Have brands lost their way? We can all remember the time when Harley Davidson only made bikes, Colgate just made toothpaste and Coca-cola only soft drinks. Now everything is all blurred, every brand thinks they can do anything, Harley perfume, Porsche a MPV and rarely does this work. Caterpillar has created a very successful clothing brand but usually brands fail when going into an unrelated category. This has two risks, confusion to your consumers and devalues the core brand.

Stick to what your good at, make that the best it can be before you look for diversification. You will be surprised what you can achieve if you apply real focus. Move within your core, there is plenty of room.

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Heat 4 of this year’s e-Den event was once again won by the audiences favourite, Ruth Collier-Large of www.me-mo.co.uk. But some of the highest praise of the evening was reserved for Stephanie Penrose of iSS TV, her online local TV station was branded “genius” by e-Den’s digital media guru, Spencer Gallagher. You can see my interview with Stephaine in our own video report from Bournemouth University at www.iscreensouth.com. All four candidates are now in place for the final on 18th September 2008. Get your tckets early for what’s bound to be a sell-out at www.bowshot.org/shop.

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A long term client came to the office today and remarked ‘wow, what’s changed?’ I was a bit taken back as I was not sure what he was getting at. But he said it just feels different here… the energy is visible. It’s nice to get good feedback as we all know we work better when in a positive environment. We moved into Allen House just over a year ago and did the same thing we always do – focus on getting good work done for clients. A year on and the building still looked like it did when we moved in.

Surprising what a lick of blue paint and some music can do! Now it’s got our touch… nothing over the top or flashy just some of our work around the place. And I have to say it feels good. People can now see what we have been doing for others. I have never bought into the big flash London office which so many agencies feel they need. We have always built on our reputation for great work that gets results, done without pain or fuss.

So little things can make a big impression, how are you developing your relationships? Telling the stories you want? Involving, communicating and valuing your customers? My saying of the week is ‘perception is reality’ so make sure your brand is clear, your communications are consistent and your persona matches.

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