Posts Tagged ‘Branding’
Your brand deserves more than Not Horrible.
As a Creative, you brainstorm, write, rewrite, design, rework, and generally put your heart and soul into your work. You fixate on building your brand to be one-of-a-kind, and have probably spent the last several years telling people how different you are from your competition. You’ve likely spent hours and hours searching for just the right stock photos, and in the end…
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The future of credit union website design
Credit union websites are a breed apart. You’re not selling widgets, you’re not providing entertainment or news, and you’re not collecting clicks for cash. Your site is a place busy members go to get things done. So how do the latest trends in website design and technology affect credit union websites? Touch devices make scrolling easier than ever…
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In-house, or outsource? 3 ways to tell.
Credit unions, like many companies, go through times of tightening budgets and cutting back on outside expenses. Marketing is often the department that feels the biggest pinch. Occasionally some interesting management logic occurs, and more personnel can be added because the HR budget is a different line item than Marketing. (I never have figured that one out.) But…
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Name Change Step #1: Getting the CEO on Board
Whenever an organization thinks about a name change, there are lots of emotions and memories that surface. Sometimes those emotions and memories can even become obstacles. Some are relatively minor and are easy to get around, but others can turn out to be insurmountable — especially when they occur at the highest levels. That’s why one of the first questions we ask our clients…
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Five uncommon reasons to rebuild your web site
It’s sad to say, but nothing lasts forever – especially not web sites. Even if nothing is particularly wrong or broken, changes in technology and usage make it worthwhile to revisit your online “front door” every few years. In our experience, web sites need to be refreshed every three to five years. You can probably think…
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Invisible excellence
Last week, I spent a few days motorcycling with some good friends in the beautiful hills of southern Missouri. The Ozarks contain some of the finest riding on the planet — this area is absolutely stuffed with thousands of deliciously sinuous roads. If you’re not a rider, this next bit may seem odd… What impressed us above all else…
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If everyone hates stock photos, why do we see so many of them?
I see three reasons why “shiny, happy people” stock photos are so prevalent: 1. Because they solve a problem quickly. You need a visual image that helps to communicate an idea, there seem to be mass quantities of them available, and if you ignore the time it takes to find the “right” one, they are a speedy way to complete your layout…
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Why is the destination more important than the journey?
I spent part of last weekend walking the Freedom Trail in Boston. It’s a double wide red brick trail that leads tourists through many of the highlights of historical Boston where our national history was made, including the site of the balcony where they read the Declaration of Independence to the townsfolk (as well as…
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No more lousy CU names
Too many credit union names sound like they were decided by a committee of accountants a long, long, long time ago. In fact, that’s exactly how most of them got their names. Add in the fact that every credit union name has to drag along the words “Credit Union” or “Federal Credit Union”, and you’ll start…
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Are my brand colors special enough to trademark?
This weekend my wife asked me to pick up some Excedrin when I went to the store. As I was putting the package in my cart, I realized that the package I picked up didn’t actually say Excedrin on it. It had the exact same color scheme and layout, but a different name. That’s when…
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