Showing posts with label brand strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brand strategy. Show all posts

14 January, 2011

If You Can Transform a Brand, You Can Transform Your Agency

Yes, I borrowed that line from the title of an article published in AdAge. Truth be told, it's the platform for this post.

Right now we (Renegade) are in the trenches of re-branding ourselves. And I would be a liar if I said it was the easiest thing we've ever done. It's surprising how difficult the work becomes when it is no longer directed towards your clients and suddenly becomes all about you. Case and point, have you ever had to write about yourself? Perhaps a bio, a blurb, about me, etc... It's more difficult than you think. As Christine puts it "Decode your DNA". Figure out who you are. Figure out what your trying to do/sell/offer. Strip everything away and focus on the one thing that makes you, you.

This is the case with any branding initiative but it's a lot easier to dissect the fruits of someone else's labor. When you are forced into a moment of introspect, things get uncomfortable, usually a bit sticky and ultimately someone steps in something gross and tracks it across the living room floor. Fortunately for this industry, a creative solution can clean up any mess.

Once you have the fancy adjectives and fluff stripped away and you can clearly see your vision, corporate culture and unique differentiator, you can begin the process of putting your brand back together. Don't forget all of the other cosmetic details either - you have to think about curb appeal in this neighborhood.

So now you've got a new look, a new approach and now a new buzz in the atmosphere. Now what? Oh yeah, now it's time to launch. I'll leave that up to you while I segue into the Renegade brand launch.

For some time we've been revamping the Renegade brand - who we are, what we do and how we do it. As I mentioned earlier, it was not an easy process and for any agency that has gone through it, knows that.

It's almost like planning a wedding.

You lock down the foundation that everything else will fall into first - who you are, where you're going and how you'll get there (a.k.a. research). Then you move on to the more detail oriented tasks - brand positioning, brand identity, brand plan. And last but not least, the nitty gritty details that you can't forget but never remember - updating all letterhead, docs, envelopes, business cards and email signatures with your new look, setting the tone for your new culture and rallying your troops (in the midst of all the top-level business decisions, you can't forget about your front line - these folks are going to be your brand ambassadors).

With that said, I highly recommend checking out Christine's article in AdAge and also keep checking back to the Agency Confessional and the new Renegade Communications website for the launch of our new brand.

- Jim Luparello III AE Brand Ambassador


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12 June, 2008

Intern Sweatshop: This summer, Robert Downey Jr. IS Tony Stark in...The Incredible Hulk?

This nod-slash-wink to comic book fans across the globe is one of many steps Marvel is making in their movies to bring all their big-screen characters together into the same movie universe, much as it is in the books. It’s the promise of a very, at the least, interesting movie-going future.

Most people who stayed through the end credits of Iron Man were rewarded with this scene featuring the holy badass himself, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury:








And Monday, the comic-movie powers that be released a new Hulk TV spot featuring Downey as Tony Stark making some shady deals with William Hurt.


This all adds up to one hell of a marketing strategy. So far, Iron Man sits as the reigning box office champion of 2008. With the introduction of Nick Fury, Marvel introduced another character, one that does not have his own film, but possibly may in the future. Downey has also been relaunched as a major leading man with bankability. His presence in The Incredible Hulk only solidifies the movie as being a Marvel brand title. The first Hulk film, directed by Ang Lee and released in 2003, had a less than spectacular performance at the box office or with fans. It was the same story with Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and The Punisher; all coming from different studios and different producers with varying views on the material.


Iron Man was the first movie to be directly produced by Marvel, as are all other adaptations set for the future, meaning Marvel exercises total creative control over the content, unlike before, when studios snatched rights to keep titles to themselves. This is the reason why we never got to see Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman fight evil-doers side by side with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Different studios means “hands off!” in Hollywood.


By bringing all of their heroes under their creative control, the films can have stronger continuity between one another, ensuring audiences, “keep your butts in your seats!” The writers, directors, and stars may change, but coming from the same people who hold the source material so near and dear insures a sort of quality control. The idea is to put on the screen what has been in the books for years--the heroes fighting side by side on one cinematic canvas.


DC, that other comic publisher, has been poised to make this kind of move for years. All of their major characters, including Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are copyrighted to Warner Brothers. No red tape there. But Marvel got to it first.


It is quite a feat as well for Marvel as a company, moving ahead into the movie business full steam ahead. Authors have trouble retaining any control over movies based on their books once the rights are signed over. Marvel however is an entity, a name that stands for superheroes and all the cultural fanboy-ism behind it. So I’ll give Marvel a pass on a Ghost Rider. Finally, they’re beginning to get it right.


--Aditya Desai, Intern

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