Why are people drawn to cult brands? Because they want to belong to something, and if religion doesn't fill the role, then something more materialistic takes its place.
Sign language: Tony Spaeth's 11th annual review of the winners and losers in brand/identity.
This issue is dedicated to nine principles of brand management. The cover story, reprinted from the Design Management Institute Journal, reviews concepts such as "place" as a brand, and how to transform a brand into a culture.
Do the per-share costs of your legal fees and directors' bickering belong in your annual report? How about charts illustrating a decline in customer loyalty or an increase in employee turnover? You'll be surprised who says "yes" in this compelling article from Barrons. Also highlighted: an article on Web annual reports.
This issue's cover story, "Branding on the Net," challenges the old adage, "do it once, do it right," which doesn't apply to a Web site. In truth, most successful sites are reviewed regularly by the companies they represent, who understand that doing it right means updating design and content on a regular basis.
This issue, which focuses on managing identity programs for large, multinational corporations, features an interview with the vice president of corporate identity for Siemens, the German industrial giant.
Journal 6 is devoted to custom publishing – print and Web – and features a humorous article on what happens when everyone misses "the typo of typos."
This issue includes a round-table discussion with the former manager of IBM's design and identity program, and the owner of a US$10 million company who credits his firm's growth to effective design. They discuss the similarities of large, global identity programs and smaller businesses.
Tony Spaeth, a well-known expert in identity and naming issues who often assists BrandLogic, has prepared a comprehensive review of the winners and losers in brand/identity in the late 1990s. Also, a naming update: Test yourself: Visteon? Miravant? Diageo?