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12

A series of lighthearted fragrance concepts for a HirstPacific

PR campaign featuring a creative interpretation of famous

personalities, demonstrated via these original bottle designs—

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Larry King, the Pope, Woody Allen,

and Martha Stewart. (Design: Ken Hirst)

Determinant 12

Creativity:

Developing Ideas They Can See and Feel

From Chambers Concise Dictionary:

Creative: having the quality or power of creating;

resulting from originality of thought; imaginative

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Go Logo! A Handbook to the Art of Global Branding194

R

ight-brainers will be quite happy to accept this description of their skills, even

though many outside of the fraternity would scoff at this conceit. However, it is

the discipline of creative problem-solving that stands out as the principle asset

that all creative warriors must have; moreover, our problem-solving skills must

be constantly honed to team successfully with our predominantly left-brained,

risk-adverse clients.

Often, the best professional creatives are

teachers as well as doers; they recognize

that they can, and must, help their clients

make better use of the creative process to

increase the competitive advantage of their

brands. I remember the accepted wisdom

of years past: “It’s not creative unless it

sells.” Now more organizations start with the

premise, “If it’s not creative, it won’t sell.”

Corporate and political brand champions

usually have a good understanding of what

they want. They can verbalize deliverables,

but most need professional help in creating

ideas they can’t yet see or feel.

The true litmus test of the enduring power

of a faith-based brand is whether or not

it can, over time, continue to creatively

persuade millions of people to accept an

emotional reward based on few or no

proven facts. The intellectual argument sup-

porting my faith-based brands hypothesis is

that any societal persuasion brand, whether

global or local, mainstream or exotic,

respected or derided, targets our elementary

need for spiritual comfort and a desire to

be part of a like-minded social community.

Our primal need to belong, our uncon-

scious search for group acceptance, and our

desire for inclusion are almost universal—

the mystic on his mountain perch or the

bearded gent in the Underground with the

message that the end of our temporal world

is nigh are each creatively attempting to

persuade us about the spiritual meaning of

something. At the end of the day (the pun

is intended), we find comfort in organized

belonging, while we yearn for a conscious

sense of an individual self.

Most political systems and all organized

religions are emotionally driven. They have

to be faith-based because there is little or

no supporting scientific evidence to back

up their various claims. The more that faith

in the product is deliverable, the greater the

need for creativity in the “reason why” per-

suasion argument.

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After GNC acquired Nature’s based in Portland, Oregon, in 1995, Cato As-

sociates, along with retail designers JGA, was hired to design a new flagship

operation to be rolled out across the United States. Nature’s reputation

was built on its neighborliness, its artful displays of fresh produce, its locally

sourced fish and meats, and most of all, its innovations in marketing and

new products and concepts. Under the new brand name, Nature’s North

West, the team developed a total brand domain strategy combining all

elements of architecture, in-store branding, new products, and a ProMotion

Marketing program designed for in-house implementation. The flagship store

is still very successful, but the concept was never rolled out, because the

business was sold to Wild Oats.

A Fresh Approach to Food Retailing

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Go Logo! A Handbook to the Art of Global Branding196

Nestlé Waters was looking to relaunch its Calistoga

brand with a new positioning based on its mineral water

heritage and product portfolio focusing on mineral water,

including value-added products. The company engaged

Sterling to bring the new vision for the brand to life with

revitalized packaging graphics. (Design: Sterling Brands)

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