Today, I want to stress the importance of brand cohesion as part of your branding arsenal. If the language “brand cohesion” is not your cup of tea, think brand continuity. Why not brand consistency? Consistency use to be the language until it became synonymous with cookie-cutter or rote design. Brand continuity is all about each touchpoint contributing to a singular brand expression while having a unique design execution based on common design principles.

The Olympics are a great example of brand continuity. Multiple sports, multiple venues, multiple applications – you get the idea. Yet by having a cohesive set of brand design elements and strong design principles, each sport, venue or application can have a unique look and at the same time project a singular brand experience.

In the automotive world, there are two design points of view – brand cohesion or brand distinction. For the former, think BMW. For the latter, think Honda. Which is better? It depends on your brand. I prescribe to the view that brand cohesion is good – to a point – for consumer products. Take the Apple line up of iPods. Strong brand cohesion, each product has it’s own individuality and can stand on it’s own, yet supports the overall Apple design expression. With 85% share of the MP3 player market and on the sixth (or is it seventh) generation of the iPod, Apple’s success with brand cohesion is hard to argue with.

But back to automobiles. Last January, Martin Winterkorn, the new CEO of Volkswagen Group (which includes the Volkswagen and Audi brands), threw out most of the upcoming VW brand designs criticizing them as “overfussy and too distant from VW’s core value of intelligent simplicity.” Wow! A CEO who gets brands and the importance of product design aligning with you brand values. It’s such an inspiring message that I want to clarify the impact of what Winterkorn did. He dismissing product design work (that probably cost millions of Euros) and had his design team start over because the work did not align with the core value of VW. In today’s bottom-line world that takes guts and vision, and I applaude him.

So for VW, the shiny shield grill is out. The designers thought it was pretentious and derivative (sister brand Audi first lead with this look – actually, a retro look for them as it was based on their racing cars of the 1930’s – that has been copied by most other automotive brands). In is a new face with the VW badge centered on/above a narrow horizontal grill and trapezoidal lights outboard. Beyond the core face elements and a few other design rules, the each product is able to expression it’s own individuality. You’ll recognize them as VW’s without confusing one from another.

Source: MotorTrend – Volkswagen’s New Era

With Mac World and CES just days away, Robert Scoble’s article Passion Play in Fast Company (November 2008), is a good reminder that brands need to be having conversations with their most passionate consumers. In the case of tech brands that is the early adopter.

You want to reach the mainstream? You first need to reach that one consumer who is most passionate about your brand and product. Reach them and they will be your advocate for reaching out to the mainstream. A great example is the Apple iPhone. In less than two years, Apple sold almost 18 million iPhones. The 3G version sold almost 7 million in the last quarter of 2008 – surpassing the total number of original iPhones sold in their lifetime.

Where did the sales momentum come from? I say early adopters like myself. At first I said no, I had a great Nokia phone, why do I need all that other stuff like a camera or listen to music or watch a video, etc. Yet, I was one of the first to buy a Newton. What convinced me was the quality of the screen – Wow! I bought one within the first 3 days and have been an advocate every since upgrading to the 3G when it came out. By my count, I’ve influenced over 20 people who would have never considered an iPhone to buy one. And with the App Store, my two daughters are fans as well – future iPhone buyers when dad says it is ok to have a phone (is never soon enough?).

As you change the conversation of your brand, make sure you are having that conversation with your most passionate consumer.

To follow up my last post on color schemes, here is an article from USA Today – Raise a hue and cry, ‘Buy it in this color!’ on the impact of color in consumer shopping decisions. Even in these recessionary times, color can be a strong sales driver. But then you already knew that.

Automotive designer Robert Cumberford writes about The Best Racing Car Design of All Times – the Bugatti Type 35 – in Automobile Magazine. Great read and the Bugatti is a timeless beauty.

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn speaks with BusinessWeek earlier this year in Ghosn Hits The Accelerator. While the article gives mixed reviews of his performance – sales, profits and stock prices are down for both Renault and Nissan this past year – what I found insightful is Ghosn perspective on brands and consumers. Continuing on the theme of “think globally, act locally” Ghosn promotes Renault and Nissan designing for local tastes with the flexibility to export a design fast to meet consumer trends elsewhere.

When it comes to consumers, Ghosn is all about being prepared rather than trying predict: “We can’t know what consumers will want 10 years out.” But generally he is betting on smaller engines, smaller vehicles, and higher fuel economy due to the probable rise in gas prices. In green technology, he is stressing all-electric vehicles (EVs) more than gas-electric hybrids: “People used to think electric cars were ugly, hard to drive, and unsafe, but it’s completely different now.”

If you’ve read our blog for any period of time, you will recognize that I have a passion for automobiles and auto racing – Formula One in particular. Automobiles have been around for so long now (since 1886) that they have transcended utility to become part of human culture. Think of your most memorable automotive experience. I’m sure you could tell me the make, color, year of the car.

As such, I like to use stories about automobiles to make brand points for consumer products in general. Today’s lesson is on color and pattern. In the early days of Formula One, you could identify the country of the racing cars just by the paint scheme. Green for Britain (BRG – is a favorite color of mine), Silver for Germany, Blue for France, and Red for Italy. When sponsorship arrived in the late 1960’s, county colors gave way to sponsorship colors, with the exception of Ferrari.

When we get to road cars, color schemes may have completely different associations from their racing brethren. Although I still believe that a Mercedes looks best in silver and a Jaguar E-Type should only be painted British Racing Green! But I digress. If I were to ask what road car has a white roof and colored body, you could narrow the brands down to 2-3 choices. If I said, black and white checkered flag roof and colored body, you would immediately say the MINI. If you were not around in the 1960’s, you probably saw an Austin Powers movie or the recent remake of The Italian Job with Angelina Jolie or just seen the millions of MINI’s on the road today wearing that same iconic paint scheme. Like a true consumer brand practitioner, MINI know that it’s unique color scheme is a core brand asset and employs it to perfection. The brand doesn’t speak to a demographic. It speaks to a psychographic which is a much better place to compete.

My question for you is, do you have a unique, iconic brand color scheme? If not, why not?

In a crowded category we recognize Pizza Fusion for changing the conversation. From brand positioning, product (pizza) design to retail environment and delivery vehicles, Pizza Fusion has established themselves as a leader and innovator of Pizza.

By thinking outside the pizza box they created a brand that by word of mouth, people will drive one hour to experience. Yes, Toto this is not your typical pizza restaurant. What is their recipe for success? It all starts with a clear and focused vision for the brand and attention to every detail down to the type of paper towels and toilet paper (100% post consumer by the way).

First, the brand platform. Pizza Fusion is more that a gourmet pizza restaurant. Started by two college buddies Vaughn Lazar and Michael Gordon, Pizza Fusion is about integrity, social responsibility, healthy, ecological. Their tag line sums up their mission and values quite nicely: Saving the Earth One Pizza at a Time. By putting a clearly differentiated stake in the ground, Pizza Fusion positioned themselves as a leader from the start. As “Big Dave” Ostrander, a pizza consultant said, “They’re basically competition proof. They’re very unique in the product, the passion, the ingredients, the look and the taste.”

Thanks “Big Dave” for a great quote and stealing a bit of my thunder. Indeed the product (pizza) design fully supports the brand position. Their unique skateboard shape signals that this is a different kind of pizza experience. They back it up with ingredients that are 75% organic, locally sourced and are free of GMO’s, preservatives, pesticides, trans fats, etc. Their Vegan pizza has 100% nondairy soy mozzarella cheese alternative. And they have a gluten-free menu with includes pizza, brownies and beer.

The retail environment also follows in lockstep. Each restaurant is LEED-certified for environmentally sustainable construction. Reclaimed wood table, insulation made from blue jeans, utensils made from potatoes are just some of the methods to reduce – and promote – their eco footprint. When it comes to home delivery, all the vehicles are hybrids. And customers get a discount for returning pizza boxes to be recycled.

Pizza Fusion lives their brand in every aspect. They walk the talk and customers reward them with their love. And we are talking big love.

1. From two restaurants at the beginning of 2008, the franchise ended the year with 16 locations nationwide with 75 restaurants in development
2. Sales are projected to be $15 million in 2008 and double to $30 million in 2009
3. Recognized by Plenty Magazine – The Plenty 20 Awards for 2008
4. Top 10 Vegan-Friendly Pizzerias in the US by PETA
5. Top 10 Green Business of the Year by Co-op America – two years in a row

Sources: Pizza Fusion, BrandWeek – Brands on the Verge – Any Way You Slice It, Pizza Fusion Is Unique

Going through my “must read and insight” file, I want to share some business facts on Apple that you may not be aware of. These are from an article The MAC in the Gray Flannel Suit published earlier this year (May 2008) in BusinessWeek.

1. From 2002 to 2007, Apple total sales have grown from $5.2 billion to $24 billion
2. Apple share price has risen 2,300% in the same 5 years giving a market capitalization of $154 billion, topping the likes of HP, Dell and Intel.
3. Sales growth for Apple Macs have outpaced overall PC sales the last three years by 3:1 or greater
4. Average sales price for Apple Macs are 50% higher than the industry average
5. Apple Mac market share is up almost 100% in the last three years
6. Apple’s net margin last year at 15.1% was 2 or 3 time greater than HP (7.3%) and Dell (4.8%)

WOW! How is this possible? Apple is not the biggest computing company in terms of people or offices. And their product offering is dwarfed by most competitors. My perspective is that Apple has mastered the core fundamentals of branding and embraced it into their business culture.

You can do it as well. To start, answer the three core business questions: what do you do, whom do you do it for, and why it is compelling. And get very focused. This is where most businesses get it wrong. Yes your audience includes a wide range of people, and you need to focus on that one person who really “gets” your product. Have a meaningful conversation with her and you will reach everyone you want to reach and more. Not convinced? Reread the six business facts on Apple above.

If you are open to learning more about how you can design a successful, sustainable brand read my article on Designing Sustainable Brands: Parts 1 and 2.

Eugenia Levenson at CNN Money has written a wonderful article about Nike’s efforts to reposition itself as both an environmentally and socially responsible company. In 1998 founder and CEO Phil Knight acknowledged that “Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse.”

After years of being known as a sweatshop-running giant, Nike appears to have made a conscious effort to reevaluate the impact of its design on the world around them. The formation of what is known as “Nike’s Considered Team” is a good indication of such a change.

From the article:

“A prime example is Nike’s Considered team, an in-house sustainability think tank that is tackling issues like waste reduction by harnessing the company’s creative engine, the designers. They are the ones who make hundreds of choices about how shoes are made, so Nike created a tool that quantified the environmental costs of those decisions: the Considered Index..”

Now it seems that designers are able to plug in the specs of a shoe design and the system will give them instant feedback on how their design scores from an environmental point-of-view.

From the article:

““What designers do really well is solve problems,” says Lorrie Vogel, a designer who is the Considered team’s general manager. “We just make it really easy for them to understand what those are.””

Brilliant.

You’ve heard about the promise of mass customization (the creation of one-of-a-kind products for many) for years and have probably seen or experienced early attempts at achieving it. Usually the products were either of poor quality or priced beyond the reach of the mass consumer. Now technology has caught up to make custom products more affordable and consumers have embraced the trend. Now you can customize just about any mass-produced product from M&M’s, t-shirts, sneakers, credit card terms, bags, wines, stamps, iPods and the list goes on and on.

From the consumers perspective its about freedom and self-expression. And they are willing to pay the price premium. Big box retailers such as Wal-Mart have realized that to stay relevant, they needed to move away from a one-size-fits-all retail experience to creating customized experiences based on regional/local tastes. U.S. News & World Report, recent article The Store of YOU goes into further depth on this growing consumer trend.

One key insight is that the ability to customize your product or service is playing a larger role in brand preference and loyalty. A recent Yankelovich survey found that over half of the respondents based their choice of brand on how well it represented their unique tastes and individuality. And Reebok has found that visitors to their custom site YourReebok come away with a more favorable impression of the brand. At Ralph Lauren with the “Create Your Own” collection have found that their consumers who customize their polos are more loyal to the brand and shop more online and in stores.

This key insight, brings to the forefront how important it is for brands to have a clear focus on their core audience. Not just from a demographics perspective but rather from a psychographics perspective. Customization is limited by age, or income, ethnicity, education, etc. It’s a mindset. The more you can understand you audience and why you are relevant, will clarify how mass customization can help with your brand preference and engender greater brand loyalty.