This week, I went to the Kansas City DMA luncheon and listened to a speaker by the name of Brent Niemuth who talked about the importance of building a relevant brand.

He shared a great definition of branding: what other people say about you when you are not in the room. That is a good way to sum up the perception that people have about your brand. COLORMARK rebranded earlier this year and listening to Niemuth made us wonder whether or not we had done everything correctly. He said that great brands follow four rules:
1. Be original.
2. Have a mission.
3. Be consistent.
4. Focus.

Being original is always tough in a marketplace where there are new competitors everyday, but I think COLORMARK accomplishes this with our new brand colors and the array of services that we now offer our customers.

The COLORMARK mission is to deliver and distribute high-quality, consistent marketing messages through print and e-media channels in a fast and economical way that protects and preserves the environment. While we know our mission, I do believe we can do a better job of communicating this mission through our branding. We definitely have room for improvement in this category.

The COLORMARK brand follows the consistency rule pretty well. I think our art is pretty consistent across the board now, but I think we could add more consistency to our copy writing.

Our goal of rebranding was to let everyone know that we offer more than just printing. However, this goes against his fourth rule of focusing. The example he used is Ace Ventura’s Pet Detective, he is not just any detective; he is a PET detective. So maybe it’s wrong, but COLORMARK now focuses on four areas: printing, cross-media, storefronts, and inventory management. 

One brand that comes to mind as a successful brand is Geico. They are original with their gecko and they are on a mission to save you 15% on your car insurance, and I would even say they have a focus on car insurance, but they are far from consistent. Their ads contain geckos, cavemen, cash with eyeballs, and random jokes. So how is it that one of the most successful brands in the U.S. so relentlessly chooses to be inconsistent?  

Geico is trying to appeal to all people that drive an automobile so reaching those kinds of people takes a broad approach hence their multiple marketing campaigns approach. This difference also helps them be original compared to their competitors who all follow the consistency rule.

So while the COLORMARK brand definitely has room for improvement, our audience should really determine which rules we follow. Niemuth’s rules are a good guideline for your brand, but be ready to break and bend the rules to create your best brand. I mean after all rules are meant to be broken.