Every brand needs an identity. A talking point. Something that distinguishes it from the rest. Do you know what sets you apart from your competitors? What makes you unique and great? Check out this short video where our CEO and brand strategy guru Peter Getman talks about what makes a brand special, and why it’s important to have an agency that speaks “you”.

By Peter Getman

If you haven’t yet, then “We’re starting TODAY” is the only right answer.

When was the last time you were compelled to modernize your brand’s marketing? When the World Wide Web was born? Remember your first website? Was it a KILLER website? Probably not … for most brands it took five generations of websites to meet expectations if they are even considered met today.

I remember when we built the first five websites for dozens of brands.

Each time, we got to do so because we identified new delivery mechanisms, mediums and digital practices that our client’s competitors had not yet discovered. If we hadn’t been ahead of the curve, their competitor’s agency would have been.

We’ve always been early. MicroArts Creative Agency purchased New Hampshire’s first Mac workstation for $14,000 in 1989. MicroArts.com must be one of the older URLs in New Hampshire having gone live in March of 1995. Our curiosity fuels our ability to consistently help our clients capitalize on the next big trend in brand marketing (hint).

So when did companies start getting websites right? It certainly wasn’t early. In the old days it was simply one-way communication from your brand to its target consumer cultures. The only way these consumers could find your site was if you specifically begged them visit as part of your advertising. Google wasn’t born yet and SEO was far from being an acronym anyone understood. It shouldn’t have been so hard to get it right. Right?

Heck, most eventually figured out how to work within the confines of enabling technologies. After a number of years we somehow pried the web site keys from the chief technology officer and chief information officer and turned them over to the chief marketing officer. This took place after an odd period when software programmers were forced to take on the role of website designers. And finally – following the stress of WAY too many go-live dates missed – the actual content on the website was properly funded and resources (plural) were allocated. Remember when the marketing director started writing the copy for a site, the week before the launch date? It was probably the most writing they had done since they completed English 101 as a college freshman.

You get the point. For most, it was a sh*t show that went on for WAY too long.

This wasn’t the time for technology, websites or marketing to evolve to meet business needs. It was the time when businesses needed to evolve to accommodate the new world of digital marketing. Websites had become the front door of their business. Open 24/7/365, it’s where the first stories were told and where customer purchasing decision were initiated.

CEOs hear me, WE’VE MOVED THE FRONT DOOR!

In fact … there are millions of them.
And many of these doors come with “opinions” built in them.

Your front door(s) is still where the first stories are told, but it now takes place on the social mediums where your consumers observe, learn, share, socialize, inspire, react, like, love and buy. It is your consumers who will be initiating most of the stories and leading the conversation. The consumers are influencing one another at an unprecedented rate and writing a new chapter in marketing history.

With all this change in our business, comes opportunity. So may the best brand win and I believe they will.

I think it’s awesome.

Modernizing can truly be at the core of your brand’s next differentiation strategy.

So start here:

1. Reallocate your 2011 budget significantly for 2012.
2. Start the agency review process next week.
3. Hire an agency that has the experience to guide the transformation of your business from the bottom-up to sync with escalating consumer expectations of your brand’s communications.

Which agency?

• If not the MicroArts team, hire the right agency. **
• Hire an agency out in front that has the experience to guide YOUR BUSINESS TO BE READY.
• Hire an agency with a reputation for teaching you. ***
• Hire an agency with a proven creative process disciplined by best practice principles for every modern marketing discipline they offer.
• Hire an agency to lead the integration of all marketing with a hub laced with social media amplification.
• Hire an agency with a team that wants to kick the living snot out of your competition.

Almost lastly, to my fortune 5000 friends and brand managers – you need to update your brand book right now. Your brand’s voice in social media (SoMe) is the new first three chapters of your brand book. Your brand will soon be “handled” by a 100 times more people than ever before and therefore the guide to do so must mature into a dynamic, living, breathing section of your brand book.

It’s the next generation brand book that guides your brand’s voice in social media with the protocol and methodology to scale with confidence to the demands of your modernized consumer.

Three years ago, I challenged myself with this vision and encourage you not to wait five generations to get it right.

PS: Hiring the college intern to do social media is a really stupid idea. It’s the voice of your brand and it’s VITAL that they are trained to communicate and amplify it.

** Our clients are growing fast, so we’ve grown to support them. At the moment, we only have room for one new client that is ready to modernize and thus position itself for fast growth.
*** If you only have your thumb on it, you need more thumbs. It won’t be long before your competitors have dozens of employees, trained and ready to seed, join and inspire conversations where your customers are making decisions today.

Be sure to check out Part II of this post here:
24 Reasons Social Trends Are Driving Leading Brands to Modernize

It is time for your brand to get emotional.

Consumers are emotional creatures. Their decision to buy one brand over another is more visceral than cerebral. They want to feel like they are making purchasing decisions that align with and better their lives.

So exactly why is it that so many brands are barraging consumer’s minds with gobs of feature/benefits messaging? Why not simply entice me with one primary reason to buy that simplifies my decision?

These questions surfaced recently when I researched pet food brands and realized that the vast majority have a lot to say but fail to appeal to that which makes us human – our emotions. It’s frustrating that big brand packaging is riddled with strategic messaging and positioning tactics. It’s a buckshot approach to branding that makes products less distinct, overly complicated and ultimately less understandable to consumers.

(psst: It appears that pet food brand managers are more concerned with what category the retail buyer considers them in ¾ as opposed to “the single unique reason why I’ll just have to buy it for my dog.”)

Position your brand to resonate with a single correlating emotion. It’s about aligning your brand with what your target demographic WANTS to feel or ASPIRES to be. Brand to a single aspiration to feel better, healthier, safer, sexier, tougher, cleaner, smoother, happier, thinner, richer, smarter or faster.

If you tell a brand’s story that captures your consumer’s feelings, you’ll naturally stand out on the shelf as the right fit for them. It’s the emotional ROI a brand promises the consumer before they buy.

It’s vital to introduce this story with the brand’s Why-to-Buy statement (WTB) – a single clear, concise and memorable statement that your consumer can read on your packaging when standing in the middle of the store aisle up to six feet away.

How you tell this story to the consumer is often referred to as the “big idea”.

The idea must first be capable of cutting through the noise of competing brands and capture the attention of time-challenged consumers. It must also resonate enough to convince them to try your brand’s new promise of value rather than buy their known and preferred brand, which is often sitting right next to your brand on the shelf.

Out of 17 brands I reviewed at this show, only 5 brands use strategy that capitalizes on these best-practice brand principles.

Happy Friday everyone! Don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend!

This week we featured four game-changing Ubiquity contributors via Twitter:

Peas of Mind. Healthy Branding for Small Fries
Ubiquity. Tag—suddenly you’re not it
Nemo Equipment. Innovation is a pitched battle
Sanuk Footwear. Remember the point of point of purchase

We will be sharing featured Ubiquity brands every Friday so stay tuned by subscribing to our blog via email or RSS !

Think Big,

–Team Ubiquity

This week we featured four game-changing Ubiquity contributors via Twitter:

Dairy Queen.  Serving up sweet memories.

ThinkGeek. And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth.

Junta42: Pitch your niche.

We will be sharing featured Ubiquity brands every Friday so stay tuned by subscribing to our blog via email or RSS !

Think Big,
–Team Ubiquity

Many brands talk about sustainability as part of the position and message.  Since the beginning, Stonyfield has proactively sought new ways to further these initiatives.  With this announcement, Stonyfield is changing the game a bit.  While many consumers do their part by recycling post-consumption, Stonyfield has attacked this from a pre-consumption angle.  This is a paradigm
shift from the blue and green recycle bins.

And, it is not unexpected.  The Stonyfield brand is known for sustainability.  This, perhaps, helps position them as truly innovative.

Stay tuned – their page is in development.  Follow us so you can read more about Stonyfield’s successful moments that have led them to success.

By: Lizzie Ormiston
Director of MicroArts Ubiquity

This week we featured four game-changing Ubiquity contributors via Twitter:

World’s Best Cat Litter™: Buy the Best. Or Smell the Rest. ™
ChacoUSA: Fit for Adventure
OgoSport:  Leave a little playroom in your brand
World Series of Poker:  Are you all in?
Lemonade: Turning Momentum into a Movement
MicroArts: Own It

We will be sharing featured Ubiquity brands every Friday so stay tuned by subscribing to our blog via email or RSS !

Think Big,

–Team Ubiquity

We were having one of those conversations the other day – about trendy items that we wish we had dreamt up.

Take WebKinz™.  Cute, collectible.  While they appear to be just another stuffed animal, their creators had a bigger idea.  They built an online community of pets and their owners.  For many kids, this is their first social media experience.  They can buy gifts for their friends.  They can chat.  They celebrate birthdays.

And, kids help spread trends.  When a brand does it right, they create a space where kids interact.  Their simple desire to play along can help a brand become ubiquitous.

Do I wish I had thought of that?  You bet.  But alas, I am now the mother of about a dozen furry, admittedly cute, stuffed animals – all of which are rated on their happiness, hunger and health.

What big idea is out there you wish you had thought of?

By: Lizzie Ormiston
Director of MicroArts Ubiquity

Todi: For those who beat their feet.
Bamboo Bottle Company:  Products that speak volumes about themselves.
OhMiBod:  Make love to Mick Jagger, Bono, Pink? No problem.
Anna Street:  ROI: it’s in the customizable bag!

We will be sharing featured Ubiquity brands every Friday so stay tuned by subscribing to our blog via email or RSS !

Think Big,
–Team Ubiquity

We love feedback, so please send us your thoughts ubiquity@microarts.com .  Happy viewing.