Our sister company VIRTUALTRIP Digital Branding has a new look and a new site.  We’re very proud of our work, check it out!

FORMA Cultural Branding is making an appearance in San Francisco.  Maybe we’ll stop and see a few friends in the business, maybe we’ll do some wine-tasting (I mean, research!) around Napa Valley, and maybe we’ll be checking out what’s new in branding, technology and design on the west coast.

If you’re in the area send us an email/facebook message/smoke signal, and we’ll arrange to meet up for a coffee/tea/acai berry smoothie and have a chat!

As a part of this decade’s organic movement, more consumers are thinking locally about products they are purchasing. However, now people are using the latest technologies and social media to disseminate those ideals. A recent article from Britain’s Brand Republic suggests that the Digital Revolution is being utilized to inform clients of where they can find these locally grown products. With online applications that allow you to trace back exactly where an egg originated, this sort of “techno-innovation” acts to legitimate locally produced claims, as well as expose the bogus ones.

Buenos Aires has amazing potential to also utilize digital media to promote local brands, from food markets to design locales. Locally minded stores have begun to pop up in Buenos Aires with gaining speed; now the digital media sector just needs to catch up. Guia Oleo boasts of eighty-two “Natural” restaurants to choose from, while markets modeled after Whole Foods, such as Natural Deli and The Pick Market, have made quite the impression on local shoppers. The potential exists for these brands to also take advantage of digital media. In the past couple of years the city has joined the global social media craze that has revolutionized marketing and advertising. However, the question is now: How can Buenos Aires utilize digital media such as mobile applications and social media to further promote local products and businesses? Check out the article from Brand Republic here to see their suggestions. You can also read more about FORMA’s ideas concerning origin denomination, a classification system for natural products, and Argentina in our latest article!

Ethics is an important concept no matter what we do. In the civilized world, ethics is in fact the cornerstone of most laws, governments, and institutions (or at least what we aim to influence these concepts). Even in the digital branding world, a sense of moral principles is essential to an agency’s legitimacy. Online sharing is quite common, however always with the condition of giving credit to those who influenced your work.

The theme of ethics came up this week after it was revealed to us that an impostor of a graphic designer, a self-proclaimed “Creative Workshop” site, has stolen a visual identity that we developed for TGLT Forum Residencias, a subdivision of an international enterprise with partners in the United Kingdom and Brazil. The internet is revolutionary because of the amount of information that is accessible, but that doesn’t mean accreditation isn’t necessary. Although we appreciate Graph Volcano’s obvious appreciation for our visual identity design for TGLT, to copy and paste it into their webpage and call it their own is simply unacceptable.

Thanks to Fabien at Graphic Exchange for informing us of this breach of virtual ethics.

I recently stumbled upon an interesting older article from a site called JapanInc., discussing the power of foreign brands in Japan throughout history.  The article begins detailing the success of US ice cream producer Häagen-Dazs, probably the most famous example of a “constructed” brand. The Häagen-Dazs founders chose the Nordic-sounding name (which is, in fact, gibberish in all languages) in the 80’s when they started the brand — the name was chosen to give the expensive ice cream an ‘imported’ appeal.  The article develops this idea in relation to Japan, and discusses how Japanese brands with invented foreign names dominate the market.* This article got me thinking about the power of foreign brands in Argentina, and how Argentine consumers perceive imported goods. Read the rest of this entry »

That the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a catastrophe is unquestionable, but the reaction of the American people — particularly those not directly affected — is unprecedented in its vehemence. BP’s maladroit handling of its public relations following the spill certainly exacerbated the public’s anger, but to understand where the sheer vitriol of the public’s reaction came from, other factors must be considered. Some have speculated that the reaction to BP following the oil spill was perhaps in part due to public feelings of betrayal. Before the spill, surveys had found that consumers regarded BP as relatively environmentally friendly, a belief the oil spill has violently shattered. Read the rest of this entry »

Our new article “Modern Trends vs. Traditional Patterns: Considering Copywright and Ethics in Design” explores the fine line between “borrowing” and “stealing” popular historical patterns, and how this has changed the way we view trends in modern design.  Take a look!

We’ve just posted a new article “Going Green: Sustainable and Environmentally-Friendly Branding” on the Papers&Articles section of our website.  The article discusses how three companies — Patagonia, Marks & Spencer, and Muji — have managed to grow and maintain “green” brands.

With the green revolution, it has actually become trendy to be environmentally conscious. In just about every Whole Foods Market in the U.S. you see fashion-conscious strolling around with their reusable, recycled bags and choosing fair trade instead of fair fur products. In Buenos Aires we see the same trend: try Palermo Hollywood’s Bonpland Market on Saturday afternoon to find a mercado full of organic breads, pasta, produce and clothes. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve just uploaded two new articles to the Papers&Articles Section of our site: “Modern Trends vs. Traditional Patterns” and “Look to History to Enter the Latin American Market Successfully.”  Both these articles focus on the different ways Latin American business, culture and design have been perceived by the rest of the world over the last century.   Check them out here!