When full service digital is mentioned do you also think… branding?

I think it might come as a surprise to many of our clients that we frequently get involved in branding identity as well. We have worked with a number of start-up web companies over the years so it often makes sense to evolve the brand identity alongside the digital offering as they are so intertwined. However we are also often asked to also refresh existing identities when we are looking at the strategic direction and positioning of clients, particularly if they see their own future being lead through the web. Here are a few examples.

Pownum

Pownum is a start-up company. They came to us with a name, but little else. The idea they wanted to get across is that there is power in numbers and if enough people share a similar view and air it one place, then they can affect change.

The idea, therefore, was to create something that felt inclusive, a bit fun, but also had that sense that pulling together we can all make a change.

We presented an idea that had a nod to the imagery of revolution and looked a little bit ‘home made’ making it feel like it was something ‘made by the people, for the people’.

Global Poetry System

The Global Poetry System (or GPS) was a project launched by the Southbank Centre and was the brainchild of their artist in residence, Lemn Sissay.

We needed to create an identity for the project that was sympathetic to the Southbank Centre’s brand, but also was positioned as being separate to that. The project relied heavily on user-generated content and so we wanted to create a logo that looked like it could have been made by one of the contributors (ie it looked hand-drawn), with a strong strapline underneath that explained what the system actually did.

Users are invited to upload examples of poetry that they have seen or heard. Much of the content is photos of poetry that has been painted on walls (some might say graffiti), and so we wanted to suggest a hint of graffiti in the application of the identity, too.

Tepilo

Tepilo is a joint venture with Channel 4’s Sarah Beeny. It was important to create an identity that could be used alongside Sarah’s image, but that wasn’t irrevocably linked to her, in case the business was sold to someone else in the future.

The identity needed to look authoritative (we are, after all, talking about most people’s largest asset), but friendly and approachable. We felt that these brand attributes also reflected those of Sarah Beeny.

The main visual element of the site is the multitude of user-generated images. We had to ensure that anything we created wasn’t battling for attention with the users’ own images, about which we had no control. We therefore created a logotype using blacks and greys and used muted blues as a background.

We created a strapline “Sarah Beeny’s smarter way to buy, sell and let your home”, but we kept this apart from the actual logotype.

Poetry Book Society & Poetry Bookshop Online

The Poetry Bookshop is owned by the Poetry Book Society. We were commissioned to redevelop their site bit also to evolve their identity.

For both identities, the audience group were loyal and many had been with them for years. We needed to make sure that we didn’t totally reinvent the identity and alienate the organisation’s loyal user-base.

Instead, we evolved the typefaces and colours, to give it a more up-to-date feel, but one that was instantly recognizable to anyone who had seen the earlier incarnations of their logos.

If you are interested in talking to us about branding please drop us an email on hello@codegent.com or call us on 020 7720 4040.

Can you believe it's already time for another instalment of codegent news for our monthly newsletter Third Thursday? In August we will try and get the camera to line up a bit better! Either that or it will just be Mark on screen (wearing the same jumper) with smart ass quips from David stage left. Thoughts?

A Ferrari Team photo from Jon Nicholson - part of our new photography iPad App

Other links referenced...

• Procurement GPS launches to test bed of users
• Sarah Beeny on Tepilo's Social Media strategy at The British Library Business & IP Centre
  codegent name checked at 1:57!
• BIMA's School's Digital Challenge in conjunction with Channel 4
• Webcam Snapper - A sneak preview of the new site :)
• Sign up for the private beta of Dash

Some of you may have read about the row in the US about XY.com, a gay teenagers magazine’s website that has filed for bankruptcy. Other than a couple of dollars in the bank, the only asset of note belonging to the failed company is a database of tens of thousands of young men. The argument is from one side: that the personal details were given with the assumption of privacy and should not be transferred to anyone else. And from the other side: "Any property listed... is property of the bankruptcy estate and (we) intend to administer those assets for the benefit of creditors."

Codegent creates sites that hold private data every day. And because we have a specialism in working with children and young people, much of that data includes children’s information, which brings with it many additional responsibilities. We often have the discussion with clients about the best way to protect children’s data, as well as protecting them online. The concerns from clients are generally around security of our systems and the best way to prevent children from being exposed to inappropriate content or malicious users. It’s something we take very seriously and something we’ve spent a lot of time on. It is beholden on us to ensure that we collect as little data as possible and we look to get parental approval for any user-generated content that we publish.

But never have any of our clients asked what would happen to the data if they went bust. Maybe because most of us don’t start a business thinking about what happens if that business goes down the plug-hole. But it’s something we should be worried about. 

Privacy law is very clear in the UK and people have a variety of rights under the Data Protection Act, from accessing information that others hold about them, to preventing unsolicited marketing, even through to claiming compensation for distress caused by breaching the act. But according to Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, talking to the BBC, in the event of bankruptcy or winding-up, “all bets are off”.

But if I give my details to a website (or worse, agree to the details of my children being stored by that website), I don’t then expect those details to end up being used for something else by the website’s creditors about whom I know nothing. 

Ordinarily, a business can’t just pass on your details to another company for a different purpose without your permission. But if ownership changes, for example if someone bought Facebook, all my details would become the new owner’s property, but so long as the details were only used for the purposes of me continuing to use Facebook. We recently took over Twilert  from a former client, and although the service was broadly the same, we took the decision to contact everyone on that database and invite them to sign-up again. We did this because we wanted to be 100% transparent to our users, but given that we were going to use their data in the same way, we didn’t actually need to do this. (And in fact some people actually moaned that we didn’t just port all their data over to the new system).

But despite this, and although I’m no lawyer, to me the key question to ask is around the reason the data has been collected in the first place. Yes, there is value in that data that should be “administered for the benefit of creditors”, but so long as that data is only used for any future incarnation of XY.com. There should only be any value if the data is used for the same purpose that it was given. If they want to use the data beyond that they should get the permission of everyone on that list to do so. In other words, people should be able to opt-in, but there should be no automatic assumption that data is data regardless of where it sits. 

My sporting year looks like the profile of the 20th stage of last year's Tour de France. Flat for the main part with a single majestic peak rising out of the relative flatness.

The Tour itself is the Mont Ventoux of my annual sporting calendar, a monolith event of such epic proportions that its shadow looms large over everything that precedes it.

Like most cyclists I am a details freak. I revel in cadence rates, riders' gear ratios and other banalities that would be bed-wettingly dull to most of you reading this. 15 years ago I would clear my daily calendar between 6pm and 7pm and drink up every scrap of information that the Channel 4 daily Tour highlights could give me but it was never enough to sate my thirst for these details from the Peloton.

Similarly, it would never convey the rider dynamics, the feuds and alliances, the sheer and brutal pain that each rider would endure as the Tour wound its inexorable way towards Paris.

Then came the Social Web.

What social media gives cycling is the means of giving detail-obsessed fans like me an instant hit of the tedious, granular information that I crave. It lets me see Cav's cadence as he rips up the Champs Elysees or Brad Wiggins' heart rate as he goes backwards down the Col de Madeleine.

I can go to my 'Pro Cycling' group on Tweetdeck and see petty squabbles between riders unable to resist the lure of Twitter whilst holed up in a Novotel with nothing but a sponsor's smartphone and a travel kettle for company. Or the Peloton's praise for someone's superhuman feats, such as riding 200km with a broken arm. I can go to Flickr for Hi Resolution images of the day's suffering or stream the race live on my iPhone through the ITV Tour App. In short, there is so much for me to see and do that I am almost certain to do no work for most of July.

A few Tour-based treats for the other bike geeks out there;

1. Keen to show off its capabilities, Microsoft have built an App for Bing Maps that visualises each stage of the tour and provides stage results and weather information. http://mashable.com/2010/07/03/2010-tour-de-france/
   
   
2. Mapmyride have created an App that allows you to 'virtually race' the Tour by uploading data about your own day's ride. The app uses your stats to create a virtual time that you would have achieved if you had actually ridden that day's stage. I havent used it but i imagine it might be quite depressing. http://beta.mapmyride.com/tdf/
   
   
3. This is one for real data lovers. HTC (the smartphone guys) and Team Columbia have joined forces to bring the ultimate cycling Google maps mashup. The App gives realtime information on the Team's riders including speed, power, cadence and heart rate, as well as their real time position on the road. http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/mytrackstour/
    
4. The ITV iPhone App lets you watch live streams of the Tour on the go as well as providing news and stats around each stage, team and rider. http://www.itv.com/sport/tourdefrance/iphoneapp/
    
5. Stalk your favourite riders on Twitter. http://twittercycling.tumblr.com/

Having a ‘global website’ provides businesses with a tool to take their products / services to a global market with the opportunity for business growth and increased sales. But is it just a case of translating some of the copy or buying as many country specific domain names as possible? We have worked on several global and multi language sites over the past couple of years with briefs ranging from increasing brand and product awareness, selling to an international audience and making a campaign accessible to an international market. Going ‘global’ can provide big opportunities but there are also lots of things to consider. So here are a few of the important things to think about when going worldwide.

1. One size doesn’t fit all
Firstly you need to consider whether you want one website with a global reach or one site with multiple country and language versions. It is important to remember that each market will be different, from the obvious things such as language and currency through to the less tangible differences of culture, lifestyle and ethics and as a result each markets requirements from you as a company and your products / services will be different. But without a doubt the biggest consideration is language. According to Feedgrids ‘people who don't speak English as their first language, or at all, are six times less likely to purchase from an English-only site.’

That said to create a website and roll it out across a number of countries and languages doesn’t automatically mean success. Localisation is the key word when it comes to globalisation and HSBC certainly got it right with their strapline ‘The worlds local bank’. They realised that for a global corporation to be successful they needed to understand and work at a local level. Relate this back to your product or service and how this translates online. Should all your products / services  be available in every country? Will certain products be more popular in certain regions and if so how will this affect the hierarchy of information on each site? What information should you provide on your site? Can product / service USPs and information, terms and conditions and delivery information be standardised or will each country or region have their own requirements? I assume it is the latter and therefore key research, a flexible site and hierarchy of information will help you to achieve this.

Design is also a key consideration and depending on the markets you are looking to enter and the product or services you offer, you may need to look at your brand and site design. Colours that mean one thing in one culture do not always mean the same thing worldwide. The tone of voice you use aswell as the products / service names will also need to be researched, the last thing you want is to enter a new market where the name of your product is an offensive word  - unless that is your USP?! The best example of this was the Jif to Cif rebrand in 2001 which was due to the fact that any non English speaking person struggled to say the word Jif and having a brand that no one can pronounce isn’t a great sales strategy.

2. Single or multiple domains
There are two main options: Country specific domains e.g. .co.uk .fr are good for natural search and also valuable if you want to align yourself with that country or position yourself as being based in a certain place. This is a an approach that Amazon have taken. However it can be costly and difficult to obtain domain names in some countries. It may also be hard to obtain the same domain name for each country and may dilute the consistency of your brand. It can also be costly as well as time consuming to manage multiple domains.

The alternative is using a global .com domain name with country specific extensions e.g. com/fr. Many sites take this approach including Mini and Apple. This way you only have one domain to manage and ensures consistency across all of your countries / languages. This is the approach that we have taken in the past on sites such as Skechers and Ultra Motor.

3. Getting from A to B
Once you have agreed on your domain set up and if you have opted for a global .com address, the next thing to think about is how to get users to the relevant country or language site. This can be done through IP matching where country IP addresses are matched against a specific version of your site. This service is available through various providers such as GeoLite country. It isn’t guaranteed to be 100% accurate and there will also be issues if users have IP addresses registered to other countries. So to support this a language / country selector should be displayed prominently enabling users to  change their country / language options if required. Although Apple do not appear to have IP matching in place, the country selector on the footer of every page is very prominent aswell as a very clear country selection page. Dyson appear to be using IP matching and also have a clear, prominent country selector located in the footer of every page.

4. Should you show the flag?
Should you localise your site by country and or language? This really depends on budgets and which markets you are looking to cover. If you want to cover all ‘English’ speaking countries then having an English language version of your site would be more cost effective than have a site for each country that speaks English. However bear in mind those subtle differences in language, spelling, currency and whether an ‘English speaking’ country would class themselves as ‘English’ or speaking ‘English’. Localising your site by country is the other option but also bear in mind that some countries such as Canada have multiple languages. However this is easily overcome (although not the most cost effective solution) by having  two language sites under one country. There is no right answer to this one and really does depend on the markets you are or looking to operate in, budgets etc. Some, like British Airways, cover all options. We have used both routes in the past, but either way ensure that it is set up in a way that will allow you to make changes as your requirements change.

5. Translation - Traduction
Next on the list is how to localise the copy on you site. It’s not enough just to translate the copy, you need to make sure that:
A. The translated copy makes sense in that language
B. That it reflects the brand, positioning and tone of voice of your company
C. Sells the relevant features to that market.

Ideally you should look at using a translation company or contacts / colleagues that can provide a translation service for you and have a good understanding of your company and the culture of the language they are translating into. A cheaper alternative and for situations where brand values, tone of voice are less important such as user generated content, Google Translator and Babelfish are good, cost effective options. We are currently integrating Google Translator into two client sites which will enable all of their user generated content to be translated across all languages.  

6. Search Engine Marketing
A quick mention on SEO and PPC. Keywords in one country are not necessarily the keywords that customers will search with in another. Achieving good natural search is dependent on you understanding what customers are searching for and what the competition are doing in that country. If you do run PPC campaigns then you will need to consider your PPC strategy for each country. Search engine popularity varies from country to country as does the meaning of words.

7. One database and CMS
On top of all the benefits that come with the ability to manage the content on your site you should also look to have one CMS that controls the pages of all of your country / language sites, keeping everything in one place and making it more cost effective and easier to manage. The same goes for your database, it will be easier to manage if it is all in one place and you can set filters for country specific reports.

8. Get your customers to the finish line
If you are offering a product or service that customers can pay for through your website then make sure all payment options are covered. Arguably too many options may confuse people, but definitely make sure you use a 3rd party payment handler such as SagePay which offers payment in multiple currencies and an ecommerce platform such as PayPal. Or one day and depending on what you are selling you may even be able to use the Facebook micro payment service. Whatever you use it is essential that the payment options are convenient and accessible, safe and secure. The last thing you want is to put your customer off at the final hurdle.

So a few final thoughts:

• One step at a time. Don’t try and recreate everything on your main site into multiple local versions all in one go.
• Research each market and make decisions about what is relevant to and expected by that market.
• Five sites instead of one is very different so keep it manageable. Functionality such as blogs that need to be updated on a regular basis and require moderation may be best left to a later date.

Whilst completing my masters in IT and Marketing in Paris two years ago I wrote a dissertation on mobile social networks and their marketing opportunities (you can read it here although it is in French...). I was convinced that the meeting of mobile and location based social networks would become THE next big thing and help businesses to deeply connect with consumers. Today, I am glad and not so surprised to see location-based services going mainstream!

Location-based services are defined as applications delivering relevant information to users on their mobile depending on where they are based. The LBS market is burgeoning with two types of players:

1. The check-in based companies like Foursquare, Where.com, Gowalla, Loopt, Brightkite, Rummble or Yelp... These are the ones currently leading the way. Just to give you an idea, Foursquare reached the 1 million members in April and it appears they have just crossed the 2 million users mark yesterday!
2. The more established players like Twitter, Facebook and Google have recently entered the market as they see location-based services as a massive revenue generator in the future. GigaOm estimates the potential value of the location-based services market could be worth up to $20 billion (see infographics here) and according to Juniper Research, revenues from mobile location-based services market are expected to exceed $12 billion by 2014! These revenues will mainly come from advertising, retail coupons, business sponsorships and local search marketing which will be exciting news for brands.

Whilst mobile marketing has been around for a while with SMS, MMS, banner ads etc. it has never really taken off before because it was targeted for users and lacked that special social element. However, the improvement of the wireless carriers' network infrastructure (3G), as well as the increasing proliferation of internet and GPS-enabled smartphones combined with the need for consumers to always be hyper-connected has led to a promising future for mobile advertisers. Location-based services use specific location information for delivering the right message to the right person at the right place AND time. The consumer only receives information relevant to him which should engage and encourage interaction with advertisers. Location-based services are opening up a range of new marketing possibilities improving experiences and relationships between people and businesses.

An example of location-based service: Foursquare

Foursquare is a free game available on a variety of mobile platforms. Once you start using the service on the go, you are presented with a list of locations around you and the whole point of the “game” is to check-in to broadcast your location in real-time at the various public venues you visit each day to your inner circle of friends, family and colleagues. The location can be anything from bars, train station, restaurants or work. If you can’t find a venue, you are invited to add it and you are rewarded for your crowdsourcing effort. You can also create notes/reviews for others about the venues like promotions, recommendations or tips. Every time you check-in to a venue, you are awarded a number of points based on how many times you have come there. The more often you do that in the same location the higher you are ranked in the leader board. You can also unlock badges such as newbie, adventurer, explorer, local, or superstar. The user who checks-in more than anyone else becomes “mayor” of that location. Mayorship encourages real competition between users and is very addictive. You can check Louis Gray’s article to see if you are on your way of being a Foursquare addict :)

So how can you tap the power of the “check-in” for your business?

Specials Offers

Last year some venues started rewarding their Foursquare mayors with special deals like free cocktails instant discounts. Foursquare loved the idea and realised that the check-ins were not only benefitting users in their quest for badges and mayorship but also businesses by giving them a chance to engage better with their loyal customers! They therefore built support for this type of deal and started offering Foursquare Specials for business. This is where Foursquare gets interesting as a marketing platform, especially for retailers selling physical merchandise. You can claim your venue from a foursquare venue page and once your business is verified you can start offering specials to your customers. There are 4 types of Specials:

• Mayor Specials: unlocked only by the Mayor of your venue (the user who has checked in the most in the last 60 days). Example: "Foursquare has deemed you the Mayor? Enjoy a free order of French fries!"
• Check-in Specials: unlocked when a user checks in to your venue a certain number of times. "Foursquare says you've been here 10 times? That's a free drink for you!"
• Frequency-based Specials: are unlocked every X check-ins. "Foursquare users get 20% off any entree every 5th check-in!"
• Wildcard Specials: always unlocked, but your staff has to verify some extra conditions before awarding the Special. "Show us your Foursquare Swarm badge and get a free drink!"

You can also get Foursquare to provide you with some window clings so you can market your Specials to customers in your venue. Foursquare also provides you with free real-time stats about your venue: most recent visitors, most frequent visitors, time of the day people check in, total number of unique visitors etc. Valuable information for every business trying to learn more about their customers and track their behaviour patterns and habits.

This is a real win/win situation, on one hand users get engaged into a free and friendly competition over the mayorship of your venue and potentially get the chance to win freebies and discounts. On the other hand, as a business you get the chance to monitor and identify your customers, give them special treatment and encourage frequent visits and loyalty!

Some other thoughts on how to leverage Foursquare

1. Give tips to your customers – it is a good idea to leave advice in the tips section. This could be some info on a new menu item, an upcoming event or tip on how to avoid busy times. For example the History Channel has started using Foursquare to give its users tips at various venues around the United States to coincide with its show, America The Story Of Us.
   
   
   
   
   In the same way, Louis Vuitton is partnering with Foursquare to offer users tips on their favourite locations around London. Check some of their tips on the Louis Vuitton account
2. Create your very own official badge for your business - Starbucks created a Barista badge for caffeine addicts which you can get if you check in at 5 different Starbucks.
   
   
   
   
   Bravo, Fashion Victim badge by Marc Jacobs for the Fashion Week 2010, Time Out - Happy Hour (New York) Badge, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and some cities like Chicago are also good examples. But don’t be intimidated by the big names cited above, it doesn’t matter what size your business is; you could do the same thing to promote your product or service and engage with your customers.
3. Listen and learn from people’s comments – remember the user now has the power to talk and say what he thinks. Don’t ignore this and leverage Foursquare to gather users' feedback and show you are listening and improving. You could even use the ‘to do’ list facility to show your customers what you are going to improve.
4. Hold an event or a party for customers to earn the Swarm Badge – 50+ people are also checked-in here - it's a foursquare flash mob! The best example is probably AJ Bombers restaurant which hosted an event for customers to help them earn Swarm and I’m on a Boat badges (difficult badges to obtain). They managed to attract 161 foursquare users at the same time and their typical Sunday sales more than doubled, with an increase of 110% that day! You can’t do much better in terms of harnessing the power of location-based services. By using Foursquare, this restaurant owner not only achieved record sales but also managed to build a sustainable and real-time word-of-mouth which will probably have an impact on long-term sales as well.
   
   
   
   
   Read the full story on Hubspot blog
5. Think outside the box... The only limitation is your imagination! – Early this year Jimmy Choo, the fashion shoe retailer used Foursquare in a very interesting way organising a real-time treasure hunt around London via the location-based service for the launch of it's new trainer range. The idea was simple and fun, the audience was hugely engaged and a lot of PR was generated.

Whatever your current digital marketing plan is, don’t underestimate the power of location-based services. Unlike the current social media marketing activities, services like Foursquare and Gowalla are able to bring to life online and offline relationships and experiences to unlock a city’s true treasures. So, are you now ready to check-in?

Further reading:

• Nice Slideshare presentation - How Foursquare Helps Consumers and Business Owners
• Check out some more examples - Ten Foursquare marketing campaigns and 21 Unique Location Examples from Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl, and MyTown
• If you still don’t understand why people are checking-in, this article could help you out - Why We Check In: The Reasons People Use Location-Based Social Networks
• Some more exciting news coming from Foursquare HQ last week - Foursquare Launches Location Layers - This is Big and Foursquare Unlocks ‘$20 Million in Funding’ Badge