You’ve started with a product and now you’re trying to attract investors, draw an audience, and most importantly, build a brand. But brands today aren’t about products; they’re about stories. They reflect our personal worlds. They become extensions of our identities and markers of where we belong and what we stand for. And like all great stories, the brands that strike deepest — and stick around longest — are the ones that are crafted to inspire.
Apple isn’t selling computers and smartphones; they’re inspiring simplicity and creative freedom. Adidas isn’t pushing athletic gear and apparel; they’re inspiring style, comfort, and competition.
Brands that inspire spark consumers to aspire — inviting them to invest not just in a product, but in a quality. A way of life. A story they can become part of. So when considering what story your brand should tell, consider the validations of an inspirational approach.
According to Michelangelo, sculpting David was simple. All he did was chip away the bits that weren’t David.
Brands can benefit from the same approach - stripping a brand back to its very essence can help articulate its core qualities in a way that’s real, honest and simple. It’s an approach known as ‘debranding’, and it’s a much-needed response to brand fatigue.
Our world is loud enough as it is. By dialing back the volume on our branding efforts we can craft identities that speak honestly and meaningfully - without having to shout. Because as it turns out, a little bit of branding can go a long way.
Design is art with function: it’s elegantly purposeful. By applying design thinking to creativity, you can create things that make a meaningful difference in the world – and that are specifically crafted for an audience who truly wants them. When you apply that same kind of thinking to business, you get results that go beyond ideas and into the realm of the viable.
STARMEN is excited to announce we’ve received a pair of Summit Creative Awards for two unique client endeavors. Our website work garnered both a Bronze and a Silver from SCA's recent cycle. Both of these respective projects encompassed elements of both brand strategy and web design and development, and we’re proud of what we were able to accomplish on behalf of these clients.
The most powerful expressions of creativity are the ones that effectively communicate to audiences outside ourselves, and our ability to collaborate and create with others is what sets us apart from other species in a world that’s constantly in a state of change. But what does that mean? And what is the root of the nature of creativity?
Author and creative director Paul Arden articulated: “Do not try to win awards. Be true to your subject, and you will be far more likely to create something that is timeless. That's where the true art lies.” Our team at STARMEN agrees fervently with this sentiment from the famed Saatchi and Saatchi alum.
Long gone are the days when running a really great marketing campaign involved, in sum, brilliant graphic arts and catchy verbiage. Indeed, it used to be that a carefully crafted execution of these two elements could allow marketing executives to sit back, and enjoy the ride. This is no longer the case.
Today’s consumers want engagement, and with the emergence of social media, the Internet is an open canvas. Brands that fail to make their mark pay the price in terms of lost engagement with potential customers, and trends show that effectively doing so is increasingly a kinesthetic process -- not a static one. This means that in order to form authentic, long-term engagement with users — the kind that drives referrals, publicity, and sales — your brand strategy must make the shift from storytelling to storydoing.