Dynamic businesses are always looking for creative ways to improve their product offerings. Some efforts at developing a business in terms of products may involve changing the brand. Visit our latest blog post to learn more...

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It's sometimes quite tough to see how the world is changing when you're in the thick of it and the changes are happening relatively slowly. When looking at the past it's really easy to see trends; but in the present they can be somewhat elusive. If you can see how things are changing, you have a powerful advantage as you can adapt and stay more relevant in your consumers' eyes while being able to offer more of what they're really looking for. This can help prevent a rival startup slipping into your market by capitalizing on one of these trends. You stay ahead of the curve and are seen as an innovator in your market, slowly gaining market share over time.

It's a fact of life that when anything gets popular, it attracts a lot of enemies. All it takes is a simple internet search for the worlds biggest brands and you will find whole website and communities dedicated to hating those brands. On these platforms people share their loathing, distrust and outright hatred for the brand in question. They will recite stories of their mistreatment, bad service or faulty products for the whole world to see.

The types of companies that are most often targeted by this are energy companies (Shell, Exxon), any manufacturer that endorses third world sweat-shop labor (Nike) or has bad customer service (Dell).

Right now there is one of the most interesting, real-world marketing experiments being conducted that is sure to reveal some very interesting insights into buyer motivation, habits and psychology:

The evidence is clear - cars are not relevant to young people anymore.

In just 2 years the average age of the new car buyer has skyrocketed from 43 years old up to 48 years old. According to the Federal Highway Commission, the number of 19 year-olds with driver's licenses has halved over the last decade.

What used to be seen as a majestic right of passage for any young person to find their freedom is now seen as a cumbersome, expensive, earth-damaging waste of time by 20-somethings the world over. Many of them feel the design of most cars are not in line with their sense of style, taste or needs.

Everyone is becoming a brand. The world is changing and so are our relationships to business in general. More and more people are becoming their own bosses by starting a freelance career or their own business with everyone looking to differentiate themselves. This brings a new-found awareness of the art of brand identity in the mainstream consciousness.

Creating and maintaining a brand is exactly the same as creating and maintaining relationships in our personal lives. It comes down to the same timeless truths such as our missions, goals, values and character. You need to clearly know what these are and also how to communicate them effectively to others in order to A: create the right first impression and B: keep the relationship alive over time.

The word 'brand' has got to be one of the most overused and unfortunately, incorrectly used words in modern English today. It's frequently used to describe anything business-related from marketing, design, communication, advertising, logos, identities, delivery, vision and much more. Designers, marketers and business owners naturally tend to refer to the word 'brand' from their own perspective, and this has caused massive confusion about what it's real meaning actually is. The word has become near-meaningless from overuse.

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Choosing a great name is one of the most important things for a new business. A name can say so much and is a critical element of a brand's success. The name is one of the more tangible components of the brand and something consumers will connect with the most. Everything about your brand will be anchored to its name and while the logo may be seen a lot, the name is heard a lot more. People speak about it. It's heard on the radio and often the visual logo is accompanied by a voiceover on television. It's also seen in its written form in articles on the web and in print over and over again.

Many older brands come to a point in their life cycle where they risk becoming irrelevant, especially in the minds of the younger generation. The brand simply doesn't have the same emotional connection with them as the previous generation.