'Net Features : branding

The Meaning Behind Color - What Choice Evokes the Best Response

Allison Howen — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:51:00 GMT

Color is one of the most fascinating things in the world. It attracts attention, evokes emotion and can trigger the memory.

Something so powerful should not be taken lightly, especially when creating visual elements to a website, in an advertisement or for a brand. Colors can increase brand recognition, increase participation and provide brands with a competitive edge.

Of course everyone has a favorite color, but marketers should be aware of the meanings behind colors, as well as what colors yield the best response from consumers.

Red – This color draws attention, and is often the color that eyes are drawn to first. It is also known to increase the heart rate and create a sense of urgency, and is often used for clearance sales. Its complimentary color is green, however, adding just a spot of red can be useful in some cases, because it can accent other colors or draw attention to a specific spot of an advertisement or webpage. Big brands that are associated with the color red include Target and Coca-Cola.

Orange – This is an ambitious color. It is associated with fun and energetic times or citrus fruit. It is recommended for kid’s websites or call to action buttons, such as subscribe, buy or sell. The complimentary color to orange is blue. Brands associated with this color include Nickelodeon and the Home Depot.

Yellow – The color of the sun is associated with laughter and happiness. It is said to make people feel optimistic and youthful. In its brightest form, this color is often used to grab consumers’ attention. Its complimentary color is purple. Many brands are associated with this color, including Best Buy, McDonalds and Sprint.

Green – Who doesn’t love the color of money? This color is associated with growth, nature, wealth and can also be calming, depending on its shade. Its complimentary color is red. Brands that are associated with this color include Starbucks and Android.

Blue – This is probably the most popular color in the world, perhaps because it is the color of the sky and the sea. It is calming, and can be associated with dependability and security. It is used by many brands, especially banks. Its complimentary color is orange. Brand’s associated with blue include Facebook, Chase and, of course, Website Magazine.

Purple – This color is associated with royalty, and therefore represents sophistication and prosperity. It is often used with anti-aging and beauty products, and can be used to soothe or calm consumers. Its complimentary color is yellow. Brands associated with this color include Taco Bell and Yahoo.

Pink – This feminine color is best associated with romance. However, depending on the shade it can also be seen as sentimental or youthful. Many times this color targets women and young girls. This color is associated with Victoria Secret’s Pink line and Barbie.

Black – This is a powerful color (or absence of color). It represents authority, stability and strength, and is often seen used for expensive products. It is usually used in combination with other colors, especially white. Brands associated with this color include Nike, Adidas and Smashbox Cosmetics.

White – Simple and purity are two words that describe this color. It is often seen used is conjunction with black, or with health related products. While most brands won’t only use white, many use white in at least some aspect of their color scheme, including Apple, Volkswagen and Tylenol.

Search for an Online Identity

Michael Garrity — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:20:00 GMT

A major part of online marketing is establishing a strong brand identity, which means that consumers have to be able to easily find your online properties (websites, social media profiles, mobile sites, etc.) for you to see real success on the Web.

The absolute best way to do this is to ensure that your primary website's domain name and social network URLs are simple and will make accessing your Internet properties as hassle-free for consumers (and, more importantly, potential consumers) as possible.

For the last half decade, DomainsBot has been helping companies by providing an easy way for them to check the availabilty of potential domain names that they may want to use, which dramatically reduces the time spent searching for an unused domain name.

"Our goal is to simplify an important and time consuming process creatively," says DomainsBot CEO Emiliano Pasqualetti.

Social Media Takeover
Of course, anyone who is even a moderate Internet user can tell you that social media has completely altered the way that we use the Web. Now, many users will have their first encounters with brands on social networks, specifically Twitter or Facebook, and many consumers are conditioned to visit these profile pages more frequently than websites because they are easier to engage with and located on social networking sites that the users are already visiting regularly.

DomainsBot took note of this development, and it was the catalyst for the development and launch of the 2.0 version of its website. DomainsBot now offers "an innovative real-time search experience" that includes some new tools to search for not only domain names, but also Twitter handles and Facebook URLs. Ultimately, this will help brands establish unique online identities in a quick and efficient manner.

"Five years ago we only needed to worry about checking domain availability before naming a new business or product," says Pasqualetti. "Today's challenge is to take care of domains and social media identities."

Keeping Up with Google
A big part of the redevelopment of the DomainsBot technology revolved around meeting Google's new "Instant" feature. Now that the search giant displays relevant search results as words are typed into the search engine, DomainsBot will offer "a similar, real-time experience that gives users more control over results."

The new website is live now, and the new features have also been integrated into DomainsBot's mobile application.

The All-new Myspace a Model of Rebranding

Mike Phillips — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT

After taking an absolute beating in the social media space, MySpace has finally made a change. And, at first look, it's quite impressive. But before we dive into the details, let's back up a few years.

Myspace was the hottest thing online. Users were flocking to the site, making friends and, most important, expressing themselves. User profile page backgrounds were customized (an entire industry sprang up overnight for Myspace backgrounds), rich media content was published and messages where sent back and forth. Then, Facebook graduated from the college ranks and blew everything apart for Myspace. By February 2009, Facebook claimed the traffic crown from Myspace and never looked back.

That happened, in part, because of the customization factor with Myspace. Backgrounds became loaded with flashing and animated elements, content was shuffled, code was mangled and the site became sluggish and just plain ugly. The atmosphere took on the feel of an online red-light district - anything goes, there was little to no policing of content and spam was running rampant. The site lacked focus. Or, to borrow a favorite expression, the inmates were running the asylum. What was Myspace? Was it a social network? An entertainment portal?

On the other hand, Facebook was sleek, easy to use, lightweight and far less buggy. It was touted as a way to connect with people and communicate. So, the older, more "sophisticated" crowd left Myspace, never to return. But a critical element stuck it out with Myspace - the young, artistic, entertainment-focused and, perhaps most important, musicians. And to this end, Myspace has finally embraced its identity.

The new Myspace* is focused on content delivery - namely entertainment - on a personal and customizable level.

For registered users, the home page will adjust according to your interests and past behaviors (say, if you often click on stories about a famous actor) with fresh content that is constantly updated thanks to Myspace "curators." Users can also choose between three different views - list view, grid view and play view, which allows users to watch, forward and resize their updates to full screen. The image to the right is a user profile in grid view, displaying all of their chosen, customized content.

There are more than 20,000 topic pages (centered around particular matter such as a TV show or The New York Times), hub pages centered on celebrities, movies, games, sports and fashion, recommendations, and a discovery tab that combines videos that friends are watching with what’s trending in real time on Myspace. A 'My Stuff' tab shows a user's personal preferences such as their profile, photos, videos and uploaded content. And, of course, personal profiles can be built and customized - that's the area that appears to have changed the least. But make no mistake - this new brand of Myspace is centered on content, not communication.

Now, let's look at how Myspace rebranded and why it will be successful.

Earlier we mentioned that a very important user group, musicians, stayed with Myspace through the lean years. In fact, not only did they stay but new musicians and bands flocked to the site. You would be hard-pressed to find many bands that do not have a presence on Myspace. So, the website became known for this. If you wanted to hear a band, head to Myspace. Bloggers, music critics and fans knew exactly where to go to hear a few songs in their entirety, for free. In other words, people knew where to go to get what they wanted and Myspace delivered.

This is one element that kept Myspace going and this is what they embraced. Instead of attempting to go toe-to-toe with Facebook, Myspace sharpened their focus on what they do best and what their audience and the greater Web world expected from them. Next, they cleaned up the site and took back a measurable portion of control but left the focus on the user to customize their own content. This is exemplified nicely with their new logo, seen below. It's "My" with open brackets - representing a blank canvas on which users can create whatever they like, carving out their very own space on the Web.

It took time for Myspace to wake up. Perhaps too much time. But, this new iteration of the website has dusted off old criticisms and revamped a once industry-leading brand. Where Facebook is clean (almost dull these days) and focused squarely on interaction and making friends, the new Myspace is all about delivering bright, vibrant and viral content, where and how their users want it.

As a Web professional, does this suggest you should stop chasing the leaders in your industry? Absolutely not. Take this as a lesson in how to relaunch a tired brand and in understanding, then harnessing the power of an audience. By focusing on their core audience and optimizing with that audience in mind, Myspace has an excellent chance to not only survive but thrive in an entirely new way. Every business and every brand has a core strength. Identify what that is, why the audience wants it and then deliver.

*The new Myspace is currently in beta. It will go public at the end of November, 2010.

The Gap's Big Gaffe, and the Mobile Web for Your Business

Mike Phillips — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The Gap suffered a branding debacle this week; we'll discuss what we can learn from it, and also some interesting news from AOL. Then, you'll hear our conversation with Giovanni Calabro of Siteworx on the mobile Web, mobile apps and how to use them (or not) for your business.

Listen now, and subcribe to Website Magazine Radio in iTunes!

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If you would like to have your questions answered on Website Magazine Radio, please send email to mike@websitemagazine.com with "WM Radio" in the subject field.

Three Highly Effective Home Pages: What We Can Learn

Mike Phillips — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:59:00 GMT

The website home page has gone through many transitions. We've seen the brochure-style page, the links-galore page and the Flash-frenzied page, to name a few. And, while many visitors come to sites through specific channels and hit specific landing pages, the home page is still a place to make your brand stand out. Let's have a look at three excellent home pages and examine how they are fulfilling the brand initiatives while providing real value to consumers.

You will notice that these pages are not only attractive but functional, too. They are built to show the brand, but all demonstrate their value to consumers beyond the product itself. They are engaging, sometimes entertaining and always focused on being a resource for consumers in order to create brand loyalty. These companies might have big budgets, but what they can teach us is applicable to all businesses, big and small.

Dominicks.com

(Dominicks is a local grocery store chain, and a subsidiary of Safeway.)

Locally Grown: There is a growing movement of purchasing produce from local farms and markets. This panel on the home page reinforces local ties to the community and guarantees fresh produce - or your money back. The section reinforces all points of consumer satisfaction, local business support and healthy eating.
Tonight's Dinner: This section changes daily, offering a new recipe for dinner every night. This is a true resource for a daily need.
Coupons, Email Savings and More: Everyone wants coupons and Dominick's delivers. You can get them in a variety of ways and, to the left, is the opportunity to find deals specific to your local store.

As a local business, Domincks.com does an excellent job of proving their value - local ties, daily recipe ideas, money-saving tactics and more. The page is resourceful without being chaotic and invites the user to explore.

SweetLeafTea.com

(Sweet Leaf Tea is an iced tea beverage popular with young, music-loving people.)

Sweet Leaf Sweet Spot Contest: Who doesn't like to win stuff? This contest invites users to enter to win a VIP trip to ACL or Lollapalooza (two major - and expensive - music festivals) by uploading photos of themselves. It's a perfect fit for consumers and the brand. These are young, engaged, tech-savvy people who are serious about music festivals (and likely short on cash) where Sweet Leaf has a major presence. An excellent example of online and offline brand synergy.
Sweet Leaf TV: Have you ever heard of a beverage with its own TV channel? No? Maybe it's worth a click to find out?
Fridge Photos: Includes more user-generated photos from music festivals and other events. Another opportunity for engagement and deeper site exploration.
The Product: Sweet Leaf has a very good product - so why not showcase it? The rotating, sweating bottles show off the variety of flavors in their icy-cold glory.

Sweet Leaf's home page shows its most important element - the product - upfront. It also shows that they know their audience by providing interaction, engagement and a chance for real-world value with the contest page. It's easy to start clicking around this site. Even when simply hovering your mouse over the top navigation, it makes a "pop" sound as if you just un-capped a fresh bottle of Sweet Leaf Tea.

FritoLay.com

(Frito Lay is a national snack food brand.)

Our Snacks, Your Health, Our Planet: You know about Frito Lay's snacks. But did you know they care about your health and our planet, too? This "replacement" for traditional site navigation does a great job of connecting the brand, the individual and the collective community conscience. From the outset, the consumer is put in a position of feeling like a healthy member of a community. Usually snack brands try to hide health information. Not here.
Our 100% Compostable Bag: Intriguing on its own, but click through and you can see video of an actual Sun Chips bag biodegrading over the course of a few weeks. Watching a brand's leading product disintegrate for the better of the environment is at once interesting, entertaining and innovative. It also removes a little guilt the next time I buy a bag. The only thing that would make this better is if the video clip played when you hit the home page, without the need to click through.
Click Here to See Where Your LAY'S Chips Were Made: I assume that they are made in a big factory somewhere. But I'm interested, especially considering the image of a farm in the background. Click through and you can interact with a bag of chips by entering your ZIP code and the code on the bag to see exactly how those potatoes arrived in your lunchbox. Who knew a bag of chips could be so personalized?

Frito Lay is a good example of a major brand appealing to an individual consumer. When you think of snack foods, health and environmentalism do not usually enter the equation. However, Frito Lay is looking to change that, providing eating tips and heavily promoting its "green" initiatives. They are effectively creating a feel-good community around the brand.

These examples highlight just a few elements that make a successful home page on today's consumer-focused Web. They each show off their product, provide some level of engagement beyond just the product itself, create a sense of community and provide real-world value. You will also notice that none of them are attempting to sell anything upfront. While landing pages are designed for conversion, home pages have come to be the "face" of a brand.

When a user visits your home page, either through a search or by direct type-in traffic, they are there to explore, to see what you have to offer. If we can provide value for our consumers right away - solve a problem, fulfill a need or even just entertain - then we can sell something to them down the road. In other words, the home page is all about lifetime customer value, not a quick sale.

Is Twitter a Branding Wasteland?

Mike Phillips — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:30:00 GMT

According to an analysis* by digital agency 360i, Twitter users have little interest in your brand. Examining tweets, 360i found that of 90 percent of messages sent by "real people" (non-businesses) just 12 percent even mention a brand and most of those are about Twitter itself.

Even worse, only 1 percent of tweets that do mention a brand are part of an active conversation with that brand. In other words, Twitter users are not engaging in the "conversation" with brands on Twitter.

What are the brands being mentioned? In order of frequency: Twitter, Apple, Google, Youtube, Microsoft, Blackberry, Amazon, Facebook, Snuggie, eBay and Starbucks. And that's because of the culture behind the conversations taking place - Snuggie, for instance - not necessarily because of anything the brand is doing on Twitter.

One clue as to why there is little in the way of conversational marketing on Twitter is this stat: only 12 percent of messages from marketers are directed at individual users, meaning that the rest are broadcast/press-release style messages. Viewed in another way, it could mean there is a good opportunity there to reach out to individual consumers who you believe are influential among their followers.

It appears that brands are misguided if they think they are currently developing relationships with consumers on Twitter. It also appears that a long-held belief of Twitter marketing is holding true - that marketers are marketing to each other. That's not necessarily a bad thing, just that if you want to cozy up to your consumers, Twitter might not be the place.

Looking for a silver lining? Just 7 percent of tweets mentioning brands indicated negative sentiment. Although, just 11 percent are positive.

Twitter remains useful - as a place to discover breaking news, keep tabs on your industry's sentiment or to see what your competitors are doing. Just be realistic with your expectations.

*360i analyzed more than 1,800 tweets published between October 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010. Spam was removed from the sample and not counted in the final analysis.

Exploring Loyalty Programs and Their Many Benefits

Mike Phillips — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:30:00 GMT

Loyalty programs can be a highly effective way to build brand loyalty and encourage new brand advocates. From periodic discounts or rewards for promoting the brand, membership certainly has its benefits. And no one benefits more than the brand. But there is much more that a brand can do with loyalty programs and much more to be gained - including increasing time-on-site, page views, ad impressions and click-throughs, and direct sales.

Let's take a look at one such loyalty program, offered by Chicago radio station WXRT, at 93.1 FM and www.wxrt.com. Their program is called the VIP Lounge and features several outstanding uses of brand loyalty.

Focusing on the User

Below is an image of the home page after logging-in to the VIP Lounge. We first see the brand, clear and present, with the identifiable moniker of "93 XRT" and call-sign diamond in the logo. The page is immediately inviting as a place to relax and spend some time exploring - a nice touch with the couch and a personalized invitation with the welcoming video. Of course, the VIP's name is prominent, as is his or her status and balance of VIP points. Altogether, the user is made to feel very welcome and encouraged to explore the brand (more on that later).

VIP points are earned by interacting with the website and the radio station offline. The points can then be spent on promotional items - such as tickets to concerts or passes to events. For example, one entry for a free ticket to a local concert might "cost" 10 points. It's then up to the user to decide how many points to spend - the more points spent, the more entries and better chance of success to win the tickets. Instead of simply shipping a product when the user reaches a certain threshold, the user is given control of their loyalty. This gives them a reason to get excited and, more important, to come back and keep trying. Users can also spend their points on merchandise. Options.

Let's now look at one way for users to earn points. To the right is an image of blues legend BB King, who will be making an appearance at Chicago's House of Blues, a WXRT-sponsored event. On that photo is a call-to-action - 250 VIP points using the keyword "BB." By entering this code in the "Spend VIP Points" section at the VIP Lounge, the user earns 250 points that they can use to enter to win tickets to any number of WXRT concerts including BB King. Synergy.

Focusing on the Brand

Sure, we want our users to benefit from loyalty programs. More important, however, our brands and our bottom line needs to benefit. Going back to the VIP Lounge home page, we can see several important branding elements and opportunities.

The most striking element of the page is designed first and foremost for brand interaction - the red buttons. There are links to earning and spending VIP points, listening to the radio station live (cross-channel promotion), 'giveaways,' 'photos,' and the ever-important 'refer friend.' The referral is accomplished by an e-mail invite and rewarded by additional VIP points for each friend referred, and 10 percent of VIP points earned by those friends within the first seven days of their signup. In other words, the user becomes a loyalty program affiliate. Brilliant. There is also a prominent 'contact' button. After all, what good is being a VIP if you don't get personalized VIP treatment?

Also highly visible are a few direct revenue generators; in the casino ad, the "Big Holiday Concert" ad and another casino ad at the very top of the page (not pictured).

One of the most imporant features of this page and the VIP Lounge in general is the benefit to the website's statistics, which become highly relevant to prospective advertisers. By the time you reach the VIP Lounge you've already created a few page views. The multiple interactions available also encourage more page views and increased time-on-site, including photos and the video welcome message. Now, back to the BB King photo - this was the last of at least two dozen photos in the gallery. The gallery is promoted as offering 250 VIP points by looking for the keyword. So, the user must click through many other photos before reaching the last one, containing the keyword "BB." That's a tremendous way to get people to spend more time on the page, while giving something in return and even entertaining them.

Of course, a successful loyalty program requires promotion and maintenance. WXRT has more than 12,000 Facebook Fans and over 3,300 Twitter followers. The BB King promotion (along with all the others) are promoted heavily through both channels. Viral Marketing.

It should be noted that WXRT is no stranger to brand loyalty. The purveyors of "Chicago's Finest Rock" have been building a community and a following of Chicago music fans since about 1972. They have enjoyed loyal fans well before the Web had any impact on business, or even existed. But these elements are a fine example of brand loyalty objectives, benefits, and strategies that any business can employ.

Twitter Users Click Ads, Become Brand Advocates

Mike Phillips — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Finding users who will not only interact with your brand but actually help you promote it is one of the hardest jobs of any Internet marketer. Who are these users and where do you find them?

According to a new study from media research firm Interpret, LLC, the answer just might lie with Twitter.

The survey was conducted in August, 2009, and consisted of more than 9,200 Internet users. Of those respondents who use Twitter, 24 percent said they reviewed or rated products online - double the rate of those who use other social networks but not Twitter. Twitter users also clicked on more ads or sponsored links more (20 percent vs. 9 percent) and were more likely to visit company profiles (20 percent vs. 11 percent).

Higher clicks on ads or sponsored links are great and can be partly explained because, on Twitter, people click links; it's what the whole shrunken URL thing is all about - conditioning people to click and explore. But the real value here is deep brand engagement. Nearly a quarter of these survey respondents who use Twitter have left product reviews online. This may be due, in part, to the fact that Twitter users are likely early adopter types - more apt to voicing their opinions online. But does it really matter why? Out of the millions of Twitter users out there, 24 percent is a massive number of people ready, willing and able to review your products or services.

Now add the 20 percent of those users who visit company profiles - another large number of individuals expressing interest in learning more about your company.

Of course, there is a catch. Twitter - without question - is bloated with other businesses and PR companies who are all doing the same thing as you. So keep that in mind.

Even so, this data should act as a reminder that Twitter can be an excellent place to find brand advocates and solicit feedback about your products and services. It can also serve as a tremendous sounding board - so keep your eyes and ears peeled for other information about your brand, even the negative stuff.

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How Transparent is Too Transparent Lisa P. Maxwell?

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:24:00 GMT

Chicago branding agency Lisa P. Maxwell announced the launch of its new agency website. While I would normally shrug my shoulders and move on to something more pressing, this one caught my attention for a few reasons. Namely, the site features an "uncut look inside the agency, where you can watch live, unedited, streaming video of agency employees and chat directly with them as they work."

While the streaming video is grainy at best and most of those agency workers are too busy to chat (just mouse over to see who's available), it does actually give you access to the employees themselves. This morning I exchanged a few lines with one of their Web developers who was busy with some AJAX and PHP scripting. When I asked whether this interfered with productivity, he replied with a casual "not really," which I tend to believe as the agency gives its employees the ability to disable chat. This open access however does (even in passing) lend itself to an air of transparency. Whether it's too much (for the employees or for prospective clients looking to hire a branding agency) transparency is yet to be seen.

Either way, an interesting campaign from a creative agency.

Is your organization this transparent or do you aim to be? Comment below now...