Delightful Doodles and What They Tell Us

Google Doodles (we think they deserve a capital ‘D’) are always a pleasure. Sometimes, their themes are obvious – Google graced Malaysia’s 13^th General Election with a Doodle.

At other times, we learn things we would other wise never pick up in our daily diet of mainstream, must-know, “what’s-trending” reading. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, was the subject of a Doodle for her seventy-third birthday on April 1^st this year.

On June 10^th, Google outdid themselves. They created a short animation of characters by children’s illustrator and writer Maurice Sendak. A party of his characters showed up for just that – a party. Sendak, who died on May 8, 2012, would have turned 85.

The lovely Doodle is playful and knowledgeable – characters are seen running against a medleyed  backdrop of his stories. Google, one of the most dynamic brands, showed real honour to another beloved brand.

In fact, it shows honour through all its Doodles. Google is willing to get creative with their logo, transforming it into rich, magical pieces of priceless information.

Why is this worth noting? Because, when you work in branding, you will find just how many companies hold their logos sacrosanct. To change a logo – indeed, even to suggest a change – can rattle a company to its core. The general feeling seems to be that logos are there to be revered. Here's a lighthearted example of a brand not afraid to laugh at themselves in a way that resonates with their target audience.

Great ideas beget great ideas. Google allows their designers to have fun. The brand is about empowering people through easy access of knowledge, and this is the best example how they do that in a way that cuts through the clutter. 

How are you using your logo? Is it telling your story or is it confining you?

Does it resonate and remind you of who you are every time you look at it?

Or is it just a pretty piece of corporate garnish?

Brand 'You'

Catching up with a colleague over a teh tarik is by far one of my favourite ways of working. It is relaxing, enjoyable and when it ends, a spark of an idea always gets lit.  The idea that day was life directions and how it was akin to branding a corporation.  

When I facilitate a branding process with my clients, I always ask them what the core purpose of their business is. Many of them immediately start rolling out the obvious functional aspect, i.e. ‘I sell this’ or ‘I provide solutions’. And so I get them to drill down deeper as to why their companies exist at all. What was the main reason that got them here? What was the impending need that galvanised them to start a company and become an entrepreneur?  My amazingly creative colleague then said, actually to get to that question, you really have to know who you are and what drives you. You have to know what your purpose in life is.

Simon Sinek, asks us to "Start With Why": and has even written a book about it. For the longest time, I knew that my path lay in service. But I mistakenly read this as saving the world and doing projects that were much larger than what I could handle.

Brand Chaos

The last month or so I have been reading about or have attended talks about speed and chaos: how ‘business unusual’ is the next wave.

Those who thrive in chaos and are able to embrace change; and those that allow a certain amount of creativity, are those that will have the competitive advantage.

Eminent British artist Cornelia Parker 's  'Cold, Dark Matter'. She had the British Army blow up this shed and its contents to create an installation piece now displayed at the Tate Modern in Britain.

It is chaos managed so that the viewer can discern method and beauty.  Even without the background knowledge that this suspended piece was once an actual shed, the viewer can see various components - a hammer head, a bicycle wheel spoke - that reveal this.  'Cold, Dark Matter: Exploded View' offers a new perspective - the idea that even something blown to bits makes sense if the chaos is handled with knowledge and creativity.

Cold, Dark Matter: Exploded view is one of the premier attractions at the Tate Modern

Four years ago I proposed a working brand essence based on this theory of managed chaos, as a platform for creativity and growth. This was for a destination brand, industry lingo for branding a town city or country. The consulting economist, who was with an international design and planning firm, looked at me in horror and said that no investor would look at a destination that enabled or encouraged chaos. 

How times have changed. 

Brand Energy

Have you ever felt stuck in a rut, where nothing, not even the air was moving in your office?

Your people feel like they could do with a holiday, even when work has been less than hectic?  When you step into the office, do you immediately feel like leaving?

If you answered yes to any of the above, chances are you are suffering from low brand energy. Yes --  low brand energy. In Cantonese, the use the word Yen Hei or Ren Qi in Mandarin, which, translated, means "people energy".

Thriving, productive places have a certain buzz about them. It may be quiet but you can virtually hear the silent moves of purpose -- people walk with it and work with it.

It's a simple idea. Your brand is really brought to life by the people who care for it and nurture it -- from the dutiful receptionist to the visionary CEO. When everyone is motivated, their collective energy becomes the fuel that drives great work, which in turn gets business in.

The buzz of an energetic brand
(Image from www.business.burritos.com)

Speed up or die?

TWO weeks ago at the Khazanah Mega Shift event, I attended a talk by Chris Zook of Bain and Company. The topic was about Speed. Apparently we are now entering into an era of speed. Zook talks about how things are changing so rapidly that if we are to survive, we need to speed up as well.  For companies and organisations, this means that the most adaptable and agile are those who thrive over the competition.

Image sourced from: http://francisyeng.blogspot.com

Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook fame, talks about eschewing perfection in favour of getting things done and I subscribe to that wisdom. There are times when we can talk or deliberate ourselves out of things and programmes that are beneficial for us. At one time or another, we've all dealt with organisations out there who can take months just to approve a brand or communications exercise and this was in line with world class ISO procedures. Compare this to the telco companies who now have a 48hr turn around time for new campaigns. Well apparently,  the new world class waits for no man.

So where does branding fit in with this clarion call for speed? Is speed everything? Do we then sacrifice quality for speed? In a world of constant flux, does branding become the compass? If you have a clearly defined brand, are you more likely to make decision for and against speed? Ultimately, are the best organisations those that deliver both quality and speed? Let me know what you think.

You had me at Hello Kitty

.

Hello

Hold that thought. I'll come back to Kitty in a bit

The story actually begins with my truly amazing helper, Hils, I am one of the few people that have been blessed with someone, who, for the past eight years, has helped keep me sane by making sure my place is spotless and tidy. There are days when things don't go too well in the office. I drive home dejectedly, put my key in the lock, open the door and immediately my senses are assailed with the fresh smell of pine and lemon. I look up and the place is spotless - all is right with the world again.

Employer Branding: What a Clown Taught Me

It has been an amazing week for learning. I had the supreme pleasure of listening to Patch Adams talk about what makes him tick and he basically boiled it down to two words -- Love and Care.

I had been fortunate enough to hear him speak once before at the Art for Health conference in Manchester, UK. That was about 10 years ago when his fame was gathering momentum fresh from the movie debut and he had just started on the speaking circuit. He was full of energy and he spoke about doing what he does and why he did it. The stories were filled with sadness yet tinged with hope. That was the thing with Patch.

Patch Adams - doctor, clown,
 healer, carer

A decade ago he left me in awe of the indomitable spirit of one man and the feeling that that if he were around, then there would always be hope no matter how bleak the situation. Last week, the same man, albeit less energetic than before and perhaps due to the long flight, again left a mark of hope sprinkled with a liberal dose of love and care. 

If you can’t stop the genocide, alleviate the poverty or cure the sickness, the least you can do is spread laughter, fun, joy and hope through the single act of caring.

Newer and developing brands should take a leaf from the Patch Adams’ brand. I must apologise to Mr Adams for calling him a brand as he spoke vehemently against advertising but a brand he is. And the best kind of brand – the kind that inspires, empowers and makes you want to be a better person. What makes Patch Adams stand out is that he cares

Branding: Why Steve Rocks

Although I am an avid Apple fan and am slowly becoming a pure Apple user in terms of lifestyle gadget, for me, there has always been one sacred cow that Apple has never been able to penetrate - that of the mobile phone domain. For me I am a Nokia loyalist. Having made the mistake of following a trend and switching to Sony Ericsson, I can now happily say that I am back with Nokia and have never been happier.

Think Different...And Make Customers Happy

So when the iPhone came out I was intrigued but apprehensive and the touchscreen keyboard was a concept that frustrated the hell out of me with constant spelling errors due to the proximity of each key. I was sure that I would be one of the few that would be iPhone-free. 

Ladies and Gentlemen - The Ritz-Carlton Brand

A while ago I wrote an article about 'Living the brand' and one of the examples I chose was the Ritz-Carlton. Their credo of 'Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen' struck a chord in me. I had experienced the brand when dining or attending conferences, never as a guest.

But I made a careful note that I would one day, and my resolve toughened last week.

I was on a business trip to Shanghai, and I dropped in at the Ritz-Carlton for a nice coffee break after visiting the Apple flagship store in Pudong. The coffee was lovely, the service thoughtful and impeccable. Around 6.30pm, one of us said we were hungry – the staff advised us that their ciabatta sandwich would be 50 per cent off at 7pm.

Now get this.

Brand Audits: Why we should ask ‘why?'

When it comes to branding, the real money lies in tackling an often-neglected question: ‘Why?

Understanding the ‘whys’ is essential if want to listen to your brand and really hear what it is telling you.

Why are people buying your brand and not the other? Why is this brand cooler than the other?  Why are people willing to share and tell others about everyone else’s brand but yours? Why is it that some brands get better quality applicants than yours?

And then we have the the mother of all ‘whys’ – why are people willing to pay three times more for your competitor’s brand when you know your product quality is so much better?

Brand Malaysia: A Little Soul Searching

Are we worth what we have? By artist Ashaari Rahmat
Graphic sourced from www.loyarburuk.com

They arrive on our shores and fall in love. Visitors and expatriates are immediately enchanted with our food and our people.  And for all intents and purposes, the modern metropolis projects a first-world facade.

Yes, Malaysia is modern. We have skyscrapers that are comparable to the best in the world, and we have brandished them with great pride. The Twin Towers, together with our participation in the F1 were both part of a strategic brand plan to put Malaysia on the map. To a large extent we have succeeded.

But like any brand plan, Malaysia, who excels in building and creating icons, seems to have suffered not from a lack of vision but rather from a lack of sustainability.

And sustainability is a word that many in Malaysia seem to have difficulty with.

Branding Inside-Out

There has been much said and published about branding and its importance for growing your bottom line. And due to the economic meltdown, the message is slowly seeping into the consciousness of many corporations in Southeast Asia who now, more than ever, have been force to remove themselves from their comfort zone. Many have jumped on the branding bandwagon with great vigour, forming internal brand teams or appointing brand ambassadors and commissioning rebranding programmes.

Unfortunately, despite the hype and the lip service CEOs give to branding, more often than not, branding – or rebranding – is nothing more than a box that has been ticked off a to-do list, a KPI that has been met in order to signal at best a superficial change within the organisation. This is branding outside-in.

Brand your organisation from the inside out and fly!

Can this approach really make for a leadership brand?

It’s unlikely. The enthusiasm invariably runs out of steam by the time the last signboard has been replaced or the 560th employee has undergone Brand Training. Pretty soon, branding is relegated back to the marketing department, whence it came, or to the corporate programme graveyard along with so many other well-intentioned initiatives. Then it’s business as usual – with the only changes being in the logo and the interior colour scheme.

Against this backdrop, it is heartening to see corporations who understand that brand success relies heavily on an inside-out rather than outside-in approach, coupled with a belief that drives a brand-centric way of operating; long after the ink on the new logo has dried.