Archive for the 'B2C' Category
Marty Neumeier at Brand ManageCamp 2010.
Brand ManageCamp 2010 is an intensive two-day conference that features the most engaging and dynamic speakers in branding. This year, Marty Neumeier, Director of Transformation at Liquid Agency has been selected along with twelve peers to speak at this renowned event in Las Vegas, September 21-22.
Created by experienced branders over eight years ago, the Brand ManageCamp marketing conference has become a place to generate new ideas today’s brands need in order to survive. Industry mavericks, best-selling authors, world-renowned experts – these leaders in innovative brand thinking will cover a wide variety of topics to help broaden perspectives, generate fresh, actionable ideas, and become a stronger marketer and a more dynamic leader. Some topics will include: Determine where to spend your precious marketing dollars, Drive innovation and creativity through a discipline of inspiration, Get big results by thinking and acting small, and much more.
“Industry professionals attend this conference because they want fresh inspirations on how to take their brand to the next level,” said Marty Neumeier. “I’m both honored and excited to be able to share what I’ve learned at an event like this.”
Marty will be speaking on Wednesday, September 22 about “How to build a culture of nonstop innovation” from his latest book, The Designful Company. In an era of fast-moving markets and leap-frogging innovators, companies can no longer merely “unlock” wealth. Today they have to actively “create” wealth, or end up in the fossil layers of business history. As a result, brand-builders have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a key role in the next management revolution.
Find out more about Brand ManageCamp 2010 here.
No commentsProduct design by Liquid debuts at 2010 HouseWares Show.
In March, I attended the HouseWares Show in Chicago along with our our client, Slice, who was debuting a new logo, new booth, and a whole bunch of new products – including a new box cutter I co-designed with Scot Herbst. In terms of product design, this is a first for Liquid, and it was a very exciting event. Slice is a small company that makes a very cool set of products that cut, grate, chop…and, of course…slice. The product line includes peelers, graters, scissors, utility knives, kitchen knives, nail clippers..and now a box cutter. Liquid has been involved with Slice since the very start, when I helped design the product that launched the company – the iSlice – a simple one-sheet cutter with a very small ceramic blade. This product is still a best seller today, although it is now marketed as the “Safety Cutter”. From the beginning we’ve worked closely with TJ Scimone, a very dear friend, and the Founder / CEO of Slice. Over many breakfast meetings we worked together to defined the company’s brand strategy and business direction, and as the Brand Architect for Slice I have had the pleasure to be involved with every possible manifestation of the brand.
Most importantly, Liquid has helped develop relationships with some of the world’s most celebrated designers, including Karim Rashid, Michael Graves, and Yves Behar. We’ve also been instrumental in identifying fresh talent, like Scot Herbst – who is the man behind the popular Kaiku brand, and is now helping develop many of Slice’s new products. At the beginning, Liquid provided all of the design services necessary to launch the company, including the logo, packaging, literature and website. Today, Slice continues to grow at a rapid pace, and we remain integrally involved in every aspect of the brand’s evolution – with a great emphasis on product development – and as the Brand Architect for Slice, Alfredo Muccino provides high-level strategic and creative direction to a very diverse and very talented group of independent designers. For example, we worked on the packaging with Tom Crabtree, creative director of Manual in San Francisco (Tom designed the iPhone packaging at Apple) who collaborated with one of Liquid’s former Creative Directors, the very talented Joshua Swanbeck. They both put their considerable skills to work for Slice and revamped the entire packaging system as well as refining the Slice identity and creating new literature. We also tapped the talents of Jan Habraken, a multi-disciplinary designer originally from the Netherlands, now working in NY. Jan designed the new Slice booth – which got almost as much attention as the products. Good work, Jan!
The 2010 International HouseWares Show was a great success for Slice. According to Phil Brandl, president of the International Housewares Association, “We were encouraged by the significant increase in international buyer attendance this year as well as by the reports that U.S. retailers and senior executives were present in large numbers.” The Slice booth was visited by buyers from all over the world, including Japan, Korea, Australia, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Brazil and more. All of the visitors lauded the Slice brand for the quality of its product design as well as for the elegance of its presentation.
To much acclaim, Slice introduced a new Salt and Pepper Grinder by Karim Rashid – who showed up at our booth and helped introduce the new product. Slice also launched a complete set of personal care accessories by Michael Graves – the acclaimed architect who is also well-known for his product designs for Target and Alessi. Being able to introduce the Box Cutter that I designed along with Scott Herbst in such amazing company was quite an honor.
The Box Cutter uses ceramic blades that last 10X longer than traditional metal blades, while its unique shape offers a better grip and improved safety features. Without a question, the design of this product sets it apart from all other utility knifes on the market. We are currently at work on a number of new products and look forward to sharing them with you as soon as we make progress. In the meanwhile, please let us know what you think of the work we’re doing for Slice.We’d love to get your feedback…and any suggestions for new product extensions!!!
What do you think about the new AOL brand?
AOL turns into Aol.
The company that used to be called AOL, and was recently spun off from Time Warner, is shrinking in size in order to survive…and now its name and logo are shrinking as well. Perhaps as a reflection of its intention to cut about 2,500 jobs, AOL has changed the UC treatment of the acronym to one that includes an upper case “A” and lower case “ol”. And, in an attempt to communicate that the company is in the internet space, it is adding a “.” after its moniker. “AOL” is now “Aol.”
Brand identities need to be refreshed every so often. This can be motivated by the fact that, over time, design aesthetics change and it may be necessary to refresh a design that starts to feel dated. However, changing a brand identity can also be symbolic of a change in the company’s focus or structure, or a change in the marketplace situation. In the case of AOL (oops, Aol.), the change seems to be motivated by the changes in the company’s structure and a desire to re-introduce itself to its audiences.
Is “uniquely dynamic” the same as trite and playful?
According to Tim Armstrong, the company’s CEO, “Our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers and AOL is centered on creative and talented people - employees, partners, and advertisers. We have a clear strategy that we are passionate about and we plan on standing behind the AOL brand as we take the company into the next decade.”
The new look was created by Wolff Olins, the same firm that also designed the much maligned 2012 London Olympics logo, and most recently the fairly unpopular NYC logo. So far, the new Aol. identity is not being embraced with much affection. Take a look at a recent article in Fast Company or read the story on CNet .
I think the new Aol. is awkward.
In my opinion, the new identity may very well be “dynamic”, but it seems to be trying too hard to look young and energetic. The playfulness seems out of line with the announcements about layoffs, and the seriousness of Aol.’s financial situation. Changing the font to lower case is a simplistic attempt to look friendlier and more accessible…while at the same time, the lower case “l” looks like an upper case “I” (which is visually confusing). In fact, I think the whole thing looks a bot awkward…and I find that the addition of the “dot” is trite - while at the same time it poses all sorts of problems when writing out the name of the company in text form - AOL simply looks and works much better than Aol. (Wait…at the end of a sentence should I add another period after the dot?). And this commentary has not even begun to take into account the backgrounds from which the letters Aol. are reversed out. What is that pink cloud? Perhaps a bit of cotton candy? And, what is the green scribble? I find that the is dot hard to read in that version. Do you? BTW: In Italy the hand image stands for “cuckold”…I think that’s pretty funny.
I don’t like it. Do you?
OK…it’s obvious, I don’t care for the new Aol. identity. I’d love to hear what any of you think of the new logo? Is this what you would do to help AOL change the way that people think about the brand?
I’d love to hear your opinion.
Ciao!
Alfredo Muccino
Chief Creative Officer
Liquid Agency
Alfredo Muccino to speak at GlobalShop09.
Alfredo Muccino, Liquid Agency’s CCO, is scheduled to deliver a seminar about using technology to drive sales at retail.
GlobalShop is the largest annual tradeshow of its kind in the world, featuring more than 800 exhibitors of fixtures, digital signage, visual merchandising and in-store marketing products. GlobalShop’s conference program which has hosted more than 50,000 attendees features experts in store design and shopper marketing…and Alfredo Muccino, the Chief Creative Officer is amongst the speakers at this year’s conference.
As part of GlobalShop 09, Alfredo will be delivering a presentation on March 24th at The Sands Expo in Las Vegas titled “Technology, Brands and Retail: The New Landscape”. The one hour seminar will address the many different ways that brands are leveraging technology to make a bigger impact at retail. Using real case studies and current examples, Alfredo will explore how savvy brands are connecting with customers online and in-store using new technologies—ranging from social media to mobile devices. The presentation will focus on how brand managers and retailers can leverage the opportunities inherent in this new marketing landscape to create traffic, drive sales and build more loyalty from customers.
Last year Alfredo delivered a seminar on “Building Brands at Retail”, which was very well received and was attended by over 300 retail professionals, including retailers, brand marketers, creative agencies and merchandising fabricators.
Due to the difficult economic landscape, everyone expects that attendance at this year’s show will not be as high as last year’s event - however the folks that will attend will be the ones that are serious about their business. According to Alfredo, “The retail industry is being gravely affected by the economic downturn, and every brand and every retailer is interested in ways to drive sales. This seminar will help people understand how they can leverage technology to do just that - and do it cost-effectively”.
For more information visit www.globalshop.com
No commentsWhat happens at CES…
What happens at CES…does not stay in Las Vegas.
This year’s show attracted more than 130,000 attendees. The city of Las Vegas was inundated with techno-geeks from all over the world, showing off their new products and drooling over the latest gadgets. Getting a cab was a nightmare…and every restaurant was booked.
But all of this tells us that the technology sector is healthy - and people’s appetite for tech products is still strong.
The convention floor featured venerable tech brands alongside newcomers that are giving established brands a run for their money.
The level of activity - from deal-making to entertainment were as hectic as ever, with each company vying for attention in a very crowded environment. Standing out at CES is no easy feat.
We’re putting together our annual CES Report, with photos of booths and other branding activities that we observed while cruising the show floor. So, stay tuned…and we’ll post it on our site over the next few days.
No commentsGoogle and Dell co-brand TV advertising
In a prior post, I made an observation about some Google banner ads I had seen in an online forum, and an assertion that it might be the beginning of the end to google’s reputed aversion to traditional advertising. Since that observation I have seen the new TV spot cobranded between Dell and Google. The Ad features the unique looking Google Search appliance as part of a server rack. The appliance is built by Dell, but branded by Google, the story and video can be found here.
Wonder what we’ll see next……
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