www.brandUNITY.com | Spring 2006 | Vol I, Issue II

BRAND STRATEGIES:
Increasing returns on your marketing programs

BRAND: Core Values Lead for a Century

It's well-known that strong brands reduce price sensitivity and increase customer response. In its simplest form, brand makes life easier for buyers – it helps people identify solutions and make decisions; brand is assurance that what you see is what you get.

But, consider also the stabilizing force that brand can provide over the lifetime of a business. For example, IBM’s origins can be traced back to about 1896 when Herman Hollerith, an immigrant working for the U.S. Census Bureau, realized the importance of a new technology involving punch holes in punch cards.

Hollerith founded The Tablulating Machine Company, applying the punch hole technology to data collection. His small business later merged with several others to become C-T-R or Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company.

Over 100 years ago, C-T-R's leadership created and branded the IBM company culture as it exists to this day: well-groomed, blue-suited sales people, generous sales incentives, and loyal company pride instilled in every worker. C-T-R changed its name in 1924 to IBM, or International Business Machines, to reflect the international presence it had achieved; the company expanded exponentially straight through the Depression while other businesses were failing.

Since 1896, IBM’s core brand has been innovative tabulating systems. To add new products and expand markets, IBM remained dedicated to the brand, creating the Mark I computer during World War II, the first vacuum tube computers in 1952, the first transistor computers in 1959, and the programming language, FORTRAN, in 1957.

The fractious, volatile computer hardware market of the late 1980s forced IBM to retool itself. Once again it turned to the accumulated strength of its core brand to emerge as an expert service consultancy, advising companies on how to select and manage complex, customized networks of computers, databases, and peripherals. Today, the internal IBM tagline is

“ThinkPlace: Innovation from within. Where inventive ideas mature into innovative solutions that can be rapidly developed and deployed.”

When businesses stay consistently focused on their core brand message and values, year after year, the rewards are a rich blend of stability, longevity, and efficient marketing investments. It pays to build your branding thoughtfully.

brandUNITY's Celebrates Our Clients:
Branding systems, print & web campaigns, and marketing programs to improve our Clients' marketing ROI.

Bainbridge in Bloom website
JUST LAUNCHED! Re-designed Bainbridge in Bloom website continues to win national design excellence awards year after year. Home page interactivity features scripted animations that put butterflies aflutter! Mouseover the butterflies when they come to rest. www.gardentour.info.

Vanlumen Architectural Lighting
recently completed architectural lighting projects designed by Cutler-Anderson Architects, installed in the award-winning Grace Episcopal Church. Visit the Vanlumen website to see this spiritual, contemporary installation characterized by clean lines and thoughtful space. www.vanlumen.com

Coming Up: New branding program for the Chamber of Commerce; direct mail postcards for Otto Greule Photography; eNews monthly program for Conflict Management Strategies; site updates for Geariety.com; Bainbridge Youth Services ...

WSA Article
brandUNITY's article on "Where's the Money: Digital Media" in WSA Newsbytes: MORE>>

Seattle Times Article
Bebeka Shrestha's Business & Technology article on the WAMU name change in the Seattle Times quotes brandUNITY principal, Ann Jensen Warman
MORE>>

coming up IN THE NEXT ISSUES of brandUNITY's
BRAND STRATEGIES:
Increasing returns on your marketing programs

 

The Power of Brand: the stories you tell about your past shapes your future. Connecting people to your business's heritage increases emotional connection.

We warmly welcome you to our eNewsletter, Brand Strategies: Increasing returns on your marketing programs. Here we will explore the knowledge base of corporate branding, revealing strategies for building your own marketing campaigns more efficiently.

Questions or Comments? Please contact us at brandUNITY: enews@brandUNITY.com

brandUNITY
powerful branding. powerful returns.

Contact us to discuss your next branding, print & web design, or marketing project.
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