Image-based brands such as fashion, beauty, photographers, and artists will love Pinterest a new social sharing platform dedicated to “connecting everyone in the world through shared tastes and the ‘things’ they find interesting.” Users create image boards on topics ranging from home, to travel, food, fitness, beauty, etc. They then find, follow, and share with friends who have similar interests.

Think of Pinterest as your virtual tack board. Remember the cork board you used to have over your desk? Instead of clipping and tacking physical inspiration, Pinterest allows you to keep track of all those virtual bits of inspiration you come across online everyday. Pinterest comes complete with a browser extension that makes pinning a snap. Simply click on the “Pin It” tool when viewing any standard web page and every image or video on that page can be added to your profile with two clicks. Users are encouraged to add a note to the image and anyone can add a comment to it at anytime. More importantly the image is saved with a link to the URL of the original source. Goodbye long, scrolling lists of “Bookmarked” pages you can’t remember why you saved in the first place, hello Pinterest.

Image-driven brands will find this platform perfect for their social media outreach. No need to feel pressure to have a lot of content, beautiful images are once again worth a 1,000 words. Pinterest users are searching for inspiration for their hair, for their homes, for their lives. Users are encouraged to pick-up inspiration from people they follow and “re-pin” it. Creative groups like MSLK can even create shared boards that allow multiple users to post to the same board. We are currently using Pinterest to gather inspiration for an upcoming project.

If you maintain a personal Facebook profile you can login to Pinterest with your Facebook account. (Note, you’ll have to request an invitation to join as Pinterest is currently operating with a waiting list for new members.) The benefit of using the Facebook connect is that your “Pins” will automatically feed to your Facebook profile, and although this feature currently needs a bit more development, the future potential looks promising.

Speaking of future potential, Pinterest currently works best when you are pinning images already uploaded/hosted online. For brands, this is a great way to drive traffic back to your own website or blog where the images are already hosted, however, we found this a bit annoying for individuals looking to upload new content. You can upload photos from your computer, but the interface is cumbersome and slow. For those with iPhones there is currently a Pinterest mobile App which makes shooting and uploading a bit easier.

Happy Pinning! Follow us at pinterest.com/sherikoetting and pinterest.com/marclevitt.

Steve Jobs was not a designer, at least not in the traditional sense. In fact, there was little he did do that was traditional, in any sense of the word. Having just finished his biography, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, I have a new-found respect for the man who transformed not only the world of computers, consumer  electronics, music, movies, etc… but also had a profound effect of the lives of creative professionals — graphic designers in particular.

The book has countless tales of Steve Jobs’s quirks, tantrums, and various eccentricities (I stopped counting the number of crying tantrums somewhere around 10…), but what it makes clear is that he knew what what he wanted and would stop at nothing to get it. He demanded the best of everyone, and showed people the impossible could be done… while always staying ahead of the curve.

Much has been said of Jobs before and since his untimely death on October 5th, 2011. I would like to take a moment and write a few thoughts about what I’ve learned from Steve Jobs:

Work with the best people
Throughout the course of his career, Jobs noted that poor performers drag the whole team down. There’s simply no point dealing with sub-par players. As an employer, surround yourself with the best… you’ll benefit, as will they. For us, this can also be applied to clients. No use spending time trying to convince the brilliance of your design if they’re incapable of appreciating it. Working with the best led Jobs to seek out legendary designer Paul Rand to design the NeXT logo.

Follow your passion
There’s no point working on things that don’t interest you. Period. This goes for designers as well as clients. There’s nothing worse for a designer than to work hard for something when you know the client doesn’t place much value on it.

Every detail matters — even the ones you can’t see.
Years ago, I remember buying a G5 Tower and adding RAM to it myself, marveling at the innards of the machine. I called over Sheri to show her the inside of a computer, and we were both transfixed. I have no idea how computers work, really, but was awestruck at the organization of the circuit boards, processors, the way that the fans could be slid in and out, and such. This turns out to be a classic Jobsian trait: everything matters. Design is not a surface affair, it’s the compete integration of inside to outside, hardware to software, etc. As designers, we understand this intrinsically from the detailed proposals we write at the outset of a job, to the care that we take in preparing files to send off to the printers and developers. Every detail counts, and the craft you put into things shows through.

Form over function.
This is actually completely counter-intuitive, especially for a maker of gizmos… why wouldn’t you simply build the best product, who cares what it looks like? Yet that’s not the way it works. The very first Macintosh — which was gorgeous to look at and intuitive to use — was woefully underpowered. Jobs knew that if something is not intriguing, it’s never going to garner the attention to pick it up in the first place. This applies to graphic design and advertising: if it’s not compelling, no one will notice you. Of course, if the content isn’t good, it won’t succeed. Jobs rarely disappointed in this regard. (The original Mac was in fact underpowered and had poor sales — a catastrophic mistake that Jobs would never make again).

Focus is the most important thing a company can have.
When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he was baffled at how engineers had run amuck with endless variations of mediocre Macs. He finally asked people, “What would I tell my mother to buy?” a question no one there could answer. Then he drew a grid on a white board with 4 quadrants: Consumer/Professional/Desktop/Portable. He forced the company to simply focus on the best product for each of these, which produced the iMac.

For us, focus is equally important. We must balance the right mix of clients to take on. We need to maintain our promotional efforts with the same vigor and enthusiasm as our client work. We set yearly goals by which we measure our progress. We know which projects are best to take on, and which to pass on. We’ve seen how colleagues try and take on the world and do it all, only to implode due to their lack of focus.

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
I love this quote, and think I will use it to tell all our new hires what to expect at MSLK. We definitely embrace the notion that great work is not a far-off thing in the distance, but something that is expected.

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
This is MSLK to a “T” — we spend countless hours stripping away the superfluous in order to get to the essence of any message we’re communicating, whether visually or in creating a campaign message. Jobs understood that making things appear simple and easy takes complex and hard work.

Figment Annual Art Festival 360° Rebranding
Learn how our design solutions for this event helped increase submissions by 200% and attendance by 30% from previous years. View Case Study >>

Watershed Eco-Art Installation
Discover how our installation was instrumental in raising public awareness about plastic consumption by reaching over 1 million people in over 63 countries. View Case Study >>

As these case studies demonstrate, the effectiveness of design solutions should be measured not just by client happiness, but by seeing precisely how the intended objectives are accomplished over time. Richard Grefé, executive director of the AIGA, provides a great summary on this new responsibility designers should be taking: “Designers should absolutely be asking these questions and continuing to follow up with clients after a project is implemented. Through challenges like ‘Making the Case’ we can begin coaching designers on how to measure their success—what questions to ask, what metrics to track, and how doing all of this can help prove the effectiveness of their work to existing and prospective clients.”

MSLK has recently been busy working on completely new packaging and overall branding for Wigwam Mills, and it’s getting ready to hit the shelves this spring.

This was one of MSLK’s toughest challenges to date, for no other reason than we needed to improve on their previous design… also created by us. Though the challenges were different, we followed the same process as always, leading Wigwam toward reevaluating their core messaging, and revamping that look to stay true to their brand’s DNA. This new packaging is the first step toward helping them secure their place as a leader in the performance sock market.

MSLK current design from 2008:

Challenge
Launched in 2008, the existing packaging sought to convey Wigwam as an all-American, venerable family-owned brand with offerings for everyone: from the weekend warrior to the Olympic athlete. Deriving creative strategies to support research uncovered by the famed marketing specialist G. Clotaire Rapaille, the packaging’s focus was on hand-touched graphics, native American themes, and feel-good product names designed to elicit an emotional appeal. Despite an initial success, a slew of competitors entered the market recently with hard-hitting technology messages, causing Wigwam’s packaging to no longer stand out as they had once done so well. Wigwam again chose MSLK because of our deep understanding of the product line, their challenges, and our ability to help unearth deeper core issues with the brand.

Numerous hierarchy exercises were employed to determine the most essential information:

Strategy
MSLK developed several fast-paced exercises for the team, designed to help them focus on the most important aspects of their brand. These exercises were then translated into a creative brief that clearly communicated how we would solve the main issues during the design process. Our findings led us to four key insights:

1) Wigwam’s new packaging should play-up performance
2)  Graphics should be modern and asymmetrical to communicate movement
3) Activities and benefits should become the most important information
4) The triangle/teepee is Wigwam’s true brand essence

A glimpse of some of the numerous design options explored internally:

Design
We developed dozens of design prototypes, with a few rising to the surface that met all our strategic objectives. Two were eventually refined into versions suitable for thorough quantitative and qualitative consumer testing, with one emerging as the clear winner. The new design features a sleeve with angled edges, visually reinforcing speed and performance. Each product face contains a large teepee graphic comprised of activity-focused words in bright colors. Only the most essential information appears on the face, helping consumers easily distinguish between styles. The package backs were revamped as well, eschewing information that does not instantly communicate the performance benefits and Wigwam’s patented technologies. A QR code takes smartphone-enabled consumers directly to a web-page with more product information.

Success
Before even hitting the shelves, our design won a 2012 American Package Design Award. It’s also performing well among athletes during market testing. At a recent international sales meeting, the unveiling was met with a standing ovation, as these changes were described as being exactly what was needed to compete. At an outdoor retailer show, the brand experienced an unprecedented buzz among all attendees. Wigwam has already incorporated the new branding into many of their promotional efforts, including their sales catalog, retail stands, signs and collateral at races and trade shows, and their traveling van. Look for the new packaging this spring at REI, Paragon, Dicks and other high-end performance stores!

New Yorkers can purchase a set at Teich in the West Village. Mention MSLK and receive a 15% discount!

In a market flooded with so many brands, today’s consumer is presented with an ever-changing array of options along with an increased sense of discernment about what and where to spend their resources.  To be successful, a brand must find ways to distinguish itself and stand out amongst the clutter.

The process begins with a business strategy and marketing plan.  It has a clear point of view and maps out a direction for future activities.  This written plan describes the business, outlines goals and defines a sustainable competitive advantage.  It is a document that will grow and evolve.  A strong plan is an essential foundation documenting specific strategies and tactics to guarantee objectives are met.  Furthermore, it helps businesses make decisions quickly and manages capital and promotional opportunities effectively throughout the year; allowing for the right investments in the right places always with an eye towards the “big picture.”

Businesses who operate without a marketing plan often find themselves evaluating each marketing and business opportunity on a case-by-case basis and spend much time reacting to market conditions and at worst, “fighting fires.”  This method often produces “feast or famine” marketing.  Entire marketing budgets can be spent on one or two promotional tools, leaving a lack of funding to support any further efforts, including critical follow-up.  Worse yet, companies lose sight of why each project should be included in the business and promotional cycle in the first place and how it relates to the greater purpose.  With a marketing plan in place, businesses can then execute with a consistent focus on their overall goals.  Included will be a definition of the target customers for each program and the specific calls-to-action being deployed at each stage in the sales cycle.

For smaller brands seeking new or additional distribution, a marketing plan and its effective execution is an essential tool to igniting confidence and securing key retailer partnerships.  Retailers want to know that you have specific plans in place to inform consumers of your offering and ultimately create the desire that drives them into their stores.  As one set of eyes and ears to your consumer, they can be critical partners in this process and a vital help in revisiting your plan and evaluating its performance to determine future actions.

Research and knowledge of consumer behavior indicates that fashion and beauty purchases are often made because of certain intangible and emotional aspects of the experience.  It is those brands that show a profound understanding of this special relationship with their consumer and knowledge of how to tap into certain triggers that prove to have the most longevity and impact.  Every customer wants to be associated with a brand they can relate to, that makes them feel good and delivers on a particular promise.  The way that we go about communicating that message is through a combination of methods that targets all senses.  This is where the marketing vision and creative expression of the brand intersect.  The clarity of this vision identifies how the brand is different than its competitors and establishes a certain intrigue and romance.  Ultimately, this vision will result in the delivery of a consistent message through all the brand’s touch points.  Brands need marketing to be seen, to be found and to create that interaction that will lead to the desired goal of any enterprise– making money.

Often we will see amazing ideas spring out of the marketing planning process.  The key is that it be successfully executed with the resources available.  The answer lies in making an appropriate assessment of those resources to determine what is actually realistic then setting appropriate targets and expectations.  The success of this process will be in the ability to combine the pragmatic with the creative.  Ideally, this entails a highly collaborative process between all stakeholders, driven primarily by the marketing and creative teams.  Marketing charts the course and design creates the vehicles that bring it to life.  This strong alliance is essential to communicating the clear and distinctive message defined by your marketing plan and helps differentiate the brand so it rises above the competition.
We all recognize the value of great creative but it will lack meaning if it does not connect to the brand’s overall positioning.  We suggest that the design team be part of some of the initial ideation meetings to ensure their buy-in.  The results can be incredibly powerful.

Gloria Luna is an independent marketing consultant who has recently partnered with MSLK

For many, the word audit isn’t connected to creativity or much less something that can be good for business or actually fun. However, a brand audit is a great way of reviewing your brand to get an overview of how your company communicates. This is necessary in order to understand what’s working, what’s not working as intended,  and to set a successful course for the road ahead. We recently completed a brand audit and thought we’d share what we’ve identified as some best practices.

What is a Brand Audit?
A brand audit is a 10,000 f00t view of all the materials you are publishing surrounding your brand. For today’s busy consumer it’s never any one piece that fully conveys the message of your brand, but rather the aggregate of all the materials they encounter.  It is important to review these materials with fresh eyes imagining what your customer sees, not what you see. For this reason it might be helpful to work with an outside agency in order to get that genuine fresh perspective. It is also important to view all of the materials together, side-by-side, not one at a time. At MSLK we pin up at least one image or photo of piece of collateral including printed materials, signage, online, etc. (see our brand audit with Figment below)

What questions to ask during a Brand Audit?
As you begin the analytical process it is important to remain focused on what you are looking to get out of this audit. Of course you may be surprised at some discoveries you weren’t even considering, but good questions going in equals good incites coming out.  We ask questions such as:

Brand message
What do you want to communicate about your brand?
Do your materials clearly say this verbally?
What do your materials communicate non-verbally with their visual style?

Customer Perception
Do your materials stand out in the competitive environment?
What is the number one take-away a consumer gets from your brand?

When you have explored these two sides, the goal is to identify if there is a gap between what you want to say about your company and what you are actually saying.  This is why is it important to approach the audit with an open mind and fresh eyes observing your materials as your target audience would. Try to remain as objective as possible, there are no egos in a brand audit!

What results can one expect from a Brand Audit?
In our experience a brand audit often results in new insights about the brand, the design, marketing, and communication challenges that need to be overcome moving forward. In the Figment Brand Audit for example, the team identified an internal misunderstanding on how the logo should be used as well as a need for a style guidelines manual and templates so that consistent materials could be produced by each of the brands five locations.

Typical results and next steps following a Brand Audit may include:
Market and customer research to explore the findings further
A marketing plan to address the communication gap
A redesign of materials that are not inline with the overall goals
Development of an overall campaign to reposition the brand’s message across all media
Revised style guidelines

Reaching people through online, e-commerce and social media has become an unquestionable requirement of doing business; particularly for smaller brands without the resources to do other types of advertising and promotion. However the online space is becoming increasingly more crowded as well. Gone are the wild frontier days of social media where anything would garner attention. In addition emailers and banner ads are all experiencing declines in user participation. Faced with these facts, brands should not run and hide, rather we see tremendous opportunities when each media is approached with a clear plan of action and a clear point-of-difference to share. Enter the alliance of strategic marketing and design. Marketing charts the course and design creates the vehicles that bring it to life.

When we review a business looking to activate their online presence we first begin by analyzing what the company is currently doing online. We are also interested in their goals as it is crucial to know what you want to get out of online marketing before going into it. Reviewing what’s working and what’s not work in the existing landscape as well as setting the end goals really helps to focus our creative strategies. With a first engagement we try to look immediately to the low hanging fruit for the best opportunities to generate results. Quickly capitalizing on these opportunities can help the team feel a renewed enthusiasm for online marketing.

With the success of our first campaign under our  belts we can begin to focus on larger more complex agendas. Experience has shown that a trial with a sample campaign can help both parties get to know each other more and determine if the relationship overall is a good fit. Even better we can use the results from our initial campaign as a test bed to anticipate the types of goals, results, and metrics we can set moving forward.

Because no two brands are alike, there is no one size fits all solution for online marketing. This is why we focus first on marketing goals before the creative process begins.

MSLK has recently formed a strategic partnership with marketing consultant, Gloria Luna. Gloria is 15-year industry veteran having worked with brands such as Avon, Calvin Klein, L’Oreal and Sally Hansen. Gloria’s experience marketing fashion and beauty brands rounds out our design experience.

In today’s faced paced environment brands want their creative turned around quickly. However, they also want it done effectively. Enter the role of marketing and brand strategy seamlessly changing hands with creatives. A well defined marketing concept, coupled with effective copy/content can quickly and easily translate to great creative, saving the client time and money.

However many companies cannot afford to maintain marketing or design departments on staff, in addition, those with internal support are often overworked juggling many roles.  Recently marketing guru Gloria Luna and the design agency MSLK have formed a strategic partnership to fill these needs in the market.

With extensive background in the beauty industry, specifically salon quality haircare products, Luna and MSLK began their relationship in 2004 while working on the Redken brand. The completion of their first assignment, a redesign of Redken’s number one sales tool, led to a 17% increase in sales. Luna then went on to help Redken triple their business.

Through their partnership, Luna and MSLK now hope to apply these skills to other brands. Working hand-in-hand they hope to help fashion and beauty brands analyze, design, and reposition their communication materials.

Luna is a 15 year veteran of the fashion and beauty business having worked with brands such as Avon, Calvin Klein, L’Oreal and Sally Hansen. She is evenly balanced between creative and analytical competencies producing unique and effective marketing programs that build brand equity and sustained sales growth.

MSLK is a 13-year old boutique design agency that specializes in reinvigorating fashion and beauty brands through 360° brand positioning — from overall brand identity, to packaging, retail experience, websites, and social media campaigns.  MSLK’s partners Marc S Levitt and Sheri L Koetting have worked with brands such as Aveda, American Crew, Loro Piana, Maybelline, Ralph Lauren, Sean John, Sephora, Tumi Luggage, and Victoria’s Secret. MSLK specializes in helping brands find their unique voice in today’s crowded market.

Below are some further examples of the team’s work.

Recently MSLK was asked to do some retail analysis for an apparel brand looking to grow their business. The assignment, create a line extension for the brand that would capture more fashionable, impulse purchases made by consumers — primarily women. As we reviewed the product offerings in each store, we focused on the merchandise at check out counters, cash wraps, and end-caps, primarily on the first floor.  These locations tend to receive the most traffic and often lead to impulse purchases. Besides the anticipated insights that fun, travel sized, and conveniently priced items often occupy this prime impulse real estate, I was struck by the immense presence cause marketing, primarily for Breast Cancer Awareness, was receiving.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and it seems everyone has jumped on the band wagon. Today’s budget conscious woman is thinking twice before making any impulse purchase and the added emotional benefit of supporting a good cause is just the incentive she needs to push a mere want into an “okay why not!”

Even more exciting, brands have elevated the designs of their Breast Cancer promotions, creating attractive products that women actually desire! It helps that hot pink is  a very popular trend color right now. During my retail visits I saw entire displays awash in vibrant shades of pink. Candles, watches, fragrance, golf gloves, lotions, lipsticks, tennis balls, sunglasses, sports bras, sparkly shoes, and socks. It seems everything is more fun in pink!

Retailers from Bloomingdales to Target are recognizing the benefits of supporting cause marketing and the benefits of supporting brands offering timely promotions. Bloomingdales published an entire catalog dedicated to their “Pink” campaign which recognized all the pink/Breast Cancer promotions they had in store for the month of October. In addition, as we saw first hand, retailers are allocating prime floor space to brands which offer an attractive promotion.

Giving back and cause marketing has long since been a wonderful way for brands to elevate the emotional connection they make with consumers. What we are seeing now is that it is also a great way to catapult from the every day aisles and inner racks out into the limelight. This is especially exciting for smaller brands and brands with typically less trendy offerings, such as sports bras, to get in on the impulse purchase action.