BY SHAWN HAZEN
DESIGN DIRECTOR

How often have you chosen a deodorant or cold medicine based on which package looked best? What you’re doing is judging quality based on the design of the package.

There are numerous examples of this throughout the supermarket. Another good one is wine. Once you’ve decided you’ll spend $15 and want red, it’s up to the design to sell you. You’re not consciously scrutinizing the type style or examining the production techniques, you’re just looking for something that has, to put it un-academically, the right vibe.

Design is the most visible, and therefore the most accessible, manifestation of a brand. Design affects us on both emotional and rational levels, whether we're aware of it or not. Bad design makes a company feel cheap or not credible. It may create a feeling of vague distrust or actually cause the consumer to consciously stay away. In the best examples of good design, the design itself is not conspicuous. It supports the message, strengthens positive associations, connotes strength and reliability, and makes information clear.

DIFFERENTIATION BY DESIGN
Many companies think credibility is achieved only through looking like the other brands in a category. Let’s pick up our packaging examples again. The aesthetic we expect on cold medicine wouldn’t be appropriate on a wine bottle. Or would it?

A savvy brand can exploit preconceived notions about what a certain product is supposed to look like. Consider the hip, new wines or lower-cost wines that are using modern typography, bright colors, and fun illustrations on their labels. These wines are using design to appeal to a consumer with a different lifestyle and a different relationship to their product. And companies that maximize the impact of design use it to develop their image from top to bottom. Some favorites:

Volkswagen has always been smart about how to use design. Beyond the innovative design of the cars themselves, VW has carefully crafted all aspects of its image. In the 60s, they pioneered the advertising approach to feature their product on a white background with a self-deprecating headline ("Lemon.") set in simple, friendly type. This style has influenced Apple and others, and VW still uses it to great effect today. This smart attitude and simple approach is apparent in every aspect of their brand.

Target has also leveraged design into a competitive advantage. Whether it’s their marketing, the look of their stores, or the celebrity-designer appeal of their proprietary home and fashion products, design positions Target as credible and higher quality, as well as fun. Starbucks is another design success story. They’ve carved out a unique niche as the customer's "third place" (after work and home). The design of Starbucks’ physical space has helped make this possible. If dropped unknowingly into a Starbucks, you’d recognize it immediately. The comfortable yet exotic feel is effective—even to a cynic like me who analyzes these things for a living.

GREAT DESIGN IN THE HEALTH SPACE: WORK TO DO
Brands in the health space are slowly realizing how design can help build their brand and bottom line. In fact, by addressing design at all, a healthcare organization is differentiating itself from the pack.

By developing unique and engaging design solutions, Remedy helps clients break through the clutter and create unique experiences for their customers. For our hospital clients, for example, the biggest opportunity to leverage design is inside the hospital itself: using the facility to communicate the desired brand experience. Consider how a clean, well-lit, and smartly branded parking deck can set the tone for a positive experience…and, by contrast, consider the damage a dreadful parking deck can wreak on an otherwise positive experience. If you take nothing else away from this article, mull over this question: what's your parking deck saying about your brand?

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Not getting through?
Try a new channel.

BY KAREN RAFEEDIE
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR

So what’s a marketer to do? Change. We have. Rather than relying solely on traditional tactics, we now make a habit of tapping into unexpected ways to reach our clients' audiences. For starters, we're now counseling clients to shift roughly half of their print media dollars into new channels, including heavier online advertising and community-based tactics.

But like anything else, the channels you choose must be strategic. They have to make sense for your brand, your marketing objective, and most importantly, your consumer. Example: you don’t want to use branded coffee cups to target pregnant moms. 

MAKING A BREAKTHROUGH
Earlier this year, Remedy launched a campaign for Swedish Covenant Hospital that engaged consumers by allowing them to add their two cents. In addition to traditional media, we put the message into the heart of the community, by distributing sunflowers to morning commuters near the hospital and giving away branded airfresheners to each visitor leaving the hospital parking lot. We also incorporated text messaging into the campaign––the first Chicago hospital to do so—that invited the audience to text what made them feel better.

In terms of online channels, at the risk of stating the obvious, the internet is a critical channel. As standard procedure, we now recommend every client implement a paid search program, so they can be sure to connect with local consumers looking for the product or service they offer.

MORE BANG WITH BUZZ
Besides being a highly effective way to reach the target audience, non-traditional channels (sometimes called 'guerilla' tactics) also have the added benefit of generating buzz and PR coverage (case in point: our Swedish campaign was glowingly featured in the Chicago Sun Times). And buzz can spark highly coveted word-of-mouth advertising––the single most trustworthy form of advertising.*

So, is it time to abandon newspapers and direct mail? No. Traditional media still has its place. The trick today is to find the right balance. And if you're hesitant to try some unexpected approaches, start small. Get your feet wet with a paid search program, and put your message in an unexpected place. But be smart. While recently going through airport security, one Remedite encountered ads for Rolodex placed at the bottom of the gray security bins. Good idea? Only if you don’t mind your product being associated with one of life’s most frustrating experiences.  

*Forrester and Intelliseek, 2007

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The art of being ‘sticky’

Classic client-agency battle: client wants to say three things, agency wants to focus on just one. Rather than battle it out, next time we’ll simply refer our clients to “Made to Stick,” the selection for Remedy’s company-wide book club this summer.

THE GIST
“Made to Stick” sheds light on what makes certain ideas sticky and memorable (i.e., most urban legends) and others forgettable (i.e., most political campaign ads). Brothers and authors, Chip and Dan Heath, bring serious credentials to the table with previous gigs as professors and researchers at Duke, Stanford, and Harvard. Throughout the book they draw upon dozens of social science and cognitive studies to illustrate the principles behind what makes ideas stick. A few of our favorites:

ACHIEVING STICKINESS
• Craft a rock-solid “commander’s intent.” Usually identified by asking: If the audience takes away only one thing, what should that be?

• Beware the “curse of knowledge.” Your audience does not know what you know. Create your message with that in mind.

• Look out for “semantic stretch.” Words that are so overused, they don’t mean anything anymore, i.e., ‘unique,’ ‘quality.’

• And always, keep it simple. Sounds obvious. But complexity is typically the root of forgettable ideas.

WE'RE STUCK
We give “Made to Stick” a big thumbs up. We're referencing it endlessly with our clients, some of whom have even purchased it. (Have they read it yet? Not sure.) Every marketer should read it. It's your turn. Buy it now

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Print likes us, too

Remedy’s branding work for Edward Hospital has been selected to appear in Print magazine’s 2007 Regional Design Annual.

For those of you unfamiliar with the mag, Print is one of the design industry’s most respected publications. We share this distinction with Brian, Jill, and all of our great clients at Edward, who understand the important role design plays in building a brand. Amen.

"5,4,3,2,1" blasts off

Kids in six inner-city Chicago communities are finding themselves inexplicably choosing apples over chips and hopscotch instead of video games ever since the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children’s “5,4,3,2,1” program started working its magic this summer. Remedy developed the branding for the program.

While a campaign to convince kids to embrace healthier habits is nothing new, CLOCC’s program is different thanks to its brilliantly novel approach: use kids to convince other kids to eat better and exercise. Members of CLOCC’s “Go Team”—12 teens from the same six African American and Hispanic neighborhoods —show up at local spots like schools and YMCAs to tout their message to kids ages 5 to 11. The Go Team’s healthy pitch comes in the form of group activities and games, and a cadre of giveaways that Remedy designed, including branded t-shirts, basketballs, and stickers.

We want to keep Topic out of your Trash folder. So tell us how we did with our first outing—what you liked and didn’t, and any topics you’d think we should dissect in upcoming issues.