JDG Brand News: Improving Your Brand

October 2007

There's a fine line between clutter and chaos. Your garage might be cluttered, but I doubt it's reached the point of chaos, or at least I hope not. When it comes to business, it's been my experience that far too many organizations let their cluttered identities evolve into chaotic brands.

When an organization is missing the mark with an inconsistent, or cluttered, approach to marketing, we refer to this as brand fragmentation. On the other hand, when brand strategies are successfully implemented, they create name recognition, build customer preference, enhance employee morale, and generate cost savings.

In this issue of JDG Brand News, we focus on branding, brand fragmentation, and how we recently developed the new Visual Style Guidelines for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) to strengthen its identity.

I hope you find this information useful. If you're interested in our branding and marketing capabilities, please don't hesitate to contact me. As for that messy garage you've been ignoring, you're on your own.

Sincerely,

Len Johnson, President and CEO
JDG Communications
(703) 207-0933 x101
ljohnson@jdgcommunications.com

Brand Fragmentation

A clear, sound brand is a real asset for an organization. A fragmented brand can be a costly mistake. When target audiences don't recognize your organization and/or understand its mission, it's time to start carefully examining your branding and marketing communications program.

Is your organization communicating clearly and effectively, or is it suffering from brand fragmentation? It's easy to determine—successful brands are marked by consistency. If your organization's marketing tools are not consistent in color palette, logo usage, fonts, and message, your brand is probably fragmented or, at the very least, ineffective.

Repairing Your Brand

Brand correction can be accomplished in six steps. The key to success is an organizational commitment to the process:

Conduct research—examine your brand by performing identity research among key internal stakeholders and speaking with key customers.
Define your company's desired identity—based on the research and your company's unique qualities and goals, determine your course of action.
Create messages—develop and test key messages to establish the right things to communicate to key audiences.
Develop name, tagline, and logo—create your company's identity and test it internally and externally.
Build brand awareness—promote your new identity with commitment and consistency throughout all of your branding and marketing communications campaigns.
Measure results—periodically measure the effectiveness of your branding efforts. Are target audiences responsive to your organization's communications?

EPA's Visual Style Guidelines

Fractured Identity

Since its inception in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has operated without identity guidelines. Consequently, offices throughout the organization had no set standards when it came time to develop publications. This leniency lent itself to inconsistencies from a brand equity, image, and resources standpoint.

The EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) has 18 labs, centers, and offices in the EPA system that produce over 1,000 scientific and general publications each year. It has four logos and a seal that were often used interchangeably, without clear definitions of their intended use. ORD produced many materials without any standardization on identity: newsletters commonly looked different each quarter; layout and design for publications within a series tended to vary with each issue.

Successful Result

Following months of research and strategic development by both ORD and JDG, a comprehensive 52-page ORD Visual and Product Standards Manual was developed that set the direction for logo usage, typography, color, information architecture, design and layout, photography and much more.

The manual was recognized with a 2007 "M" Award from the D.C. Chapter of the American Marketing Association and two Silver Inkwell Awards from the International Association of Business Communicators.

Click here for the entire case study.

New Staff

Syed

Syed Ali is JDG's new accounting manager, taking over responsibilities from Aline Phung who supported our accounting requirements for 19 years! He will handle many responsibilities at the agency, including accounting, human resources, and admin. Syed comes to JDG after nine years at CSG, where he performed a variety of accounting duties. In all, he has 11 years of professional experience.

Dan

Dan Tello joined the JDG design staff after graduating from Cedarville University in May. He interned at Communicatus Art & Design in Middleburg, VA, and was Cedarville's most formidable freelance designer. His work blanketed campus promoting everything and anything that needed a little extra attention: concert posters, event flyers, theatre handbills and t-shirts. His diligent pace continues at JDG. He's already designed a logo for NOAA fisheries' "Fish Watch" campaign and illustrated the FTC's kids Web site. Between projects, he took a quick break for his wedding and honeymoon.

JDG Offers Free Confidential Needs Analysis

JDG Communications is offering your company a free Integrated Brand Communications Confidential Needs Analysis. JDG staff will come to your office and conduct a one- or two-hour discovery meeting. Based on the information gathered at this meeting, JDG Communications will then prepare a Confidential Needs Analysis that outlines our recommendations for your company. Our staff will return to your office to present our findings and see how we might help you.

In This Issue: