A few months ago, a client thanked me for facilitating a brand visioning exercise, saying, “I always thought that branding an organization was just a matter of choosing and then putting on a new coat.” I was pleased he had grasped the fundamentals of what we were trying to do, that branding is a matter of reflecting what’s at the heart of an organization, not simply selecting something from a rack of stylish options. After all, your brand is about authenticity. Branding requires you to discern what is true about your organization, why that matters to your audience, and how to communicate those truths in the things you say and do. And yet, it is about the coat, too…

Most of us pay at least some attention to the clothes we wear. In general we want them to reflect something about the kinds of people we are, our character, values and personality. Sometimes we want them to say specific things about ourselves: Look at me and know that I am a professional, a cowboy, a vampire…. Stacy and Clinton from TLC’s What Not to Wear tell us that many people get it wrong. So wrong. Instead of creative and trendy, they appear flaky and dated; instead of vibrant and youthful we get tarty and will you pu-lease grow up. The truth is, some people do not care what they wear or how they dress, some dress to project qualities they admire but do not possess, and yet others reflect characteristics quite different from what they intend.

It’s not a lot different from the way many organizations treat their brands:
• some don’t think about their brand or place any value in branding
• some have chosen brand values they admire but cannot emulate – ever
• some know what their brand values are, but communicate them with little insight

The problem these organizations face is bigger than simply being raided by the fashion police. Rather than Stacy and Clinton, they have to stand up to the scrutiny of their (gasp) audience!

If you don’t take care of branding your organization, your audience will brand it for you. And your brand may be “the dis-organization that doesn’t care.”

If you simply choose a set of admirable brand values, your audience will spot the fake. Your brand may become “the organization that can’t really be trusted.”

If you know your brand values, but mis-communicate them, your audience will be confused. Your brand will be “the organization that…I’m sorry, which one are you again?”

Brand articulation is hard work. It requires structure, honesty, deep insight, passion and creativity. And that’s just the start. But the rewards can be immediate and, over time, powerful. I hope to share some of those with you, as well as how we get there and what branding processes and models look like, over the course of the next few months. Or years; it’s a big subject.

Speaking of coats, as we subtly segue to us, have a listen to what that old bluegrass master Ralph Stanley had to say about them:

Two coats were before me, an old and a new…
I’ll tell you the best thing I ever did do,
I put off the old coat and put on the new.

If you’re unsure about the coat you’re wearing, you know who to call…
—Al Aasman
 

Our own Eleanor Rosenberg has illustrated the recently published The Midnight-Blue Marble, a mystery novel for young adults. We think it’s simply fantastic, and I kicked things off by telling her so.

R: First off, congratulations on a beautiful piece of work. It’s simply fantastic.

E: Thank you Rona!

R: Is this your first published title?

E: No, this is my third with Gumboot Books. They're a publisher in Vancouver. I also self published a Choose-Your-Own Short Story adventure in 2006. That was my first book.

R: Give us a quick synopsis of the story, for those who haven't read the novel yet.

E: Sure. The story is about a missing diamond that led to the beheading of Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. The diamond is lost in Vancouver– present day– and the main character, Ailie, and her friends are trying to track it down during a weekend music festival before someone else does, and without compromising their lives.

R: Do you share the author Melanie Jackson's passion for all things historical?

E: In a way, yes. I was never very good at remembering dates, but I love the nuances and details of the more personal side of a story. I loved researching the French revolution for costumes and antiques that I could use as reference.

R: What is the process for illustrating a book like this? Do you read the entire book and then begin the illustrations, or is it a collaborative process?

E: Yup. I start by reading a draft of the novel and marking imagery that excites me. I map out who is who and details I need to remember like who has freckles, what colour their hair is, the types of clothes they wear and all that physical description. At the same time I start covering a wall with references, in this case from France circa 1790. Did you know that the roman numeral "4" in the 1700s is four lines, instead of a "V-I"? I find all sorts of random information when researching. What are mutton-sleeves? What does King Louis wear? What were the alleys of London like at the beginning of the 19th century? Anyway, then I sketch out thumbnails in pencil and propose them to the publisher. They give me feedback and off I go! The rest is a secret.

R: What was your biggest challenge illustrating The Midnight-Blue Marble?

E: Waiting to see the printed book! Living in Whitehorse is great because I feel I can focus on my creative projects, but when the book launched in Vancouver and I hadn't even seen it in physical form, ... that was hard. I was having nightmares about it nightly, but it turned out great and now I have copies all over the place so it was worth the wait!

R: Many of the illustrations contain a hint (or more) of gore. Would you say you have a penchant for the macabre, or was it purely the source material that took you in that direction?

E: Ha ha ha! Um, the author does have a soft spot for beheadings, but I also revel in it. I think spooky illustrations strengthen the mystery-genre, so I watched some Hitchcock films to get in the mood.

R: Favourite illustration and why?

E: That's a hard question. I loved doing the detailed swirls of fabric and jewelry on Marie Antoinette. I really like the chapter 1 illustration though. It introduces Ailie who has a skeptical look on her face, funky style and a row of weird clues in front of her. In particular I enjoy the drip of ketchup on the bag of chips...just a touch of sinister foreshadowing, and the clues have more meaning as the story continues.

R: Are there any book signings in your future?

E: Not really. I was invited to one this weekend at Mac's but I'll be away in Dawson City. BUT, there is an exhibit of the original illustrations at Baked Cafe. We're talking about having some kind of event but I haven't planned it yet. The show goes up Wednesday night!

R: And we can all rush out and buy copies for Christmas presents...where?

E: Good question Rona! There are lots of places you can buy it. It's in the new arrivals section at Mac's Fireweed, It will be at Baked Cafe starting Thursday morning and you can buy it on Amazon.com, and book stores in Vancouver. You can also buy them directly from me. Just email me to arrange an exchange. They're $10 - $12.99 depending on where you get it.

R: Thanks for chatting, E. Always a pleasure to sit down with greatness.

October 6th was Challenge Day at F.H. Collins. I was there as one of the twenty-five facilitators, with 100 grade eight students and 40 student mentors. It was a day of breaking down barriers, playing get-to-know-each-other games, small group sharing "if you really knew me, you would know that...”, and finally a revealing of very personal issues in a crossing-the-line activity. You might ask why a brand communications strategist would be there whooping and hollering “I feel good,” giving out hundreds of hugs and sharing the love and tears of the day. I did ask myself that in the morning, but as the day went on I was totally caught up in the event. To learn more about what actually happened, visit www.challengeday.org

I am always challenged by how to communicate so that you are heard, understood, and able to change someone’s mind or attitude. We are working on a project targeting graduating students with the message to have a substance-free grad. After much research on underage drinking and the inevitable parties that surround graduation time, I was beginning to despair about developing a successful campaign concept. Despite the fact that there is so much information and messaging already about the consequences of binge drinking, our teens still do it.

F.H. Collins vice-principal, Christine Klaassen St. Pierre, invited me to facilitate up-coming Challenge Day when I was interviewing her for this project. That’s how it happened that I was there breaking down my own barriers and judgments, learning to understand, respect and, yes, love our youth. I came to believe that they are good, smart, and that they have the capacity to change and make the right choices. Fear, separation, isolation, and loneliness are so much a part of their lives and the root of almost every destructive behaviour.

“Knowing our audience” has a whole new meaning for me. We need to open our human side, and realize the issues are deeper than we think. A dialogue with the audience that comes from acceptance, love and respect gives a whole new perspective and hope on which to build a message that has potential to make a difference.

 In mid September, as a technical specialist, I travelled with our client to Saskatoon to oversee the printing of Yukon’s largest annual publishing project – the 2010 Yukon Vacation Planner. This was a 3 day-and-night process.

Printing 170,000 copies on a web press involves printing a 16-page section of the 120-page book in one pass. On the far left end of the press (see video) are four-foot-wide rolls of magazine grade paper fed through five printing towers. The “web” aspect of this kind of press is that one continuous roll of paper runs through the printing towers, a 35-footlong drying “oven” to dry the ink, then through a large folding unit at the end of the press.

And yes, paper does fly. Just check out (and hear) the speed of the press. The guy at the end of this massive printing press is actually called the “flyer” as his job is to offload the finished sections of the project, stacking them on pallets for the next stage of collating and finishing.

Aasman's Art Director, Valérie Théorêt, currently has work featured in Through a Feminine Lens, a photography exhibit at L'Association franco-yukonnaise.

The loose theme, of women photographers featuring women, presents a range of related topics and styles.

Théorêt's piece "Nord et Blanc," challenges the stereotype of the rugged northern woman in nine images that collage photographic portraits, illustration and hand-rendered text. Her process involved a personal and affectionate exploration into the lives of nine Francophone women living in Whitehorse.

Upon arriving in the Territory in 2006, Théorêt's own perceptions of the courageous northerner were confronted by a community of creative and sensitive women. Three years later, an invitation to participate in Through a Feminine Lens provided an opportunity to examine her discovery more closely. Each of Théorêt's subjects were interviewed about their relationship with the North, with Yukon being the personified character. The result is an intimate and colourful arrangement of portraits. Théorêt frames the gentle Yukon woman in her work and unveils the layers of their fluctuating love stories with the North.   

The other participating photographers are all based in Quebec. The work of Pilar Marcias photocollages the life story of her models exploring aging, Nadine Boulianne fragments the natural feminine form, and Marie-Espérance Cerda investigates the lives of real women in Mali.

This is the exhibit's second installment. It first showed in Rivière-du-Loup on International Women's Day in March.

Through a Feminine Lens runs at  L'Association franco-yukonnaise (302, Strickland) until November 13th, 2009.

Check out Yukon News' article @ yukon-news.com/arts/14480/