Renew, Refresh or Revamp?

On the 24th April 2010, a tribe of 10 volunteers including myself went over to a one-bedroom elderly home for an Extreme Makeover. For 12 hours, we turned a one-room HDB flat inside out. Painting, repairing and fixing up new furnishing for a 80 year old Singaporean single male. He is without family and living with a friend in this flat. The purpose is to renew, refresh and revamp their living space. Cleaner, brighter and more livable.

Hardly, we get to see, touch and enter into the homes of the less privileged. Concealed out of our everyday lives, theirs is a world without LCD TV, heated showers and washing machine. Things we easily take for granted. Not to mention having a Personal Computer. The revamped flat which is about the size of my bedroom but it sure push us to the limit in terms of the details we need to take care of. Dead beat but definitely happy inside.

At some stage of our lives, we tend to seek renewal, refreshment or revamp. It could be internal or on the outside. Even an established brand seeks the same. The key is when and more importantly what do we do it for? Does the brand seek new meanings with new line of products? Or simply, it is time to refresh itself with a simpler look like what Pepsi did recently. Finding the purpose fuels the motivation to do it. Ours is simply to make an impact in a small way. Writing it, hopefully makes that effect a little bigger. I hope to dirty more sleeves in the future. My next pipeline is to promote road safety, especially within the cycling community.

No matter what is your choice, you need to stick to it and have a clear purpose with end goal in mind. If it benefits you, good. If it benefits a bigger cause, more than yourself. Great. You have outdone yourself. Quoting John Hope Bryant; "You can never go wrong doing good.".




PS. I will post pictures of the Before and After revamp sometime in the next 2 weeks. Stay tune.

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The multi-million dollar Airline Brand Promise test

Yes, that sounds expensive. That is the price that many airlines have to pay to test their brand promise in the recent Eyjafjoell volcano eruption that closed down the entire European airspace for a few days. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) put the overall cost to the airline industry at $US1.7 billion ($A1.83 billion): at its peak, said IATA, the crisis was costing $US400 million ($A431.69 million) a day.

Now the blame game starts within the airline industry but they neglected a bigger problem; did airline brands pass their brand promise test to their tribes or customers? Who is ultimately going to recuperate these losses? Not the airlines themselves but their customers ultimately. Those who buy the tickets, experience the on-brand flight services where it all comes as a package.

Thousands of airline passengers are left stranded, angsty and stressed up. Some airports look like refugee camps. Airline brands are tested for their competence and service delivery at the ground level even before passengers step on the plane. Yes, the branded airline experience starts way before that.

One brand did shine. Singapore Airlines gave awaiting passengers hotels and meals etc. Yes, it costs about S$10 million dollars to do all of these. That is not including another S$30 million lost through this crisis. SIA shares dropped but I reckon their brand equity has raised another bar. Reinforcing their brand promise of 'A great way to fly', SIA won over confidence and continue delivering their on-brand experience. I will not be surprised they will not only cash back the S$40 million quickly but also increase their brand tribe many folds. That is again adversity that leads to opportunity and success.

Please leave your comments, if any. Picture taken from ABC news.

What are the problems to solve?

Problems abound. In fact, there are more problems surfacing than ready solutions. Solutions take time and effort. Creative solutions need dedication, design thinking and a strong purpose. More importantly, we also need to prioritise problems when the floodgates open periodically. Bjorn Lomborg gave his views on that in TED.

Ever once in a while, we identify problems that exists and turn them into a project. It could be a thesis you are writing, rebranding excercise or even a movement you want to start. You have teams or tribes who are interested to get their hands dirty. The result could be quite amazing. Solutions to solve cataract removal in India where cost of surgery can be reduced 100 times. Or Danielle Zurovcik, a doctoral student at MIT who invented a cheap hand-powered suction-healing system for use in developing countries. It uses negative suction to promote healing. You can read more about this amazing device that cost US$3 to manufacture which can potentially impact 50-60 million people in the developing world that suffer from acute or chronic wounds. This device is slated for testing in Haiti.

Think about your community or tribes today. What are the issues and problems do you think they are facing? How are you making change today?

Heres one. How many above 60 are living around you today. Have we spent enough time knowing them? Start with those around us first. If you are interested to engage them and want to know how to do it. Drop me a message.

Please leave your comments, if any. Picture taken from MIT news.

Higher Grounds

There are higher education, higher thinking and higher grounds. Higher can mean more advance, more technical, more difficult and maybe even more irrelevant. However, one of the way to improve ourselves or a brand is to go higher. How high? High enough for us to guage what is coming next and strategize ahead. Knowing how the market might move and how consumers might react to it.

Why brands or businesses hire external consultants is to advise them why and how they should make that move. Consultants cannot tell the future nor have a crystal ball in their suitcase. Consultants are here to elevate you, gain higher ground of added advantage, create value and not make empty promises. End of the day, higher grounds can only be attained if foundations are firm. Foundations such as leadership, foresight and a solid dedicated team that rallies behind a common purpose. Take neccessary risks and learn from failures.

Here is Girl Effect, your chance to be at higher ground and be more than ourselves.

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Resolve and Absolve

Monday morning, I am at one of the major telco retailer to buy an iPhone. I wanted to change my current phone plan to join the iPhone tribe. I was told I could not do so as my current phone had contact with moisture as so says the red sticker at the back of my E71. I decided to live with my Nokia which had no major issues with my current needs. It still works fine. I left the shop empty as the customer service representative did not offer me any alternatives.

Reflecting back, I am disappointed. Seeing from both a business and consumer point of view. Why?

Through the eyes of a customer, there is no effort on the customer service representative to resolve my current need: Getting an iPhone and getting more business from me. Instead, they choose to tell me I have hit a dead end. I could not trade in and she did not tell me how much I need to top up to get what I want. I have to do the math myself?

As a consultant, I would have used the Resolve and Absolve model to empower each customer facing representative. Resolve the problem of the customer need as the top priority. If that is not met, little else really matters. Find out what is the tipping point (cost-benefit of not having the phone) and create value (opportunity cost of not having the phone).

Finally, absolve the customer need of not having the desired phone by showing alternatives. Ask: What could we do to make sure this customer walk out of the door buying something? Absolve the customer guilt of not getting the phone he wants. Probably it is a lot to ask for a young lady who just filling in during the holidays but generic good service is necessary not a luxury. So is a Green branded customer service that sets them apart from the Red and Orange telco brands.

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A logo that tells you more

A logo or Brand Mark design is one of the most visible visual identity a brand can have. Sadly, many companies CEO or brand owners consider this to be their only 'branding'. Little or no efforts to build a brand strategy or allowing the brand to grow internally/externally effectively.

The logo or Brand Mark does communicate stories or design cues to its audience. Hence, it is one of the first and important visuals a brand can have. Brand marks can be simply the spelling or word that consitute the brand like Google or Facebook.

Have your stories told...
One of the most interesting Brand Mark stories is Starbuck. How Starbucks is named after a character from the novel Moby Dick and the twin tail siren design is derived from a 17th century Norse Woodcut. If a brand has a story, why not tell it? Have storytellers within the tribe to romance about how the Brand Mark and name came about.

Subconscious mind play a role too
Our subconscious mind plays an important role when we look at Brand Marks. Depending on our individual experiences, culture and beliefs, Brand Marks communicate subconsciously to us. One of the forefront thinkers of subconscious research is Dr Zaltman who pioneered an elicitation technique to understand and decipher how our subconsicous thoughts are affecting our everyday decisions. It has been proven that 90% of our decisions are made sub consciously or without actively thinking about it. Hence, the choice of design cues are affecting our views of the Brand Mark beyond superficiously.

Design houses and brand agencies are offering brand design as part of the total consultancy package to clients. What they often fail to offer is the deciphering of meanings behind these logo beyond the surface. These are again cues which are controlled by culture, beliefs and values which their customers are residing. Sensitivity to such issues will allow the brand to grow, penetrate the minds of consumers today.

This is one of the original logo of Starbucks. Source Wikipedia.

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