Jump to content

The Shetland Brand - Do you remember the logo?


Frances144
 Share

Recommended Posts

Could someone explain Monsieur Henderson's letter to me in English rather than corporate speak. (http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/pages/Letters/letter_page.htm)

 

In his letter, he writes:"FOR whatever reason, there has been a widespread misunderstanding over what the Shetland brand is actually about. When it was first launched, the debate unfortunately centred on the logo and its possible use. In fact, of course, the real value of any brand is not a logo - many brands have no logo at all - but in the reputation that lies behind it."

 

Would the reason be that in their own blurb, on the HIE (which the Dev Dept work together with in projects) website they wrote: "The idea behind the islands' biggest ever marketing initiative is to boost seafood, knitwear and other export industries and encourage tourism, creating new jobs to compensate for a smaller-scale oil industry - and attracting investors to Britain's most northerly community.......is likely to be a distinctive new logo to 'hallmark' Shetland products and services......Kevin Moreland, marketing officer with Shetland Islands Council said: "For decades imitators have passed off sweaters as 'Shetland Knitwear'. Efforts to register the Shetland trade name for our hosiery and seafood have had only limited success due to 'Shetland' becoming a generic term. Now we're mounting a serious, well-organised project to reclaim our name and promote Shetland as an instantly recognised brand name, worldwide.". HIE March 2003

 

See this rug, see this dirt - I wish the bystanders would all go away!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 59
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

A couple of useful articles:

 

"Branding is one of the most misunderstood terms in marketing. Many people I've spoken with seem to think that if they have a consistent look to their marketing materials or if they put their logo on everything they send out, they are building their brand. Unfortunately, those actions alone will not build you a brand."

 

From: http://www.morningstarmultimedia.com/html/2005/06/your-logo-is-not-your-brand.asp

 

 

"I believe that the logo is the most abused, misapplied, misconceived, wrongfully distracting element of design and business today. I encounter too many people in business who believe that their logo should define them. The reality is that they should define their logo. For some reason it seems that this business fundamental is lost on most business owners.

 

I find it rather ironic and frustrating that while so many owners, executives and managers have absolutely no idea what design can do for their business, they have entirely unrealistic expectations for what a logo can do for their business. A logo’s purpose, as imagined by far too many, amounts to the very definition of putting the cart before the horse. In such cases it would be far better to send the horse off to the glue factory.

 

Seriously, the logo is just the simple mnemonic that can be used to mark (brand like a cow) products and marketing materials so that people know who made them or who is trying to say something to them. The logo itself only articulates what the brand already broadcasts. That’s it."

 

From: http://www.andyrutledge.com/logo-misapplication.php

 

 

The Shetland Brand project is NOT about designing a logo that can be slapped onto adverts, promotional materials and products. It is (or at least should be) about much more than that.

 

The team at the SIC are fully aware that branding Shetland (or, more accurately, RE-branding Shetland) is about much, much more than just a logo. The logo is just a tiny part of it. That is why they paid Corporate Edge, a company that specialises in national and regional branding to provide their services.

 

(Incidentally, these services could not have been provided locally - I don't think there are is a section for Regional Branding Specialists in the latest edition of the Shetland phone book, but I may be wrong. If it was just about creating a nice logo, it could have been done locally, but it is about much more than that.)

 

 

Now, paying over £100k to Corporate Edge if nothing is done to follow it up is undeniably ridiculous. The money that has been spent to date will be entirely wasted if no action is taken to make use of the information and ideas that Corporate Edge provided.

 

What is (or should be) the next step for the project? I have no idea what the SIC has planned, but in my opinoin one thing that has to be done sooner rather than later is some kind of campaign to educate the people of Shetland about what has been done to date (and why), and what will be done from now on (and why).

 

The Shetland Brand project is probably a very good idea, but without real action it will be just another example of wasted money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^ exactomundo!

 

The "Shetland Brand" is an excellent idea.

 

A logo is but one part of an overall "brand".

 

There has been reams more that has come out of this than a "logo".

 

Corporate Edge are/were specialists in what they do/did.

 

It appears from the outside that no-one but the inner echelons of the SIC team involved in the branding exercise actually now know what is going on with it.

 

The logo is the only tangible part of the whole exercise that many are aware of.

 

The public have been dribbled a half understanding of where the "branding" was/is going and are now confused as is obvious from this thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There has been reams more that has come out of this than a "logo".

That's true, but until the council actually utelise any of it, they have effectively paid 123 grand for a fairly basic, slightly awkward logo.

 

(Incidentally, these services could not have been provided locally - I don't think there are is a section for Regional Branding Specialists in the latest edition of the Shetland phone book, but I may be wrong. If it was just about creating a nice logo, it could have been done locally, but it is about much more than that.)

Could the design side of things and the marketing side of things not have been done seperately? The Fonts, Logos, Layouts, Colourschemes etc. could have easily been done by a local firm / artist / designer. And, probably for a fraction of the cost. The marketing side could have been handled by an outside firm...

 

...when the council was actually ready to take that step.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote:

It appears from the outside that no-one but the inner echelons of the SIC team involved in the branding exercise actually now know what is going on with it.

 

 

I remember being at a meeting about 5 years ago when this idea was discussed & Sandy Cluness told the meeting that it was vitally important that the development department delivered this project or they would have to answer to him!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

For anyone having missed the letter on the shetland-news website:

 

originally published here

 

Brand is misunderstood

 

FOR whatever reason, there has been a widespread misunderstanding over what the Shetland brand is actually about. When it was first launched, the debate unfortunately centred on the logo and its possible use. In fact, of course, the real value of any brand is not a logo - many brands have no logo at all - but in the reputation that lies behind it.

 

The central message from the work done on the brand is that Shetland needs to build a solid reputation for high quality. Succeeding in that depends much more on our actions than on words or indeed logos. The project identified the things that Shetland can offer, for example, authenticity and integrity. It also specified the target market on which we need to focus: essentially, people who care about these things and are willing to pay for them. That work was valuable, especially coming at a time when many in Shetland still believed that selling large volumes of product at the lowest possible price was the way forward. However, the logo was a relatively small part of it.

 

That said, we are well aware that more needs to be done and, in a forthcoming report to the council, we plan to spell out a very positive way forward. If your correspondent wants to get in touch directly with us, we'd be very happy to discuss this in more detail.

 

Neil Henderson

Principal Officer - Marketing

neil.henderson@shetland.gov.uk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I noticed that the Shetland Arts Trust is looking for a graphic design/ marketing/ branding service

 

Shetland Arts is seeking to commission a graphic design and marketing service

 

 

Shetland Arts Design Brief

Budget - Shetland Arts is a registered charity with a restricted budget. However, we recognise the value of professional artistic work, and seek to commission creative work as far as our limited budget will allow.
I wonder if they'll stretch to £123,000?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
Marketing Shetland: An Outline Strategy

 

The Forum considered a report from the Marketing Service, Community Economic Development Unit (RECORD Appendix 2).

 

Members of the Forum listened to a series of sound clips from Radio 4. The Senior Adviser - Economic Development advised that the individual recordings raised some issues including how a reputation is formed for a particular place, and what reputation a place can have.

 

The Senior Adviser - Economic Development gave a presentation to the Forum entitled “Marketing Shetland” (copy of the slides are attached as Appendix 2A).

 

The presentation outlined the background and recent progress made in marketing Shetland, the branding work carried out by Corporate Edge, opportunities for marketing, promoting and branding Shetland, Shetland’s target markets and the proposals and aims for the way forward. The Senior Adviser advised that the outline Strategy included aims to build reputation, improve . . .

 

Read more here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

We now have the 'Highlands & Islands Brand'.

 

Is this not what the Shetland Brand was supposed to achieve? I suppose it could supplement each other quite happily but I have an image of it being more competitive than that.

 

Read more on Shetland News here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could someone explain Monsieur Henderson's letter to me in English rather than corporate speak. (http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/pages/Letters/letter_page.htm)

 

In his letter, he writes:"FOR whatever reason, there has been a widespread misunderstanding over what the Shetland brand is actually about. When it was first launched, the debate unfortunately centred on the logo and its possible use. In fact, of course, the real value of any brand is not a logo - many brands have no logo at all - but in the reputation that lies behind it."away!

 

I read that as "We could have used any old sharn and it wouldn't have mattered."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We now have the 'Highlands & Islands Brand'.

 

Is this not what the Shetland Brand was supposed to achieve? I suppose it could supplement each other quite happily but I have an image of it being more competitive than that.

It appears the proposed 'Highlands & Islands Brand' is purely for crofters, as opposed to any quality product produced in that area.

 

"The crofting brand will be available only for produce from registered crofts and to SCF producer group members."

http://www.croftingfoundation.co.uk/uploads/news/Branding-Launch.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...