Branding the Credit Crunch

Further to our previous post on how to use brands to ensure that your business is successful during a recession, we've put together a short presentation outlining the key points.



This is the blog of Scamper Branding - building sustainable brands.

Dragon's not hungry for Very PC

This week’s Dragon's Den featured green PC manufacturer Very PC, who were asking for a £250,000 investment in return for a 5% stake in their business. It was sad to see that one of the few green businesses on the show provoked such anger from the Dragons. Peter Jones, perhaps unfairly took issue with their environmental claims, but the main issue for all Dragons was Very PC's valuation of their business at a whopping £5million. Very PC has certainly done well for itself as a small manufacturer over the last few years and won a number of awards for its low-energy computers, but the business is worth nowhere near £5million. Very PC’s managing director Peter Hopton tried to justify his valuation by saying that they were had valued the business on the strength of its brand name. This highlighted an important point. Just because you own a trademark and have achieved some publicity, doesn't inherently create brand value. From a consumer’s point of view, the brand needs to be credible and memorable, and probably needs a better name than Very PC. From an investor's point of view, the brand value must be demonstrated in some tangible way such as financial performance or consumer awareness. Hopton left the show claiming that he was treated unfairly and that investors don't take ethical businesses seriously. The truth is however, that he insulted the Dragon’s intelligence by trying to sell a business with small profits and a poor name that few people have heard of for several times its real value.

This blog is supported by Scamper Brand Strategy - Ethical Branding Experts.

Building Sustainable Brands

Scamper was founded on the philosophy that brands are an extremely powerful business tool, and that if used to promote positive organisations, then they can encourage social and environmental improvement.

With this in mind, we have recently introduced a new slogan “building sustainable brands”, which highlights a couple of key changes to the way that we work:

1. Although we specialise in brand creation and implementation, there are other specialist organisations that can play a valuable role in ensuring the success of a brand. We will therefore be building a network ethical service providers (such as Rapid Apps and Eurydice PR) to help our clients get the most out of their brands.
2. We will be using our branding expertise in-house to develop our own ethical brands and spin-off businesses. Watch this space more information!

This blog is supported by Scamper Brand Strategy - Ethical Branding Experts.

How to Survive a Recession

There is much talk recently that we are entering an economic downturn and doom and gloom is predicted for both individuals and businesses. However, for those businesses that keep a cool head and have the confidence to follow the right strategy, an economic downturn could actually be good for their business in the long term. There are two broad strategies applied by businesses to survive a recession:

1. Reduce costs and offer discount prices
2. Invest in building and promoting your brand

For obvious and understandable reasons, most companies follow the first strategy. Customers have less money to spend and competition is tougher, so reducing costs and delivering the goods at even better prices seems like a very logical strategy. However, the problem with this is that not only does lowering prices mean squeezing margins, but the very act of discounting erodes the consumer’s perceived value of the brand. Competing on price is a difficult strategy to get right even in good times and in a recession it is even tougher.

Although it may seem more risky to many, the best strategy to survive and thrive in a recession is to invest in building up the perceived value of your brands, rather than reducing the price of your products. In the last major recession in the 1990s, the companies that came out on top were those that maintained confidence in their brands and avoided the temptation of pure price competition. Companies such as Apple, IKEA, Starbucks, The Body Shop and Nike actually turned up investment in their brands during the recession, against the trend, and exited the recession more profitable than when they went in.

It all makes sense when you look at the big picture. It's widely accepted that brands are more profitable than commodities in a stable economy but in a downturn the brands gain an even bigger advantage. This is because most companies lose their confidence in a recession and start cutting back and discounting, so price competition becomes more fierce and inevitably therefore, even less profitable. On the other hand, as most companies are spending less on building and promoting their brands, those that are well branded and heavily promoted gain greater attention from consumers, and so brand development and promotion becomes much better value for money.

In addition to this, when the recession ends, those who invested in their brands are not only better off after remaining profitable during the downturn, but have maintained the value of their brands and so come out as the leading brands in the consumer's minds. Those who favoured discounting come out cash-strapped and struggling to rebuild the value of their brands.

It is easy and tempting to follow the crowd, but as with most forms of investment, those who come out on top are the ones with the confidence to base their decisions on logic, rather than what everyone else is doing.

This blog is supported by Scamper Brand Strategy - building sustainable brands.

Clever Business Names

Your brand name is the front line of your brand identity and can be a powerful tool to capture the attention of your audience, communicate the essence of your brand and to forge a place in their memories. Clever names using a play on words can be some of the most memorable and encourage word-of-mouth publicity. For example:
Abra-Kebabra - kebab shop
Make My Stay - holiday accommodation booking website
Citizen Canine - dog kennel
Recharged Batteries - eggs from re-homed battery hens

However, there are two key things to remember if you're thinking about using a name with a play on words:

1. Is it appropriate for your brand? A light-hearted brand may work well with a clever or humourous name, but if your brand is of a very serious nature, you should be careful that it is not trivialised by such a strategy.
2. Is it a good name? Just because the name is clever, it doesn't necessarily make a good name for the business. For example, 'Curl Up n Dye' might be a funny name for a hair salon in a movie, but isn't necessarily a good name for a real hair salon.

This blog is supported by Scamper Brand Strategy - building sustainable brands.

The Purity Project

Having pioneered organic and mineral hairdressing over 20 years ago, Daniel Field is now on a new mission to eradicate harmful toxins from personal care products. Despite claims made by many leading brands and even many of the natural and organic brands now on the market, personal care products contain a wide range of chemicals that are potentially damaging to human health. Inspired by the highly successful Skin Deep campaign in the US, Daniel Field has launched the UK's first cosmetics brand, entirely free from toxins and allergens. The Purity Project recently launched its range of face care products, available online at www.purity-project.com and other ranges are set to follow.
This blog is supported by the ethical brand consultancy, Scamper Brand Strategy.

Green Graphic Design Resource

We recently came across an excellent resource for green graphic design. Re-nourish aims to address the fact that graphic design is often neglected in the green design debate, where the usual topics cover product, vehicle and building design.

Re-nourish provides information for graphic designers on the environmental issues to consider in their work, along with tips on how to reduce their impact on the environment and links to suppliers of materials such as recycled paper. There are also case studies of green graphic design projects and information about green design companies.

To find out more visit www.re-nourish.com

Intellectual Property Value of Brands

We often hear from business and intellectual property advisors about the importance of trademarking to create brand value. However, rarely do they discuss what brand value really means or how IP protection can deliver it.

The problem is that trademarking (or for that matter patenting) don't inherently create value for a business or brand. All they do is protect value that has or will be created.

This simple misunderstanding results in many businesses investing significant amounts of money protecting brands that have little or no value in reality. They put the cart before the horse, thinking that ownership of trademarks will give the business a competitive edge, when in fact it is the ownership of powerful brands that will give the competitive advantage.

Of course intellectual property protection is important, but its role is to protect the value created in the brand, not to actually create value in the brand.

This blog is supported by the ethical brand consultancy, Scamper Brand Strategy.

Excellent example of an ethical brand

We often talk about the importance of brands having a high degree of authenticity and integrity aswell as the importance of green and ethical brands to offer direct benefits, and appeal to the consumer, not just their ethical stance.

A fantastic example of both these principles is the organic skin care company Raw Gaia.
As implied by its name (which itself is a strong element of the brand), Raw Gaia products are made from cold-pressed organic and vegan ingredients such as Cocoa butter. Unlike many cosmetic brands that claim to be natural but in fact only contain token extracts of natural products, Raw Gaia is pioneering in its commitment.

Not only is this authenticity exhibited in their products through, they have also taken a strong stance on ethical marketing of cosmetic products, refusing to use such dubious claims as anti-ageing and rejuvenation and avoiding the use of artificially enhanced beauty photography.

However, unlike many ethical brands, they haven't forgotten about delivering what consumer really want. The founding principle of Raw Gaia was to create cosmetics products that are not only close to nature, but that really work. Hence the use of only raw ingredients due to their high content of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals etc. They've also developed a distinctive attractive identity for the brand that further enhances their desirability.

Raw Gaia is an excellent example of an ethical brand and has consequently seen remarkable growth since the launch of its business in May 2006.

This blog is supported by the ethical brand consultancy, Scamper Brand Strategy.

Keep off the Green Grass

The rise of environmentally responsible businesses seems to be taking place with an incredible lack of imagination or brand understanding.

I've mentioned before that far too many companies are using words like green and organic. Today I found that of the Ethical and Environmental Marketing Group's 18 members, 10 include the word green in their brand name. Perhaps you might say that this is should be expected from a group of 'ethical and environmental' companies, but it shouldn't be, for two simple reasons.

1. If they want to be successful beyond the green niche and achieve greater, main stream success, then they need brands that are equally if not more appealing to consumer than mainstream brands.

2. If they are content to remain in the green niche, then they need to compete with other businesses in this niche. If they are all called green, then they are all the same. It is those who dare to be individual that will stand out and become the leaders in the pack.

The danger is, that if green businesses don't start getting to grips with brand fundamentals, then the green revolution that we are currently seeing might never come to much.

This blog is supported by the ethical brand consultancy, Scamper Brand Strategy.

Talk to the hands cos the face ain't listening

As I keep saying, far too many ethical businesses are presenting themselves like clones. When everyone is saying the same things, no one gets the credit for saying it.

On this note, there are two things that I seem to see everyday, but can never remember where I saw them.

Firstly, the hands of sustainability. Sometimes holding the earth, and sometimes a leaf. It doesn't really matter which the effect is the same.
And then there is this slogan:

'[things] that don't cost the earth'

Apparently nothing costs the earth these days. I'm sure it seemed really clever when they first came up with it, but the novelty has worn off.

Please, please never use these devices again. Ever.

Nope, I'm not listening. I've heard it all before. Talk to the hands!

This blog is supported by the ethical brand consultancy, Scamper Brand Strategy.

Paul Rankin's Carefully Selected Diglycerides

We often talk about the need for brands to be transparent and have integrity. Today we purchased some of Paul Rankin's Irish Potato Farls which looked like good quality trustworthy product. As the packet told us, they were warm, wholesome and natural. The packet states that "Paul Rankin (TV celebrity chef) has selected only the finest ingredients to create these Irish potato farls".



Interestingly though, the ingredients list reads as follows: Partially reconstituted dried potato, wheat flour, vegetable oil, salt, preservatives (calcium proportionate, potassium sorbate), Emulsifier (Mono-and-Diglycerides of fatty acids), Stabiliser (Diphosphates), Colour (Beta Carotene).

Either they are lying that Paul Rankin selected these ingredients himself, or Paul Rankin has a very strange choice of makes the finest ingredients.

As we keep saying brands need to stop patronising their customers and start living upto the claims they make. In the long term, its the brands that show genuine integrity that will earn the greatest following and therefore success.

This blog is supported by the ethical brand experts, Scamper Brand Strategy.

Origins needs to be more than just Organic

The US cosmetics brand Origins Organics has just launched in the UK and its good to see more environmentally friendly brands entering the market. The core identity of the brand is rather cliché, with the organic name, tree logo and green colour scheme, but overall the presentation is extremely high quality and on a par with other high end skin care brands.

What’s a shame though, is that their marketing materials focussed almost entirely on the fact that the products are organic, and therefore good for the environment. Surely, if they want to seriously give conventional brands a run for their money and convince consumers to pay their high prices, they will need to focus on the benefit of their products in terms of skin care, health and beauty. How do they make you feel? How do they make you look? If they want to emphasise their organic ingredients then the health and beauty benefits would certainly be of more value to most consumers than the reduced environmental impact.

This blog is supported by the ethical brand experts, Scamper Brand Strategy

If you trust me, I’ll trust you

Today we visited a local farm shop to buy some free range eggs. We found the shop up a track on the edge of town and could see the hens roaming alongside. However, despite appearing open, there were no staff. Inside we found a small note next to a basket of money, stating that if you visit out of hours, please write down what you have bought and leave the money in the basket. Astonished by their open approach and not only paid for own eggs, but even left a small tip. It clearly wouldn’t work in the centre of most towns or cities, but the underlying message is an important one. If you want to build a relationship with your customers based on trust, then one of the most powerful things you could do is to show that you trust them.

Many businesses forget that it takes two to build a relationship.

This blog is supported by the ethical brand experts, Scamper Brand Strategy.

A good Brand is more than skin deep

The question is often asked, "What is a brand?". There are many explanations but a quick explanation is that it is like a persons reputation, but applied to a product, service or organisation. It is 'who' they/it is in the mind of the target customer.

Here's a longer explanation:

The first part of building a reputation relies on people knowing that a person (or brand) exists. Many companies think that this awareness is the most important element of a brand, but without any meaning attached to it, building awareness is a somewhat fruitless activity. More important than whether they are known, is what they are known for. Until you get to know someone personally, appearances and first impressions count for a lot. It’s what attracts you to them and drives you to get to know them further. This is one of the reasons why a brand’s identity in terms of its name, visual identity and other elements such as slogans are important. What’s more, they also allow you to be identified and remembered, which is crucial if you want a long term relationship.

When you first meet people, you’ll probably get to know basic facts about them such as their profession, hobbies, hometown etc. These are like a product or organisation's features and together with their identity can provide the starting point for a conversation. Its important to get people interested, but making small talk is not the basis of a strong friendship. Real friendship is about personality. Do you connect with them on an emotional level? Can you relate to them? Do you trust them? How do they make you feel?

With brands, just as with people, everyone will respond differently. Some will be disinterested or dislike the brand, some will become friends and some will fall in love. Too many companies position themselves in the middle of the road thinking that they need to appeal to everyone. The consequence is brands that no one really cares strongly about either way. The most successful brands strike a careful balance. They focus on appealing specifically to their target market, without doing anything so controversial that it might cause offence. In the long term, having a small group of consumers fall in love with you is far more powerful than having a large group of consumers think that you’re okay. These devoted consumers will become your greatest promotional tool, telling their friends, family and colleagues about how wonderful you are and how important you are in their lives. It costs you nothing and is far more convincing than any advertisement.

Like any relationship though, the more heavily you are involved, the more careful you need to be. Betray your customer and their love could quickly turn to hate. Authenticity is essential for long term success. It’s not enough to just create an enticing image, it needs to go more than skin deep. The essence of your brand needs to run through every aspect of your organisation. Factors such as product design, customer service, manufacturing and distribution must all work together to tell a powerful, consistent story about who you are.

This blog is supported by the ethical brand experts, Scamper Brand Strategy