Thursday, June 26th, 2008...9:05 am
Do brands need intimacy to be developped?
Google recently changed is favicon. The way they managed this change is very interesting because they implicate their “customers” in their creative process. That is very new!
In a classical company, a brand agency would have made some proposition of logo declination to the marketing or communication department and they would have make some tests or focus groups to choose a solution. And then (not a big event it is just a declination) a brand book send to “collaborators” and graphics instructions and budget indications to manage the cost of the evolution.
Google, has just jumped over the branding agency step by organizing a competion with their customers. And they even allow themself to test some icons “live”.
This process is very interesting in how they include their clients in their corporate culture. That highlights two points of the internet nature :
- the agility and the zero cost whith which you can move your brand design
- the community spirit that live in web users. I mean every web users feel being part of a movement.
Thus, the challenge that face every brand now is really to create a community and to find some ways to imply it in the inner brand culture.
4 Comments
June 26th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Thanks to “the community spirit” one of the biggest company of this age is having thousands of designers working for free but for glory. Well done!
June 27th, 2008 at 6:47 am
@sam : As a former member of a brand design company I regret that too. We all can see that this system is not well balanced yet. Google (and Cie) will have to find a way to balance it…
June 27th, 2008 at 9:03 am
This rings a bell. It’s called consumer co-creation, and many brands are now exploring this approach. If I remember correctly, Coke organized a co-creation (or Coke-creation!) campaign with a competition for consumers to create their own ads and upload them on Youtube. Another example was Brand Obama which was recently boosted by co-creators uploading their own songs and videos on yeswecan.com
June 27th, 2008 at 10:00 am
That’s great! I did not know about the coke consumers competition. I think those phenomenon will increase a lot. It is such a difference for consumer to feel being part of a project rather than a passive target between 25-30, male, earning from 35K$ to 50K$… And the internet allow this so easily.
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