904 Magazine Spring 2017 - Branding Your Environment

MAGAZINE
—Spring 2017—
$2.95 JACKSONVILLEMAG.COM
NORTHEAST FLORIDA’S
BUSINESS & EXECUTIVE LIFE AUTHORITY

26 MARKETING
“
It is important to make sure
the purpose for each space
is clear. If collaborative
work has to take place,
there needs to be space
to do it. There needs to be
room for ideas and hoteling
workstations to flow.
CALVIN BRYANT,
C7 Creative
Branding Your
Environment
Your product has your name all over it. Why
shouldn’t your office be the same?
QBY JULIET JOHNSON
In today’s fast, colorful, noisy economy, a company’s “brand” is
more than a key identifier. It represents the entirety of what the business
stands for: its ethics, its customer service, the promise of its product or
service and communicates that by setting the tone for what both customers
and employees can expect in a recognizable voice.
It is a lot of narrative to incorporate into retail or office space: to dimensionalize how both customers
and employees interact with the firm. But if you just put up the logo, and use the logo colors all
around the foyer and think you’re done, you’re missing a massive opportunity to do so much more.
“When a space fits the brand, when it fully embodies what the company stands for, everyone can
see it. Not just customers but employees, business partners and vendors alike,” John Perez of HOTA
Design Studio (HDS) explains. “A clearly branded environment keeps everyone on the same page.”
This concept is credited with helping companies attract and keep top talent. Think of the famous
amenities at the Silicon Valley companies—free food, onsite child and pet care, campus barbers, bikes
and laundry facilities. “Smaller companies do not have to go this far,” says HDS’ Jose Cardena, “but
the more companies consider the whole employee, the more valued they feel and the more productive
they become.”
Framed artwork is making way for large graphics that remind everyone of the company’s mission.
Other graphics can include the company narrative, with key milestones prominently displayed. Sometimes
quotes from delighted customers are effective; testimonials reinforce good customer service and
help keep the focus on the results of good work done right.
“Remember color theory,” says Perez. “Logo
colors are often way too strong for a whole
wall. Some colors are not conducive to productive
work. Color is a note that needs to be carefully
played.”
“Branding through the environment can be a
substantial investment. Usually it’s phase two, after
a website and the mobile app,” says Calvin Bryant
of C7 Creative in Jax Beach. “It is a valuable
strategic investment, considering the various touchpoints
or intersections with a customer. Do customers
need to see you to believe you? Do they
stop by? The ROI flows from there. Start by knowing
exactly who you want to attract—your best
customer. The narrower the niche the better.”
Think in terms of age (as in generation), income,
geography, lifestyle. “We get to know all
their key differentiators and reverse engineer what
needs to be in each space from there.”
Keep in mind your industry vernacular so that
you can meet customers’ expectations. For example,
if your tagline is “Dream Big, Shine Brightly,”
it does you no good to have a small, dark space in
the back of a rundown office complex. Would you
trust a law office with no books? It is logical to assume
a library would be superfluous in today’s digital
age. Oddly enough, attorneys do still like to
find the exact reference volume so as to refresh
their visual memory in context. “When I see the
words on the page, the rest of what I learned
alongside that case comes back into focus,” says
Gregg Gerlach, a Jacksonville Employment Law
attorney.
“You can reinforce a professional’s local expertise
with displays of locally related décor or artifacts.”
Bryant recalls a Jacksonville CPA where the
office’s collection of political memorabilia uniquely
connected the business to the City of Jacksonville.
“It is important to make sure the purpose for
each space is clear,” Cardenas says. “If collaborative
work has to take place, there needs to be space
to do it. There needs to be room for ideas and
hoteling workstations to flow.” Hoteling means
when a work-at-home type, or someone from another
office, brings their laptop to collaborate on a
project.
With commercial design, the same problem
often arises as in residential. Owners curate lists of

all the things they like and want to use them
all. For clear messaging, “Less is definitely
more,” laughs Cardenas.
Branded environments offer the benefits of
inspiration and focus. Customers are informed
while employees are kept on the same track.
Everyone becomes immersed in the brand’s
experience. The return on investment also includes
attraction of key talent and employee
retention.
Bryant wraps up with this key recommendation:
Put a station where customers can immediately
submit a review. Testimonials are not
always easy to get once the customer has left the
transaction, yet reviews are essential to business
success today.
PEOPLE WILL TALK
© 2017 United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
BY JAMES BARRICK
Turn to page 6 for this month’s answers
C
R
O
S
S
W
O
R
D
Missing
the Point
Don’t ruin your sales
pitch by saying too much
QBY MARY HAMEL
Burying the
lead, circling
the bull’s-eye,
beating around
the bush—far
too many business
executives
are guilty of this
when it comes
to selling themselves and their company. We
live in a world where instead of spending time
debating the answer to a question amongst
friends, it can be Googled in less than ten seconds.
That instant satisfaction should translate
in the business world, because potential clients
will lose interest. If it takes you ten minutes to
explain what your company does, you’re doing
it wrong.
“I think coming up with an elevator pitch—
being able to sum up who they are and what
they do in about 30 seconds—is one of the
biggest challenges for business owners and
entrepreneurs,” says public relations specialist
Liz Morgan. She explains one of the reasons it’s
so difficult is because business owners eat,
sleep and breathe their company or product.
They’re too close to it to succinctly summarize
it for someone unfamiliar.
Figure out how to define what you do for a
living in 30 seconds or less in an organic way.
“The elevator pitch should be two or three sentences
at the most and be as uncomplicated
as possible,” says Morgan. Remove the industry
jargon and condense your pitch down to
what the customer needs to know. One important
tip: practice at home. A successful business
owner or executive will be able to pitch a
company, product or service anywhere from
cocktail hour to a statewide conference. z
ACROSS
1. Early days
6. Salute
10. Peach pit
15. Start for plasm
19. Rope with a noose
20. — Spumante
21. Fire
22. Common marsh bird
23. Start of a quip by Joan
Rivers: 4 wds.
27. — Palmas
28. Meddlesome
29. Magical helpers
30. Uh-oh!
31. Goose
32. Apostles’ —
33. Dinner item
DOWN
1. Roberts the evangelist
2. Ship of 1492
3. Repeats
4. WWII abbr.
5. Hide worker
6. Anchor-rope hole
7. Pale
8. Japanese statesman
9. Manumit
10. Something soothing
11. — -and-true
12. Poems
13. Cal. abbr.
14. Formerly, of old
15. Prohibits
16. Kind of salmon
17. Springe
18. Feedbag filler
24. Quite some time
34. — of sanctity
36. Littleneck
37. Period in Earth’s history
41. Pump or clog
42. Part 2 of quip: 3 wds.
46. — -la-la
47. Blue and blue-sky
48. — — la Plata
49. Cooper or Kramden
50. Harte or Michaels
51. Eagle
52. Just a little
53. Heap
54. Like some garments:
Hyph.
55. Bulb differentiators
57. Fishnet
58. Carpentry tool
25. Oily resin
26. Sandbank
31. Certain votes
32. Bonnie’s partner in
crime
33. Cramp
34. Katie Scarlett —
35. Oppressed
36. Blocks
37. Once and once more
38. In a rigorous way
39. Peace goddess
40. — -cornered
41. Raft
42. Old Greek theologian
43. Code word number
44. Early prayers
45. Antelope
50. Insipid
52. Spud
59. Judge
60. Use up
61. Tine
62. Uttered aloud
64. Criticizes
65. Tack room items
68. Birch member
69. Disfigures
70. Make plans for
71. Wedding notice word
72. Youths
73. Friars Club event
74. Mountain ridge
75. Brit. money
76. Native of: Suffix
77. Part 3 of quip: 3 wds.
79. Inventor’s name
80. Implied
53. Looks
54. Without equal
56. Draws in
57. Old Greek city-state
58. School book
60. Virgule
61. Full-page illustration
62. Frankish
63. Teacher of Aristotle
64. Burn
65. Alla —
66. Female ruff
67. Antitoxins
69. Items for cordwainers
70. Agonizes
73. Yielded
74. Asia Minor
75. For the — of argument
77. Japanese gateway
78. Fastens
82. “10 Things I — About You”
83. Scottish isle
84. Extinct ox
85. Sates
87. — de foie gras
89. Matter
92. A Muse
93. Effervescent drink
94. Quid — quo
97. End of the quip: 6 wds.
101. Bric-a- —
102. Flee to wed
103. Dies —
104. Laconic
105. Money for the pot
106. Greasy spoon
107. ABA mem.
108. Trident
81. Subtle difference
83. Gets going
85. Search in the dark
86. Stratum
87. Hokey- —
88. Fruity drink
89. Coptic bishop
90. Common houseplant
91. Exploit
92. Black
93. Get lost!
94. Opening
95. Sub —
96. Old Hebrew measure
98. — Pasha
99. Scrap
100. One curl or press
SPRING 2017 — 27