• An image created in someone’s mind
• It’s both tangible and intangible characteristics of a product or service that make it unique
• Products that are branded are often chosen over similar products because they somehow have a perceived value of being ‘better’

B. Why Create Corporate Brand?

Creating a corporate brand is one of the most important things for success of a business. A powerful, emotional and inspirational corporate brand name can really give your business a great competitive edge.

Even though brand name is only a part of the corporate branding, a powerful brand name can trigger an emotion or even can fire an imagination. Hence choosing a brand name that reflects the mission, vision and the attitude of the company is the first step to build a good corporate brand image. A good tag line that has a fair bit of punch can really do wonders to your corporate brand. Some of the most important things that nay organization has to consider while trying to go for a branding campaign are:

• Be clear with the message.
• Never go for a single advertising channel
• Go ahead in a very structured process through all those selected advertising channels.
• Study the results of various channels using various marketing mix principles.

If you follow this procedure then it is certain that your brand will get a great corporate branding image, which reflects, in the bottom line of your company.

C. Ways to Come up with the New Corporate Brand Name

Every corporate name has a unique thought process that goes into the making of the name. The corporate name is often the brainchild of the corporate owner or creator and can be any name that the creator finds interesting and thinks is appropriate for the corporate. Here are some of the ways that people have used to come up with their brand name.

Unique Words
There are several brand names which are unique words that are not necessarily related directly to the business arena or the profession.
Common Examples: Adobe, Apple, Amazon

Keywords
Some brand names make use of words which directly give an idea about the business.
Common Examples: Pizza Hut, Burger King

Owner’s Name
Several popular Businessmen have used their own name or in general any other names for their business.
Common Examples: Mercedes, Boeing, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Kawasaki, Kroger, Akai, Black and Decker, Tommy Hilfiger, Nestle

Acronyms
Some brand names make use of acronyms or short forms of one or several words.Common Examples: BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network), FCUK (French Connection United Kingdom.), FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino)

Compound Words
Some people like to combine two related words to form a unique company name, which may not be necessarily a valid word.
Common Examples: Microsoft, Compaq, ebay, FedEx, Finnair, Hotmail, Intel,Manugistics , PetroBras, Qualcomm, Skype

Non-English Words
Many business names have their origin in varied languages like Chinese, Spanish, Sanskrit and so on.
Common Examples: Daewoo ( Means ‘great universe’ in Korean), Eidos (means ‘species’ in Greek) Nike (Greek Goddess of Victory), Sanyo (Means ‘three oceans’ in Japanese), Sony (From the Latin word ‘sonus’ meaning sound), Volvo (Means ‘I roll’ in Latin), Volkswagen (Means people’s car in German)

Wrong Spellings
There are some business names that are words which have been intentionally mis-spelled to make the names sound more interesting and catchy.
Common Examples: Flickerr, Google, Topix, Zooomr

In general a business name should be catchy, simple to spell and easy to pronounce. It is always good to keep things clean and simple.

PART ONE

I was thinking of how should I conduct a successful brainstorming, which requires more than a bunch of people sitting in a room. I need a brainstorming technique to get the creative juices flowing so that even the most reticent participants feel free to contribute. Usually we keep an ordinary approach by doing a brainstorming session where the group members are communicating directly in the same room.

One good reference of how should brainstorming goes is from the book of The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from Ideo, America’s Leading Design Firm. Wrote by Tom Kelley, a general manager of Ideo Product Development, one of the world’s premiere product-development firms. Kelley points out that a poorly planned brainstorming session could cause more harm than good. That’s why Ideo follows strict rules for sparking good ideas. At Ideo, idea-generation exercises are “practically a religion,” Kelley says.

Some are simple truths: Morning meetings work best; 3 – 10 participants should take part; and cookies always spur creativity. Some, like those outlined below:

1. Sharpen the focus
2. Write playful rules
3. Number your ideas
4. Build and jump
5. Make the space remember
6. Stretch your mental muscles
7. Get physical

Thus when brainstorming rules apply, that means (1) we are trying to get as many ideas on the table as possible, and (2) we will come back as a collective group later and sort, organize and judge the ideas. But the two stages are kept distinctly separate.

Each person has to be very careful in an in-person meeting to suppress the judging and idea evaluation parts of themselves when brainstorming rules apply, in order to not ruin the creative idea generation spark that is kindled within other people.

I do have an interesting working environment. While I am in Jakarta office, my General Manager is in Hongkong, and some of our clients. Sometime we need to do skype call or phone call to discuss about the project.  But sometime this media is not suffice or adequate enough for any brainstorming session. Then this question will follow, when we can’t be together, but we still need some ideas and we have to keep still the brainstorming rules, how do we translate the guidelines of brainstorming but not in a usual place, such as virtual space?

To be continued…

Bajoy

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Unique and effective marketing tools, these high quality, custom communication pieces, created for your specific business, firm or non-profit organisation, help you retain and grow your client or membership base. They are differentiators in a competitive marketplace, setting you apart and keeping you “top of mind” through lifestyle, relationship marketing.

2. Why publish a custom magazine?

Custom publishing build brands, creates a buzz, reaches new clients, strengthens existing relationships, breaks through the clutter and results in a dynamic print presence. It educates, informs, entertains, and builds rapport by providing valuable content of genuine interest to your target audience.

The Custom Publishing Council reported in 2005 that the custom publishing business is booming, growing faster than any other form of print media right now – doubling to a US$ 48 billion market since 1999.

3. What explains the dramatic growth?

Custom publishing, unlike any other medium, is based on gaining permission from the customer; and, absent any permission, a promotional message is just another interruption, which people don’t want to deal with anymore. Custom publishing has expanded dramatically because of the medium’s ability to connect a company with its target audience on a regular basis.

4. How often should I publish?

Most establishments consider publishing from two to six times per year, to keep topics fresh and current. Readers look forward to receiving their next issue.

5. Why use LEAP and not create it myself, in-house?

You are the “Publisher” with a staff of professional journalists, editors, writers, photographers, layout designers and proofreaders at your disposal under LEAP supervision, with minimal investment of your time and money. After all, your primary focus is on your core mission, not producing magazines.

6. What kind of investment are we talking about and how do LEAP rates compare with advertising in newsstand and publications?

Pricing starts at approximately HK$ 90,000 for 10,000 copies of a 32-page standard edition which includes project conception, research, writing, a photo shoot, editing, proofreading, layout, design, three review cycles, printing and drop – shop delivery.

In comparison, standard one time insertion full page adverts for newsstand publications are as follows:

7. Is there a way to offset the cost?

Many establishments solicit ads, typically from their suppliers or members. Some even make a profit from their magazine!

8. How is the magazine distributed?

• Mailing to customer, membership or prospect lists
• Hand out at trade shows or conferences
• Give to clients with check, bill or order fulfillment
• Suppliers’ customer lists or credit card members
• Neighborhood shops or similar “premium products”
• Insert in local newspaper

Magazine perform best overall

Actions taken after viewing video ads

Percent (%) of 20 studies in which Purchase Funnel Metrics were positively influenced by medium.

Note: Not all studies included each purchase funnel metric for every medium.
Source: Marketing Evolution, 2006

Print ads led at driving “actionable” web traffic

Made purchase after conduction an online search

Offline sources that drive qualified traffic to websites

Source: Jupiter Research, 2007

Magazine users have grown over the past five years

A Five-year Trend in Media Usage

Source: Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI) Spring 2004 – Spring 2008

For more information on custom publishing, simply email us as at: info@leapdesign.biz