Congratulations, you’ve had a genius business idea! This is the first in a series of branding tips from the experts here at Grain that you need to consider whilst developing your brand. Whether your new venture is service related, a new product or range of products, you must identify who, why and where your customers are. … Read more

The Rio Olympics Creates a Rash of Sponsorship Campaigns Global brands pay big money to sponsor the Olympic games. They will all have their own specific objectives for this activity which will include metrics such as engendering employee pride, building brand awareness and positive brand engagement, increasing customer loyalty and, if they’ve played their cards … Read more

A New and Augmented Reality for Location Based Marketing. In its first few weeks, Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm. Tens of millions of users, impressive initial revenues and huge uplifts in share price. Marketers are keen to jump on the bandwagon and the opportunities go well beyond the traditional sponsorship business models. … Read more

Why Farming Out Branding Is A Good Idea If you go back to the 1960s and 1970s, supermarket own label brands were almost universally the equivalent of today’s value brands and the Tesco Delamare and Golden Ring brands were seen as relatively poor quality but very low cost. A reflection of the Jack Cohen “pile … Read more

Sometimes Nougat Sticks in Your Teeth! After the unimaginative Android Alpha and Android Beta, Google has historically named its Android updates after sweet products (or as Google calls them “sweet treats”). In compulsory alphabetical order we’ve had; Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop and Marshmallow. When they arrived … Read more

I was recently interviewed by Managing Intellectual Property magazine, one of the leading sources worldwide of news and analysis of all things relating to IP. The interview covered many of the specialist areas where the expertise of branding agencies are important in helping clients avoid the pitfalls they might experience if they try naming and branding … Read more

?  IBM The answer is not blowing in the wind! A recent article by Rebecca Coleman explains why brands in the digital age are forever in Beta mode. Rather than creating a rigid brand manual based on a fixed brand position you use the opportunities afforded by the digital age to allow consumer interactions to help constantly … Read more

After attending the Westminster Media Forum seminar “The UK fashion industry – digital strategies, IP, international competitiveness and policy priorities,” I had the opportunity to contribute an article for the delegates and policymakers in Westminster, Whitehall and Brussels. “Brand is the number one driver (or barrier) to purchase in the fashion industry.” – Richard Danks, Head … Read more

The great bard once wrote “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” a phrase sometimes quoted by modern day detractors of the branding industry to imply that you could pick any name out of a hat for a new brand and it would not affect that brand’s fortunes. … Read more

Over the years, more and more educational institutions have attempted to enter the Asian market. Some are hugely successful. Some lost millions. What are the X-factors leading to success? “It’s all about good branding!” says Asian region project manager for BMI education company, Kew Pham. Leading a successful fair for more than 30 education companies … Read more

In a perfect world most companies would never need to rebrand because they got it so comprehensively right first time. The logo, colours and typefaces would start out fresh and exciting – the epitome of the new brand’s values – and by the end of the brand’s life they would be classic icons where the … Read more

Happy February 29th – you don’t get to say that very often! And oooh it’s chilly outside. The great news is that spring is on its way and we have quite a few exciting updates from Grain HQ. This season includes news from Milan, two new gorgeous fashion brands, a redesigned website for Newland College, branding for a … Read more

In a perfect world, brand identity and brand culture would be close to identical. But we live in a world that is far from perfect! Where we live, banks sell PPI to people who can’t claim, insurance companies charge existing customers more than new ones, supermarkets trick their customers with BOGOF deals rather than everyday … Read more

At a conference in Paris this week, Coca Cola’s CMO, Marcos de Quinto, explained why the company was changing its global strategy to market all its products under “One Brand” and how that will help Coca-Cola boost sales amid growing health concerns across the world about sweet drinks. His rationale is that the previous sub-brand … Read more

Actor Helen Anderson-Lee, Christoph, Madelyn and Hannah To keep all of us all focused, happy and creative at work, our directors Christoph and Madelyn regularly organise fun and inspirational activities like going to TEDx or the Alexander McQueen exhibition. The most recent team event, a bespoke Presentation Skills Workshop organised by Partners With You, took on more of a … Read more