Timing Your Rebrand and Marketing Planning- 4Q08

(PRODUCT) RED branded products recently reached the $50 million milestone in contributions to the Global Fund, to fight the AIDS pandemic in Africa. (RED)’s innovative economic initiative uses partnerships with American Express, Converse, Gap, Emporio Armani, Motorola, Apple and Hallmark to add charitable benefit to the products consumers already buy. Their multipronged integrated media campaign, with TV and print ads, web pages, and alliances with Myspace and AOL Instant Messenger, has established (RED) as its own brand with considerable name and color recognition, and generated substantial philanthropic proceeds, expanding the potential of cause-related marketing efforts.

News from Inside Articulation

It is important to constantly examine and re-examine your own branding efforts and update and refresh things at the right time. Currently, the entire Articulation team is working on an internal re-branding project, as we are in process of redesigning our own look, feel, and identity. Our efforts will extend our current brand and core identity, but provide a new, fresh, and clean look. This will include an update to our logo, color palette, and website interface and we are currently targeting an early 2008 re-launch.

Inside the Industry

As we are all probably deep into the 2008 planning process, it is important to revisit and update those marketing plans to ensure they are as detailed, targeted, and goal-oriented as possible. Remember that these are dynamic documents and should be updated every quarter. Archive your plans and analyze everything that has been successful to determine why and how you were able to find that success. Get input from your entire staff to keep them involved and informed and measure results and ROI as best as possible. Try some new marketing initiatives in ’08 and look for the right combination of innovation, strategy, and creativity to find the growth you seek.

Current Projects

During the fourth quarter, the Articulation design team created a series of flash banner ads for a consumer finance client. The ads were designed to carry the look and feel of the website that launched in 2006, and drive consumers back to the site for more information and to sign up for their service. The flash files were posted on their partner site and are available for download or immediate linking. The content team also researched, wrote, and launched a series of white papers for a large financial client that detailed new and innovative investment strategies. The series of research papers will be used to build credibility and widen market share around the globe.