The Shetland Brand - Do you remember the logo?

[north]

http://www.sumodesign.co.uk/m_shetland.html

 

I can just see you in those t-shirts on page 10!

[Njugle]

http://www.sumodesign.co.uk/m_shetland.html

 

I can just see you in those t-shirts on page 10!

 

 

For the £123k I understand the SIC also got at least one font, a set of colour schemes, a set of templates for layouts using the logo and some nice marketing blurb on where/how it ties in with "Shetland".

 

Still over priced by a long way, but if you go to a top agency and tell that that's what you want....

Very true Carlos, i'd forgotten about all the other stuff. They also proposed a template as to how Shetland products be portrayed in manipulated photos of the landscape. I had a bit of a chuckle recently when a TV ad campaign incorporated exactly the same principle. Couldn't help but wonder if it was the same design agency. It happens.

[petergear]

http://www.sumodesign.co.uk/m_shetland.html

 

I can just see you in those t-shirts on page 10!

 

No, surely they aren't serious???? That's criminal. How embarrassing. Somebody MUST stop them, before ANY are sold to anyone, who might EVER be seen, anywhere, ever ever ever

 

Hold on a minute though, one of those will make a perfect present this Xmas for Tirval! Ha! I take it all back. Sorted

[Distortio]

http://www.sumodesign.co.uk/m_shetland.html

 

I can just see you in those t-shirts on page 10!

 

No, surely they aren't serious???? That's criminal. How embarrassing. Somebody MUST stop them, before ANY are sold to anyone, who might EVER be seen, anywhere, ever ever ever

 

Hold on a minute though, one of those will make a perfect present this Xmas for Tirval! Ha! I take it all back. Sorted

 

you'll be taking it all back all right - your birthday's in feb, yes...?

[Frances144]

Those t-shirts are evil, quite nasty in fact.

[Fifi]

Marketing Shetland as this vibrant forward thinking and self-sustaining island through the branding exercise can only become reality in my mind when Shetland actually becomes that. It's all been rather chicken and egg up to now.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, Trout.

[Fifi]

The problem with all these half baked ideas that generate from within the myriad of agencies funded from Council money, is they are never held accountable for their output or the success (or lack thereof) of the projects they undertake. There is no specified end user identified and they appear to rarely (if ever) consult the people who most likely might use it - in other words, there is no plan.

For Council money, you could also add any form of grant money, received by bodies who then have no clear idea of where they are going with projects.

[trout]

The concept of a common branded image is an excellent and well proven one. It is an important and highly effective means of identifying anything. The difficulty in creating a brand, is in ensuring it represents the interests of the people who are going to USE it. Not the people designing or commissioning it, but the stakeholders, the real end users.

 

These projects seem to come and go with little, if any, concept of how to take the project from creation into practical real world application - it is more of an academic concept and exercise. I think a lot of this can be firmly placed on a lack of commercial sense and experience. The only people who benefit from these great plans, are the companies that cater to the Government agencies that form their customer base - and those companies clearly recognise the commercial opportunities - and also that their customers are accountable to no-one regarding expense, cost over-run or defined success upon completion.

 

^^ I may be shot down in flames here but Cutting Edge was most likely "worth" every penny given to it when you look at them in the context of the "Media & Design" industry. Their portfolio is impressive and filled with successful household names.

 

That doesn't excuse the fact that though, as north points out, there has been no clear bridge between the commissioned article and any real world application of it.

 

It also doesn't excuse the fact that Shetland is awash with very successful artists / design students etc. etc. that would have easily produced materials of a comparable and possibly, dare I say, higher calibre and for a significantly lower price tag. I will say though in defense of the decision made, if you are trying to sell a product such as Shetland on a world stage you will go to someone with a proven track record in such things!

 

On the flip side, how is Shetland to retain our islands decreasing population when jobs such as this, that could easily have ensured some person or persons future based in the islands, is handed outwith? This point is for another thread though!

 

The brand wasn't completed overnight and was mooted as far back as the turn of the millenium in a report commissioned by the Council into Shetland marketing issues by Anderson Lyall Management Consultants. Corporate Edge only got involved in January 2003.

 

The SIC state:

 

The brand development project has been led by the Council’s Economic Development Unit in liaison with Shetland Enterprise Company Ltd through consultation and involvement with local industry and the wider community.

 

The issue to my mind is that there was no real establishment of any "First Class Services", nor were they sought out and nurtured whereby an umbrella brand could be applied to them once a brand was commissioned and returned.

 

Further to this in all that time had it been figured who was going to apply the brand? Who was going to police that brand once established so it didn't get tarnished? Not really.

 

There had been consultation with varying business sectors and it was

 

[...] advised that an independent Branding Centre and Branding Manager had been discussed, however it was felt that the resources required would be considerable, although that remained a longer-term aspiration.

 

^^ Thats a lot of questions that don't really lead to solid answers - or at least not out in the public domain.

 

A great idea running on a chicken and egg plan with no clear exit strategy.

 

Marketing brand first + figure out exactly how to use it and what to apply it to later = not a lot really.

[david_jam]

Marketing Shetland as this vibrant forward thinking and self-sustaining island through the branding exercise can only become reality in my mind when Shetland actually becomes that. It's all been rather chicken and egg up to now.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, Trout.

 

and you know what could drive such... if shetland was no longer just a pimple on da muckle sphincter o da UK, where folk lack ambition because of influence outside their control. It does not breed forward thinking or initiative. Once you have the community empowered, that drives ambition, forward thinking, and results in better exploitation of its potential. You've maybe guessed where i'm coming from with my thinking. It makes sense to me. We can all have our dreams.

[Frances144]

The thing is, though, I am not allowed to use it (though I personally feel I contributed towards the £123,000) and I have passed SIC Dev Dept Quality Control with flying colours.

[PoolHaddock]

I agree trout. The design firm would have done exactly what was asked of them. The problem was that they were dealing with a client that (I can only assume) had absolutely no idea what they wanted or even how they were going to utelise the product. These are always the hardest kind of clients to deal with. Infact, some of the bigger firms will only take on jobs if the client is "smarter" than they are!

 

http://static.flickr.com/99/295411316_188c32425d.jpg

 

I winder if I could get a few grand fir this? It's a whaapony-ewedock. Perfect for SIC letterheads.

[Frances144]

Please can i use your logo?

[trout]

That would be delicious sardonicism if you did!

[Njugle]

The only 'design feature' missing from that is a fat wallet.

Proper job! :tmbup;

[trout]

Branding not ironed out

 

IS THERE anyone out there who can explain what the Shetland Brand is, exactly? After two years and many thousands of pounds in consultants' fees and council officials' time no-one, apart from the tourist office, seems to have the foggiest idea what it is and what the strange violin neck logo should be used on.

 

During the debate at the Althing on Saturday the brand was described as a style guide gathering stoor, lacking authority and without any quality control. This confusion and scepticism was reinforced by the discussion at the economic development forum on Wednesday.

 

Perhaps it all goes to show that marketing is slightly more complicated than getting the council to pay for a bunch of consultants. We have to have something to sell that will put the Shetland name on the map and it has to be of good quality if the name is to get a good reputation. That comes down to companies and individuals who want to improve their products. If a brand is needed, perhaps the best thing would be to lift the dead hand of the council off it and get someone to set out the aims and objectives clearly and concisely.