find those enthusiasts, those regular customers, and take good care of them. It will undoubtedly pay off in the form of a growing and thriving brand. 

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Design Without Design

One of the most fascinating aspects about building a design history (especially graphic design history) is finding and tracing an artifact from the past to present. So many large and small companies and firms that practiced in some way or another design, typography and printing no longer exist, while others have surprisingly bridged generations and survived shifts in technology and demographics. When I found the catalog below for Kaeser & Blair, suppliers of all manner of business paper and graphics, I was taken by its demonstrative un-designed design. The material is quaint in a nostalgic sense but historically significant as a marker in that the design is routine, conventional yet visually tied to its context in the 1930s. As an artifact of its time, the catalog (and pages shown here) tells a story.

What makes the story even more interesting is that Kaeser & Blair are still functioning as a programmatic service that helps “companies generate brand awareness through creative advertising and promotional products and services.” Not too far from what you see below, but nonetheless strategically different models.

The Company was founded in 1894 as the Cincinnati Printing and Paper Products Co., in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1923, Dutch Kaeser and Bill Blair purchased Cincinnati Printing and Paper Products Co. and incorporated the Company into what is now known as Kaeser & Blair, Inc.

Kaeser & Blair revolutionized the industry by selling advertising, branding and promotional products that were marketed through independent sales professionals. This new approach produced an exclusive national network of independent sales professionals and Kaeser & Blair experienced significant growth prospering through The Great Depression. The Company eventually expanded its offerings to include more than just paper products; adding items such as imprinted pencils, matchbooks, calendars and more.

In 1951, Bill Blair retired and Dutch Kaeser forged an agreement with his entrepreneurial sons Dick Kaeser and John Kaeser to merge and acquire their successful printing business, Kaeser Incorporated. Together, the Kaesers continued to build their business through solid strategy, purposeful leadership and sound business practices focused on marketing through independent sales professionals.

Dutch Kaeser passed away in 1970 and Dick and John Kaeser each held a term as President of the Company between 1966 and 1983. During this time together, the brothers continued to grow Kaeser and Blair, Inc. and built upon the success and legacy of their father. This continued growth and success eventually lead the Kaesers to pursue advertising and marketing products that were not manufactured in Kaeser & Blair’s manufacturing facilities. These products were called “advertising specialties” and provided Kaeser and Blair’s independent network of sales professionals access to thousands of new products and opportunities from leading brands.

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8 Design Elements Whose Time Has Come

The old “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish” philosophy hasn’t really helped in the browser war. IE continues to lose browser market share to Chrome and will continue to lose ground if Microsoft cannot keep up with the beautiful innovations present in Chrome, Firefox, and even Safari. In November 2013, Google announced that it would stop supporting IE9, which usually signals that the rest of the UX community will soon follow suit. This is great for the future because your UX can only be as strong as your weakest link. Catering to ancient IE versions always ensures Microsoft’s browser costs you the ability to innovate.

4. Skeuomorphism

A hot topic with design nerds, the skeuomorphism vs. flat design debate raged all of last year and will likely continue into 2014. Arguably, Apple has been the biggest proponent of skeuomorphism through their iOS design choices and their historical majority of users over other mobile systems (prior to 2013). In contrast, Google has championed flat design for years. As Android market share increased dramatically—and with Microsoft jumping aboard the flat train with their new Surface and mobile OS—Apple had to make a choice: Either continue leading a design trend that feels less fresh (and debatably creates a less-friendly UI), or embrace this new trend. With iOS7, Apple went flat, extinguishing the final major skeuomorphism flame.

5. Flash

Although the previous point tabs Apple as a latecomer to the flat design game, they won the Flash battle. When Apple launched the iPhone and iPad with the conscious decision not to support Flash and those platforms took major percentages of web traffic, advertisers, site administrators, and developers embraced this new “HTML5” fad. Now, in 2013 we’ve seen a serious decline in Flash advertising, let alone sites built on that tool. Many of the Flash programmers I know have since embraced Adobe Edge, which is supposedly a grasp at regaining some relevance within the web developer scene, but it seems like too little too late when there are tons of (arguably better) open-source tools available for everything. Originally released in 2011, with major updates in late 2012, Adobe is really pushing Edge, and although Flash is still available and supported, it doesn’t get nearly the developer love it used to. You’d be hard-pressed to find any major sites using Flash components anymore.

6. Web Pages

Web pages are still around, but they’re undergoing some serious innovation lately. Not to harp on a previous point, but the quicker we move away from old IEs that harsh our collective mellow, the sooner we can abandon individual web pages altogether. This trend is a combination of design and technical innovations that appeared a couple of years ago and are now gaining traction. We’ve seen a major shift towards the “application” of websites, which has most likely been employed by platforms that neither need nor want to make native apps to cater to the tablet and mobile users. Sites like Quartz, Facebook and Google Apps exemplify this trend and constantly receive accolades for their approach to UX on the web.

Gawker Media was an early adopter of this approach, with a major shift to a much-maligned and short-lived hashbang-driven experience in 2011. Their site leveraged the pageless design with a new-at-the-time HTML5 standard called PushState which updated content asynchronously without refreshing the navigational elements of the page. Pitchfork.com was another early adopter of this technique and helped popularize a few tools such as PJAX and TurboLinks, the latter of which has become a core feature in Rails 4. We’ve seen more and more sites move this way, and as the barrier to implementation lowers, we will see a greater number of sites take this approach because it makes them leaner, faster, and cheaper to run.

7. Shared Hosting

While I would say “colours” (short for colocation centres) are on their way out, they’ll never completely die since major companies require physical servers (even if we’ll only have Google and Amazon data centres in the future). Regardless, the concept of “shared hosting” is something that makes little to no sense given the massive migration to cloud computing and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings. Why spend £20 per month with GoDaddy to host something you have no control over when you could spend a fraction of that to serve precisely the amount of bandwidth you need? Why would you also share your server with someone else you can’t see, creating bottlenecks that you can’t fix? Now, almost every hosting company (GoDaddy, MediaTemple, etc.) has a cloud or virtual server options to compete with big dogs like Heroku, Amazon Web Services, and Google App Engine.

8. “m.” Sites

Until the adoption of responsive design, there was only one good way to deliver content to users who visit sites on a tablet or mobile device: read the initial request, check the user device, and redirect to a mobile version of the same site. The mobile site had to exist as a separate code base with an entirely different set of features. Whenever publishers updated one version of the site, they had to do the same on the other version, complicating maintenance and driving development costs. That said, there are reasons why “m.” sites lasted beyond the advent of responsive design. For example, advertiser platforms took a while to adjust to a single page being able to deliver two entirely different inventories. To handle this issue, advertisers had to serve all ads to every page, and then render only mobile or desktop ads depending on the device. This specific problem has long since been solved by most ad platforms, and now that “responsive design” is basically a household term, the cost benefits of supporting a single platform rather than two presentation layers are clear.

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Why you need to be investing in advertising at all times

94% of the WORLD is aware of the Coca-Cola brand.

Why?

Because they invest.

They invest HEAVILY in their advertising.

You see it everywhere - Sports, Music, Charity… you name it. They’re involved. On average Coca-Cola spend over £4 Billion a year on the advertisement.

To be a pillar in YOUR industry you have to make YOUR brand be known. You need to be investing in advertising.

This isn't a cost... This is an investment… In your brand, and in yourself. Hoping someone comes across you is a waiting game that no one wins.

Actively putting yourself in front of your potential clients? That’s taking action…

Set global domination aside for a second and ask yourself - who knows you in your city…? 94%???

Time to take action!

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Some Thoughts on Being Flat

Now that we've all had a few months to play with it, I think most of us can agree that iOS 7 offers some very exciting user experience features that set it apart from its predecessors.  

Features like the use of translucent layers to keep navigational context, the added depth of parallax movement effects and transitions, better and more intuitive gestures, reduction of information overload, and the removal of some of the unnecessary visual noise through flattening and thinning the design all have plenty of merits.

It’s not surprising there are many opinions on the updates since this is the first full rethinking of the UI since the first iPhone. With the trend to go simple and flat, some design elements have been purposely avoided. As has been well documented, the new iOS has eliminated some of the common skeuomorphic, or metaphorical design, that has been so strongly associated with Apple.

Forbes contributor Tim Worstall describes skeuomorphism as a “catch-all term for when objects retain ornamental elements from the past, derivative iterations–elements that are no longer necessary to the current objects’ functions.” Some believe this design technique is only meant to be a bridge from getting people to this new mental model and association and is not needed long-term.

I think it makes sense for Apple to move away from skeuomorphic design now that users are familiar with the way things work since this is not the first iPhone. When we think about skeuomorphic design, some of the old metaphors may not be relevant to the new users. For example, many tech users rely primarily on digital calendars and not the standard wall-mounted calendars that used to adorn everyone’s offices and homes. We no longer “tape” on VHS or use records for music consumption or do our note-taking solely on lined paper–our way of life has evolved and so have our metaphors. Even though the skeuomorphic design has disappeared from iOS 7, many users can understand the different features through muscle memory and the jump from analogue to digital in many processes.

““Our way of life has evolved and so have our metaphors””

In his article “Does Skeuomorphic Design Matter?” John Payne discusses how “Skeuomorphs are stories of utility frozen in time. These new cultural affordances work because they leverage a user’s past experience and apply that understanding to something new.” He raises many good points, but I think when it comes to digital, there is a new normal, as many have discussed. We use things in different ways and these skeuomorphic design elements are meant to be the bridge to get users over the hump and adopt a newer mental model.

I do think, however, that the new iOS lacks some perceived affordances. The lack of containers around buttons and spinners and floating airy text is cause for confusion—it causes me to wonder, “is this a button or floating text?” And soon after its release, there were some thoughts on whether this new flat approach is affecting its usability. Some think the pendulum has swung too far to be simple, and many agree a skeuomorphic approach just adds complexity.

Since we have had some time to get familiar with the new design, our mental models have shifted once again. Skeuomorphic design and the analogue metaphors helped us make the jump from our old non-digital world to our new mobile space. But the old way of thinking is gone—we no longer associate mail with an envelope or lined paper with note-taking. Skeuomorphic design helped us get to where we are today: independent of old mental models of a bygone era.

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Traditional and digital advertising - which one is better?

Traditional and digital advertising - which one is better?

When you manage a business, to earn money, first, you need to spend them. Without a doubt, investing in advertising is essential. Fortunately, it pays off. But what kind of advertising is more effective - traditional or digital? Take into consideration the benefits and the problems connected with these two options and choose what is best for your company.

Traditional advertising

Sometimes operating online is not enough. Such is the case with hosting special promoting events. Only in real life, your guests have an opportunity to use their senses to familiarise themselves with what your company has to offer. Operating locally, you can take care of maintaining strong business relationships with your loyal clients. Face-to-face interaction is a vital issue. Additionally, not everyone uses the Internet, and there still is a big group of people left to whom you should aim traditional advertising. If your target audience is, for example, the elderly, it is better to use traditional advertising, such as an ad in a newspaper. 

Unfortunately, not every one of the traditional forms is durable. Look at billboards, for instance. They can be easily destroyed by the weather. Leaflets, on the other hand, are often treated as rubbish. 

Digital advertising

Promoting your services or products on the Internet is very beneficial. Online, your advertising can be widespread easily. Then, there is a greater chance of being noticed and remembered. Since so many people are constantly using social media, digital advertising on such platforms helps you engage with a greater number of consumers and reduce costs. Moreover, it enables you to interact with clients faster. You can also tell the world more about your company, the employees and the values you cherish. 

Running a blog is a good way to promote yourself online too. Due to a company blog, you can take care of your image as a professional in your field. You can show commitment by sharing your knowledge with your clients and giving them advice. This way, you will gain their trust. To encourage potential customers, you can insert the links to your blog entries on social media platforms. 

Managing many social media accounts and a company blog may be demanding. New content should be added regularly. You need to stay relevant so that internet users won't forget about your brand. However, it's worth the effort.

What type of advertising is better for your company in particular? It depends on its characteristics, needs, and circumstances. Both traditional one and digital one have their pros and cons. In general, nowadays, digital advertising is necessary to keep up with the competition. Nevertheless, you shouldn't limit yourself to only one option. It will be best to advertise using different methods to increase your chances of success.

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Advantages of online advertising

Everything goes online these days, and there is practically no place for good old tools of marketing. Alright, let’s not be dramatic, there are still ways of advertising that are as ancient as the newspaper itself. Nevertheless, successful online advertising is an undisputed ruling king. If you want to be seen, you better be seen on the Internet. If you don’t feel encouraged (yet) to make a digital shift in your business, here are some reasons why you undoubtedly should.

Hit the bull’s eye - all around the world

Online advertising has one great advantage over traditional ads. It’s global. Access to the Internet is easy in the USA, Europe, or Asia, and it’s the same network. That means that your ads will reach potential clients all around the world. If you’ve never thought about expanding the business abroad, this will give you a chance. The best part is that, although you reach people worldwide, you might only get to those who are your target audience. Online advertising allows more accurate targeting of the ads, as it filters and selects the recipients based on their preferences. For you, it means more clients, earned money, and less spent on missed advertising.

Sit back and measure your successful online advertising.

Advertising in an online world gives you a chance to measure and track how the ads serve (or not) their purposes. There is a number of different tools you can use to make sure that the money was wisely spent. Analytics tools show you which of your ideas were brilliant and what part of your advertising is a waste of time. As a result, you invest right where you should and save time (and obviously money) for something more productive. It is a win-win situation because you invest less (in comparison to traditional advertising), and you lose less (because you avoid missed campaigns). 

Get rid of the distance

A traditional ad tells the consumer that there is a company that does or sells this and that. Eventually, where to buy their product. In other words, it’s read and forgotten. Successful online advertising helps you get closer to your clients. When posting ads on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media, you can add links, clickable elements that move the users from site to site, directing them straight to the place where your product is available. Being online also means that you can interact with the consumers there and encourage them to choose you over your competitors.

Those are not all advantages of online advertising, but a few to make you realise that it is the future. If you haven’t invested in an online world yet, now’s the time. With an advertising agency or all on your own, but just do it.  

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Advertising agency - can it really help your business?

Are you wondering if hiring an advertising agency is a good solution? Or maybe you know it is, but you just seek some reassurance? Whatever your reasons, below you will find out why is it worth hiring an advertising agency and how can it benefit your business. Do not doubt it, it truly can. See what a good advertising agency can do for you.

What does it do? Good advertising agency in action..

For smaller businesses, especially new ones on the market, hiring an accountant is an obvious choice. But a marketing agency? Who needs that? Well, it turns out, you. Every business needs an advertising strategy, and if you are new in the business, or not-so-new but inexperienced in the field of marketing and advertising, such an agency is there to help. It can not only take care of your advertising strategy but also create brand identity, improve content and website optimisation. In other words, a good advertising agency will help your brand to be seen, noticed, and remembered. It will make your business stand out and earn for itself.

A marketing strategy expert - when it’s not you

As we like to point out, a marketing strategy is vital, and so is an advertising strategy. If you do not know how to create one, an expert from a successful agency will give you a helping hand. Such a strategy requires thorough research and thinking through the goals and operations of a company. It takes not only knowledge and understanding of marketing and advertising, but also time. Quite a lot of it. You can’t possibly spare enough time to do it right, especially if your business is on the verge of rapid growth, and that’s what you need to take care of. A good advertising agency will help you save this time by doing all the work for you. 

An expert will share his knowledge with you, and you will, no doubt, benefit from it. They have years of experience, they follow the trends on the market and among the customers, and they truly understand their job. Is there still any doubt as to why hire an advertising agency? Here are other benefits - they take care of every detail, of social media ads, display ads, commercial and printed advertisements, PR, budget management, and whatnot. It is saving time and making money by expanding a brand at the same time. So, should you hire an expert from an advertising agency? Oh, you know well the answer now.

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Plan the future — benefits of a strategy session

Planning ahead and foreseeing the future of a company might be a challenge. Even if the leadership meets every week to strategise and plan, more often than not, they meet the dead end. What’s the reason and how to change that once and for all? The answer is nothing else but a right strategy session.

We meet and then what?

What is a strategy session, and why should you decide to hold it? Generally, it’s a meeting of the company’s leadership with a competent strategist. The session aims to plan future actions for the business, improve (or create from the scratch) a successful brand and make it stand out from the crowd. The process might last a few hours up to a few days, depending on the state of the business and its goals.

A well-conducted strategy session consists of two parts. It starts with getting to know each other, or, rather, getting to know the brand. The brand strategist gets an insight into the company. It’s no sense to play hide-and-seek at this point, as the session is for your own good. The strategist will want to know about the industry, the business itself and its operations, but also a tad bit about the leadership, the core values of the brand, its competition and the target audience. The second part of the session is planning on the basis of the gathered information.

What does a strategy session give you?

A well-conducted planning session is like giving you a helping hand in a time of crisis. It might really work wonders. The strategist is an experienced specialist, and that in itself is a great advantage. Innovative ideas, unbiased opinion and knowledge are what the strategist brings to the table. The person from the outside, not involved personally in the company’s operations, is an opportunity to see the potential where the leadership couldn’t. The strategist has all that's essential to make it work — to make the business work. What’s more, the vast knowledge helps bring the brand closer to the audience and distinguish it from the competition. The strategy session makes the business float when it was on the verge of sinking.  

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Why should you have a good marketing strategy?

You’ve probably already come across the idea of marketing strategy multiple times, but if you haven’t thought of creating it yet, now is the time. More like a wake-up call. A marketing plan is essential to establish financial stability and flow of income and the customers. Advertising a bit here and a bit there is no marketing at all. A consistent, long-term plan is what you need.

When having ideas is not enough

Having and implementing good ideas concerning marketing and advertising is crucial, no marketer can doubt it. But what’s more important is that this implementation is going according to the PLAN. A long-term one, preferably. A marketing strategy allows you to target the right group and spend money on advertising that can actually be beneficial. There are a few elements that can be included in such a plan — brand values and the company’s vision, goals, target audience, channels of advertising activity and implementation time. Systematising all those aspects will prove to be more helpful than you could expect. What’s important is that you revise the plan once in a while as the industry and the market constantly expand.

Benefits of a marketing strategy

Even though you know, at least in theory, how to make a marketing strategy, you might wonder whether do you really need it? Can’t you just try something different every month and see what suits you? Seems like a plan. Except, it’s ridiculous. That way, you spend more money that is necessary on a marketing channel that might not benefit you. Instead, it’s better to think over your aims and target audience and find THE channel. Different groups of customers require different measures. A marketing strategy allows you to focus on your business and stay ahead of the competition. A well-made plan is also a point of reference when expanding business and means of communication with your audience. As you see, creating a relevant, achievable marketing strategy brings clarity, consistency, and transparency to your business. Even the potential investors and banks want to know a marketing plan before entrusting you with their money, as it helps them understand your vision and whether you’re really going places with the idea.  

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Find your place — Brand Positioning

Even the ideally-planned brand is not profitable if it is not well-positioned. The process of brand positioning is probably the most crucial element of the whole business strategy. The potential buyers will not choose your product or service if they don’t associate the brand with any positive values. The right image in their minds is what really sells your offer.

Distinguish yourself

The goal of brand positioning is to make the company and its offer visible among other businesses operating in the same field. The market is fierce, as is the competition. If you want the audience to see and remember you, you need to work on that. That is when the brand positioning steps in. Its main aim is to place your service or product in the mind of the audience, so when a person needs to buy what you offer, they instantly remember the right brand — your brand. 

You can’t force them to bear in mind that your business exists, and they should choose it from the vast possibilities of the market. The audience needs to believe and engage with your idea. The whole brand strategy works on putting this idea in the mind of the audience. If the message is simple, clear, and identifiable it will intertwine with the brand, and in the moment of buying, will spring to the customer’s mind.

Brand positioning requires creativity

The process of brand positioning is not an easy one. It demands thorough research of the market, a creative approach and deep thinking. Before you start expanding and promoting the idea and the brand itself, you need to find the right gap, a niche for your operations. It requires three steps:

• Understanding of the audience — create an audience persona, an average consumer, and try to follow their way of thinking. Get to know them intimately to determine what they really need.

• Understanding of the competition — take a closer look at those brands that proved to be successful. Find the feature that distinguishes them. Then don’t repeat that feature.

• Creative process — when you know what your audience expects and what your competition offers, fill the gap between these two.

Think definitely outside the box and find something that will distinguish you from other brands. Fulfill the needs and desires that are yet to be satisfied. That is your niche and idea that will position the brand.  

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Websites built to sell

A website is to your online business is as physical shop front is to your offline business. It is one of the most essential parts of your online success. The key is to leave a lasting impression on the visitors who land on your page. If your website doesn't demonstrate professionalism, credibility and attention to the smallest details like high end memorable branding or thoughtful font selection, clients might be scared away. You don’t want to create an impression that your website is one of those sites created hurriedly for scam purposes, do you? Not to mention that 75% of your web visitors will judge your credibility based on web design. Apart from the products or services you offer, a professionally designed website can be one of the differential areas of the business. Remember that the online world is immersed with a huge number of sites. While the majority of these sites are bogus, there are a huge number of others which are marvellous; therefore, you are up against a very stiff competition. If you can get a moderately priced web design that looks professional and which is of high quality, then you would have conquered one obstacle to competing online.

Professional website will make your advertising effort much simpler in light of the fact that you won't be disappointed with high bouncing rates—since Google uses your bouncing rates statistsics against your with regards to search engine ranking. This is because professionally designed site generates confidence and interest. It also assures the potential clients that you are serious with your business, and you are there to stay-who wants to deal with a scam website that can disappear overnight?

Thus, a professional, quality, and credible website forms a basis of your longevity. It also ensures that your brand identity is noted.

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Think Branding

New brands don’t just come from nowhere. They work hard to get the recognition they desire. They’re smart about appealing to their target demographics. Before a product or service launch, they take the time to think deeply about their brand identities: the colors, fonts, and other stylistic choices that make them who they are. In short, they engage in smart brand advertising. Smart brand advertising – Delivers a clear message ‘a brand identity’ – Establishes and confirms brand credibility – Connects with prospects intellectually and emotionally – Motivates prospects to take action – Inspires customer loyalty Brand Identity A brand identity is just what it sounds like: the character and personality of a brand. A brand identity is defined by the brand’s logo, web presence, product or service offerings, copy, and other visual elements that face the public. It is important that the company really thinks this through. Because these elements identify the brand, they should be strong and consistent. The brand identity can say a lot about the company as a whole. The logo, in particular, communicates volumes. The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” applies here. Carefully matching the logo to the brand is the first step towards smart brand advertising. Brand Credibility Good brand advertising builds brand credibility. It inspires trust. Customers feel comfortable buying from a brand they trust. It also works to establish a brand as a leader in its industry so it can out - compete other brands. You can accomplish this in many ways, and a combination of approaches will probably be the most effective. Connecting With Prospects Brand advertising is about connecting and reaching out to potential customers to offer solutions they need. These solutions may make intellectual sense but they should make emotional sense too.

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The more I advertise the more successful I become

Uncertain times makes individuals careful, particularly with money. Clients decrease their spending, businesses have less, so they consider reducing expenses. So what then to cut? Numerous companies decide to cut the Advertising budget first. They consider Advertising to be an optional expenditure, when in certainty it should be considered as essential. Here are a few reasons why:

Strengthen Your Reputation 
What are you telling your clients concerning your business and what do you represent, and how are you letting them know? Eliminating your communication can convey a negative message. In the event that your Brand Image lessens in the marketplace what impression will that leave in the minds of your clients? In the midst of vulnerability you have to keep your Brand Image noticeable and bolster its strength. If people are more inclined to shop around for deals because they are feeling cautious about spending, then it’s not the time to reduce your visibility in the marketplace. Your clients watching out for bargains, and you most ensure they discover you through your #Advertising

Continue Moving Forwards 
Positive thinking can be difficult to maintain in uncertain times, yet business relies upon forward movement. For a business to develop it needs to generate new business, and Advertising is a key method for doing this. You need to guarantee that your Brand Image is still out there and in if you cut back on your Advertising, you are less likely to be able to do this.

Hold onto the Initiative 
Each activity can offer ascent to a response, and with vulnerability comes opportunity. You can step up to the plate with your Advertising to increase a competitive advantage. Be prepared, in light of the fact that putting resources into a downturn is an Advertising major – this is key and it's tied in with remaining ahead and winning a bigger share.

Business experiences cycles, yet in the event that you've kept up your Advertising during a downturn, you're better situated to receive the rewards toward the beginning of the recovery or upswing. You're as of now ahead of the race, before the starting pistol sounds.

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There are only 2 ways: Be distinctive or Be different

Differentiation is the idea that there is a different perceived meaning behind every brand - the key here being perceived, whether or not the brand meaning is actually different. In other words, if consumers do not perceive a difference, it may as well not be there. Differentiation as the “reason to buy” for the consumer. Academics have touted that brands will only succeed if their consumers perceive them as different from their competitors; however, research has shown that brand perception scores actually tend to be quite similar.

Distinctiveness is a brand’s ability to stand out so that buyers can easily identify it: “I know these sneakers with a swoosh are Nike, and these sneakers with three parallel bars are Adidas”. Distinctiveness is also a brand looking like itself. This characteristic is far more critical for brands than differentiation, as they need customers to quickly notice, recognize, and recall their brand over others. Not only this, but distinctiveness, or branding, is legally defensible. Branding can be trademarked, but points of differentiation cannot.

So how can a brand be distinctive?
Distinctive elements show customers what the brand is. These can include colours, logos, taglines, symbols, celebrities, or even advertising styles. In defining these elements, brands can begin to craft a story around who they are, making sure this story resonates and lingers with their consumers.

These elements are critical, as they play to the neuroscience that helps construct and reinforce memories. As such, the repetitiveness and recognizability of these elements help remove consumer cognitive burden. The more consumers can rely on an implicit reaction to a brand, the more likely they are to buy that brand #innovate

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Music is the strongest form of magic

David Huron, Professor at the School of Music (Ohio State University) describes the functions of music in Advertising - One of the purposes is entertainment. Music makes commercials more appealing by adding aesthetical value to it. Moreover, music supports the structure and continuity of an ad by e.g. emphasizing certain parts. Music also adds memorability to commercials. A popular song, for example, can help to create a lasting impression in the viewer’s mind.

Finally, songs can also provide a message without the viewers consciously noticing it through the lyrics. As mentioned before, different music genres target different kinds of audiences. The right use of music can lead to an increase in sales, but the wrong one can lead to a lot of damage for the company #championscreate

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Advertising is content. Content is advertising.

What do we talk about when we talk about “advertising”?

1. Advertising is content. You can't think of ads as separate things any more. Without a captive audience, there's no such thing as "advertising" any more. It's just content. And it needs to be good/interesting/relevant content if you want to get anyone to pay attention to it.

2. Content is advertising. Might sound like a repeat of the point above, and in some way it is -- but it's highlighting the flip side. Any content is advertising. It's advertising something. Techdirt content "advertises" our business even if you don't realize it. Every bit of content advertises something, whether on purpose or not.

3. Content needs to be useful/engaging/interesting. This simply ties all of that together. If you want anyone to pay attention to your content (which is advertising something, whether on purpose or not) it needs to be compelling and engaging #innovate

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Type - vital component in the world of advertising

Typography refers to the art of arranging type. By using decisive typography you can create interest within your advert, as well as making the advert reading aspect effortlessly. This is a great way to grab readers attention making them more likely to read your advert, and hopefully purchase from your company, or recommend you.

When it comes to branding your business through advertising, typography is an important tool. Choosing the wrong font can give the wrong message, whereas choosing the right font can really drive the message home. 
Choosing the right words to use to get your message can sometimes be hard, words are powerful and depending on the design you use, as well as the type font can result in how the reader comprehends the information. You need to make sure your adverts are readable, the design and visual aspect of art also need to appeal to your brand. Imagine using comic sans on the Ministry of Health advert, for example, it just wouldn’t work. The message wouldn’t be taken seriously.

When you are trying to make your advert a success you need to make sure you are using the correct font, point size, colour, and letter spacing. All these small details can be the difference between your advert being a success or being a failure #innovate

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