“Cities were mostly designed by people who didn’t use them.”

The nature of our business puts us in touch with some fascinating individuals. The quote I led with is from a chat I was having with Catherine Barratt, Managing Director of Furnitubes, a company based in England that produces urban outdoor furniture. Working with Furnitubes, and speaking with Catherine in particular, confirms that we don’t need to be engaged in the same business activity to share a set of values.

One of our shared obsessions is to do all we can in a way that has lasting impact because this makes the most sustainable use of resources. It preserves time, materials, and financial resources.

Another shared value is that all we do should benefit as wide an audience as possible. And in the case of Furnitubes, this is taken to mean absolutely everyone.

Consider the supply chain of outdoor urban furniture. The bench you sit on when you’re in a public space like a city square has been manufactured by a company like Furnitubes, directly paid for by the city council, chosen by an urban planner or designer, and finally you get to take a moment’s pause by sitting on it. It is you, this last person in the chain, who has indirectly paid for it all because it’s ultimately our taxes that build cities.

Despite this, for the longest time, cities have been designed by people who were designing for themselves. They didn’t consider other demographics, nor did they take the wellbeing of a large group of people into account. Cities were largely designed for the efficiency of trade and this meant that transportation was central to this design. We built cities around cars and us humans had to make the adjustments necessary to give traffic the highest priority.

In the past, we designed with humans in mind. Barcelona, for instance, was designed to take into account that a high population density will need more open spaces if they are to feel like they can breathe in the city. Cities like Rome and Athens were designed to leave a legacy of beauty behind.

The discourse surrounding the transformation of urban spaces is both timely and essential, as the delineation between indoor refuge and our time spent outdoors becomes ever more pronounced. As we spend more time indoors, the time we spend out of our homes becomes even more precious. And this serves as an imperative for our urban environments to provide us with a healthy dose of wellbeing.

Catherine is fully immersed in this sentiment. When speaking about the way they regard their role in society, she states that, “if you make an area welcoming and functional, it has ripple effects across the whole community. People look after spaces they value, crime goes down, and health indicators improve. We strive to build long-lasting products that benefit the public,” she says. “Our decisions are made with a better future in mind.”

How can the manufacturing industry participate in this movement?

Catherine believes the private sector has an important role to play. “The private sector has a moral imperative to lead this charge,” she contends.  “Businesses must demonstrate the potential and the value of sustainable, human-centric urban design. Every park bench, every planter, every element we introduce into the urban fabric should be a testament to our belief in a more beautiful, more connected future.” And this is the way she leads Furnitubes, to set an example through sustainable practices and innovative design that puts people first.

Peering into the future, Catherine adopts an optimistic stance regarding the trajectory of urban planning. 

She sees cities that embrace human-centric design, nurturing environments that are not only livable but also enriching and inclusive. This forward-looking perspective shows that well-conceived urban spaces can act as catalysts for community, creativity, and well-being

And this reflects a broader commitment to building cities that not only function efficiently but also resonate on a deeper, more personal level: “We have a responsibility to leave a legacy of functional beauty. Beautiful outdoor spaces add value to the lived experience of all those who make use of them. This is what great cities do.”

These are great platforms for us to build a better future on. Innovative design and manufacture around the world gives us a glimpse at what’s possible when manufacturing leads, rather than follows. A new generation of savvy customers are demanding better. The time for inspiring, responsible, and lasting manufacture is here. If we keep this vision in mind, we stand a chance at building the world that we and future generations deserve.

The post Manufacturing a better future appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

If you couldn’t join the live session and would like to access the recording, click below.

Your company is brilliant. Your products are solid. So why is it so hard to articulate your value in a way that truly connects?

Join Ed, our Head of Brand Strategy, for a one-hour webinar designed for CEOs, founders, and business leaders.

We cover:

• The four common “crises” (comms, recruitment, culture, sales) that are really symptoms of a single identity crisis.
• The difference between having a logo and having a brand that builds real equity.
• A step-by-step brand framework to define your Ambition, Purpose, Values, and Personality.
• How to turn this internal clarity into impeccable differentiation in the market.

This session is for leaders who are tired of being misunderstood and are ready to build a brand that is authentic, powerful, and profitable.

The post The Power of Clarity [Webinar] appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Barcelona is a textbook example of genius planning – but that doesn’t prepare you for the overwhelming sensation of being in the thick of it. I could describe the thinking behind the Barcelona superblock, the hierarchy of its street widths, the perfect interplay of the rigidly planned grids of Eixample with the more organic medieval maze of the Gothic Quarter, and the visible presence of stalwarts like Gaudì, Miró, and even van der Rohe. It would enthuse anyone with an interest in shaping the future of our cities but it would not capture the essence of the city.

Spending 24 hours in the city, on the other hand, can imbue a visitor with the intangible attributes of the city. The sights, the sounds, and the scents. The way the city nudges your journey through it as you attempt to traverse its incredibly different neighbourhoods. The planned chaos of the Ramblas during the day and the quiet introspection possible at sunrise on your way back to your hotel after the city has swallowed you up for the night.

You will go back home and realise there is more to be said than any amount of research in advance can possibly provide. This deep-seated culture, the way that centuries of planners and architects and designers have contributed their fingerprint to the way a city feels, is all part of the organic, yet completely coherent, construction of a city brand that benefits from the accumulated experiences of generations.

But what makes a city more than the collection of buildings and streets that are evidence of its physical construction? What gives it a distinct identity? As with any brand, it is a complex and multifaceted combination of the history, the cultural values, the traditions, and the aspirations of all the people who have lived in the city and who call it home today. It is the collective sense of ownership and shared identity that is felt by all of its inhabitants. And since it is so democratic, it isn’t the kind of sentiment that can be forced from the top down. It takes time, gentle nudges, deliberate interventions, and the will of the many to make changes to the brand of a city.

Is all the world one city?

I am speaking of the city brand because it is the easiest way to exemplify the notion. A country brand is just as important but, in the case of most countries, this tends to be fragmented and influenced by the differences between city identities. Milan and Rome, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Tokyo and Osaka… we can mention city pairs that show us how different a city brand can be from that of another city in the same country and how each is clearly distinct from the national brand.

Malta is a small country. Small enough, sometimes, to think of it as a compact city. But the realities of the country show us that trying to force a single communal brand to the entire archipelago would be to ignore the unbelievable diversity of attitudes and values that the tiny islands somehow present.

City brand by design

So far, the notion of a city brand may sound like much of it is left to chance. But it is the people responsible for designing the constructed environment that have the most impact on a city’s brand. Without deliberate intent, a city’s identity meanders through time, taking on the guise given to it by the next generation of planners and designers to make their mark.

There is a better way. As with a commercial concern, being deliberate about a city’s identity can provide a more fundamental and longer-lasting impact. It can shape the entire future of a city, committing great ideas to history. The design choices we make today, the ones that are so brilliant that they will stand the test of time, are the marks that our generation is responsible for committing to posterity.

We think of aesthetics when we think of deliberate design, but that’s just a logo. The real work contributes to the deep-seated narrative of the city and it is based on a thoroughly thought-out set of values, a deliberate contribution to the sense of place, and a democratic sense of what will create a better experience for those who live and work in the city.

Who’s cooking?

When we hear the words ‘city’ and ‘brand’ in the same sentence, we think of tourist boards. It is almost like they have been given the role of branding a city because no one else wanted to do it. It is also the most absurd place for this responsibility to reside. One must design and construct a city or country in a way that reflects its identity. Only then can we hope to attract visitors.

As self-evident as this is, we might need the numbers to back it up. The most visited country on earth is France, with 100 million people picking it as their holiday spot every year. France, the country that makes little effort to ask you to visit, has such a strong sense of national identity that we just flock there.

This places the responsibility of a strong and believable city brand firmly in the capable hands of designers, architects, and city planners. The tourist board will then package and communicate the result.

Purpose-driven design

Designing for a city requires intentionality that goes beyond the specific reach of the project one entity happens to be working on. It requires us to ask a set of questions that uncover the foundations of the city and lay them bare for us to respect and design for. It requires practitioners to think of the purpose of the space they’re working on and how it dovetails with the core values of the city. It broadens the question of who one is designing for, allowing the audience definition to extend beyond those commissioning a project. And perhaps even more crucially, it asks deeper questions about legacy.

When we consider the legacy of a city we think of functional buildings like residences or workplaces. But we must also think of third spaces – those realms that belong to everyone in the city and that are the in-between spots. City squares, parks, walkways, and even a tiny bench under a solitary tree. These are the spaces where connections are made. They are the spaces where we flourish as a species that is gregarious and that depends on human connection. The spots that turn a city into a living and breathing whole rather than a collection of unconnected individuals.

Design for good

There are more elements that go into purposely defining the identity of a city. As we evolve our notion of what constitutes a great city, we shift our performance indicators from those that were purely fiscal to ones that address the wellbeing of its inhabitants. We look at green infrastructure that incorporates flora and fauna other than humans, improving our sense of wellbeing as well as the air quality of our cities. We consider accessible and universal design that create connections for all, regardless of age or ability. We also think of a human as one that needs a healthy body for a healthy mind and create spaces and opportunities for activity such as walking, running, and cycling.

Mixed-use developments create more vibrant neighbourhoods by combining residential, commercial, and recreational spaces, and as we build denser cities these can just as easily be vertical. And the responsible preservation of existing structures serves to cement the history of the city while being sensible with the use of resources.

We’ve all got a part to play

Every aspect of city planning ought to be deliberate and every player can have a direct positive impact towards the construction of a city we can be proud of. We see it reflected, for example, in the work of companies like Furnitubes, a British supplier of urban outdoor furniture that prioritizes social connection and environmental responsibility in its design and manufacturing processes. They happen to be clients and our work within their organisation has given our agency first hand experience of how a thoughtful approach to the design of outdoor spaces can be a powerful tool for social good.

The city of the future

Ultimately, shaping a city’s brand is about more than aesthetics or economic development. A city, at its heart, is a collection of human stories. It’s the laughter in a playground, the quiet contemplation on a bench by the sea, the chaotic functionality of a flea-market, the shared experience of a community. 

Shaping a city’s brand is about crafting a legacy. It’s about creating a place where people feel connected, where communities thrive, and where the future is built on a foundation of shared purpose and thoughtful design. The choices we make today, from the grandest architectural gestures to the smallest details of street furniture, will resonate for generations to come. This presents an incredible opportunity: to design and build functional spaces that are also meaningful places which foster connection, resilience, and a legacy we can all be proud of.

The post Beyond aesthetics: Building a city brand for connection, resilience, and legacy appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

We’ve all either said or heard someone say that at work, and it usually stems from a fundamental misalignment or miscommunication between stakeholders about what should be considered a priority or about the way things should be done at a basic level. If you’ve had an experience such as this with a business partner, it’s usually an omen of things to come.

Tension is a natural part of growing a business. Without a little bit of the right kind of pain, businesses remain static. But that pain should be related to building skillsets, pushing boundaries, and improving internal processes. It’s the muscle soreness you feel after a challenging run or session at the gym.

Unfortunately, the kind of tension we’re often subjected to at work stems from a less productive place. It’s usually around incompatibility with those we’re working with – either internally or externally. If it’s an internal issue, then that’s governed by the company culture you’ve built over time and the way HR conflicts are resolved. The external side of things is where things get murky. 

Do you sacrifice a profitable relationship with a client or supplier simply because they stress your team out?

I’d argue that you should. That is, if you value growing your business via quality of work rather than just volume.

If your business’s financial situation relies on these existing high-stress partnerships, then removing them immediately to avoid stress is an obvious no-go. But building a plan to eventually replace these high-stress partnerships with more productive and fulfilling ones should be your next step. 

And that starts with a manifesto. One about what kind of external partners you want to work with. Not based on their industry or specialisation, but rather on what they stand for and what they value in a working relationship. One that you’re confident enough in to make public.

How do you build an effective manifesto? 

If you haven’t already, articulate your core beliefs around how you think business should be done. This set of principles will serve as the foundation of your manifesto. They should cover your collective attitude towards the way you feel businesses should treat each other. 

For example, at Switch, we believe that business can, and should be a force for good – that focusing on purpose and people inevitably leads to profit. We believe in kindness and empathy as a strategy. We think that true success is measured in the positive impact we have on our people, our clients, our planet, and our bottom line. And we’ve taken concrete actions that align with these beliefs.

As a result of that, we can easily outline the kinds of partnerships we’re looking for. We want to work with people who embody genuine kindness in and outside of work, that strive to revolutionise their industry efficiently and responsibly, that truly prioritise their team’s wellbeing, and that have taken real steps towards embodying these virtues.

We want to work with people who share our beliefs. We want better business.

Every time these beliefs have been aligned, the relationship has been fruitful for both sides – both financially and in terms of internal growth because of the fact that everyone involved is aligned in terms of attitude and priorities. Operating from the get-go on a basis of mutual respect and equal standing makes any relationship near-seamless, and even difficult situations are significantly easier to deal with and overcome. 

As a result, we’ve learned that leading with these beliefs in both our external communications and during chemistry meetings with potential partners allows us to attract the right kind of business and more easily detect whether a relationship will turn sour in the long run, and nip it in the bud.

Potential clients and partners are desperate for a value match as well. The right alignment always increases our value proposition and ends up being the major deciding factor for the partner in question when they have other options on the table that, from a technical point of view, tick more boxes. 

The bottom line

Running a business this way isn’t easy, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Companies often need to take on work that isn’t perfectly aligned with their values because payroll needs to be met. 

Slowly replacing stress-inducing partnerships with ones that complement your values can be financially daunting, but it is worth it in the long run. A happier, less stressed team is more productive, more easily retained, produces better results, and brings innovation. As long as you can back up your talk with the right walk, getting good business will lead to more good business. 

The post A Manifesto on Manifestos: Minimising Stress via Business Development appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Every few months, we take turns in hosting a “Member Spotlight,” where a member has the opportunity to showcase who they are and what their business is all about. Last month, it was my turn. But instead of the usual approach in which I present myself and my role within Switch, I felt there would be more value exploring a topic close to our hearts at the agency: leveraging brand for business growth.

What made this presentation particularly enjoyable was the absence of any pressure to present myself or Switch within a sales context. It wasn’t about pitching services or showcasing case studies. It was a candid exploration of the risks we’ve taken, the decisions we’ve made, and the steps that have shaped our journey. 

At the heart of it all is our brand: the key element to our growth.

Normally, I’d pass the microphone to Ed, our Head of Brand, who has a unique talent for articulating our business and our clients’ brands in a tangible, relatable, and authentic way. However, this time, one of the goals was for me to step out of my comfort zone – I am not one who particularly enjoys presentations –  to share our story myself, offering a personal perspective on how we’ve used our brand as a cornerstone for success.

The Human Touch in Branding

The core theme of my presentation was simple, and a recurring one: a strong brand needs to feel human. Without this human touch, there’s a disconnect—whether with clients, employees, or partners. We are inherently wired to connect with brands that exhibit human qualities, making it essential for our brand foundations to reflect these attributes.

At Switch, our success is a direct reflection of the people who make up our agency. We have a team of twenty incredibly talented, driven, and kind individuals who I proudly refer to as business partners—because “colleagues” simply doesn’t capture the essence of our collaboration. Despite our diverse backgrounds and interests, we are united by the shared values that define Switch.

When we think about our brand fundamentals, our team is at the forefront of it: our goal is to make it tangible and clear for every team member to live and breathe it, effortlessly.

Building a brand that feels human starts with cultivating a team that embodies your core values.

When we talk about values, we’re not referring to generic slogans often seen on office posters. Instead, our values are deeply ingrained principles that guide every decision we make—especially the tough ones. 

We don’t consider values like ‘trustworthy’ and ‘caring’ as core because, frankly, if you have to say you’re a good human rather than show it, something’s not quite right. These are what I’d call ‘telling’ values, that don’t demand specific actions or behaviours. In contrast, at Switch, our core values are about ‘doing.’ They are deeply embedded in how we actively achieve our goals and make decisions, guiding us even through the toughest challenges.

As an agency, we frequently encounter a few key questions:

• How do you recruit talent remotely that fits your business vision?
• How do you manage a remote team spread across continents?
• How did you transform your clients from mere numbers on an invoice into long term partners?
• How have you successfully implemented a 4-day work week?

The answer to all of these questions lies in our strong brand foundations. These foundations provide the stability needed to navigate challenges or innovating in our work practices. Without them our agency would crumble at the first sign of trouble (looking at you, COVID-19!). They enable us to take bold risks that define who we are today.

Our brand fundamentals are the attributes that define who we are as an agency. They shape our beliefs, thoughts, and actions. Typically, we share these fundamentals only with our team during onboarding and regular agency reviews, but for the Vistage presentation, I made an exception. I wanted to highlight how these core principles translate into tangible outcomes, and the confidential, supportive environment of our Vistage group was the perfect setting for this deeper exploration.

Presenting to a group of different business leaders was a refreshing experience. Their insightful questions and thoughtful challenges pushed me to reflect even more deeply on our principles. The discussions reinforced the importance of looking inward to grow—whether it’s about attracting new clients, expanding relationships, recruiting the right talent, or building lasting brand equity.

Personal Branding Exercise

To conclude the session, each Vistage member was invited to reflect on their personal positioning statement and participate in a portrait session that represented their personal brand. This exercise underscored the importance of personal branding alongside the corporate brand—reminding us all that our individual identities are integral to the broader brand narrative. This exercise was a powerful reminder that a brand’s strength lies in the authenticity and alignment of its people.

The photoshoot was a courtesy of Ed, who shot some incredible portraits of each member—keeping in mind the essence of who they are, allowing it to shine through.

The Enduring Power of a Human-Centred Brand

In summary, the journey of Switch underscores a simple yet profound truth: brands that are able to clearly articulate their fundamentals are the ones that succeed at building authentic, human connections. Whether it’s within our team or with our clients, these connections are the true drivers of growth and resilience.

This Vistage presentation was an opportunity to share our journey, offer insights, and inspire other business leaders to leverage their brand for growth. As you navigate your own journey, I encourage you to reflect on your brand fundamentals. What story does it tell about your business or leadership? How is it guiding your growth, your decisions, and the connections you build?

Enjoyed this blog post? Follow Melissa on LinkedIn for direct access to her insights and more valuable content.

The post How to Leverage Brand for Growth appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

“Cities were mostly designed by people who didn’t use them.”

Catherine Barratt, Managing Director of Furnitubes

The nature of our business puts us in touch with some fascinating individuals. The quote I led with is from a chat I was having with Catherine Barratt, Managing Director of Furnitubes, a company based in England that produces urban outdoor furniture. Working with Furnitubes, and speaking with Catherine in particular, confirms that we don’t need to be engaged in the same business activity to share a set of values.

Shared Values

One of our shared obsessions is to do all we can in a way that has lasting impact because this makes the most sustainable use of resources. It preserves time, materials, and financial resources.

Another shared value is that all we do should benefit as wide an audience as possible. And in the case of Furnitubes, this is taken to mean absolutely everyone.

Consider the supply chain of outdoor urban furniture. The bench you sit on when you’re in a public space like a city square has been manufactured by a company like Furnitubes, directly paid for by the city council, chosen by an urban planner or designer, and used by a member of the public (yourself, in this case). And it is you, this last person in the chain, who has indirectly paid for it all because it’s ultimately our taxes that build cities.

Despite this, for the longest time, cities have been designed by people who were designing for themselves. They didn’t consider other demographics, nor did they take the wellbeing of a large group of people into account. Cities were largely designed for the efficiency of trade and this meant that transportation was central to this design. We built cities around cars and us humans had to make the adjustments necessary to give traffic the highest priority.

This is not always the case. When planning Barcelona, Cerdà took into account the amount of air we need to breathe properly and recognised that high density urban areas weren’t conducive to wellbeing. Even when the horse-drawn carriage was the staple mode of transportation, Cerdà devised a grid based on wide avenues and octagonal blocks with chamfered corners to give more space and more visibility to the pedestrian, effectively founding the study of urbanisation.

Long-Term Vision

Then there are the aesthetics of a city. As a civilisation we are judged by what we leave behind – a notion we are entirely familiar with when judging our past but often seem to ignore when constructing our present. The same people who marvel at the remains of Greek and Roman cities are usually responsible for planning buildings on a spreadsheet, constructing a depressingly dystopian environment.

Roger Scruton, perhaps ambitious in his regard of beauty as a fundamental virtue, placed the responsibility on our shoulders to consider the wider-reaching impact of our actions, “We do not merely study the past: we inherit it, and inheritance brings with it not only the rights of ownership, but the duties of trusteeship.”

The discourse surrounding the transformation of urban spaces is both timely and essential, as the delineation between indoor refuge and our time spent outdoors becomes ever more pronounced. As we spend more time indoors, the time we spend out of our homes becomes even more precious. And this serves as an imperative for our urban environments to provide us with a healthy dose of wellbeing.

Urban Planning Revolution

The narrative of urban planning is undergoing a profound evolution, transitioning from designs that prioritized vehicular movement to those that advocate for human scale and environmental sustainability. We can observe this shift as the more enlightened cities are driving gradual reclamation of spaces for pedestrian use, the proliferation of green infrastructure, and the heightened emphasis on accessible, welcoming public realms. Cities such as Rotterdam and Paris exemplify this shift, with their innovative approaches to urban redesign and commitment to enhancing the quality of life for their residents.

Catherine is fully immersed in this sentiment. When speaking about the way they regard their role in society, she states that, “if you make an area welcoming and functional, it has ripple effects across the whole community. People look after spaces they value, crime goes down, and health indicators improve. We strive to build long-lasting products that benefit the public,” she says. “Our decisions are made with a better future in mind.”

So how can cities accelerate this transition? Catherine believes the private sector has an important role to play. “The private sector has a moral imperative to lead this charge,” she contends.  “Businesses must demonstrate the potential and the value of sustainable, human-centric urban design. Every park bench, every planter, every element we introduce into the urban fabric should be a testament to our belief in a more beautiful, more connected future.” And this is the way she leads Furnitubes, to set an example through sustainable practices and innovative design that puts people first.

Looking Forward

Peering into the future, Catherine adopts an optimistic stance regarding the trajectory of urban planning. She envisions cities that wholeheartedly embrace human-centric design, fostering environments that are not only livable but also enriching and inclusive. This forward-looking perspective champions the idea that well-conceived urban spaces can act as catalysts for community, creativity, and well-being, reflecting a broader commitment to building cities that not only function efficiently but also resonate on a deeper, more personal level: “We have a responsibility to leave a legacy of functional beauty. Beautiful outdoor spaces add value to the lived experience of all those who make use of them. This is what great cities do.”

There are bright spots to build on. Innovative urban projects worldwide offer glimpses of what is possible. And a new generation of planners, designers and citizens is demanding better. “The time has come for urban spaces that welcome and uplift us all,” Catherine concluded. “If we keep this vision in mind, the cities we get are the cities we deserve.”

The post Value-based Brand: Planning the Urban Spaces We Deserve appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

—

The way we decide what to buy can be boiled down to two questions:

Does it make sense? (features and price)

Does it feel right? (brand affinity)

A lot of businesses tend to treat these separately. They have a product team that designs the product, and they have a separate team that tries to sell it.

Conventionally, businesses tend to use the first question as the point of departure, letting features and price dictate the end result. The second question is left to the sales and marketing teams to figure out – usually by trying to communicate said features and price.

The result is communication that talks about product features that, especially in a commoditised market, are probably the same as their competitors. Leaving consumers feeling fairly neutral about the brand.

What if ‘feeling’ was given higher priority? What if the point of departure of product design was value-based first?

What if what the brand believes in is given more priority than what the market demands?

That’s the story of Patagonia.

Patagonia’s journey began as ‘Chouinard Equipment Ltd.’, a small company that sold climbing gear to the founder’s social circle and other climbing enthusiasts in the US.

At one point, the founder – Yvon Chouinard – realised that the metal climbing pitons they produced were actually damaging the very rock faces they were climbing, which led to the very first values-over-market decision they ever made.

They stopped selling their best selling product, and swapped to a cleaner alternative that their users weren’t familiar with. All because Chouinard felt that preserving the rock faces for future generations was more important than his company’s sales.

But when environmentally conscious climbers understood the reason for the change, they swapped to the new alternative almost immediately. 

And, as a result, began to trust that the decisions that Chouinard and his company were taking were good for the environment. Sales of the new product quickly eclipsed the pitons.

This mindset continued through the founding of Patagonia. Rather than just reacting to commercial market demands, the brand has thrived for decades by letting their values lead the way, making sure to let their audience know what they care about, and creating products that align with those shared values.

They actively encourage repair over replacement. They streamlined production and distribution processes to cut down on resource waste. They focused product design on durability, providing customers with information on how to properly care for their gear. They pioneered the production and use of organic cotton. They developed long-term relationships with their suppliers to make sure overall standards are upheld, and helped those suppliers reach those standards when they weren’t.

And, essentially, they communicated all this through one of the earliest forms of what we call content marketing today – their mail order catalogue.

Printed mail order catalogues at the time were just that – product catalogues. Page after page of product after product. 

Patagonia did something a little different.

They used their catalogue to showcase their values first. 

They used beautiful photography of their favourite climbing spots. They shared articles about clean climbing. They petitioned their audience to contribute to environmental causes. They share stories from fellow climbers and adventurers. 

Then, they talked about their products. 

And even when they did talk about their products, they talked about the benefits that their core audience would actually care about.

By appealing to their audience’s values, they built a loyal following that believes that every decision Patagonia takes is in line with what they think is right for the world. Patagonia’s track record of having end-users either design or heavily influence their products also adds to that trust.

While features and price are still a key component of the decision-making process, the value match is a foregone conclusion so long as Patagonia sticks to this philosophy. The moment they sell out the brand for short term profit, that core audience will disappear, along with Patagonia’s future.

Naturally, catalogues are no longer the primary way with which Patagonia communicates with their audience. They use email, social media, advertising, ecommerce, etc., just like any other modern business. Yet, their philosophy of leading their operation, product design, and communication with what they care about hasn’t changed.

I recommend anyone interested in learning more about Patagonia’s journey to read ‘Let My People Go Surfing’ – a memoir and brand guidebook written by their founder.

As you consider your own brand’s path forward, ask yourself: does every aspect of our communication and service/product offering reflect our core values, as Patagonia’s does?

Does a quick scroll through your social media or website tell the story of your brand beyond the technical features of what you sell?

Are your core values properly defined and followed to begin with?

It’s not just about standing out; it’s about standing for something.

The post Patagonia & The Art of the Mail Order Catalogue appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

We’ve been working on trendwatching for the past five or six years. We look at trends consistently in our day to day work, but once a year we compile the top trends in major industries and verticals into a series of documents and eventually into a large book of trends for the year.

In all our years of working on them, we’ve never had such a major shift from one year to the next. Generative AI has taken the world by storm.

What seemed like a soft launch of a new tool by OpenAI at the end of 2022 served as the catalyst for a whole new world, affecting every industry in some way or another.

There seems to be a gold-rush by businesses to accelerate the process of automation, using machines to save on wage costs and the complexities of managing teams. This is, in my opinion, a very short-sighted way of looking at things. If you’re only seeing the rise of AI as a way to save on salaries, then you’re probably looking at it in the wrong way. You might save in the short term, but you’ll be bitten in the backside before too long.

Human behaviour is changing at a much more moderate speed, so we still see overlaps from one year to another around what people expect from businesses, however the dawn of generative AI has brought AI (in all of its forms) to the forefront – making it front and centre on people’s minds as they plan for 2024.

The biggest issue with AI is that it’s moving at such a rapid speed that most people tend to be scared of it. On the one hand you feel like you’re missing out if you don’t keep abreast with everything that’s going on in the industry, on the other you’re overwhelmed by the constant changes, and it makes it kind of tempting to just bury your head in the sand and wait for it all to settle down.

I’m not holding my breath. I don’t think it will settle down any time soon, so my advice to businesses is to really keep on top of things in every way you possibly can.

The revolution is coming and you don’t want to be on the guillotine when the blade drops.

Today we’ll look at what becomes ever more important as we head into a world of constant change.

As every business around you gets access and knowledge of the AI tools around them, you have to work even harder to figure out what makes you special. What makes you stand out, either in a crowded market or in a market that’s being taken over by AI tools.

Humanity

It might seem bleedingly obvious, but as we move into a world of extreme automation, our humanity comes at a premium. There are tools out there that make it easy to personalise messaging at scale. Tools that help us create the mythical “audience of one”, but these are tools. 

Within areas of your business that you can easily automate, using technology makes perfect sense. But in parallel ensure to use the time you’re saving there to create better interactions with your customers and clients. Don’t see the time savings from automation as an opportunity to save money, see them as a great opportunity to give your people more time to build and maintain authentic relationships with your customers.

This will help you stand out from a crowd that is increasingly looking for efficiencies and ways to save money. They’re pushing themselves into extreme commoditisation, effectively creating the perfect environment to be replaced entirely by machines.

Brand

We have been preaching the importance of brand from the inception of the agency, but the need for a great brand and a deliberate brand narrative has never been as acute.

And as you work on your brand, look for the aspects that make you stand out, the elements that add that touch of authenticity that people out there are so desperately looking for.

Don’t hide behind broad strokes statements. Don’t try to be everything for everyone. That time has gone, people can build individual chatbots to do exactly what they want, they expect specialisation, and it will only become more important as time goes on.

People

As we forge ahead with including AI and automation in every aspect of our business, there’s one aspect that we should never neglect or automate parts of, and that’s the relationships that we have with the people around us. 

Your team is, and should remain, one of the aspects that deserves most of your real attention. The people who work with you should always feel as if they’re being treated with decency and authenticity. They are at the core of what makes you unique and, if you neglect them, they’ll quickly find that they can move on.

It might seem tempting to let them do so as you automate more and more, however you have to remember that your clients want to interact with humans, and even if machines can do so much, there’s always an element of bringing everything together that only humans can do (for now, I know).

While it might seem to be extra work to keep them motivated and excited about your brand, they’re the ones who will drive it forward because they can feel an affinity to it (and to you, hopefully) that can’t be felt by machines that are built to automate.

Handmade/humanmade

If we look at the industrial revolution we can quickly see that there will be a great percentage of tasks that will be automated, and this will happen at a much faster pace given the technologies we’re seeing on the market today.

But over the past decade, we’ve seen a resurgence of importance being placed on human-made products and services. This will become more acute as services become increasingly automated. Tasks that can be automated will invariably be automated, but that puts even more value on things that have been made, designed, written, or shot by humans.

Take a long hard look at the aspects of your business that benefit from being made by people, and concentrate on becoming better at them, and in the process becoming better-known for them.

And in the end…

Look at the aspects of your business (and life) that can be automated. Work hard on getting the advantages that AI will give you, but keep one thing in mind: focus on the stuff that you’re good at. Don’t let the AI revolution blind you. Remember what makes you you, what gives your business the edge, and focus on making that better, no matter whether it can be automated or not.

The post AI & The Big Reset appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

If you don’t have the time to read this article now, you can download the PDF version of Brand Trends 2024 for free by clicking below. Otherwise, just keep reading.

Brand behaviour plays a game of cat and mouse with whatever is happening in the world around us. 

Most brands follow the zeitgeist. 

Some act in a way that shapes it.

Brand trends in 2024 are a mixed bag. Some trends will simply build on the momentum of trends that are already being shaped while others could surprise us.

One of the trends that will shape brand narratives as we roll into 2024 is brevity. In anticipation of that trend, this will be as concise as possible. If you want to dig deeper into any one of these trends, reach out and we’re happy to provide more context.

Trend 1: Authen-tick

What makes audiences tick? There is a sea of faceless brands and sterile products out there so the ones with a real story stand a better chance of engaging the curiosity of our audiences.

Brands that show authenticity and transparency will come across as human. As we recoil from the overwhelming wave of tech that is cresting, authenticity delivers a clear differentiating factor over brands that are so large that they inevitably collapse into a diffuse narrative of corporate speak and hollow promises.

As always, it is great to lead with benefits. We are, after all, selfish creatures. But we don’t form long-term relationships with benefits alone. For us to form an emotional relationship there needs to be authenticity and a narrative that we can identify with. This will be more important as we enter a period of uncertainty about what is human and what isn’t.

The great thing about this trend is that the majority of brands started with a great story. Sometimes, all it takes is to step back and turn to the original reason for the brand to exist, building an authentic narrative around this in a way that suits the audiences and channels of today.

Trend 2: Immersion 

We are finally entering the golden age of omnichannel brands. VR and AR are one consumer product away from changing the way we interact with the world around us again.

As the porosity of the wall between IRL and virtual experiences continues to increase, the possibilities for brands to be where the audiences are in a rich and immersive way are also in plentiful supply.

Omnichannel immersion is not the death knell for retail. We’ve seen the way consumers behave when a new channel is made available. Online retail did not kill IRL retail. On the contrary, the two channels are entirely complementary. For some, while the final purchase is online, in-store interaction is a decisive factor. Others prefer to browse online and then make a purchase IRL. 

This hybrid is a reflection of who we are as a species. Individually we might have defined preferences but as a whole we are beautifully messy and often unpredictable.

So, while I might want to use AR to see what a pair of Danish speakers will look like in my living room, I will most likely visit a brand store for the final purchase.

VR will add a significantly immersive layer to the spread of experiences available to consumers. With Apple making inroads and Meta stepping up their hardware game at consumer-friendly pricing, 2024 could be the year that sees VR finally become a mainstream reality. And the brands that are ready and waiting will be the ones with significant first-mover advantage.

Trend 3: Personal-AI-zation

As marketers, we have access to huge amounts of data. We also have unprecedented access to very, very intelligent machines. Together, they usher the era of hyper-personalised marketing.

This is not new. We have been progressing, in fits and starts, towards the hallowed audience-of-one. What we have at the output end is machines that can converse in language that approaches that of an average person. This brings conversational marketing for personal customer interaction to the masses. 

The AI-powered customer service rep that’s tuned to our specific personality could finally be the rep that we will actually like.

The gold rush of 2024 will be shaped by those who make the most creative use of the technologies that are flooding our landscape to harness the data that’s already available to us.

Trend 4: Diversity, Equity & Inclusiveness (DE&I)

We have been feeling our way around on these values. Most brands can be accused of missteps but we are finally making proper headway.

While many larger companies thought it was fine to pay lip service to DE&I, consumers are now demanding that these values be more than a marketing campaign. The thinking in the boardroom must wholly embrace a more equitable view of the world and this is the way beliefs are changed. This is the way beliefs lead to appropriate behaviour and communication. This is how everyone feels represented and respected.

Of course, there will be those that attempt to buck the trend – the right-wing  anti-woke will dig in and make their voice heard. And the stronger this faction digs in, the better for the trend in favour of DE&I because contrast is a powerful driver of perception.

Trend 5: Sustainability / Ethical practice

The idea of putting all the ‘doing good’ into one bucket and hoping for the best is slowly going out of the window. We are splitting environmental and ethical manufacture from social issues and, in the longer term, there will be even more fragmentation. 

This is a good thing.

We rebranded CSR to ESG when CSR was seen for what it truly is. CSR was a bolt-on set of activities that companies paid for to divert attention from the truth about their activity. And ESG will also see its day but it won’t be this year.

2024 will see even more demand for sustainable practices as consumers put their money where their mouth is. More and more consumers state that they are prepared to pay more for a product that is ethically manufactured. And once consumers put their hands in their pockets, brands will deliver on the demand.

Trend 6: Less is again more

This has more to do with brand expression, with a particular emphasis on visual identity and brand communication. Historically, we have gone in cycles that broadly swing from maximal to minimal. The excesses of Art Deco gave way to a pared back Art Nouveau. The gradients of the nineties were replaced by flat vector illustration when we’d had enough of it. 

It appears as though we’re diving right back into the minimal end of the cycle. This means a search for memorability through symbolism and meaning rather than maximalism, with strong colour palettes to keep the excitement going.

This ties in with the overall fatigue that could very well be afflicting our audiences. With so much going on all the time, a minimal approach to visual expression could present itself as a soothing break from the constant visual stimulation.

Trend 7: Get shorty

One more expression of the trends that are in favour of brevity and minimalism is the rise of the micro-moment – short videos, memes, tiny brand experiences, and other snack-sized pieces of content that serve as a little distraction.

To be more specific, microinteractions give a little dose of instant gratification – they deliver a tiny shot of dopamine that keeps audiences’ attention focused. 

Micro-moments can take the form of a clever or unusual CTA, cute error messages, unusual UI behaviours, or any form of little reward that is at least mildly surprising or unexpected.

Trend 8: Purpose-full

More than ever before, purpose-driven brands will be the ones that emerge victorious in 2024. This is a trend that’s adjacent to authenticity but it is not the same thing. Brands that are led by purpose more than anything else are visibly committed to their reason for existence.

This drives a clear sense of focus in the minds of its audiences. A brand that digs deep into its reason for existence and acts purely in accordance with this purpose is one that is evidently out for more than profit. 

Of course, without profit a brand cannot exist. 

But that cannot be its only goal.

Too many brands lose their way after a while. These are the ones we vaguely remember but don’t consider as part of our lives any more. 

A few brands keep their purpose alive. Think of Toms, Lego, The Body Shop, GoPro, and other brands that have been unwavering over decades. These are the ones we have a continued relationship with. They are the brands we think of as having a clear space in our minds. They benefit from the almighty one-two combo of focus and differentiation. We know their place in our lives and we know what makes them different from every other brand in their space. These are purpose-driven brands.

Why do brand trends matter so much going into 2024?

While it is always important for brands to be fully in tune with their purpose at all times, it counts more when the going gets tough. 

The spectre of an economic downturn is looming. 

We’d be reckless to ignore the metrics and hope for the best. In times of strife, our audiences are more cautious with their purchases and will limit these to those entities they feel they can have a personal connection with – the entities that have a clear resolve.

The Wildcard

This is not really a trend for 2024. It is more a hopeful speculation based on the way we see the world around us.

Take this with a bucket of salt. 

But if you are responsible for a brand that has clout, think about it as a possibility.

Never has there been so much technological and economic advancement. And yet, all this plenty isn’t having the impact it should on our environment, on economic equanimity, and on social justice.

In the absence of the political will to address these issues, a handful of brands out there are taking matters into their own hands and driving the change they would like to see around them. We are privileged to work with a couple of clients that think this way and it drives us to do some of our best work. Even if this ‘trend’ is no more than a little stir, it is a start.

Brand Trends 2024: Wrapping it all up

2024 will see brands look inwards for a good look at their purpose and the truth behind the stories they tell. It will also see brands look outwards at the preferences of their audiences and put more focus on brevity and short-term gratification. 

Bringing these two viewpoints together will be the mighty and unstoppable force that emerging technologies are bringing with them – AI and A/V/XR giving us unprecedented granularity and immersion.

The post Brand Trends 2024 appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

We inherit the wisdom of those who came before us. It is then up to us to challenge this and add to it, with the intent of leaving something more valuable for the ones who will take on our wisdom.

This does not happen half as often as it should.

Take the word ‘brand’ itself. We have inherited this word from the farmer who thought that using a red-hot piece of metal to mark his cattle was a good way of keeping tabs on his property. It was a barbaric practice, but we just carry on using the word regardless.

It is also a slightly useless word. To some it means ‘logo’. To others it means ‘the very fundamentals upon which a company’s reputation is built’. Until we have a single definition that we can all abide by, it remains a little too broad for comfort.

Brand is not marketing

Today we will start with another myth about brand – that the responsibility for brand resides with the marketing department.

In the beginning, brand was lumped with marketing because it included a logo and a colour palette – traditionally the marketing people were weird enough to enjoy that stuff – and there it stuck. In time, the word ‘brand’ and the word ‘logo’ were used interchangeably.

However, brand is much more than a visual expression. 

Brand is behavioural. It is the sum total of the behaviours of every individual who works for the company (or product), if we want to get a little more specific. That, along with the product/service itself, make up the totality of the brand.

While this might sound like a very inclusive definition – it is. In reality, brand also resides in the hearts and minds of its audiences. It is what they say it is. And they perceive our brand as a result of their experiences with our product and the humans they interact with along the journey from demand to purchase to post-purchase.

Brand does have an aspect of it that is handled by marketing but it is a small part of what the term represents. We can trace all the elements that a brand is composed of and figure out which parts should reside with the marketing people.

It starts in the boardroom

Working from the inside out, brand makes its way to marketing this way:

• Every team member is motivated by the reason for the existence of the company – this is brand purpose. Brand purpose starts in the boardroom and trickles outwards from there.
• Every team member behaves in accordance with the brand’s core values or principles. This, too, must be lived by the board and executive branch of the company.
• Products and services are designed to fulfil the brand’s purpose.
• Products and services are aligned with the brand’s values.
• Communication is designed and produced in accordance with the brand’s values as well as its personality and tone of voice.
• Communication is finally given the brand identity treatment – its colours and logo and fonts and all other aspects of its expression are prepared in accordance with the brand guidelines

Using this journey from the boardroom to the billboard, we can see that it’s the last two steps in the journey that are the responsibility of the marketers.

If your boardroom does not get brand, there is a strong chance that your organisation is not growing at least at the pace of the market. In many cases, this is equivalent to a slow slide backwards.

The boardroom is also solely responsible for growth of brand equity. Trying to pawn this enormous burden onto the marketing department is tantamount to abdication.

I was chatting with a friend and the subject of running shoes came up. I suggested a brand and a model that I felt would be the best ‘fit’, as it were, for the purpose. She said she’d never purchase a shoe of that brand locally and that she either orders them online or buys the brand when she’s abroad. I was intrigued and asked for a detailed reason why. It turned out that the brand is represented by a chain of sports stores that ran a body shaming campaign about five years ago. The campaign, in her memory, said something like ‘your ass looks big in those shorts’.

This account shows us that clients view marketing as the final expression of the way a company thinks and behaves. The campaign tells us that the boardroom is fine with this kind of thinking.

Someone thought about this campaign, someone approved the production and the budget, someone saw it in the wild and was fine with it. The company simply wasn’t aligned with the values of its audience. And now, if it is to win a client back, it has to work at least twice as hard to change their mind.

Truth be told

Brand starts in the boardroom. It is an honest manifestation of the core beliefs of the organisation’s leadership. Whether the executive arm of the company is aware of it or not, they are responsible for the way every person at every touchpoint conveys the spirit of the organisation. It is indeed a great burden and the biggest brands in the world are the ones where this awareness drives every decision.

From the boardroom, the principles and the ethos work their way, steadily and deliberately, to marketing. The reverse direction is a recipe for eventual dilution of brand equity, and this is a best-case scenario. At worst, it can spell disaster for a brand – and when it does spell disaster, reparations will, once again, start in the boardroom and then make their way to marketing.

We should indeed update the wisdom we’ve inherited. The sooner we shift the responsibility of brand from anywhere in the company onto the boardroom table, the sooner that organisation can see a steady and sustainable growth in brand equity.

And we know that brand equity counts. While it falls under the appalling misnomer of ‘intangibles’ in accounting terms, it accounts for the largest proportion of value of the most powerful companies on earth.

The post Brand is Not Marketing appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.