I give you Michigan Apples. Apples are Michigan’s largest and most valuable fruit crop, with an estimated economic impact of $700 million annually. Along with a website overhaul, we developed a new logo for the Apples folks to use in their promotional materials.

Check out the photo below and view the results in a local Meijer supermarket. Seeing our designs come to life is something special that never gets old!

Not my words, but those of Lee Clow, the advertising guru behind the phenomenally successful Apple brand. Itʼs a sentiment I agree with–the idea that our charge is to help the client navigate an intensely competitive, often confusing sea of commerce.

Hereʼs another way to put it: Good advertising is one thing, good advertising that actually works is often something entirely different.

Our job is to help nurture that part of the conversation which begins and ends with the sentence “Why are we doing this?” Itʼs one of the reasons ad agencies exist–to provide the client with hard-to-come-by perspective, void of politics, board room pressures and personal bias.

Note that our job is to nurture the conversation, not dominate it. The client will always know more about their business than we do, no matter how many web pages we visit or competitors we study.

If commerce is a sea, then we should do our best to temper the wind gusts we ad folks are too often known for.

Only then will we all catch that perfect sail.

I believe it is a task that is needed now more than ever. The unavoidable truth is that we live in a branded world. According to Scott Davis, in his book Brand Asset Management, the average consumer is exposed to roughly 6,000 ads a day and to more than 25,000 new products a year! As competition proliferates, it is imperative that companies connect deeply with customers and become the brand of choice. The trust and loyalty enjoyed by a strong brand lies at the very heart of a company (or a product’s) success.

Not surprisingly the process is different for each client. Some arrive with a clearer sense of who they are and what makes them unique. Some have even conducted research to help them arrive at that understanding. But all of them benefit from the outside perspective a good design and marketing firm can bring to bear.

I am careful to stress that the work is not just about solving a design problem. Color and typography and logo marks are an important aspect of a new identity. But clarifying strategy, managing the different concerns of stakeholders, and establishing a framework in which the new identity can survive and thrive are also vital aspects of successful branding. So is the process of successfully differentiating the client and launching the new identity into a busy world.

The tools for branding continue to develop, with social media like Facebook and Twitter as some of the latest to enter the arena. But the fundamentals remain the same...honestly letting those who need to know learn who you are; what you have to offer and why they should care to choose you.