Zihuatanejo.

Flashback to my favourite lesson in Secondary school – English. My teacher assigned us to watch The Shawshank Redemption, then write a coursework based on our interpretation of its meaning. If you haven’t seen the film, it’s about a man who was put in prison for a crime he did not commit. After being given a life sentence, he plans his escape. He hoped, he truly believed that he will escape. There is a scene in particular that strikes my heart. Andy explains to Red that hope is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies. Yet Red disagrees, and tells Andy that hope is a dangerous thing. Andy responds with, “get busy living, or get busy dying” and tells Red of his dream – Zihuatanejo. After Red is released, he goes on a treasure hunt to find hope. Finally they reconnect at the very city in Mexico.

All my life, I’ve been searching for Zihuatanejo, and having settled in Switzerland, I finally found it. It has views, it has happiness, it has it all. Zurich is my Zihuatanejo. From the lake, to smiles and positive energy floating everywhere. I left London for Switzerland, do I regret it … absolutely not. I needed a change, I needed a new challenge. I conquered London, from education to work. To conclude, never be institutionalised … adapt to change, with that being said, I am now content!

Fashion Philosophy

I asked myself a question, “What is my purpose in the marketing world?” Well, my hobby turned side projects answered that, with each one having a melody of its own. 4umum.com reflects my love for my dear mother, with slogans like giving back, optimis+ and “Hope is food for the Soul.” Whereas UnityStates.com has a mountain of a slogan, “Black or White – We’re ALL the Same” which resonates with the brave. Finally my masterpiece 7ofPARIS.com with its flamboyant slogans like, “Grandiose” or the quote, “Long Live the Crayon Kids,” to the punchline, “it’s easy to criticise, but can you create?” speaks volumes.

From all of my projects, I noticed a pattern in my brain. The secret ingredient behind my ideas is philosophy or fashion philosophy to be specific. I was always big on quotes, and during my university years I would flood my twitter line with food for thought, all of which helped me understand life. I then combined design with philosophy to create the brands above. It sounds simple right, but believe me I had many sleepless nights working on my craft – from quotes, to design, and execution through online sales.

Steve Jobs once said, “you cannot connect the dots forward, you can only do so backwards” and so I saved all my Confucious like quotes and combined them with simplistic design to create my brands. The quest to success lies in looking backwards and connecting the dots to draw the perfect picture. I absorbed so much art: from music, film, documentaries, the list goes on, but they all were part of the bigger puzzle. As I write this, I am fully content. With views from around the world, to online sales success of my brands. I have seasoned each brand with my creativity and kept it on the right track – towards their destination.

Branding takes years, and sometimes tears.

BRANDING – Part 7 – Science

Success is a science, and I am a Marketing Scientist, a Brand Scientist to be specific. It was during my GCSE exams that I first excelled in Science, my teacher at the time put a £5 bet on me by saying it would take a miracle to achieve anything above two C’s. Since I stepped foot in this city (London) I aimed to prove everyone wrong, with my friends I would do so on the football pitch, eventually reaching a fraction of semi-pro status. But this time, I had to prove my science teacher wrong. The exam results came out on a beautiful August day, and voila – I got my two B’s for science. Mrs Cook did keep her word, and gave me my deserved £5.

You see, Marketing is a science, once you figure out the analytics, connect the dots, be on top of your SEO, pinpoint your ads to your niche customers, then you will have success. Branding in particular is the deepest of the Marketing sciences, it’s guilty for brand growth, brand image and brand ethos – done in accordance to Marketing psychology. Branding is an ocean of knowledge that can create waves of success, if done correctly of course. Branding is the secret ingredient of Marketing, yes it’s only a portion of the topic but the recipe to success doesn’t exist without a great Brand ethos.

That’s why you should condition your mind with colours, logos, content, creativity, typography, art… the list goes on. I believe the modern day artists are Graphic Designers, for they just get Branding. I cannot draw but I’ve had many visions where I worked alongside designers to create successful logos. Branding consultants are visionaries, for they marinate ideas that can flourish in the near future. The melody behind marketing is branding, and the core of branding is emotional branding. To create brands that capture peoples’ emotions are the greatest of brands, hence when I created 4umum.com in 2012 I didn’t know how great it was. After years of solo social media promotion, we have just passed 48,000 views and nearing the big 50k. Not only did I create gifts for mother’s but I went deeper into the meaning and promised the profits to my dear mother, that’s why it’s called 4umum after all.

So I urge you all to sharpen your minds with branding and indulge in books, that’s how I did it. Books such as, “Who Moved my Cheese,” or “Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking,” to “Brand Positioning by Al Ries,” they all played their part in the enlightening process. Knowledge is a magnet to success, but there comes a time when you need to practice this new found knowledge. For example, when I first started consulting for restaurants and designing their menus plus websites, I would watch the epic Chef’s table on Netflix. I would be inspired by the dishes each chef would create, for they are the Leonardo Da Vinci’s of today, and every buzzword that sounded interesting, I noted down in my one page keyword. From flavour, to aromatic, irresistible, potent, pollinate, seed, cream to coated and poached, I wrote them all. And when I got my first restaurant as a client, I put those words into exceptional use by creating sentences such as, “the key ingredient to our success is delighting your taste-buds,” to the rather cool, “we answer your cravings,” sentence.

To conclude, Branding is also an art – a marketing art. Try to be creative in whatever you do, do not lose your artistic side. As my favourite author Paulo Coelho said, “there is a difference between being childish & childlike.” Childish is a spoilt brat whereas childlike is that creative, artistic, full of joy being. So please do not lose that creativity in you…

Long Live the Crayon Kids!

BRANDING – PART 6 – Copywriting

Words move mountains, and if you want your brand to succeed, you must condition the brand story with creative writing – otherwise known as copywriting. Writing good copy can be a challenge, but it’s instrumental you gather keywords and depending on the business or brand, you then link the buzzwords creatively. For example, let’s take the photobooth company I did content for; I wrote creative sentences like, “we zoom into your happiness,” or “we add colour to your occasion.” You see, the fun will never stop if you link words in a creative way. Another cool example I wrote copy for was a restaurant where the sentence, “we answer your cravings,” totally took their brand value to new heights.

I’ll tell you a secret, I’m a big fan of Gordon Ramsey and watched his Kitchen Nightmares show from the very first season. From the show, I would pick out food/cooking words – in a way I was stealing words from the main man Gordon himself, but when I had a restaurant as a client, I was able to write great copy! Hey, they say – great artists steal, but I doubt Gordon will be mad. By simply watching the show, I was inspired to write sentences like, “the key ingredient is delighting your taste-buds.” Another restaurant I designed a menu for happened to be in a resort located next a small waterfall, and I was able to use the location to my advantage by writing the following, “Qafa Resort has a melody of its own, enjoy your exquisite meal to the sound of mother nature.”

It’s easy brand enthusiasts, just think outside the box and great copy will flourish from your mind. On that note, this is where the blog ends.

Oh, and one last thing …

Thank you for your eyes 🙂

BRANDING – Part 5 – Swiss Made

Watches, they amaze me … and so does Switzerland. As a teen, I would visit my auntie with my brother every other year. Being a Londoner, I found the country strange. So many rules, from recycling to not being able to make noise after off-peak evening hours, or else face eviction from fellow Swiss neighbours. But all these rules is what makes the country boast an economy amongst the best in the World.

As a young university graduate, I wanted to know the secret to the “Swiss Made” formula. When you think of products from Switzerland, you think of luxury, advanced, tailored with precision – bold products with a high emphasis on quality, or QUALI+Y as I like to call it.

Let’s take watches as an example – there is three ingredients to a luxury Swiss watch: Design, Quality, and Typography. Design of course is critical, once your design is noticed by the masses and becomes in sync with the latest fashion trends, you’re onto a winner. Quality is obvious, but I bet typography raised your eyebrows. Yes, typography is the icing on the cake. If you look at all the biggest and most expensive brands, they all have unique typography, and they always mix it with another different font underneath. In graphic design this is called font pairing, or, fonts that marry with each other.

There you go people – the secret to a luxury brand is Design + Quality + Typography … thank me later!

BRANDING – PART 4

Firstly, branding does not change your brand, but your strategy. Secondly, we cannot stress how important the story is, as every story has its own unique roots. The best of brands create relationships with consumers, hence why the fuel of branding is emotions. Which brings us to the third necessity, Emotional Branding! EB is the cherry on top of the list we offer here at Moorketing because when a brand reflects love, only then can it escape competition. A brand must be fluent in loyalty, but this only happens when a brand is loved.

You may be thinking how? Well we cannot give away all the secrets, but, persistence is instrumental to a vision. Another key aspect is finding out what people think of your brand, find a way to dig into their gut feelings about your brand. Because for a brand to flourish, it must indulge and act upon customer feedback. Once you create this relationship with your customers, your brand in essence becomes part of their memory. That’s why a brand that is nostalgic, will always thrive.

Branding takes ideas, years, and in some cases, tears – but the good news is, we’ve been through all that hence why we’re referred to as Brand Scientists. After all, we believe that success is a science, and not only have we created brands, but revived them. I shall end with one of my favourite quotes, “it’s easy to criticise, but can you create?”

HERO

My ethos on living life is as follows: Live life like your painting the most beautiful picture with every person that has helped you along the way, each one being a different colour – paint happiness!

If you can live life like a painting, then boy are you in for a surprise. Suddenly you enjoy everything around you, you radiate positive energy and trust me, it comes back to you – sometimes in ten folds. Learn to love, not just the one in your life but, love family, friends, music, food, dance, art … love everything.

I applaud happiness, I applaud a smile, I applaud generosity, I applaud my health, I applaud everything. Remember when you’re feeling down, think of those that don’t have food and water. Gratitude heals unhappiness, and the pilgrimage to true happiness begins with gratitude.

You see, you’re the hero of your story, so make it amazing! Polish life with positivity, condition life with hope, and create ripples of happiness. A pious man once said, smile – it’s charity … so the next random person you see, just smile.

BRANDING – Part 3

To stand out, one must differentiate. You might have a great product but not a perfect one. The cherry on top is down to 5 key things, and the department store Harrods has this on lock. In the marketing context, these 5 key things are known as the 5 senses.

I have worked for Harrods three times during my studies, and each time was a blessing. But the last time I worked at Harrods, I was also doing my masters and paying my tuition fees at the same time. Till this day, I have never achieved what I achieved then, it was so stressful yet super rewarding when I graduated. God is great!

During my studies I decided to base my Dissertation thesis on Harrods, with the question, “How does Harrods use Experiential Branding to enhance Consumer experience?” to conclude:

Harrods = BLISS:

B – British … heritage meets cutting edge

L – Luxury … is the new premium, it’s not always expensive

I – Innovation … is always at the forefront of retail trends

S – Sensational … the greatest store on earth

S – Service … to make every customer feel special

BRANDING – Part 2

The first step to branding is engraving belief. If you don’t believe the potential your brand has, then who will? You see, the destiny of a brand should be affection and that begins with you. You have to be the first person who will love your brand, as love is a brands best friend. The quest of a brand is love, whilst destiny – affection, I said it once and I’ll say it again. However, an idea is simply just an idea, but then you must garden your brand until it blossoms.

For a brand to flourish, it must indulge and act upon customer feedback. On another note, a brand that is nostalgic will always thrive. Remember, persistence is instrumental to a great vision and it’s down to you to carry your vision forward. The road to a successful brand is differentiation. To enjoy the cream, you must satisfy your customer, it’s that simple. Things will get tough, however a brand must find its silver lining. The most successful brands are fluent in loyalty, as the bounty of your brand is customer loyalty. To enhance your brand, you must protect customer loyalty, it’s the core of your brand value. The ultimate fortune for a brand is brand loyalty. Your brand should be centred with love and coated with loyalty.

A brand will only blossom when its purpose is sincere, so you cannot make things up. You must be original and genuine. A vital part of branding is emotional branding, how consumers become emotionally attached to products or services – such as apple. Your brand must have the ability of changing peoples’ lives. Story, purpose and love are the perfect ingredients to stir an affectionate brand. Note, brands have feelings too – they need love just like flowers need the sun.

To conclude, your brand should be modest in expectation and honest in strategy. Whereas employees must harvest your secrets for brand longevity. Every brand must carry a scent of creativity. Ideas ignite brands, but only critical action makes dreams come true. Words can be just words but they can also be a melody to your brand, so take the above advice however you want it, but just remember emotional branding, google it at least … it certainly changed my life.

BRANDING – Part 1

The key to branding is the story, a story that resonates and speaks volumes. A story with a melody and a rhythm that ignites the public. The story is the key to the consumers heart, and your brand must require affection, this my friend must be an obsession.

The remedy to a successful brand is its story, believe me. I said it once and I’ll say it again … it’s a marketing crime if your brand doesn’t have a story. Once the consumer understands your story, they will understand your purpose.

If you truly want to manifest a successful brand, if you want to form a connection with your customer then explain your vision, your ‘aha’ moment, the moment that triggered the action to create what you have created.

And please dream, everyday day think about what your next step to be, but don’t think and talk too much, rather act – have a just do it approach! Good luck everyone, oh … if you need Brand Consultancy then do see our price list, to be honest we’re kinda good at what we do, so give us a Moo!

PERSISTENCE

There is a recipe to success and it’s called persistence. However you must take calculated risks, don’t risk everything because you will actually loose everything. Everybody craves success, money or fame, but what they don’t understand is the struggle. The struggle is an ingredient to success, as success is not a straight road, there are many bumps, many holes and hurdles you must overcome.

One must first plant a seed with an idea, then harvest and water that idea until suddenly it slowly blossoms. And when it grows, it grows into a delicious product, whereby your customers can indulge, allowing you to relax and applaud your success. But to get to this stage, persistence must be your appetite. Plants wont grow unless you water them.

Persistence is truly the fuel to success, so don’t give up! You must be the action to pollinate dreams, bee, see what I did there. To conclude, dreams are just dreams without action.

WORK

They say good things come to those who wait, I say “Good things come to those who Work.” Yes, we should hope and dream, but we must not sit and wait. If you have a dream, an ambition, a business plan – that’s just step 1 my friend. You see, everything creative starts with an idea, then come all the critical steps in achieving them.

Success is not a straight line, along the way there will be sacrifices. There will be many hurdles you must jump, but the finish line can only be reached if you carry on running – so don’t give up. Even if you have to work a boring 9 to 5, by all means do so. It would be great to have a mentor, but if you cannot find one, read books – autobiographies specifically.

Carry on the good fight by continuously reminding yourself of where you want to be, be positive, and paint happiness. Paint happiness is a term I’ve coined, it simply means creating a picture in your everyday life, with each person you encounter daily being a unique colour. By using people as positive colours, you create this aura of optimism and thus your day will blossom.

To conclude, I leave you with a short story from a man who managed the Spice Girls, David Beckham, Lewis Hamilton, Andy Murray and many more. I was working in Harrods and this man casually dressed walked up to me and asked where the Paul Smith section was? I replied and said, “are you Simon Fuller” amazed he said, “how did you know.” I told him that I had seen only one picture on the internet and had read his autobiography. Anyway he purchased the shoes, and eager to get advice, I asked – What’s the key to success. He said, “don’t talk about, don’t even think about it – just do it!”