You’ve started with a product and now you’re trying to attract investors, draw an audience, and most importantly, build a brand. But brands today aren’t about products; they’re about stories. They reflect our personal worlds. They become extensions of our identities and markers of where we belong and what we stand for. And like all great stories, the brands that strike deepest — and stick around longest — are the ones that are crafted to inspire.

Apple isn’t selling computers and smartphones; they’re inspiring simplicity and creative freedom. Adidas isn’t pushing athletic gear and apparel; they’re inspiring style, comfort, and competition.

Brands that inspire spark consumers to aspire — inviting them to invest not just in a product, but in a quality. A way of life. A story they can become part of. So when considering what story your brand should tell, consider the validations of an inspirational approach.

You’ve started with a product and now you’re trying to attract investors, draw an audience, and most importantly, build a brand. But brands today aren’t about products; they’re about stories. They reflect our personal worlds. They become extensions of our identities and markers of where we belong and what we stand for. And like all great stories, the brands that strike deepest — and stick around longest — are the ones that are crafted to inspire.

Apple isn’t selling computers and smartphones; they’re inspiring simplicity and creative freedom. Adidas isn’t pushing athletic gear and apparel; they’re inspiring style, comfort, and competition.

Brands that inspire spark consumers to aspire — inviting them to invest not just in a product, but in a quality. A way of life. A story they can become part of. So when considering what story your brand should tell, consider the validations of an inspirational approach.

According to Michelangelo, sculpting David was simple. All he did was chip away the bits that weren’t David.  

Brands can benefit from the same approach - stripping a brand back to its very essence can help articulate its core qualities in a way that’s real, honest and simple. It’s an approach known as ‘debranding’, and it’s a much-needed response to brand fatigue.

Our world is loud enough as it is. By dialing back the volume on our branding efforts we can craft identities that speak honestly and meaningfully - without having to shout. Because as it turns out, a little bit of branding can go a long way.

According to Michelangelo, sculpting David was simple. All he did was chip away the bits that weren’t David.  

Brands can benefit from the same approach - stripping a brand back to its very essence can help articulate its core qualities in a way that’s real, honest and simple. It’s an approach known as ‘debranding’, and it’s a much-needed response to brand fatigue.

Our world is loud enough as it is. By dialing back the volume on our branding efforts we can craft identities that speak honestly and meaningfully - without having to shout. Because as it turns out, a little bit of branding can go a long way.

Design is art with function: it’s elegantly purposeful. By applying design thinking to creativity, you can create things that make a meaningful difference in the world – and that are specifically crafted for an audience who truly wants them. When you apply that same kind of thinking to business, you get results that go beyond ideas and into the realm of the viable. 

Design is art with function: it’s elegantly purposeful. By applying design thinking to creativity, you can create things that make a meaningful difference in the world – and that are specifically crafted for an audience who truly wants them. When you apply that same kind of thinking to business, you get results that go beyond ideas and into the realm of the viable.

There’s nothing wrong with innovation for innovation’s sake. But the problem comes when you try to grow a business out of something that doesn’t really need to exist. Design thinking reduces this risk – it’s a kind of idea insurance. The fundamental benefit of design thinking is that it ensures that you’re creating things that people actually want. 

Are you making something people want?

Design thinking creates successful brands.

The great thing about frameworks is that they’re translatable, transferable and scalable. The same design thinking approach used to develop a marketable product can be used in developing your business. 

It makes sense, after all – your products arise from the environment that created them. They’re the result of your business, and your business is the result of your products. It’s a symbiotic kind of relationship. The two go hand in hand, building and growing each other. 

All organizations are unique entities with their own philosophies and identities. Some identify these organically over the years, while others efficiently and industriously craft theirs from the get-go. The latter type are the design thinkers. The ones who understand the purpose and function of what they’re putting out into the world – and who build a brand accordingly. And the outcome is a brand that builds back. 

Let’s take The James and Ace hotels. Their dramatic expansion into the boutique hospitality market isn’t just luck and happenstance. Their artfully chosen locations, thematically unified decor and signature amenities result in the provision of a very particular experience being sought after by their savvy guests. They’re offering an experience by design – and that experience gives back to the company through the reiteration of its brand. 

Design is used from concept through to execution to craft a set of consumer expectations – and to ensure that they’re not only met, but met consistently. Because once a brand promise has been broken, that trust is gone. 

But when you have the support of design, those brand promises will be so deeply embedded in your organization that it won’t even be possible to break them if you tried.

Design thinking lets you scale and adapt. 

Design as it relates to visual identity is easy enough to conceptualize. But for businesses that are built entirely upon a foundation of design, the result is far more than just looks – instead, we’re talking about the intersection of form, function and philosophy. 

And when your organization is artfully positioned in the middle of this Venn diagram, you can re-evaluate, refine or even redefine what you stand for, what you do, and how you present it. A business predicated on design thinking is always reflecting on the function and purpose of what it’s putting out into the market. It’s always asking whether it’s making what people actually want. And as the needs of the market change, the business changes, too.

Take peer-to-peer delivery service Postmates as an example. When it launched amidst a crowded field of competitors in 2011, naysayers were bearish about its longevity. But the company’s offering – efficient delivery at the lowest possible price – was designed precisely with the market’s needs in mind. And it has continued to evolve as the market has, offering the new “Plus” and “Unlimited” features as a way of meeting newly arising customer requirements.

The upshot was improved vendor relationships, a larger customer base – and a business that continues to build an ever more sophisticated and granular response to an identified need.

Every business deserves design thinking.

Design is an act of creativity – but an elevated one. It walks the line between want and need, and fills gaps in our lives rather than trying to invent them. 

And when businesses begin to expand their notion of design beyond visual identity and into their underpinning identity and ethos, they’re perfectly positioned to fill those gaps by engineering useful, purposeful solutions to identified needs. 

When intelligent, thoughtful design provides the foundation for what you do, you no longer have to try to convince people to care about what it is you make or offer. Because your entire business model is all about making the things that people actually want.

STARMEN is excited to announce we’ve received a pair of Summit Creative Awards for two unique client endeavors. Our website work garnered both a Bronze and a Silver from SCA's recent cycle. Both of these respective projects encompassed elements of both brand strategy and web design and development, and we’re proud of what we were able to accomplish on behalf of these clients.

STARMEN is excited to announce we’ve received a pair of Summit Creative Awards for two unique client endeavors. Our website work garnered both a Bronze and a Silver from SCA's recent cycle. Both of these respective projects encompassed elements of both brand strategy and web design and development, and we’re proud of what we were able to accomplish on behalf of these clients.

Fueled by a tenacious creative energy, our work as an agency is appraised first and foremost by our clients’ satisfaction. That being said, it is always an added bonus to have our projects well-received by judging panels as this kind of recognition not only validates our clients’ visions, but helps hold our team to a higher standard of design and branding excellence set by the world’s leading industry experts. 

Since 1994, the SCAs have sought “to laud the creative work of less-than-huge SCA Logo agencies, making competition affordable and accessible.” Many other organizations seemingly lean in favor of bigger agencies with bigger allowances, and this sometimes presents insurmountable opposition for smaller ventures competing in the same categories. However, the SCAs seek to honor great work regardless of budget. The SCAs are the first and most prestigious competition of its kind, and submissions hail from all corners of the globe.

One thing’s for certain, though. The Summit Creative Awards serve as proof that sometimes the most captivating work is roused from the most stringent of finances, when lack of fiscal freedom forces creative and development teams to think outside of the box to find solutions that are both groundbreaking and financially conservative. There is indeed something very noble about an agency’s ability to create something spectacular from something very small. As an agency, we’re proud to give our clients the vocal and visual brand presence needed to be heard in today’s cluttered marketplace.

It should come as no surprise that having an idea is one thing, and actualizing that idea is entirely another. Take it from us; many are the things that serve to stand in the way of an idea coming to fruition, and what's more, these obstacles can be the difference between a truly game changing idea that comes to fruition, and one that never sees light outside your office walls. 

Ideas are what drive us forward as a people. They are paramount to progress in art, in science, and in moral society, and that’s why our team at STARMEN is pleased to share its foolproof plan for getting those ideas off the ground!

It should come as no surprise that having an idea is one thing, and actualizing that idea is entirely another. Take it from us; many are the things that serve to stand in the way of an idea coming to fruition, and what's more, these obstacles can be the difference between a truly game changing idea that comes to fruition, and one that never sees light outside your office walls. 

Ideas drive society forward. They are paramount to progress in art, in science, and in moral society, and that’s why we are pleased to share our foolproof plan for getting those ideas off the ground!

First, stand firmly behind your concept

As a general rule of thumb, the best way to help your idea take flight is by standing squarely behind it, and going at it with gusto. Consider what makes this idea worth pursuing. What will it accomplish for the betterment of the team or client? What problems does this idea solve or current gaps does it fill? Only once you can truly advocate for your idea can you fully master the art of selling that vision to motivate others to stand with you behind the cause. 

Second, blueprint your plan of action

Once you have fully wrapped your mind around the idea, you’ll be in good shape to start mapping out the steps required, including the often underthought middle parts of materializing a new idea -- the part where creative exploration gives way to the meticulous, the tedious, and the nitty gritty. It is in this lengthy, drawn out period of tireless work that most great ideas tragically fizzle. Scott Belsky, author of Making Ideas Happen and founder of online portfolio platform Behance, dubs this part of an endeavor the “project plateau.” For artistically-driven individuals, this plateau can be particularly painstaking because it is the time when creativity is at a standstill, and laborious task management is at an all-time high. As Belsky adds, “To escape this pain, we generate a new idea (and abandon the one we were working on). This process can easily repeat itself ad infinitum, without us ever finishing anything meaningful.”

Team STARMEN ardently believes that careful planning and strategic delegating can help your project avoid such a fate. By mapping out the forecast of a project, you’re allowing those involved to have a clear picture of present status and next steps, which leaves little room for doubt or lingering notions of “how will this all come together?” What’s more, when everyone on the team is weighted only with tasks they are truly competent and capable of fulfilling, they’ll be more likely to come through, leaving the team as a whole running efficiently, and the project progressing on schedule.

“All great inventions emerge from a long sequence of small sparks; the first idea often isn’t all that good, but thanks to collaboration it later sparks another idea, or it’s reinterpreted in an unexpected way. Collaboration brings small sparks together to generate breakthrough innovation.”
— Scott Belsky

Now that your vision is clarified, and a plan of action’s in place, it's time to get going! 

Third, be patient

With all of the moving pieces required to materialize your idea, it’s imperative to constantly circle back to that all-important first step. Remember why you embarked on this journey to begin with, and you’ll be much less likely to make decisions in haste or try to rush tedious parts of the process. However, there are a few steps you can take to alleviate any doubts that your venture is moving toward its target. When holding meetings with team members, be sure to commence with each person reviewing next steps for his or her respective responsibilities, as well as a brief synopsis of what each person is taking away from the meeting. This recap should be no more than 20 or 30 seconds per person, and can save immeasurable time down the road because it will confirm not only the overall productivity of your meetings (whether or not goals, feedback, and notes are being clearly communicated, for instance), but it also will help hold individual team members accountable for what they are working on.

Fourth, remain focused

This idea, with you at its helm, is premised on a single, solitary concept. Reduce cluttering that vision by remediating new ideas to the backburner. There may come a time and a place for new endeavors to roll out, and when that time comes, those new ideas will deserve the same undivided attention as the one presently before you. 

Another excellent way to remain aligned with your objectives? “Avoid a reactionary workflow,” Belsky iterates. In a typical workday, we’re inundated with messages -- from our social apps, text messages, array of email accounts, and instant messengers -- and that’s not even considering phone calls and interpersonal conversations. As such, we, as professionals, are suspended in a constant state of reaction, responding to these various entities with little time leftover for proactivity -- which is essential to moving whatever we’re working on forward. To counter this, schedule yourself time each day where you’re totally unplugged to incoming communication, and can focus on outgoing productivity. There is a time and a place for conversation and connectivity, but progress is what truly moves ideas from ethereal into the ether of reality.

It is with great pleasure that we announce we’ve received honorable distinctions from the American Web Design Awards for some of our recent client work. This competition serves as an annual showcasing of the top 100 leading digital design and communications endeavors. Each year, more than 1,000 submissions are received, spanning a variety of platforms including websites, microsites, apps, social media campaigns, and more, and we’re truly honored to have not one, but two, of our initiatives recognized in this most recent awards cycle.

It is with great pleasure that we announce we’ve received honorable distinctions from the American Web Design Awards for some of our recent client work. This competition serves as an annual showcasing of the top 100 leading digital design and communications endeavors. Each year, more than 1,000 submissions are received, spanning a variety of platforms including websites, microsites, apps, social media campaigns, and more, and we’re truly honored to have not one, but two, of our initiatives recognized in this most recent awards cycle.

The first of these plaques was earned for our work with fashion label, KAYAT Design. From designer Laila Aziz, KAYAT Design is an international, forward-thinking yet feminine fashion label that draws its inspiration from all corners of the globe. 

The second AWDA plaque was for our work with L.A. Banquets, a premier special events company with over three decades of servitude in the Greater Los Angeles area. Our work with this client has been the subject of many awards, and we’re so pleased we’re able to continue the accolades on behalf of this very valued client.

We suppose it goes without saying that the receipt of awards is only as significant as the client relationships that collaborated to earn them. We’re proud of our team’s work alongside and on behalf of each one of our clients, and look forward to maintaining such standards of excellence with each new partnership we build. We welcome you to get in touch!

We’re innovators at heart, and our craft is one we’re consistently cultivating. As such, there are few awards more meritorious in our eyes than those that commend work that goes above and beyond the status quo in exploration of new technologies, as well as new ways of communicating with audiences the world over. 

We’re innovators at heart, and our craft is one we’re consistently cultivating. As such, there are few awards more meritorious in our eyes than those that commend work that goes above and beyond the status quo in exploration of new technologies, as well as new ways of communicating with audiences the world over.

The New Media Awards held annually by the New Media Institute is one such awards program that honors such a commitment to honoring those industry pioneers. There are five primary categories into which applicants can submit. They are: websites, mobile applications, online videos, social media profiles, and advertising campaigns. It is with pleasure that we’re able to share we’ve received the Outstanding Website Award in the category of Advocacy and Activism for our work with national nonprofit LA2DC (www.la2dc.org).

There is a uniqueness to this particular award that we believe sets it apart from others of its kind. You see, when it comes to the New Media Awards, finalists are not chosen solely on design aesthetic. Instead, they’re scrutinized more comprehensively on how design, usability, and technology unite to serve and communicate to the work’s target audience. Additionally, an agency’s size or budget is not a factor in whether or not a project is awarded, which allows for projects of all shapes and sizes to be evaluated fairly and indiscriminately. Our web design and development initiative for LA2DC has been a frequent award winner, and we’re proud to attribute yet another accolade to such a worthy organization.

It is with great gratitude that we share with you that STARMEN has received recognition from the Interactive Media Awards for two of our recent client initiatives. We were given the highest honor in the category of Advocacy -- the Best in Class -- as well as an Outstanding Achievement award in the category of Bridal and Weddings.

It is with great gratitude that we share with you that STARMEN has received recognition from the Interactive Media Awards for two of our recent client initiatives. We were given the highest honor in the category of Advocacy -- the Best in Class -- as well as an Outstanding Achievement award in the category of Bridal and Weddings.

About the IMAs

The Interactive Media Awards is a program created by the Interactive Media Council (IMC), a nonprofit assembly of industry leaders, including designers, developers, programmers, and marketers. Through its awards program, the organization seeks to recognize the highest standards of merit in the field of website design and development. 

The IMC maintains total autonomy over its extensive and rigorous judging process, which means that those who ultimately win did not do so lightly or without truly presenting a comprehensively excellent campaign. In fact, the act of honoring those agencies and individuals who each year continue to push the envelope serves to further uphold these standards of excellence, keeping the bar set high as the industry continues to pave its way into the digital unknown.

At STARMEN, we believe that striving for excellence is a futile endeavor, indeed, if the work is not motivated by a concise pairing of goals. For us, above all else, we work to drive action and results, which allows our ideas and end products to live longer, thereby facilitating measurable brand growth.

About LA2DC

The client ventures honored in this year’s IMAs are two we’re quite proud of. National nonprofit LA2DC (www.la2dc.org) is organized and supported by a community of interfaith and interracial Americans all across the country. United in the belief that genocide only serves to beget more genocide, this group is pivotal in promoting heightened sensitivity to these types of war-related atrocities. Additionally, the group tirelessly lobbies world leaders to take the necessary actions in the resolution and prevention of genocides across the world. Our work for this client was both impassioned by its admirable agenda, and motivated with a fiery tenacity to produce the most effective work possible in order to further advance this noble cause. It is our hope that this our recognition as Best in Class will allow new audiences to learn about this truly incredible organization.

About L.A. Banquets

For over 30 years, L.A. Banquets has provided for the special events needs of the Greater Los Angeles area. Their unwavering commitment to servicing each event as if it was their own celebration has allowed them to remain at the forefront of their industry, and a staple in the lives of their oftentimes repeat customers. We knew our digital work for L.A. Banquets had to not only speak to the company’s longstanding prominence, but also carve a significant presence for the company to use the Internet more efficiently as a tool to connect with customers old and new. Our receipt of the Outstanding Achievement award in the category of Bridal and Weddings validates our belief that we have truly come full circle with our goals for this initiative.

Let us preface the forthcoming by stating that the meaning behind our recent win at the 2014 Horizon Interactive Awards is two-fold. First, over the course of its thirteen entry seasons, this award has become one of the most distinguished in the field of interactive and creative media. So it goes without saying that having our work recognized by an organization so renowned by our industry is truly the sincerest of honors. 

Let us preface the forthcoming by stating that the meaning behind our recent win at the 2014 Horizon Interactive Awards is two-fold. First, over the course of its thirteen entry seasons, this award has become one of the most distinguished in the field of interactive and creative media. So it goes without saying that having our work recognized by an organization so renowned by our industry is truly the sincerest of honors. 

Secondly, the rigor required to be competitive in the Horizon Interactive Awards is a nod not only to our final product, but to the tremendous discipline of the whole STARMEN team.  

The 2014 award cycle was one of stringent competition. Over 1,200 entries were received from over 27 countries around the world, including: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and almost all 50 of the United States of America.

This magnitude of competition holds us to the highest of standards, and brings all the more meaning to the receipt of these awards for our team.

The Awards

We are truly honored to have not one, but two, of our recent projects honored in this award cycle. 

For our work on the Linda May Properties website, we’ve earned a Gold award. Our work with Linda May has also been honored with the Summit Emerging Media ‘Innovator’ Award, as well as the ‘Best in Class’ Award from the Interactive Media Awards.

As well, we’ve earned a Silver award for our work with L.A. Banquets. With each of these awards comes a celebration of a very valued client relationship, as well as a testament to the truly prolific nature of collaboration. 

Why We’re Honored

Perhaps one of the most significant things about a Horizon win is the circumstances under which it is received. The panel of judges spans all levels of the interactive media field, and so submissions are evaluated by industry peers whose qualifications stem from their very own active participation in the different avenues of this wonderfully creative, multi-faceted line of work. In addition to creatives and developers are project and account focused individuals who represent the importance of a final product being not just beautiful and engaging, but truly at the height of usability.

The pride we feel for our work is trumped only by an overwhelming sense of humility. We’re honored to have been a part of such outstanding client projects, and welcome you to reach out if we can be of service to yours. 

We’re pleased to announce our work on the Linda May Properties “Live Your Luxury” campaign has received recognition from the AVA Digital Awards. This project has previously been the recipient of awards from other organizations, including the distinction of Best in Class from the IMA Awards. We are deeply honored by this most recent recognition: a Platinum Award for excellence in website design and development, as well as a Gold Award for our “Live Your Luxury” video marketing campaign.

We’re pleased to announce our work on the Linda May Properties “Live Your Luxury” campaign has received recognition from the AVA Digital Awards. This project has previously been the recipient of awards from other organizations, including the distinction of Best in Class from the IMA Awards. We are deeply honored by this most recent recognition: a Platinum Award for excellence in website design and development, as well as a Gold Award for our “Live Your Luxury” video marketing campaign.

While it is with great pride that we accept these accolades, we would be remiss if we did not pay proper tribute to the journey itself. You see, the AVA Digital Awards is a competition that focuses not just on the end-product, but on the planning, conceptualizing, creative direction, design, and overall production process of digital campaigns of all shapes and sizes. Honoring remarkable work at every stage of the process is the hallmark of these awards’ unique significance to our agency, and we - as a collective agency - owe this honor to each individual facet of our team.

The Significance

Renowned for their stringent standards and internationally-acclaimed credibility, the AVA Awards are judged annually by the Association of Marketing & Communication Professionals. 

Each piece is evaluated and judged on individual merit in contrast to other awards programs where entrants are judged in relation to other submissions in their categories. 

This practice only lends further credence to the overall significance of these awards because it is evidence our work is prolific in its own right, on its own terms, regardless of other projects taking place elsewhere.

The Journey

Our biggest challenge with Linda May Properties was that it faced an industry with a rapidly expanding digital presence. We created the “Live Your Luxury” campaign in an effort to not only enhance perceptions of the Client’s brand in the minds of existing and future clientele, but to allow the company to maintain its competitive edge in an increasingly web-based marketplace. 

We knew immediately that a successful campaign for Linda May would equate to one squarely rooted in the company’s long reign at the height of its industry. The firm has consistently been ranked within the top 1% of Coldwell Bankers Realtors® internationally, and so our work necessarily built on that momentum. Our Client’s quality of work speaks for itself, and so our aim was not to build a site and marketing campaign that spoke not more loudly or boastfully, but more wisely, about our Client’s stature in its field. The resulting “Live Your Luxury” is an elegant yet succinct expression of this merit.

As a successful web presence becomes increasingly paramount in today’s modern marketplace, so too does the need for a sharp, well-defined message. And from these needs, the “Live Your Luxury” campaign was born to not only provide our Client with an attractive, functional tool to facilitate business, but with a carefully crafted communication apparatus, one that would speak both to its values and relentless, “always on” ethic.

We are proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish on behalf of our Client, and incredibly appreciative of the opportunity to further sharpen our toolset in the process.

We find that our insatiable pursuit of excellence necessitates continued evolution, and such is the primary reason we enter our work into competitions like the AVA Awards. Relentless in this endeavor, we find that placing our proudest pieces in line for public scrutiny forces us to produce our best work, and we’re steadfastly aligned with the philosophy that excellence isn’t a stagnant milestone. Instead, it is a constantly advancing finish line requiring a tenacity of spirit, and a constantly evolving repository of skills and ideas. 

Innovation is perhaps the cornerstone of our modern society, and for good reason. Innovation helps us progress; it heals us, enriches us, and entertains us. It connects us as a people in ways prior generations could never have dreamed. But all too frequently, marketers with raw ambition aim to catapult their campaigns into fresh, new territories simply to be the newest or the most different, all without a clear motive in mind.

Innovation is perhaps the cornerstone of our modern society, and for good reason. Innovation helps us progress; it heals us, enriches us, and entertains us. It connects us as a people in ways prior generations could never have dreamed. But all too frequently, marketers with raw ambition aim to catapult their campaigns into fresh, new territories simply to be the newest or the most different, all without a clear motive in mind.

Perhaps one of the biggest buzzwords across industries today, innovation is the driving force of thousands of initiatives embarked upon each year by companies and their marketing teams, big and small. Yet for the thousands of new companies and products put forth into the marketplace, very few stick around long enough to make a huge impact in the way we as humans live our lives. That’s because most self-proclaimed innovators are eagerly in pursuit of the what without a truly impassioned why.

Simon Sinek outlines this point very poignantly with his concept of the Golden Circle. Perhaps the key takeaway from Sinek’s concept is this: “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” 

As an agency, we work to develop strategies for our clients that expand on this very principle. We recommend our clients aim to answer the following before they embark on any new marketing or branding campaign. Not only does it allow them to get to the root of the why behind their innovational work, but it also saves them the hassle of needing to realign an already in-motion project later down the line:

1. Why is my company important or special to its industry?*
   
2. Why should a customer choose my product over others in the marketplace, and what benefits does my product have over the competition?
   
3. Why should existing and potential customers align themselves with my company?
   

*This is perhaps one of the most important questions your company could ever hope to answer because it is the single-most important factor in assessing your necessity and relevance to your industry.

Innovation is an intangible what, qualitative in nature, and therefore cannot be measured by the numerical data you’ll no doubt reference to assess your campaign’s success. Thus, innovation on its own will not suffice as a motivational tool for any initiative. 

Instead, consider the ultimate customer experience that could be had with your brand and the output from your innovational endeavor. Ultimately, you most likely want to enhance the user’s life in one way or another. But how, and again, why? 

For this reason, we believe that at every step of the brand development process, checking the pulse of a project’s decisions is crucial. The appropriate answer to any choice driving a creative or content process should never be “because that’s what everyone else is doing”. Riding the coattails of another shop’s innovation will always, without fail, lead you farther away from what’s truly authentic for your company, and lead you closer to the clutter.

In marketing, like in life, it’s often all too tempting to take the road of least resistance. At the end of the day, opting to ride the coattails of another organization means one essential thing for your brand: someone else is not only in the lead (leaving you in its shadow), but that leader is also in the driver’s seat, dictating the journey for yours, despite the inherent company to company idiosyncrasies.

And so, we believe that only by first identifying the why behind your company’s what can your organization truly experience authentic brand growth. When people can align themselves with your company’s values and innovational spirit, they will care about your company’s output.

We believe the key reason to buck the trends lies in that very point. The things that make your company unique to its industry are the very points that justify your company’s existence and relevance to its market. But in marketing, foregoing the tried and true in search of a new idea or way of communicating with consumers can mean the difference between a campaign that merely satisfies the status quo and one that is truly groundbreaking.

We believe that the only way to predict the future is to create it. And at our core, we are an agency dedicated to the creation of positive change through strategic brand development.

We believe that the only way to predict the future is to create it. And at our core, we are an agency dedicated to the creation of positive change through strategic brand development.

In 2015, we want to find even more ways to bring positivity and success to our clients, specifically in the way of branding. Our approach to business design and brand building will include more diverse and intensive marketing strategies, bolder brand stories, and more personal digital experiences. Whether you are a start-up, consumer product, B2B enterprise, or a non-profit, branding affects how customers perceive and relate to your brand.

Our 4 Guiding Principles to Making Brands Work in 2015:

Sharing Compelling Brand Stories

When it comes to branding, one thing hasn't changed in decades, if not centuries of advertising: compelling brand stories are crucial to success. Growth takes strategy, and every strategy needs a compelling story to heighten emotion that results in a desired preference. We continue to strive to create wonderful, entertaining, inspiring and unforgettable brand stories for our clients with the use of top-notch copywriting, design, research, and technology that evokes emotion. So, as 2015 brings even more innovative and memorable digital advancements to the forefront of our culture, we will embrace them wholeheartedly for the good of ourselves and those who trust us to build and grow their brands.

Humanizing the Digital Experience

Our narrative continues to support the idea that branding and design is all about getting personal. Getting hands-on is always a challenge in this exciting digital age, but we plan to accept the challenge and come out on top. In a crowded marketplace, companies should always be looking for ways to connect emotionally with customers, and to become irreplaceable. We will focus closely on collaboration this year so that we can discover and utilize the best ideas from listening to our partners - not just hearing them. Some of the best ideas for our strategies synchronize a personal connection between consumers and our work. At the height of every campaign, we want to feel the satisfaction of knowing that we've sparked a real, positive emotional response in the hearts of our audience.

Mobilizing Brand Experience

Creative genius can strike on variety of wavelengths or devices, anywhere - anytime. Yes, it is totally possible, and we offer ourselves as proof. When you work with great clients like we do, it's easy to come up with awesome ideas day-in and day-out - but without the ability to share content and brand stories, what good are they? This year, we want to work our existing creative process into new, mobile-based strategies. The more, the merrier!

Design Thinking Fuels Strategic Innovation

Design thinking is the search for the magical balance between business and art; structure and chaos; intuition and logic; concept and execution; playfulness and formality; and control and empowerment. It's all about creative ideas - and then knowing how to execute on them. We have the resources, the ideas and the knowledge. And this year we will continue to build powerful strategies that benefits both our clients and our team so that the question always remains, "That worked well! What's next?"

Looking Ahead

Has your company evaluated its 2015 branding goals? When you collaborate with us, you'll be at the forefront of your industry when it comes to understanding and deciding when branding is needed, and if a rebranding is the best option. We want to help you create the new standardization in the midst of a creative ever-changing culture.

What are your big branding challenges this year and how may we help you? Contact us here https://www.starmenusa.com/contact

Read more on our blog http://www.starmenusa.com/blog/

2015 promises to be an exciting (and disruptive) year. Everything is changing fast … especially, the way consumers interact with their online environments. Paradoxically, the digital age is requiring branding and marketing to become more human.

In reviewing what the branding and marketing gurus are expecting to happen in the New Year, we see some inspiring trends. Put on your helmet, and fasten your seatbelts. Here we go.

2015 promises to be an exciting (and disruptive) year. Everything is changing fast … especially the way consumers interact with their online environments. Paradoxically, the digital age is requiring branding and marketing to become more human.

In reviewing what the branding and marketing gurus are expecting to happen in the New Year, we see some inspiring trends. Put on your helmet, and fasten your seatbelts. Here we go.

The Vernacular of Human

In 2015, we will need a new language, a vernacular of human. We need a standing-in-the-grass-barefoot dialect that connects us to our global system. How we communicate, co-act, collaborate, innovate, interplay, interrelate, and live with our customers depends upon it. Are we using language to force, manipulate or trick others to act? Or are we using language to share understanding and knowledge so that everyone can understand and feel empowered to act — to draw closer together?

It’s impossible to address human-speak without addressing listening, because this common language of human is a language of listening. It has a lot of space between the words. The Vernacular of Human is a language of invitation, curiosity, playfulness, respect, care, and clarity. How are you listening to your customers? How are you learning from them? Listening and learning from your market needs to be built into your brand's strategy, and social media provides the perfect platform for tuning into this conversation.

It’s Time to Actually Care

As Tim Sanders wrote in his internationally best-selling business book, Love is the Killer App, “The old, loveless ways don’t work anymore.” Customers want to know you care.

From personal brand to company brand, it’s your care for your customers that’s going to build loyalty. Care can be expressed in many ways, from personalizing the customer experience, and creating meaningful content to providing a seamless experience across platforms, and beyond. Your imagination (or ours, if you’ve hired us) is the limit, and nothing less.

Mark Schaeffer, Executive Director of Schaeffer Marketing Solutions asks, “What does marketing look like when the internet surrounds us like the air that we breathe?” Just imagine. Innovation is in the air.

The Social Revolution Is Real

In an interview on Robert Thomson’s Leader Inside Out podcast, thought leader, Tom Peters, said that “being a social organization is no longer an avoidable topic. We must talk about this. It’s incredibly for real. It’s a revolution.” Peters mentioned that MIT Management professor Douglas McGregor’s futuristic take, “Empower or die!” (circa 1940s) is now the name of the game. Branding strategies must include the design to become a social company that empowers the underserved. Although this is tough, gritty work, an art, and a balancing act, it’s no longer optional.

Peters also said that the use of social media to this end is an electronic form of his well-known creed, MBWA or "manage by walking around," i.e., “being in touch with the action.” And everyone has got to do it. In 2015, there will be many more ways for people and their companies to be “in touch with the action,” as new social media platforms and advertising opportunities open up. What's more, it’s going to be important to mix it up.

As well, it will be increasingly crucial to be a participant in your customers’ lives, rather than communicate ‘at’ them as a disparate entity. How are you going to empower your customers to act? Yes, 2015 is The Year of Participation … the year of a being a truly social company in every way. It truly is the time to empower or die.

Social media maven, Tara Hunt, talks about the importance of being an active participant in customers’ lives and offers 5 key principles for doing just this in her book, The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business. Miss Hunt's key takeaways include:

1. Stop talking, start listening - focus on individuals, and understand the needs of a community
2. Become part of the community you serve
3. Create amazing customer experiences
4. Embrace the chaos - communities are made up of people, and people are not predictable
5. Find your higher purpose - what can you give to the community, and still be profitable?

Content Your Customers Will Thank You For

Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs, shares her approach to digital marketing in 2015. “We’re taking the notion of ‘brands are publishers,’ and pushing the boundaries of that further,” she said. “We’ll focus on enormous empathy, and customer experience … We’ll focus on more relevance, and new inspiration (rather than just the tried and true). And we’ll focus on being generously useful. 2015 really will be the year we create and curate content our customers will thank us for.”

Ardath Albee, CEO of Marketing Interactions, stated, “The days of preaching to customers, rather than exciting and informing them, are rapidly coming to an end. And marketers that can effectively connect with prospects will win.”

Words As Currency

Social content is the rising marketing star. Excellent content can be used in many different ways, but content must be outstanding in order to be dynamic, flexible, and useful. Words are thoughts first. Furthermore, thoughts are the substance of every brand. They can be molded, carefully crafted into just the right words, and then those words shape worlds.

According to Ann, writing matters more now than ever before, and this is especially true in the video/podcast/Instagram world. “Good writing is like an iceberg — use your best words to convey the depth under the surface. That means you’ve got to choose those words well, and write with economy, and the style, and the end reader in mind. (There’s that empathy thing again!)”

Longer Copy, Too, in 2015

An interesting phenomenon catalyzed by Google, is taking place in this world where everything seems faster and shorter. Copy needs to be longer. Longer, really? Yes. As David Wells states in his Inbound Now article, 10 Online Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2015, “Over the last few years, marketers increasingly appreciated a long copy over short one, and we’ll see this trend blooming in 2015. The length and value of the content will be more essential than ever for effective SEO – Google already labels content of less than 200 words as "thin content," and [the search engine] has two special algorithms in force, Panda 4.0 and Pay Day 2.0, that are specifically aimed at reducing the ranks of low quality content.”

Visual Storytelling Will Take Off As Never Before

Ekaterina Walter, CMO at Branderati, said in TopRank Online Marketing’s blog post, 21 Digital Marketing Trends and Predictions in 2015, “In the age of infobesity and increasing digital noise, visual storytelling will continue to emerge as a strategy for not only standing out, but also for nurturing and growing vibrant and engaged communities. The ability to craft visual stories that inspire emotion and spark the movement will help companies get noticed, and amplify their message throughout those communities.”

Additionally, the use of short-form video is growing exponentially. Facebook videos have exceeded YouTube in this regard, but visual storytelling will increase everywhere across media platforms. There are already many fabulous apps for visual storytelling, and we’ll see more of this in 2015.

More Mobile

Some predict that mobile will supersede the use of desktops in 2015. Whether this will actually come to be or not, mobile usage will continue to grow, and along with it, marketing opportunities targeted to consumers on the go. The beauty of mobile for marketers in 2015 is that it will allow for a more intuitive, human-based interaction with customers.

"Pay to Play," and the Math Behind It

Free advertising is going away. Free ad space is dwindling, and it’s no longer a free-place market. 2015’s Pay to Play environment will require more money allocated for online ads.

And marketing analytics will bloom. 2015 will be the year of hyper-segmentation and micro-targeting. Jay Baer, President of Convince and Convert, said in TopRank’s Online Marketing blog, ”It’s already happening, but 2015 will be the year of paid amplification. With content marketing reaching near-ubiquity, the success pendulum will swing toward boosting consumption of content. That will put a new focus on math, testing, and optimization as content production and content distribution become equally important.”

Back to Basics

Pam Didner, Global Integrated Marketing Strategist for Intel Corporation, said, “Digital marketing will continue to morph, and promotion channels will be further fragmented. The major change for 2015 is NOT about digital marketing. The major change will come from marketers going back to basics: Reevaluate the target audience. Determine what works, and what doesn’t. Reprioritize and be smart about resource allocation and investment.”

So, while the tools are rapidly changing, the marketing basics remain the same, and are essential to guiding all marketing efforts.

Time Trumps Money

There has been a growing trend of companies outsourcing their marketing. William Aruda reported in Forbes that “time trumps money,” and that 2015 will see this trend continue as companies realize that outsourcing can be much more economical, efficient, and effective. If time truly is money, then it might be time to outsource your branding and marketing so that your internal time and energy can be focused on what your company actually does.

You probably have a lot of questions about what 2015 will hold, and what you need to be doing with your brand and marketing initiatives. Give us a call, and we can talk about designing a brand strategy that yields the greatest return, based on the above insight, as well as our own successes.

The holidays are, of course, the busiest shopping time of the year. That means they’re also the time when consumers have the most contact with brands. In October, SDL published a report that found that 90% of holiday shoppers expect consistent brand experiences. How can you optimize your branding and offerings to engage consumers, and, in turn, sell your products? Here are five key elements to making your brand experience consistent — and excellent — this holiday season:

The holidays are, of course, the busiest shopping time of the year. That means they’re also the time when consumers have the most contact with brands. In October, SDL published a report that found that 90% of holiday shoppers expect consistent brand experiences. How can you optimize your branding and offerings to engage consumers, and, in turn, sell your products? Here are five key elements to making your brand experience consistent — and excellent — this holiday season:

1) Engaging Messaging and Design

The premium on quality creative increases during the holidays, when consumers are overwhelmed with choices. Brands that develop language and design that capitalize on and connect with consumers via holiday themes and experiences stand out. In November, Whole Foods rolled out a new campaign called “Values Matter," a play on words that allows the company to communicate its commitment to sustainable products, and highlight relevant sales and deals at its stores. The campaign features dozens of online videos, messaging on its shopping bags (“The highest standards are always in season”), holiday-themed displays inside its stores, and a donation request at checkout.

2) Relevant Product Information Online

The SDL study found that 60% of consumers engage in “showrooming”: that is, the testing and researching of products online prior to buying them in the store. To ensure your brand engages in successful showrooming, it is crucial that relevant and valuable product information be presented on your website. Price, benefits, characteristics, attractive photography, and product reviews are all elements that inform a buyer’s purchasing decision, and the better you can present these attributes online, the more likely you’ll sell a product. The website for Nordstrom, a long-standing leader in customer service (more on that below), offers a straightforward user experience with products and deals categorized in intuitive ways.

3) Optimized and Relevant Mobile Applications

Along with showrooming, the SDL study found that 40% of people under the age of 40 research products on smartphones. So, not only should your website present valuable product information, it should do so in a way that is optimized for consumers on the go. For example, the Nordstrom smartphone app nicely adopts the content and user experience from the desktop site creating a simple and intuitive smartphone presence in both the mobile browser and app.

4) Unified Online and In-Store Experiences

With the prevalence of showrooming and research on smartphones, it is crucial that what a consumer sees online is what they get in the store. It’s no good if you provide an extraordinary online experience, but once the consumer arrives at your storefront, the product or brand experience is poor. A unified and strong correlation between your online and in-store experiences demonstrates an efficiency and consistency that customers value. Kohl’s, one of the leading department stores in America, excels at presenting unified online and in-store experiences. The product categories on the website align with the departments in the retail stores, and any sales or deals receive the same creative treatment online as in the store. The company’s stores are also WiFi-enabled, and kiosks are utilized to help facilitate in-store shopping.

5) Outstanding Customer Service

Holidays are a time of joy — and stress. Shopping, family gatherings, travel, and more make the holidays a time when patience wears thin. Customers want ease and efficiency when buying a product, and outstanding customer service is more of a commodity during the holidays than at any other time of the year. Develop ways to get your customers the products they want and need by developing initiatives that streamline that experience. LL Bean is known for its outstanding customer service, including a 1-800 number where callers can promptly speak with a customer service representative to discuss and resolve issues with products.

So, when you’re planning your brand strategy for this holiday or next, use these five elements as a guide. With the ever-increasing number of touchpoints a customer has with a brand, it’s crucial your brand experience is consistent and compelling in its delivery across them all —especially during the holidays. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can optimize your seasonal branding, contact us.

There is no such thing as a 'customer for life.' Companies have to work hard to win, and keep customers. What used to be thought of as the customer’s loyalty to a brand has reversed to become the brand’s loyalty to the customer experience.

There is no such thing as a 'customer for life.' Companies have to work hard to win, and keep customers. What used to be thought of as the customer’s loyalty to a brand has reversed to become the brand’s loyalty to the customer experience.

According to Raconteur’s 2013 IBM study, The Customer-Activated Enterprise, "customers are the 'new' business advisers." The study also claims that 90% of senior leaders expected extensive collaboration with customers within the next five years.

Everything You Do

Customer experience is the foundation of customer loyalty, comprising both emotions and feelings. When your customers enjoy a consistently positive experience with you, you earn their loyalty … for a season. But loyalty is a frail construct in and of itself; it requires continuous re-examination of your customers’ emotional and physical responses to your brand in action. Furthermore, it necessitates a dynamic customer-experience system to be built into your branding strategy.

According to a 2013 report by consulting company Interbrand, Apple and Google have become the world’s two most powerful brands. Mike Elgan reports in Forbes' BrandVoice that one of the key factors for the success of both companies' brands is that they "give millions or billions of people around the world small, positive experiences very often."

Does your brand strategy include creating opportunities for your customers to engage with you as often as possible? Have you designed ways to give your customers "small, positive experiences" at every touch point?

Some companies are even beginning to have appointed "Chief Customer Champions" who specifically focus on customers, a stark contrast to traditional models that leave customer care to middle management and entry-level employees.

The Customer Empowerment Imperative

The Internet has given consumers a way to know everything about a company and its products, and to air grievances or sing praises loudly, quickly, and publicly. Alex Cheatle, Chief Executive of lifestyle concierge and loyalty solutions provider Ten Group, says:

The Future of Customer Loyalty

"The future of customer loyalty lies in engaging the emotional involvement of consumers using data, and successfully responding to mobile and social trends," says Duncan Stirling, cofounder of KEM Investments Ltd in London. Customers want a streamlined experience across channels, tailored to them. The old ways aren’t working anymore. Loyalty programs are no longer enticing. More and more, consumers are turning to mobile apps first. Raconteur reports that "there is a tendency for a more focused user experience to accomplish tasks more efficiently."

If you want to give your customers what they want and build customer loyalty, you’re going to have to leverage the data, and find the right usage scenario to add value to your consumers' lives via mobile apps, and other means.

That is why we design comprehensive brand strategies that keep customer experience and loyalty at their core — from these, all initiatives fall naturally into perfect place.

You won’t reach the people in your market if you don’t understand them, and you won’t understand them unless you pay attention to their context. Context is the compass that guides all successful branding and marketing. It’s about delivering the right content to the right people at the right time.

You won’t reach the people in your market if you don’t understand them, and you won’t understand them unless you pay attention to their context. Context is the compass that guides all successful branding and marketing. It’s about delivering the right content to the right people at the right time.

It’s important to create marketing communications in response to the context within which the people in your target markets (stakeholders included) live.

When Context is Ignored

Blockbuster and Borders failed to understand the context in which their industries were operating. They were blind to the behavior of their customers and the increasingly competitive marketplace. Both companies — Goliaths of industry — continued doing the same things in the same ways even though the makeup of their marketplace was shifting thanks to then-relative-newcomers like Netflix and Amazon. Chevrolet’s Nova is another example of a giant brand misstep due to ill-attended context. “No va” in Spanish means, quite literally, "no go". As one might guess, the car flopped in every Spanish-speaking country.

Here are two more examples of context gone awry. A nonprofit provided foot-operated pumps to African villages, free of charge. Although these pumps could functionally meet the villages' dire need for clean water, no one would use them. The nonprofit was flummoxed, but rethought its approach. Rather than give the pumps away, they sold the pumps to the men in the villages, and the response changed dramatically. Why? Initially, the nonprofit saw the need for water, and assumed that its solution would be embraced immediately, but they failed to pay attention to the very human context at play. The men of the villages were too proud to receive handouts, but their dignity and self-respect remained intact when the pumps were purchased.

Elsewhere, a nonprofit built wells in the sandy soil of several villages in Zimbabwe. They used costly Western construction equipment and technology. Two months later, all the wells collapsed because the organization had ignored the fact that the soil was far different in this part of the world than what they had previously experienced. The great thing about this particular story in relation to context is in what came afterward. After the wells collapsed, a member of the nonprofit decided that it was in their best interest to ask the villagers for their ideas on digging a well. Communally, they came up with a cost-effective design that involved old tires, cement, and simply digging by hand. Each well cost under $100 to produce, and they're still in use today.

Content, An Important Aspect of Context

When a sculptor was asked how he carved such a beautiful elephant out of a block of stone, he replied, “I simply remove that which is not the elephant.” And that is precisely what impactful content does! Excellent content, regardless of media format, is free of that which is incongruent with its end goal. It is uncluttered, simple, and of course, about the customer.

Apple Inc., a globally recognized brand is widely known for its branding strategy. Apple is a storyteller, and its marketing quests always begin with the consumers’ need for a better life. What are their emerging needs? Their wants and desires? What compels them to buy? All of Apple’s content — visual and verbal, across all media platforms — is meticulously designed to reach consumers on a deeply intrinsic, emotional level.

The good news is that there is a methodical way to avoid following in the footsteps of fallen giants when it comes to targeting context, and it doesn't require Apple's marketing budget to pioneer. The below diagram outlines key areas to emphasize.

1. Community Influence - Be involved with the people in your markets to make an impact.
2. Emotional Factors - Consider people’s emotional connection when developing targeted marketing communications.
3. Cognitive Factors - Influence your market’s environment through physical and emotional content.
4. Market Demand - Focus on the demand for your specific group of customers.
5. Competitive Advantage - Find your niche by developing attributes that your competitors do not possess.
6. Creative Value - Speak to your audience by expressing your company’s unique appeal through creative marketing.

Contact STARMEN for a strategic branding partnership that will deliver the right message within the right context.

Brands are beginning to wrap around people in every which way. Much like a first introduction to another person, a consumer's relationship with your brand is launched from the first impression. So, what makes this initial interaction so memorable and impactful? When crafting a brand experience that people can identify with, it comes down to the integrated combination of business strategy and design. 

Brands are beginning to wrap around people in every which way. Much like a first introduction to another person, a consumer's relationship with your brand is launched from the first impression. So, what makes this initial interaction so memorable and impactful? When crafting a brand experience that people can identify with, it comes down to the integrated combination of business strategy and design. 

Take your street smarts — what you know about your customers, the market place, and everything else in between— and apply it to design. The world is cluttered with it (consumers can’t escape it). So, the challenge is to stand out from the noise. But how? With intelligent, well-thought out design concepts that leave the best first impression, as well as communicate properties in line with your business strategy.

The number of people who are embracing Instagram and Pinterest is exploding — even Twitter and Facebook are shifting to more dynamic, well-designed interfaces with a stronger emphasis on photos and videos — because visual content has the biggest impact.

However, design must marry business strategy in the art of visual communication. A brand might need to be adaptable, and appeal to a large range of clients, and that’s where the strategy might get a bit trickier. The goal then becomes to take the core of a brand, and communicate it in a way that appeals to a wide array of people. 

As the adage goes, you only get one chance to make a good first impression. People's immediate response to your brand design will influence them to either take action or walk away.  You can throw together a hip logo, but it’s only going to stick when it is communicating what is at the heart of your brand. Does your brand tell a visual story? Does it elicit a sentient response?

So, you know that expert design strategy is needed to create a powerful brand, but integrating your business strategy builds a strong foundation, from which you can launch all your marketing initiatives. We are a brand innovation factory, and possess the experience and knowledge required to merge your business strategy with design, so that you can reach your branding goals. Let’s talk.

MARKETING: STARMEN ditches fixed-rate jobs for retainer relationships.

MARKETING: STARMEN ditches fixed-rate jobs for retainer relationships.

Just as everyone figured out the mechanics of SEO, everything changed. Here's what you need to know:

Google and other search engines have recently been updating their search algorithms. As the biggest name in the game, Google has pioneered the way with two major algorithm updates: Panda and Penguin.

Just as everyone figured out the mechanics of SEO, everything changed. Here's what you need to know:

Google and other search engines have recently been updating their search algorithms. As the biggest name in the game, Google has pioneered the way with two major algorithm updates: Panda and Penguin.

What was once acceptable can now impair a company’s ability to be found online. Under these new algorithms, websites that are found to be catering to the search engines rather than producing fresh, relevant content will be relegated to the bottom of search results. Overall, Panda and Penguin target websites that churn out thin content, spam backlinks, practice keyword stuffing or hidden text, include plagiarized content, and enact a number of other outdated, frowned-upon SEO techniques. 

The Panda and Penguin updates give the illusion that Google is making big changes in the digital realm, but in reality these updates are just part of a larger trend. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and the increasing popularity of handheld devices have changed the way people find, share, and discuss information. To stay relevant, businesses need to publish interesting content regularly, and share it through social media. By doing so, the same businesses will also find that Google’s new rules for SEO will be met naturally, and that is entirely the goal.

“We want people doing white-hat search engine optimization (or even no search engine optimization at all) to be free to focus on creating amazing compelling web sites,” stated Matt Cutts, Distinguished Engineer on Google’s Webmaster Blog.  “Another step is to reward high-quality sites,” stated Mr. Cutts.

Does this mean everyone should stop all SEO practices? 

Not necessarily. SEO should be used as a way to promote quality, authoritative content. Keyword research and analytics will still improve the quality of a site if used naturally and efficiently. Backlinks must occur naturally, however. The thought process is this: if a website caters to its audience, relevant keywords and backlinks will manifest naturally, and webmasters don’t have to do a thing. People will share useful or interesting content with their friends and followers. With Google’s new updates, this organic interaction trumps even the best laid-out marketing plans. One of the best ways for a business to regularly release shareable content is through a blog. When done right, blogging is a great way to create content, and encourage engagement. Share each new article on relevant social media platforms for maximum impact.

To address social media’s obvious impact on the world, Google’s updates look for likes, shares, and engagement —especially on Google+ because, well, it belongs to Google. Regardless of the platform, branding should be consistent throughout a company’s online presence to give the target audience a reliable image with which to associate. As with traditional websites, social media pages should be geared at providing the target audience with a memorable experience. This goes beyond branding, and delves into the murky terrain of engagement. Social media has lowered the barriers between businesses and their target audience. Engagement is important to building brand trust. A successful brand embraces this shift by giving followers not just great content but the ability to communicate directly with the company.

Are the Panda and Penguin updates perfect? Unfortunately, no. There has been some collateral damage to legitimate sites, and negative SEO practices have in some ways become easier. 

Competitors can more easily employ shady backlinking schemes for your website, effectively decreasing its value. Your original content is also at risk of being copied, and having the time stamp changed, making your site look like the copy cat. The best way to minimize the impact is to be proactive. Set up a Google alert for your website, and develop your authority through Google Authorship. If you find foul play, there are legitimate ways to deal with it. Google encourages anyone affected by backlinking sabotage to use their disavow tool.  

Photo Courtesy of Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS

Above all else, human engagement is the new SEO. Businesses should ask themselves what interests their audience. Answering that question through blogging, engaging in social media, and creating an easy-to navigate website are key. Hire a writer, hire a designer, hire a social media coordinator, and make sure each knows your industry's ins and outs. Once upon a time, customer service and interaction were reserved for in-person, phone, and even email conversations. Today, these conversations can happen anywhere in the digital sphere. Google’s Panda and Penguin updates support these modern trends.

The way you learn it in marketing school, marketing is a science. How could it not be, with all that jargon that puts everything into neat compartments? Unique Selling Proposition. Positioning. Niches. The four Ps. The Marketing Mix. All those rules of advertising and copywriting. Close fast and early.

The way you learn it in marketing school, marketing is a science. How could it not be, with all that jargon that puts everything into neat compartments? Unique Selling Proposition. Positioning. Niches. The four Ps. The Marketing Mix. All those rules of advertising and copywriting. Close fast and early.

So if marketing is a science, how come some people do it better than others?

Scientific method says, in essence, that if two researchers do the same experiment in the same way, they should get the same result. When that happens a couple of times, then the first person who did it is said to be scientifically correct. Does that happen in marketing?

Of course not.

But we all have the same tools. Market research. Public relations. Publications, such as brochures and newsletters. Seminars and speeches. Advertising. Direct mail and telemarketing. Even networking.

We all know the same things to do. Publicity. Newsletters and brochures. Niche marketing. Client surveys. And so on.

Yet, all results are not equal. Some firms emerge as giants, and others, including those that started in business at the same time as the giants, either go out of business or are still two-professional firms.

Why? What are the variables that make a difference in the same thing?

Or then, too, maybe marketing isn't a science. Maybe it's an art.

Maybe one firm, in looking at its markets and its market research, understands better what it sees than does its competitors. Maybe one firm, more than others, is better able to relate the needs of the marketplace to what it does in its own practice.

Or the public relations director of one firm is more imaginative than his or her colleagues in other firms, or better understands what the media want and the process of supplying that want, or is more truly conversant in the language of the firm's profession -- and so gets more publicity for his firm than his or her counterparts get for theirs.

Or the marketing director or partner of one firm has a broader view of potential markets than can be defined in simplistic niche marketing. Or one firm understands better than others how to use seminars more effectively as business tools. Or the partners of a firm are more organized in pursuing contacts with bankers or lawyers or accountants who are in a position to recommend business, and are better trained and enabled in converting prospects into clients.

Ah, that's the art of it. Not the jargon. Not the words.

True, even art has formal structures, and basics that must be learned. But in the final analysis, it's the art that wins, not the formal structure and the jargon.

If you want to succeed in marketing, then, don't hire the scientist. Hire the artist.

This article was reposted with permission from Bruce W. Marcos, via the Marcus Letter.

Facebook? Perhaps. Twitter? Maybe. Blog? Absolutely!

Blogs began as basic, often tawdry online diaries fueled by caffeine and wine. Some launched writing careers, but most simply enabled their authors to vent views or scratch creative itches. As the blogging craze grew, however, many corporate marketers adopted blogs to provide regular company updates and insights, and, almost as quickly, many marketers abandoned them. The reason? Regularly writing articles turned out to be challenging and time consuming; writing articles that attracted readers proved to be even more difficult. After all, who wants to read a corporation’s diary? So when Twitter and other microblogging platforms came along, corporate communicators happily replaced their 500-words of weekly wisdom with concise 140-character tweets.

And that's when marketers discovered the real value of blogs.

For businesses, blogs serve multiple purposes that Twitter can’t come close to serving. In fact, many corporations are now discovering that it’s actually harder to create a worthwhile Twitter account. So now we’re seeing a blog revival. Below are 3 key reasons why blogging boosts business:

Facebook? Perhaps. Twitter? Maybe. Blog? Absolutely!

Blogs began as basic, often tawdry online diaries fueled by caffeine and wine. Some launched writing careers, but most simply enabled their authors to vent views or scratch creative itches. As the blogging craze grew, however, many corporate marketers adopted blogs to provide regular company updates and insights, and, almost as quickly, many marketers abandoned them. The reason? Regularly writing articles turned out to be challenging and time consuming; writing articles that attracted readers proved to be even more difficult. After all, who wants to read a corporation’s diary? So, when Twitter and other microblogging platforms came along, corporate communicators happily replaced their 500-words of weekly wisdom with concise 140-character tweets.

And that's when marketers discovered the real value of blogs.

For businesses, blogs serve multiple purposes that Twitter can’t come close to satisfying. In fact, many corporations are now discovering that it’s actually harder to create a worthwhile Twitter account, and we’re, in fact, seeing a blog revival. Below are 3 key reasons why blogging boosts business:

1. Blogs build better business brands.

It’s hard to provide much brand value in a tweet. As we have seen with some brands, with Twitter, it’s easier to make a brand-damaging mistake with an ‘accidental’ tweet than it is to build your image and reputation in 140 characters.

With blogs, you get all the words you need to communicate your business’ fully fleshed-out personality in a way that suits your brand, and appeals to your customers. And since full-length articles take more time and attention to create, you’re far less likely to “accidentally” publish a brand-damaging blogpost than a misbegotten tweet.

Blogging also enables you to demonstrate your expertise; you can show that you’re not just a product or service provider, you’re an actual expert in your field. And you can do so not by ‘flaunting’ your knowledge, but by providing valuable advice, and insights to your customers.

Blog posts should be delivered in a conversational tone (like this blogpost) — not in a stiff ‘corporate’ voice, and definitely not in the form of press releases — a conversational tone makes your business appear more personable.

It’s also critical to maintain professional standards when blogging. A hastily-assembled (not to mention ‘abandoned’) blog, or a blog post filled with empty hype or unimportant info can do more harm than good. And by all means, don’t be boring! As advertising legend, David Ogilvy, once said, “You can’t bore people into buying your product” — or into reading anything you ever write again.

2. Blogs give you the goods to get social.

One challenge that many marketers face with social media is simply finding something to say. Simply talking about yourself or your products every day turns you into a drone. (See the David Ogilvy quote above.) But using your social media to talk about irrelevant matters (the weather or holidays) is a waste of time and resources.

With regular blogs, you now have something of value to share on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Sharing a value-filled article with a relevant LinkedIn Group is a great way to drive potential customers to your website, which is exactly what you want to do with social media: drive all those fans, friends, and followers to your website (never the other way around).

Note that this sharing is critical for building a blog readership. The problem with the early business blogs is that marketers just built them, and assumed that readers would come. Now they realize that they have to get the articles out there. That’s why it’s important to have both social media and a blog operating side-by-side, working together to attract your customers.

3. Google loves blogs.

Google and other search engines will someday recognize photos and videos, but in the meantime, they want words, words, and more words. Blogs, of course, provide plenty of words — including keywords and phrases that your customers might be plugging into search engines. Indeed, many customers type in entire questions into search engines, so sometimes a great blog format is a Q&A.

What makes blog posts even more search-engine friendly is that they’re fresh. Google tends to favor websites that have been recently updated, therefore it is important to provide fresh content regularly.

Something else that Google loves is backlinks, which are the links from other sites to your site. If you have a blogpost that’s valuable and compelling, it may attract backlinks. In addition, it may get shared on social media, and that also helps boost search-engine results.

Finally, Google favors ‘high quality’ content. Google determines this by watching human behavior. Those backlinks and social shares are one sign that your content is valuable. Another sign is how long customers spend on your page, and whether they click on anything while they’re there. (Google can track all this when you install Google Analytics on your site.) A high quality blog post will guarantee that visitors will spend more than a few seconds on your site.

So, Let’s Get It Started…

Now that you see what blogs can do for your business, designate specific writers or an agency to create regular posts that are both relevant and valuable to your customers and your brand. In addition, consider inviting guest bloggers to provide fresh content while attracting their fans. These individuals often have significant followerships of their own, which means that fresh new eyes will be drawn to your site.

Don’t worry if your readership numbers don’t explode overnight. Blog posts are long-tail content, meaning that they might not get discovered until months or even years later. In the meantime, all those blog posts will provide a wealth of content that boosts your brand, gives you something to socialize about, and keeps Google well fed.

Happy blogging!

Through their "Create" campaign, Adonit, a cutting edge consumer creative-technology start-up, is redefining the way we think of "creators." By assembling a group of leading artists, designers, engineers, writers, educators and entrepreneurs, Adonit is seeking to highlight how people across the creative spectrum are using technology to expand productivity and creation in their respective crafts.

Through their "Create" campaign, Adonit, a cutting edge consumer creative-technology start-up, is redefining the way we think of "creators." By assembling a group of leading artists, designers, engineers, writers, educators and entrepreneurs, Adonit is seeking to highlight how people across the creative spectrum are using technology to expand productivity and creation in their respective crafts.

In the field of design, they're tapping into the visionary mind of Starmen's Creative Director, Anthony Wiktor, to better understand his unique creative process.

It's human nature to Create. Early on in life we seek out tools to help us grow ideas into reality. We start with crayons and building blocks, and later in life progress to paint brushes and protractors. We are more than consumers. We are all creators at heart, and to create in today’s digital world, we need tools that empower us to make, build, and develop our ideas. -Adonit.net

Anthony, who is featured in Adonit's new commercial, teamed up with the start-up to offer a fresh perspective on the concepts and practical technological application of graphic design, content strategy, and web development."I was honored to work with Adonit and I appreciate the opportunity to be recognized outside of my technical abilities," Anthony said, "first and foremost I'm a creator. I'm an artist."

Adonit absolutely agrees, and, in fact, this very idea as the springboard for their new campaign: "We believe creativity is found in more than just artists, painters, and musicians. Creators are anyone searching for new solutions to get more out of life."

Anthony's favorite Adonit tool is the JotFlip, a precision stylus and fine pen. Check out the full line of Adonit products at Adonit.net and start creating!!

Can you remember the last website you’ve visited? Unless it’s Facebook or another website you visit often, chances are you don’t remember much about it. 

There are 644 million active websites on the Internet, but most of these websites are so poorly designed that people don’t want to revisit them. Don’t be one of those websites! You want to create a memorable online experience for your visitors, and to have them keep coming back for more. 

Can you remember the last website you’ve visited? Unless it’s Facebook or another website you visit often, chances are you don’t remember much about it. 

There are 644 million active websites on the Internet, but most of these websites are so poorly designed that people don’t want to revisit them. Don’t be one of those websites! You want to create a memorable online experience for your visitors, and to have them keep coming back for more. 

Your website needs to be easy to navigate, as well as provide some value to your visitors. You can go the extra mile, and implement a few design tricks to make your visitors remember your website more than any other website with similar content. 

Here are 5 useful web design tips that can help you improve the overall customer experience on your website.

1. State your website's purpose in one or two sentences.

From Wholesalesuppliesplus.com

The average visitor spends 10-20 seconds on a website before leaving it. It’s your job to use that time to grab your visitors’ attention, and to make them stay on your site longer. What better way to do that than to tell them why they’re there? Use beautiful (but legible!) typography to clearly explain your website in a sentence or two, and place it near the top of the website. To increase the chances of it being read, you can bold, color, or italicize the text. Nothing makes a visitor leave faster than a website that forces them to scroll around to look for its purpose.

2. Create a catchy, memorable URL.

Okay, this one isn’t exactly a design element, but it’s such a good trick that we don’t want to exclude it from the list. People almost always remember a catchy URL. For example, if you’re selling snowboards, you could go with something like 'addictedtosnow.com.' Sure beats a dull URL like onlinestore.com/products/snowboards, doesn’t it? If you already have a URL, you could still create a catchy one, and redirect it to your original site. 

3. Add personality to your website.

From Zipcar.com

Your company or product's personality should be immediately and prominently communicated on your home page. Some of the best websites out there have some sort of personality or theme throughout the site. Even Google has one! If your website is purely informational, people won’t identify with it, and they’ll end up forgetting it. You want to engage your visitors, and let them know what kind of personality your brand has. You can incorporate some personality into your website with the colors, pictures, or even the overall design itself. 

4. Great photography.

From McDonalds.com

Using photos as a design element and central piece in web design is a great way to visually communicate your message to the viewers as well as adding more depth into the design. The two most popular ways of using photos in a web layout are using a large photo as your background, and using a "key" photo as the central focus on the page such as Apple.com. Remember, when using photos in your layout, they can really give your website an added visual element, as well as depth and space. On the other side of things, if the photo is of poor quality, clichè or unappealing, it can bring down the entire look of the web page.

Include captions for your images.

Did you know that people read image captions more than they read anything else? People often read image captions to judge whether or not the related content is worth reading. Make your captions witty and memorable!

5. Use bold, light colors.

From Babyclothes.com

A website with a light foreground on top of a light background often looks clean and simple. That makes the viewer feel at ease, and makes navigation easier. Typically, people prefer and stay longer on sites that use light colors and backgrounds as opposed to dark ones.

These are not inflexible rules, rather, they are insights based on our years of experience in designing websites. Ultimately, it’s your brand which will decide the best direction your website design should venture in.

Interested in learning more about how web design can improve your business?

Contact us, and see how we can improve it.

The New Year always sparks a renewed interest in making changes! As a business, this should include taking a closer look at your brand – both from your perspective, and from your audience’s. Some questions to consider: How do your customers perceive your brand? Is it aligned with how you see yourself? Do people hear and understand exactly what your brand is saying?

There’s always room for improvement. Starting with these three strategies, you can help strengthen your brand in 2012!

The New Year always sparks a renewed interest in making changes! As a business, this should include taking a closer look at your brand – both from your perspective, and from your audience’s. Some questions to consider: How do your customers perceive your brand? Is it aligned with how you see yourself? Do people hear and understand exactly what your brand is saying?

There’s always room for improvement. Starting with these three strategies, you can help strengthen your brand in 2012!

Build a Consistent Brand

Consistency is the name of the game in brand identity. Do you think Coke and Apple became what they are by not showing the same ‘face’ to everyone, everywhere? The more consistent your brand is across all customer touch points, the more likely it can create a powerful impression, and be easily recognized by the target market.

One of the most important (yet often overlooked) aspects of branding is that it MUST remain consistent through all communication channels. From business cards and collateral pieces to your online marketing tools, there should always be a clear, consistent look and feel to everything you present.

Innovate Your Brand and Image

Keeping your brand up-to-date doesn’t mean changing it to stay current with every trend or fad. However, being attuned to what is happening in your industry, as well as what appeals to your target demographic, should play an important part in the evolution of your brand! 

With 2012 upon us, it might just be the right time to consider modernizing the visual image of your brand in terms of logo, tagline, typography, color palette, and design. Small changes, tweaks, and updates can re-energize an existing customer, and catch the eye of a new one! This is one step in the right direction towards staying ahead of your competition, and becoming a category leader.

Be Social, Diversify Your Online Presence

Being online today means much more than simply having a website. If you are not on Facebook and Twitter or don’t have a content rich blog, you might as well not exist in the eyes of the consumer. Your online presence speaks volumes to those who will buy from you. A successful social media engagement model is not about spitting out corporate messages, but instead focuses on developing a two-way dialog with your audience. Of course, you’ll want to make sure your brand’s ‘voice,’ through status updates, tweets, and blog posts, is aligned with your brand. Aim to be human in the social space.

There is certainly a difference between ‘design thinking’ and ‘designing.’  We hail Helen Walters’ article in Fast Company “Design Thinking Isn’t a Miracle Cure, But Here’s How it Helps” as a must read, especially for anyone in our industry! According to Walters, “design thinking is not fairy dust; you do not get to skip steps to magically solve a challenge.”

There is certainly a difference between ‘design thinking’ and ‘designing.’  We hail Helen Walters’ article in Fast Company “Design Thinking Isn’t a Miracle Cure, But Here’s How it Helps” as a must read, especially for anyone in our industry! According to Walters, “design thinking is not fairy dust; you do not get to skip steps to magically solve a challenge.”

Design thinking is a strategic tool.

Design thinking is a way of applying rigor to the creative and business processes to arrive at the best possible outcome. Design thinking is never static, it is a multidiscipline approach that strategizes and structures ideas to deliver breakthrough experiences. 

STARMEN's Approach to Design Thinking

· Establish the what, how and who:
      - What are you getting to/answering?
      - How are you going to set the journey, and leverage everyone’s talents?
      - Who is the facilitator to manage on generative ideas, strategic business cases, and tactical deployment?

· Encourage the team to ‘think outside the box,’ looking at things a bit differently.

· Frame the journey through the consumer or customer’s eyes.

· Maintain focus, but be careful to avoid tunnel vision. Design thinking is about navigating the unknown with a candle – observing and moving forward on the best journey of discovery – not a flashlight that lights up the clearest, most direct path.

Mr. Rogers saw the value of cultivating his own brand. But he did so in a quiet and dignified way that made the tone and authenticity of his show, and his relationship with viewers, unmatched by any television property ever seen before or after. As we consider how many of today's marketers likely grew up with the words of Fred Rogers guiding their way as kids, we can't help but think that we've all too often strayed away from some of those first lessons we heard as children.

Relationship building trumps flashiness.

Mr. Rogers replaced the flashiness of other television entities with a strong effort at building an honest relationship with his viewers by addressing his their concerns (at least as best a television personality might do in the days of a one-way medium). Most of the time, he addressed his viewers directly, even taking them on trips to meet his friends, and introducing guests who stopped by, things that we would do when we are in a relationship with someone we care about.

Don't promise more intimacy than you can deliver. 

Mr. Rogers often looked into the camera, saying things like, "I've really enjoyed talking with you this week. I hope I have answered a few of the questions you've had. I really wish I could know each, and every one of you personally, but unfortunately this television show is the only way we have to talk. If you have other questions that I haven't answered, find someone you love, and who loves you in your own life, and ask them." Really, is there a more perfect mindset that brands should take, online or off?

For brands that appeal to a large customer base, the company cannot have personal relationships with everyone. Social media, however, does provide a way to be more conversational, as it provides a venue for customer contact when they have a problem, etc. The key is to take the appropriate tone with customers, and to demonstrate approachability, but also to be honest about your limits, lest customers be disappointed.

Be consistent in who you are, and what people should expect from you.

From Fred Rogers' first show in 1968 until his last in 2001, surprisingly little has notably changed. Mr. Rogers’ brand - well defined and constant - remained calm in the changing seas of culture. There were many subtle shifts in the nuances of his shows: the anxieties he addressed, and the topics he covered. But Fred always found a way to address them, and meet his audience’s expectations. Mr. Rogers was a trusted friend to whom we could always turn, a prime example of how brands should be responsive to culture, mindful of context, and remembrant of why audiences come to them in the first place. 

Customers' questions are worth answering.

Mr. Rogers took us seriously, asked us what our pain points were, and offered the best solutions he could. Brands might be well served to do this a little more often for their customers.

Brands can take a stand.

Despite his calm demeanor, Mr. Rogers was known for taking a stand for what he believes in, which was consistent with his public persona. Brands too often shy away from supporting something, or else, when they do take a stand, their ‘causes’ are disjointed from their brand and industry.

Mr. Rogers saw the value of cultivating his own brand, but he did so in a quiet and dignified way that made the tone and authenticity of his show, as well as his relationship with viewers, unmatched by any television property ever seen before or since. We can't help but think that we've all too often strayed away from some of those first lessons we heard as children.

Excerpts from Fast Company's expert blogger Sam Ford, 5 Marketing Lessons from Mr. Rogers, 2010.

The world's largest coffee company, and one of its most beloved brands, just stirred up a bold new roast of its identity.  Starbucks unveiled an updated version of its iconic logo, which had remained unchanged since 1992. The simplified logo focuses on its mermaid symbol, and removes the company name from around the border of the "Siren." That's right, Starbucks no longer feels the need to reinforce its name.

The world's largest coffee company, and one of its most beloved brands, just stirred up a bold new roast of its identity.  Starbucks unveiled an updated version of its iconic logo, which had remained unchanged since 1992. The simplified logo focuses on its mermaid symbol, and removes the company name from around the border of the "Siren." That's right, Starbucks no longer feels the need to reinforce its name.

The new wordless logo features nothing more than its real star, the Siren, transcending the emblem from logo to ‘Lovemark.’ A term coined by Kevin Roberts, brand genius and CEO of advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi, who writes, “Lovemarks transcend brands, they deliver beyond your expectations of great performance, and they inspire 'Loyalty Beyond Reason’.” Transcending the Starbucks brand seems to be the new focus for Chief Executive Officer, Howard Schultz, who plans to evolve Starbucks into the future to ‘think beyond coffee.’ The world is changing, and Starbucks is changing along with it.  It is not changing the ‘essence of the experience,' but rather, enhancing the connection with its customers.  

Overall, the visual simplicity makes a meaningful impact, and the new focus on brand extension makes perfect sense. Those of you who think dropping the name wasn't such a good idea might fancy a read of “Starbucks’ Serves Up a Very Dumb Idea.” What remains uncontested is that Starbucks believes its best days are ahead of them, and it's going to be exciting to see how the new identity system evolves into Starbucks’ future plans.

Take a peak into the ‘Future of Starbucks’ or learn more about the power of lovemarks.

We at STARMEN are not ones to jump on 'bandwagons', whether the subject matter is politics, celebrity gossip, sports, or business. However, we're all aboard the latest bandwagon traveling along Gap's tracks to logo disaster. Gap’s new logo and branding campaign have widely been referred to as the “Gapgate controversy,” a questionable attempt at designing a new logo, and an even more tasteless approach at trying to market it. There has been way too much recent attention around the new Gap logo, and as a result, we've decided to come up with our own visual ‘solution.’

We at STARMEN are not ones to jump on 'bandwagons', whether the subject matter is politics, celebrity gossip, sports, or business. However, we're all aboard the latest bandwagon traveling along Gap's tracks to logo disaster. Gap’s new logo and branding campaign have widely been referred to as the “Gapgate controversy,” a questionable attempt at designing a new logo, and an even more tasteless approach at trying to market it. There has been way too much recent attention around the new Gap logo, and as a result, we've decided to come up with our own visual ‘solution.’

Gap has been successful at engaging and sustaining a loyal audience by constantly staying fresh in all aspects of its brand (fashion, marketing, advertising, etc.). Unfortunately, Gap’s revenue and image have waned. Sales at GAP stores (including Old Navy and Banana Republic) have been declining (-8% in 2009), but blaming the economy would be missing the mark entirely.  Gap’s problem is not its logo; it is its brand.

A Brand Panic Move

One of our favorite mottos is “Your logo is not your brand.” This is a message that we communicate to our clients frequently. Gap did not follow this philosophy, rolling out its new logo last week, which appeared to be more of a panic-driven move than a strategized one, as no real design thinking was evident. Some chalk this sudden change up as a response to declining sales, but as Abe Sauer from Brandchannel states, “the Gap brand decided to change the one valuable element it has going for it.” Customers seeing this new change just don't appear to be feeling it. This is a typical mistake most high-profile brands make in an effort to create a valuable 'change.’ Just ask Pepsi how they feel about the whole Tropicana mess. With very notable brands, a complete brand identity redesign or even just a change to the logo can be the hardest task for any design firm. Laird + Partners has done some great work for Gap in past years, but not this time. 

Louise Callagy, a Gap spokeswoman, explained the new logo was intended to be the latest ‘evolution’ for the brand, and added that it had been for the last two years. Callagy explains her position, stating that "[The new logo] is more contemporary and current, and honors the heritage of the Gap brand, but takes the blue box forward." We don’t agree; there is absolutely nothing new about using the typeface Helvetica. (Just ask Eric Spiekermann.) 

Our Solution

The creative team at STARMEN came up with a realistic, achievable solution for Gap. In honor of the 'heritage' that Gap eagerly wants to embrace, we reflected on the first Gap logo and store back in 1969, and found a new way of embracing Gap's original essence in a contemporary marketplace — something with a similar mainstream flexibility as seen in MTV's logo redesign. Rather than being simply an 'add-on', this logo becomes more 'integrated' with the brand campaign, allowing Gap to align its brand initiatives with its loyal customers. Rather than placing the retro typeface proportionally in the center of the iconic square shape, we dramatically enlarged it to bleed over the edges. The clean, bold, organic lowercase font gives Gap a fresh new energy that's both friendly and inviting. We believe that our approach gives the logo opportunity to fuse the distinctive Gap imagery, and the square shape demonstrates the flexibility of the new branding. So, what do you think of our alternative? More importantly, what do you think of Gap's perspective? We want to hear your thoughts... and we'd love to hear from you, Gap!

By no means are we saying that the above solution is 'the solution.’ We understand that there is a deeper problem with Gap, and it's not just with their logo, but rather their overall brand. However, as creatives, we couldn't help but offer our recommendations for what their logo could be.

UPDATE: As many of you may be aware, Gap pulled the aforementioned new logo just as quickly as they put it up. There probably won't be much long-term damage to the brand, but our hope is that Gap will know how to approach the whole brand identity redesign more holistically by focusing on the brand itself and not just the logo.

8 Criterion For Facebook Page Marketing Success

Social media marketing has become a hot topic amongst brand marketers and businesses who are looking to establish themselves within a social network. As a means to promote their products and services at low cost, a lot of marketers are turning to Facebook. But it's knowing how to use the platform, currently the most popular social network out there, that really makes all the difference to your bottomline.

8 Criterion For Facebook Page Marketing Success

Social media marketing has become a hot topic amongst brand marketers and businesses who are looking to establish themselves within a social network. As a means to promote their products and services at low cost, a lot of marketers are turning to Facebook. But it's knowing how to use the platform, currently the most popular social network out there, that really makes all the difference to your bottomline.

The proper use of Facebook goes beyond simply setting up an account. Rather, your focus must become more strategic in terms of interactivity with your audience, and this means taking the right steps to increase engagement, and promote peer-to-peer interactions. Simply stated, if a brand makes its community happy, then it has the option to start generating business revenue.

The Altimeter Group compiled data by analyzing companies' posts, comments and 'likes' on Facebook, and began to saw a clear pattern emerge. From this research, they've compiled the following 8 criterion for establishing a truly meaningful presence on the platform:

1. Set community expectations.
2. Provide cohesive branding.
3. Be up to date.
4. Live authentically.
5. Participate in dialogue.
6. Enable peer-to-peer interactions.
7. Foster advocacy.
8. Solicit a ‘call to action’.

So, now that you know the key elements of creating a stand-out social media presence on Facebook, how is your business going to execute a plan aligned with this paradigm? At STARMEN, we are social media experts, taking brands from content to commerce by using a unique approach that bridges people stories to product stories through social media and branded content. 

During our daily industry readings, we came across a refreshing article titled “Our Biggest Brands Can No Longer Be Managed By Nerds,” by brand consultant Tom Hinkes. Companies have been scaling back recently on creatively-led brand solutions, and focusing more on the numbers approach. It was refreshing to hear from a well-respected and experienced brand marketer that great marketing requires a balance of both strategy and creative.

During our daily industry readings, we came across a refreshing article titled “Our Biggest Brands Can No Longer Be Managed By Nerds,” by brand consultant Tom Hinkes. Companies have been scaling back recently on creatively-led brand solutions, and focusing more on the numbers approach. It was refreshing to hear from a well-respected and experienced brand marketer that great marketing requires a balance of both strategy and creative.

More Data Is Not Better Data

“Marketing departments used to be the creative engines powering successful corporations. Now they're overrun by number-crunching nerds. As a direct consequence, despite all the conspicuous focus on "change management," the way brands respond to change in the marketplace has deteriorated. A McKinsey Quarterly article several years ago argued that the key to "better branding" is to build brands "more scientifically." If managers would combine "forward-looking market segmentation" with structural-equation modeling, they could "build a better brand more efficiently." In short: more data, more regressions and more conjoint analysis mean the "brand crisis" is solved. But fluency with buzz words and expertise with spreadsheets do not guarantee brand-marketing competence.”

-Tom Hinkes, AdAge.com

We agree that there is a need for consumer research, but brand marketing is not an exact science, and therefore cannot be driven solely by metrics or statistics. We approach brand marketing with the analysis, discipline and detail it requires, but also with the emotion, vision and creativity that feed a brand’s sustained success.

As an award-winning creative agency specializing in brand design, we are proud to announce the redesign of the STARMEN web site. But ‘redesign’ doesn't really cover it. We’ve made more than an aesthetic adjustment or surface-level change, we’ve ‘refreshed’ internally and externally. The new starmenusa.com reflects our new ideas, fresh thinking, and innovative approach to our clients’ brands, as well as our latest design work. 

As an award-winning creative agency specializing in brand design, we are proud to announce the redesign of the STARMEN website. But ‘redesign’ doesn't really cover it. More than an aesthetic adjustment or surface-level change, we’ve ‘refreshed’ both internally and externally. The new starmenusa.com reflects our new ideas, fresh thinking, and innovative approach to our clients’ brands, as well as our latest design work. 

Our LA headquarters are buzzing with excitement! This site has been a labor of love, created with synchronized hard work, absolute enthusiasm, and meticulous attention to effective design. What remains unchanged is our unwavering resolve: We are here to produce solid, valuable results for you! Now, we just look even better!

We warmly invite you to visit our new site, and enjoy our latest work.

As technology advances and the industry grows, so do we. STARMEN designers and tech enthusiasts are excited to bring you our new iPhone site!  We’ve always been believers in simplicity, and our new optimized mobile format is exactly that — simple and straightforward. Even on your iPhone, we’re here to make your brand work!

As technology advances and the industry grows, so do we. STARMEN designers and tech enthusiasts are excited to bring you our new iPhone site!  We’ve always been believers in simplicity, and our new optimized mobile format is exactly that — simple and straightforward. Even on your iPhone, we’re here to make your brand work!

Explore our new platform!  Read about our agency, map our location, or shoot us an e-mail. Let us know how we can help you — we’re here for you and your brand!