<p>Several years ago when asked to develop a logo for a startup and later their website - as their product was then still in definition - the project surfaced several interesting challenges.</p> <div> <p>Namely, how can you visually articulate the character of a brand in flux, and upon what value propositions will an end user/comsumer find relevance? Reviewing the project and tracking their progress, I had to field the question. Succinctly, are online products and tools, brands, or are they people?</p> <p>I received an insightful response from Neil Robinson of LanZen - "... (it's) a problem with modern semantics...". Brands are entities which can and do produce products to diversify activity and acquire market share within and/or across sectors and industries. This activity then creates relevance within the respective sector and can lead an audience to greater brand awareness and value.</p> <p>Yet, brick and mortar endeavors benefit from having pre-established necessity; health, recognition, status, awareness. The associative value provided by furnishing these; Chinos, PPO, Hummers, and MBA's then only requires their transformation from a product or service into a "need". This can take various forms: community standards, exclusivity, bragging points, degrees of access or the value generated from perceived independence or self expression.</p> <p>Online product launches unlike their offline counterparts have to create these "needs" a process which often lacks historical context of presence and appreciation. For instance: although video has been around, there's little reference for video as a tool other than for recording personal activities. Seems simple. Yet the "fulfilled" need has, to date, been used to fill drawers, entertainment cabinets, stuffed shoe boxes or to decorate shelves.</p> <p>Video as a "need" hadn't development much further until YouTube and the likes began exploring its voice. Here in Los Angeles, that became pronounced during the trial of Rodney King.</p> <p>The creation of "Reality" as a broadcast marketing tool then followed, and further still creating potential video journalist as an outlet for activism and self expression.&nbsp;Yet, in regards its incorporation into all areas of journalism, video as a tool continues evolving. Creative Commons being the most recently developed in this arena.</p> <p>YouTube, within online communities, does very well. But what exactly is it doing well? As a conduit of video technology, video potential, and a creator of user behaviors its appears to be suffering from&nbsp;consumerism. This I feel will eventually block it from developing further. Aside from it's great user-generate underline, I don't think it will&nbsp;fair as well as - a household brand - as does Ford, Beatrice, Westinghouse, or Fisher Price. Primarily for its&nbsp;specificity&nbsp;in video as a consumable. There is little brand relevance other than the celebrity it provides users for their videos - the "If I can't get on TV, my video will be TV.</p> <p>Online firms which based their "Brand" definition on a technology were eager to secure presence, and I suspect were primarily focused on "Going Public" or reaching "IPO". The smarter firms, however, continued further, developing their models for integration across other areas.</p> <p>Astray, these Sales and Marketing approaches accepted the assumption that online "need" was proven. It isn't. For those entities which have fallen off the map, it appears, proving "need" and&nbsp;clearly defining a product's area of utility and relevance were less important than creating user dependencies and interest infections.</p> <p>The recession is proving that success is&nbsp;dependent&nbsp;on supporting need creation for your audience. Automobiles have developed from a technology into mobility and self expression. Brands are not one model, but many. They are simple, they are family, the are signs of progression and they are luxury. When times become troubled, and the demand of say, luxury, dwindles, there remains room to lower your exposure while still retaining growth. How is this done? By reinvesting in the creation and maintenance of "needs" for the establishment of consumer "wants". &nbsp;There's no way around it.</p> <p>Online product development is not inconsistent with this. Diversification, engineering, accurate projections and clear business models ensure viability when and where user behaviors are created. For instance were we to look at video, it can become: online journalism, marketing and promotion, topic embellishment, process for education, education as &nbsp;process, in-depth assets for clinical studies, market research, advertising assets for monetization.</p> <p>All of these possibilities currently exist on YouTube. As long as the appropriate "needs" and "user behaviors" are created these can support growth for YouTube. Here, in this light, YouTube can create user relevance for its brand. Here, it has the opportunity to become the Westinghouse of&nbsp;video&nbsp;technology where its activities might just lead to a demand for household products. Here, in this light it can become a brand and not just a technology-based entity.</p> <p>Defining, Creating and Supporting Need/Want scenarios is crucial to online development. It is not an open creative committee where product designs incorporate community feedback; where the brand can shape organically, naturally from user demands. No. Rather it is a single-sided effort by idea people who&nbsp;believe&nbsp;in what they see. Who ultimately&nbsp;harness&nbsp;all aspects of a company and value people needs as the brand outline, transforming the technology into multiple consumer raison d'&ecirc;tres. &nbsp;</p> <p>As ugly as it may seem, creating a "need" so that you'll want!, subscribe!, spend on! and support!, the model embedded within every successful product or service is intricately tied into community, family and&nbsp;individual&nbsp;success in this country. It is the&nbsp;mechanism&nbsp;extended across&nbsp;every&nbsp;area of our life to provide and secure prosperity.</p> <p>Next:<br />Where do designers fit within this environment and how can we improve the value of our services by promoting healthy user behaviors for a brand and its products.</p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> 2009-06-16T15:03:59Z -6.5718 138 5035 true 18 32245 the-extended-online-family 0 2009-06-17T05:27:45Z 2009-06-17T05:29:02Z

As a graphic designer with information, visual, user and advertising design experience this piece is a share of the more interesting disconnects between online product development and a marketing approach which fuels our economy.

1 2009-06-17T05:29:02Z