soulsight®

Think next. At FUSE 2010, discover how consumers and businesses alike are settling into this “new normal,” and what we must do as brand strategists and designers to Reclaim the Future and create new opportunities for our brands.

The FUSE community unites brand strategists, designers, creative directors and trend forecasters assembling to explore the meaning of brands in a new world and the role of design and trends in keeping those brands relevant for consumers. Soulsight is excited to be a part of FUSE 2010. Strategy Director Erin Paul and Account Services Director George Argyros will be presenting along with Moira Cullen, Senior Director of Global Design at The Hershey Company. Why the Middle of the Road is Where you Get Squished Do you matter? In this provocative and challenging session, Moira Cullen, George and Erin will share insights on how to be more than a note taker for your client and brand team. Tools and tips will be shared from both the agency and client perspective. • Be Brave: the importance of providing an expert point-of-view • Moving From a Monologue to a Dialogue: the key to speaking their language • Building Your Arsenal: tools to guide the process, direct the vision, and aid in the “sell-up”

Normally, we use this forum to discuss trends or observations within the design community. But what about our own little community here at Soulsight? We do have a section dedicated to culture on this website, but it just grazes the surface.

It's well known that Soulsight is an amalgam of the smartest people in the industry, but did you know that we are the most fun too? We are privileged to work in a place that understands the importance of fostering a sense of community. As we've been crazy busy lately, the sense of family has become even more evident. People chipping in and helping out. People caring that their coworkers might be getting over loaded and proactively volunteering to help out. That's what I'm talking about people! We have a great team here that I am proud to say I work with and truly care about. So this one goes out to us. Good job family.

Pre-Design Research Discoveries

So I was reading an article about the new Acropolis Museum project in Athens (yes, get over it, I am Greek) and learned that during pre-construction excavation something amazing happened. An entire ancient city was discovered right where the bulldozers and diggers were ready to rumble.

"Oh no!" you might say, as many did. Most believed the project would be canceled or at best postponed many years due to the discovery. But, the famed architect Bernard Tschumi (neither have I) found inspiration!

Instead of wallowing in the unforeseen discovery, he embraced it. He cleverly designed the museum around and on top of it, highlighting the ancient and hailing its marvel and influence on the modern. And now it's becoming one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city.
What the heck does this have to do with design research? Well, I’m glad you asked. Many times, brand managers are presented the opportunity to do independent pre-design research. It is the one tool that good design firms have at their disposal that goes mostly unused. Many of the reasons not to pursue pre-design research, that I have heard, stem from a fear that it may contradict the very hard work that led to the green-lighting of a project in the first place. The homework has already been done. Why run the risk upfront when it can be done on the back end and corrected at that point?

It’s a tough sell, but I believe making choices out of fear will get you nowhere. If the lesson of the Acropolis Museum teaches us anything, it is that in the unknown there is great potential, and in discovering the potential early, one has the ability to adapt quicker, create smarter and perhaps more successfully due to the fact that you aren't "fixing problems" but creating solutions with information from the beginning.

So embrace research, or maybe just give it a friendly little hug at first. Bravely prepare yourself to look at the data as a treasure map instead of a road block, and you’ll find gold.

Read more about the new Acropolis Museum in Athens

The power of packaging as a billboard for your product was, quite nicely I might add, reinforced over the holiday season.

Like many, I enjoy spying on my neighbors via the boxes they have on the curb the day after Christmas. Yikes, the Smiths got a 72 inch flat panel! The Jones got another treadmill (good luck with that).

What struck me this year was that a company that doesn't even have a package for its product, or ever will, understood this premise so much that it went to all the trouble of creating a nice "little" box to be left on corners throughout the land in a smart guerilla marketing effort.

Mini, one of our favorite examples of a brand that embraced its authenticity, understood this natural human behavior. (I assure you, it's natural!)

Just after Christmas, Mini strategically distributed massive cardboard cartons with torn gift wrapping in trash heaps all over Amsterdam. Each box had a large diagram of the car with the words MINI COOPER across the top as if the car had been packaged inside. Kudos to Ubachswisbrun/JWT.

To us, it further emphasizes the power of good packaging and the tractor beam-like effect that it has. Mini's recognition of this fact makes me feel all warm inside on a freezing winter day. Now if I can only get the Ferrari people to return my call about that custom clam shell.

In response to the cute 100 calorie, miniature versions of big things, we've noticed the little things are coming back with a vengeance.

From Giant Cheetos and Huge Nerds to Jumbo Rice Krispies, things that are normally little are claiming the territory of things that were big that left that territory to be little. Makes sense? Not entirely to us either. But it is definitely a trend that we have noticed over the past year.

Ultimately, it seems, brands keep fighting for market share with all they've got. Big things are little, little things are big. The oxymoronic trend is here. Maybe next they'll come up with jumbo shrimp or wet napkins. (Oh, wait...)

The holiday season has arrived, and, here at Soulsight, we welcome the turn of the calendar page and the dusting of fresh snow we received this morning.

We began to ponder how our brand equity relates to the holidays. Should our holiday gifts be adorned with the traditional holiday color palette or our Soulsight equity colors (as outlined in our shiny new standards manual)?

That opened the door for a confab about how the holidays relate to consumer brands. The holidays are an endorser of many of the products that we will buy this year for friends and family. They do have an emotional connection that fulfills a need state of many consumers, and, truth be told, the holiday season is one of the most globally identifiable emotional consumer touch-points.

It is the challenge of each brand, though, to determine their logical place in the aura of the holiday season. Some consumer brands, of course, will borrow the shiny equity of the holidays to reinforce their essence, polish up their image, or just bask in the halo effect of the beautiful twinkling light. But brands need to to be true to themselves and understand the consumer's perception. The brands that can align the consumer's perception with their own projected brand image will be most successful.

A few brands have made great strides in "owning" the holidays. Coca-Cola is a great example of a brand that completely dominates its category during the holidays. Soulsight has been privileged to be a holiday partner of Cola-Cola for an unprecedented 4 years. The holiday design created for last and this year's season incorporates brand specific holiday iconography. Each brand (Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta, etc.) has their own unique "gift wrapping" that exudes their respective brand personality and ties into the parent brand essence.

Hershey's brands also have a strong association with the holidays. Who doesn't have a bowl of red, green and silver wrapped Kisses in their home for guests to enjoy this time of year?

Williams-Sonoma has a notably beautiful collection of holiday design. It does a terrific job of adopting the spirit of the season into the design architecture to further elevate their respective brand image.

What these brands do so well is make sure that the projected holiday personality is in line with the consumer's current brand perception and expectations. In this way, the promise perfectly aligns with the experience, just like the heartwarming feeling you get on a snowy winter morning.