Is your brand loved? Is your brand authentic? The first question is usually harder to answer. The latter is often overlooked. Both are important for a sustainable brand.

Starting with love, Brand Love gives you the ability to say “I’m sorry,” and those customers that really love your brand will continue to stay with you. Denise McCluggage, in a recent column for Autoweek (I’ve been a subscriber for 25+ years now), write beautiful prose on the topic of Brand Love in Love and Recalls. Please read the full story. The short is to recall the car in your past that you most loved and no longer drive, or own. Then after a brief pause, remember why you don’t drive that car anymore. Do you still have a smile on your face, or find yourself holding back a laugh? I’m going to go out on a limb and answer “Yes” for you. You still love that car. Mine was a 1972 Lotus Elan +2 S130. I loved that car. Even though I had to get my nails dirty on weekends to get it drivable for the next week. Or that it had no A/C and I would be sweltering in the Summer on drives from Berkeley to Fresno to visit friends. Reliable? Never. Fun? Absolutely! I loved that car.

In the same issue of Autoweek, K.C. Crain, in his column Zero to Sixty,  gives a lesson on Brand Authenticity in the guise of NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow. In the worst case of what my wife says when I show her a new car on the road, – “It looks like a Ford Taurus.” (And one from 10 years ago to boot!) – all the cars look the same. Ford Fusion, Chevy Impala, Dodge Charger and Toyota Camry. No authenticity at the race track. How do you expect your customer to recognize your product on the street when what they see on the track has no resemeblance at all. A Ford Taurus indeed. And to complete the masquarade, the engines are completely outdated. They run with carburetors. Which is fine until you realize that the car you drive today uses fuel injection. And in the case of Toyota, they run an engine in NASCAR never built for production cars. How authentic is that?

Ah, the Ides of March and it is a great day to be in Sausalito. My first official ride on the MV Agusta today. Crisp, clear unflitered air under a bright full body yellow sun set against an expansive blue sky. And why am I indoors writing this post?! It’s been a while since my last post and today seemed like the best day to make my return.

Much has happened in the branding and design world over the last few months and with Brand Engine as well. Come back often over the next few weeks as I tell you more about some of the exciting changes happening at Brand Engine and share more of my personal insights and perspectives on branding and design. For now, I’ll leave you with one question to ponder: Does your brand and packaging have Spark?

Will Burke has been invited to judge next year’s first annual The Dieline Awards, a worldwide design competition recognizing the best in package design. Launched by thedieline.com, the world’s leading package design Web site, the competition will be held in conjunction with the 2010 FUSE Conference, taking place in Chicago on April 14^th, 2010.

30 winners across 10 different categories will be awarded a prestigious Dieline Award, with one Best of Show winner. Will is one of only ten industry experts on the judging panel.

Click here for more information on the competition.

Of the three Detroit automakers, Ford is the only one going forward (and quite successfully) without government assistance. There are many reasons for their success. The products, the people, and their brand vison, mission and values. In a recent FORTUNE article, Fixing Up Ford, we get a behind the scenes look at how the new CEO, Alan Mulally has transformed Ford over the last 3 years.

It is clear that Mulally knows the value of brands and the value of values. On his first day, when reviewing the future product lineup, he noticed that the Taurus was missing. He asked why. The reply was that they had “made a couple that looked like a football…and they didn’t sell well, so we stopped it (using the brand) .” Mulally’s comment was “How many billions of dolalrs does it cost to build brand loyalty around a name?” The marching orders following the meeting was for the product team to “make the coolest vehicle that you can possibly make (and name it the Taurus).” His point was that poor product can easily damage or even destroy a brand and instead of abandoning the name, go and fix the real problem. And yet, the old Ford was willing to give up on the investment it had made in the Taurus brand for over 20 years and begin the process again of building brand loyalty around a new name. What waste.

Now two years later the payoff arrives with the new Taurus which has been met with postive reviews in the automotive press. Finally, the right product to deliver on the promise of the Taurus brand. The learning here is is that product and brand are inextricably linked. Both need to be in harmony with product leading the conversation. As I’ve been know to share with others, my observation is that until you get the product right, you have no brand.

Mulally also knows that for a company and brand (in this case the Ford brand) to succeed, requires focus and dedication to one vision, one mission and one set of values. He calls it ONE Ford, with the mission statement and four goals (expected behaviors) printed on two sides of a plastic card (business-card size). Every employee has one. As Mulally says, “…I wrote it, It’s what I believe in. You can’t make this shit up.” Right-on!

And finally, what has made me a fan of Mulally is his openness and complete transparency. And he uses a sentence, I’ve come to embrace. At at early meeting with employees upon joining Ford in 2006, the question on everyone’s mind was “Will Ford make it?” His reply was “I don’t know.” “But we have a plan…”

You are at a social function, and have gone through the horderve line and you can’t find a place for your drink.

As I see it, you have three options:

1. Abandon your drink at someone else’s table.
2. Place your beverage on the ground and hope that it doesn’t get kicked.
3. Awkwardly place your plate on your forearm, risking an embarrassing spill.

Now we have more options, thanks to the Go Plate. Genius.

Link via Uncrate.

Image by Lunchbreath. Link via Core77.

Lego has just announced it’s new Architecture series featuring the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. Wouldn’t it be crazy to see the Marin Civic Center made of Legos?

Photo and link via Uncrate.

As the sun set, I finished day one at the Palm Court with Indian food, a glass of beer, and smart conversation. All natural and organic of course! Today was about learning and getting a sneak peek at some of the products that will be exhibited the next three days.

In the morning our Brand Engine team (Heidi, Eric and I) listened to four speakers – Patrick Rea, Michael Movitz, Carlotta Mast and Bob Burke – bring their perspectives on the year ahead. With two different research methodologies, Patrick and Michael forcasted similar growth rates for the industry in the coming year. Somewhere around 7.5% and that the years of double-digit growth rates may be history. The only exception, is the natural household products which is still an emerging category.

Michael, in his analysis of the industry, provided some important insights on the natural products consumer and marketplace. Focusing on the consumer side, here are the key insights:

• The top two consumer segments (very committed, 3% and heavy, 17%)  purchase 80% of all natural products
• The top two consumer segments have increased their spending 12% over the last year. The next segment (transitional, 25%) was down 12% and the last segment (trial, 55%) was down 1%
• Strongest growth is expected in the Natural Standard (e.g. Seventh Generation) and Specialty Natural (e.g. Late July) categories – both considered “authentic” natural products
• The Natural Perception and Conventional Naturals (e.g. Greenworks) segments are expected to experience slower growth
• Of US households, 96% have purchased natural products, 61% have purchased organic

The big take away for me was the word authentic. It’s an imperative for our branding process. The brand stories we design for our clients first and foremost are authentic. Consumers demand it. And the natural product consumer demonstrates the importance of authenticity by spending their dollars on those brands that are authentic. Another insight that should come as no surprise, is that consumers who are the most committed to your (brand, cause, product, category, etc.) will spend the most (time, effort, money, etc.). The more you know about why your most loyal consumers buy your product, the more successful your brand. It’s all about focus. And I don’t mean focus groups. You need to get into your consumers lifestyle and that cannot be quantified on an excel spreadsheet.

From a marketplace view here are some key insights:

• Private label is a growing presence (up 44%) and worthy competitor with price not the only decision factor – quality and variety are on par with establish brands
• The growth of Whole Foods over the last 10 years has been so significant that it has become a third market channel
• Healthy products drive spending but it must be connected with value
• Retailers are cutting out SKUs

The marketplace insight parallels the consumer insight. For brands to succeed, they need to bring value, be differentiated, and be meaningful. Now we are talking.

Bob spoke of whats hot including: sustainability, native sugar, biodynamics, precycling, bulk, anti-aging, ancient grains, affordable indulgences, fair trade, gluten-free, probiotics, natural cleaning.

Stay tuned for more from Anaheim.

Perspectives from my day at CES 2009.

Function meets Fashion
The influx of fashion into consumer electronics was more evident this year. I saw more brands such as Built, Speck and Golla that make non-electronic products such as bags, sleeves, protectors for your consumer electronics – laptops, phones, cameras, mp3 players, etc. Unlike years past, they were not hidden away in a quite, dark back corner or confined to small cubicles at the Hilton. Instead they had relatively big spaces in prominent locations. Some of the “fashion” booths even overshadow more established, traditional (i.e. electronics) brands. Both in design creativity and visual presence.

Consumer electronics have become such an essential part of our everyday lives that we need to personalize, accessorize it. The market opportunity is huge. As a fashion brand, how are you positioned to stand out from the crowd?

The Next Big Thing
There really was not much breakthrough innovation year – I can’t see better than HD, WiFi is so yesterday, micro-(fill in the blank) are ubiquitous, and another (ho-hum) variation on the mp3 player. Major improvements in functionality and usability, and more value to the consumer for sure – just not compelling enough to upgrade or switch from what I have. The only exception was SONY. Last year they introduced the 3mm OLED (see more here) screen. This year they introduced the flexible OLED screen. Amazing is not even the close to describing this new screen. Sony presented some concepts for how this technology could be used – a “paperback” note book and a mp3 bracelet were two compelling examples (see images above). Here is a video of the technology on YouTube.

Brand and Performance can Overcome Price
I spoke with John Falcone, President and CEO of Sennheiser Electronics Corporation and he showed me their new audiophile headset, the HD800 with a retail price of $1,500. Yes, 2 zeros! I’m into high-end audio equipment and even that price was beyond my comprehension. Yet in less than a day (actually less than 2 hours), they sold out the entire 6 month product run.

It goes to show that when you have a compelling product by a trusted brand and having the right conversation with the right audience, price is less of a factor. In this case, none.

Best Quote
Comes from Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony.

“We need to provide consumers with a user experience that is so compelling and clearly life-enhancing that our products and services will become must-haves at affordable prices.”

Now that applies to every brand out there. Does your user experience achieve that goal? If not, why not?