One of the many things I love about working at Go East is that I have lots of colleagues who enjoy reading and learning as much as I do. So when I heard Carla and Ric talking about Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, I knew I had to read it.

It was fabulous. For those that haven’t,  I highly recommend reading it. It’s a new way of thinking about what defines success.

In the beginning of the book, I wasn’t sure where Mr. Gladwell was going with his theory on how to be successful. For instance, one of the examples he used is that an overwhelming majority of “successful” hockey players are born in either January, February or March. Something as arbitrary as this makes a person feel helpless in paving their own success path. But as the book progressed, he dug deeper and revealed that there are ways to influence success in our lives.

Translating the core of the book’s message to the marketing communications world, the question becomes: Why do some brands succeed, while so many more never reach their potential? Gladwell would say that successful brands don’t rise out of nowhere. Instead, “they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.”

Putting the theories outlined in this book in the context of marketing communications, it totally shifts the way I think about planning for my clients. The tried and true is not so relevant. In fact, it’s sure to lead to mediocrity. How can we make our brands true outliers?

1. Practice. To truly stand apart from the crowd it takes 10,000 hours of practice, according to Mr. Gladwell. What does that mean for a brand? First and foremost it means that marketing can’t be viewed as an expense. It needs to be an investment. A serious investment with experienced professionals leading the way.
2. Seek opportunities. Not only that: Take advantage of them. This is almost a subcategory of practicing. Get out there. Listen to what your customers are saying. Maximize those opportunities. Had Bill Gates not snuck out of his house every night between 3 and 6  a.m. to get in extra time on the computer at the nearby university, he would not be the man he is today. Breaking the rules to take advantage of opportunities is what will truly set your brand apart.
3. Surround yourself with like-minded team members. Both internal and external partners. Those that support your desire to drive the brand towards true marketplace dominance. People who not only say “good job” but also work with you to meet that goal. An “I’ll do whatever you tell me,” partner is not going to make your job easier. Seek true thought leaders.

Thinking of Gladwell’s book in the context of marketing communications is super exciting. There is so much potential for so many brands and the formula for success is clearly spelled out.

Who is your favorite risk taker?

Like

Unlike

All the colors below are trademarked. And with 80 percent of visual information related to color — these four big companies aren’t the only ones trademarking colors!

Like

Unlike

We often wonder what yellow means in India or red means in China and look for resources to help us understand the meaning of color in different cultures.

David McCandless produced this wonderful infographic for the book, Information is Beautiful outlining the meanings of colors in different cultures. What I love about this infographic is that it demonstrates the similarities and disparities of meanings across cultures. Color meaning is not a cut-and-dry formula that designers plug into a solution. Instead, it is deeply embedded in cultural meaning and designers need to understand a culture before we can speak to it either symbolically or directly. At a glance, McCandless’ poster lets us trace the color of cruelty in America and see it is similar to the color of beauty in the same culture. And that is why color has such rich symbolism.

Like

Unlike

It’s no wonder that big brands often have strong color palettes. But what happens when those big brands — or any size brand for that matter — have a line extension? The question becomes: Should a new color be added to the brand’s palette and, if so, how do you introduce your customers to it?

The short answer is: Stop! (imagine screeching brake sounds now).

The long answer is: Proceed, but with caution. This is more than a design decision. Adding color to the palette requires an evaluation of the brand architecture to determine what makes the most sense. And if your company determines that adding color to a brand’s palette is a good idea, it also needs to take a strategic approach to migrating the new color into your brand’s collateral, website, etc. This is where a good marketing communications plan can make all the difference in the world.

Color plays an important role in branding (logo, collateral and everything) — after all, 80 percent of visual information is related to color. Don’t underestimate its value by making the decision flippantly.

Like

Unlike

If you’ve been a subscriber to our newsletter since the beginning, you’ve now received nearly 20 issues over the course of almost two years. With this issue, you may have noticed that we’ve named our newsletter Red Letter. In doing so, we hope to evoke our brand color (warm red), point to our branded “G” and also play off the popular expression “a red letter day,” which refers to any day that is of special significance.

As an integral part of our brand, Red Letter will continue to work hard to regularly publish information that we believe is relevant to your workday challenges. We’ve heard lots of great feedback and we are always open to your comments, your suggestions for future topics and the general enthusiasm you’ve shared with us.

Please continue to tell us what you think!

Like

Unlike

Have you Googled a company, TiVoed a television program or Photoshopped a picture recently? If so, you’re guilty of genericide, or using a company’s name or product in a generic sense — specifically, in each of these examples, as a verb.

At first glance, this may seem like a good thing. After all, isn’t that just what a company wants? To own a word that is instantly recognized and commonly used throughout the world?

Not exactly.

Google, fearing the loss of its trademark, discourages using its name as a verb, especially when it pertains to using other search engines to find information on the Web. Michael Krantz, a blogger for Google wrote: “While we’re pleased that so many people think of us when they think of searching the Web, let’s face it, we do have a product to protect, so we’d like to make clear that you should please only use ‘Google’ when you’re actually referring to Google Inc. and our services.” He went on to cite examples of correct and incorrect usage of the word.

Problem is, not everybody uses words as they’re supposed to be used (think of all the English teachers who’d be out of  jobs). The Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary recognized the popularity of google and added it to their latest additions, keeping it lowercase when referring to the action and uppercase when referring to the company.

Oddly enough, Google founder Larry Page is credited/blamed for first using google as a verb in 1988. He wrote: “Have fun and keep googling!” on a mailing list.

P.S. Do you know the origin of the the word google? According to Forbes.com, the word is “a misspelling of the word ‘googol’ which refers to 10 to the power of 100 (the number followed by one-hundred zeros), and the moniker reflects the company’s quixotic quest to organize the limitless amount of information on the Web.”

Like

Unlike

How would you rather spend your marketing budget?
a.) inspiring your target audiences to purchase your product
b.) convincing people not to use your brand name as a generic

No, that’s not a trick question. The truth is, if you’re not careful about selecting a name for your company, product or service — or if you’re not diligent about using it properly — you could find yourself in a situation where you are spending your marketing budget like LEGO Company once did: “Please call our interlocking plastic building blocks ‘LEGO blocks’ or ‘toys’ and not ‘LEGOs.’”

True, many companies find themselves in this situation when they are dominating the market share and may wonder, “What’s wrong with that? I mean, millions of people are using the product and now we have millions of spokespeople saying, ‘pass the Kleenex’ every day.’”

Sounds ideal. In truth, when a trademark is so popular that it becomes genericized, the legal protection of that trademark is at risk and rights to that trademark could be lost.

Every naming project is different and the need to worry about generification may or may not be at the top of your criteria list. Regardless, developing an appropriate name that can be protected will always be an important criteria at Go East. We do a top line search to eliminate any potential concerns, but we always insist that our clients work with their trademark attorneys for a thorough check. A few tricks to protect against genericide include incorporating a generic descriptor with the brand name: Kleenex facial tissues, and/or using the word “brand” with the name: Band-Aid brand.

Avoiding the potential of generification of a brand name is just one of many reasons why working with an experienced marketing communications agency is the right thing to do when it comes to naming.

Like

Unlike

When we purchased Century Graphics, we thought very little about the name because our clients knew us and what we did. Besides, it was much easier to leave well enough alone. As new business owners, we had other things on our minds.

A few years later, we decided we needed to re-evaluate who we were as a company and determine a new vision for who we wanted to be. As I’ve mentioned before, the people you hire help define the future. And, like many other companies, we realized we were already down a new road and the services we were providing to our clients had extended beyond what our name implied. In fact, in many cases our name had become a detriment to our business direction and it was holding us back.

The mental process of deciding to change what had been a safe and sure thing was not easy. We were reluctant to give up a part of our culture and history. “What will our current clients think?” was first of mind. However, it was clear that we already had our current clients … it was searching for the best and brightest new clients that we now needed to think about.

As a communications and design agency that invigorates brands through smart, inspired, creative solutions, we needed a name that evoked a sense of wonder and not only stood out from the crowd but was memorable. And so Go East was born. Yes, we were east of the Cities and, yes, we wanted our clients to go in a different direction (not “West, young man”), but what we wanted most was a name that fit not only who were were, but who we planned to become. Considering our future, rapidly changing technology and the changing needs of our clients, Go East works on so many levels.

We were (and still are) very excited about our name change. Redesigning our marketing materials and creating a new message and voice that was in alignment with our business strategy was an exciting process. Our employees are proud of who we’ve become and understood their role in making the vision come alive. It was almost as exciting as our beginning … except it wasn’t about buying a business, it was about re-introducing ourselves and bringing our new identity to life.

What do you think of when you see or hear “Go East”? We’d love to hear from you.

Like

Unlike