The Brand Surgery - Branding, Graphic Design and Web Design in Worthing, West Sussex

Soap and Glory thank Vicky Vaughan

Vicky Vaughan, boss of the Brand Surgery, Branding agency in Worthing, Sussex, will be giving a short presentation entitled ‘DO A MADONNA – the Secret to Branding Success’ at the FSB’s Ladies at lunch at the Kingway Hotel in Worthing on Wednesday 8th September at 11.45pm to 2.30pm.

This is the first talk that Vicky is giving since her book was published. DO A MADONNA has already had fantastic press in The Chamber newsletter and the founder of Soap ad Glory cosmetics, thanked Vicky personally by sending her a luxury hamper full of Soap and Glory goodies. Maybe it’s fate that Soap and Glory, and The Brand Surgery both love pink and white!

DO A MADONNA has been tipped as the most valuable branding consultation on the market. It is a fun way of looking at an important subject! Vicky will talk about ‘The Importance of Branding to your Business’ and ‘Giving your Brand a Personality’. If you would like to book a place – call Pam Thornton on 07710 024588 or email jane.field@fsb.org.uk and sharon.bryant@fsb.org.uk!

PS Vicky has been advised to mention Mercedes in her next book!

I was listening to the BBC World News this morning, and the news story about the BlackBerry ban in Saudi Arabia sparked an interest.

From the BBC website: A ban on the use of Blackberry phones to send and receive messages is being rolled out in Saudi Arabia, users say. State-owned phone operator Saudi Telecom has blocked text, e-mail, web surfing and instant messenger functions, users in the kingdom have told the BBC.”

Two things ran through my mind …

1. This news story shows how some circumstances (political and/or reglious reasons) are completely beyond our control and this can affect our brand – for better or worse! In my  book, DO A MADONNA!™, I recommend that all businesses should perform a PEST analysis on their brand as well as their business.How will this ban affect their sales? How will the ban affect the brand image in Saudi Arabia, or across the middle East. The good news is that the PR has promoted the Blackberry brand across the rest of the world. These are important subjects to consider when you go into business. I wonder what would happen if our government banned junk mail. After all, a ban would save on recycling costs, trees and print chemicals. It would be disastrous for many printers and designers who could go out of business if they didn’t have a contingency plan in place.
2. The name of brands is very interesting. Do you remember the film Crocodile Dundee? When an American reporter goes to the Australian outback to meet an eccentric crocodile poacher and invites him to New York City? Do you remember how Michael J. “Crocodile” Dundee struggled in our modern jungle? Crocodile Dundee was released in 1986, the same year as the internet. However, the internet didn’t become common until at least ten years later. Can you imagine how funny Crocodile Dundee would be if they re-released it now? What would Mr Dundee (Paul Hogan) make of Blackberry, Orange, Apple, Windows, web, O2 and even Twitter? If you said to Mr Dundee: “I’m going to Twitter today using web on my Blackberry, which is hosted by Orange”. What would he be thinking?:Twitter used to be a verb: to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird. to talk lightly and rapidly, esp. of trivial matters; chatter, to titter; giggle. So is twitter a good name for such a powerful form of social media? Social media experts promote Twitter as a phenomenon in business communication and networking. It is amazing that such a powerful brand wasn’t called roar or something loud!With the above said, Twitter has taken off, as have Blackberry, Orange, Apple, Windows, web, O2 and even Twitter!

If you would like to find out more about successful branding, why not purchase a copy of DO A MADONNA!™. Click here to purchase. DO A MADONNA!™ is the most competitive branding consultation around!

The magicman rebrand included new logo, brochure, website and livery.

We are very proud of our latest achievement – the magicman® rebrand!

Way back last year we created a stunning new look for magicman®. Our brief was that they wanted to move the company onto the bigger things, and hence they required a new corporate look. The brief including a new logo, brochure, website and livery, plus signage for their new executive offices.

We created the magicman® logo in a variety of formats, all which can be used in various mediums eg. for press advertising (black and white version of logo), white logo for placing on dark backgrounds, blue logo for placing on white backgrounds. The accent colours are a warm lime green and stone colour. This client didn’t require a branding toolbox, however branding toolboxes are part of our platinum brand consultation service and are excellent to send out if you are having adverts designed, or to promotional product companies.

You will see we kept the dark blue for the rebrand, plus we kept the ’star’ as the ‘dot’ on the ‘i’ of magicman® – just a tadge more tasteful.

The new magicman® logo, just like The Brand Surgery logo, is a registered trademark and we recommend that if you want your company to ‘go large’ you should also do the same.

We are now well on the way with the website, and hope that before long we will be blogging about another magic success.

Branding tips

We always recommend that a business rebrands every four to five years as fashions change and old logos look stale. It needn’t be a total evolution. Perhaps just a simple font or shape modification will do in many cases. In my new book, DO A MADONNA!™, I show you some of the larger companies that have successfully rebranded – and in some cases the change is minimal. It is important that when you rebrand, you are still attractive and recognisable to your target audience. CONFUSION = MISTRUST. If you want customers to invest in your services, you must gain their trust and loyalty.

In case you are new to our blogs, you may not know that that we do have a new online brochure service if you are worried about the cost of print – a rebrand need not cost the earth.

Call Vicky at The Brand Surgery, branding agency serving Brighton, Arundel, Chichester, Crawley Horsham, Littlehampton, Worthing, and the rest of West Sussex on 01903 824229.

Happy branding!

Magicman rebrand included logo, brochure, website, livery, signage, uniforms

DO A MADONNA website designed by The Brand Surgery

At long last, the original brand doctor, Vicky Vaughan’s book, ‘DO A MADONNA!‘ is complete. DO A MADONNA! is being printed right now!

DO A MADONNA! has had it’s first review.

“Everything in DO A MADONNA! is so true! I’ve read many other branding books, but DO A MADONNA! looks at branding in an entirely different way and it is so easy to digest. I work as part of the sales team for the Shropshire Star and I shall be recommending this book to all of my sales colleagues.” Debbie Marks-Rumble, Shropshire Star.

DO A MADONNA! focuses on keeping your brand alive. Vicky says: “It takes much more than plonking a new logo on a new brochure or website. You are your business and this ten-step book will help you on your way to business success. DO A MADONNA! is a handy-sized book which will help you discover the ten secrets of successful branding.

When you buy my book, you will also have access to the DO A MADONNA! toolbox which contains tips on colour psychology, plus much more! You will learn that even well known companies make branding blunders. DO A MADONNA! will teach you how to learn from their mistakes.

It’s time to get your business Into the Groove and Express Yourself! Once you’ve read the book and discovered the secret to branding, your business will be good enough to grace the cover of Vogue! Buy my book and let your journey to WORLD DOMINATION begin.”

DO A MADONNA! is very reasonably priced at JUST £9 and 5% of all book profits go towards Madonna’s charity: http://www.raisingmalawi.org

Go to www.doamadonna.com to pre-order your book. There will shortly be an e-book version of DO A MADONNA!

If you would like to have some personal branding advice, call Vicky Vaughan at The Brand Surgery, branding agency in West Sussex on 01903 824229.