Norris OnBrand

2007 ANA Annual Conference

The ANA annual conference starts today in Phoenix and it looks to be another exciting event. Yahoo was the big sponsor last year, but this year it is all about Microsoft, with Steve Ballmer giving the keynote address to open the event Friday morning. Speakers for this years event include a long list of CMO’s, including Roger Adams from Home Depot, Bob Lachky from Anheuser-Busch, Wendy Clark from AT&T, Mary Dillon from McDonalds, and of course Jim Stengel from P&G. Al Gore will event make a presentation talking about Consumer-Generated content.

See you in Phoenix!

Is Your Brand Trying To Look “Real”?

One of the latest visual trends for brands is trying to look “real”, or less commercial, in an attempt to connect with their consumers. Using an editorial style, brands are attempting to create a connection with their target audience, by removing the high production look of their ads, in-store signage, and on-line videos. This trend is highlighted by content on video sites such as YouTube where productions are low-cost, edgy, and often effective.

Vonage Ad

Brands such as Vonage made extensive use of this “story telling” style early on. Now, more and more brands are using this technique to communicate key messages quickly and with lower production costs, but primarily online, as this style does not translate to print quite as easily as it does for online.

Advertising Campaigns Should Not Define Your Brand’s Look

One of the biggest challenges that brands face is to define a unique photographic style that the brand can “own”. With so many brands that are competing for the customer’s attention, it is critical that a brand stand out. But defining a unique look can be a real challenge.

Often the photographic style for a brand is driven more by advertising campaigns, rather than by the brand’s underlying values. Because campaigns come and go, if a brand’s look is based on campaigns it is difficult to maintain a consistent look.

For a brand to really become iconic, its look and feel must be defined based on a longer-term plan, not a short-term campaign. Corona is an example of a brand that “owns” a well-defined style, which its campaigns must fit.

By identifying the key attributes that a brand stands for first, then developing a look and feel that reflects those brand attributes, a brand can “own” a style that will last over time. Also, by using a consistent style, it will deter other brands from using that style.

Ad campaigns should fit the look of the brand, not the other way around. This is how world-class brands build brand equity, over time.

Defining OnBrand Imagery

I have been speaking, writing, and presenting about OnBrand imagery for years now. Recently I have received a number of questions from leading brand managers about the “real” definition of OnBrand. It seems that there are a number of companies that are beginning to use similar terms, but in confusing ways, so I thought I would clarify my definition of OnBrand.

OnBrand imagery is imagery that is aligned with a particular brand in two specific ways:

#1 - Alignment with a brand’s visual style standard

This OnBrand test focuses on the style of a photograph, which may include many aspects such as: lighting, focus, color, models, cropping, etc.

#2 - Alignment with a brand’s core values/attributes

Alignment with a brand’s attributes focuses on the reaction that a person has when viewing the photograph and the words that come to the viewer’s mind when seeing the image. If the words that a person uses to describe the feeling felt by the person are not the same words that the brand wants to stand for, then the image is not well aligned.

While art is subjective, both of these alignment tests are relatively easy to apply. If it helps, assign a score from 1 (worst) to 10 (best) for each image, for each alignment test. If an image scores high on both of these criteria, then it is OnBrand.