Brand Catalyst’s Blog

B&Q’s promotion of a new range of low energy lamps, reported in The Observer today (25.3.07), signals the inevitable scramble to market products and services to those concerned about global warming. As with the organic market, the move from an early adopter to a mainstream opportunity will take time, but the switch to lower carbon options is likely to be much quicker and much, much bigger. The reasons for this are twofold: 1. Lower carbon options will save you money, in the long term, whereas organic is likely to remain premium and 2. Going low carbon might save the planet - and we won’t hear the end of that in our life times nor for that matter in our grand-children’s grand-children’s life times, as they curse us from their homes in Birmingham on sea.

The launching of the new logo for The Conservatives has inevitably generated many a gibe, as people try to find reasons for why an oak tree is a bad thing. Or how it is in fact a piece of broccoli, according to the ocularly challenged Lord Tebbit. What I think is much more interesting is how the tree is represented. I wondered how this very soft style was chosen and it was the words in today ’s Daily Telegraph that confirmed my suspicion: “We tested a large number of different images, and the logo proved the overwhelming favourite.” Said a party spokesman. Research did it.

Now don ‘t get me wrong, research is a critical element of the brand development process, but it needs to be just that, an element. If research is used to make the decision, rather than as an aid to the decision making process, the result will tend to be bland. The law of averages will, as sure as acorns are acorns, result in the average. Researching corporate identities is notoriously difficult as it deals in the ideas of what an organisation stands for and can only represent a reference point to those ideas. If that reference point doesn ‘t evoke a strong sense of the organisation behind it it is not working.

One wonders what the other contenders were, you can bet your bottom dollar that this pleasant little oak tree did not arouse the greatest passions. Logos should remind people of an organisation ’s stance and trigger a strong emotion. Look at the USA government ’s bald eagle or even the Labour party ’s rose, at least the rose has a whiff of blood coloured passion about it.

On this 300th anniversary of the union of Scotland and England I find it perplexing that there are calls to separate England and give it its own parliament and legislature. The argument seems to rest on it not being fair that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have one.

When developing location brands one looks for those things that make a country distinctive, the things that make the population proud, the things that make it attractive to tourists and inward investors.

England is no doubt the economic powerhouse of the United Kingdom - its population is 10x that of the next biggest nation, Scotland. However there are no cultural, demographic, natural or geographic reasons why England should see itself as a separate entity. Indeed one of our great strengths as a British nation is our diversity and international outlook.

Our exports are labelled as British, not English: British fashion, British design, British music, British fair play, British democracy. Even London is somehow British rather than English.

We should stop saying “It’s not fair!” like some truculent five year old and start thinking about what works in the world.