Make the Logo Bigger, and Other Brand Suicides

It's a joke, long in the tooth.

We've heard for decades (at least) that same plaintive cry. Clients baffled or wistful or even indignant over the placement of their logo in an ad, on a website, on the side of their building. Whatever. It's far too small. Not loud enough. Not the most important visual element. Not red enough.

We were reminded of the cliché by this amusing mug from the American Marketing Association. If you want to buy one, click here. We got ours free, as swag, when our Big Cheese spoke recently at an AMA event.

Be practical: nobody wants to be sold to. It's more effective to draw attention to the product/service/idea, get the customer excited – and only then say who brought you the message.

Put it in advertising terms: you want your audience to say "Wow, that's just what I need." If you accomplish that, they'll fight to find out who you are, where they can find you, how soon they can buy, and other happy endings. If, however, you start with "We're the guys selling you something," they will tune you out, never to learn what makes your brand differentiated and desirable. The logo is an end to the sequence, not the beginning.

It's all part of the "Mimi Syndrome," where we all want to talk about Our product, the result of Our superior process where We have developed the latest greatest breakthrough that We Us Me Me Me Me Me Me Us We have seen in Our lifetime. The reader/listener/watcher checked out early, of course, since your 175-Years-of-Quality-Service-Solutions never started to talk about the pebble in his shoe.

As our friend Jack Trytten* says, Nobody wants to buy your product. Nobody wants to buy your service. People want to buy what your product does.

*Jack's an insightful brand researcher. Learn more about him at insightdirection.com. Note the nifty logo design while you're there. Not only is it our design, we refuse to make it bigger...

New Faces

We have a few new faces here. Mike Adamson is a University of Florida grad who claims (hell, he believes) that his presence at the school was a key factor in their string of championships. He writes branding-savvy copy for websites, ads, lunch orders and anything else that requires the touch of a man of letters. We also have two sparkling summer interns: Aisha Gordon is a design whiz soon to graduate from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Expertly wielding the Photoshop toolbar, she is a great addition to our graphic design squad. Joanna Green is a psych major at George Washington University. Her understanding of the mind helps us remember how branding fulfills the subconscious desires of consumers.

Summer in Chicago makes interns reach for frozen treats,
while Mike (the Floridian) doesn't seem to notice as he works the office Hula Hoop.

New Stuff

Two clients recently got their branding polished.

Irwin Broh is a marketing research firm that does superb custom survey and syndicated research. We made visuals that communicated a stronger brand message, gave them a memorable tagline that says what they do, and put some key copy points on the homepage. (The old identity as IB&A came close to our defiintion of the Three Initial Mistake: click here to read that White Paper.) Need research? Visit the new website.

Before:

After:

Figliulo & Silverman is a well-respected Chicago-based law firm. We gave them a redesigned website equal to such a reputation. Check it out at fslegal.com.

Cover Letters From Hell

And now for our latest installment of “Cover Letters From Hell” (cue discordant organ music). This time, the theme seems to be responses to responses ...

Thanks to Liz from Artisan for passing along this strategically dubious response to a rejection letter.

Dear Madam,

Here in the body and mind of [Name], we express ourselves thoroughly and as accurately as possible. We highly regard integrity and honesty and as such, only pursue those actions that are aligned with those qualities. Thus, we have found some inconsistencies in your response and we feel compelled to respond...

You say that you only 'are able to' pursue professional, senior talent with a high level of skill and management experience...

Does that sound like someone who needs help finding a job? Are you insane?

Yeah, let me go work my way up and become a high-powered executive professional, then I'll come to your no-name company and see if you can't find me some work.

Is questioning a potential employer's sanity a surefire way to be reconsidered?

Also, thanks to Mary Beth Saburn, who sent us this odd response to a courteously worded rejection letter. (Applicants needed 10+ years of experience — he had two, in the wrong field.)

"Oh yea? Any idiot can do that job. It's over rated and over paid. Just like any political job, they get paid a lot of money to do nothing, when a retard could do the job. The only thing is that a retard should get paid more to do the job, because the retard wouldn't screw the work up."

A designer sent us a link to his online portfolio. The first sample we looked at had five typos in the first sentence. Since the work was graphically very creative, we urged him to proofread his work for maximum effect. We got this response:

Before emailing me back and trashing my work, please take a second to... notice the word COMPS, as in the word composition, as in not ready to be sent out to the viewing public.

[Editor's note: Gee, I thought we were the viewing public. Anyway, he continues:]

Again, I am interactive artist and designer, not a proofreader. The next time you feel like "deflating" someone's balloon, try looking at the entire website before making any quick assumptions.

Our fault. We forget that artists are exempt from the rules, since people stunned by beauty will simply not notice illiterate gibberish.

Finally, welcome to the age of YouTube, where we just got our first ever Cover Video From Hell. An email linked us to a video of a jobseeker in sunglasses and sweatshirt, who says:

"Hi. This is not just another commercial 'cause I'm openly saying what I'm trying to sell. And that is something unique. That is me. I make slogans for all sorts of advertisements and commercials and even words for catchy tunes. I'm serious, dedicated and low costed. [unintelligible mumbling] to present products from your company, whatever they may be. So engage me. 'Cause I'm a true representative of a new generation. Please don't hesitate and feel free to leave your respectable offers with comments on this page and I will answer to you with my email address. Just imagine what my creativity can do for you. Thank you for listening to my voice, that's a good choice. I can sell an ice to the Eskimos. So respectable and interesting companies, try me out."