NerdBrand Podcast

A brand guide sets the standards of how your business looks and sounds, so all of your creative and marketing communications remain cohesive. It’s adhering to these standards that gives rise to a genuine brand experience.

Let’s break down the different parts of a basic brand guide and discuss the importance of each.

1. Logo
2. Colors
3. Typography
4. Imaging
5. Voice and tone
6. Promise
7. Attributes

Need help creating a brand guide or improving how your brand looks and sounds?

>> nerdbrandagency.com/contact  

Learn more about creating a brand guide:

>> nerdbrandagency.com/brand-guidelines/ 

Join us as we talk about the philosophy and framework of the hero’s journey, specifically in a branding/marketing context.   For your business, who should be the hero and why? A lot of brands mistakenly make their product the hero. The customer should be the hero, in reality.   Who is Joseph Campbell and will Jason watch the new Dune movie?    === About Our Guest: Matt Jones For over 20 years, Matt was a designer, builder, creator, and problem solver at GE Appliances. He’s managed teams to develop new brand engagements & experiences from trade shows to corporate events to the showroom floor. In the late 90s, while attending the University of Cincinnati’s Design, Art, & Architecture program, he quickly realized he was in the right building but not the right department. He then stumbled on a group of folks doing Industrial Design, and the rest is history. === About The Podcast The NerdBrand Podcast is the intersection of nerd culture, branding, and marketing. Nerd culture is no longer a reserved sub-culture; it’s mainstream pop culture.  Listen as we discuss our views on branding and advertising, always with a touch of nerd — technology, movies, comics and novels, video games, and plenty more. Find more at https://nerdbrandagency.com/podcast === About NerdBrand NerdBrand is a national branding, web design, and marketing agency. We love helping businesses identify and better communicate their “why.” Because we believe everything is an ad, we’re passionate about creating holistic brand identities, website designs, and marketing campaigns --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nerdbrand/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nerdbrand/support

Movie theaters have been around for over 100 years. But like all things, times change. First, problems at AMC, then Cineworld, and then Regal. But this started before the pandemic. Cineworld to announce the “temporary suspension” of over 600 locations in the U.S. and the U.K. It begged the question: which films are still slated to open in theaters in 2020? The audiences then went to online streaming. But it’s not proving cost-effective for their customers, and people are missing the experience of in-person viewing with others. Drive-ins saw a boom, but they’re seasonal. Let’s discuss how we got here. Is it the medium, or the stories? Are movie theaters going away like film cameras? Were there just not enough incentives? Have we gotten bored with comic heroes? Cinema Advertising Cinema advertising expenditures are going up, not down, according to this source. What is cinema advertising? Well, if you like arriving early to the theater before the trailers, it's ads that are shown for pre-roll entertainment. A resurgence is expected for theaters. Let’s talk about what got pushed and delayed. So far only one potential blockbuster comic book movie is still scheduled for 2020: Wonder Woman 1984 I think, depending on HBO Max's success, we'll see other DC Movies with Zack Snyder's cut, as many of the actors have moved onto other projects. Marvel disconnected TV series' from movies, but with the pandemic, it looks to not be the continued case. WandaVision and Loki may tie into Dr Strange 2. Spiderman 3 cast Dr Strange in its new film. The next phase of world-building has begun, while DC seems to still be figuring it out. Here’s their list: Greenlatern Series (In Development) Will be on streaming or CW? Aquaman 2 The Batman Man of Steel 2 (trended on Twitter) no sign of being in development The Flash…. Everyone but your kid will be in it…. (Casting insane) Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, and Ezra Miller. Yup, you read that correctly. MICHEAL F’n KEATON https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439572/fullcredits So are we in the phase of shock, not quality? I like nostalgia, but I want a good story. It’s getting more rare. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nerdbrand/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nerdbrand/support

Jibly jarbed? Hey, it's a word if you can spell it.  On Ep. 48 of the NerdBrand Podcast, we’re discussing Branded Sales Collateral and how you can best prep for upcoming networking and business events. Professionally-designed, branded sales collateral allows your sales team to confidently meet prospects and pitch your services effectively. ======= Visit https://nerdbrandagency.com/collateral/ for strategy and design support on sales presentations, flyers, brochures, catalogs, and more. ======= There’s nothing worse than having to pitch using outdated material, or worse, materials that aren't quite on brand. Why You Need Branded Sales Collateral Making a sale is an exceptional feeling.  But making a sale without great materials is a gamble, at best. Especially if your materials are outdated, low design quality, and out of sync with your brand identity -- like improper use of the logo, colors, and fonts. At NerdBrand, we firmly believe everything is an ad.  Your sales presentations and other sales materials certainly fall under the category of ads. Critical ads. Your sales reps or account managers need to genuinely understand why your brand exists, and they need to believe what they are saying about the brand is true. They need a "mental script" of some sort that maintains consistency from pitch to pitch. They should always be telling the same story, with small nuances to appeal to particular prospects. How you sound when you pitch is branding. Your sales presentation is often the first significant interaction a customer has with your brand. Based on that interaction, they'll expect your entire organization to carry out a similar experience from start to finish. So, are your sales efforts setting an accurate stage for your brand to deliver long-term? Let’s discuss five important things to improve your sales and create branded sales collateral: How articulate are your sales reps and account managers? How well do they know the product? Do they understand the typical prospect's needs? Do they have proper sales materials for the different types of prospects or clients they're meeting? Are those materials on-brand (logos, colors, fonts, strategic messaging, tone)? Does the rest of your marketing, especially your website, social media, and Google Ads, read similarly to how your rep sounded? Are there sales and marketing channels fighting each other? If you are tripping on any of those points, we need to talk.  Because it's not just the physical sales assets that you need; you need brand strategy first.  We’ll help you identify what makes your brand compelling, and then craft those pitches in the form of flyers, sales presentations, investor decks, and more. Always with an understanding that what we create must translate well to print and web.  Let's make your sales team more successful, instead of seeming like a pyramid scheme pitch. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nerdbrand/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nerdbrand/support

In this final episode of our three-part series about storytelling, we talk about the idea of creating Spectacle. Storytelling is instrumental to building a brand, but you must catch the attention of your customer first. Here on the podcast, we continue discussing our love of movies and all things in the “nerd culture," as we believe that is THE culture of the day. First up is Mitch with an internet tidbit. Google is unionizing and the only Batman in the DCEU is Michael Keaton. Now let's talk WW1984 a bit to set up how we’re relating to “spectacle” and brand strategy. What is Spectacle? Spectacle is simply creating shock and awe, or a “WOW moment.”  It doesn't necessarily have to be controversial or applicable to all people -- only your customers. It's an event that is memorable, unexpected, and leaves the audience wondering.  Creating a spectacle is a challenge to itself. And once you've gained attention, how do you maintain and further it? In a few short words, “Pretty is easy, smart is hard.” - Mitch’s Axiom #222 Creative Choices in WW1984 WW1984 made a spectacle of the poster for example - very Ragnarok and exciting. But nothing about the product was 1984-ish at all. Visual aesthetics are being used to support a Theme that has a certain look and feel (1984). But it seemed to lose that as they thought through  creative choices, therefore creative was paramount over the purpose. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nerdbrand/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nerdbrand/support