With Super Bowl XLVI being hosted here in Indianapolis, we’ve had some unique insight into the time and energy it takes to plan and execute the Super Bowl experience. Similar to building a Bold and effective brand strategy, Super Bowl prep is no simple task. Here are a few similarities that the two share:

1. Planning Starts Early.
Indianapolis won the bid to host the 2012 Super Bowl in May 2008. That means it has taken roughly 45+ months of preparation. Although the game is being held in Lucas Oil Stadium, there is much more that comes into play such as hotel accommodations, way finding, parking, etc. which required the city to evaluate the impact of hosting beyond just the stadium.

Whether you’re in the early phases of hiring a branding firm, building a brand intentionally or you’re maintaining a strong, existing brand, it’s important to make time to evaluate the big picture. How is our web presence impacting our brand? Is our internal culture consistent with the brand we’re trying to establish? Every decision you make has an impact on the brand to some capacity.

2. Defining Roles is Essential
The Indianapolis Super Bowl Host committee consists of 32 staff members and 3 legacy project members. Each member has specific responsibilities that are required if the event is going to be successful. If one or two committee members slack off, it’s going to make it harder to achieve the level of success the city is aiming for.

Metaphorically speaking, your brand has a committee too. You have a number of players that, when working collectively, can maximize the perception and success of your brand. Instead of people, your committee is made of your logo, your voice, web presence, print collateral and internal culture. Defining brand elements will keep you in control of your brand rather than your brand (or lack there of) preventing you from greater success.

3. Connecting on an Emotional Level
Game day is quickly approaching and downtown Indianapolis has been transformed into Super Bowl Village. From a local perspective, excitement in Indianapolis has reached a whole new level. Now we know which two teams will be competing for the championship, and excitement is gaining momentum on a national level too.The local and national buzz regarding the Super Bowl only adds to the anticipation but also contributes the Super Bowl brand.

What are people saying about your brand? Most of what’s being said is emotionally driven—it’s positive or negative. Emotions play a role in “business decisions,” and if your prospect can’t find an emotional connection with some aspect of the brand, it’s going to be an incredibly difficult sell.

4. Commitment and Follow Through Are a Must
Not only does the Indianapolis Super Bowl Committee have specific roles but they also have commitments. Without the commitment of following through they are left with only great ideas. Unfortunately, great ideas aren’t enough to successfully host the Superbowl.

Some of the strongest and most well-known brands that exist today are successful because their companies are committed to the integrity of the brand. They understand the importance of identity and have taken time to plan, define roles, and connect emotionally with their audience. Most have extensive brand guidelines that map out exactly how to handle the visual aspects to the brand. Every decision that impacts their brand is made intentionally.

5. Always Seek Out Ways to Improve
Over the past 45+ months, I’m sure tweaks were made to the Super Bowl Planning process to enhance the experience. We are just days away from the big game, and already Indianapolis is receiving great reviews nationwide. When you plan early, you’re giving yourself time to adjust along the way. This is also true for your brand. It’s imperative in a competitive market to be continually improving your message and awareness.

We’re only 30 days into the new year, and you still have plenty of time to plan and develop your bold brand. Choosing to build your brand with these five similarities in mind will result in a brand strong enough to withstand our rapidly changing world. It’s not a quick and easy task, but it’s never too early to start the conversation.

Have you been downtown to see the Super Bowl Village? Which element had the greatest impact on your experience?

If you didn’t hear, I was one of the lucky four people to win the Brand New Conference ticket give-away (video). Of course dropping everything and flying to San Francisco for the day isn’t always the most practical thing to do, but it’s tough to pass up the opportunity.

I’m just crazy (and busy) enough, that I decided to fly out and back the same day.

I’ll be chronicling my 27-hour adventure on this “live blog” – assuming my various devices will have enough charge to make it happen. Wish me luck.

6:58AM – in-flight wifi, thanks to US Airways and Gogo. I’ve been up since 3:15 already, but this morning couldn’t have gone any more smoothly. Roomy exit row seating + wifi = awesome.

7:05 – almost forgot. This “free” ticket was “sponsored by the first ever Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and one of the conference’s Presenting Sponsors.” Thank you so much to SVA and Brand New!

7:15 – Attendees. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise that most of the attendees of this conference in San Francisco are from California, but I was somewhat surprised just how few people are from anywhere besides CA or NY. Of course, Jacksonville is well represented (as always). Looking forward to seeing Russel, Varick, and Katy!

7:26 – Speakers. I’m not sure anyone will top the over-the-top presentation last year by Erik Spiekermann, but I’m definitely looking forward to hearing branding experts: Christopher SImmons, Marina Willer, and let’s not forget, Matteo Bologna’s facial hair.

7:32 – Let’s pause for Station Identification. Just realized a flaw in my time code posts… I *was* on Eastern time (probably flying over Central right now). So in case you’re keeping score at home, the time I show will be whatever “local” time I post from. Capiche?

7:40 – Hooray for turbulence. And the captain has turned on the “fasten seat belts sign”, so please have a seat. Fortunately, turbulence wouldn’t appear to be impacting the wifi.

9:05 – Planning to meet BART. I just figured out how to take the “BART” once I land at SFO. Seems simple enough. Wish me luck. As a side point, seems kinda silly that their logo isn’t, uh… BART. Go figure.

9:15 – Prepare for landing. Making a pit-stop in Phoenix for a battery charge, and hopefully an Egg McMuffin.

10:53 – Rut Roh. Stuck in PHX with a two-hour delay. Going to miss at least the first few presenters. Dang.

11:50 – What? They’re starting to board! Here’s hoping they leave earlier than promised…

Saturday 6:40 AM (O’Hare Airport, Chicago) – A little catch-up. Okay, my bogging platform didn’t like me using the iPad to update it. It was stripping out all of the styling, so without power for the laptop, I gave up on live-blogging.

Ultimately, I arrived near the end of the third speaker in the morning. So, I completely missed Vince Frost, Christopher Simmons, and only got to see Marina Willer’s garden hose videos. Not exactly sure what that was about…

However, I did take notes on my phone for the following speakers. So here’s what I’ve got. Contact me if you need more info on these, because the iPhone notetaking became a bit of a short-hand.

12:30 – finally here. (Back to Friday Notes)
Notes from Paddy Harrington

- Brands are for cows, stories are for people.

- Branding= burn

- Brand helps people notice the product, but the product still had to be great

- At one point marketers realized, if the brand was beautiful, it would sell more product.

- Brand and story became even more important than the product.

- Kraft sold to Phillip Morris for 6x the value of the assets on paper, because of brand value

- Designers by nature, think holistically, and in systems

- Stories are part of what make us human beings.

- Stories stick because they hold true value.

- Companies “survive” over time by being a deep part of the world around them

Project samples:

- Fogo island inn.

- Brand Design changed drastically after visiting, and experiencing it.

- Big reveal= potential of big failure. We like little steps, so at most you get knocked down one step

- BOOM: Configuration gave residents a chance to inform what to build

- Dorado Puerto Rico

- World’s first eco-resort

- NY group revitalized it

- Dorado clock image as a brand compass. Hands read: Sleep, eat, golf, sex, sleep, eat, etc.

- Marian bantjes did the secondary pattern (very nice!)

- Don’t forget about texture. You can’t just rub your scene and say, “oh, that feels awesome.”

- Any project can be an awesome opportunity.

- OWN  – interesting to hear his mixed feelings on the work. Proud, but Paddy seemed somehow disappointed. Didn’t necessarily elaborate why / how.

- OCADU – Start was very “serviceable”

- Involved the students in a meaningful way

- This identity was “Freedom within a framework.” < love that.

- Beautiful, flexible identity! (note: this was my favorite project that he showed)

(outta juice – I’ll drop more notes in Saturday from Indy)

3:00 pm – Sunday post zzz… Apparently, flying across 3 timezones twice in one day really takes it out of you. Go figure. Here’s the rest of my notes.

Lunch: I hung out with the Jacksonville crew, and hit up a crepe place called Honey Honey. I had the Miami Heat, which had sala, chicken and avocado, maintaining my commitment to eating avocado every time I visit CA. Tasty.

2:37 – post- lunch

Notes from Jonathan Notaro – Brand New School.

- Brand New School is a motion graphics studio launched by Jonathan 10 years ago

- “We design for anything with a screen”

- Clients: Brands, agencies, Architects, marketing & interactive firms

- Sample work: Jack Daniels Old #7 TV spots

- Focused on Jack Daniels’ history, amazing stories

- Label told the story.

- Filigrees created a black and white cinematic tone

- Outdoor, print, stadium graphics

- Sample Work: Cartoon network

- Checkerboard logo informed the grid for animations

- Positioned as “Tv for kids, not kids’ tv”

- B/w icon set

- Defined program set – collect download, define you.

- Showed a great cartoon network trailer

- Interesting note: Some clients are “Victims of a small rebrand. Repaint the car, not just redesign it.

- Sample work: Fuel TV: “The network eats itself, then throws it back up.

- Side note: Although all of this motion work was incredibly impressive, as a branding firm, I think I related the least to Jonathan. Their process seemed to require some speculative “pitching” and more of an “art” than a collaborative design process between them and the client.

Next Presenters:

Claudia Boggio & Alfredo Burga from Infinito

- Interesting statement: Peru was a great design colony until 16th century

- Great sources of inspiration: Nazca lines, Machu Picchu, 80% of the worlds microclimates, Andes, Amazon, Surfing, 3000 potatoes

- There are “many perus” that make us Peru what it is

- First organic coffee maker

I loved how Claudia talked about “rescuing” elements of the Peruvian chocolate company, and reintroducing them to the brand.

- They showed very charming work for Punto Organico.

- Gorgeous brand and environmental graphics for “Coffee Box” – coffee stain inspired illustrations

- We think in food, so Tai Loy looked like a Chinese restaurant than office supplies.

- Impressed by the flexibility, and breadth of execution from traditional to modern design showed by Infinito. Definitely one of my favorite presenters.

Next Speakers:

Ben Barry & Everett Katigbak – Facebook

- Side note: kudos to Armin and Bryony for bringing in a very mainstream, ubiquitous brand like Facebook. Their presentation was a refreshing contrast to all of the “design firms”. While few of us will ever work in a place quite like Facebook, much of what they talked about inspired me in thinking about everything from teamwork to office space and timelines.

- Another side note: My notes get pretty light here. Sorry.

- Move fast & break things

- On the Facebook brand: A universal wrapper, but rebellious and disruptive.

- UX, minus content, was cold and not very human

- showed a cool “Token” – donation on behalf of their top advertising clients

- Gorgeous poster, emboss, foil

- Defined a “Hackathon” as a team-building, positive experience.

- Sweet poster… Love the HACK art

- Building everything

- Have their own design wiki tools for sharing brand assets and standards

- F8 Developers Conference appears to be their most serious duty at FB. Hosted for developers of anything that sits on FB, like: Farmville, CNN.

- This year they’ll expect 1750 attendees

- Social graph poster id (kinda reminds me of my poster design)

- Mark Z: – “This (F8) isn’t about us, it’s about the community.”

- “processing” allowed them to make the social graphs more quickly and programmatically.

- Name badge as conference book – great idea!

- RFID token posted to FB when you checked in to a session at F8

- Internal print studio

- Analog poke notecard – love it.

- Lockdown: a 60 day hack

- A push towards emotional storytelling in videos, even though many were not used.

- The term “Hacker” is a good thing internally. Just a disruptive positive thing.

- What’s your daily duties? Kinda like college. Reg semester, brakes, final exam.

- Lots of storytelling and “figuring it out”

Final Speaker: Matteo Bologna

- Matteo has fantastic facial hair in person too.

- He jokes about being “Nervous up here… like a virgin.”

- “I’m the guy who she just introduce you”

- Branding: repeating themes from Paddy. And a repeat shade of blue.

- I’m the guy running and yelling at cows

- I’m a procrastinator

- I spent the last 2 weeks designing a typeface. Because I’m an idiot.

- Been addicted to type since the first version of Fontographer

- Jokes that although he’d rather just speak on type, he’s “Getting closer” to speaking about branding.

- Type speaks without saying anything. Even without real words. Adds nuances to the message. Shows two examples of “non word” typography.

- Shows an example of another type design done by someone he knows. It “Destroyed the content, but is super cool.”

- I like to use “Visual brief” becaues if Joe Duffy says it, it must be cool.

- Matteo talked extensively through his design process for Brooklyn Fare. An identity system for a local food market, driven extensively by the custom typeface and “voice” of the brand.

- I enjoyed how similar his process sounded to ours! Positioning, Voice, Visual Brief, Identity, Execution.

- Probably doesn’t translate from my notes, but Matteo was hilarious – nearly as funny as Erik Spiekermann.

Closing thoughts:

- Next year BNConf will be back in NY, and will be in NY every other year, with another interesting location as the even years.

- Hoping to find an international location in the future.

My Feedback:

San Francisco was awesome. The theater worked out very well. Next time, I’ll need a few extra days in SF. It turns out, 27 hours isn’t enough time, but definitely was an adventure!

The identity for the conference was a somewhat odd choice for me. The hand painted type aesthetic worked really well to the brochure, and even worked okay on the website.

What confused me was applying it to the souvenir bright red t-shirt and bag, making the cost of the shirt and bag the primary visual. To me it really undercuts the likelihood of anyone who wasn’t at the conference to ever know what the heck the shirt was for. And coincidentally, reduces my chances of ever using or wearing them. Maybe that’s really picky, but that’s my two cents. So if the worst part of the conference was having a less than perfect $4.15 shirt and a $2.45 bag, I’d say Armin and Bryony still get a A+ for this conference.

Traveling home, I just missed my “BART” and had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. I thought for sure I was going to miss my 10:51 flight from SFO to ORD. I managed to skip the entire security line, and reach my gate with time to spare!

My flight to Chicago was on a 777, with another awesome exit row aisle seat. Unfortunately, they guy next to me tapped his iPod against his tray table at 120 BPM the whole way home. My nerves are still a little on edge.

By contrast, I flew a tiny plane home from Chicago to Indy, and the lady next to me literally slept on me most of the way… And not a word when she woke up. People are strange.

From Indy the trip was fairly uneventful. Final trip clocked in from 6AM on the first flight, to 8:30AM on the arrival back in Indy. Total round trip, 26.5 hrs, and including the car, about 29 hours of total travel.

Of course, it’s good to be back home.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at The Wave: SMPS (Society of Marketing Professional Services) Pacific Regional Conference, held in Sacramento, California. Shortly after arriving at the hotel, I overhead a couple talking about “the mermaid bar.” About an hour later, I had walked down to a local restaurant to grab lunch and again heard someone talking about the mermaid. Once was interesting, but twice was an obvious trend.

I could only imagine how gimmicky a mermaid in a bar would probably look… but I was wrong.

Later that evening, a large group of us went to check out “the mermaid bar” which I later learned was called The Dive Bar. And true to form, they had a 7,500-gallon, saltwater aquarium above their bar, complete with saltwater fish, and a live “mermaid” dressed in a Hollywood-caliber costume, who gracefully swam back and forth every night.

Although the “mermaid” was quite mesmerizing, smiling with her eyes open underwater, what really got me thinking was how powerful their word of mouth marketing had become. Within one hour of being in Sacramento, I had overheard people talking about this place twice. Feeding off of the local word-of-mouth buzz, our entire group of conference goers couldn’t wait to check this place out.

There were other things that could have been used to describe this establishment – the fish, the size of the aquarium, the dueling pianos, the modern decor, the location… but it was the mermaid that people talked about, because it was the mermaid that was truly unique. And not just some caricature of a mermaid, but a very high-quality, detailed delivery of a mermaid.

Has something been designed into your brand that is truly unique, and will get people talking? What is it? What should it be?

Thanks to @AEC_Marketing for sharing the great pic!

Back in December, The Indy Chamber came to us with an eagerness to revitalize their brand into one that better articulated the organization they were becoming. As the economy and business-scene has changed over time, the Indy Chamber too has evolved—becoming a crucial resource and advocate for its members. Over the past few years, they have continued to be a vital player for our city–maintaining a voice of progress and improvement, uniting businesses and community to improve the quality of life for residents of the greater Indianapolis region.

The Indy Chamber has been around for over 120 years and currently has a membership of over 4,000 businesses. With such an impressive history and large following, there is a great deal of brand equity that must be preserved when considering a redesign of any sort. With this in mind, we carefully sifted through elements of the brand to further develop the main identifiers.

The Indy Chamber brand revitalization project included:
• Redirecting focus from the City to chamber members
• Making the primary logo read: Indy Chamber
• Redesigning print collateral
• Redesigning quarterly magazine, Catalyst
• Introducing Member-focused photography
• Establishing a bright, secondary color palette for C.A.S.E
• Introducing white as a primary brand color
• Redesigning graphs
• Creating the Indy Chamber Brand Standards Guide

Every year, the Indiana State Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society honors and celebrates local champions in the MS community. And, on February 22nd, friends, family, and advocates came together for the 20th Annual Dinner of Champions at Conseco Fieldhouse. This year’s honorees were Ann Larmore, a Ft. Wayne resident living with MS, and Scott Dorsey, Co-Founder of Indianapolis-based ExactTarget.

Miles Design was approached in late December to brand and design the collateral for the 20th Anniversary event. This consisted of the invitation and rsvp cards, the program, and some other night-of materials. Miles Design has worked with the MS Society on this particular event several times in the past, and we were very pleased to get another opportunity to work with such great people for such a great cause.

The overarching goal for this year’s look and feel was to marry the National MS Society brand with that of ExactTarget–the presenting sponsor. ExactTarget is well-known for having a fun and vibrant office culture, and we wanted the materials to reflect that. Coincidentally, both the MS Society and ExactTarget share the same orange and black brand colors, so it was only natural to use those as a stepping stone. From there, we brought in a bold, vibrant pattern and background to carry throughout the materials–connecting each piece into one cohesive look. They even incorporated the designs into the award plaques for Scott and Ann.

This year’s Dinner of Champions was a great time and a great success! Congratulations to Scott and Ann and the entire National MS Society. It was an honor to attend and to work with such a wonderful organization.

As a design and branding firm, we’re excited anytime our brand identity designs get published.

But we were more excited than usual to learn that 18 of our logo designs were going to be published in the first annual iheartlogos book, iheartlogos season one. This competition is cool because it’s very different than the typical design competition. In this competition, everyone who enters one or more logo submission gets to vote (heart or not heart) for every logo submitted. Entries came from a variety of international locations, with Antarctica being the only continent not represented.

So in effect, the selected logos are the best designs according to the international logo design community, not just the opinion of a few “famous” designers. It’s also cool because iheartlogos is a side project that Brian Gray from our office started about two years ago. Congrats to Brian on such an exciting success.

In total, Miles Design had 18 winning logos selected by our peers. We think that’s pretty solid.

Here’s a sampling of the book, and a few selects of our published works. Enjoy:

If you’re interested, you can buy a copy of the limited edition iheartlogos season one book at iheartlogos.com for $25. We got lucky number 143. It was printed in Indianapolis by SPG Graphics.

Are you considering rebranding your business, product, or service? If you’re like most business owners, you’re perplexed about when and how to go about rebranding. As business conditions improve, you’re looking for a strategic advantage. Regardless of how long you’ve pondered the idea, one thing is sure–rebranding isn’t something to go into half-hearted. You should feel great about the timing and the branding firm you select to guide you through the process.

Rebranding goes beyond updating your logo.

If you’re considering a rebrand, chances are you already understand that rebranding your firm requires more than just sprucing up your company logo. It’s a deep-dive into who your company is: your positioning, your values, and your brand essence. Any logo changes or visual updates you consider should all be outcomes of the positioning and brand essence decisions you make up-front.

But how do you know when you’re ready to commit to a full rebrand of your company? The following are the ten most common indicators we’ve seen in our business–sure signs you might be ready to rebrand.

1. "Our sales team is embarrassed to show our prospects our collateral / website / business card."

This is probably the number one complaint we hear from business development professionals. If your sales team is afraid to send a prospect to your website or share your collateral with a potential business partner, how much business are you losing out on?

2. "We’re considering a name change."

This is one of the most obvious times to rebrand. A name change is a great opportunity to re-examine your entire brand from the ground up.

3. "Our brand image or reputation isn’t current."

Another great time to rebrand is when you’ve outgrown your current brand image. Whether it’s a negative issue (like BP), a positive issue (like growth in a new market), or even just a "dated" look, rebranding is an opportunity to make sure your image and message are accurate and up-to-date.

4. "We’re moving."

Moving locations is one of the single largest expenses that some firms will encounter. Oftentimes, by necessity, you’ll need to reprint all of your collateral and buy new signage. As long as you’re going to have those expenses, why not be sure your identity is as fresh as your new space?

5. "We’re taking on new partners or buying the existing owners out."

Similar to number three, as your firm’s ownership shifts, your values and priorities may as well. That’s a great time to make sure your positioning reflects the current partners’ business goals and personalities.

6. "Nobody understands exactly what we do and why we’re different."

Internally it’s not always the most pressing business issue, but this is just as important as number one. If your market doesn’t understand who you are and why you’re different, you might as well stop marketing to them. Consider a rebrand to give the market a more clear picture of why your firm matters.

7. "Nothing matches."

Have you ever met three people from the same company who all had different business cards and made their own clip-art laden sales sheets. How professional did that company appear to you? A rebrand is the right time to get all of your collateral in order as well.

8. "Our competition is getting all of the limelight."

If your competitors are getting more attention than you’d like, sometimes creating a media event can help divert some attention your way. Consider a grand re-opening event, featuring your newly refreshed brand.

9. "We need to invest in new collateral / signage / tradeshow displays."

Similar to a move, if you’re already needing to invest in new logo-related materials, be sure you’re going to be happy with those materials for a long, long time.

10. "We need to look our best for the big event."

And last, but certainly not least, consider what you have on your horizon. A big company anniversary? An open house? A trade show? Or perhaps a speaking engagement or press event? Nothing gets companies serious about rebranding like an important upcoming event.

Why are you considering a rebrand? Maybe you have different reasons. What else has to change before you’re ready to move forward? Share your opinions below.

Daily Finance just released a top-ten list that nobody wants to be on: The 10 Biggest Brand Disasters of 2010.

Douglas Mcintyre includes a few of the most notable brand disasters of 2010, including BP, Research in Motion, and Toyota. While technically most of these “brand disasters” were a result of product issues or unfourtunate events, the bottom line is these brands are feeling the hurt.

I’m sure we’ve seen this kind of thing before, but it’s hard to remember seeing so many big brands bomb in one year.

(As an aside, if any of these companies are interested in rebranding later this year, we’d be happy to take their phone calls.)

Check out The 10 Biggest Brand Disasters of 2010 and be sure to share any past brand disasters that you recall below.

Bradford Systems Corporation came to Miles Design earlier this year. They had a strong reputation in Chicago for selling premium architectural storage products, often used for storing paper and files on shelving. Although their reputation was historically accurate, it was only telling part of their 42-year-old story. As an exclusive Spacesaver dealer, Bradford had grown to become leaders in premium, compact storage for anyone who had any kind of valuable items to store: museums, public safety agencies, medium to large businesses, healthcare providers, academic institutions, and government agencies. In addition, their electronic records and software divisions help clients digitize valuable files and keep exacting records of where physical artifacts are located.

Their existing identity felt more dated and industrial than what the Bradford brand had grown to represent. They needed something clean and high-tech, as well as something that would appeal to architects. As Bradford Systems grows in marketshare and reach outside of Chicago (across Illinois and Indiana), they need a brand that can grow with them.

Our goal in rebranding Bradford Systems was to create a clean identity that would leverage their expertise in consultative services and software offerings, as well as represent Bradford Systems as the architect’s choice for compact storage.

“After 42 years of working side-by-side with architects, designers, and clients of all kinds, we decided it was time to take on a very important renovation project–our own brand. For months, we’ve been working behind the scenes to craft an identity that better reflects our business and our commitment to you, our clients. Today, we’re proud to unveil our new logo, tagline, and website.” – Dave Bradford.

The new Bradford Systems tagline “Smart. Storage. Solutions.” speaks to the breadth of their offerings and their approach beyond selling shelving and hardware. The elegant lines of the new identity echo rows of shelving and imply a “bridging” of data and organization. The convenient number of spaces in-between the letters of “Bradford” allow each vertical rule to line up with the letters of “Systems.” In some of the collateral pieces, the rules continue below the mark creating a pinstripe texture seen both on the website and print collateral.

As part of the rebranding process, we also overhauled BradfordSystems.com to create a cleaner, more simplified look that would appeal to architects as well as the end users of their products and services. Shown below is a before and after of the website design:

You can visit BradfordSystems.com for more examples of their product and service offerings.

I was reading a blog last week on FastCompany.com regarding a report from Vivaldi Partners on the “Social Currency Ranking” of various brands from Apple, to BMW, to JetBlue.

The concept of social currency is different than overall brand value. Where brand value is based on the difference in cost between a given brand and the generic version (think Coca-Cola and the grocery store brand soda), Social Currency Rankings are based on affiliation, identity, information, advocacy, utility and conversation. As Vivaldi states, it’s “the extent to which people share the brand or information about the brand as part of their everyday social lives at work or at home… Our study shows that social currency significantly drives brand loyalty. Moreover, brands with a high social currency command a price premium.”

In short, if your audience adores and talks about your brand on a social level, there’s a good chance they’ll pay more to remain loyal to your brand.

Out of curiosity over the weekend, I polled my Twitter followers about some of their favorite brands. I asked “What brand makes you feel the most proud, special or hip? Which brands do you aspire to use, own, interact with?”

Here are a few of the responses I received:

@a_kilbourne: my local Starbucks knows my name and my favorite drinks. Many times I will go out of my way to stop there.

@MattWallpe: Always though Kenneth Cole was pretty cool and loved wearing it.

@danebenton: target, starbucks, apple, luxury vehicle brands, just to name a few.

@danebenton: for me it’s a close tie between BMW and Audi, based on style and brand.

@meladorri: I gotta admit I really enjoy the experience of driving my Acura. Been impressed with most brand interactions.

@phidaniels: diesel jeans.

Not surprisingly, you’ll see many of these brands show up in Vivaldi’s report. Check out their findings. Some of the results may surprise you:

“The strongest brands in America, according to a new study, are not American. They are German and Japanese luxury car brands: BMW; Mercedes; and Lexus. But the U.S. brand with the greatest “social currency” is one that has existed a mere ten years (and it’s not even an Internet or tech company): JetBlue.” continue reading on FastCompany.com