For some reason business-to-business (b2b) customers are often treated differently to business-to-consumers (b2c). The way services are presented to business customers tends to lack the finesse of consumer-focused services. The user experience for business customers seems to have lost out to productivity and profitability, but I think it’s time for a change.

I have wondered for a very long time why so many businesses consider the communications they have with other business so differently to those with consumers. It sometimes seems as though while consumers are considered as a group of individuals, business customers are treated in a far less personal way. This can lead to a far less engaging experience for the people in business that experience brands aimed at business. Luckily many companies have cottoned on to this and have improved the way they market to b2b customers.

But whilst many business-to-business brands have upped their game over the last few years with slick websites and marketing communications, spreadsheets and business applications, forms and reports still often lack the sophistication of consumer applications. Why shouldn’t business processes be as engaging and efficient as iTunes, Flickr and Facebook?

The user economy in general is demanding a better user experience and as brands apply the same elegant digital, social and mobile efficiencies that are driving modern consumer applications to b2b products, they’re creating deeper loyalty and brand value.

There are a growing number of online products that are aimed at the B2B market that incorporate better UI design to deliver a more engaging experience. The design industry, ever being an early adopter of such things, and seeing its value, has seen a fair few well designed products offered to them, a good example being solo by thrive software (below) which is aimed at freelance designers.

Apple, of course, do some great, easy to use, beautifully designed business applications in their iWork suite. They are also releasing an online version, currently in beta, known as iWork.com

Marketeers and product managers take note; these and other products that are leading B2B communications and applications into a shiny new age of slick, user focused user engagement so it makes very good business sense to invest in good UI design for your apps, websites and other digital communications. Does anyone have any more examples of good UI design in B2B applications or communications?

Since I first wrote about QR Codes here, public awareness seems to have grown about these nifty shortcuts to information for Smartphone users, but I haven’t seen many uses that make me think ‘wow’. But Tesco’s innovative use of them to solve a business problem is exemplary.

The problem
In South Korea, Tesco (known locally as Homeplus) are second in sales to E-Mart due in part to E-mart having lots more stores. Homeplus wanted to gain a bigger market share, but instead of purchasing or building new stores, they used some creative thinking. Realising that South Koreans are among the hardest working nations, Homeplus found a clever way of solving their problem, by taking the store to the customer.

The solution
Homeplus created a virtual store in a subway, with displays that look similar to those in the real stores, but customers can scan QR codes printed next to each product to add them to their basket in their online store. The customer can finalise purchases then check out and their purchases are delivered to their homes, maximising their free time.

The result
Online sales between November 2010 and January 2011 increased by 130 percent, with the number of registered members rising by 76 percent. Homeplus has become the number one online store and has raised the stakes in the offline market.

Quick Response (QR) codes are popular in Japan, and are starting to gain acceptance in europe and the US. Have you seen these little squares of black and white pixels and wondered what they are for? This article explains what they are, gives you a couple to try out and highlights their marketing potential.

What are they?

Well, they are a two dimensional matrix barcode which are readable by dedicated barcode readers and camera phones. They are made up of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. They contain encoded information that is typically text of a URL, but can contain other data. They can be read by special barcode scanners, or by a modern cameraphone. I downloaded i-nigma for my iphone, which seems to work well, and is also available on Android phones.

Who makes them?

Well, they are free from any kind of licence, so anyone can make them. There are various websites that allow you to encode your message as a QR code. Here are a few:
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
http://www.i-nigma.com
http://www.qurify.com/en/

Here’s a couple I made earlier, with a bit of VGroup customisation. Try scanning them if you like, the first one is a website link, and the second our contact details.

Will they work for marketing?

Perhaps. The main thing to think about is why anyone would bother to scan your QR code. It has to give them something they want, or make something easier, like adding contact information, or any other information that is printed, but would be useful if it was digital.

While this technology is still a novelty, slapping a code on some marketing material may seem a good way to appear current, but there is a danger that without being useful you will be ignored, or annoy people.

What can they be used for?

• They could be added to produce to provide added nutritional information, recipe suggestions or where it has been produced on groceries.
• You could add access to free giveaways, such as wallpapers…
• Add a code to a poster that can be scanned for a walking map from the poster location to the venue. (An extremely long URL – such as a Google Map with directions – can be a simple scan code!)
• Links to product pages on posters showing multiple products

• They could contain calendar info for events – save the date, time and place straight to your calendar.
• Codes to unlock extra levels in computer games, or download bonus tracks on a CD.
• Or added functionality in software, plugins, templates etc.
• They could be added to clothes labels to track back where the clothes were made
• On business cards they can make it easy to save all contact info, and likewise on event nametags.
• In shop windows or point of sale displays

• Add personal info to tattoos (temporary or otherwise), clothing, accessories or possessions.

So with one final push our new website has now made it’s way into the World (Wide Web). Creating it has certainly been both painful and rewarding but like doting parents we’re very proud of our new baby. It’s been many months in the making and although we may be slightly biased, we think it has a few cute features to coo over. We certainly have high hopes for its future.

As most designers will tell you, creating your own website is possibly the best and worst project you can do. It’s great because you are on the other side of the fence, you are the client, you have a clean slate to work from and only your creativity limits you. Sounds ideal doesn’t it? Or does it?

Our current website had been online since we launched VGROUP in late 2007, and as we know in web technology development terms, that’s a very long time. Things move on at such a pace that we decided a refresh was in order. Diagnosing our old website meant we learnt some valuable lessons and took these forward into the concepts for the new site.

A website is a powerful tool in marketing and awareness terms; it’s where many clients get their first impressions of us and our services, so creating an impact is essential. We wanted to make our specialist services clear and also make a lot more of all the great work we’ve done for clients both past and present. With these points in mind we worked on the information architecture to ensure everything had its place and would provide our audience a highly usable experience. We created a clear grid based layout that was easy to navigate and gave us the ability to show off our projects to their fullest.

Extensive case studies
As a promotional tool for us the new site allows us to send links to featured projects directly to prospects where they are able to read a brief overview of the project, view a series of images summarising the project and also, where available, download a full in-depth PDF case study for further reference. Alongside the visual aspects of the site, what happens under the skin is also completely new. When analysing how we wanted the site to work for us, we knew that basing the site on our in-house Content Management System V:CMS would give us all the flexibility that we needed.

Incredible editability
V:CMS was developed because we felt that most CMS systems seemed very bloated with features that most people would never need. We decided to develop a system that was flexible enough to give clients the features they needed, but was also intuitive to use. The administration area is clean, simple and ultimately usable. After all making routine updates to your website should be a simple task, and with V:CMS it is!

Super search optimisation
As with any website presence, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a key aspect and V:CMS takes care of this by allowing bespoke meta data to be entered for any page and updated at any time through the web based interface.

So after many long hours, late nights, colour changes, furious head scratching, last minute updates and about four thousand, six hundred and seventy three cups of tea/coffee our new website is live: visit www.vgroup.com and have a look round. We’d love to hear what you think.

VGroup were first commissioned to undertake product research. We looked at the competitive set including products form Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer. From product propositions, brand promises, names and pack designs we knew we needed stand out and above all to push the brand benefit ie that this lettuce lasted longer than others. The name Lasting Leaf was chosen; it does exactly what it say’s on the tin, or should I say the bag!

Packaging design concepts followed with consumer research clarifying the final direction. Fresh, crisp typography and soft, friendly colours combined with clear descriptive copy to reassure the consumer that no chemicals or unnatural technique had been used.

The final design was kept impactful yet simple, allowing the key brand driver to shine through, with a secondary colour key adopted to differentiate the salad mixes and to allow for the range to easily extend in the future.

To support NWF’s internal launch of the brand we’ve produced a range of communications including:

• Promotional leaflets for employees
• Canteen posters to announce launch and new customer with Waitrose
• Product promotional items for trade and consumer press

…and we’re now working on a consumer push starting with:

• Photography to show product shots in packaging and made up recipes
• Holding page with microsite
• In store shelf barkers for Waitrose

A full case study of work will be available soon on our new website. (Coming soon!)

To read press coverage The ultimate convenience food: Lettuce that stays fresh for a week goes on sale

Here at VGroup we are passionate about all things branding, after all that is what we do.  We know that branding isn’t just about creating logos and colour schemes. We know it’s not just about clever visual design. We know it’s not just about symbols, foil blocking, debossing, variable thickness textured coating, thermography, flash, asp, coldfusion, php and Java.

We do know it is about recognition and loyalty. We know it’s about the communication of qualities and values. We know it’s about image of size. We know it’s about experience and reliability. We know it’s about distinguishing your identity from that of others. We know it’s about developing trust.

At VGroup, we like to consider ourselves innovators. Combing the latest technologies with the creativity of our collective imagination. We are always looking for new ways to create, maintain and enhance a brand. One of the most powerful methods of achieving this has been around for a very, very long time, but its evolution is only recently starting to permeate commercial marketing and branding culture – all thanks to modern technology and its everyday use. The reproduction of recorded sound.

How many hours do we spend in front of our computer? How many hours in front of our TV? How many hours being kept on hold on the phone. How many hours listening to the radio? How many times per day do we receive a text alert? How many times per day does our ringtone sound? How many times per day do we pass through an environment such as a station or a cafe where sound is being broadcast? How many times do we switch on or off computers, mobile phones or other devices?

All these events in our life are prime candidates for a specific type of branding…

What is audio branding?

“Audio branding (also known as sound branding, sonic branding, acoustic branding or sonic mnemonics) is the use of sound to reinforce brand identity. Sound branding is increasingly becoming a vehicle for conveying a memorable message to targeted consumers, taking advantage of the powerful memory sense of sound.” – Wikipedia

Most business and organisations currently rely almost exclusively on visual cues to communicate who they are, what they do and why they matter – their brand. Nike’s tick, Shell’s shell, Walt Disney’s  Kingdom. Pirates have their internationally recognisable skull-and-crossbones flag. All religions have their own unique symbol. Today, practically every brand on earth has its own visual identity or logo. Other senses are rarely part of the equation. Until now.

Why is it so powerful?

Two main reasons:

1: The brain’s capacity to consciously and subconsciously memorise sound.

And the best bit? It does it automatically. Sound can, if constructed and composed intelligently, ‘brand’ itself into the psyche. The power of audio to stay in one’s memory is easily proven. Here is a simple test for you: Take a piece of paper and draw, from memory, Intel’s logo. Now, hum to yourself Intel’s audio brand. Which was easier? McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it” audio logo is recognizable by a whopping 93 percent of the people exposed to it.*

2: Blink – and you won’t miss it.

To state the obvious: you do not need to look at sound. Imagine your brand identity filling a room without a single person having to see it. Imagine your brand identity being directly delivered into the consumer’s ear-brain mechanism as soon as they dial your number, or receive an sms message, visit your website, listen to the radio, ‘listen’ to the TV. There are even printed glossy magazine pages that have recently been developed, which incorporate wafer thin microelectronic devices that can reproduce sound to the reader/listener.

Well designed audio branding can cleverly reflect and enhance a given brand’s values.

On a recent flight, as the plane descended back into British airspace, those who had their mobile phones switched on started to receive welcome messages from their respective network operators. The passenger sitting next to me had an instantly recognisable text alert sound. Mmmm Danone. (This is one of the first commercial audio brands I remember hearing on television, in France, back in the mid-90’s). This person turned out to be a Danone employee, and thanks to their generosity, this audio now has pride of place on my phone. Today it still serves as a constant reminder, to myself, and those who happen to be around me at the time I receive a text message, of the power of audio branding – and a certain brand of yoghurt.

Sound has unquestionable potential in creating an impression. Consider some of the sonic snippets in your life—imagine Star Wars without music, a PC advertisement without the Intel Inside chimes, or a Harley-Davidson motorbike without its expertly calibrated tone. Sounds like a Golf? What does a Honda sound like? What does a yoghurt sound like??

Want to know what your brand sounds like? Talk to us. You might just find out…

*Audio Branding Research Wave 1. SonicBrand UK, 2005

VGroup’s primary objective of the new Capex website will be to clearly demonstrate and differentiate service offerings of the business, facilitate the collection of data on enquiries, provide a mechanism for frequent updating of content, and convey their expertise, professionalism and friendly personality. Case studies of completed projects will also be available as downloadable pdf’s to showcase their capabilities. The company brochure will be an overview of key USP’s and contact information to work as a part of their new collateral.

With our capabilities and experience in working with clients to evolve their corporate brand we see this as a positive step for Capex – to fine tune their service offering and capture more of the competitive office fit-out and furniture market.

Naturo is a new product brand that VGroup have created as part of our ongoing work for the Langmead Group. We were commissioned to breathe life into their existing product brand with the creation of a new logo and packaging designs. The latest incarnation of the brand is a series of luscious salad packs that break with the somewhat traditional supermarket designs to create a real stand out value on the shelves.

We came up with various concepts but really wanted to challenge the convention of the regular pack designs where the branding is minimal. To achieve this we utilised the leaf symbol from the Naturo logo to create a window to view the product and taking into consideration the various leaf mixes that the product development team at Natures Way Foods had devised we developed a colour palette that complimented each product in the range.

The ends result allows the shopper to see the fresh salad inside while still achieving a presence on the supermarket shelves and increasing brand awareness.

To read more about this work download the case study.

Everyone at VGroup now blogs – including those with little writing and/or technical experience – and thus the blog has been an upskilling and team building experience in itself. It’s nice to have something that we all contribute to, and that everyone gets to have their say. (Check out our post on business blogging if you want to know how it could work for you.)

Now that we’ve got the hang of it, we’re looking forward to ramping up our blogging strategy, diversifying the content and just generally blogging more. Sometimes we’re serious and heavyweight, sometimes we’re topical and trivial. But we think our blog is a great way for people to get a sense of what we’re about, and it’s great to be able to have the more knowledge focused posts to distribute when clients need a crash course in something, be it Brand Guidelines, Twitter, or Web Standards, or to distribute a quick collection of a certain kind of work, like branding case studies.

So behold the 100th post – and for a laugh, we thought we’d share this bang-on satire on client-supplier relationships. Watch nightmare clients try to compare fillet steak to a taco, and then ask the chef to show them how they made it so they can “do it in-house” next time! Not everyone is like this of course, but we’ve seen and heard a lot in our times and boy did it make us laugh!

Enjoy – and listen up …

After working with Dead Sea Healthcare for over two years, and on its Male Grooming range for over one year, you can imagine our excitement when the product launch day finally arrived! From the 27th October DSH’s male grooming range is to be found on the shelves in Waitrose and John Bell & Croydon in London.

It is always exciting to see your work materialise – whether it is in the form of a brochure being printed, a website going live or an ad published in a magazine – and it is extra thrilling when you’ve been part of the process of creating a brand from scratch. VGroup developed the brand packaging look of the products, the trade ad campaign, marketing materials and the consumer ad campaign for the launch. The male grooming range includes five products – anti-wrinkle cream, men’s hand cream, hair & body shampoo, aftershave balm and face scrub – which all contains natural Dead Sea minerals, are neutrally scented and dermatologically tested. The Anti-Wrinkle Cream also contains 10% Argireline, which is a muscle relaxing solution that works in a similar way to botox.

The DSH advertising launch campaign focuses on the Anti-Wrinkle Cream and Hand Repair, which are the leading products DSH is pushing in this initial stage. The campaign is about to roll out in the next month in some of the country’s leading Men’s and Women’s life style magazines and national newspaper supplements. It’s main concept was to make the product ‘the hero’ so we developed a design style that was clean, contemporary and pushed the initial brand look that was created by VGroup some months ago.

The art direction and photography centred around capturing the products’ crisp clean lines and strong design by surrounding them with an ethereal background or texture to enhance the packaging and allow it to take centre stage. Overall the product and story behind the brand is a strong one, one that we hope will resonate with the Male Grooming market and provide a successful launch into the retail market.

The DSH men’s range is currently receiving extensive media coverage within magazines and newspapers in form of editorials, reader’s offers and competitions. For the PR campaign we created a digital press kit on DSH’s website, from where press release and images of all the products easily can be downloaded. This enables publications easy access to press material at the click of a button and we can ensure maximised media exposure by having the information readily available.