Those of us who work at Landor know that our founder and namesake, Walter Landor, loved a strong cocktail and a good party. So during the week of his birthday (July 9), we at Landor, in all our offices around the world, take a day to celebrate together.
Born on 9 July 1913, Walter would have been 97 years old today, and the firm that he founded in 1941 with his wife Josephine is now in its 69th year of existence. A pioneer in the field of branding and design, he is also famous for throwing celebrity-attended parties on one of the most unusual and memorable offices around: the Klamath ferryboat.
We recently unearthed and digitized a promotional film, The Decanter. Filmed in the late 1960s, it shows the start-to-finish process of several of Landor's designs for Old Fitzgerald whiskey. Narrated by Walter himself, the film depicts creative teams illustrating and critiquing designs, industrial designers fabricating models, and research teams conducting focus groups and testing in Landor's supermarket laboratory. And the whole thing takes place on the famed Klamath ferryboat, docked at San Francisco's Pier 5, which housed Landor's offices for some twenty years from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. It's a great snapshot of the origins of our firm and the elegance and stature of our founder...Landor.com
Showing posts with label Landor.com: Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Landor.com: Blog. Show all posts
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Landor.com: Blog: The People's Republic of Brand
Warning: This post is a shameless plug for a Landor Salon Series online event that is happening today. The content is designed to get you interested in this event and sign up for it. There. I've made my intentions known. Read on, if you dare.
If you were going to put together a list of things to read or watch to generate interest in a panel discussion event on social media, what would you include? Here's some of the things I found while I was putting together a list for a pre-event pizza lunch and learn: please read @Landor.com: Blog
If you were going to put together a list of things to read or watch to generate interest in a panel discussion event on social media, what would you include? Here's some of the things I found while I was putting together a list for a pre-event pizza lunch and learn: please read @Landor.com: Blog
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Landor.com: Blog: Weighing in on brand value and the BrandZ Top 100 for 2010
Which of the world’s great brands grew the most in value over the past five years? No one should be too surprised to learn that this honor was earned by BlackBerry, according to Millward Brown Optimor’s ranking in the BrandZ Top 100 most valuable global brands 2010. In this, the fifth year running that Millward Brown has produced its global survey ranking the world’s leading brands according to their financial value, it is particularly interesting to note some of the macro trends that its researchers and statisticians have observed. To learn about it first hand, visit BrandZ's website for the full report, and/or read the story in the April 28 edition of the Financial Times.
For starters, Millward Brown contends that consideration of brand in the purchase decision has increased by 20 percentage points since 2005—despite global economic turmoil and the perceived “flight to price” that many marketing experts have been preaching over the past two years. Indeed, brand values increased overall from 2008 to 2009, according to the study, during arguably the darkest days of the recession. Much of this growth in value, of course, is attributable to strong showings by emerging brands from the BRIC and their neighboring countries, demonstrating the symbiotic effect of growth economies and the ascendant brands that serve them. Indeed, when the BrandZ Top 100 was introduced in 2006, there was just one BRIC brand on the list; today there are 13 brands from emerging markets, including the addition of the first Indian brand (ICICI Bank).
Of course, this is just one global brand ranking list among several so it begs the question: what does the BrandZ survey have that the others (most notably BusinessWeek’s) do not? The Millward people cite a list of distinctions in their report, naturally, but (to me) the most important difference is that the BrandZ study uses broad-based consumer data, accumulated in large quantities (they claim over 1.5 million people queried since the inception of BrandZ 12 years ago) and tracked consistently over time. With the exception of Landor’s own Breakaway Brands survey, BrandZ's Top 100 list is the only financial brand valuation survey that uses quantitative consumer perceptions as part of its model. In other words, no mysterious “black box” analyses based on judgment calls and assumptions—just the facts, ma’am.
Needless to add, it’s always nice to see how our Landor client brands fare in all the rankings, but especially this one. And a good number of them have performed exceptionally well, starting with the aforementioned BlackBerry. But others can be equally proud: Verizon is No. 7 on the list of Top 20 risers and No. 3 among the world’s mobile operators (behind China Mobile and Vodaphone, a partner firm). BP leads the oil and gas company brands, and Bradesco is the third most valuable overall brand in Latin America, and the most valuable among all LatAm banks.
There’s much more to the study than what I've discussed here, including key sector analysis by WPP experts, and valuation rankings by geographies—but you will have to see for yourself. It's time well spent for any marketer interested in understanding today’s global brandscape and its implications for the future. Landor.com: Blog
For starters, Millward Brown contends that consideration of brand in the purchase decision has increased by 20 percentage points since 2005—despite global economic turmoil and the perceived “flight to price” that many marketing experts have been preaching over the past two years. Indeed, brand values increased overall from 2008 to 2009, according to the study, during arguably the darkest days of the recession. Much of this growth in value, of course, is attributable to strong showings by emerging brands from the BRIC and their neighboring countries, demonstrating the symbiotic effect of growth economies and the ascendant brands that serve them. Indeed, when the BrandZ Top 100 was introduced in 2006, there was just one BRIC brand on the list; today there are 13 brands from emerging markets, including the addition of the first Indian brand (ICICI Bank).
Of course, this is just one global brand ranking list among several so it begs the question: what does the BrandZ survey have that the others (most notably BusinessWeek’s) do not? The Millward people cite a list of distinctions in their report, naturally, but (to me) the most important difference is that the BrandZ study uses broad-based consumer data, accumulated in large quantities (they claim over 1.5 million people queried since the inception of BrandZ 12 years ago) and tracked consistently over time. With the exception of Landor’s own Breakaway Brands survey, BrandZ's Top 100 list is the only financial brand valuation survey that uses quantitative consumer perceptions as part of its model. In other words, no mysterious “black box” analyses based on judgment calls and assumptions—just the facts, ma’am.
Needless to add, it’s always nice to see how our Landor client brands fare in all the rankings, but especially this one. And a good number of them have performed exceptionally well, starting with the aforementioned BlackBerry. But others can be equally proud: Verizon is No. 7 on the list of Top 20 risers and No. 3 among the world’s mobile operators (behind China Mobile and Vodaphone, a partner firm). BP leads the oil and gas company brands, and Bradesco is the third most valuable overall brand in Latin America, and the most valuable among all LatAm banks.
There’s much more to the study than what I've discussed here, including key sector analysis by WPP experts, and valuation rankings by geographies—but you will have to see for yourself. It's time well spent for any marketer interested in understanding today’s global brandscape and its implications for the future. Landor.com: Blog
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Landor.com: Blog: Happy Earth Day
Today, on the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day celebration, I would like to remember where it began and also look toward the future—how will we, the people, take the lead in promoting sustainable practices and protecting our world?
When Earth Day was originally proposed by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970, I was in grade school, and our small, Midwestern town participated in the celebration. As one of the 20 million Americans who took part in the first Earth Day celebration, I don’t remember a lot besides a couple of speeches, a giant earth balloon being rolled around, and having the afternoon off from school. But I do remember seeing a t-shirt on someone with the saying “If the people lead, the leaders will follow.” At the time, to a second grader, that saying didn’t make sense.
Turns out, it does make sense—particularly when it comes to the global sustainability movement. To give them their due, the "leaders" did a fair amount of legislating when it came to the environment, particularly in those first years after the original Earth Day. The Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, Endangered Species Act, EPA—all of that legislation was passed by 1975, only five years after that first Earth Day. But for much of the next 20 years, the "leaders" did not continue their pace of environmental leadership.
Meanwhile, Earth Day continued to roll on, like that giant earth balloon, from 20 million participants in 1970 to 200 million participants in 1990. The 2007 Earth Day saw one billion people participate around the world. And increasingly, particularly in the last 10 years, those one billion people and many others were leading the leaders. That t-shirt was right. People can lead through their behavior. At first it was around recycling and energy reduction. Increasingly, these days, people are leading the leaders through their purchases. As demand for more sustainable products increases around the world and in every category, supply is increasing, too.
So today, on the 40th anniversary, hopefully we’ll have a global groundswell of folks who’ll stop for the day and take time to be nice to the earth. And then, on April 23rd, I hope they’ll go back to leading with their behavior and their wallets—showing the leaders, both business and governmental, where the earth is headed regarding sustainability. Landor.com: Blog
When Earth Day was originally proposed by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970, I was in grade school, and our small, Midwestern town participated in the celebration. As one of the 20 million Americans who took part in the first Earth Day celebration, I don’t remember a lot besides a couple of speeches, a giant earth balloon being rolled around, and having the afternoon off from school. But I do remember seeing a t-shirt on someone with the saying “If the people lead, the leaders will follow.” At the time, to a second grader, that saying didn’t make sense.
Turns out, it does make sense—particularly when it comes to the global sustainability movement. To give them their due, the "leaders" did a fair amount of legislating when it came to the environment, particularly in those first years after the original Earth Day. The Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, Endangered Species Act, EPA—all of that legislation was passed by 1975, only five years after that first Earth Day. But for much of the next 20 years, the "leaders" did not continue their pace of environmental leadership.
Meanwhile, Earth Day continued to roll on, like that giant earth balloon, from 20 million participants in 1970 to 200 million participants in 1990. The 2007 Earth Day saw one billion people participate around the world. And increasingly, particularly in the last 10 years, those one billion people and many others were leading the leaders. That t-shirt was right. People can lead through their behavior. At first it was around recycling and energy reduction. Increasingly, these days, people are leading the leaders through their purchases. As demand for more sustainable products increases around the world and in every category, supply is increasing, too.
So today, on the 40th anniversary, hopefully we’ll have a global groundswell of folks who’ll stop for the day and take time to be nice to the earth. And then, on April 23rd, I hope they’ll go back to leading with their behavior and their wallets—showing the leaders, both business and governmental, where the earth is headed regarding sustainability. Landor.com: Blog
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Landor.com: Blog: How to survive the unpredictable ride of being a professional creative
Recently, I was invited to give a brief talk to a fresh batch of design graduates at a well-known Sydney design college. I was given the topic, “how to survive your first baby steps into the industry.” After endless thought and panic, I finally came to a conclusion: perhaps I could give them some advice that could help them through the unpredictable roller coaster you experience as a creative professional—the highs and the lows. After I delivered the talk and discussed it with many of my colleagues, I realized these tips were processes we all employ on a daily basis, no doubt even beyond design in other industries, young and old.
Now it sounds like an innocuous subject, giving advice, but on early reflection, I decided the task was incredibly tricky and difficult, and it needed a lot of hard work and deep thought to solve. This was quickly followed by a deep sense of fear that I probably wasn’t the right person to give the talk that I’d somehow manage to screw it up and embarrass myself and would possibly scare many of the students out of the industry.
But what I realized was, this process is what I deal with every day—and they call it the creative process. It’s possibly the most destructive and addictive drug known to man—creativity that is. The rush of absolutely nailing a brief and thinking you’ve truly had an original thought, that everything has slotted into the right place and this will be the best thing you’ve ever done—that’s the high, that’s the rush. The terrible depths of having your ideas knocked back, or even worse "taking on feedback" or realizing your deadline is looming and you haven’t had one good idea—these are the lows. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
Acknowledging and learning to deal with this roller coaster is probably the thing I’m proudest of in my career thus far—it took me a while to come to grips with it and get a handle on it, but once I did, it made the day to day a lot easier. Following are the four simple tips I shared with the graduates on how to enjoy this ride of being a professional creative.
Give 150 percent
Anything worth doing, is worth doing right. A designer I’ve worked with and know rather well once told me “hard work trumps talent every time." You may be incredibly talented and bursting with ideas—but if you don’t work as hard as you can, and in many cases, harder, then you won’t last long in a creative agency. No one will expect you to have all the answers, but what they will respect and value is hard work. But most importantly, you need to listen. Listen harder and longer and more than you ever have in life and the people you work with will appreciate it and invest back in you. It sounds clichéd, but you only get out what you put in.
Don’t be afraid
As I described before, fear is the most paralyzing thing a creative professional can endure. It stops your creativity and your thinking. It makes you irrational, indecisive, and grumpy. Fear is energy wasted. A designer who is afraid is a designer who is uncreative. If you combine fearlessness with hard work, you’ll go far. If you give it your all and try as hard as you can—regardless of whether you’re doing a great job or not, you will win the respect of your peers and colleagues.
Don’t fear competition
This is possibly the hardest process to tackle, as it is simply human nature. Some people are naturals. They effortlessly produce beautiful designs seemingly without trying, day in and day out. They’re confident and articulate—and probably attractive, too. These people will always exist no matter where you go. Trying to compete with them and comparing yourself to them is a waste of energy. By worrying about this sort of thing you’ll quickly become disheartened, as you’ll think you’re no good. Now, you should still be competitive—but with the one opponent you can almost always beat: yourself. If you push yourself to be better day by day, brief by brief—you will be, and you’ll catch up with those naturals soon enough. A career in design is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and nobody gets the gold by leading in the first 5 km of a marathon. So embrace competition, but don’t let it paralyze you.
There is no trick
It never gets any easier. The problem with getting older in design is that you get better. Your abilities develop, but so does your judgment. If anything, I find it harder to design now than I did when I was younger. When I was a junior I had no idea that 99 percent of what I did was complete rubbish. Unfortunately, I can only see this now. As you mature as a designer you gather more and more responsibilities, the problems you’re solving become bigger and more complex and the expectations become higher. This all mixes together, and you find that as you get older and more senior, it just gets more and more difficult. But, hopefully, having made it this far, you’ve learned some coping strategies and are able to push through.
I still use these little tips every day. It’s the only way I keep myself sane and employed in an uncertain world. Even after eight years I still give it my all, I still have to remind myself to calm down, not to freak out, and not to be afraid. But that point on being competitive, I am yet to get the hang of that one. I can’t help it.
Every day is a new problem to solve. It sounds depressing, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. If there weren’t any problems to solve then there wouldn’t be a need for designers. Now that's a depressing thought.
Landor.com: Blog
Now it sounds like an innocuous subject, giving advice, but on early reflection, I decided the task was incredibly tricky and difficult, and it needed a lot of hard work and deep thought to solve. This was quickly followed by a deep sense of fear that I probably wasn’t the right person to give the talk that I’d somehow manage to screw it up and embarrass myself and would possibly scare many of the students out of the industry.
But what I realized was, this process is what I deal with every day—and they call it the creative process. It’s possibly the most destructive and addictive drug known to man—creativity that is. The rush of absolutely nailing a brief and thinking you’ve truly had an original thought, that everything has slotted into the right place and this will be the best thing you’ve ever done—that’s the high, that’s the rush. The terrible depths of having your ideas knocked back, or even worse "taking on feedback" or realizing your deadline is looming and you haven’t had one good idea—these are the lows. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
Acknowledging and learning to deal with this roller coaster is probably the thing I’m proudest of in my career thus far—it took me a while to come to grips with it and get a handle on it, but once I did, it made the day to day a lot easier. Following are the four simple tips I shared with the graduates on how to enjoy this ride of being a professional creative.
Give 150 percent
Anything worth doing, is worth doing right. A designer I’ve worked with and know rather well once told me “hard work trumps talent every time." You may be incredibly talented and bursting with ideas—but if you don’t work as hard as you can, and in many cases, harder, then you won’t last long in a creative agency. No one will expect you to have all the answers, but what they will respect and value is hard work. But most importantly, you need to listen. Listen harder and longer and more than you ever have in life and the people you work with will appreciate it and invest back in you. It sounds clichéd, but you only get out what you put in.
Don’t be afraid
As I described before, fear is the most paralyzing thing a creative professional can endure. It stops your creativity and your thinking. It makes you irrational, indecisive, and grumpy. Fear is energy wasted. A designer who is afraid is a designer who is uncreative. If you combine fearlessness with hard work, you’ll go far. If you give it your all and try as hard as you can—regardless of whether you’re doing a great job or not, you will win the respect of your peers and colleagues.
Don’t fear competition
This is possibly the hardest process to tackle, as it is simply human nature. Some people are naturals. They effortlessly produce beautiful designs seemingly without trying, day in and day out. They’re confident and articulate—and probably attractive, too. These people will always exist no matter where you go. Trying to compete with them and comparing yourself to them is a waste of energy. By worrying about this sort of thing you’ll quickly become disheartened, as you’ll think you’re no good. Now, you should still be competitive—but with the one opponent you can almost always beat: yourself. If you push yourself to be better day by day, brief by brief—you will be, and you’ll catch up with those naturals soon enough. A career in design is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and nobody gets the gold by leading in the first 5 km of a marathon. So embrace competition, but don’t let it paralyze you.
There is no trick
It never gets any easier. The problem with getting older in design is that you get better. Your abilities develop, but so does your judgment. If anything, I find it harder to design now than I did when I was younger. When I was a junior I had no idea that 99 percent of what I did was complete rubbish. Unfortunately, I can only see this now. As you mature as a designer you gather more and more responsibilities, the problems you’re solving become bigger and more complex and the expectations become higher. This all mixes together, and you find that as you get older and more senior, it just gets more and more difficult. But, hopefully, having made it this far, you’ve learned some coping strategies and are able to push through.
I still use these little tips every day. It’s the only way I keep myself sane and employed in an uncertain world. Even after eight years I still give it my all, I still have to remind myself to calm down, not to freak out, and not to be afraid. But that point on being competitive, I am yet to get the hang of that one. I can’t help it.
Every day is a new problem to solve. It sounds depressing, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. If there weren’t any problems to solve then there wouldn’t be a need for designers. Now that's a depressing thought.
Landor.com: Blog
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