Volume 20, Number 4, Fall 2009

All agree that a strong brand—one that commands loyalty and trust—is a valuable asset. The challenge is developing and sup-porting that kind of relationship, a relation-ship that can embrace products, services, facilities, packaging, and collateral material, the corporate mission and values, customer service and employee training, websites, blogs, social networking sites, and many other interactions. some of these connec-tions you can touch and see—the display, the banking center, delivery trucks. Others are intangible—a shared commitment to sustainability or the fact that your local Lexus dealer picks up the car when you need service and leaves you a loaner. The essence of branding is weaving all these types of experiences together so that they deliver a coherent and consistent message.

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Creating a Cultural Point of View: Design for International Brand Translation
Paula Stafford, Executive Vice President, Callison
The very affluent, it turns out, tend to share a particular expectation of what luxury looks like, whether they shop in Jakarta or in Dubai. That said, there are cultural differences that must be respected. Middle Eastern shoppers, for example...

Invisible Branding
Josh Levine, Partner, Great Monday
Invisible branding refers to stakeholder touch-points that have little or no visual presence in the market but that still deliver what the brand promises-things like CEO vision, employee training, pricing strategy, sales-force communications, and...

It’s Not What Design Is, It’s What Design Does
Pradeep Sharma, Head of Bath School, Art & Design, UK; Dean Poole, Creative Director, Alt Group, New Zealand
In some ways, it is easier for small and medium-size enterprises to make design a big part of their operations as a way to grow and transform their businesses than it is for larger organizations. Pradeep Sharma, head of the UK's Bath School of...

Mapping the Customer’s Experience Through Brand Design
Michael D’Esposo, Senior Partner, Lippincott, Boston Office; Fabian Diaz, Design Partner, Lippincott, New York Office
For leaders of most large corporations, a brand program is not a design exercise-it's a business initiative, subject to issues of return on investment and cost-effectiveness. The truth is, though, that the best designers also see a brand program as...

Platforming: Evolving the Paradigm of Branding
Valerie Jacobs, Group Director, LPK Trends
As a design forecaster, Valerie Jacobs observes a divide between how designers see their role in brand building and how people actually experience and use brands. She believes that creating "platforms" that people can resonate with rather than buy...

Storyboard Your Strategy: Think About, Design, and Measure the Whole Experience
David W. Norton, Principal, Lead Strategist, Stone Mantel; James Kranefeld
The old adage, "When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail," can apply to the design process. Consider a cross-functional team working on a new product and putting together a customer experience. As Stone Mantel's Dave Norton explains: "The...

The Holistic Consumer Experience - Insights from DMI Members
JoeEllen Kames, Manager, Experience Planning, Motorola; Audrey Arbeeny, Executive Producer, Audiobrain; Rich Levy, Prinipal, Creative Director, RLP + Creative Group; Mel Lim, Design + Business Consultant, Mel Lim Design; Megan van Krieken, Sr. Operational Excellence Specialist, ebay; Peter Wyatt-Brandenburg, Pan-HP Experience Lead, Hewlett-Packard
What is the best customer experience brand you have encountered or designed? What made it so compelling? Which brand elements comprise a holistic customer experience? How do you engage and keep customers engaged across a breadth of touch-points...

The Media You Own Versus the Media You Rent
Nick Foley, Managing Director, Landor Associates, Sydney; James Cockerille, Director of Brand Strategy, Landor Associates, Sydney
Is your company getting the most out of the brand assets it owns (packaging, delivery vehicles, home page, stationery, retail buildings, and the like)? Or are you shoveling most of your advertising dollars into the media you rent (billboards...