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12 February 2010 /

iThink, therefore iPad

by Avik Chattopadhyay at 8:36 am 12 February 2010
Filed under: Art, Branding, Luxury

Why is there all this fuss about the new Apple iPad?

It isn’t the first of its kind in the world. Microsoft, Panasonic, HP, Fujitsu and a few others have all done it before. Fujitsu even has a hand held device also called the iPAD!

Apple’s iPad doesn’t have earth-shattering features. It may not be particularly user friendly and the after-sales service may leave a lot to be desired.

So what is all the noise about?

It is the ‘thought’ behind everything Apple does. Every Apple creation has been more than just a device. It’s about benefits as well as features. It’s about the strength of human alignment directly proportional to the length of ownership and experience.

Another simpler way of putting it is that every Apple creation is about the Apple brand. The power within the Apple brand lies in its intuitive ability to gradually build a unique bond with its owner. Not only do you not mind the electronic intrusion into your life you positively adore it. This is branding in its most supreme form.

Interestingly every Apple experience has been designed around the core of Zen Buddhist theology. Steve Jobs is a Zen Buddhist since 1975. He practises it not only in his own life but also in his creations.

These are the definitive, deliberate manifestations which are seen in the Apple brand. They show how the greatest brands can be a powerful manifestation of the human condition.

16 December 2009 /

Season’s Greetings From Saffron.

by Wally Olins at 9:06 am 16 December 2009
Filed under: Identity

We’d like to wish you all, that is clients, partners, suppliers, friends and above all our own people

Merry Christmas.
We’d like to; but we can’t; because we are a global company, miniscule (about 50 people) but global nevertheless. It’s inevitable therefore that many of the people who work for us or with whom we deal aren’t too bothered about Christmas.

They may be Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, or Zoroastrian and so on; or for that matter people of no faith at all. All of them love the holiday season — don’t we all, but their religious affiliations lie elsewhere.

That’s one of the things about being a global company, even a tiny little one like Saffron – you’ve got to learn to watch it.

Happy Holidays everyone!
PS: No offence. Nothing personal.

24 November 2009 /

Branding culture

by Wally Olins at 6:50 am 24 November 2009
Filed under: Branding

The next four or five decades are going to be an important time for cultural branding. Branding has long entered sport (Manchester United), the arts (Tate), music (Vienna Philharmonic) and culture generally in a big way, both for better and worse. For better: because it makes them more professional, more effective and more available. For worse: because it inevitably has the effect of commercialising them.

Huge cultural organizations are increasingly becoming global brands – the Louvre moving into Dubai is an example. Three or four very well known universities now have campuses all over the world. These aren’t campuses in the traditional sense, they are franchises – the word ‘Columbia’ or ‘Harvard’, for instance, will be treated as a franchised brand. Not all of it will be a good thing. But if it means that first rate education or culture can be made more widely accessible , it’s not all bad either. And branding is the means by which it will happen.

Some argue that this will mean an increasingly homogeneous and bland world. This is not true. No matter how globalised the world is or becomes in terms of universities, galleries, or whatever we are talking about today, there will always be new companies, new people, new ideas that pop up. Even the ubiquitous Starbucks is now re-styling many of its outlets as neighbourhood coffee joints with only a small Starbucks endorsement.

So I don’t think we need to worry about a world in which everything is the same everywhere. Like culture itself, successful brands are forever changing and adapting – producing a new experience for their audiences. Cultural organisations that can harness the power of brands will benefit hugely over the coming decades because their brand will clarify what they do and what they stand for to a broad audience. This will provide the means to keep young artists in business, preserve ancient culture for future generations, bring international sport to remote locations and so on. Branding, it could be said, is the greatest gift commerce has given to culture.

26 October 2009 /

Authenticity = success

by Ben Knapp at 6:25 pm 26 October 2009
Filed under: Branding, Identity

This is a call for authenticity. For keeping it real.

We come across too many new brands that don’t feel right for a company we know well. This is because these brands are not authentic. They are manufactured; they have nothing to do with what the company is really about – and too much to do with hyperbole and wanting to impress.

To create an authentic brand, use the bedrock of unique truths, thoughts and beliefs that exist in your organisation. That’s what differentiates it. Work hard and find out which of these are genuinely yours and which could be anyone’s. Once it’s clear which are which – get rid of the fluff and use the rest to guide the work on your brand.

Aspiration and ambition need to play a big part in shaping your brand. Plans for tomorrow are at least as important as today’s reality. But make sure you express goals that suit you, not ones that merely sound good or will please your board.

You and your colleagues have got to take ownership of the brand. That won’t happen unless it’s based on things you genuinely believe in. The more authentic the brand is, the better every one of you will be able to act on it. And the better the chances of seeing positive change for your business.