Me sorprendió el nuevo Centro Metropolitano de Diseño, su infroestructura, equipo de gente, contenido, todo alucinante. Muy recomendado para ir a visitrarlo.

[To read this article in English, visit VIRTUALTRIP Digital Branding.]

Sabemos un par de cosas sobre impresión. Sabemos que aunque se trabaje con la mejor imprenta, nunca se logra tener toda su atención, que encargando 3000 invitaciones para una fiesta, no se está ni cerca de ser el cliente más importante de la imprenta, lo que significa que el servicio que le provean al cliente – desde consultoría hasta gráfica e impresión – será de inferior calidad. Y también sabemos que se cobran precios altísimos por el privilegio de ser principalmente ignorados, y sin tener la seguridad de que el trabajo esté terminado y entregado a tiempo.

Este es un desafío con el que nos encontramos constantemente como empresa. Bodegas boutique, eventos exclusivos, acceso limitado – todo esto significa lo mismo cuando se trata de imprimir: alta calidad en relativamente bajas cantidades. Comenzamos a sentir que faltaba control de calidad en el negocio de la impresión y el packaging: había una falta de imprentas que quisieran proveer consultoría experimentada e impresiones de primera calidad para clientes más pequeños. Por esta razón FORMA Cultural Branding lanzo GÜNTER, una empresa de impresión, producción y packaging ubicada en Buenos Aires.

Al mismo tiempo que trabaja con un network de talleres y distribuidoras de papel, importando papeles únicos, GÜNTER provee servicios de consultoría, impresión, armado estructural de packaging y distribución a clientes de Argentina y Brasil. Con el expertise en diseño y branding del equipo de FORMA como guía, GÜNTER se encarga de los detalles que hacen de la impresión y el packaging procesos tan laboriosos – sustratos, gramajes, tintas, relieves, gofrados, hot stamping, troqueles, lacas, terminaciones, por nombrar algunos. Para esto, GÜNTER cuenta con una red de proveedores probados y testeados por FORMA en los últimos 12 años, con un servicio confiable y las más bajas tarifas. Finalmente, y lo más importante, al eliminar esas empresas satélite que se alimentan de la mayoría de las imprentas (manufacturas, distribuidores, etc) y encargarse directamente de estos servicios, se alcanzan precios sustancialmente menores que en cualquier imprenta.

GÜNTER Gráfica & Packaging se encuentra en el barrio de Recoleta, en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Para más información, visite en sitio web de GÜNTER www.guntergrafica.com.ar.

[Photo: courtesy of Flavia Bocco]

In her article “Branding & Negative Associations: Burberry,” Guest writer Jennifer Tobias discusses how Burberry’s cheapening image is a cause of concern to a company that has just managed to claw its way back to the top of the luxury market after decades of decline.  Read the full article in the Papers&Articles section of our site.

[Photo: courtesy of Kathryn Taussig]

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!

[Photo: courtesy of Felice Physioc]

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.

[Photo: courtesy of Julian Bedel]

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.

In Argentina the pull of foreign branding is undeniable, especially accounting for the incredibly high, government-imposed import tax placed on most foreign goods.  A certain class of Argentines seem to buy the majority of their clothes in bi or tri-yearly trips to the states, and foreign brands are nearly always valued over Argentine ones.  Brands like Lacoste, North Face, Ralph Lauren, Barbour, Patagonia and Tommy Hilfiger remain popular, despite being sold at double or triple mark-up in an economy where the peso is four to one to the US dollar.  Following the trend perhaps first begun in Japan so many years ago (the JapanInc article cites “fake” foreign branding as far back as the beginning of the 20^th century), some more savvy Argentine brands have begun to American and European-ize their products to appeal to trendy Argentine consumers. Their aim is similar to those of brands like Japanese “fake French” brand FrancFranc: to tempt Argentine consumers to buy local by drawing them in with a foreign name and cheaper price tag.

Have they succeeded? How convincing are these “constructed” brands? Would they cut it on the London high street or the shopping districts of New York and Paris? My answer is probably not. Everybody, from foreign visitors to the Argentine audience they target can spot the difference between a Class Life and a Banana Republic. The problem is these brands don’t go all the way: their identity lands somewhere between the Argentine and European (and maybe New York) aesthetic and ends up convincing no one. Brands such as Stork: New York and Class Life sport English names but the fake European/American branding ends there: the style, the price, and even the models are all obviously home-grown.  Hägen-daaz is successful because hardly anybody, to this day, knows that it isn’t actually a luxury, imported Swedish ice cream.  My advice to the “foreign” brands of Buenos Aires is to step it up a bit:  Ralph Lauren and North Face deserve a better fight.

*Perhaps the most interesting comment in the article was the author’s allusion to the fact that English has become so common in Japanese branding that brands like FrancFranc (a Japanese furniture store) have resorted to using French and German on their labels to maintain the “foreign” illusion.

[Photo: from a painting by Julian Bedel ]

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.

BP re-branded itself in 2000 from “British Petroleum” to “Beyond Petroleum,” and started using a new logo resembling a sunflower (with obvious green connotations) as part of a broader campaign to give the company a more environmentally-friendly image. BP’s rebranding was done by Landor, a UK branding company, after the company’s merge with Amoco in 1998.  The concept behind the rebranding was to help BP “break away from the petroleum sector.”* The campaign was successful and BP’s sales increased substantially. The brand recognition of BP in the US rose, and surveys showed consumers regarded it as the most environmentally-friendly oil company. However, the oil spill has shown the reality behind the marketing – the effort put into the “Beyond Petroleum” campaign had not actually been matched by a real commitment to the environment, or a change in the way BP operated. BP’s environmentally-friendly image was a “greenwash”: an attempt to make a company appear environmentally friendly using branding and PR, without any policy changes to back these claims up. People choosing a product because of its environmental claims often feel they are making an ethical decision, so if they find the claims are greenwash they can feel personally betrayed — something BP is now learning the hard way. For more information about greenwashing and how some companies have managed to create environmentally-friendly brands, see our article “Going Green” in the Papers & Articles section of the FORMA Cultural Branding website.

* For more information about Landor’s branding work for BP, check out their case study.  Identityworks also covered the brand transition in a report featured on their site.  In the report, Identityworks quotes BP’s CEO Sir John Browne regarding the company’s “new look”: “For us the fundamental values of the company are about innovation and creativity … about being environmentally creative and green … about being progressive – looking always for improvement and positive change … and about a constant drive for performance. Replacing the Shield [previous logo] was not an easy decision. We see the opportunity to represent the company in a compelling, modern way as part of good business in a fast-changing world.”  Identityworks’ writers added that the new look was “a brilliant platform for promises of lower emissions, solar power, and the tagline ‘Beyond Petroleum.’” Obviously, these new promises were only to last so long in the eyes of BP’s customers.

** Image taken from a painting by Argentine artist Julian Bedel.  The work was inspired by natural oil in Patagonia.

[Photo: courtesy of Julian Bedel]

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!

[Photo: from a painting by Julian Bedel]

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.