My 10 Years of Truth. Passion, Love and Relentless Tenacity…

#1 The Idea.

It’s the summer of 2005 and I return from a girly weekend in Madrid to my husband and soon-to-be founder of Truth. I’ve been happily working in client services, learning my craft at McCann Erickson before a two-year stint at what became Gyro International. Darren is currently senior designer and head of typography at McCann Erickson. He’s at the top of his game and respected industry-wide.

As I put down my case and plonk on the couch he tells me that he’s leaving McCann, where he’s been for the past 10 years… going to freelance for 12 months and then set up his own agency. That’s a lot of information in five minutes when you’ve just arrived home – but his passion for what he’s about to do is unshakeable, and in August 2006 Truth is born.

#2 Reebok UK.

I can whole-heartedly state that 2008 was a critical turning point for Truth, both commercially and creatively. A long-standing friend and photographer, Jon Shard had referred us. We won the brief to deliver branding and associated visual identity for Reebok’s sporting asset, Amir Khan (Amir is still using our logomark to this day). Working with Reebok would last until 2015… and my love for the brand still remains to this day.

Reebok is in my top 10 for hundreds of reasons, but the photography shoot with Amir Khan, whilst Darren and I were 10-weeks into expecting our first child, was probably one of the greatest moments (aside from feeling as sick as a dog). It launched our little business into a respected agency creating global branding.

#3 Versus Cancer ‘09.

Our second year running supporting this amazing charity founded by Andy Rourke (ex-Smiths) and Nova Reman (ex-tour manager to Ian Brown, to name just one). The visibility we received from VC was again phenomenal, leading onto numerous in-bound new business opportunities.

The 2009 campaign sticks in my memory the most. Cue Darren sending me a text message watching Noel Gallagher’s full set rehearsal, whilst sat next to non other than Paul Weller. You couldn’t script it.

#4 Lisa and Fi.

What started as a casual conversation over lunch in 2010 with my ex-colleague and friend at Pret-a-Manger with Lisa Margis (not yet French), ended up being what is now one of my proudest moments in Truth’s history.

A frantic phone call from France (there’s a lot of French references here, which is complete coincidence!) brought Lisa and Fiona into the Truth family as partners and directors of what has become an incredibly successful PR and Digital Outreach operation.

I’m proud to call them my partners, my allies and my close friends.

#5 The Unexpected Call.

One referral Darren and myself never expected arrived in 2011. I remember his face of disbelief when he came to tell me that ITV had just called with a brief out of the blue.

The call turned out to be an identity brief that would showcase the on screen brand of Coronation Street, off-screen for commercial opportunity. Those kinds of calls don’t happen too often!

#6 NYC – Baby!

Having worked with UK parenting brand Bounty for a number of years, the business decided to look at international markets to grow its commercial opportunity. In 2012 their parent company, Treehouse Group, invested in a bedside baby photography business know as Mom365.

I joined the UK marketing team in 2012 on a trip to New York, culminating in one of the most memorable strategic proposition and branding presentations I’ve ever given.  I don’t think anyone since has given me a round of applause when I finished the presentation…. I LOVE New York!

#7 The Big One.

I remember quite clearly sitting in the PZ Cussons reception with Darren in 2012, waiting to go in and pitch our thoughts on their global corporate identity. It felt huge for Truth, but we knew our strategy and brand creativity was solid.

We were pitching against the big boys and we didn’t think we’d win for a second. But we did – and we continue to work with the business to this day, it’s an organisation we’re both incredibly passionate about.

#8 2014 Transform Awards.

We’ve never been an agency for entering awards, Darren’s cabinet is pretty full so our reward comes from seeing brands grow and happy clients.

So when we transformed both corporate and operational brands for GC Aesthetics and our client wanted to enter, we were thrilled to win!

#9 Robinsons’ Internal Launch.

Having developed the corporate identity for Robinsons Brewery and re-invigorating the 176 year old brand, we were invited to launch it to the entire business in December 2014.

As Darren and I stood in front of the board, management and employees to reveal the new identity, we were met with gasps, silence, then laughter and smiles. It was a proud moment I’ll never forget.

# 10 Top Three.

Three weeks before our agency turns 10, I travel to London to the annual event hosted by the Drum – the UK’s Independent Agency Census. I’m thrilled to discover that Truth is voted by its clients and the Drum as not only an elite agency, but in the top three UK agencies. Wow.

It’s at this moment that watching my business partner and husband realise his dream, being by his side to create this fantastic agency, and seeing how far we’ve come, that I don’t think I could be any prouder.

Written by
Jo Scott, Managing Partner.

The importance of thought leadership?

The importance of thought leadership?

A thought leader is an individual or firm recognised as an informed opinion leader, and the ‘go-to’ person in their field of expertise. They are not only the trusted sources that move and inspire others; they turn ideas into reality and know how to replicate success.

In the context of brand strategy, this is an incredibly powerful tool. Once the solid industry term of corporate PR: today’s multi-channel opportunities enable any brand to drive end-user and consumer engagement through challenging the equilibrium.

For any brand to harness the power of thought leadership it must run deeper than a press release or social media campaign. It must be an integral culture of a business. Why? Because the competitive advantage most brands are vying for is not easy to achieve in an ever-changing, sceptical world. Nor should it be. True thought leadership must breed innovation from the foundations of a business and the collective individuals who make it happen. Only then can a business project its thought leadership to a wider, external audience.

Great thought leadership challenges the norm; it doesn’t simply provide commentary. It is driven from the individuals behind a brand who ask why? Or, what if? And, more often than not thought leaders, who inspire an organisation, aren’t necessarily the right people to communicate it, internally or externally.

So how can a brand truly harness thought leadership?

A brand can really engage its users by embracing a differentiated brand proposition, enabling the business individuals to live it in everything they do. This breeds innovation, new product development and above all, brand advocacy through distinctive, campaign-able conversations.

The best way to understand this is to cite the brands that do this well.

First up, the obvious one. Apple Inc.

You might argue some of the thought leadership has waned since we lost the brilliance of Mr. Jobs. But my view is, he did more than enough to launch Apple into a position of thought leadership for years to come simply by breeding innovation throughout the veins of his business. The result? A plethora of brand advocates who genuinely love the familiarity they get from the intelligence of intuitive products from the very first time they pick them up, to the ‘nothing-is-too-much-trouble’ in-store experience.

Second, SAP. Yes – I’m being serious.

As a business software powerhouse that wants to show how your business can leverage the latest innovative technologies to solve problems, SAP is a thought leader in its own right. The content provided by SAP is about leading and helping, not simply selling. SAP is thinking of its brand as a media outlet producing content that is relevant to its target audience. It does this by establishing itself as a bright mind that can help your business solve problems. It also provides a great showcase for its internal leaders to position themselves as experts in their field. IBM’s alignment to implement its intelligent systems on the ground, is not without piggy-backing innovative thought leadership…

Third. It’s TED.

TED is a brand built on thought leadership. The nonprofit organization’s talks and conferences represent the world’s most relevant and influential thinkers, and the ideas distributed through videos and blog posts impact a widening range of industries and disciplines. 

The organization’s actual target audience is made up of individuals representing decision-makers in every aspect of business, education, technology and other industries. Now TED is branching out to create conferences centered on a range of subjects and locations; 2014’s TEDMED is serving as the brand’s first conference dedicated to one discipline. This is how TED is able to influence industries and audiences in ways that most brands only dream of.

A final thought…

All three of these brands operate as thought leaders by moving their audience in a very pertinent way. They engage, innovate and stretch once they’ve mastered what they’ve been doing thus far. Thought leadership isn’t commentary, and it isn’t PR – it is about communicating a brand’s ability to deliver results to help improve both lives and business.

Written by
Jo Scott
Managing Partner – Truth Design.

Brands as religion

Thou shalt worship false idols!

Many modern brands have become mini-religions or achieved cult status. Social media has allowed brands to offer themselves up to be worshipped.

Brands have followers, fan pages and every retweet effectively makes you a preacher for your brand of choice.The passing of the collection plate has been replaced by subscription fees, and baptism by loyalty schemes as brands encourage consumers to commit and to spread the gospel of their brand. 

Brand values have become the new commandments, the foundations every brand scribes to define their faith. A recognisable brand mark adds value to what you offer, it allows you to stand out from the crowd, and it can build relationships with your customers. But it doesn’t stop there, consuming a brand has become an experience, a lifestyle choice, a way of saying this is what I am all about, I believe in this.

Consumers tend to align themselves with like-minded brands. It says:
“Hey, I believe in what you’re doing, let’s do it together”.

Apple has achieved this by constant innovation and projecting an über cool attitude towards design innovation and customer service. They believe they can change the world, their believers think they can change the world, some believe they already have. As a result their customers are loyal and freely share their love for the brand, they are Apple ‘disciples’ if you like. They wear the brand like a badge of honour, with sense of pride and belonging.

This trust and loyalty allows Apple to drive the brand into new areas applying the same Brand philosophies as they go. The consumers now automatically believe their products WILL be better and WILL be cooler.

This blind devotion is THE ultimate in brand loyalty, it is the promised land.

Faith.

Like any religion, brands want people to have faith in what they have to offer. This faith leads consumers to have a life-long devotion to the quality of their brand. This leads to a sharing of beliefs and a growing following of devoted disciples.

Omnipresence.

The most successful brands try to be visible everywhere and to everyone. Many of the world’s most recognisable brands have achieved this. For example, the ‘Golden Arches’ of McDonald’s are arguably more widely recognised and prominent in modern society than many religious symbols.

Deities and Iconography.

Endorsements are big business, many icons of sport and entertainment align themselves with brands they believe in, or not. In fact, many of our modern ‘icons’ like Tiger Woods (fallen icon) and David Beckham have become global brands in their own right.

The Place of Worship.

You may have noticed that people still worship on the Sabbath day, just not in the same place anymore. The buildings still tend to be tall and instantly recognisable by the iconic signs and symbols. But, these temples are no longer made of grey stone and covered in crucifixes. They are the brightly coloured monolithic structures of B&Q and IKEA. These are now the weekend pilgrimage for many consumers.

Miracles.

Many technology brands perform what many would consider modern ‘miracles’.

When Sony launched the Walkman in 1979, people were able (for the first time) to carry music around in their hand. Many doubted it, but it changed the music industry and went on to become the biggest selling electronic consumer product in history. This made Sony a global super brand. Apple performed a similar miracle when the late Steve Jobs (God bless his soul) turned the muddied water that was portable music into the fine wine that is now iPod and iTunes.

A Sense of Community.

The unstoppable rise of social networks has seen brands like Facebook become the worlds fastest growing ‘religion’, it is the already the biggest and most diverse community on the planet, it transcends race, language and geography. It brings more people together more than any other faith. It is so high and mighty that even the biggest brands worship it, even to the extent where they display their faith proudly in the form of a LIKE button.

So if new ‘religions’ are merging, talking, sharing values and faiths, is the world heading towards one divine super religion called the internet?

To discover the secret to brand worship for your business, let Truth show you the way!

Written by
Darren Scott
Founder / Creative Director – Truth

Should Tesco rebrand?

On a recent car trip my six year old son, Dylan, recently pointed out to me that he recognised a Sainsbury’s store, ‘because Sainsbury’s is orange’. Being a brand whore this intrigued me and I decided to quiz him further on other brands, and more specifically supermarkets. What colour is Waitrose I asked? ‘Green daddy, dark green’, he replied.  ‘And Morrisons?’, ’Yellow daddy, and green too, but just a bit’, he replied. Asda? ‘Green’. Marks & Spencer? ‘Dark green as well, I know because grandma goes there’.

He adds that ’Netflix is red’ and that ‘Sky believe in better daddy!’. He also adds that ‘Ocado doesn’t have a colour, it has fruit’, (his knowledge of the Ocado brand is purely based on the vans that deliver to our home). Then I asked about Tesco, his reply? ‘I don’t know daddy, is it black?‘. Now, I know that I have taken him to a Tesco store on several occasions, but for some reason the branding had not registered with him. 

I know that six-year-olds are not the target demographic for Tesco, but I guess that they are not exactly top of the list for the other supermarket brands either. Maybe what the others have, is more brand presence or a better connection with consumers. Tesco is often criticised for being a faceless corporation, trying to take over the world, and as the second largest retailer in the world (based on revenue), you could easily argue they are. However, they are often accused (sometimes unfairly) of single-handedly destroying our high streets and squeezing the life out of our farming industry. For this reason alone they should be on the charm offensive, they should work extra hard on getting their personality right, and addressing the negativity through brand experience. Many of our other large supermarket chains are equally guilty of the same practises, but deflect it with brand experience, mask it with personality, and offset it with high profile CSR activity. 

Obviously a six year old is unaware of the negative (or positive) press a brand might receive and all that surrounds it. A six year old is free to simply judge branding at face value and purely as a cosmetic solution, which is fascinating. Sometimes we could all benefit from looking at the world through the eyes of a child – that simple clarity, free from the white noise of our busy lives and corporate spin voodoo. They don’t over think things, they just say it as they see it, and it is beautiful to witness.

So, is it the branding?

A company’s branding is not only the delivery mechanism for their personality, but also the cosmetic veneer that envelops the brand experience and the company’s culture. Tesco has several aspects to its brand that buck the trend of most supermarket branding rules. But are they really faceless? I would say no, but as the brand is so sterile it is borderline generic, and so their face is forgettable. Bland would be a more accurate description, over brand. Now, this may be a deliberate ploy, based on market research or focus groups, but Tesco do little (visually) to make you warm to them as a consumer. This is bad news when you consider that branding is usually an all important first impression a company has on a potential customer.

Feeling blue.

Tesco has traditionally always used red and blue on white as their brand colours. Patriotic as this is, it feels sterile and cold. The blue headlines on white feel corporate or medical, not enticing and welcoming. As a brand, it lacks the warmth of Sainsbury’s orange and the tradition and prestige of Waitrose green. In fact, all it communicates is blandness and almost a lack of effort to connect with customers in a meaningful way. A warmer colour would go a long way towards injecting passion and warmth into their frosty appearance, and maybe even make them more emotive and human in the eyes of potential customers.

The clothes that their words wear.

The expanded serif typeface is overly spiky and angular, it feels tired and dated (not traditional), more appropriate for the signage on a medieval castle carved into stone, rather than a family supermarket. The use of capitals is SHOUTY, and it doesn’t have the warmth and personality of many of the other supermarkets. Ironically the softer Clarendon typeface that Tesco traditionally used is now embraced by several supermarkets, mainly because it has personality and a certain bounciness to it, that softens the message it is communicating. Competitors like Sainsbury’s use serif typography but it is softer and more flowing with its rounded bowls and tapered serifs, the use of lowercase is more personable and friendly. Waitrose use an elegant and rounded sans-serif that feels minimal and elegant to underpin their premium positioning. That is why the choice of typeface is a key part of any branding project, it is the accent with which your words speak, and it speaks volumes about your brand.

Personality check.

Tesco lacks a face or a recognisable personality that we, as consumers, can associate with, and align ourselves to. Jamie Oliver made Sainsbury’s feel like a friendly, food-focussed company that had your best interests at heart. Jamie brought passion and creativity to their customer experience. Tesco would benefit from a shot in the arm of celebrity juice from an appropriate brand ambassador (think Jamie Oliver, not Kerry Katona). Aldi has developed a cult-like status by having great personality and a sense of humour that people warm to.

Obviously a company is much much more than simply how it looks. It is about culture, experience, product and most importantly people. I am not claiming that the negativity surrounding Tesco is because of their branding, far from it, but I don’t think the branding is doing enough to win customers over and shift the perception of the company. In summary, Tesco is getting a lot of little things wrong, adding up to a dysfunctional brand experience, which consumers are failing to connect with, other than simply convenience of location and price. As Tesco claim ‘Every little helps’ but in this case, every little hurts, particularly in the eyes of a six year old.

Written by
Darren Scott
Founder / Creative Director – Truth