Communication and Color Strategy

The main goal in difficult economic times such as these is to take the opportunity to build a stronger entity; one that will enjoy significant success as the market turns positive. Communication with your stakeholders is a key component of this building.

I have learned from a failed start-up that the lack of good timing on communication can, in hindsight, be problematic when market forces change. I have also learned that a solid, well-defined, well thought out and well-executed corporate identity carried through all communication materials instills the confidence in potential partners and customers that we understood our own business and would deliver as promised.

This communication must be done both visually and verbally and it needs to be carried through all initiatives. Here are three strategies that you can help you accomplish this:

1. Create and maintain an updated corporate identity and web presence
The look and feel of a web site tells a lot about a company. Does it communicate trust? Does it show that you take pride in your messaging and have invested in it? If you have made the investment, it demonstrates confidence that these tough times will pass and that you will be stronger for it as a company. If you have not made the investment, it has the exact opposite effect; it communicates a lack of conviction and focus.

2. Connect this corporate identity to your verbal communications
The choice of color, texture, imagery and messaging all come together to form your corporate identity. The benefits of a confident verbal message and consistent communication with stakeholders can be lost if the website looks outdated and if the logo appears to have been designed a decade ago. Be sure that your stakeholders hear, see and feel the confidence.

3. Make effective use of graphic elements
Graphic elements are key in communicating your message to your audience. They speak by themselves about your company, vision and goals.

White space: Play it smooth. Know when to cover it with information and when to leave it blank. Your audience will only want to hear so much at any given time.

Contrast: Play it strong. Use it to organize and lead your readers through the page. Make the reading process smooth so your audience does not have to spend any additional visual effort, particularly when reading on-line.

Color: Play it smart. This is your most powerful tool. Colors have direct associations and each color communicates something different. It's not just about what color you like, but about the color that represents your product or service best, and communicates with your audience most effectively.

I can tell you from day-to-day experience in multiple roles in multiple companies, that those businesses that understand their markets deeply and who are able to communicate effectively on a budget -both visually and verbally- are putting themselves in a strong position now for the coming economic turn-around.

Green For All in the New Yorker

"Green For All is a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty."

DESIGN about TOWN honored to have worked with Green for All in the development of their logo and identity in Fall 2007. Little did we know at the time that Van Jones and Green For All would be making waves on the world stage. And we have a feeling that 2009 is going to be a banner year for Green For All!

The latest big press is a New Yorker article called "Greening the Ghetto: Can a remedy serve for both global warming and poverty?" by Elizabeth Kolbert on January 12, 2009.

One particular point of pride for DESIGN about TOWN is that the author used the logo that we developed (along with Van and the staff at Green For All and The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights) to describe the purpose and mission of Green For All. It is always our goal to be descriptive when working on a brand and/or graphic identity project. We are glad that the purpose was served in this instance.

Great job Van Jones and Green For All. Keep it up!

DESIGN about TOWN at the Crunchies

The Crunchies are a tech and start-up awards ceremony presented by TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and GigaOm.

DESIGN about TOWN was there in full force and had a great time at the ceremony and especially at the MySpace Music afterparty. Check out the photos below.

There is a good play-by-play post over at ZDNet.
See the pro-photos over at picapp.com, seach "Crunchies."

Part of the DESIGN about TOWN team and Brian Compton with MC Hammer.

Ad and Marketing Spend to Grow in 2009?

A survey of the 1,200 attendees at the annual Masters of Marketing Conference put on in October by the Association of National Advertisers 2008 showed some interesting, perhaps even contrarian, trends. A partial list of the questions asked and their resposnes is show below.

In short Marketers expect to spend the same or more on marketing and media in 2009 as they did in 2008. Their favorite media for this spend (in order) are: Social Media, grassroots, 30 second spots and web advertising. This definitely shows a continuing trend away from newspapers, magazines and tv toward the web, however, there are varying opinions as to where in Social Media to invest. While YouTube and Facebook were the favorite destinations among the attendees, "None" was the overall winner when they were asked "What is your preferred social media site for driving brand growth?"

This is definitely a positive sign for the market and one that highlights the strategy we discussed in a previous post where we argues that now was an excellent time to communicate with our customers and constituents and really make inroads vis-a-vis our competitors.

Survey results below:

How will you adjust your current marketing and media plans to account for the recent downturn in the financial markets?

• Spending will be constant / marketing mix will be reallocated (33%)
• Surprisingly, we will spend more (27%)
• Spending will be reduced (33%)
• No changes, we will keep everything status quo (8%)

As you look toward 2009, how much do you plan to spend on marketing vs. 2008?

• Increase spending more than 10% (26%)
  
• Increase spending less than 10% (13%)
  
• Hold stable (28%)
  
• Decrease spending less than 10% (14%)
  
• Decrease spending more than 10% (19%)

Which discipline will offer your brand the largest opportunity for growth?

• Traditional 30-second spots (17%)
• One page advertisements in a newspaper/magazine (7%)
• Web advertising (16%)
• Social media integration (28%)
• Direct Marketing (7%)
• Grassroots, viral public relations (19%)
• Radio (5%)
  

What is your preferred social media site for driving brand growth?

• None (32%)
• YouTube (20%)
• facebook (18%)
• All (12%)
• LinkedIn (10%)
• MySpace (6%)
• Twitter (3%)

The Next Women

Suw Charman-Anderson has a blog post up today about women in tech.

She mentions all the women speakers at Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin including our own Solana.

Have a read.

Now is The Time to Make Time

About 15 years ago I took a road trip with my brothers and as we made our way up the highway, making good time but trying not to speed too much, we passed a Highway Patrol who had someone pulled over on the side of the road. I looked over to my brothers as I stepped on the gas and said "now is the time to make time". We all understood that the road ahead would be clear of speed traps and patrols for a good while.

I think that that is a perfect analogy for where we are right now in the current US economy. If your company has a good cash position then now is definitely the time to make time. Now is the moment to double down on opportunities. The talent pool is suddenly flush meaning that the cost of talent will decrease. Competition that is leveraged may not survive, opening up sales opportunities. Customers are looking to their providers to be sure that they will be around and continue to be their partner.

So, what exactly can be done? We Believe that Communication and Marketing are key factors of success during these interesting times.

1. Invest in your corporate communications, marketing and sales. While customers will take longer to buy and may buy less in the short term, I believe that many of them are looking for strategic relationships that will help them not only survive this downturn but to come out healthy, strong and ahead of the pack.

2. Communicate with your customers. Let them know that you will be around. Let them know that you are not only thinking about your own business but theirs as well. Rework contracts if necessary to the mutual benefit of both.

3. Work with your customers on their communication plan with their customers. Help them instill confidence in their customers the same way you are working with them.

4. Be visible. Build your image. Make sure that your are known to your audience. This is both visual and visceral. A company that retreats into its shell during these times will likely see its market position erode. This can be done cost effectively and creatively.

5. Consider scaling back the size of service providers, rather than the scope of your marketing and sales efforts. There are plenty of small and medium sized ad agencies, PR firms, marketing firms and Design houses that provide excellent product at competitive price points.

There is a lot more to be done on the cost side of the equation and operations in order to build a strong operation over the next 18 months. I have outlined some marketing and communications options that I believe to be valuable to the enterprise that wants to come out of these interesting times ahead of its competition.

New BART Website

Click here to visit the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Website

I ride it everyday, so I keep in touch with their interactive presence. Also, being a design firm, we appreciate their new look and feel.

I like the new design, UI and functionality. The brown is a great addition to the brand color palette. The angled edges are an unexpected but smooth twist to the Web 2.0 rounded corners that everyone loves. The photos have a candid and real feeling to them too. They rotate every day or so.

The local culture or event feature is a good motivator. The BartTV is well produced and organized. They have a nice newsletter called myBART, that I imagine will become a full social networking where they can provide data based on your frequent searches and other activity. RSS feeds, email alerts, widgets...all of the Web 2.0 staples.

Great job BART!

I found another blog review of this site here.
...and another here.
....eccolo qua.

The iPhone app is top notch too. The design is not that great, but the functionality and the usability is great.