Davies Foods now at e-see and Pop’n’Good

e-see® welcomes Davies Foods to the fold.

Davies Foods, is the latest NZ based grocery supplier (suppliers of the awesome ACT II and Pop’n’Good popcorn, Chop Chop canned chicken and Swiss Miss products) to join e-see’s BrandFM system for image management and distribution of pack shots for grocery advertising.

Davies Food’s previously were with another image library provider but were looking at alternatives when we introduced them to e-see’s image management solution.   

Reuel Newman (Sales and Marketing Manager) loved our easy to use system, great service, custom branding and our simple pricing and billing model.

Welcome aboard team.

Access the full range at http://daviesfoods.brandfm.com/

The QR Code of Conduct

Whilst discussing QR codes over on LinkedIn, one of the members discussing QR codes posted a link to this QR Code of Conduct by Richard Lamb from Midwest Technology Ventures, Inc.

If you’re considering using QR codes then this is a great primer of the things that should be considered.

——

THE QR CODE of CONDUCT

QR codes are a fantastic tool to provide online information to mobile consumers.  No longer just a marketing gimmick, when used properly QR codes provide a quick and effective engagement with your brand.  Follow these rules to provide the best user experience and maximize credibility with your tech-savvy customer.   How do you use QR codes?  Do you follow these rules?

1. Make it easy.  

Put a QR code where it can be readily scanned.   Give them an incentive to scan.  Gaining knowledge/info is enough incentive; you don’t necessarily have to bribe them.  But you can.  Tell them what’s going to happen, or what they’re going to get when they scan the code.   Put this in a message surrounding the code.  Encourage them to scan, then don’t waste their time with irrelevancy.

2. Make it quick.

People don’t want to wait all day.  Give them a simple/quick landing page and tell them what they want to know.  Let them decide if they want to download a video or hi-res pictures, musical slideshow or a vcard.  Don’t force it on them.   Not everyone has unlimited bandwidth, or the worlds fastest 4G phone.   Don’t link qr codes to pdf files, let them choose what they want to download.

3. Optimize the code for scanning.  

Size matters! Make it large enough to scan easily, minimize (shorten) the content so the code is less dense and easily printed on materials that don’t support high resolution (like newsprint).  There is a minimum size, at which point the code will no longer scan.  Make sure the color contrast is optimal (black/white is best) for scanning in all types of lighting.  Eliminate gloss, reduce glare where practical.  Test the ability to scan the code before printing it thousands of times.

4. Use a phone-friendly landing page.  

Most QR codes will be scanned with phones.  Linking them to a website that’s not easily viewed on a phone, or has links too small to click with fingers, is just a waste of your customer’s time.  You can provide a link to a desktop site, they can save it and view later on a tablet or desktop.  Think of a mobile website as providing “drive-thru” information.  Minimal, quick, fast.  If they want a sit-down meal, they can go to your desktop site later.

5. Leverage mobile communications capability.  

Provide phone friendly, mobile connection options.  Click to call, click to email, click to map.  Make it easy for people to further engage.  Most phones have built-in features to share, but some folks don’t know how to use them.  So in the short term, you may want to include “forward to a friend” buttons to encourage them to share information, even with themselves, back at their own desk.

6. Be open to Change. 

The world is constantly changing.  Don’t make your QR code static. Encode a URL that can be easily redirected to a different location, or make a mobile site that can be easily updated.  Encourage repeat interaction by keeping the content updated and relevant.  Provide daily specials, updated information.  Nobody wants “old news”.  If it’s not current, it’s not relevant.  If it’s not easy to change, it won’t be current.

7. Track it, measure it, test it, improve it.

Multiple QR codes can link to the same mobile website.  Use different codes to see what/where customers scan.  Signs, ads, vehicles can all have different codes leading to the same information.  Which source gets the most scans?  Using a QR code system with built in tracking and statistics can tell you where you get the most results for your money.  You can even see what happens once the person has scanned the code.  Did they view more detailed information?  Did they click-to-call?  Use QR codes that allow you to measure your results.  You can then adjust things accordingly.

8. QR codes are ugly.  Get used to it.  

They weren’t designed to be pretty, they were designed to quickly link to encoded information. If you want to spice them up, that’s ok.  Just remember they were designed for optimal information transfer, by engineers who know what they were doing.  Anything artsy you do to “improve” their design has the capability of reducing, not necessarily increasing, their effectiveness.  If you change it, be careful, and test it in less-than-optimal scanning conditions.

9. QR codes are not just for advertising.  

That wasn’t their original intent. Marketers have hijacked and abused them.  QR codes are designed to link to information, period.  Practically any kind of information.  User manuals, emergency contact information, recipes.  Anything you put online can be linked by a qr code.  Even funny cat pictures.  It’s ok to use them for other purposes. Be creative.

10. Don’t look dumb.  

QR codes have been around for years.  If you don’t know how to use them properly, consider not using them at all.  You’ll just end up irritating your customer prospect, and above all you’ll look like an idiot OMG, LOL, :) :) :).    Be smarter than a Fifth Grader, and if you’re not, don’t be afraid to ask one.  Otherwise, you’re conditioning consumers to think QR codes are a waste of time.

———

Thanks to Richard Lamb’s article at http://qrkinetix.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/the-qr-code-of-conduct.html

Regards  e-see.com,

You can scan the QR code above to visit our website.

Say hello to the Subscribe Button

Hot on the heels of Subscriber Notifications, which just went live, we’re excited to announce the all new Subscribe Button. The easiest way to add an elegant, unobtrusive subscribe form to any page on your site. 

The Subscribe Button is perfect for your sidebar, footer or any page with limited screen real-estate. Slot the button in where you like, and once it’s pressed a simple subscribe form instantly appears.

Launching tomorrow

We’ll be making the Subscribe Button available in all accounts in the next day or two. This will be likely Thursday morning or Wednesday evening, depending on where you live.

You’ll find the feature under a simplified sidebar for each subscriber list in your account. Just click on Grow your audience option to get started.

This update is one of a number of nice improvements we have planned around making it easy as possible for people to join your list.

Introducing Subscriber Notifications

We’re very excited to announce that early next week we’ll be releasing a beautiful, flexible new way to keep up with the people who are joining your subscriber lists on MailMachine. We’ve given you and your clients complete control over what notifications you’d like to receive and when.

Instant Updates

If you’re interested in learning everything you can about each person that joins your list, you’re going to love our instant notifications. You can set them on a list-by-list basis, and every time someone signs up, we’ll send you something like this…

Each email will include all the data they might have supplied when subscribing. Plus, we’ll show you exactly where they subscribed from and if available, what they look like.

It’s amazing how quickly this turns them into a real person instead of just another email address. These notifications can be set on a list-by-list basis, so you’re only updated instantly when you need to be.

Daily, Weekly or Monthly Summaries

As well as instant notifications, you can also choose a daily, weekly or monthly summary that gives an overview of all the new subscribers across every list for each client. We’ll show you where they’re from, which lists they’ve been added to and even pull out a few friendly faces.

Organic Subscribers Only

One final point worth mentioning, these notifications are all about organic subscribers joining your lists. This means we won’t notify you about subscribers you manually import yourself, only those that join from your subscribe forms or via the API.

We’re shooting for a release of this feature Monday or Tuesday next week (thats the 18th or 19th February), depending on your time zone. Like we mentioned above, notifications won’t be turned on by default for your clients, but turning them on or off is always a few clicks away.

Notifications need to be turned on.

Notifications will not be turned on by default for you. But, if you would find these notifications useful, we can easily enable them for you. 

So if you’d like Notifications turned on, please contact us and request.

What is a “Brand Capsule”?

This is a term we’ve come across from time to time and its’ meaning has always been a bit fuzzy (for me).

However as part of our current brand review process, where we’ve determined a brand capsule for e-see®.

I thought therefore, that this would be a good time to record a definition of what Brand Capsule is.

Brand Capsule is defined as:

Brand capsules represents the cast of a branding strategy (scenario) operating within an audience’s familiar cultural environment, relevant & literate to his or her own personal identity. The scenario focuses on solving or understanding needs, desire or contradictions felt by popular consumer tribes.

A brand capsule can be a name, a logo, a sound, an interface, a statement, an image, a small piece of software, a video clip, a simple ceremony… anything instant & easy to experience, easy to remember & easy to transfer, reproduce or broadcast toward another individual by word of mouth or word of mouse.

The capsule’s container is the brand identity (logo). The content is an “ideavirus” performing the symbolic & relevant answer to a need, a desire or soothing an cultural anxiety, an audience is struggling with.

From www.cross-culturalbranding.com

So what’s e-see®’s Brand Capsule? = “Simplifying Brand Management”

Happy Branding.

What a branding session at Mega might look like

Courtesy of our friend Dan at : Informly

American Airlines rebrand looks great

The new America Airlines brand identity looks great.

Have a look at this video that explains the update.

I really like the new “Flight” Symbol. Part eagle, part wing, part of the ‘A’.  Also love the new silver paint colour on aircraft…reminds me of PanAm and TWA.

In fact I think what I like about this is that it harks back to the golden age of aviation in the US.

Time will tell if the service itself lives up to the visual promise…but it’s a good start.

Which file formats should I use in my Digital Asset Management system?

The ability for brand, organizations and individuals to generate content in the form of images, artwork, writing, video and a host of other media types has become easier, faster and far more common place. Not just for professional content producers but almost everyone with a computer.

As content proliferates and is shared, Brands need to take measures to keep the important content under control.

To save, manage and distribute it with some sort of Brand Asset or Digital Asset Management system.

But which file formats? 

As part of the digital asset management process you need to decide which files to keep and which to discard. Which files formats are the best file formats to maintain usability and compatibility going forward. Which file  formats do you request from the creator and which to ingest into your BAM or DAM system.

Here’s a list of the top 6 DAM file formats.

1. PDF (Portable Document Format)

PDF or the Portable Document Format was originally a proprietary file format produced Adobe and required Acrobat software to read. However Adobe open sourced the PDF standard some years ago and it is now firmly entrenched as the standard container file format used by professionals and business users.

Originally designed to make wordy documents viewable and portable across computers systems, PDF has emerged as a do it all format that does the same job that previous container formats like EPS were performing. In fact .pdf and .eps extensions are now interchangeable.

PDF files can include images, vector artwork, text, InDesign documents, multi-page documents, portfolios of different types of media, video and more.

Most Adobe Creative Suite applications can save to PDF and you can typically elect to make them editable, making them an incredibly versatile format.

For example if creating logo artwork in Adobe Illustrator (the industry standard), you could save and ingest the file into your DAM in either Illustrator .ai, .eps or .pdf. AI and EPS files may need a professional creative application to view and/or edit whereas PDF will be viewable (not necessarily editable) by everyone.

While we currently use all three formats (eps, ai and pdf) , PDF is the future.

Read More

Need a Brand Voice? Show. Don’t Tell

Great post by @barrettcondy spotted at Forbes

I’m going to describe three brands to you. Try to guess which ones they are. Brand #1 is clear, insightful and optimistic. Brand #2 is fun, funny and slightly irreverent. Brand #3 is hard-working, honest and approachable.

If you guessed your own brand for any of these, you’re both right and very, very wrong.

Every client brief or brand standards guide has this section: “What is our brand voice?” How is a sane brand supposed to answer that? Of course you’re insightful, hard-working and fun. Who wouldn’t want to be that? Or clear? Or honest? I have yet to see a brand that admits to being money-grubbing, treacherous and curmudgeonly.

“Brand voice” is supposed to guide people (both at the agency and within your own walls) in creating materials that are on-brand. This voice can mean anything from a simple email to a full-blown campaign.

However, in this endeavor, brand voice is nearly useless. There are limited positive adjectives with which to describe your brand, but there are unlimited brands to describe. Therefore, every brand voice starts to sound the same, because clear and insightful are essentially no different from smart and approachable.

My brand is like a pineapple.

It’s about showing, not telling. If people say they’re cool, they probably aren’t. But if they say they’re like Fonzie, maybe they’re worth hanging out with. Start drawing comparisons, and you end up with a more accurate portrayal of your brand’s image.

• If your brand were a superhero, what would his or her superpower be?Maybe your superpower is flight, because your product flies off the shelves. Or precognition, because you can predict market changes. Answer with what you have, not what you wish for. I’m sure Batman would have loved the power of flight, but he worked just fine with what he had.

• What type of cereal is your brand? Unless your brand is cereal, you’ll need to pick a car or fruit. Again, the key is the rationale. Are you crunchy? Healthy? Flaky? Do you have a prize inside? What type of box do you come in? Do kids love you or loathe you?

• How is your brand like a frog/Gandhi/a dinosaur/a bicycle/a politician? Example: Is it like a frog, because it can catch business that seems out of reach?

These are just a few examples. But if brands start thinking of themselves not in terms of words but rather examples of how they want people to feel about them, everyone involved in representing the brand will have a much easier time.

The original article can be seen here.

Barrett Condy is a senior copywriter at gyro, the global ideas shop.

Follow him @barrettcondy

A brand transparency lesson from McDonalds Canada

Checkout this brilliant piece of branding transparency from McDonalds Canada.

McDonalds Canada operate a Your Questions page on their website, where they field questions from customers and answer them in a clear and transparent fashion.

We particularly like the response to this question: ”

Why does your food look different in advertising than it does in the store?”

Some time a go I met with a food photographer that explained the process to me and I knew already that it takes several hours to get the right shot.

However this video response from McDonalds is superb. Clear and transparent. It does a great job of explaining the differences and too me anyway, enhances McDonalds reputation immensely.

Have a look at the video and then consider how you could open up and reveal something about your own brand. Honesty is always the best policy and we all love authentic brands.

Happy branding :-)