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Remember when you first got your high school yearbook? You grabbed your copy and immediately began scouring the photos? But you weren’t looking to see how your friends looked. You were looking for yourself and beginning to formulate your excuses as to why you were having such a bad hair day. Looking at yourself first is a very natural reaction. (Don’t be ashamed, everyone does it.) But in marketing and communications, that instinctive self-referential response isn’t the most effective. After all, it’s our customers we need to please, not our own ego. And what they do every day, and what they read and watch every day, and their likes and dislikes may be very different from our own.

So whatever you’re trying to sell, be it an idea, a product, a service or simply a place in their mind, remember: it’s not about you, it’s not about your agency, it’s about them – your customers. The smart, good people who will hopefully choose to support your business as a result of how you speak with them. Do what your mother told you in grade school and put yourself in their shoes. Try it; you’ll be surprised at how infrequently you have to make excuses for your hair, and how often you will create a compelling, and above all effective, campaign.

 

One of the common mistakes when designing logos is creating them in a vacuum and not in context. This leads to the temptation to turn a logo into all-encompassing ad, signifying an organization's laundry list of capabilities in one small symbol.

While a logo must communicate a company's core thoughts simply and effectively, it's important to remember that a logo rarely lives on its own. It is almost always paired with some type of meaning or message: in an ad, on a product, on stationary, etc.

So how do you know if a logo is effective?

When you look at the logo, in an instant, do you get its core thoughts? Does it provoke an emotion or an idea? Does it identify the basic brand promise (or premise) of the business, service or organization? Is it functional? Most importantly, is the logo imaginative and unique? This helps with its memorability and likeability, which translates into real value for the organization.

The masterful designer Paul Rand said that a logo should serve as a flag for an organization. Simple, memorable and inspiring, rather than overly descriptive.

What challenges have you faced with logos, as a marketer or creator?

 

A popular (and somewhat comical) mantra in advertising is "break through the clutter." Rise above the sea of ads or drown with the thousands of other inputs that go virtually unnoticed. Of course, it’s true that thousands of messages assault people every day and that the competition to be noticed is ever-increasing – but focusing on “breaking through” seems to give undue credit to conditions we can’t control. People like it because it sounds easy, “Oh, I can just break out of the clutter…piece of cake.” Unfortunately, most people tend to come up with a solution that attempts to be physically bigger, brutally louder or simply annoying. Voila, instant clutter.

Instead, we like to invite people into our ad. People don’t experience sensory overload only to end up exhausted; they have filters so they can pick and choose what to perceive and what to pass up. Have you ever noticed how many ads for televisions you become aware of when you’re interested in buying a TV? It’s not that television advertisers are suddenly advertising more. It’s because that has become important to you and your filters let it in. Getting through those filters becomes the puzzle - and clutter is simply one environmental reality to plan around as we figure out how to earn meaningful attention from the right hearts and minds. How do you get them to come into your ad? By presenting something relevant and important to them. Not by shouting what is important to you.

The clutter monster isn’t ours to conquer – consumers have that influence and they use it every day. Our success will result from seeing the world from their point of view, not from focusing on the environment they live in.

 

© 2008 3 Advertising LLC, a full-service advertising agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico.