A little background first:
Part of the color work that I do involves consulting companies in the selection of appropriate colors to represent their brand image. Think of how successful UPS and brown has been, or Tiffany's and its trademarked blue. Not that I personally had anything to do with those particular successes... I wish!
Anyways, I am constantly gobbling up anything I can learn about branding, marketing, the psychology of color as it applies to products and services, etc. I recently found this new venture, and thought, if any of you are entrepreneurially-minded (is that even a word?), you might get a kick out of this, too.
BrandingWire is a collaboration of marketing experts from branding, marketing, PR and design. The "pundits" of BrandingWire not only maintain individual blogs, but also have banded together to collaboratively offer perspectives and commentary on a variety of branding themes. Each month, they focus on a particular branding challenge or topic, and collectively give their perspectives on how they’d apply best branding practices. Talk about behind the scenes scoop!
Their first test case is a fictional scenario, but really fascinating stuff.
It involves a small coffee company. They have a few retail stores and have been in business for 8 years. They roast their own beans on-site (and boy, does it smell wonderful!), their retail sites are wide-open, relaxed, and kind-of country-funky. There is very strong local attachment to the company, but little recognition outside of the geographical area (it’s a family operation but the owner is committed to doing whatever it takes to create a thriving business). Their brand name is OK but certainly not anything special. They have a lame tagline (Great coffee at great prices!) and no distinctive identity pieces. The logo looks like it came out of a branding bargain bin.
They want to grow, though they’re not entirely sure what is the most profitable path…more retail? Franchising? Mail-order? Corporate coffee service? Something new and unique?
Intrigued by what the marketers dreamed up? Read on...