market identity study
Two major athletic shoe manufacturers dominate the market. Each has quality products that are roughly equivalent across many levels-design, comfort, style, market penetration, customer approval, healthy sales, widely recognized brand names, and price. The first, however, has sales figures well over double that of the second. Most of this is attributable to one factor: image.
The first spends heavily on successful advertising and experiences skyrocketing sales figures. Its brand name is associated with a world-renowned symbol. That symbol IS the company in the eyes of the public. Their competitor also has a symbol, but fewer than one in fifty consumers recognize it or associate it with the company.
Do you know who we're talking about? That's right-Nike and Reebok. Everyone knows and instantly recognizes Nike's “swoosh” symbol, but Reebok's crosshatch design is usually overlooked.
Corporate image is critical to success. An icon or pictogram can carry positive or negative associations. In most instances, however, it doesn't carry any meaning at all. What does yours say about your company?
Department 13 Designs can assist you in creating a powerful corporate image or restructure an existing one to increase sales, positive associations, and memorable impact. Get noticed.
competitive intelligence study
An up and coming garden materials manufacturer was a favored supplier of the nation's largest home improvement retail chain. The manufacturer was trying very hard to break the $500 million sales mark, but was hampered by numerous personnel issues at the highest levels of the corporation. Internal problems aside, it supplied a wide range of garden supplies to the chain retailer.
Recently, an error of timing or judgment on the part of the manufacturer created a disastrous situation. The manufacturer failed to address a routine contract renewal with the retail chain. The contract expired on a Wednesday. Management realized the contract had lapsed late Thursday. By the time they had notified the chain retailer, one of their major suppliers had already forged a new contract and was supplying a full range of products that effectively supplanted the garden materials manufacturer's line. The competing product line was on the shelves nationwide by Friday afternoon.
Full lines of competing materials do not appear overnight. They take time to develop. Still, the introduction of a competing line came as a complete surprise to the garden materials manufacturer. It shouldn't have. The information was readily available and the supplier was not trying to keep its developments secret.
The garden materials manufacturer's stock plummeted to the point that it was removed from NASDAQ and sales have been more disappointing than predicted. It appears that the corporation will soon sell off its subsidiaries and dissolve into nothingness if it isn't purchased at fire-sale prices by an unfriendly competitor. Keeping an eye on what the competition is up to is a part of smart business. Don't make the same mistake.
market niche/product viability study
Years before the common commercial availability of read/write compact disc players, an entrepreneur submitted his business plan to D13D for evaluation. His company would provide data scanning and disc storage for the health care industry. D13D predicted that within three years the read/write cd drive would be a common, relatively inexpensive computer component.
This prediction has been borne out as burnable compact discs and specialized data storage drives of 100 megabyte capacity (minimum) have made his business proposal obsolete. Our evaluation of his plan came as a disappointment, but it saved him from launching a costly venture doomed to obsolescence. Be prepared.
logo/corporate image study
Logos are critical in defining your corporate image. A good logo says something about your company and should create a lasting association in the mind of the viewer. Take Department 13 Designs as an example. Some would question why we chose such an unusual name. Simple--customers remember it precisely because it is unusual. It also has a somewhat cryptic ring to it which ties neatly into our business--researching business problems and designing solutions. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the recent plethora of anthropomorphic "star" logos adopted by a number of new companies. Test your logo recognition skills.
