4 Things Brands Should do to Survive 2020
It’s June 2020 and the world is in the midst of three crises — COVID-19, an economic downturn, and mass demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice. Given the challenges the world is facing this year, and having recently started a new gig as Glassdoor’s Global Creative Director of Brand, I have begun to ask myself what brands should be doing during these times to stay successful and survive this year and beyond.
Below are 4 things I believe every brand should do to be successful, focusing on the creative execution side of things, and some related to our current crises and some not.
1. Let customers help drive your brand’s creative execution.
I had an exchange regarding creative research with another well respected creative director from an agency a few years ago who told me “Good creative doesn’t test well.” The quote stuck with me because I couldn’t recall another time where someone so boldly dismissed research, especially in the data-driven world most in-house design teams operate in these days. My first reaction was, nice — I finally have a good comeback when somebody wants to do creative research with no regard for the intuition, talent, and experience designers bring to the table.
That was the wrong reaction. I quickly learned that creative research has an extremely valuable role to play in the development and maintenance of any brand. Now, I’m not saying we should assume research will always give us the answer, or that we should take research findings as set in stone mandates that must be completely addressed in the final creative. That would be putting too much power in the hands of customers. Your customers shouldn’t be dictating design decisions for your brand, they are simply not qualified to do so — that’s where the talent, intuition, and experience that I mentioned earlier come into play. But research can be a powerful tool to validate that what you are creating is actually resonating with your target audience.
At the end of the day, if your brand execution resonates with your executive team and not your target audience, what’s the point? An executive might personally dislike aspects of a design, but what matters more is ensuring that the design is resonating with your customers. We’re not artists, we’re designers, and we exist to add value to whatever business we’re working for. It’s much riskier to launch a brand execution without knowing if it resonates with your audience, and then simply hope the business value will magically come.
Research provides a non-biased, third-party assessment of how your target audience is reacting to your brand execution, which helps ensure you’re not drinking too much of your own Kool-Aid and eliminates drawn out, subjective conversations about what executives like or dislike about a design. Do you lose some control over your creative destiny? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes!
2. Differentiate and take risks.
Quick, what’s the purpose of a brand? Hint: it’s not to make things look professional or trendy. It’s primarily to help customers notice that you exist, remember you exist, and understand why they should use your product or service over your competitor’s product or service (among many other things).
Given that, I’ve been surprised at how many brands, specifically in the tech industry, look so similar. Don’t get me wrong, I will always be a proponent of clean design, and the fact that it’s popular is definitely progress. However, there is a part of me that wonders if design teams are not thinking about their visual brand execution beyond what looks good, what looks on trend, and what looks like every other tech company. The appeal might be that it’s safe — if it works for that large, admired tech company over there, it will work for us. It’s also a lot easier to get buy in for designs that are safe, don’t rock the boat, and are expected. I will also be the first to admit that the final execution is not always up to the design team — many amazing and innovative creative ideas can get killed inside the echo chamber of a company before ever seeing the light of day. But at a minimum, design teams should fight the good fight and help executives understand that they are leaving money on the table by not doing more to stand and differentiate.
There are some examples of companies who are taking risks and really trying to carve out their own path, however. Mailchimp and Zendesk are two that come to mind with their unexpected and quirky colors, typefaces, and imagery. By zigging when others zag they are creating a brand that customers will notice and remember.
At the end of the day brands need to be asking themselves how they are different from their competitors and how they can drive a unique and memorable brand execution that takes some risks. This will ensure that when a need arises with your customers, they will think of your product instead of your competitor’s.
3. Influence Product Design.
Before moving in-house, I worked at a product design agency where I was surrounded by like-minded designers who all understood the value that branding and visual design brought to the product design discipline. We didn’t even need to convince our clients of the value of these things because that’s usually why they sought us out in the first place. We were all working towards shared design goals and created some really great and innovative work. It was amazing.
Fast forward a few years and I was now working as a design leader within a tech company for the first time, surrounded not by designers but by every role imaginable outside of design. I learned very quickly that the folks I was working with on a daily basis did not have that innate sense for the value of great design. Now I’m not talking about great design as in a product experience that makes it easier for a user to accomplish a task, I’m talking about the complete package — features that solve real user needs not just business needs, thoughtful and elegant UX, beautiful and innovative visual design, all wrapped up in a package that appeals to both the rational and emotional side of people’s brains.
I needed to learn an entirely different language when it came to discussing the value of great design in a culture that valued data over intuition. After some digging I was surprised to learn that a lot of that design intuition I carried with me during those agency years actually did have concrete data and science to back it up. I discovered a lot of great supporting evidence such as the Aesthetic Usability Effect, Hick’s Law, Local Maximum, and my favorite, the KISS Principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). Okay, maybe that last one isn’t as scientific, but these helped me better communicate why we should invest in great visual design, make something easier to use, and take risks to folks that initially were skeptical or didn’t understand.
Branding has a critical function when it comes to product design, and not just because of the examples above. Studies have been conducted that show emotions play a more important role in a user’s experience than you might think. A positive first impression, usually based on branding and visual design as opposed to interaction, influences the user’s perceived value of the product, the perceived ease of use of the product, and the perceived credibility of the product. Not to mention the simple fact that consistency between brands and products builds trust with your customers. Create a space where you can discuss how brand and product can support each other and marvel at the magic that unfolds.
4. Be authentic.
One theme I’ve seen a lot of lately is brands jumping on whatever the popular social cause bandwagon of the moment is without truly helping or solving for any of the issues presented. This started with brands messaging their support of gay rights and the environment, and much more recently with COVID-19 and the demonstrations against racial injustice.
Take a look at this COVID-19 commercial super cut. When these brands all start saying the same empty words about COVID-19, no matter how well intentioned they may be, it can come across as disingenuous.
The same can be said about many brands’ reaction to the recent mass demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice. As soon as it was popular and convenient, brands jumped into action posting messages of support across their social media channels. Again, empty words that come across as disingenuous or worse, profiting off of the crisis.
I realize it’s a double edged sword — don’t post and appear that you don’t support the cause when in reality you want to, or do post and be criticized for trying to benefit off of the current situation. But there is a better way to think about it: actions speak louder than words. Before rushing to jump on the bandwagon and get a timely yet shallow social media post up, brands should think about what actions they can take to truly help solve the core problems, and promote the action they are taking to help, not just empty words of support.
I realize it’s easy for me to say this now having weeks of perspective that many brands didn’t have at the time, but the next time there really shouldn’t be any excuse. People want to support brands that care about more than simply generating profit, but there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it. The right way will build stronger respect and support for your brand while the wrong way will do the opposite. People’s BS meter is at an all time high and they usually see right through brands that are not acting in a truly authentic way.
