creative branding & marketing

Web design, graphic design, SEO, SEM and creative brand strategy thoughts to help you gain market share authored by the Metropolis Creative team and industry leaders.
5/18/09
Does Your Brand Have the Power of a Super Villain?
Everyone needs a brand. Super villains decidedly stand out as brand identity czars. Identities are created that are memorable and recognizable in various formats.

As a basic handbook, you can't beat Neil Zawacki's manual, "The Villain's Guide to Better Living." It covers such important topics as how to choose an appropriate lair, how to motivate your minions, and even resume writing tips. Aside from the obviously practical advice in this book, many of the topics help define the villain's personal brand by building on every aspect of their image.

When proper planning isn't done, you can end up more like the aptly named Mystery Men - unclear on who they are, and what they do.

Last year during the writer's strike, Joss Whedon seized the down-time (anyone have any down-time right now?) to write a personal pet-project of his own, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog". We see Dr. Horrible work on his evil laugh, and try to get respect from not only the evil community itself, but from his potential love-interest.


It's interesting that even though Dr. Horrible is a "bad guy", he is branded with "good guy" colors (all white). And the hero Dr. Hammer, who turns out to be arrogant and selfish, wears all black. (Other good villain colors are red, and sometimes neon green).

The design of a villain's costume, logo, and calling card must all be truly evil and impressive. Memorable icons and graphics, contrasting colors, and occasional flair are key to create a powerful brand. Additionally, allies such as business partners and organizations will help give your own brand additional power.

Help your brand to take over the world by:
1) Defining your brand identity
2) Applying your brand to your marketing strategy (evil or not)
3) Listening to your audience and respond to their reaction

PS. Who's your favorite or most feared super villain?

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posted by Michael_Flint at 12:50 PM

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3 Comments:

Blogger Alex_Turnwall said...

The Scarecrow, The Mad Hatter, Raj Al Ghul. But they would be nothing without Moriarty.

May 19, 2009 9:54 AM  
Anonymous Nark said...

Do you feel that your headquarters is appropriately evil enough? As someone who has spent a lot of time plotting from subterranean lairs, I'm not sure being so close to a flower exchange speaks of your inner darkness. Unless of course it is brilliant subterfuge. Then I must applaud your brilliance.

June 5, 2009 3:39 PM  
Anonymous web service development said...

I must say, you have a very nice site!

July 14, 2009 5:48 AM  






5/14/09
Are Your Branding Strategies and Website Design on the Same Page?
Brand strategyProspects and even current clients judge your website when making a buying decision. It could be their first impression or their information source for your news. If your website doesn’t match your brand and marketing strategy, you may be losing customers.

Put your website to a test to see if it matches your messaging. Here’s how:
  1. Does your latest sales/marketing brochure design (or even your business card) match your website design? Are the colors the same? Are the fonts the same? How about dots versus dashes between phone numbers? Do they convey a consistent message about your company, product/services?

  2. Ask someone who is unfamiliar with your company/product to read your homepage and reply with a quick summary of your messaging and how to contact you. Was this person able to easily identify your targeted message, reach you and receive a reply?

  3. Ask a salesperson or company spokesperson to use your homepage and present it’s content to you as if you know nothing about the company. Does the homepage really match your elevator pitch and have a compelling call-to-action?

  4. Make a list of 5 adjectives that describe your targeted audience. If your list includes young, hip, trendy, swank... be sure to have contempo images and slick technology like Flash animation.

In summary, everything you put in front of a customer should have a consistent message. Every ad, every brochure, your website, corporate identity elements, etc. An integrated campaign works wonders when designed professionally by a single designer or agency.

Content is king. Keeping your website updated with fresh, high-quality, informative content positions you as an expert in your field. People want to do business with experts. Moreover, keep your information current. An outdated news page makes one wonder if you are still in business. New content also provides protein for search engine spiders.

A website that is designed with all of your marketing activities in mind will reinforce trust in your capabilities, increases sales and build your brand online.

PS. Don’t have time to put your website to the test? I’ll do it for you. Send me your url.

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posted by Michael_Flint at 8:48 AM

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great tips! It's usually the little details that slip through the cracks. Sounds like you have a good system for finding the problems people often miss.

May 17, 2009 4:47 AM  
Blogger website design,web design said...

Your blog is very nice... i like your blog ....

web design company, web designer, web design India

May 20, 2009 7:57 AM  
Anonymous Bob.B said...

Michael:
Love this post. Wish more design pros understood what you obviously do! You point about brand consistency is particularly resonant. When marketers take care to reinforce their identity - fonts, palette, messaging, design elements - across multiple platforms, they increase the impact of each effort, and amplify reach and frequency. Well done, and I look forward to keeping up with your posts.

June 9, 2009 6:16 PM  
Anonymous Download games said...

Great post. Thanks for the information. Hope this will help me a lot.. more power to your blog..

July 30, 2009 2:22 AM  






5/11/09
Extreme Marketing through Social Media
Social Media Targets AudiencesEveryone knows social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs can drive traffic to your site and help build your brand. And nowadays, every marketing conversation has some component of social media. Last month, my team stepped away from the fodder and physically DID something - face to face.

On April 29th, Metropolis Creative engaged hundreds of marketers through social media by having an Extreme Website Makeover party . This was our most successful marketing effort to date (I founded the company in 1999). We harnessed the power of social media, partnerships, networking and free booze into one brand building and socially engaging campaign that stirred a contagious buzz (before, during and after the event). Nearly 150 marketing professionals came off-line to shake hands and interact by using more than 140 characters.

The campaign served its purpose of strengthening the Metropolis brand, engaging face to face interaction, and also was a helpful experiment in demonstrating how to plan, deliver and measure a social marketing campaign.

Social Media Reach

The campaign’s impact, influence and reach were measured by these tools:

Congrats to American Public Television for being awarded the Website Makeover winner and props co-sponsors SHIFT Communications and RatePoint.


Ready for Extreme Website Makeover 2010! But how can Metropolis make it more extreme…?

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posted by Michael_Flint at 9:50 AM

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1 Comments:

OpenID Prescott Paulin said...

Congrats Michael! You're making wonderful progress and I can't wait to get back into the private sector so I can send some business your way! Hope all is well. I wish you and your wife the best.

Take care,
Prescott

July 8, 2009 5:48 PM  






5/5/09
Feng Shui for your Home(page)
Feng Shui graphic design studioThe Metropolis studio recently got some serious spring-cleaning. There were some painful divorces with historic furniture and relic printers, but on the whole, we ended up with a significantly improved space with (I’d venture to say) significantly improved Feng Shui. Feng Shui, for the skeptical or those weary of anything sounding like something your New Age aunt is into, is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to improve life quality. These days a Google search will lend you hundreds of pages of Feng Shui tips to improve your office, your garden, your apartment or your bedroom with long lists of benefits. But whether or not it holds that an octagonal mirror across from the North-facing window will bring you good fortune, maybe Feng Shui can offer some good advice for your web design.

We’ve adapted four Feng Shui principles to add some positive chi to your web site.
  1. Feng Shui asks that one Always Be Mindful of the State of Your Home[page]. When is the last time you updated your web site? Whether a user gets to you from a blog, from Twitter or from a search engine, does the first page they land on tell your story completely? Being mindful is the first step to a Feng Shui site.

  2. Clear clutter. The biggest take-away for modern interpretations of this ancient art is to clear out the clutter from rooms. This holds for your site: is your navigation intuitive and user-friendly? Are users overwhelmed with buttons and options, or are they drawn to relevant content? We think that sites should be clean, simple and balanced.

  3. According to Feng Shui when you arrange your room it should be done in such a way that you can see anyone who is entering the room. So too, should your website be able to recognize any new or repeat visitors. You won’t need to set up some complex set of mirrors like a Feng Shui house; Google has great (and free!) analytic tools to tell you just who is on your site and how they got there.

  4. Finally, images carry powerful energy in Feng Shui. Their placement and intention makes a great impact in the home. On your site, they put a face to your brand. Make sure they’re unique, representative and that they send the right message to visitors.

Feng Shui wisdom teaches us that nothing is static in the world of energy. And more than ever, we know that nothing is static in the world of web. So, when you do some spring-cleaning this May and bring in some balance and positive energy, consider doing the same for your website.

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posted by Francesca at 4:34 PM

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Adam Pieniazek said...

Cool tips. Not sure how big of a believer in Feng Shui I am but I do think that there's something to be said for a philosophy that has been breed for thousands of centuries and is based off nature. Organic design that takes hints from how we naturally view the world does give us insight into how we should lay out our site(s).

May 6, 2009 2:45 PM  
Anonymous Alex Turnwall said...

Nice analogy. If only we could make websites look like mirrors :)

May 7, 2009 10:15 AM  






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