Designing Authenticity

By Andrew Piper, Group Creative Director

Nothing beats great service, but great design is critical in a market where staff churn is high and serving is not considered a career. What are the touchpoints that make a difference? How can colour, eclecticism and site-specific features build an experience that will be perceived as authentic? How will design carry the brand beyond the confines of the restaurant and into the community?

The battle for insight: increasing everyday insightfulness

By Nathan Baird, Global Capability Director

The war of brands is seeing an increasingly competitive battle for fresh and unique insights between competitors. More and more, great insight is determining who wins and who loses. But how can companies keep on discovering fresh new insights? How can companies increase their insightfulness?

Does your country go all the way?

By Paul Shields, Consultant at Clear

Incredible Indiahhhh? Malaysia Truly Asia? South Africa – It’s Possible?

Yes, allowing your mind to wander your next holiday is a mainstay of the me-time daydream. Standing on the platform in the bitter morning air, faced with a poster showing a Senegalese beach, your mind does wander, and the tourism boards know you’ll be surfing at some point in the day and have a slick website waiting for you…

Goodbye to Gordon Gekko

By Nick Graham, Managing Director of Clear New York

Consumers are increasingly turning their backs on financial services brands that epitomize the archetypal “Wall Street” values of Gordon Gekko. What can these brands do to win back the hearts of their customers?

“Bad brands” and why playing it safe is the riskiest strategy

By Kate Evans, Senior Consultant at Clear Europe

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that the bad boy always gets the girl. But in brand land things work a little differently. In an age of equal opportunity, political correctness and corporate social responsibility, most are striving to build the kind of brand you could take home to your mum. In fact, ‘The Mum Test’ is used in brand positioning workshops to check the message is clear, simple and suitable for polite company. Because nice brands finish first, don’t they?

Australians want FunctionaLuxe

By Benjamin Harrison, Senior Consultant at Clear Australia

China’s top ten most desired brands include Mercedes, Lancome and Audi. In Australia we prefer Vegemite. In Asian markets luxury brands make up 2/3 of the 30 most desire brands. In Australia’s top 30 there are 4. Don’t get us wrong: Australian’s love luxury brands, but there is a specific type of luxury we like: FunctionaLuxe.

Why the world needs a desirable bank

By Simon Clough, Global Marketing Director

The big banking brands need to be careful they don’t stagnate as competitors enter the field. Banking is even older than money itself. Given such longevity, we might expect brands in the sector to be well-defined and diverse. But in truth the opposite is true: over time banks seem to have converged towards one established template…

Campaign China | There’s more to life than just status symbols in China

By Jenny Chan, Campaign China

CHINA – Home-grown brands are making their presence felt in the lifestyles of some Chinese consumers as they gradually move on from a blind pursuit of luxury to seek products that offer a shortcut to a better lifestyle, according to a global branding poll.

Changing your logo? Why understanding is wealth

By Joseph Sherlock, Quantitative Research Assistant

A logo is often a brands figurehead and the foremost point of contact with its customers. It is a recognisable symbol that holds shared meaning such as, food is nearby (McDonalds), or a person is affluent and successful (Ralph Lauren). Brands use their logo as a medium to convey attitudes and values, consciously and unconsciously, to their customers…

The Rise Of The Geek or When Did It Become Cool To Be Un-Cool?

By Corinna Blobel, Consultant at Clear Australia

“What is with geeks?” my colleague muttered; “They’re everywhere these days!”

That made me think. This geek trend has certainly been going on for a while now: wearing glasses has become sexy; socks in sandals are suddenly acceptable; it’s even cool to know stuff these days. So what does the geek trend mean for brands?

What do you mean?

By James Wallis, Senior Consultant at Clear Europe

Are you a real brand, or are you just a product with a name and some advertising? Any strict taxonomy of marketing wouldn’t tell us the difference – a brand is a brand is a brand. Such a flat definition is actively unhelpful for marketers, because it means we settle for too little. When I say ‘real’ brand, I’m talking about good brands, really.

London 2012: Less Desirable than an Oxo Cube?

By Simon Clough, Global Marketing Director

This week Boris Johnson marked the 150 day countdown to the start of the London Olympics by floating a gigantic model of the Olympic Rings down the river Thames. The aim being to whip the nation into a frenzy of excitement and enthusiasm before the Games start in June. Given this initiative was launched by the London Mayor to promote London, the much feted London 2012 brand logo was conspicuous by its absence.

“Created in China” Luxury

By April Lam, Senior Consultant at Clear HK

Facing pressure on production costs, a lot of luxury brands have moved their production base to China. “Made in China” luxury goods are being more and more accepted by the market, but what about “Created in China” luxury brands?
We have selected 3 recent best practice examples. What are the concepts for these home-grown luxury brands and what are their wining tactics for the local market?

There is such a thing as a bad idea

By Anna Lyndon, Global Director of Innovation

We’re encouraged to love, nurture and look after ideas like new born puppies, harbouring the misconception that if we pour enough energy and enthusiasm into them we can turn even the weakest mutt into a show winning pedigree pooch. Yet we know this is not true…

The Language of Cool

By James Wallis, Senior Consultant at Clear Europe

The language of cool is employed by sexy, risk-taking brands that appeal to our love of novelty, excitement and fun. There are three major themes that brands can use to “speak” this language…

What can ‘Made in Chelsea’ teach us about brand strategy?

By Kate Evans, Senior Consultant at Clear Europe

Here’s a confession. I have an insatiable appetite for reality TV. But not the life-swapping jungle-dwelling, vote me out of here kind. The glossy, glamorous, ‘manufactured for your entertainment’ kind. If truth be told, I just can’t get enough of ‘Spaggie.’

Are we starting to forgive BP?

By Damian Symons, Managing Director Clear Europe

Results announced today would seem to attest that BP is at least financially getting back on track, with strong profits in the latest quarter. But with all the furore over Deepwater last year and PR disaster upon PR disaster, what about our perceptions of the brand?

Google is “doing evil”, but why do we love it more than Facebook?

By Ruth Willis, Senior Consultant at Clear Europe

Facebook and Google are both part of the fabric of 21st century life. Both brands have had a huge impact on the way we use technology, and both have had been the subject of on-going controversy and debate over their privacy policies. Yet whilst consumers’ love-hate relationship with Facebook rumbles on and on, we all seem to love Google as much as ever.