Have you felt like quitting the process of branding your business online as you try to grow your presence? Do you feel like your efforts aren’t making a different and you want to quit? I want to encourage you to “Don’t quit, keep branding your business”.

Image: SXC.hu

What this means is that as you are sharing information online about your business, don’t quit because it seems like things aren’t working. You never know where your next new client may come from or how you will be able to develop a new strategic partnership.

There are different ways that you can brand your business online. Below is a starter list to help you determine what will work for you:

• Review your brand packaging to determine if you need to update it. If you need to make changes, get 360° feedback from your clients, business associates and others who may be connected with your business.
• Determine if your brand strategy needs to be revamped. You should check out where your competition is actively building their brand. Then see where you can incorporate similar things into your brand strategy.
• Assess the buzz marketing that may be affecting your business. See if there are ways to develop a buzz about your business so that others will spread the word about your business.

These are simple things that can help you get started with revamping your business. Keep in mind….don’t quit, keep branding your business. Success is just around the corner. Please feel free to share additional ways that you have been able to keep your branding alive.

The way your package your products and services speaks loudly about your business. Choosing the right colors, design and images can make or break the success of a business image. Developing a concise brand packaging program is ideal and important to your company.

What is brand packaging and how does it affect your business? According to the article entitled, “What a Packaging Makeover Can Do For Your Company” which can be found on FastCompany.com and written by Saabira Chaudhuri….

Branding consists of a range of different but strongly interconnected activities that are all geared towards creating a lasting, positive impression in the minds of consumers that will ultimately be good for business. See examples of brand package makeovers by clicking here.

Image: SXC.hu (what does your brand say?)

As you redevelop the brand packaging for your company, keep in mind that you want to create a lasting impression on the consumers of your product. Yes sometimes gimmicks work but are they long-lasting. Making a lasting impression takes more than just a gimmick, it takes a well-thoughtout strategy of implementing a series of activities to brand your business image in your consumers’ minds.

As for feedback from your consumers or business associates regrading your brand packaging to see if they would suggest improvements. They check their suggestions against what your competitors are doing to see if the suggestion will make you standout amoung your competitors.

Check out the video below that explains how Domino Sugar went through a brand makeover and how it had a very positive and lasting impact on their business.

Moosehead announced today a new beer to quench the thirst of an older, more classy, more sophisticated audience. The beer is called Cracked Canoe and sports a completely repackaged look rounding out Moosehead’s product line to satisfy more beer drinkers.

Moosehead’s current branding is a green label, with a crest-like logo with photographic moosehead. The company’s origins speak to that image, originally named the Army & Navy Brewery, Moosehead catered to Nova Scotia’s “thirsty redcoats and jack-tars” (source).

image: from the Moosehead website

The new branding focuses on a can that is unlike any other in the market. Not as large as a tall-boy, but taller and thinner than a regular 12 oz can. The design is completely black with an illustrated white outline of the moosehead.Very minimalist, very sleak. Moosehead claims the packing design reflects the distinctive taste. Their research showed an “overwhelming response to both the black label with white graphic elements as well as the sleek cans.” Though the taste is light enough to enjoy in the backyard on a scorching hot summer day, it’s also upscale enough to be seen drinking in a restaurant like Canoe.

At 3.5% and under 100 calories, Cracked Canoe is not rebranding for its current market but rather chasing an older crowd - “men and women, 30 years of age and older, with above average income and education.”

I’m sure it wasn’t just the name of the new beer that prompted Moosehead to host the media event at Canoe, a particularly swanky restaurant in downtown Toronto. Moosehead’s aim at targeting a more savvy beer drinker certainly hits the mark at Canoe.The sleek black can looked perfectly at home in the hands of young business suits and classily-accessorized skirts. For a light beer, this delivers more than a promise of few calories, it labels the drinker as a premium-seeker who appreciates quality in craftsmanship.

The tagline reinforces that notion. Slow. Moosehead’s TV spot speaks directly to that slowness - your first slow dance, poetry in motion, slow motion of a man and woman catching each other’s glance. It’s not two long-time college buds sitting at a pub ripping labels off their bottles. It’s pure sophisticated sexiness.

The press release says, “its new brand is aimed at an emerging beer-drinking demographic: more mature consumers who want the refreshment of beer but with fewer calories and less alcohol content.”

It certainly fits the bill in my opinion and I can’t wait to see how the branding of this new product sits among both current Moosehead drinkers and that elusive segment of the beer drinking population who needs their beer can to match their well-paid for suit while keeping their waistlines in mind.

Images courtesy of Moosehead’s press kit.

Nestle has a new brand, Glowelle, which is a beauty supplement sold in high-end stores such as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman at $7 per single-serve bottle.  A powdered version that can be mixed with water is also available for $40 (7-day supply) or $112 (30-day supply).  It comes in two flavors - Raspberry Jasmine and Pomegranate Lychee.

Read more

Ad Age highlighted the phenomenal packaging of Fat Pig Chocolate today, and I couldn’t resist taking a closer look at this product. The brand name and packaging imagery goes against everything one would expect from a chocolate product. Rather than making a chocolate indulgence sound like something fun or special, Fat Pig Chocolate cuts to the chase.

The text on the back of the package reads, “Get your snout in this. Shove every single square in your face right now. And do it quick. Or some other fat pig might ask you for a pice. Oink, oink!” Read more

Wrigley launched a new product called 5 Gum and The Die Line posted some pictures of the packaging, which is very cool except for one thing.  The target audience for Wrigley’s 5 Gum is teenagers. 

What do you think?  Does this packaging evoke a brand image for teenagers?  I say no. Read more

Pepsi-Cola’s (NYSE: PEP) Sierra Mist brand is re-introducing its holiday flavor for the second year in a row.  Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash and Sierra Mist Free Cranberry Splash will be available for a limited time during the 2007 holiday season in 20-ounce and 2-liter bottles as well as 12-packs and 12-ounce cans.  Read more