The architecture in brand building

How many of you remember your freshman year of college? Was it eons ago or was it just a handful of years in the past? However long ago, you understood that the leap from high school to college was going to be a big one. You may have experienced a range of feelings: being overwhelmed, nervousness, excitement, intimidation and the list goes on. Some crossed that threshold to "the rest of your college days" and others might not have made it.

For me, the end of my freshman year was a seminal moment in my life. With two semesters of engineering classes under my belt and a dismal GPA to show for it, my gut was telling me that my future wasn't going to be in thermodynamic analysis of electrical systems for aerospace technology (or something like that). So remembering a drawing class that I had in high school, and knowing I wasn't too bad in it, I made the leap to architecture.

One of the best (and least informed) decisions in my life.

So ever since, I have been developing my tapestry of ideas from my work as a designer, telecommunications consultant, a Return Peace Corps Volunteer and a marketing and recruitment strategist. It's been an interesting journey that has only just begun.

So now it's always interesting when people ask what I do (brand building and creative marketing) and then they say: "oh cool, did you go to school for that". My response is "no, I actually studied architecture". That's when I get the confused looks. This is how I explain it:

Whether it's yesterday, today or tomorrow, relevance, for brands, is the bottom line. Now being relevant means you are optimizing both creativity and strategy in producing a viable and successful brand idea. A brand that speaks to what people need, want or desire. This means taking design thinking (engaging in courses of action that change existing conditions into preferred ones) and developing ideas and transforming them into tangible and/or intangible benefits - exactly what an architect does. Today, shifts in the market (that have begun rendering businesses and their business models irrelevant) aren't one or two isolated incidents. The entire system is changing and systems thinking is an architect's specialty. 

Now what I do is a work in progress.  I'm constantly thinking, designing,  and building and then rethinking, redesigning and rebuilding again. I'm eternally in the design lab.

People want it. How do you provide it?

What do people want that businesses provide? 

Something of value.

Value is something people need, want or desire (and in some form or fashion they attain it, consume it, experience it or buy it).

What is the price of that value?

The answer to that question is perpetually changing. 

Ladies and gentlemen yesteryear's business models that captured and determined the value of products and services is not the same today. 

Let's take music buying.  Just 8 years ago the value of a cd was $16 when purchased from say. . .a Tower Records (which ironically, is no longer in business).  On numerous occasions 70% of the album was a waste. You ended up on the short end of the stick because you spent 16$ for only 4 songs that you actually really liked (grrrrrrrr).

Fast forward to 2009.

An everyday scenario.  You buy only the 4 songs you like  for $.99 a piece (and forget the other ten you don't like). Now you've paid $4 total for the music you actually want - thanks itunes ;-). Now if you know about Amie Street you can even get whole albums for under $5.  Big difference from $16 (we could get into free downloads but that's another discussion entirely).

Now let's take a look at the currently deteriorating business model for newspapers:

• Advertisers buy ad space with print publications - they can buy a full page, a half page, or a quarter page ad.

• That money paid salaries and bills. This was the revenue for newspaper businesses. 

This system is now under assault. This model  is proving to be less and less viable with each day that passes. Its indicative of a new reality as some newspapers have stopped their print editions  entirely while others have simply gone out of business altogether.  Newspapers need a new type of value offering system.  The existing model is decrepit. 

The music and newspaper industries are just two examples (and the tip of the iceberg) of how priced value is no longer static.  Its changing and its going to take innovative thinking to determine new ways to provide value to the market (and get paid for it) in a way that people will love you for it, buy it and keep coming back for more.

Be like water

The wise adapt themselves to circumstances as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.                                                                              

                                                                                          -  Chinese Proverb

Situations and predicaments constantly change.  Nothing in this world stays the same.  So when you cling to the ways you've always done things, you're not fluid. You become a static fixture in a dynamic environment.

Just ask Rocky Mountain News  - Colorado's oldest newspaper and a Denver fixture since 1859, published its last issue on February 27.  A victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry.

Just ask Polaroid who wasn't able to combat the explosion in digital photography and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 12, 2001. 

Just ask Circuit City who after being in business for over 50 years is now closing their doors - stiff competition from Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

And we can't forget the big 3 auto makers in Detroit.  Now I'm not saying that they are shutting down the power, switching off the lights and closing down their doors for good. The fact, though, that you've asked for bailout money doesn't exactly mean that your business model is ahead of the curve and you are an innovator and market leader in your industry.

Now being able to adapt to the current circumstances happening in today's climate may be easier said than done. But being unable to retrofit new technologies and strategies with your current system means its the 12th round and you're still dazed from that uppercut and the the ref is yelling "8". . . "9". . .

A key to success

Understand this . . . 

As long as we structure our lives in a way where happiness is dependent upon something we cannot control, then we will perpetually experience pain.    

                                                                                                 - Tony Robbins      

In each of our own personal ambitions to take over the world (smile) there are enormous amounts of things we can and cannot control.  You can't control an out of control marketplace.  You can't control friends, colleagues or co-workers who, for whatever reason, cease communication with you.  You can't make people hire you just because you want them to (no matter how good you are).  Your services just might not be for them.

Each and every day when you wake up in the morning and you have a keen sense of knowing where your authority has limited power, you can move with strategic grace through the minefields of your day to day challenges.  And nothing is more empowering than knowing how to maneuver with efficiency through uncontrollable situations, mindless scenarios, and even utter chaos. 

A smile on your face, an ease in demeanor and a calm dispostion will prove to be downright invaluable.   

Andy Spade says this about brands. . .

When I first came across the name "Andy Spade" (accidentally), I had no idea who he was.  But when I read his ideas on brands I definitely was feeling what he had to say.

From the March, 2005, Fast Company issue.

Andy on brands:

The bigger you get, the smaller you should act.
Never, ever start thinking like a big company. Otherwise you become corporate, and there's no interest in that.

Never believe anything you've done is successful.
Challenge it every second, every day.

Brand consistency is overrated.
The brand doesn't have to look the same, but it has to feel the same. An element of newness and surprise is important for any brand.

Brands should have some mystery.
Customers should never understand the whole picture of a brand.

Your people are your product.
They are the vehicle through which everything happens, and they define what you put out.

 Andy Spade and his wife, Kate Spade, are the founders of Jack Spade.