5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand and Image, With Mardis Bagley of Nonfiction
Branding builds consumer preference and loyalty — independent of the product. Apple is a great example with their extensive products and services that share a similar design language. From their first consumer touchpoint through their entire product line, you are acutely aware of their brand. Their entire communication connects together to create a strong, cohesive brand. This builds preference, when a customer seeks out your brand because they love all your other products. And loyalty, when a customer will buy only your product, which ultimately leads to brand evangelists and word-of-mouth advertising.
As a part of my series about brand makeovers, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mardis Bagley. Mardis is co-founder and creative director of Nonfiction, a San Francisco-based product design firm focused on the future of humans. Mardis has extensive experience in branding, graphic and industrial design. He began his career crafting brand stories and digital experiences, before expanding to physical products and transformational experiences for clients including Nike, Facebook, Logitech, Dell, Intel, Chevron, Jiffy Lube, Corning, Symantec, and countless mid-sized and startup companies. His direct efforts have garnered millions in sales and venture capital funding. Mardis also teaches sustainability and social impact at the California College of the Arts.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I grew up the son of a carpenter and nurse. When I was five, I found a screwdriver and removed all the screws from the door handles in the house — locking my parents in different rooms. I helped my Dad lay a concrete foundation when I was eight. I was assisting on construction job sites when I was 10. And roofing houses and welding my own go-kart when I was 13. By 15, I was rebuilding car engines. By 16, I rolled my car end-over-end. It’s an understatement to say I was hands-on. While I could have walked into an architecture or carpentry career pretty easily, I chose my own path.
My design career began in graphic design and branding. I was quickly elevated to art director at a small branding firm — building websites, animations and interactions. But I always missed the tactile feel of making things. I returned to school for industrial design and got a slew of real-word experience, before launching design firm Nonfiction.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing or branding mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I was developing a brand of medical products geared toward the elderly. One of my colleagues proposed a beautiful name that loosely translated to “autumn, or late in the season” and captured the essence of our elderly clientele. I focused on building the brand, including products, packaging and physical materials. In the final hours before launch, the client called about a critical name change. While they had trademarked the product name and domain…they just discovered it was far too similar to a high-end adult pornography website! Based on the clientele’s age and direct-to-consumer shipping strategy, their clients would undoubtedly go to the website for more information and likely hit the adult website. There was no saving it at that point — it was no joke and expensive because the physical products had already been created. But it was also utterly hilarious.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Is there a takeaway or lesson that others can learn from that?
My tipping point came several years into my career when I ventured into freelancing. I was contracting with various agencies where I was brought on as a “hired gun.” It forced me to jump from one diverse project to another. I had to deep dive into projects quickly and create results. I found it exhilarating. It also allowed me to work alongside many different people with unique styles. I learned to say “YES” to every opportunity. Many will work out, some may not. But there will always be something to be gained.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I design many products in the transformational technology field. This is a category focused on making deep, behavioral changes in people’s lives. Most recently, my company Nonfiction launched the world’s first FDA-approved, non-invasive solution to help reduce essential tremors, a condition that affects dexterity and movement in over seven million people in America alone.
We’ve also been designing neuro-priming devices to help athletes perform better by stimulating the motor cortex. And we’re currently creating products related to anxiety/stress, depression, migraine, chronic pain, dementia, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, memory, sleep quality, autism and epilepsy.
What advice would you give to other marketers to thrive and avoid burnout?
Beyond keeping projects diverse and staying challenged, I would advise to travel — a lot. Absorbing the eccentricities and nuances of other cultures is invaluable. It might fuel ideas for your next project or play a role in connecting with clients and consumers. It may simply help you be a more considerate and compassionate person.
Taking a break from work to reboot doesn’t necessarily require two weeks off, sans phone. I love fun unconventional breaks like themed get togethers, such as “monster parties” where guests pull words from hats and handmake representative stuffed toys like “grumpy Gaga”, “hairy hillbilly”, “STD robot” using glue guns, felt fabric, and sewing. Or “director’s appreciation night” where we pick an admired movie director, dress up, drink and party as our favorite character. It’s super creative and keeps your mind out of the office.
To each his own, but these allow me to recharge creatively without client pressures.
In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between branding and advertising?
Good marketing means you’ve reached your target audience, connected deeply and are selling products. On the other hand, good branding is an alignment between the brand’s philosophy and consumers interests. As Jeff Bezos said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Branding is the representation of your company values. Metaphorically, it’s the lighthouse amidst the storm of advertising. The storm takes on different forms and attitudes depending on the atmosphere. Advertising is something that needs to be updated regularly. But branding is something that shouldn’t change often. It sees through the storm to guide consumers and internal stakeholders toward a familiar vision.
Can you explain why it’s important to invest resources into building a brand, in addition to general marketing and advertising efforts?
Branding builds consumer preference and loyalty — independent of the product. Apple is a great example with their extensive products and services that share a similar design language. From their first consumer touchpoint through their entire product line, you are acutely aware of their brand. Their entire communication connects together to create a strong, cohesive brand. This builds preference, when a customer seeks out your brand because they love all your other products. And loyalty, when a customer will buy only your product, which ultimately leads to brand evangelists and word-of-mouth advertising.
What are a few reasons why a company would consider rebranding?
Relevance, the industry and competitors have moved on. Its products may have changed. It needs to stay desired and appropriate. A brand makeover could encompass an entirely new image, refreshed for the times and consumer demands. For instance, Sysco foodservice’s 1969 brand was originally focused on delivering products and services in an efficient manner. Its logo, sharp-edged box and capital letters, spoke more to shareholders than its clientele. But the redesigned brand incorporates a fresh leaf mark and commitment to sustainable business. Their new tagline “At the Heart of Food and Service” represents their commitment to enriching their customer’s experience with passion and integrity. It’s a great example of revamping a brand for today, while highlighting and keeping their heritage and core brand intact.
Are there downsides of rebranding? Are there companies that you would advise against doing a “Brand Makeover”? Why?
We’ve seen rebranding programs fall flat, like the rebranding of GAP in 2010. The logo with the 80’s blue square was so badly received that people thought it was a marketing stunt. It turns out it was an attempt at crowdsourcing design. Just for the record, crowdsourcing is a bad idea. But oftentimes, rebranding fails when there’s a misalignment of core consumer groups. You never want to leave them behind. They are your brand evangelists. You want to elevate them to the new vision, while inviting new users to your brand.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company can do to upgrade and re-energize their brand and image”?
- Create something unique — don’t follow trends. Stand out from the crowd. If the industry is creating clean white brands, then go dark. If the trend is to go blobular, then you go rectilinear. Being extreme and niche can lead to some wonderful products and kickstart trends.
- Don’t overcomplicate things or try to be too literal. Not every element in your brand has to have deep logical meaning. Sometimes things are memorable because they are beautiful.
- Simplify your message — but don’t be boring. Create emotional content that connects with the consumer on a visceral level. The best, most effective ads are minimal. Their message is quick and easy to understand. Calm meditation app has a great logo, with elegant visuals and a focused intent (literally).
- Be a little mysterious. Don’t give it all away. Create a question that challenges assumptions. These types of communications are actually calls to action. They drive consumers to investigate more.
- Look at your brand as if it were another brand altogether. When I was working on rebranding Jiffy Lube, our team challenged leadership in a series of workshops to look at JL as if it were a Starbucks, a Ritz-Carlton, an Apple store and so on. How might this change the customer experience? What would the storefront, the graphics and voice sound like?
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job doing a “Brand Makeover”. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
Old Spice deodorant was faced with a rapidly changing landscape and AXE deodorant was quickly gaining market share. Old Spice decided to reinvent themselves. They threw out the stodgy old brand your grandfather connected with, and refreshed it with a fun, youthful campaign. They introduced a cheeky verbal identity to guild the brand language.
They took huge risks by celebrating the “art of being a man” in an over-the-top manner. The campaign was coined the “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” and highlighted a James Bond-like superhero that could do almost anything, even if completely ridiculous. I’ve always said desperation leads to innovation. In this case, Old Spice was desperately losing market share, so they took a chance on something completely different.
Old Spice was given many awards for creativity, and their market share has grown by double digits every year since. Not to leave their original consumers behind, they rereleased Old Spice Classic with an elegant packaging refresh that is speaks to the classic man.
Refreshing a brand named “Old” and “Spice” is quite the feat. Everything is possible with good branding and marketing.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
End single use plastics and packaging. We all love great design and see the obvious connection between the out-of-box experience and sales, but the packaging industry needs a refresh. Why do we need corrugated cardboard boxes to protect cardboard boxes in shipping? It’s excessive. Clamshell packaging keeps your product from bouncing around in shipping and resists theft, but it would be ideal to have less plastic based options. Should companies be required to design packaging for a second life? Could it be a planter, a lamp, a storage solution, etc.? Is there a way to deliver packages without boxes altogether? Can we 3D print our products locally and pick them up without the need for packaging? There’s a lot of room for improvement in our current thinking.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
This quote is at the core of what we do at Nonfiction. It’s not about the product or service, it’s about how the consumer feels at the end. This puts the consumer experience first. As a methodology, I start with the end goal first, then work backwards to align stakeholder interests.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can follow me at:
www.instagram.com/nonfiction.design
www.facebook.com/nonfiction.design
www.linkedin.com/in/mardisbagley
5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand and Image, With Mardis Bagley of… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
