Charlie and The Chocolate 50th Anniversary Logo.

We were thrilled to be asked to design the 50th Anniversary logo for Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in 2014. @roald_dahl are a fantastic client, and to have the opportunity to work on such an iconic brand was a dream come true.

Sainsbury's: a company of character

Provider of lodgings to many a lonely bumblebee in their aptly named bee n' bee, Europe's top solar generator, champion of ugly fruit and veg, co-creator of Giraffe bread - just a handful of the fantastic stories we heard about Sainsbury's at Our Breakfast Club.

Alex Cole Corporate Affairs Director at Sainsbury's came along to and event we held recently to tell us all about why she believes that Sainsbury's values make them different. She spoke of the importance of having a brand or company with character and the right values at the core. She quoted Lincoln, "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

As the world headed into recession most people were betting the credit crunch would lead to a values crunch. But in fact Sainsbury's research has proved that as the opposite has happened. Rather than seeing economic constraints cause a cut back in values, they have seen it drive an increased appetite for them. They argue that having to put more thought into what they buy, consumers are taking a greater - not lesser - account of what personally matters to them.

In the last 12 months Sainsbury’s has sold 8.5% more sustainably sourced food with more than £1 in every £10 spent on sustainably-labelled products coming from those families on the lowest incomes.

So often marketing complicates the issue of sustainability and claims that people don't care. The best part of all of this is that Alex made it sound so simple and compelling. It's always been in the DNA of the company, and it's just the way that Sainsbury's does business.

This report on what Sainsbury's are calling 'new fashioned values' is well worth a read.
You can also explore other Sainsbury's stories here http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/responsibility/

5 things marketers should know about social media

As more and more brands become social, those who engage best will stand out.  Robyn Pierce from The Crocodile spoke at a session for Our Design Agency recently. She looked at the key trends coming out of  The Social Media Marketing Report and talked about the 5 things marketeers want answered about social media (tactics, engagement, measurement, tools and strategy).



The study surveyed over 3,000 marketers with the goal of understanding how they are using social media to grow and promote their businesses. 97% of respondents said they use social media marketing and a significant 86% indicated that social media is important for their business.

Robyn concluded by stressing the need for fantastic content and said that continued to be the challenge for all marketeers. So perhaps unsurprisingly, according to report, YouTube holds the top spot for future plans. 69% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube making video the top area marketers will invest in this year. The tactic marketers want to learn most about is blogging. While 58% are already blogging, 62% want to learn more about it and 66% plan on increasing blogging activities in 2013.

Our Breakfast Club: sustainability and social media

We set up Our Breakfast Club as a forum for clients get together and get inspired before work. It's a small and informal breakfast session designed to encourage discussion and sharing. Come along next time and listen to our two chosen speakers talk about the big topics of the day over coffee and croissants.

Huge thanks to everyone who came along to our very first breakfast club and made it a great success. Special thanks to our speakers Alex Cole from Sainsbury's and Robyn Pierce from The Crocodile. Listening to both of them you really got a sense of how sustainability and social media are intrinsically linked when it comes to having an authentic and transparent brand.

First up Alex talked to us about sustainability at Sainsbury's. She spoke of the importance of having a brand or company with character and the right values. She quoted Lincoln, "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

 

Next Robyn looked at the key trends coming out of  The Social Media Marketing Report and talked about the 5 things marketeers must know about social media. She stressed the need for fantastic content and said that continued to be the challenge for all marketeers.



We are already planning the next breakfast club and we'd welcome any ideas or suggestions for topics or people to speak in the future. Is there someone you've always wanted to see speak or ask a question? Is there a topic you'd really like to debate with others? If so then please do email us at hello@our-design-agency.com.

Brand purpose: thumbs up or down?

Elvis didn't want to be a singer. He wanted to changed music. Did he have purpose? Ahaha. I believe that great brands need purpose. What do you think? Do you agree with the following statements about brand purpose?

1.Business can do well by doing good.

2. Great products that are based on real problems that consumers really care about.

3. First it was product benefit, then it was emotional benefit, and now social benefit is new frontier for brands.

4. Purpose can reinvigorate and empower capitalism.

5. Purpose will make better brands, brighter companies and lasting legacies for all.

Will you give purpose the thumbs up, or the thumbs down?

How does your brand make people happy?

Nobody likes bad news. It's a downer. We like to hear good news. It's how we're programmed.

So far most talk of sustainability has usually been
framed in terms of apocalyptic outcomes rather than creative possibilities. But it doesn't have to be that way. Brands like Tom's create happiness in spades.

Now take a look at your category through a happiness lens. 

What makes people miserable about it? Can your brand could turn that around?

Our Breakfast Club: the 'S' Words

Our Breakfast Club is an idea we've had to share and debate brand challenges and opportunities before work, and with coffee and croissant in hand. Each small session will offer simple straightforward advice on some of marketings sometimes complex topics, and we'll hear from people who've been there and done it. Our inaugural club is happening on 7th June with special thanks to our experts Alex Cole and Robyn Pearce and our client friends who are participating.

We agree with David Jones (Who Cares Wins) when he says, "Two of the biggest issues and opportunities facing business today are how to cope with the dramatic rise of social media and how to be more socially responsible."Social media and social mission are not two different things, but very much interlinked as I hope this first session will go to show.

We'll be posting content after the event and sharing the ideas discussed and soundbites.

If you are interested in attending or speaking at subsequent events please get in touch.

Is your brand improving quality of life?

There's a shift of focus happening in our society. From standard of living - a financial measure - to quality of life - based on our sense of wellbeing. But a study of 50,000 people in 14 countries, the Havas Media's Meaningful Brands study, showed that in the UK only five per cent of respondents believe that brands have a positive impact on their health, fitness, happiness or social relationships. 

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) has a shortlist of 5 ways to safeguard wellbeing in our everyday life. Which one is right for your category or your brand?

1. To connect with people
2. Be active
3. Take notice
4. Keep learning
5. Give

What's the best way for your brand to champion your consumers' wellbeing?

Goodness can give you oomph!

If you're in branding and in Western world you want to be top right quadrant - right? Top right is the place to be. Brands that occupy that space are generally game changers. They've got energy and they're differentiated.

There's now a new axis that can help you get there: the 'goodness' access. Brands that are moving in the market with purpose as the ones that've got oomph! These brands have social energy. They've got great purpose and they know how to be a true social brand. Ideas with social energy are the ones we remember, the forward looking ones, and the ones most likely to be shared by consumers.

In a Havas global study(Social Buisness Study 2010) 86% of consumers want to buy from and do business with brands that share their values and beliefs.

Could a great social idea get your brand moving in the right direction? A great social brand idea is where your brand's goodness and purpose meets it's creativity and energy.

Our philosophy? Simple, do what we do best.

We live in an age where we’re swamped with information. But information and technology don't always make life simpler. Last night, for example, overwhelmed with the number of take-away-options I could order on line, I reverted to a boiled egg and it was quite lovely.

From confusing charts and models, to uninterpretable jargon and wordy propositions, modern marketing has become a highly complicated and frustrating business.

As agencies we might feel we're not doing our job, or haven't earned our fees, if we haven't made things seem complex. But in doing so we are undermining our value to clients. It’s little wonder that so much of what it delivers misses the mark and leaves consumers baffled and boards nonplussed.

What’s needed in today’s complex business environment is some good old fashioned simplicity, or as we call it - black and white thinking. We need to have confidence in our own thinking. Fewer slides and simpler language should be celebrated. We need to go back to basics and remember that creativity is our currency.

We focus on what good design and design strategy has always done well: creative problem solving. The pencil is mightier than the mac, so we sketch all ideas and insights, share them with our clients so and build them together. Let's face it brilliantly simple ideas are always the ones that we all remember.

Brands need social energy

It's getting tougher and tougher for brands to standout, so standing for something is the the new way to make an impact. A few years ago I helped to make this little video about brands that were differentiating themselves with what we then referred to as 'social energy'.

They were moving in the marketplace with purpose. I came across this today and it made me smile, and realise why I do what I do all over again. I hope you enjoy it.

Less logic and more magic

Is it a Birdseye? Is it a Virgin Atlantic plane? Well, yes it could be, because brands such as those are on course to become heroes. Brand purpose is the new frontier for brand building, and brands with a social mission at their core are winning hearts and minds of consumers everywhere.

It represents a swing towards what Marc Mathieu, Senior Vice-President, Marketing at Unilever refers to as "less logic and more magic".

What could your brand stand for, or against? How could it help to progress and make the lives of real people better?

Having a social mission is not just the domain of the few, entirely "good" entrepreneurial brands. It's possible for many brands to identify their social mission. It just has to be founded on a truth and a passion that is unique to your brand and business. It's possible even for one brand within a business of many.

After all, where there's a will there's a way.

The brand purpose mindset

Get into a different groove. Reframe your role as a marketeer.
Once you start thinking about what your brand is doing to make the lives of real people better everything else slots into place.

Want to innovate? Look in new places.

It's the beginning of a project. You're excited. There's a sense of optimism in the air. The possibilities seem endless. Could this brand be re-invented? Could it become meaningful to a whole new target audience? Where could it go in the future? But before long you're seeing the same familiar old concepts trotted out again - updated versions of boards that already languish in the depths of the marketing department cupboard.

Why the disappointment? To quote Henry Ford, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

We have to start looking in new places.

We have to broader the current myopic focus on brand, immediate competition or consumer. We have to look much further out - to company assets and value chain assets. We need to look at the lives of real people (citizen consumers) and what they really need, rather than defining people solely by their consumption habits.

We have to ask new questions. What it is that's unique about how a brand thinks or behaves that could change the business' and category’s role in society? What does the consumer - and importantly wider society - gain from this brand. How does this brand improve quality of life?

There are many opportunities for brands to innovate. We just need to look in places that go well beyond the fixture.

Purpose: Go backwards to go forwards

How many marketeers today know the purpose of their brand, or the difference it makes in
peoples' lives? Marketing has become about selling stuff to consumers rather than improving quality of life.

But there was a golden era when marketing belonged to the Henry Fords, and William Levers of the world. Brands like Cadbury, Danone, and Sainsbury are all household names, but originally they were the names of people with great vision to bring to market products that could create progress and improve lives.

We begin our work by looking at a brand in the context of the current or original founders of the company. People like and are drawn towards brands with purpose. In our work we begin by looking to the past and this helps us to go forward with more clarity. In the past we often discover clues, such as the motivations of the founders, or the original role of the category. Often there was a social impetus that inspired these brands. This information not only motivates us but helps us make a brand relevant and meaningful today.

Can you identify these famous brands with purpose?

1. Appalled by the number of children suffering from intestinal disorders at the end of the First World War and encouraged by the research of Elie Metchnikoff, Isaac Carasso started manufacturing yogurts, using ferments from the Pasteur Institute and selling his products on prescription in Barcelona pharmacies.

2. In the 1890s this pioneer wrote down his ideas for Sunlight Soap – his revolutionary new product that helped popularise cleanliness and hygiene in Victorian England. It was 'to make cleanliness commonplace; to lessen work for women; to foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness, that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the people who use our products'.

3. In 1893, this business man bought 120 acres (49 ha) of land close to his factory works and planned, at his own expense, a model village which would 'alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions'. By 1900 the estate included 314 cottages and houses set on 330 acres (130 ha) of land.

Identifying the purpose of your brand has the power to re-energise it both internally and with consumers. Purpose is not myopic. It's not only about your point of difference to competitors. It's about the difference you can make in peoples’ lives. It’s where your strengths as an organisation and brand, and your passions intersect with the needs of your audience.

Brand excavation and my bathroom tiles

Here's a little brand parable for a Wednesday afternoon. When I moved into my first flat I decided to re-tile my Excavation bathroom. The bathroom was very small and cramped and the tiles were ugly.

When I removed the top set of tiles I noticed there was another set underneath, and under them were more sets of tiles. When I had removed them all the way back to the concrete the original tiles were still there. Not only that but they were 1930's (then trendy again) and a thing of beauty. And without all the clutter the bathroom also looked a whole lot more spacious.

When we start looking at where a brand can go in the future we often need to strip back many many years of various different marketing ideas or veneers. Most of the time if you keep digging into a brand's past there are many many gems from original logos, to original purpose, imagery or even advertising ideas. You've just got to know where to look and how to use it in a future focused way. To fully understand a brand, enough to change it, we all need to become brand archeologists - without the beards.

Social media: stop talking and start listening

I have a confession to make: I'm a Twitter addict. It's become the place I get all my news, "listen" to my favourite columnists banter, witness the reaction to big cultural events with the other people in my community, and most importantly live tweet about MasterChef.  In fact, had it not been for Twitter I would probably still be on the phone to BT's call centre. (Thankfully I'm now with Virgin, but that's the subject of another blog about customer service.)

When I first joined Twitter I tweeted the obligatory, "hello this is my first tweet" then I sat back and waited and watched. I observed what others said and how they used Twitter and I learned a lot. The thing I discovered about Twitter is that it's not all about tweeting. Twitter is a fantastic place to "listen" and we don't always listen enough in marketing.

I consider Twitter work. It's the place I go to find new ideas, hook up with experts, or find up-to-date thinking and case studies. I've been known to disappear down the rabbit hole for hours looking for interesting conversations or articles, and clicking on link after link after link. It's where I go to learn about the language that people use to describe their relationship with a certain brand or issue.

Sure you might loose five minutes here or there being sucked into the Katy Price and cat videos tractor beam that is of course part of the Twitter experience, but it pales in comparison with what you'll learn.

Twitter is a great tool for tapping into to the myriad of conversations that are going on everyday about any given brand or category. If, like me, you're fascinated by people and their motivations the opportunities for Twitter seem endless. People are people first here - not consumers. If you're trying to recruit people who genuinely care about an issue or a brand you can do a lot worse than scouring Twitter.

Brands that succeed on Twitter are good listeners. They understand that Twitter isn't about public relations it's about social relations. It's a place for entertainment and a place for dialogue. On Twitter we crave humanity - even from our brands.Brands must think and behave as if they are people who want to have a relationship with other people. If brands behaved this way they'd start doing things differently. They'd stop talking and start listening.

If you, or I were joining a new conversation we'd listen to each other for a while first before contributing - hopefully in a way that was welcomed. Imagine we were having a discussion about the Arab Spring and a complete stranger butted in and started talking about their clothes.
We’d probably think "go away you vacuous stranger". But that’s what Habitat and Kenneth Cole did on Twitter. They used hashtags such as #Cairo to join in such conversations uninvited and used it as an opportunity to promote their sale.

By 'listening' to real conversations on Twitter we can pick up useful tidbits about peoples' lives, and their relationship with brands. It becomes obvious where their enthusiasm lies, and what's captured their imagination. You can also understand what makes a difference to people service wise. As a brand owner you'll be made aware of problems before they become big issues, and you might even learn about new needs that you weren't aware of. People are only interested in what you're doing as a business if it addresses their needs/problems/objectives/fears. How will you do this if you don't know what they are? And once you've listened you can move on to talking and really engaging with the people who love your brand.

Ask yourself a few questions: Is your brand a good listener? Does your brand have a good social media presence? Are you keeping up with your consumers on those channels or simply using it as a mechanic for press releases? Are you even using the right channels?

Relationships are fragile and the best way to secure a long-term ongoing relationship with people, because consumers are people too, is to start listening rather than talking. All good things begin with listening.

Introductions: Brand meet Sustainability

When perspectives and experience are shared, good things often follow. Many of our projects involve us bringing together both the Brand and Sustainability teams within a business, which can provide/lead to rewarding new directions for both parties.

1. Brand realises that Sustainability isn't all sandals and sacrifice, but has the potential to reinvigorate, and provide compelling content. For example, brands need stories about sustainable sourcing to meet with consumer expectations of authenticity and transparency. People also like brands with purpose and point of view on the world. Sustainability can help to shape this.

2. Sustainability realises the potential that Brand has to make things happen. A sustainability strategy is no good unless it can be realised. Brands can turn complex stuff into a "Wow!" factor. It's brands who create the desire within consumers to think and act differently.

So if you want a new perspective on the role of your category in peoples' lives, or a way to connect on a deeper level with the people who buy your product let us introduce Brand and Sustainability.

Ask don't tell

Here's a nice example of someone asking nicely for a change. A simple instruction at the Southbank has been thought about and has charm.
What's more it seemed to be working. As a brand every little piece of communication should have a little bit of charm and wit. It goes a long way. Instructions or technical leaflets should be written with your audience in mind, even terms and conditions can be topped and tailed with brand tone of voice. Why do most FAQs take the form of a tome that no one bothered to simplify?

The language we use really makes a difference. I know because I'm a consumer. 

Who wants a sustainable marriage?

If I described my marriage as "sustainable" you’d probably feel sorry for me, because after all it doesn't sound like much fun. A long lasting marriage does not always signal a happy marriage. If the best you can say about your work and marriage is that they don't actively deplete you -- it might be time for some kind of change.

Herein lies the problem with brands successfully getting on board with sustainability. Brand people are big thinkers. They are people who want to entertain and change the world. Their motto is: It's gotta be big! it's gotta be bold! So far The Green agenda has been characterised by fear rather than positivity. The call to action has been less about change and more about making sure things remain the way they are. On the surface they appear to be two very different ideologies.

We work with many businesses who've come to us excited by the potential for their sustainability plan to change their category or business. Most already have the perfect strategy in place to achieve the change. The difficulty doesn't lie in having the perfect strategy. It's in realising the strategy, and to achieve that they must get brand teams on board. This calls for a very different approach.

One solution is to eradicate the word "sustainability" altogether. Sustainability is a bit of an uninspiring-status-quo-maintaining kind of word. It's not the sort of word that drives marketeers, or indeed consumers wild with possibility. Let's face it it's no "social media" folks.

Why not use different words to convey the idea? Words that capture the meaning but are less sustainable sounding. Less sack cloth and ashes, and more "hell yeah I want some of that". The words we use are important. They set the tone and signal our intent. You can be bold. This is a vision of where you want the brand to get to - the difference you want to make to the world. It's big news. Instead of simply preserving the status quo aspire to something far more positive. Use words like, "thrive" or "flourish"? The brands that have adopted this approach to sustainability, brands such as, TOMS shoes or Chipolte, are the ones that have succeeded in capturing the consumer imagination.

Sustainability has the potential to unlock the goodness in a category and a brand in a very real way. It's the good news that people want to hear about from the brands they love. But until we find ways articulate that in language that marketeers and consumers understand we'll never make it happen.

Meetings: 15 useful minutes and lots of fluff.

How often do we hear colleagues say with a burdened sigh, "I spend my life in meetings". It's an all too common lament, but it's not the meetings themselves, it's how we run them that's the problem.

We are big believers that there is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting. They are great for relationship building and if managed properly they can achieve a great deal. We always insist on a meeting for all major decisions, even if we're in and out in half an hour and have travelled by plane, train and automobile to get there. It always saves time in the long run and more importantly you can truly read people, which just isn't possible by email.

So I was intrigued to see a new meeting strategy courtesy of the television show Mr Selfridge. Instead of one or two mammoth meetings a day, Mr Selfridge favoured a series of shorter meetings.  Each meeting lasts no longer than 15 minutes, because according to him, "Everything is said, that needs to be said in a quarter of an hour, after that it’s hot wind."

We tend to agree with this no nonsense approach. Here's a little introduction to our black and white approach to meetings:

1. Be clear on the purpose and get someone to lead. A pre-meeting about a nebulous meeting is just about the most depressing entry in a corporate diary.

2. Meetings: you can't beat them, but you shouldn't always join them. Make sure that your presence is absolutely necessary.

3. Set a time and stick to it. A standing meeting is an interesting way to make this happen but don't get too comfy; don't serve continental coffees or biscuits.

4. Make decisions quickly and unanimously and move on. Topics in meetings tend to be like Watford roundabout. If you don't break off at some point you'll keep on going round in circles forever.

5. Make someone responsible for follow ups and give action points a deadline. 

Marketing jargon: let's just talk sense

Not too long ago I attended a naming session. People struggled to come up with ideas - suggestions were hard won and unremarkable. Then lunch arrived and we were asked to “align on lunch orders”. How on earth does one align on a ham sandwich?

It struck me then that this kind of business speak is having an insidious effect on the way we express ourselves creatively. For me, it goes to reinforce the importance of language.

If you work in marketing the chances are at some point you’ll have attempted to ‘crystallise your vision’. It sounds like a reason to visit to the eye doctor, but all it really means is that you’ve formed a plan of where you want your brand to get too. Similarly, where once we gave something a "thorough looking over" now we "drill down". The boring analogy is unintentionally appropriate in this case.

So why not just say what we mean? Because using jargon has become synonymous with sounding professional. Because when you're precise it's easier to spot when you're wrong. Because we've begun to place value on verbosity rather than talking sense. How often do we hear in meetings, "That sounds good." Far more often than we hear, "That makes sense." We’ve all adopted this kind of unintelligible business speak at some point at the expense of
precision and lucidity.

Take creative briefs for example. They should be just that, brief not a dumping ground for strategy. Ask yourself, what's the minimum information I can pass on and still ensure they do the job well. Make them interesting. They are the gateway to a project and a working relationship. They're also the place designers look to be inspired. The words we use are incredibly important. How we choose to describe the task matters because it signals our intent. Words have the power to inspire, engage and persuade.

Five things to bear in mind when you're writing a creative brief:

1. Read and re-read everything you write. If you stumble on a sentence that sounds verbose ask yourself what you really mean - then write exactly that. It will be appreciated.

2. Remember the 1980's slogan written by Fay Weldon: Go to work on an egg. It's simple and brilliant. Even if you know that legal will eventually step in and write ten words for your every one, don't start out with anything less than a precise statement of intent. Otherwise your brief will sound like this, “An egg whilst being a very good source of protein (and we offer no guarantee of that) for breakfast cannot be expected to transport you to your place of work." Precision shouldn't take any prisoners.

3. Avoid redundant words or phrases. When you write about your company and what you excel at always ask yourself a question, "As opposed to what"? There are so many well-worn phrases out there and some things are the price of entry into a category. Every industry has its own phrases. Be aware of them. "We have a dedicated team of expert consultants", as opposed to what? An uninterested load of amateurs? If it is true then prove it. Facts are more believable and more inspiring.

4. Every client has their own internal terminology, with a set of acronyms that Jack Bauer would be proud of. But when you're writing briefs or presentations ask yourself if you really need them. Will everyone know what you mean? As an agency it's important to clarify the meaning. Ask questions or the result will be compromised.

5. Try to find an unexpected analogy or a creative phrase for what you want to say. Analogies are a great way to explain something complex. They're a creative springboard from which designers can dive into the project.

Naming: What do we call ourselves?

We know what we’re about, but what do we call ourselves? A common enough problem.

Here’s how we went about it:

First we asked ourselves a few honest questions up front about who we are, what we do and why people would want to come to us rather than any of our competitors. Our name had to reflect our black and white approach to life, and be descriptive but still personable – oh and ideally three short words (because things always look better in threes and there are three founding partners).Then we developed a simple checklist to judge our prospective names against. We did this up front so that in the grip of creative fever we wouldn't become overly attached to a name that wasn't right for us - like Brandmazing - good as it might sound.

So, in no particular order, here's our naming checklist:

Our name must:

• Not be obscure. No Egg, Goldfish or Apple for us - it shouldn’t need explaining
• Mustn't sound pretentious. We're not The Brand People, The Brand Onion, or even The Brand Bunion
• Ideally nod to our collaborative approach
• Convey a sense of honesty and straightforwardness
• Not contain our surnames- it's not all about us
• Have simple SEO built in
• Be a grower - better second time around
• Sound good when we answer the phone

So, Our Design Agency it is. That simple.

Got a problem? Try black and white thinking.

People thought we were mad attempting to get a design business off the ground during the deepest UK recession since records began. There's certainly no shortage of competition: a simple Google search of the phrase ‘design agency UK’ throws up 194,000,000 results. It looked as if the world didn't need another design or branding consultancy, yet it was clear to us that such challenging economic conditions called for an alternative approach to design and brand building - one where we cut out the hubris and get back to basics.

We live in an age where we’re swamped with information. But information and technology don't always make life simpler. From confusing charts and models, to uninterruptible jargon and wordy propositions, modern marketing has become a highly complicated and frustrating business. It’s little wonder that so much of what it delivers misses the mark and leaves consumers baffled and boards nonplussed.

What’s needed in today’s complex business environment is some good old fashioned simplicity, or as we call it - black and white thinking. We focus on what good design has always done well: creative problem solving. Black and white thinking is important for problem solving. It's a skill, like carpentry, but somehow we lost it along the way in the hubbub about branding.

This desire for simplicity isn’t just talk. It has required us to fundamentally shift the way that we work:

1. We've seen so much marketing effort and design time go to waste in answering the wrong problem. But when you’re forced to be simple you’ll quickly discover that you’re forced to face the real problem. We put emphasis on defining the problem up front, because the old adage remains true today: a problem well defined is a problem half solved.

2.  Most marketing problems these days are confronted by the creation of a lengthy presentation. There is a tendency to mistake simplicity for naïvety. It's assumed that the longer and more verbose the ‘slide deck’ the more credibility it will have. We've always found that a jazzy fifty plus slide presentations, as impressive as they might look, often mask a lack of real understanding of the problem. We prefer to hash things out around our table, and instead of heading to Getty Images we hand-draw our slides for each client. This process forces us to be sure we really know what we’re talking about.

3.  One of the most challenging aspects of black and white thinking is that there's nowhere to hide. When you can't deliver decoration, you have to deliver substance. Our ideas begin as black and white sketches. This way we can all agree on the power of an idea in its simplest form.

This new - old - approach to black and white thinking also streamlines the process - shortening the time it takes to agree on a great idea. Simplicity reduces our clients' stress levels rather than adding to it, but most importantly it helps them to make better decisions. And sound decision making is what's needed to succeed in this challenging economic climate.