Working in marketing is never for the faint-hearted. By the time you’ve gotten up to speed with the latest trend, you’ve already missed five new ones. People enter the industry because they thrive on innovation, creativity and have an unquenching thirst to solve the next challenge – but sometimes it feels as though things are a little too complicated. 

If you find yourself often wishing for more time and more resources, as well as less pressure and less reliance on other people, don’t panic as we’re going to give you all the answers in this article. Our team has identified some of the most frequent requests we get and show you how to solve them. 

#1 – “I wish we could do more with less resources”

The challenge:

With budgets being cut, more people working from home and no breathing space on turnaround times, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to deliver vast volumes of marketing assets on time and within budget. If hiring is off the table, then the only way to keep up the momentum is to make your existing team more productive. 

That’s not to say they’re not already doing their very best, but empowering them with the tools and processes to work smarter, not harder, is the only way to take your content production up a notch or three. 

How BAM solves it:

The key to freeing up time, budget and resources is having pre-set templates that are intuitive, intelligent and can be used by anyone. We’re not talking about off-the-shelf designs that anyone can access – the value of great design and concepts continue to be vital for your brand, but having the power to make considered edits is important to reduce the reliance on external agencies that takes up so much time and money. 

With smart templates from BAM by Papirfly™, you have variables within a predefined design that can allow even those with zero design knowledge or experience to make easy updates without compromising your brand or creativity. Teams can quickly create new digital or print designs in the form of social media posts, HTML emails, brochures, billboards and more. All exported at the right size, in the correct format.   

#2 – “I wish we could make these quick design updates ourselves”

The challenge: 

Not having designers in-house means spending money externally for all your design needs. This works well in most cases, but should a last-minute text change come in or you decide to create a quick adaptation of a particular asset, it means going back to the agency, who may not be able to fit it in right away and it’s going to cost you more money. It’s not ideal, particularly when you’re up against the clock. 

How BAM solves it:

Engaging your agency for every little tweak or update becomes costly for you and pretty painful for them. These updates could be made possible if guidelines were pre-programmed on specific asset types. This is where BAM comes in. 

Here’s just one of many examples that demonstrate its power. You can create a social post that can only alternate between exact colour sets, only includes two lines of text and keeps the logo fixed to the bottom-right no matter what.

When you or your agency sets the rules contained within the templates, you have total peace of mind that no matter who in the world is making amends, they are doing so on-brand and without spending additional budget. 

Likewise, should you need to adapt a campaign for a specific country or territory, teams will be able to update colours, logos, language and other specifics in a matter of minutes.

#3 – “I wish we had the capability to deliver video in-house”

The challenge:

Video has become essential. Specialist production houses can be pricey. Your team needs to deliver videos at a greater pace than can be delivered. They need to be reactive and can’t sit around hoping deadlines will be met before the topic becomes redundant.

There is also an abundance of different tools online that help you create videos, but these can be expensive, are largely restrictive in what you can do branding-wise, and also require a certain level of knowledge or expertise in the software. 

How BAM solves it: 

Within your creation suite, you are able to easily import your branded intro and outro slides, dividers, edit transitions, sound levels, add music, text, imagery, video content and much more.

What sets this software apart from others is that it’s designed to be easy for anyone to use, sits within an already familiar portal where users can easily import the elements they need, and allows you to easily export in different sizes and formats. There are no features limited to certain levels of ‘package’ – once the module is available in your portal, you get access to everything you need. 

#4 – “I wish we could bring our brand in-line globally”

The challenge:

When multiple agencies and in-house teams are in charge of your brand across the globe, messaging can sometimes get diluted, brands can get misinterpreted, and chaos can ultimately ensue. Having all eyes on teams and each asset produced is a Herculean task for anybody. Guidelines must be issued and adhered to, the proper foundation work for your brand elements must be laid and rules must be cemented for each country or team across the globe. 

How BAM solves it:

A birds-eye view is absolutely possible. As is re-issuing guidelines. As is having brand rules that are enforced automatically, while allowing global teams to have flexibility and freedom within a framework. All with BAM. 

Outside of the educate section, which houses everything your teams need to execute your brand expertly, the create section uses the intelligent templates to make sure teams are only able to edit elements of a campaign that you predefine, and also ensures things like logos, translations and imagery are all culturally relevant. 

The store & share part of the portal, a powerful DAM-like system, acts as a central repository for files, elements, designs and imagery, giving individuals access to only the files they need and allowing them to make edits or re-format a desired piece of collateral all within the same SaaS platform. 

#5 – “I wish we could produce as much as the teams with bigger budgets”

The challenge:

Brand budgets are not always distributed evenly for offices across the world, but that doesn’t mean demand for marketing collateral isn’t consistently high. 

When you’re under pressure to do what you can with less budget, perhaps fewer team members than your other colleagues, or want to be more reactive, having something that allows you to produce content effectively within your existing team is very important. Budget has its limitations, but empowering employees to easily produce assets en masse with BAM – while using agency-designed templates – gives everyone a level playing field.

How BAM solves it:

Because BAM is a single SaaS licence, it means that no matter how many assets teams produce, this is all covered within the software cost. Technically there is no limit to how many marketing assets each team can create each year. 

Stop wishing, start delivering 

We understand the nuances of marketing, and the challenges teams face on a daily basis. We work with some of the most recognised brands globally, such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Vodafone and more. With over 500,000 users of BAM by Papirfly™ worldwide, we continually push the boundaries of what’s possible, to break down some of the biggest barriers for marketing teams worldwide.

You can find out more about BAM here, or if you would like to see the magic first-hand, you can book a demo with one of our team.

Rebranding is undertaken for many different reasons; when a company is going through a big period of change, is coming out the other side of a scandal, or taking the advice of their marketing agency. Whatever the reasons, it’s a bold move for any team to take on.

Logos are iconic for many reasons, including that they become synonymous with products, feelings and, in some cases, an entire generation. Though a logo only forms a small part of a brand, when changed without warning, or without the right communication strategy, it can dramatically impact the perception of a consumer and, if not well-received, takes a considerable amount of time to get used to. 

In this article we take a quick look at 4 iconic logo changes that dared to be different and are still doing the business for their global brands many years after the big switch.

Zara

You may remember this one from 2019. Perhaps only the die-hard Zara fans were as devastated as the designers who took to social media to heavily criticize the new direction. 

Traditionally, having letters overlap would be considered a huge design faux pas, but as French agency Baron & Baron have shown us, not playing by the rules makes quite the statement. The agency is the creative brain behind Dior and Maison Margiela – both known as high-end, luxury fashion designers. 

Zara is very much becoming the fashion house of the high street, and no matter what your opinion on the logo change, it may just have helped them to solidify this position further. 

Instagram

Another social media rebrand that sent shockwaves through the digital world was the rebirth of Instagram in 2016. Users could not believe their eyes when they opted to replace their retro polaroid camera logo with a flat, neon-colored, gradient icon. 

At the time, Instagram faced widespread criticism that it was so simplistic that many from outside of the design world claimed they “could have produced something similar”.

The change was drastic, but absolutely the right move for them at the time. The irony is, after such a critical reception, many other brands have followed suit with stripped back, flatter logos in the last couple of years. Instagram took a risk as a trailblazer, and their gamble certainly paid off. 

Mastercard

Something must have been in the air in 2016 was certainly the year of the rebrand, with Mastercard getting its first new logo and branding refresh in 20 years. The design keeps the iconic overlapping circles, but is completely modernized with the removal of the dated stripes. 

MasterCard’s team had foreseen the major transition into the digital age and created a new logo that would stand the test of time…That is, until January 2019. Just when the world thought MasterCard couldn’t get any bolder, they went against every branding rule in the book and removed their brand name from the logo, leaving behind only the red and yellow circles. 

MasterCard opted for minimal in every sense of the word, and reconfirmed what we already knew – their identity is iconic enough that it needs no introduction. 

Premier League

Consumers will always be your biggest critics when you make a big brand move, but having a global fan base of loyal football supporters opens you up to a whole new level of scrutiny. A(nother!) rebrand that took place in 2016 saw DesignStudio responsible for the clean, minimal Premier League logo fans have now become firmly accustomed to. 

The initial controversy surrounded a miscommunication whereby it was rumoured that ‘Cecil the Lion’ would be removed in the new logo. The hearsay spiralled without being addressed properly and, when the rebrand did finally launch, there was Cecil front and centre.

Perhaps by keeping the rumours swirling, the agency helped to keep the new rebrand the hot topic of conversation. Free PR aside, if anything drastic is to change within your logo, you could consider a full communications strategy to make sure there are no surprises that could affect your reputation in the long term. 

Conversely, if you have total confidence in your new direction (as Instagram did), a sudden launch could be just what you need to raise your profile in the media and cause a stir online. The dust will always eventually settle as today’s big rebrand becomes tomorrow’s chip paper.

Why are rebrands such a big deal?

These rebrands are thriving a few years on. Yet it’s not always the case that bold changes guarantee success.

It’s worth considering that a huge portion of global marketing budgets is spent on brand recognition campaigns. In doing so, brands build a rapport with consumers over the years that forms ongoing loyalty and relationships. If a change happens too suddenly, it can feel as though they haven’t been considered in the process. It can come as a shock and suddenly the brand they’ve known and loved throughout their lives is unrecognizable. Of course, most of the time it’s only a new visual direction, but psychologically consumers may feel uneasy about what to expect in the future. 

The decision to rebrand is never taken lightly, particularly for global companies. A new logo requires a new set of brand guidelines, tone of voice guidance, color palettes, fonts and more. Having these assets created is the starting point – the rollout across the globe is where the real work begins. Every piece of internal communication, be it email signatures, letterheads, business cards and more, needs to be overhauled. External marketing, websites, employer brand documents, interiors, signage and every piece of collateral needs to be replaced over a period of time.

On the face of it, it sounds like a costly task many would want to avoid. That’s why it’s essential that companies decide carefully whether rebranding is right for them.

If you’ve decided rebranding is the way to go, then making sure you have the technology to roll it out is essential.

However, maybe your teams haven’t had the tools to make your current brand a success, in which case it’s a great time to review your Digital Asset Management and Content Creation solutions.

Whatever stage you’re at in considering your brand’s next steps, check out the insights from our rebranding experts.

You don’t have to look very far on the Internet to find templates for any number of marketing mediums. Website layouts. Email designs. Business cards. Social media. You name it, you can find a template for it.

The reasons why they are so widespread are fairly obvious:

• They can be massive time and effort savers for design teams
• They help preserve brand consistency by locking down critical elements
• They can be moulded to the ideal dimensions for digital and print materials, from social assets to billboard posters
• They make creating perfectly branded designs accessible to anyone, regardless of design skills

Sounds fantastic so far. But, these advantages are frequently contested with this counter-argument:

“By placing firm boundaries on designers and promoting the duplication of the same layouts, templates greatly restrict creativity.”

While this assumption that templates restrict creativity is understandable, when they are used correctly, this is far from accurate. In fact, they can give designers the opportunity to work more creatively and feel more empowered in their role.

Why do many designers despise templates?

As highlighted above, a core issue that designers have with templates is how they limit the possibilities to produce unique, bespoke graphics.

Quite understandably, this “conveyor-belt” style approach to asset creation goes against their passion for producing innovative, one-of-a-kind pieces.

A quick counter to this argument is that competent companies already place these boundaries through their clearly defined brand guidelines. This is critical to maintaining consistency across all communications, a powerful marker of brand quality and essential for building trust among audiences.

With strict guidelines in place in place, designers can only push the boundaries so far in order to preserve their brand’s identity – any further and you can quickly lose recognition and trust among consumers. Good templates should manifest these guidelines, ensuring that anybody using them can’t stray away from the core foundations of your branding.

But, alongside these limitations on creative thinking, designers have further concerns about relying on templates, such as fears that templates will diminish the importance of their roles, making them dispensable if less-skilled workers can create graphics.

Again, this is an understandable concern. However, we would never advocate that templates exist to replace designers. A designer’s discipline extends far beyond just choosing from a predefined list of colours and patterns.

Without the unique insight and understanding that only a skilled designer can provide into any form of visual content, templates can result in a constant flow of bland, uninspiring and cookie-cutter assets.

We recognise that the core role of designers is being the overarching creative forces behind the brand. Rather than be caught up in the minutiae of producing repeat assets and making an endless stream of subtle tweaks, using templates ensures that designers can shift their focus to bespoke projects and creative thinking, while other, less-skilled employees can confidently work on day-to-day asset production.

Do templates actually benefit creativity?

Rather than cut off designers’ flow, there are many reasons why templates go a long way to freeing up designers’ time and preserving their creative energy, while empowering others to play an active role in asset creation.

No more mundane tasks

The use of templates means that those with minimal design skills can take responsibility for the more straightforward, mundane asset creations and tweaks. This removes the burden on your more qualified designers, who could be at risk of burning out or becoming disillusioned by making repeated adjustments or copies of old assets time and again.

More time for creative thinking

By freeing up your designers’ schedules, they will have more time to drive new ideas, research the latest trends and think conceptually, helping you stand out in today’s crowded market.

Not everything you push through your marketing channels necessarily needs to come from a template. While these can notably scale up the amount of content you produce for less time and money, for campaigns that need that extra creative spark or bespoke touch, you need your best designers on the case.

While your wider team uses templates to keep your content ticking over smoothly, you’ll have total confidence that all other collateral is going out perfectly on-brand.

Furthermore, this creative thinking time is likely to also form the basis for future templates, or helpful adjustments to your existing ones, which will improve the quality and attractiveness of your assets for your global audiences.

Conserving energy

It may sound frivolous, but even the prospect of your designers being able to go home on time and maintain more beneficial work-life balances, because templates have freed up their schedule, can greatly enhance their capacity to create and find inspiration for future works.

Designers can find inspiration practically everywhere, from films, television and books, to walking in the countryside. However, they are less likely to find new ideas when sitting behind the same desk, making miniscule amends to previous assets.

Let your templates do their job, so your designers can do theirs better, both inside and outside the workplace.

How to make the most of your templates

With all of these benefits for using templates in mind, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Using templates to replace the role of your designers is a recipe for disaster. This approach will inevitably hamper the uniqueness of your content, as only the insight of an effective designer can craft visuals that really capture people’s attention and illustrate your distinct brand identity the right way.

The solution is to have your design team play an active role in the creation of your templates, so that these receive their seal of approval, before they can be harnessed by other, less-skilled members of your organisation to apply as required.

That’s why a solution like BAM by Papirfly™ offers you more than cookie-cutter templates that can be downloaded or bought online. As well as providing an array of pre-built templates, our powerful platform enables you to structure your own smart templates across all forms of collateral, which can then be harnessed by your wider team to produce high-quality, on-brand results every time.

Create templates for every channel; social media posts, video, posters, brochures, banners, signage. All this and more can be housed within your platform, equipping your teams to produce an infinite amount of perfectly branded assets.

This means total consistency and content production that’s faster and more cost-effective than ever before. The ability to quickly amend or adjust collateral for your global markets and sub-brands, all while your designers have more capacity and less pressure, allowing them to work at their most creative, without burning out.

Empower your team’s creativity with smart templates

When used effectively and with the direct input of your insightful designers, templates can result in massive improvements to the productivity, consistency and ROI of your marketing output.

While your designers might immediately be hesitant about the idea due to the fears that we’ve pinpointed in this article, after using BAM by Papirfly™ these concerns will be replaced with celebrations for greatly reducing their share of mundane, repetitive tasks, and giving them the freedom to do what they do best: conceptualise and create great content.

• Easy-to-use software and intelligent templates make creating exceptional assets simple
• Provide your input on a wide range of fully bespoke templates
• Reduce your dependence on external agencies to produce content that you could be creating in-house
• Locked-down elements give you complete confidence that all content produced is consistent with your brand’s identity

Accelerated content creation is just one way that BAM can revolutionise your approach to marketing. Discover the full scope of our platform’s potential – get in touch with our team or arrange your free demo today.

While their purposes and priorities are often worlds apart, the brands we work with across different industries are often facing similar challenges.

Faster times to market. Seamless in-house asset creation. Global consistency with local messaging. These priorities are likely to hit home with teams working in every industry.

This article will be exploring the way that each of these challenges impact global brands in the Pharma, Banking, IT and FMCG sectors. We’ll be explaining how they have adapted their output to meet new demands and what it means for them to produce relevant content for the world we’re living in.

Before we get stuck in, let’s take a quick look at two of the most significant industry-wide changes in the marketing landscape:

Increasing the focus on digital

We’ve covered the digital revolution a few times within our articles. As game-changing innovations continue to emerge, it’s a topic that never stops being relevant. 

It has given marketers a constantly evolving suite of platforms and technologies for reaching their audiences. Virtual reality. Tailored online shopping experiences. Digital healthcare. Plus new social media platforms that seem to be emerging every month. Customers and consumers have more ways to interact with products than ever before, and the overwhelming majority are digital.

Time for a refresh?

2020 saw an unusually high number of brands refresh their identity. While this is a good thing to do before your brand starts feeling a little out of date, so many companies rebranding at a similar time was no coincidence. For many, it was more of a timely response than a routine update.

The media had named 2019 ‘the year of protest’ with demonstrations taking place in every corner of the globe. They were centred around various injustices but a vast majority were taking on gender inequality, racism and climate change. More people took part in protests than any other year, and the implications for brands were huge. 

Consumers were demanding a change from unethical business practices, unsustainable products and insensitive messaging. Apologies for ‘missing the mark’ in their advertising no longer cut it. To earn the trust of audiences in 2021, brands need to prove that their brand has a positive influence on the world. For many, rebranding has been an opportunity to bring their positive attributes front and centre, and show where their products and services provide genuine value.

4 industries getting the best from BAM

After reading the above, you might be thinking that marketers have got their work cut out — and you’d be right… Producing assets for endless new platforms, getting them to market at pace, and with watertight consistency, isn’t easy. 

To make matters worse, each industry will have its own nuance, trends and best practices that need to be thought about. 

Brand Managers need not despair – BAM can take the stress away from accommodating these extra workloads, new formats and cultural nuances.

Here’s how brands across four prominent industries can make change happen with BAM:

Pharma

The move towards a more patient-centric approach through the use of wearables, apps and cloud-based products has made pharma marketing one of the richest territories for digital innovation.

Despite being fairly late in adopting digital, this is an industry that is becoming ever more reliant on it. While brochures are still an important way for patients to learn about pharma products and services, there has been a landslide shift to the use of video and social channels for promoting new healthcare tech that provide patients with a more active role in their healthcare.

As well as an ever-growing number of products and services now available, an ageing demographic across most of the world will boost the market for prescription drug treatments. This is likely to equate to approximately $1.2 trillion by 2024. The resulting increase in digital output will require some big changes in the processes and best practices of pharma marketing.

Marketing any medical product is full of legal implications and often means lengthy approval processes. This can get unmanageable when launching a campaign in multiple countries each with their own laws surrounding the types of product that can be sold there as well as how they can be marketed. Luckily, BAM makes it quick and simple to loop your legal teams into approval processes. That means you can be sure that quicker times to market, doesn’t mean cutting corners.

As well as the ability to produce unlimited print assets, BAM gives pharma marketing teams the ability to produce digital assets at pace and scale. Plus they can be converted to fit relevant social channels in just a few clicks.

4 ways to use BAM in pharma

Digitisation

With the rise of wearables and cloud-based healthcare apps, BAM helps pharma companies take advantage of every digital opportunity with templates for a range of online formats.

Personalisation

Patients are taking a more active role in their own health. With BAM, pharma marketing teams have the in-house tools they need to make campaigns resonate with their audiences.

Videos and social media assets

Although the pharma industry has been relatively late to use the full potential of social media, having an online presence is now more important than ever. BAM is helping teams catch up with easy to use templates for every social channel.

Accuracy

For obvious reasons, there is absolutely no room for error in pharmaceutical marketing. BAM allows you to loop your legal teams into approvals processes so you can be sure that all your marketing materials are ready to go.

If you work in the pharma industry for an employer brand team, check out our ‘The future of pharma’ whitepaper.

If you work in a wider marketing team in the pharma industry, you might be interested in ‘The changing face of pharma marketing’ whitepaper. 

Banking

As noted earlier, there have been a number of sector-wide rebrands to come out of the last few years. Perhaps most notably in banking.

After the emergence of numerous unethical practices, the banking industry has been tarnished with a distinct lack of consumer trust. This led to a number of banks needing to shift their priorities and change their tone in order to prove that the industry had learnt from its mistakes.

One of the key factors for instilling trust in consumers is consistency. No matter how much your advertising tugs your audience’s heartstrings, emotional messaging won’t hold any weight if they are met with bland confusing financial jargon when they go through to your website, for example. For consumers to believe in a brand, its messaging needs to come through authentically at every interaction.

However, consistency can be tricky when you’re rolling out campaigns across the globe. You can’t just go full steam ahead with a campaign without understanding the nuance in every market it’s launching in. At best your messaging might be confusing, at worst it could be causing offence.

Getting to understand cultural nuance is one of the ways HSBC really was able to become ‘The World’s Local Bank’. With BAM’s easy to use templates and localisation feature, local teams can access relevant and culturally appropriate marketing materials for their specific markets. It means that all messaging can land as intended, in any location.

4 ways to use BAM in Banking

Cultural nuance

For a bank to become truly global, its communications need to land as intended in every market. BAM’s localisation feature helps teams make their marketing nuanced and culturally relevant across the globe.

Consistency

While capturing the subtle differences in every local market, BAM helps marketing teams ensure that the messaging, tone, look and feel of a bank’s marketing is familiar anywhere in the world.

Trust

Staying on brand is the key to building loyalty among consumers. BAM makes your brand guidelines easily accessible and shareable to keep all your teams up-to-speed.

Clarity

With its visual campaign planner, BAM gives teams a bird’s eye view of where and how marketing materials are being used. It allows you to tag briefs to specific campaigns and be sure that relevant teams are in-the-know.

IT and Telecoms

Arguably the greatest use of modern technology is its incredible ability to connect people. This makes it even more important for organisations like IBM and Vodafone to have a brand that connects with their audiences and their employees in offices across the globe. 

The sheer volume of assets that teams at large telecoms providers and global IT companies need to produce is astounding. It can also be overwhelming for the teams trying to get them over the line. Relying on agencies for routine tasks is too slow and costly, while ensuring global consistency with cultural relevance can easily spiral off-brand.

In-house asset creation. Global brand governance. Watertight approvals from one location. This pipe dream is an everyday reality for marketing teams using the power of BAM. With a simple creation suite, in-house teams can produce high-quality marketing materials within set templates. Approvals are made seamless too, with all key stakeholders notified at every stage of production. With BAM, teams can be agile, accurate and create with confidence without professional support.

4 ways to use BAM in IT and Telecoms

In-house creation

To cope with the volume of marketing materials that global IT and Telecoms companies need to produce, BAM’s innovative creation suite reduces the need for agency help. When you can bring more production in-house, you can cut lengthy back-and-forth approval processes and get better value for your agency budget.

Agility

With much faster times to market, your teams will be able to respond faster to new opportunities.

Approvals

When your teams are producing a high volume of assets for campaigns across the globe, BAM helps you keep track of approvals from a single location. It also ensures that all key stakeholders are kept in the loop.

Connecting employees across the globe

In a large global company, it can be a major challenge to keep your teams aligned with your core values and company goals. BAM brings your teams together from a central location, giving them access to assets that resonate with local markets and align with your employer brand.

Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)

To meet consumer demand, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Mars and other FMCG conglomerates have to react fast on a global scale. These big names are omnipresent, with their products in almost every corner of the globe. Unilever, for example, has a presence in 190 markets around the world. 

To take advantage of every opportunity, in every market, their variety of brands need different messaging and imagery to appeal to consumers in different locations. To make matters more complicated, this varies in countries, states and even cities in the same region. 

To achieve this level of accuracy on such a colossal scale, Unilever uses BAM to empower local teams to take asset creation in-house. They can use PIM & ERP integration to respond faster to local demand and access relevant, localised guidelines from a single shared location.

4 ways to use BAM in FMCG

Scale of production

To keep up with the incredible volume of work required to market FMCG products across the globe, BAM streamlines your processes and reduces the need to repeat tasks such as recreating the same assets for different channels.

Speed to market

With easy in-house creation tools, BAM helps you respond in time to take advantage of consumer demand and other shifts in the marketplace well before the competition.

PIM & ERP integration

To react fast with pinpoint accuracy, FMCG marketing teams can use BAM to integrate their PIM & ERP systems. 

Localised guidelines

Keeping track of a number of different brands, in a number of different locations can become a little overwhelming. To take the stress away from this process, BAM provides a single location for localised guidelines. This means that teams across the globe have everything they need to ensure the materials they create stay on brand.

Taking on cross-industry challenges with BAM 

Even if your company doesn’t fall under one of the four industries above, some of the challenges we covered will surely sound familiar to you or your teams. BAM can create endless opportunities for companies in all kinds of sectors. Want to see where it can give your teams the freedom to fly? Get in touch with our teams to arrange your free live demo today.

It’s always busy around this time of year, and if your teams are struggling to meet urgent deadlines, then they’re not alone. With that in mind, we’ve identified some of the most time-consuming tasks in marketing and how your teams can tackle them without working overtime.

When workloads are high, resources are low and deadlines are tight, BAM by Papirfly™ can help take up the slack with a whole suite of innovative time-saving features. 

Time-consuming tasks you can ditch with BAM

#1 Sending large files

Where time is wasted

Compressing, packaging, waiting, uploading, downloading. These might not seem like much on their own, but when a deadline is approaching, every minute watching an ‘uploading’ screen feels like an hour. Throw a slow connection and large file sizes into the mix, and those minutes move even slower.

How BAM can save it

By removing the need to send large files in the first place! With a safe and secure DAM built-in, BAM allows you to store the assets you create before giving you the opportunity to share them with the wider company, or set specific access permissions to the teams who need them.

#2 Outsourcing everything

Where time is wasted

While agencies can give you an endless bank of creativity, strategic thinking and other expertise, back-and-forth approvals over minor amends is not the best use of their time, or yours. Although it may seem counterintuitive, outsourcing less of your work will help you get better value for your agency budget.

How BAM can save it

With BAM, you can empower your teams to create more in-house at the same quality you’d get from your agency, in a matter of minutes. The innovative template feature keeps their work constrained within your brand guidelines while still giving them freedom to create. Taking the simple routine tasks in-house saves agency time from being spent on what your teams can do themselves and frees-up their expertise for what they’re best at.

#3 Disjointed approval processes

Where time is wasted

Every marketer has been there. When lots of people (possibly too many) are involved in a project, and all of them need to give their input across a range of materials, staying on top of feedback becomes a complicated business. Without a streamlined approval process, comments can be missed, repeated or begin to contradict each other. This creates confusion instead of the clear actionable feedback your teams need for a successful campaign roll-out.

How BAM can save it

It can sometimes take several rounds of amends to get a campaign perfect. Without a way of structuring, documenting and sharing approvals with the relevant parties, comments and feedback can easily spiral out of control. With Papirfly, this doesn’t have to be the case. BAM allows you to automate digitised workflows within one portal where teams can access relevant assets, leave comments and receive feedback in a single location. The entire version history and audit trail are recorded, and marketing materials can only be released and shared once final approval has been given. You’ll also get extra peace of mind with the ability to notify stakeholders whenever assets are reopened post sign-off.

Are time-wasting processes holding your teams back?

Find out more about the features above and start streamlining your marketing today. Get ready for…

High-speed delivery

• Create professional materials in a matter of minutes and be the first to respond to market demands.

Global localisation

• Simplify campaign localisation and make sure all your materials land with impact.

Watertight consistency

• Forget last minute amends and create consistency from the beginning by setting dynamic templates for asset creation.

Complete control

• Keep teams and stakeholders in-the-loop and select who has access to certain assets.

Curious to know more? See the power of BAM for yourself by booking a demo.

There are millions of successful brands and businesses in the world. Thousands dominate their respective markets. But few have the status of the world’s truly iconic brands.

Coca-Cola. Amazon. Apple. Disney. BMW.

These are more than the most popular brands on the planet – these are cultural institutions. They are the organisations that have captured the imaginations of generations of global consumers, commanding a level of brand loyalty and recognition that ensures they continue to stand out from the crowd.

And they set an intimidating benchmark for other brands to try and emulate. Indeed, at a time where the average lifespan of companies has fallen to around 10 years, many wonder if it’s still possible to forge an iconic brand in this environment. 

Yet, the brands mentioned above (and more below) are a testament to the fact that, by adapting to an ever-changing world and overcoming the challenges that come with this, it is possible to reach this status. It certainly isn’t easy, but nothing worth aspiring towards ever is.

What is an iconic brand?

So what makes branding iconic? Is it simply a case of longevity? Well, for brands like Twinings that have been in operation since 1706, that certainly helps. However, Google, the world’s most widely visited website, has been around for just over 20 years, yet is already firmly established as one of the all-time iconic brands.

Is it having a standout name or the best logo of all time then? Of course, the Nike swoosh or the Golden Arches of McDonald’s resonate in the minds of millions worldwide. But the most successful brands are so much more than this.

How about having all the characteristics of Soon Yu’s Iconic Brand Pyramid, or Hofstede and Hofstede’s Brand Onion Model?

While there is sadly no template behind all of the world’s most recognised brands, there are some predominantly shared characteristics to keep in mind:

• The most iconic brands have strong cultural roots, reflecting the beliefs, values and experiences of their target audience in a powerful, meaningful way. In fact, in some cases they have proven the catalysts for changes in society’s values.
• The most well-known brands have a clear, consistent and identifiable image, one that fits the character of the company and is instantly recognisable with people across the globe.
• The most famous brands tell a compelling story about who they are and what they represent, adapting this foundation to the environment they currently find themselves in.

These core factors contribute to making timeless brands; those that connect with audiences today as strongly as they did decades or even centuries ago. Those that leverage brand activation management and use it to set themselves apart in their respective industries.

And, at a time where COVID-19 has understandably left many brands questioning how they will cope with these conditions, it is this perseverance and ingenuity of these iconic brands that others should use as inspiration to continue to engage their market and look for opportunities to make a real difference.

Here are three examples of “top ten brands” in their respective industries that faced similar hardships and returned to prominence stronger than ever.

3 examples of iconic brands in tough times

Coca-Cola

Starting with arguably the most famous brand name of them all, The Coca-Cola Corporation was formed in 1892 and, through the strength of its advertising and celebrity endorsement, had become firmly established in the eyes of American audiences by the 1920s.

The Great Depression that followed in the 1930s was a sustained period of difficulty for brands of all forms. But, if you simply looked at Coca-Cola’s net profit during this decade, you would struggle to believe that there was even depression at all.

This sustained success was in no small part down to adapting to the situation and evolution of the brand’s advertising. In 1931, the now-classic relationship between Coca-Cola and Santa Claus was first introduced, with this partnership shaping the jolly, bearded character we all picture today. 

They also pivoted their sales pitch to ‘one of life’s affordable luxuries’, ensuring they remained a go-to purchase for people during a difficult financial period.

Lesson learned? Adjust your marketing messages to fit the pain points that your target audience is facing, and use this period as an opportunity to explore new advertising messaging and angles that your competitors haven’t yet explored.

IBM

With a legacy stretching back to the 1880s, IBM as we know it formed in February 1924, and entered a sustained period of growth boosted by the post-WW1 boom period in America and its global expansion.

Like Coca-Cola, instead of buckling to the challenge presented by the Great Depression, those at the helm of this iconic branding focused on investment in the company. IBM became one of the first organisations to introduce life insurance, survivor benefits and paid holidays for staff, demonstrating their commitment to their employees as part of their core values. 

A greater shift was to come in the early 1990s where, after losing billions for multiple years and being regarded as a ‘dinosaur’ in its industry, IBM adjusted their focus to cloud-based technology. By leaving hardware behind and adapting to this new landscape, they reaped the benefits, becoming one of the most valuable and recognisable brands in the technology space.

Lesson learned? Pivot with the environment you find yourselves in, whether that is in a crisis scenario or just naturally as the world progresses. Their actions during the Great Depression also illustrate the brand value of supporting your employees and the importance of upholding the core characteristics your company is founded on.

LEGO

Finally, let’s look at one of the world’s most popular toy brands, LEGO. Unlike Coca-Cola and IBM, LEGO didn’t enter the Great Depression as an already established name. As a matter of fact, LEGO was founded in 1934, in the heart of this difficult timeline.

After perfecting their plastic-mould brickwork in the late 1950s, the company entered a sustained period of expansion worldwide, which would last until the early 1990s. However, by this point, the rise of video games and other innovative forms of entertainment, led to a sustained decline and a $174 million loss in 2004, leaving LEGO on the verge of bankruptcy.

Once again, it was a case of adapting to a new world while sticking steadfastly to your values. Listening to feedback from their fans and customers, LEGO branched out into a range of ventures like K-12 educational programmes and their range of popular video games and movies. This investment into their company at a time of real difficulty (especially as the Global Recession was kicking off) helped the brand recover and connect with a new generation.

Lesson learned? Listen to your audience for guidance on the direction of your brand – this response to feedback is what keeps iconic brands engaged with their customers in good and bad times. Also, LEGO’s story shows the importance of investing in new advertising avenues in tough spots and diversifying your product offering, all while remaining true to their brand legacy.

How do iconic brands stay relevant?

Some of the most successful brands in the world have experienced difficulties, often due to factors beyond their control. But, like the examples above, some brands have evolved to stay relevant in the face of these challenges, adapting and persevering through these to become stronger than before.

So, what overarching lessons can brands of the world today take from their examples? How can you stay relevant in the eyes of consumers when the world they’ve become familiar with is changing before their eyes.

1. Look for new opportunities

First of all, consider the changes affecting people and what opportunities they present. If the crisis is located in a particular geographic area, perhaps now is the time to explore new territories? Do you need to alter your offerings for these circumstances, or engage with different audiences? With the world rapidly changing, this is the chance to recalibrate your brand to stay relevant.

2. Provide people with an alternative

A recession will cause consumers to make tough choices about what’s necessary for their lifestyles. The most enduring and popular brands will meet these difficult decisions with solutions, providing cost-effective alternatives that people can turn to in leaner times. This helps them stay at the forefront of consumers’ spending habits, reinforcing their brand for when things take a turn for the better.

3. Keep your promises and values

At times of crisis, it is more important than ever that brands live up to their core values if they want to retain the trust of their audience – something that’s hard to achieve but easy to lose. Timeless brands understand this and remain true to their promises to customers, even when that is more challenging than usual. This retains the loyalty of consumers through difficult periods, allowing them to bounce back stronger later on.

4. Stay consistent with your messaging

Consistency is crucial to any of the best brands in the world, and at the heart of how they stay iconic. Even during hard times, it’s essential that a brand’s messaging and identity doesn’t waver. This provides consumers with much-needed familiarity in periods of significant change around them, and that familiarity evolves into trust, which helps brands achieve iconic status.

5. Support those that are struggling

Finally, brands should focus on how they can specifically support people in this difficult environment. Whether this is lower prices or unique discounts related to the crisis in question, or getting hands-on and supporting the effort in a way that reflects your capabilities and values. By taking a stand to help others, you stand to forge lasting bonds with these individuals and others that appreciate your ethical initiative.

Of course, we recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything we’ve seen in our generation, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to reinforce the strength of your brand and connect with consumers. 

The 3 iconic brands discussed earlier are demonstrating that right now in a variety of ways:

• Coca-Cola is pushing the narrative of how staying apart through social distancing is how we actually stay united in these challenging circumstances
• IBM is lending its resources to governments, the WHO and CDC to give people access to up-to-date, accurate virus tracking information
• LEGO has adapted its manufacturing tools towards helping support the creation of protective visors for healthcare workers in their native Denmark

BAM by Papirfly™ and the journey to iconic brand status

Hopefully this has given you some food for thought about how the world’s most famous brands have evolved in the face of an ever-changing landscape, and inspiration to help you manage and reinforce your brand during difficult circumstances, such as those we are dealing with right now.

Papirfly is here to help you achieve this aim and keep you on the path to becoming an iconic brand. BAM by Papirfly™ provides a single online destination for global organisations seeking to preserve, protect and propel their brand by empowering their in-house marketing efforts.

• Create an infinite number of studio-quality marketing assets through bespoke templates – no specialist support necessary
• Educate your global teams on everything your brand stands for
• Manage the delivery of your marketing campaigns with total governance
• Store & share assets across the globe through a single online location

Some of the world’s most iconic brands like Coca-Cola, IBM, Vodafone and Unilever are harnessing the power of BAM. If you would like to join them on the path to ageless branding, request a demo of our software today.

Ever wondered why certain brands spring to mind at the thought of particular words, places, times of the year, or even people? It may seem natural, but in most cases, it’s something that they have spent years establishing through daily interactions and significant moments in our lives.

Brand associations are what create the link between a brand and thoughts or concepts.

They influence our buying habits and help us decide what makes one brand different from another — even when the products and services they offer are largely the same.

What’s the science behind it?

How brand associations affect the inner-workings of our minds goes deep into psychology. 

The most widely recognised scientific explanation is found in the Hebbian Theory, developed by ‘the father of neuropsychology’, Donald Hebb. In The Organisation of Behavior (published in 1949), Hebb outlines his work in trying to explain how learning is accomplished within the brain.

Part of his theory is that neural pathways are developed based on experiences and that, when certain connections are created more frequently, they become faster and stronger. Hebb also theorised that one thought would be more likely to cause another if they have been recalled at the same time on multiple occasions in the past.

Brands can build these connections through:

Attributes

The distinguishing features of a brand’s products or services could include physical appearance, feel and quality, as well as packaging and presentation. 

For instance, a brand looking to promote that they are “eco-friendly” could build this association by ensuring their products are recyclable, or designing their packaging with colours and themes that represent nature.

Attitudes

The attitudes we have towards brands can be a direct link or very abstract. They can create feelings and emotions, such as happiness or nostalgia, or be linked to specific lifestyles, like athletics or luxury.

Sticking with the theme of nostalgia, adverts like this one from Microsoft from 2013 illustrates how brands can evoke the past through experiences, trends and objects, and then tie this back to their own company’s story. Finding ways to link familiar, recognisable elements for your customers to your brand values is an effective way to drive connections.

Benefits

The benefits that you associate with a brand could be linked to the reasons you buy their products or services, or the experiences you have while using them.

They might also align with your personal values by contributing to social causes. Examples like Warby Parker’s pledge to donate a pair of glasses to children and those in need for every pair purchased are illustrations of how choosing their brand helps you make the world a better place.

Celebrities

Brands have been using famous ambassadors to endorse their products for years. It’s also becoming more common to see company founders gaining publicity and having a major influence on brand association (think Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Elon Musk).

This works most effectively when brands pinpoint a celebrity that embodies the values of your brand, for example, Ed Sheeran’s collaboration with Heinz was all the more effective because of Sheeran’s love of their ketchup, even having a tattoo of a bottle on his arm!

How the world’s leading brands stay front-and-centre

For the global brands battling it out to become the leading name in their market, establishing and maintaining positive brand associations is crucial. It’s the reason that:

Whether it’s bringing in the holiday season or evoking nostalgia with its iconic glass bottles, Coca-Cola is a brand that feels timeless. Positive brand associations make Coca-Cola seem as if it has been sharing happiness since forever.

There’s a reason you’ll find bright red Coca-Cola branding at holiday resorts, sports events, and tied to beloved characters like Santa Claus. By ingraining itself in these overwhelmingly positive experiences, the brand will have consumers reaching for its product in the good times and the bad to rekindle fond memories.

Apple hasn’t just gained customers, it’s garnered a following. We recognise their products as revolutionary, and this was only amplified by the success of their branding:

• The sleek design of their products and the packaging they are presented in makes their range feel cutting-edge and premium
• Apple product launches are special events that the brand has always done a standout job building anticipation for, making every new development feel like a true game-changer
• Their ties to iconic innovators like Aardman Animations in their “Behind The Mac” series tie their brand and products to people who transformed their industry

The Nike swoosh has long been associated with the world’s best performing and most famous athletes. The brand’s past and present ambassadors have similar personality traits that align with its marketing — ambition, dedication and an unstoppable drive to be the best. 

As well as tapping into athletes’ aspirations, Nike has aligned itself with the emotions that first draw people into sport, such as competitiveness, teamwork, self-improvement and determination. Not only are consumers seeing Nike and thinking of sport, they are seeing sport and thinking of Nike.

When you think of Starbucks, as well as the expansive range of coffees available and that iconic mermaid on their logo, something that springs to mind is the writing of customers’ names on their cups.

While that may not feel like a big deal on the surface, this encouraged people to share their personally branded cup of coffee on their social channels. This little touch of customer engagement quickly made Starbucks a standout influencer brand on platforms like Instagram, and they continue to connect with millions across the globe this way.

After a run of negative publicity surrounding childhood obesity, McDonald’s’ long-running mascot, Ronald McDonald, was the first to disappear from their advertising. But rethinking their marketing strategy was just the beginning. They:

• Revamped their menus to incorporate healthier options, with the nutritional information of meals included on these
• Drastically altered their brand colours to green and introduced recyclable packaging to project a strong eco-friendly message
• Reused their own cooking oils to fuel their bio-diesel range of trucks
• Overhauled the design and feel of their interiors to encourage more people to eat in the restaurant rather than stick to takeaways

3 ways to start building stronger associations 

If building positive brand associations isn’t already part of your ongoing strategy, then these key takeouts will help get you back on track.

#1 Association mapping

A brand association map like the example below will help you analyse the positive and negative associations that consumers currently have of your brand. It will show you where you stand out from your competitors and what makes your customers choose your products or services.

You can use this information to focus on areas where you can infuse new meaning, generate engagement and create connections. The areas you choose to establish will then feed into how you shape your marketing strategy for the future, and how your content is distributed within this.

#2 Analysing search terms 

When people search for something on Google, they will often try a combination of terms or phrases. This ‘co-search’ data can be analysed to find out the mental connections people are making based on topics, products, solutions and more.

As well as revealing whether your brand positioning lines up with what people are really searching for, co-search analysis can also highlight opportunities to build new associations based on your results.

In addition, investing in social listening tools takes the same principles of co-search data, only in real-time. By keeping your finger on the pulse of what’s generating buzz on social media platforms, you can build a strong sense of what people are linking your brand to and hot topics that you can harness for upcoming content.

#3 Avoiding the negatives 

Even with the best intentions, it’s all too easy to cause or strengthen negative associations with your brand. Some of the most common mistakes are:

• Inconsistencies – Whether it’s the quality products, customer service or brand assets, staying consistent is vital for keeping on top of customer expectations. When trust in brands is at a low, negative memories are more likely to come out as the stronger association.
• Going against your own brand values – In Nike’s own brand association map, their use of sweatshop labour has a stronger association than their sponsorship of school sports teams. This is a lesson in ensuring that the values you promote to consumers align with your ethical practices as a company.
• Forcing connections that just don’t fit – It’s important for brands to react to what’s going on in the world. However, attempting to raise brand awareness via trending topics without being part of a solution or taking a stance that feels genuine puts your brand at risk of being ‘called-out’ by consumers on social media.

Strengthen your brand, connection by connection 

Building positive associations that reach the hearts and minds of your audience is an ongoing process, and one of the most powerful marketing techniques at your disposal.

With a solid understanding of what consumers already associate with your brand and a clear focus on where you need to stand out from your competitors, you can tap into human nature, influence behaviour and build a brand identity that stays front-and-centre for years to come.

However, sustaining the connection between your brand and consumers relies on content that is both consistent and ongoing. Falling short on either of these key traits can gradually undo the hard work you’ve invested in forging those bonds to your customers.

BAM by Papirfly™ is helping brands across the globe steer clear of this scenario. By enabling marketing teams to generate more content in-house faster and more cost-effectively – with no sacrifice of quality or brand consistency – brands can build and maintain the connections they establish with their audience better than ever before.

Empower your team. Enhance your branding. Get in touch and discover BAM today.

Anecdotal feedback can be a dirty word for digital marketers who live and breathe by quantitative data and hard facts. But anecdotal comments and feedback deliver something that black and white numbers simply can’t – that something is emotion.

Whether it’s a positive, negative or downright ridiculous bit of feedback, you never know where it might take your next marketing campaign. That’s not to say you should throw out your sensible, goal-oriented strategy. But taking a moment once in a while to put your head above the data pools could see you strike a nugget of gold.

The success of user-generated and social content alone is enough of a testament to the power of anecdotal stories and comments, but let’s take it right back to its simplest form and apply it to a real-life example.

Let’s say you’ve been served a digital advert for an event, and were then remarketed to it via other mediums. You do a little bit of research, look at some reviews and eventually, you think about booking a ticket.

You then call a friend to see if they would like to go, but they advise against it as they saw a Facebook status of someone that said what a disappointment it was. You decide against going to the event, despite the research you have undertaken.

The comment from the friend was anecdotal, and contradicts all the facts and research you have done to date, but you listened to it.

This is one example out of thousands, but it shows just how powerful a piece of anecdotal feedback can be when an emotional connection is made.

Emotions in marketing can be the driver of a great story, but they can also cloud your judgment, and the latter is where a lot of the hostility comes from. Below, we’ve listed 6 ways you can harness anecdotal feedback as a positive, and provided some examples…

#1 Products being used in different ways

When Crocs came onto the scene, they were initially developed as a boating shoe. Today, they have taken a surprising turn as somewhat of a fashion symbol. But somewhere between their inception in 2002 and the present day, people from medical professions across the world started wearing them, and telling their colleagues about them on social media and in real life.

Crocs soon picked up on this feedback and trend, and has since introduced initiatives such as “A Free Pair for Healthcare” and become generally associated with the medical industry. With medical professionals known to spend long hours on their feet, this anecdotal movement has helped solidify the perception of Crocs being comfortable and good for the feet.

Outside of the footwear world, companies can learn about the ways their products are used differently through the power of social media. Whether it’s a new cooking trend involving Oreos or using Alka-Seltzer to clean a toilet – anecdotal stories can take your marketing in new and interesting directions.

#2 Specific flaws in your process or product

While customers are much more likely to leave a negative review than they are a positive one, both can be incredibly useful. If the same keywords are repeatedly popping up on review sites, this could be a much wider issue to address.

For example, you may be getting a high number of drop-offs at the online checkout, without any data to shed light on this error. However, social media and review sites might point you in the right direction, if users have taken to the platforms to vent their frustrations.

#3 Ask better questions

When thinking about your brand’s next strategic move, data can help you define the right answers. What the anecdotal evidence can provide is new perspectives and raise new questions.

#4 Find new perspectives

When Crocs came onto the scene, they were initially developed as a boating shoe. Today, they have taken a surprising turn as somewhat of a fashion symbol. But somewhere between their inception in 2002 and the present day, people from medical professions across the world started wearing them, and telling their colleagues about them on social media and in real life.

Crocs soon picked up on this feedback and trend, and has since introduced initiatives such as “A Free Pair for Healthcare” and become generally associated with the medical industry. With medical professionals known to spend long hours on their feet, this anecdotal movement has helped solidify the perception of Crocs being comfortable and good for the feet.

Outside of the footwear world, companies can learn about the ways their products are used differently through the power of social media. Whether it’s a new cooking trend involving Oreos or using Alka-Seltzer to clean a toilet – anecdotal stories can take your marketing in new and interesting directions.

#5 Specific flaws in your process or product

While customers are much more likely to leave a negative review than they are a positive one, both can be incredibly useful. If the same keywords are repeatedly popping up on review sites, this could be a much wider issue to address.

For example, you may be getting a high number of drop-offs at the online checkout, without any data to shed light on this error. However, social media and review sites might point you in the right direction, if users have taken to the platforms to vent their frustrations.

#6 Ask better questions

When thinking about your brand’s next strategic move, data can help you define the right answers. What the anecdotal evidence can provide is new perspectives and raise new questions.

#7 Find new perspectives

When LEGO noticed fans exchanging ideas online about what to build and how to adapt existing sets to make other items, they had a stroke of genius. LEGO ideas is an online community where users can submit new ideas for products and, if successful, they get paired with a product designer to make their idea a reality.

Another example is when Uncle Ben’s rice came under the spotlight for racial stereotyping on its packaging. It’s pretty incredible that it took so long for someone to speak out against this, but the brand was quick to react by changing the branding and name in the U.S. following an outcry of criticism.

What started as some comments on social media ended up revamping an institutional brand and creating a massive positive change for the representation of African Americans.

#8 Find new audiences

When a new development in London came across some negative Daily Mail comments on their press article, they decided to do something more than wallow.

It made them realise that the people who read the Daily Mail are definitely not their target audience. They instead used the comments in actual advertising campaigns to further iterate this point. It helped them refine their audience and turned negative feedback into a push of positive advertising.

#9 Generate new content or campaign ideas

There were rumours circulating that Starbucks was intentionally instructing their baristas to write people’s names incorrectly. While there is no confirmation of this being true, it does beg some questions.

When Starbucks started writing names on cups and calling them out in their stores, people took to social media to vent their frustration that their names were spelt incorrectly. It happened more and more until it became a trend to post your white and green cup on social media.

This demonstrates once again how anecdotal feedback can turn into a movement, and though on the surface it appears negative, Starbucks didn’t dip in sales and got free promotion worldwide.

In conclusion…

Anecdotal feedback can’t be measured or exactly defined, but it can provide insights that would have otherwise been unavailable to you by simply staring at a spreadsheet or dashboard. Strategies will never rely solely on anecdotes, yet there should definitely be an allowance for occasionally exploring this kind of feedback – you never know what opportunity you might find.

It’s also important to remember that emotion tends to carry more weight than data, even for you as a marketer, so try not to get too bogged down in the odd negative comment – if the data is promising, then not everything needs knocking down.

If you are keen to supercharge more content with the anecdotal feedback you receive, BAM by Papirfly™ makes this infinitely more attainable. Our all-in-one brand activation software allows users to adapt and evolve content in just a few clicks through our fully bespoke, intelligent templates.

So, should you want to change course on a campaign or brand asset based on the response you receive, this can be rectified in a matter of minutes. You don’t need to be a design expert or enlist the help of an agency – anyone can create and edit assets in BAM with no risk of a drop in quality or a break in brand consistency.

Plus, these assets can be adapted and shared with your teams worldwide through our software’s dedicated DAM portal. This ensures that any change you make can be applied across the board, so there is no chance for inconsistencies to creep in.

This is just scratching the surface of how BAM can accelerate and enhance your marketing. To discover the full possibilities, get in touch with our team or arrange your own personal demo.

How streamlining your asset creation with BAM (Brand Activation Management) by Papirfly™ can prevent one of the biggest challenges facing marketing teams today.

Burnout is the result of building stress, to the point where you lose the ability to cope. It can have huge negative effects on mental and physical health, not to mention the productivity and overall well-being of your team. The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes burnout as ‘a mental health phenomenon characterised by feelings of low energy or exhaustion’.

When there are multiple projects on the go – all time-sensitive, and all needing to be delivered to the highest possible standard – burnout is going to be a strong possibility. It’s a challenge that’s becoming more and more common for people who are incredibly passionate about what they do, especially in fast-paced roles like marketing and communications. It’s also one of the top reasons that marketing teams lose their best employees to competitors.

As burnout can be due to a number of different challenges, it’s hard to pinpoint one exact cause. We’ve identified three of the biggest reasons for burnout in marketing and communications, and the simple ways that BAM by Papirfly™ can help you prevent them:

#1 Unmanageable workloads

There has never been a more interesting time to be in marketing and comms. But with more opportunities to reach consumers, come more assets, bigger workloads and shorter deadlines. For too many marketing teams, this has meant rushing through to-do lists and working longer hours to get campaigns out on time – an approach that’s never sustainable for long.

The solution? BAM’s immediately intuitive features give you the capability to organise your marketing assets, briefs and timelines using a beautifully simple campaign planner. It means you’ll never lose sight of any important details that can often slip through the net in busy times and allows your teams to become more autonomous. It’s time to work smarter, not harder.

#2 Inconsistency

When there are lots of people working on a campaign at the same time, there is always a danger that ideas can be interpreted in different ways – leading to inconsistency in your marketing materials. This adds to strain on approval processes and often means more time spent making last-minute changes before a deadline.

BAM is your single clear source for everything your team needs to create marketing materials that align with your brand’s core values, tone of voice, design guidelines, colour palettes and mission statements. It allows you to quickly educate your teams about creating on-brand assets, and provides them with the right tools to implement them effectively. No panic changes needed.

#3 Wasted time

In marketing, time is always of the essence. But too often, teams are spending their most valuable resource approving and amending routine asset creation. Working with studios and agencies is essential for every global brand, but when you’re constantly using them for simple jobs and minor updates, you begin to eat into time and budget that could have been spent on things like campaign planning, strategic thinking and creative.

With BAM, your teams have the tools they need to create studio-quality assets in-house, without any specialist training or support. The full asset creation suite allows them to produce everything from social assets, videos and emails, to posters, brochures and presentations. The suite gives you full control of templates and locks-down elements to make sure everything your team creates is 100% on-brand. Fast in-house asset creation is the key to clearing those approval backlogs keeping you up at night. 

BAM by Papirfly™ can transform costly, complicated processes into one beautifully streamlined approach.

• Create ready-for-market assets in-house (in a fraction of the time)
• Find all the tools they need, all in one place
• Have a bird’s-eye-view of workflows and productivity
• Reduce the need for outsourcing
• Achieve work/life balance while boosting productivity

Burnout has the potential to derail the world’s best marketing teams. That’s why over 200 of them (including, Unilever, IBM and Coca-Cola) use BAM to streamline their asset creation and empower their teams with the tools for a more effective – and much less stressful – way of working. 

Scratch beneath the surface of any global brand, and you will find that the logo really is only the tip of a vast, ever-deepening iceberg.

When a brand’s elements span online, offline and they have been around for several years, it can be difficult to get on top of all the assets and marketing collateral that has been created globally. Whether it’s Janet in accounts sending invoices on outdated letterheads, or a branch across the pond sending out marketing emails without the latest footer revision, there are many overlooked elements of brand consistency that can start to compromise your wider brand image when they’re not nipped in the bud sooner rather than later.

It can be overwhelming to think of the sheer volume of assets being created every day, particularly if you are a Brand Manager. 

We’ve put together a comprehensive checklist that will give your team a base to take stock of what they have, what’s missing and identify any assistance they may need to be brought in line with your brand. 

There is a lot to cover, but every brand needs to start somewhere. 

It doesn’t matter whether you tackle the necessities straight away or look at a staggered plan of attack. Keep your focus on those that are critical to the brand and the business.

Get each team to evaluate the pros and cons of all applications and align yourselves on what the priorities are. 

Let’s start right at the beginning… 

Strategy fundamentals 

Make strategy insights available globally

Does each of your teams have access to the marketing insight relevant to their locations and verticals? Workshop write-ups and reports, audits, audience segmentation and other areas of insight could prove invaluable to teams.

And though many of them are likely to have it somewhere, is it documented in a unified way? And is it easily accessible to be updated on an ongoing basis?

Ensure communication strategies are documented

This extends beyond just core marketing activity. Every layer of interaction with your brand will have some sort of strategy in place, whether or not it’s documented consistently will be another story altogether. There’s internal communications, employer brand marketing, customer engagement and sales strategies, content marketing, brand ambassadors and more. Even down to your sustainability and purpose strategies which may run alongside other core campaigns.

All these strategies need to be documented in an accessible folder for everyone to view, edit and read. Without this, employees will lose sight of your employer brand, internal communications, sales strategies and more. 

Building a bigger brand picture  

Do employees and customers understand your brand hierarchy? While internally this is of more importance, if you are part of a wider umbrella brand, it’s important this is recognised within your external branding (where required). Each team should understand the structure of the business and how the brand they represent and associated product sub-brands fit in.

This will give them greater clarity on the position of the brand globally and help them speak confidently should a client question it in the future. 

Know who you are as a brand 

If you asked an employee from each office to explain your brand’s mission statement, would they all be aligned? Likewise, ensuring your brand positioning, values and vision is consistently communicated to your target audience can’t be understated. This is the very crux of your brand story and if this isn’t embedded into your teams, it’s highly unlikely the marketing that’s being produced is in line with what you want to communicate. 

Understand your brand voice 

It’s not just what you communicate, it’s how you communicate. While cultural nuance will dictate differences in key messaging and products/services, the top-line tone and voice style should mostly be reflective of the type of brand you are. Quirky, corporate, technical, friendly – languages are no barrier to helping this shine through. 

Visual identity fundamentals 

Back to basics 

Your visual language isn’t just the way you present your brand, products and service from a design point of view, but also the words and formatting you use to do so. If your offerings are supposed to be distinct then you may have wildly different product names, sub-brands, URLs and social handles, but if they all fit under one category or are part of the same product or service family, then having some kind of unification will help strengthen your brand further. 

Think about the formatting, but also the way these are presented visually through logos and icons. Is there any opportunity to make things more integrated? 

Creating extensive guidelines 

From photography, video, logos and iconography through to colour palettes, fonts and their usage, having strict guidelines in place for each marketing team across the globe should help restrict brand inconsistencies and errors. Ideally, you would have a centrally managed digital space for this (like with Papirfly’s ‘educate’ section of the portal), so teams always have access to the latest information, a single source of truth for their particular country or region.  

Likewise, the way that teams give briefs, deliver print or digital work, use certain elements in certain applications should all be part of a uniform set of processes. 

Brand experience fundamentals  

The importance of stationery 

Every touchpoint a user or customer has with your brand will influence their perception and serve to either strengthen or shatter. Consider the business cards your sales team hand out, the header on their LinkedIn profile or the email footers they use at the end of a communication. A small, seemingly insignificant nod to your brand on the surface, but incredibly important for a positive, joined-up brand experience.

Are the letterheads that clients receive invoices on correct? Are all pitches and reports produced using the same templates? There’s a plethora of documentation to consider, and once you have the basic templates and elements down, it will be much easier to execute everything else.  

Digital and print application

Brands need a common thread between their digital and marketing assets, and ensuring visuals are well-thought-out and planned respective of their applications is paramount. The website is the cornerstone piece of collateral and both this and your brand guidelines should dictate the way your email templates, social media posts, videos and more should look. Likewise, translating digital-first design into a way that works for print is also vital. 

Wider employee brand adoption 

Outside of your marketing, there will be many other strands of the business that interact with and act as advocates for the brand. Whether this is an end-of-year report produced by the CFO, the scripts used by the sales team on email, social media and over the phone, right through to internal newsletters. There are many people that will have some sort of brand influence with both internal and external stakeholders. Ensure the message gets carried across correctly and in line with both your TOV and visual style guidelines.  

Company-wide environments 

Even if your office is one that clients and customers never visit, if you want your employees to buy into your brand you should make sure signage and interior design is reflective of the values you are trying to instil. From the imagery you use on your windows to the wrapping of company vehicles – if it’s part of your business, it needs to look the part. 

Asset management fundamentals 

Having a central repository of imagery, assets guidelines and more will enable your teams to keep up-to-date with the latest marketing materials and rules. Having a system such as BAM by Papirfly™ will keep all of your brand guidelines, campaign assets and more categorised and prioritised for each region. You can also specify who can make edits to what. They can then edit on-brand templates to create new digital and print assets without any design skills needed.    

Likewise, all photography, illustrations, brand guides and dedicated templates will only be visible to the teams they are relevant to.

Where to start with your brand audit…

Though we covered much more than the tip of the iceberg, we have only scratched partway through the surface. Depending on your brand’s industry, budgets and demand for marketing materials, will ultimately depend on which areas of the above list you tackle first. 

Embracing a BAM portal will not only give you the freedom to create and the governance to control brand consistency, you will also go through a process that helps you get the finer details of your brand set in stone once and for all.

Learn how much wasted time, money and resources your brand could be saving, discover BAM or book a demo with one of our team today.