IF YOUR BUSINESS WERE A COLOUR? - Branding TIPS from Pudding Creative

If you are launching a new business or, brand or if you are refreshing an existing one,  there are 3 main factors which can shape the way your brand or corporate identity,  is perceived visually.

1. colour

2. typology (font)

3. graphic design (logo or wordmark)

Understanding what your branding choices will tell your customers about you is as crucial as it is deciding what you want to tell your customers about you in the first place. Once you have established 'who you are' being able to represent this 'visually' is paramount.  Of the 3 elements, colour is the major factor, because it  also 'colours' the other 2 aspects and will be applied in every situation that your brand appears.

HOW TO USE COLOUR

Colour is divided into three primary colours: red, blue and yellow. When viewed as a colour wheel these are further subdivided into  a total of 16 equal segments, from which you can create every color possible by using different combinations of different quantities of the 3 primary colours. 

To be able to create a successful brand identity it is as much the combination of colours which you choose as it is the first or main colour selection and it is this palette which will reflect your business.

MONOCHROMATIC - not referring in this context to black and white,  a monochromatic choice for colour combinations uses different tones of one of 16 colour segment such as a selections of reds from solid red throughout to almost black. Monochromatic palettes are a clean and sophisticated choice.

COMPLEMENTARY  -  uses colours from segments directly facing each other across the wheel for example bright orange and royal blue, these are 'opposite' colours in the spectrum. They create bold and eye-catching combinations.

ANALOGOUS - uses colours from two or more adjacent colour sections such as yellow, orange, red. This is development of the monochromatic concept and can be very powerfully subtle

TRIADIC - uses three evenly spaced colour segments from the wheel , like the spokes of a bicycle, the most basic example of which are 3 primary colours used in combination,  red, green and blue.

BLACK & WHITE -  White light is a combination of all the colors of the spectrum ( the tiny dot at the centre of the wheel) and black is the absence of all light.  It is possible to have an entirely black and white 'colour' scheme which can be very striking however these are not strictly 'colours' so often they play supporting roles.  

GREYSCALE -  it is also possible to choose shades of black & white as your corporate 'colours' but generally a greyscale pallete is one which is added to your brand identity to describe how your fully coloured brand shown appear in the event that your corporate material needs printed or displayed in black & white.

What colour is your business?

For more information about how to BRAND or REBRAND your business,  please contact us at hello@puddingcreative.com

colour wheel image and headings source: http://www.1stwebdesigner.com

Operation Google Chrome

If you listen closely, you'll be able to hear the buzz of something new coming together from Google HQ,  along with the A-Team style  moment where the barn doors fly open and they cry  "CHECK THIS OUT"...

Google has taken the realm of search engines into a new league - it is the police force of the online community and as latest statistics show that 60% of the UK access the internet every day (with Google usage reportedly reaching 90%), that is an awful lot of power.

In general, we have accepted that people no longer "search the internet". Instead we simply "GOOGLE" it.

This isn't to say that Google has reached the topspot without a lot of effort. Google has stayed on the top thanks to the tireless updating and optimisation its own algorithms that produce consistently better search results. Now, in response to all of this hard work, Google has put itself in the indisputable position of RULEMAKER. Any website that does not follow its lead will be punished.

Google Chrome was launched in September 2008 and became instantly popular. It has now been independently verified as the swiftest of all of the internet browsers and has one of the most user-friendly interfaces.

And now, we have the Google Chromebook. Not only does Google provide the software, but they are quite keen to make sure that your hardware is up to scratch too!
But why do Google feel that it is necessary to have their own notebook? Well, if ALL of life revolves around the internet, why do you need anything else? Let's just make it quicker, easier and much more beautiful. This simplification of "e-life" means that internet access and searching is quicker than ever (8 second start-up) and virus risk is greatly reduced. It also includes apps for contacts, calendars, music, photos and text editing. And should you ever lose your Chromebook, all of your information will still be stored and can immediately be accessed from a different notebook.

So, what do the reviews say? Is this a step too far for Google? Well, no, the power of an established brand can never be underestimated. And this is a good example of a brand flexing its ample muscles at the  growing number of people who 90% of the time,  do little outside of their email, facebook, twitter or apps. But we Puddingers couldn't function without our other supporting programs as presumably all design based companies will say, so we will be applauding this ballsy launch from afar, and wait to see how it develops.

For more information about the power of the brand, please contact Pudding Creative.
Tel: 667714346 Email. hello@puddingcreative.com Web. http://www.puddingcreative.com/

"How to find ‘friends’ and influence them" : ONLINE PROPERTY BRANDING

According to a new study, the Number One reason that ‘wealthy’ or ‘affluent’ consumers connect with a new brand is because they are following the lead of their ‘online’ friends. It stands to reason that if a friend indicates their loyalty to a brand by ‘liking’ a branded page or participating in a contest or promotion, then that user's friend will also notice this and may follow suit as they have similar likes or dislikes; creating a series of similar but unique links which develop into a purchasing pattern. Quite naturally, people are prone to be influenced by their friends whom they trust, (virtual or otherwise) more than they will be by any form of manufactured advertising or commercial communication.  So how can we find friends and influence them?

(Text source : Unity Marketing “Affluent Consumers and How They Use the Internet, Social Media, and Mobile Devices” 2010)

As investments become harder to source and pre-sales are more important to project funding than ever before,  a brand endorsement or an endorsement by a significant voice, are becoming crucial to build product credibility. As a result, digital marketplaces are developing into the ideal launch pads for the branded property industry. For property sales and investment,  online marketing with a brand will increase the credibility and recognition needed to be heard within the swirling sea of superlatives and ever increasing number of facts. Some individual tweeters for example, can alone command a following greater than a small country which reiterates the fact that a brand endorsement of any type via this platform is undeniably powerful and has an infinite result (good or bad).

Q1. So how do you find your new online ‘friends’ and then gain their endorsement? 

A. Audi held a ground-breaking online contest during the super bowl which led to hundreds of thousands of social media mentions of #AUDI through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. A second example is Canadian Club Whisky, which almost doubled its Facebook fan population from 16,000 to 30,000 following an online campaign. Or in lieu of actually being popular or writing creatively  to legitimately attract friends or followers, Twitter in now 'selling' groups of followers by the 500, so you can just buy your friends! Which leads of course to the next question: 

Q2. from a business point of view,  is having these ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ actually going to make you money or is it just a lot of noise?

A. Twitter themselves use a great example of how their of their site can be utilized for business: Best Buy who developed @twelpforce had provided over 19,500 answers to customer inquiries by 2009,  the time and cost of otherwise providing such a response would be inconceivable – an undeniable account of intuitive business thinking. But the clearest example that uses a powerful combination of online marketing and  property branding comes from Donald Trump. He, himself, an international Brand,  now has an international branded property development company which exceeds all others:

Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai luxury apartments:

OVER 62% OF PRE-SALES started from 

AN ONLINE SEARCH 

resulting in sales figures which overtook the then current record by 15% which was held by commercially branded property - Armani Residences in Burj Dubai, to record prices of 12,000 dirhams (approx US$3,260) per sq.metre

‘Digital’ friends can be both an asset and a liability. Within a chaotic forum where brands from all corners of the industry are rushing to achieve a presence on multiple channels, it is quite common for progress to be made without a strategic plan and consequently this results in no time or know-how to maintain the initial online content and network of 'friends'. This is far worse than never having had a presence at all, as it leads to a habit of no-response which ultimately loses creditability – the very thing that the branded properties set out to achieve.  So 'befriend' with gusto but be sure to remember that :-

‘Sharing is caring, caring leads to loyalty, but boredom encourages infidelity’.

PROPERTY BRANDING SPECIALIST AND MARKETING CONSULTANTS : Building Irresistible Brands   www.puddingcreative.com  

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