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/

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.

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!