Think Simple by Ken Segall

Author:Ken Segall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-06-01T15:25:13+00:00

Consistency Is a Brand’s Best Friend

Wilhite’s stories about the brand brought to mind an experience I had on the agency side during the same period. It was our job to create advertising that not only announced the latest products but also helped make deposits in the Apple brand bank.

The goal of every creative person in advertising is to make something new and never get stuck in a box. However, when you work with a brand like Apple, that desire can put you between a rock and a hard place. You want to refresh the brand in unexpected ways, but when it comes to look and feel, you’re expected to play within the sandbox that’s been established. To do otherwise could harm the brand.

At one point we welcomed a new art director to the agency’s Apple team. His claim to fame was the outstanding work he’d been doing for another iconic brand that was much admired in the creative community. He was a talented man, a good guy, and we were confident that he was the right person for the job.

In about six months he was gone.

What happened was that our new hire didn’t appreciate the equity Apple had built up in its brand over the years. In his desire to think outside the box, he designed ads that were busy and unstructured as opposed to simple and elegant, as would have been consistent with the Apple brand. He didn’t even use the Apple typeface. Instead he pushed for handwritten headlines scratched across the page.

He wasn’t just tossing aside the rules—he was tossing aside the equity Apple had lovingly nurtured over many years. To someone like Steve Jobs his work conjured the unsettling feeling of “creativity for creativity’s sake” as opposed to creativity in service of the brand.

Again, the culture defended itself against an intruder. The art director quickly felt out of place working on the business when his ideas were spurned—sometimes not so gently—and returned to his prior job, where he felt more appreciated.

The truth is, successful brands absolutely do evolve, often in surprising and wonderful new directions. But they do not lightly toss aside identifying characteristics that help customers identify with the brand. These elements can include graphic design, typography, or simply an attitude.

“Consistency” is one of those words that can be insult or praise. On the negative side, one can quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, “With consistency, a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall.”

However, consistency can be an ally of simplicity and creativity alike. In the case of Apple’s marketing, consistency has been a tremendous simplifier, allowing the company to speak with a familiar tone yet still have room to evolve. Steve Wilhite articulates this well.

Apple found that space and tone that allowed it to do wonderful work. It continues to be fresh and relevant yet uniquely Apple. If I look at the arc of work from Think different through some of the iPhone and iPad work, it all hangs together as a single brand.

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