SaadCreative.com

2) Objective Thinking

saadcreative — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:40:36 +0000

A few weeks ago, I attended a conference about Social Media for International Organizations in Palais des Congres at Montreal. The conference was quite informative to say the least. While discussing with fellow attendees during a workshop, I was amazed by how a majority of them saw Social Media as a task or a “must-follow-or-die” trend rather than a tool to attain their objectives.

The Definition:

Objective thinking is making sure that you set sail on the right direction with your project and making the right decisions along the way. Objective thinking is a state of thinking that is to keep focus on your true project needs. It’s basically helping you validate your work method, the tools you use and prevents you from following trends based on wrong incentives.

The Example:

Throughout my experience in graphic and web design, I’ve met many clients that wanted a website done for their business.
“Why do you need a website” – I say.
“It seems normal that every business should have its own website” – they respond.

The Answer:

Although that statement is not totally wrong, the correct answer would be for example “to increase sales”, “to reach a bigger audience” or “to inform our current customers about our energy efficient practices”. That being defined, I can better respond to the need and assess the type of solution to propose to the client. The client will probably realize that there are other ways to increase sales than to have a website, or he can even call upon a number of other services to make that happen like giving away coupons, launching a contest or perfecting his product on the website itself.

The Moral:

You can waste allot of time, money and effort investing in the wrong tools or making the wrong decisions. What I define being wrong is anything counterproductive to the achievement of your goal. I don’t absolutely rely on metrics to validate the productivity of a tool or decision, most often, a strong knowledge of the field and a good intuition are more than enough to do so. Just ask yourself : “Is this gonna help me [Goal: increase sales]” and “Is there other more efficient ways to [Goal: increase sales]” then list your alternatives and present activities. Don’t be afraid of major changes!

The Side Note:

This concept also applies to life. If you feel that what you’re not doing what you need to do to become who you envision to be, stop doing it! In some way your mind is sending you signals telling you that you’re not fulfilled and that your expectations aren’t met. Our mind processes much more information that we can think of and we have trained it to understand what we truly want. We then need to understand how to listen to our mind and let it show us how to attain the goals we set ourselves to achieve and let go on whatever is slowing us along the way.

The Bottom line:

Set aside your subjectivism and focus on making decisions for your long term objective rather than for your present satisfaction. When willing to get a website done or to make a rebranding for your business, think of what value that website or rebranding can add to your business, what advantages can you take from these services.

1) Aspects of a Memorable Brand Name

saadcreative — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:48:14 +0000

Before diving into the subject, it should be understood that a clever company name is nothing without a clever product. The success of your name is relative to what you set your company to be inside and out.

Communication

The reason for having a name for a business or a product is to give people a way of communicating and identifying your brand. From then on, everything identifiable to your brand – colour, product, philosophy – will be triggered in their mind when they hear that particular name.

One good approach is to choose common words to compose a name. This allows you to access the pre-established mind patterns in order to trigger the images you want to associate with your brand.

Non-exclusive examples: Fisher-Price, Sharp, Panasonic

There are ways to create and evaluate how your company name can deliver a message to a subconscious mind. Phono-semantics is one of those ways and it’s the science of symbolism in sound and meaning – something to dig into.

Uniqueness

In order to communicate effectively and to avoid confusion, a great company name should be relatively unique. To come up with a great name for a hand made shoes’s e-store, and then realize that 15 other businesses run with the same name is-no-good.

A unique name allows you space for growth, prevents conflicts and increases it’s potential psychological footprint. A unique name is an open canvas for branding, since it has (almost) no predefined meaning, it’s up to the holder to establish it’s meaning.

Non-exclusive examples: Glaxo, Casio, Hasbro

Pronounciation

Most individuals read a word while speaking in their mind. If the person reading your company name and cannot speak it inside him, most often that not will the person forget it. Opting for an easy, catchy name is a good idea, but it all depends on the industry you’re into.

If Morgan-Stanley was first named Yahoo! … well, you get the point.

Foreign pronunciations are a good way to get catchy with a name. People fancy foreign languages and accents, some for better reasons than others. Then why not give them something to chew on and name your company something like: Swarovski.

- I feel fancy already.

Relevance

One of the most important aspect in choosing a brand name is its relevance to the industry. Getting back to my Yahoo! and Morgan-Stanley example, these are stereotypes of what a good name can be in the web world and the financial world. There’s no way to get lost here, it’s just a matter of established trend that one has to look at in order to decide whether to choose a hip name or a traditionally composed one.

History

Speaking of tradition…
History makes excellency. People react to storytelling and this has been a marketing technique for ages. Having a name that is born from a story saves you allot of time and money in branding and marketing research.

One good example is Dom Pérignon, the champagne named after a monk of St-Benedict who was a pioneer in producing quality champagne. This screams quality, tradition, luxury … and that’s the result the parent company was looking for.

Availability

Ok.
Last but never the least, it is important to research the availability of the name for legal registration. It is important to keep in mind a prospective vision of the brand, if planning to expand overseas to make sure you can register under the same name over there if wanted.

Availability (Domain Names)

I would love to cover this subject but I’ll end up duplicating information that is already meticulously written and detailed by Christopher Johnson, a naming and verbal branding consultant from Seattle. Follow this link!

To Conclude…

Choosing a name is a process that should be given it’s true value. Brain storming sessions, research, testing and analysis are what truly compose a name that best suits a brand and it’s target market. On a side note, there are that can help you get the good work done.

0) An Introduction

saadcreative — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:47:33 +0000

It’s interesting how everything around us is just so “designed” nowadays. Companies and all-size businesses are more interested in their look than their product. It’s not always true for established companies, but for start-ups, it is as if they need that logo, need that website, need those business cards, when in fact they need a good product.

Who is – Me?

My name is Saad Benryane and I love what I do. What do I do? Design. Despite the very limited circumstances in which this term is actually well used , I see it in every single thing. Most of my work is related to graphic design, but with every client, I try to give them more than that. I try to make people understand that there is more to Design than just beautiful graphics on a print or media. I make them work on the concept of the project they hold.

This Blog is About…

I believe that the key of branding is in knowing its history. History of brands teaches us a good deal of what works, what doesn’t work and what will be working in the future of brand establishment. That being said, this blog will be – not exclusively – about my insights on brands, some ideas and tips on how to create a long lasting image.

And Finally

I am no branding Guru, I have read a lot, learned a lot and willing to push my learning forward while sharing it with you. I have never made any school studies branding, so I am not what you call a “professional”. Although, if you’re like me and you strongly believe in the school of life, then we are clearly on the same page… join me for the upcoming ones!