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This article on CNN (@CNN) examines the logos of candidates. “The carefully-crafted designs represent a candidate's brand, attempting to capture a multi-million dollar campaign in a symbol simple enough to fit on a button.”

“Logos are that first handshake with a voter,” said Ty Fujimura (@tyfuji), a graphic designer who blogs about design, including political art. “They provide an initial touch point, so they should express exactly what the candidate wants to be seen as, whether that’s reliable, loyal, honest or perhaps ‘maverick.’”....

Through collaboration and research, designers and campaign staff can spend days shaping their ideal logo, which often gets tweaked along the way to fit a candidate's evolving campaign strategy....

“Logos are the visual interpretation of a campaign personality,” said Vincent Harris (@VincentHarris) of Harris Media (@HarrisMedia), a communications firm. “Everything from the font size of a candidate's name, to the colors on their website, they all define the campaign.”

Read this in full.

Logos and branding strategy are crucial communication elements, no matter what field of endeavor you’re in. Let Somersault (@smrsault) help.

Edmund Whitehead (from Schweppes ads), Ogilvy, and George Wranell (from Hathaway ads)

watch video

This is the centennial of David Ogilvy’s birth (read his brief bio). A spy during WWII, he channeled his acute social sensitivities into marketing and public relations following the war, becoming the most familiar brand name in advertising (Ogilvy, @OGILVY & @OgilvyWW). His ads continue to be iconic (the bearded gentleman for Schweppes, the eye-patch for Hathaway shirts, etc.). Read about (and see) a few of his successes on Adweek’s (@Adweek) “Past Perfect: Considering the highlights of David Ogilvy’s revolutionary work in context.”

Ogilvy quips to remember (from the above video):

• Be more ambitious; don’t bunt. Try to hit the ball out of the park every time. Compete with immortals.
• The consumer is not a moron. She is your wife. Don't insult her intelligence.
• Inject into every ad a touch of singularity; a burr that will hook on to the consumer’s mind.
• The more story appeal you have in a photo, the more people will look at your ad.
• Advertising shouldn’t be tricky or cute.
• Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.
• You can’t bore people into buying your product, you can only interest them into buying it.
• Use facts copiously, adjectives sparingly. Be specific.
• The more you tell, the more you sell.
• The advertising business is all about big ideas.

An article at UsTelevision (@goustelevision) displays logo art you’ve never seen before in one place. Viewing all 9,000 TV channel logos may help you break through your own creative block in designing that new logo you need for you or your client!

Today’s the Big Day for the UK’s Prince William & Catherine Middleton (@ClarenceHouse).

How does royalty market itself? By following the same marketing principles as any other successful entity (including having its own YouTube channel). Attention to branding is key, as is the proper logo. For Prince William, his “logo” is his coat of arms

And Catherine now has one as well

Companies are taking advantage of the festivities to market themselves. For example, T-Mobile's viral video has more than 13 million views:

Read Ad Age's "How T-Mobile Won the Royal Wedding With Video Stunt."

Today is the 57th anniversary of the most boring day in the last century (Sunday, April 11, 1954). A computer scientist used the search engine True Knowledge (@trueknowledge) to search 300 million compiled facts and determine this date had "the fewest significant births, significant deaths, or significant events" of any other day. A pretty innovative way to get social media buzz about the True Knowledge brand! Read about it. Also see NPR’s coverage.

Brandweek (@Brandweek) has an excerpt of the book Curation Nation: How to Win in a World Where Consumers are Creators  (@curationnation) by Steven Rosenbaum (@magnify). The book explains that “brands, both old and new, need to stop ignoring the emergence of consumer power and instead embrace it and accept it. They must channel it, and in turn change how they think about customers. Humans, formerly known as either consumers or couch potatoes, are now creators and thought leaders, passive no more.” Rosenbaum goes on to say

Brands begin with the need to lead, the expertise to tell their story, the skill to attract intent, and therefore the ability to be trusted within their communities. Because brands have access to both paid and earned media (advertising and public relations), as well as their own brand space, they are inherently publishers. The big change for the brands that have been built in the post-millennium world is that they are media, rather than buying media. For example, Starbucks sees such remarkable foot traffic and return visits through its doors that it doesn’t need to buy television advertising to reach its customers. Its stores, its signage, its window displays are all media that lets it tell its story to customers....

In order for brands to be present and participate in the new “social” world, they need to have a voice. And a voice that is more than a monologue. A dialogue. And that requires that they develop a curatorial context for the space they’re in — and a way to share ideas that come from their area of expertise, but not necessarily their own content creators....

[B]rands that ignore the need to embrace an editorial voice are bound to be unhappy when consumers use their newfound power to talk about them —whether they like it or not.

Read the full excerpt.

Let Somersault help you effectively communicate your brand using social media. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard that features RSS feeds of articles on the topic of branding and links to services that will help you monitor the social media buzz swirling around your brand.

eMarketer (@eMarketer) reports that according to a survey of social media marketers, the most valuable aspects of social media brand fans go beyond anything with an immediate monetary value.

At the top of the list were the fan’s value as a source of insight and increased loyalty overall. Advocacy and engagement were also important to at least three-quarters of respondents.

Read this in full.

As you set your social media marketing strategy, are you focusing on long-term relational objectives or short-term sales goals?

Trendwatching.com (@trendwatching) has identified 11 key consumer trends that will have a global impact on marketers this year:

1. Random acts of kindness: From brands randomly picking up a consumer’s tab to sending a surprise gift.
2. Urbanization: Urban consumers tend to be more daring, more liberal, more tolerant, more experienced, more prone to trying out new products and services.
3. Pricing Pandemonium: Brands should target consumers with offers and features such as instant mobile coupons and discounts, online group discounts, flash sales, and dynamic pricing based on real-time supply and demand.
4. Made for China/Emerging Economies: Growth in consumer spending in emerging markets far outpaces consumer spending in developed markets, and Western brands are favored more than local brands in emerging markets.
5. Online Status Symbols: Brands should supply consumers with any kind of symbol, virtual or ‘real world,’ that helps them display to peers their online contributions, interestingness, creations, or popularity.
6. ‘Wellthy:’ Consumers are expecting health products and services to prevent misery if not improve their quality of life, rather than merely treating illnesses and ailments.
7. ‘Twin-sumers’ and ‘Social-lites:’ Key to WOM recommendations. Twin-sumers are consumers with similar consumer patterns, likes and dislikes. Social-lites are consumers who consistently broadcast information to a wide range of associates online.
8. Emerging Generosity: Brands and wealthy individuals from emerging markets (especially China) who will increasingly be expected to give, donate, care and sympathize, as opposed to just sell and take.
9. Planned Spontaneity: Fragmented lifestyles, dense urban environments with multiple options, and cell/smartphones have created a generation who have little experience in making (or sticking to) rigid plans.
10. Eco-Superior: Products that are not only eco-friendly, but superior to polluting incumbents in every possible way.
11. Owner-less: For many consumers, access is better than ownership.

Read these observations in full.

Leave your comments below as to which one resonates with your brand and how you will take advantage of it.

The company that brought us everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pocket knives has come up with a campaign to “promote the core values that have contributed to our 127 years of success and fame.” Called Time to Care, it’s Victorinox's (@Victorinox) yearlong initiative celebrating “The Spirit of Innovation and Sustainability.”

Running from late March through the end of September 2011, the Time to Care project showcases the innovative Victorinox Swiss Army Alliance line of watches and chronographs. It consists of two initiatives: a traveling photography exhibition celebrating sustainable design and an international sustainable design competition. The events seek to promote and generate innovative and design solutions.

What ways can you think of to promote your brand’s commitment to innovation?

Chris Ferebee (@caferebee) of Yates & Yates (@yatesandyates) literary agency writes about confusion some published authors have when it comes to trademarks. He asks

Do you know who owns the title to your book? Do you know who owns the right to the name of your quirky, one of a kind character? Do you know who has the ability to license the name of your book, or character name, or any other potential trademark along with the various commercial, merchandising, dramatic and other rights to all of the folks who will come calling after you’ve enjoyed commercial success? Think movie studios for sure, but what about the video game industry? What about graphic novel adaptations? Heard of the new Spider-Man show on Broadway? Who knows, maybe even someone will want to license your character for a lunchbox. Are you, as the author, the one who these folks should be talking to, or is it your publisher?

Read this in full.

Give us your comments on how you strategically think about trademarks.