If you are here reading this you’re probably thinking something needs to change.  Change is good, “it’s the only constant” if you don’t change, well… you know what happens.  But what is it that needs change?  What exactly is the difference you need to get to your “next level”.  Maybe you’ve created a great look already.  Maybe you’ve made a pretty good attempt at leveraging social medias. Maybe you’ve made your product or service available and obvious to your target market. Or maybe you don’t quite understand who your target market is. Are they aware of you? Do they understand you? Do they see a place in their lives for you? These things are often difficult to grasp from where you sit.

Branding + marketing is as simple as that. You have something you are proud of but for some reason the rest of the world doesn’t seem to agree. Well chances are they do they just have no idea you exist. Oftentimes real, usable products go unnoticed due to simple things like obscure presentation and or meaningless placement. You might be inclined to think that you don’t need a great brand campaign if you’ve got a great product. Well that might be so if you are willing to wait for the world to market it for you. The problem with that is most people are actually spending their money on the most successfully marketed product at any given moment. Few actually spend the time really thinking about whether or not they need or have use for it. A great product is a great thing and especially when it’s a noble one. But sadly we are still in the habit of buying based on the best looking logo / package / motion graphics etc, throw a shapely female in the mix and its all she wrote.

So now you ask…

Where should I place my budget? Where can I spend my x amount of dollars to get the absolute most potential out of this branding thing you speak of?

Well what is this product or service? Is it a consumable? Does it require assembly? Does is have a narrow target market? Defining characteristics can play a dynamic role in the way you present it to the public and can have a powerful impact in the way the public receives it.

Creative Product Branding means just that. It doesn’t mean hiring the most expensive designers money can buy. If it did it wouldn’t be very creative would it? Contrary to past beliefs people actually respond favorably to simple things like… a narrow cardboard sleeve wrapped around the product with just enough surface area to place a clean logo and pertinent information. On one hand creating less overall waste but more importantly costing much you much less than previously budgeted for. I especially like this new trend and feel that it shows a sense of creative enginuity and compassion for the environment.

From a brand/marketing professional’s stand point I can tell you this will actually prove to make the people in my industry less and less revenue in the way of severely minimized collateral costs as well as man hours. But I’m happy to move in this direction if it means people get their product in front of buyers and our living environment gets a much needed reduction in the way of “one use” packaging waste.

So there’s that, but now where do you put it? Websites are good but although they are crucial early in the process I believe that they can be useless without a few other supporting factors. What good is a website if nobody shows up? And when they do, how did they get there? What percentage of them got there because they are actually interested? And do they belong to the correct market?

I guess you can tell what the theme is here…

Your product is unique regardless of what it is.

There are simple characteristics about every product that will allow for a different approach. Unless of course it is a cookie cutter derived from something previously successful. But then where’s the fun in that? And if so chances are you’re not reading this article, as you already have a great example of how to spend your time and effort.

My interests lie in the innovative products launched on a dime and destined to change the world. I love a project that possesses the opportunity for the use of truly creative branding, packaging and marketing. And of course, a sucker for people with the passion to risk it all.

Mike Luke – GiDesign & Marketing, Northern California.