At Issue Vol2 No2

7/28/2019 At Issue Vol2 No2

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The Emot ional Side of Mercedes-BenzSw atch's F la i r for the P rovocat iveZip Puts the Zip Back into Iomega

T H E J O U R N A L O F B U S I N E S S & D E S I G N


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Volume 2, No.2The journal of business and design.PublisherCorporate Design FoundationSponsored by Potlatch CorporationEditorDelphine HirasunaDesignPentagramKit Hinrichs, D esign D irectorAmy Chan, DesignerContributing WritersDelphine HirasunaSteve GelsiNoreen O'LearyShelby HypesPeter LawrenceCover Ph otographyLaurie RubinMajor I llus tra t ion and Pho tographyKevin SproulsBob EsparzaRegan DunnickEditorial Advisory BoardPeter LawrenceCorporate Design FoundationSara BeckmanHaas School of BusinessU niversity of California at B erkeleyAgnes BourneAgnes Bourne Inc.Kit H inrichsPentagramDelphine HirasunaHirasuna Editor ialPeter LaundyLaundy Rogers DesignJames PatellG raduate School of BusinessStanford UniversityChris PullmanWGB H Educat ional Foundat ionFor more inform at ionPeter Lawrence, ChairmanCorporate Design Foundation20 Park PlazaBoston, MA 02116T e l e p h o n e : 6 1 7 - 3 5 0 - 7 0 9 7F a x : 6 1 7 - 4 5 1 - 6 3 5 5E-mail : a d m i n @ c d f . o r g World Wide Web site:http: / /www.cdf.org

issue:
mailto:[email protected]://www.cdf.org/http://www.cdf.org/mailto:[email protected]


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C DCOCOCD


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Volume 2, No. 2, Fal l 1996

Putnam's Lawrence J. Lasser on DesignHear what the CEO of one of the nation's

oldest and largest money management firmshas to say about design.

The Right StuffIomega gives true meaning to the term

"user-friendly" with a Zip storagedrive that is compact yet roomy enough

to hold all your "stuff."

Design TimeAfter the Swiss watch industry fell on hard

t imes, Swatch employed innovative design toturn wristwatches into a lifestyle accessory.

The Language of Visual MetaphorsT ry this fascinating abstract painting exercise tofind out what you really think.

Driving Em otionsA recognized leader in automotive luxury and

engineering, Mercedes-Benz focuses onemotional satisfaction in its new car promotions.

Ten Tips for Writingan Effective Design Brief

To get a design project off on a solid footing,corporate managers should provide a design

brief. Here are ten tips on what to include.

Design and Business ClassicOften called the most successful packaging

ever created, the Coca-Cola bottle proves thatit's not just the soft drink that's a classic.


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C r e a t i n g a b r a n d . E x t e n d i n g b r a n d s .R e p o s i t i o n i n g b r a n d s to a d d r e s s ac h a n g i n g m a r k e t p l a c e . T h e s e a r ea l l b u s i n e s s c h a l l e n g e s t h a t a r eo f t e n ad d re s se d by des ign and covered in th ise d i t i o n o f @Issue. O u r C E O i n t e r v i e ww i t h P u t n a m I n v e s t m e n t s ' ^ I T L a w r e n c eJ. L a s s e r t a l k s a b o u t w h y f i n a n c i a l - s e r v i c e sc o m p a n i e s a r e p a y i n g m o r e a t t e n t i o n to d e s i g n . T h e n r e a d a b o u t h o w M e r c e d e s - B e n zis r e s h a p i n g i ts m a r k e t i n g m e s s a g e for t h ey o u th f u l , b a b y - b o o m g e n e r a t i o n . F in d o u t w h y Hnecessi ty forced the invention of low-cost p last icSwatch wris twatches , and how d e s i g n e x c e l l e n c e k e e p s t h e c o m p a n y t i c k i n g . J Want tentips on writing an effective ^Design Brief? Turnto p a g e 3 0 . T h e n le a rn how the Zip d r iv ec h a n g e d I o m e g a f r o m i technology-drivenn i c h e s u p p l i e r i n t o a | J cus tomer- focusedc o m p a n y f o r t h e p o r t a b l e I c o m p u t in g m a r k e t .


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I S S U E :

P u t n a m ' s L a w r e n c e J . L a s s e r O n D e s i g nPr es id en t and C EO Law rence J. La sse r has no t on ly ledPu tna m Inv es tm en t s to top pe r fo rm ance in m an ag em en t ofmore than $150 bi l l ion in mutual fund and re t i rement asse ts ,he ha s r ece n t ly ove r see n the r ed es ig n of i ts he ad qu a r t e r sand corpora te l i t e ra tu re . Here he i s in te rv iewed by Pe te rL a w r e n c e , c h a i r m a n of t h e C o r p o r a te D e s i g n F o u n d a t i o n .

A s CEO, you have cham pi oned qua l it ydes i gn a t Pu t nam . Could you expla i nwhy you f ee l des i gn is i mpo r t ant ?To be a t ru ly grea t com pany , i t i s neces sa ry tobe wor ld-c la ss in eve ry th ing you do . Notmere ly a t the f ront l ine where cus tomers seey o u , b u t i n e v e r y t h i n g . W h a t w e s a y t oc l ien ts about who we a re i s r e f lec ted in thelook of our le t te rhead and adver t i s ing , in thelook of our off ices and in the way people aret rea ted a s profess iona ls . The of f ice envi ronment i s an impor tan t e lement of the image ac o m p a n y p r o j e c t s t o t h e o u t s i d e . W h a t i so f t e n u n d e r e s t ima te d i s t h e ima g e p r o j e c t e dto o u r o w n e mp lo y e e s w h ic h e mp lo y e e s , i ntu r n , p r o j e c t b a c k t o c u s to me r s i n t h e i r p r i d ea n d e n th u s i a sm. T h i s ima g e a l so i n f l u e n c e sa c o mp a n y ' s a b i l i t y t o a t t r a c t n e w p e o p l e .You recently hired an architectural firm to redesignPutnam's headquarters in Boston. Could you comment onyour design brief to them?W e t a lk e d a b o u t o u r p e r so n a l i t y a s a f i rm to ElkusMa n f r e d i . I s a id t h a t I w a n t e d t o p r o j e c t i t a n d a d v a n c ei t , bu t I abso lu te ly d id not want to do anyth ing d i f fe ren tf rom wha t we a re . I wanted people to wa lk in he re andc a p tu r e t h e sp i r i t o f t h e c o mp a n y i n t h e w a y i t l o o k e d n o t t o m i s r e p r e s e n t o u r s e l v e s , n o t t o b e s o m e t h i n g w ew e r e n ' t , n o t t o ma k e a r c h i t e c tu r a l s t a t e me n t s t h a t s a idmo r e a b o u t t h e a r c h i t e c t a n d d e s ig n e r s t h a n i t d id a b o u tt h e c o m p a n y .

As president and CEO ofPutnam Investments, L a w r e n c eJ . Lasser is responsible forone of the nation's oldest andlargest money managementf i rms, handl ing equi ty andf ixed income investments,both domestical ly and internationally, for more than six mi l l ion individual and over 450insti tutional cl ients. Joining thecompany as a security analystin 196 9, he worked his wayup through the ranks, becomingCEO in 1985. Prior to Putnam,he had served as a researchassociate and faculty memberat Harvard Business School.

Ho w d o e s a c o m p a n yf ind a des ign s t yl e f or i tse l f ?In the course of my bus iness l i f e , I havevis i ted many corpora te of f ices and havese e n c o u n t l e s s e x a mp le s of p e o p l e t r y in gto be wha t they a re not in the i r des ign .A r o u n d B o s to n , ma n y t r y t o d u p l i c a t e t h eEngl ish c lub look . I th ink i t i s impor tan ttha t we f i r s t a r t icu la te wha t we a re and thent ry to des ign a round tha t pe r sona l i ty , r a the rth a n t a k e a d e s ig n a n d s a y "ma y b e p e o p l ew i l l t h in k w e ' r e o ld c o n se r v a t i v e Y a n k e e s . "We have tha t in our he r i tage and a re proudof i t , but that is not what we are today.With few exceptions, including Putnam,the financial sector has paid little attentionto the design of its communications

materials. Why has that been the case?His tor ica l ly , f inanc ia l se rv ices have had an ove rwhe lmingemphas is on inves tment r e su l t s a s the dr ive r of eve ry th ing .Tha t i s No. 1 , and eve ry th ing e lse i s secondary . Only inrecent yea r s has marke t ing , a s i t i s b roadly de f ined , beenin t r o d u c e d i n to f i n a n c i a l s e r v i c e s . T h e r e h a v e b e e n o n eor two except ions A me r i c a n E x p r e s s , Me r r i l l L y n c h ,F ide l i ty maybe , bu t in gene ra l , marke t ing has been absent .I t ' s an indus t ry tha t has been dr iven by inves tment profess iona ls and secondar i ly by sa le s people . You so ld and youp r o d u c e d . Ma r k e t i n g s l i p p e d t h r o u g h t h e c r a c k s . S a l e speople pe rhaps d idn ' t have a r e f ined unders tanding of thee l e me n t s t h a t g o i n to c o m mu n ic a t i o n s , i n c lu d in g d e s ig n .


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" l i s ind iv iduals,f l i n v e s tme n tpeople are subjectto the same inf luences of good,interesting design."


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S S U E

W h a t p r o m p t e d t h e f in a n c i a l s e rv ic e s s e c t o r t o p a ym o r e a t t e n t i o n t o m a r k e t in g a n d d e s ig n in r e c e n t y e a rs ?C om pe t i t iven ess an d the growing s ize and prof i le of theindus t ry . Not so long ago , people who saved and inves tedty p i c a l l y b o u g h t 1 0 0 sh a r e s o f t h i s , 1 0 0 sh a r e s o ft h a t . N o w th o se t r a d i t i o n a l i n v e s t i n g h a b i t s h a v e b e e nd i s p l a c e d a n d r e p l a c e d b y m u t u a l f u n d s . T h e m u t u a lf u n d i n d u s t r y , w h ic h u se d t o b e v e r y sma l l , h a s l i t e r a l l ye x p lo d e d i n s i z e a n d b e c o me mo r e c o mp e t i t i v e . I n a ni n c r e a s i n g l y c r o w d e d m a r k e t , c o m m u n i c a t i o n s a n da d v e r t i s i n g b e c o me w a y s t o r i s e a b o v e t h e c r o w d a n dd i s t i n g u i s h yourself.Has the proliferation ofcompany-sponsored 401(k) plans had an impact?T h i s i s a b i g g r o w t h a r e a . E m p l o y e e c o m m u n i c a t i o n sa r e a n imp o r t a n t a sp e c t o f c o mp a n y - sp o n so r e d 401 (k )or de f ined cont r ibu t ion p lans . A company wi l l cont rac t wi tha su p p l i e r l i k e P u tn a m to ma n a g e i t s 4 0 1 ( k ) , b u t t h e ni t h a s t o c o mmu n ic a t e w i th e mp lo y e e s t o e x p l a in i t s p l a na n d e n c o u r a g e t h e m t o p a r t i c i p a t e . O n e w a y t h a t w ea c q u i r e d t h e w o n d e r f u l l i s t o f c l i e n t s w e h a v e i s b yd e m o n s t r a t i n g o u r c o m m u n i c a t i o n s s k i l l s , i n t h e f o r mo f w r i t t e n m a t e r i a l s , v i d e o s a n d o t h e r m e a n s .In the investment business arethere legal constraints thatwork against effective design?Y e s , o n e e x a m p l e i s t h ep r o s p e c t u s , i s s u e d b y p u b l i c l y h e l d c o m p a n i e s a s w e l la s m u t u a l f u n d s . T h i s i s af a s c i n a t i n g c o m m u n i c a t i o n sd i l e m m a i n o u r b u s i n e s s , a n da u n i v e r s a l p r o b l e m . T h ep r o s p e c t u s i s o v e r w h e l m i n g .I t ' s t h e m o s t b o r i n g , p o n d e r ous th ing to r ead . Ye t i t s cont e n t s a r e l a r g e ly ma n d a t e d b ylaw to g ive inves tor s the lega l a ssu ran ce of fu ll d isc lo sure . The purpose of the law, to me , i s va l id and necessa ry . I t p ro tec ts inves tor s in te rms of a leve l p lay ing f ie ldb y e n su r in g t h a t e v e r y b o d y u n d e r s t a n d s w h a t t h e y a r ebuying . Today nobody can f i le a lawsui t and say he d idn ' tknow b ec au se i t ' s a l l the re som ew here . But t ry to f ind i t .I f y o u a t t e mp t t o b e c r e a t i v e , y o u v io l a t e t h e s t a n d a r d s .C rea t iv i ty i s no t a l lowed .

On the mutua l fund s ide , the law says tha t a s tockb r o k e r c a n n o t c a l l u p a n d p e r su a d e y o u t o b u y a mu tu a lfund wi thout f i r s t sending you a prospec tus tha t g ives

I an increasingly crowdedmarket, communicationsand adv ertising become ways

to rise above the. crowd and distin-mk/ j guish yourself."

y o u d i s c lo su r e o n f e e s , h i s t o r i c a l p e r f o r ma n c e , e t c . E v e nmo s t p e o p l e a t P u tn a m c a n ' t ma k e mu c h o u t o f t h e sep r o s p e c tu se s . W e k n o w , a n e c d o t a l l y a n d s t a t i s ti c a l l y ,tha t the ove rwh e lm ing ma jor i ty of pe op le do not r ead thep r o sp e c tu se s . T h e y d i s c a r d t h e m . E v e n so , mu tu a l f u n d smu s t ma i l sh a r e h o ld e r s a p r o sp e c tu s n o t o n ly b e f o r e t h e yp u r c h a se a f u n d , b u t a n n u a l l y . W e sp e n d m i l l i o n s ofdol la r s in te rms of lega l , p r in t ing and pos tage cos ts do ingth e se t h in g s .Are regulatory agen cies trying to remedy this?T h e S E C a n d r e g u l a t o r y a g e n c i e s a r e c o n s t a n t l y b a t t l i n gover how much to say . One theory i s tha t the more infor m a t i o n y o u m a k e a v a i l a b l e , t h e m o r e i n f o r m e d a n d r i s k -aware the inves tor . The o the r suppor ts summar iz ing andsa y in g l e s s i n t h e h o p e t h a t p e o p l e w i l l a c tu a l l y r e a d t h ep r o s p e c t u s . T h e r e a r e s o m e g o o d e x p e r i m e n t s u n d e r w a y ,but the typ ica l p roduc t i s s t i l l the t r ad i t iona l one .

T h e p r o sp e c tu s i s a d i l e mma o f d e s ig n , p r e se n t a t i o na n d c o mmu n ic a t i o n w e ig h e d a g a in s t d e g r e e s o f d i s c lo s u r e . T h e r e ' s a r e a l o p p o r t u n i t y h e r e t o p e r s u a d e t h eg o v e r n me n t t o ma k e c h a n g e s , b u t i n f a i r n e s s t o t h e m,t h e r e w o u l d s u r e l y b e c a s e s of p e o p l e c u t t i n g c o r n e r si f t o o mu c h f l e x ib i l i t y w a s a l l o w e d . I t m ig h t l e a d t o

m i s l e a d i n g d i s c l o s u r e . I t ' sa b ig p r o b l e m.What were the reasons behindPutnam's recent redesign ofits communications program?With our growing range ofp r o d u c t s a n d t h e g r e a tg r o w th e x p e r i e n c e d b y o u rin d u s t r y , it w a s b e c o min ginc reas ingly d i f f icu l t to diff e r e n t i a t e o u r se lv e s . T h ei n t e r m e d i a r i e s , b r o k e r s a n df in a n c i a l a d v i so r s w h o r e c o m m e n d o u r p r o d u c t s a n d

r e c e iv e o u r s a l e s ma te r i a l w e r e b e in g o v e r w h e lme d w i thc o mp e t i t i v e ma te r i a l s . T h i s ma d e i t a l l t h e mo r e imp o r tan t tha t ours s tand out , no t s imply a s provoca t ive des ign ,b u t a s w o r k ma n - l i k e s a l e s t o o l s t h a t w o u ld e n a b l e t h e mto d o t h e i r j o b s mo r e e a s i l y a n d w i th g r e a t e r a b i l i t yt o g i v e t h e i r c u s t o m e r s a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f w h a t t h e yw e r e d o in g .W hat was t he scope o f t h i s pro ject ?W e h a d a p p r o x ima te ly 7 0 f u n d s w h e n w e i n i t i a t e d t h er e d e s ig n p r o j e c t . T o d a y w e h a v e n e a r ly 9 0 . E a c hr e q u i r e s u s t o d o a n n u a l a n d s e mi - a n n u a l r e p o r t ma i l i n g s


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T he prospectusis a d i l e m m aof design, presen- Hta t ion and communicat ionweighed against degrees o fd isc losure / 7

t o o u r s h a re h o l d e r s . W e a l s o d e v e l o p p a c k a g e s o f s a l e ss u p p o r t m a t e r i a l s . Th e s e a r e n o t u n i q u e fu n d s ; t h e y c a nb e g ro u p e d i n t o c a t e g o r i e s . W e n e e d e d a n i n t e g ra t e ddesign program. Ini t ial ly , we thought of the design as packa g i n g , b u t o u r d e s i g n e r s s h o w e d u s t h a t w e w e re t a l k i n gabou t con ten t as wel l . I don ' t th ink we to ta l ly unders toodth i s a t f i r st . C arbon e Smolan A s s o c i a t e s , t h e w o r l d - c l a ssd e s i g n e r s w e h i r e d , h e l p e d u s u n d e r s t a n d t h a t w e n e e d e da m o r e c o m p r e h e n s i v e p r o g ra m . I f P u t n a m w a s t o h a v ea n e w l o o k , w e h a d t o g ob e y o n d m u t u a l f u n d l i t e r a t u r eand f i r s t t a lk abou t ou r logot y p e a n d b r i n g m o re p a r t s o ft h e c o m p a n y i n t o a n i n t e g ra t ed look , so tha t we cou ld p ro j e c t a c o n s i s t e n c y a n d r a t i o n a l e fo r w h a t w e w e re d o i n gi n a l l o u r m a r k e t s . T h ed e s i g n d i d n ' t n e e d t o b ei d e n t i c a l , b u t i t n e e d e d t o b ec o n s c i o u s l y r e l a t e d .How did this redesign changeyour approach to presenting information?We wen t f rom a one-o ff t echn ique to a l i t e ra tu re sys temt h a t h a s e l e m e n t s o f s a l e s s u p p o r t a t t a c h e d t o e v e ry t h i n g .Visua l ly , we s ta r ted wi th two ob jec t ives : F i rs t , we wan tedt o d i f f e r e n t i a t e o u r s e l v e s . I n th i s i n d u s t ry , e v e ry b o d y i ss t i l l d o i n g t h e s a m e t h i n g : t h e s t r a i g h t , p h o t o g ra p h i ca p p ro a c h - r e t i r e d c o u p l e s i t t i n g o n t h e p o rc h , w a l k i n gd o w n t h e b e a c h h o l d i n g h a n d s , t h e g r a d u a t i o n s h o t s ,a n d t h e l o ve l y b a b y p i c t u r e s . W e w a n t e d t o b r e a kt h ro u g h t h e c l u t t e r o f a l l t h a t a n d b e a b l e t o g e t b o t ht h e i n t e r m e d i a r y ' s a n d t h e i n v e s t o r ' s a t t e n t i o n .

Our second ob jec t ive was to s impl i fy . We wan ted tos i m p l ify t h e l a n g u a g e b y g e t t i n g r i d o f j a rg o n , a n d m a k eo u r l i t e r a t u r e v i s u a l l y i n v i t i n g a n d u s e r - f r i e n d l y . I nt h i s i n d u s t ry , c o m p a n i e s t y p i c a l l y j a m a s m u c h a s t h e yc a n i n t o e v e ry p i e c e , t h i n k i n g m o re i s b e t t e r . W e t o o kt h e o p p o s i t e a p p ro a c h , s a y i n g l e t ' s g iv e p e o p l e s o m e t h i n g t h e y c a n c o m p re h e n d a n d a b s o rb . W e u s e d v i v idc o l o r s a n d i c o n s . W e c h a n g e d t h e s i z e o f t h e l i t e r a t u r eso tha t even i f i t s a t on a p i l e o f compet i to rs ' in fo rmat i o n , i t w o u l d s t a n d o u t . W e a d d e d w h i t e s p a c e , w et i e r e d i n fo rm a t io n s o th a t k e y p h ra s e s a n d k e y m e s s a g e sw e r e h i g h l i g h t e d , s o t h a t if y o u j u s t r e a d t h e h e a d l i n e sa n d s u b h e a d s y o u go t a st o ry. C o l l e c t i v e l y , t h e w h o l et h i n g b e c a m e m u c h l e s s i n t i m i d a t i n g .

Have yo u been able to measu re th e p ro g ram's su ccess?I t ' s h a rd t o m e a s u r e e x c e p t a n e c d o t a l l y , b u t i t ' s b e e nv e ry s u c c e s s fu l . P e o p l e c o m m e n t o n t h e l i t e r a t u r e . Th e yno t ic e i t. Th ey use m ore o f i t tha n ever befo re , an dcus tomers reac t favorab ly to i t .Ca n yo u c o m m e n t o n c o r p o r a t e a n n u a l r e p o r ts ?Do yo u t h i n k y o u r a n a l ys t s a n d f u n d m a n a g e r s a r ei n f lu e n c e d in t h e i r d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g by t h e i r v i s u a l

impressions of the material?A s i n d i v i d u a l s , i n v e s t m e n tpeop le a re sub jec t to the sa mein f luence s o f good , in te re s t ingdes ign . Maybe more so thano t h e r p e o p l e , t y p i c a l a n a l y s t sa r e i n u n d a t e d w i t h m a t e r i a l s some th ings they have tolook a t because i t ' s the i r job ,bu t there ' s a lo t tha t i s d i s c r e t i o n a r y . L i k e a w e l l -des igned book cover , th ingstha t a t t rac t the i r a t t en t ion a rem o re l i k e l y t o b e p i c k e d u p .

Can design be used to makefinancial reports more useful to analysts?C o r p o r a t e f i n a n c i a l m a t e r i a l s h a v e s p e c i a l d e s i g nr e q u i r e m e n t s b e c a u s e t h e r e a r e a l o t of n u m b e r s .T h e w a y t h e n u m b e r s a r e o r g a n i z e d a n d p r e s e n t e dc a n m a k e t h e m e a s i e r t o w o r k w i t h a n d m o r e u s e f u l .

Mu tua l funds a re confr on ted w i th d i f fe ren t ye ts i m i l a r c h a l l e n g e s . O u r m a t e r i a l s a r e d i r e c t e d t o n o n p ro fe s s i o n a l i n d i v i d u a l i n v e s t o r s . I n o u r c o m m u n i c a t i o n sw i t h t h e m , w e m u s t c o n v e y f a i r l y c o m p l e x f i n a n c i a lc o n c e p t s a n d r e s u l t s , w i t h i m p l i c a t i o n s fo r w h a t t h e ymay mean fo r the fu tu re . We a l so have to dea l wi th thee x a c e rb a t i n g c o m p l i c a t i o n s of r e g u l a t o r y l i m i t s t h a td e f i n e h o w w e s a y t h i n g s , w h a t w e s a y , e v e n t h e w o rd sw e c a n u s e t o d e s c r i b e t h i n g s . D e s i g n h a s p ro v i d e da m a j o r w a y fo r u s t o c o m m u n i c a t e c l e a r l y a n d c o n v i n c i n g l y w h a t i s s o m e t i m e s p r e t t y a r c h a i c stuff.Do you see design playing a bigger role in business today?A s m a rk e t i n g p l a y s a g r e a t e r r o l e i n t h e b u s i n e s s o fe v e ry c o m p a n y a n d i n c r e a s i n g l y i n i n s t i t u t i o n s s u c h a sh o s p i t a l s , c o l l e g e s a n d l a w f i rm s , d e s i g n a s a n e l e m e n ti n t h e m a rk e t i n g p a c k a g e b e c o m e s m u c h m o re i m p o r t a n t .Th e re i s h a rd l y a p a r t o f s o c i e t y t o d a y t h a t d o e s n o th a v e s o m e t h i n g t h a t is t h e e q u i v a l e n t of a m a r k e t i n gd e p a r t m e n t . T h a t w a s n ' t t h e c a s e u n t i l r e c e n t l y . S o ,I w o u l d s a y y e s , d e s i g n w i l l p l a y a b i g g e r ro l e .


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i o m e g a


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I S S U E

W i t h c o n s u m e r f o c u s g r o u p s r e q u e s t i n g a p o w e r f u lye t por t ab le s to rage d r ive tha t would ho ld a l l t he i r "stuff,''I omega wen t back t o t he d r awi ng boa r d and r e t u r nedwi th the color fu l and f r iendly Zip dr ive , which has se t an e w s t a n d a r d i n t r a n s p o r t a b l e d a t a .

M a r t in B e c kChairman, President and CEO,Fi tch PLCAs CEO of F itch PLC, Martin Beck focuseson developing strategic business opportunitiesfor clients worldwide.

Kim EdwardsPresident and CEO,Iomega CorporationJoining Iomega in 19 93 , CEO Kim Edwards adopteda consumer-focused, marketing-oriented strategywhich helped turn the failing company around.

S tepping up to the podium at a design conferencelast October , Iomega CEO Kim Edwards shockedhis audience by remarking: "Yup. Another formalnamby-pamby academic p r esen ta t ion on the impor tance of design...success to be gauged on how manyarcane awards were won f rom a r cane magaz ines fo rbeau ty and e l egance . " Paus ing , he g rowled : "Thehel l wi th that . I 'm he re to ta lk abo ut the real w or ld .The world in which competi tors are lurking, poised tos tomp your gu t s . And the consumer s a r e soph i s t i ca t ed , h igh ly d i sc r e t iona ry buyer s wi th p l en tyof cho ices on wh ich to spend the i r money .And they don ' t under s t and nor wan t t ou n d e r s t a n d y o u r t e c h n o l o g y . "

Edwards should know. Recogni t ionof what the " real wor ld" wants ledIomega to i n t roduce the ho t t e s tcomputer per ipheral in the market place today the Zip dr ive . Compact , ^ ^color ful and af fordably pr iced, Zip i s arefreshing departure from the usual bland beigecolored high- tech equipment . What ' s more, thesuccess of the Zip dr ive , which provides t rans- mpor table computer memory storage, saved themoney- losing company f rom l ikely demise .

Edw ards i s c r ed i t ed fo r mu ch o f t h i s t u rn a roun d . Befo re he jo ined the compan y in l a t e1 9 9 3 , he recal l s receiving a copy of Iomega 'smains t ay p roduc t , t he Bernou l l i Box . R e s e m - 1bling a gray shoebox wi th a hole in the front, gjjfthe s torage uni t could hold 150 megabytes o :

informat ion on one disk or the equivalent of 107floppies and operate 10 t imes faster . Trouble was, asEdwards quickly d iscovered, the 52-page manual washard to decipher and i t s $500-$600 uni t pr ice and$100 disk pr ice unl ikely to a t t ract impulse buying byconsumers. One of Bernoul l i ' s b iggest customers wasthe U.S. Navy, which appreciated the fact that i t wasdesig ned to wi ths tand 14- foot swel ls and indirecLmilitary hits not exactly a key sell ing point for typicalcon sum ers. To mak e mat ters w orse , in the ear ly '8 0sSyQues t Corpora t ion g r abbed much o f Bernou l l i ' s

m a r k e t wilh a cheaper , f a s t e r a l t e rna t ive t ha tquickly gained popular i ty wi lh Macintosh

users , par t icular ly graphics andpubl ishing professionals .By the t ime Edwards s igned on

i th Iomega , the 13-year -old comp anyhad just repor ted losses of a lmost $18

mi l l i on and i t s s tock was a t an a l l - t imelow. Edwards turned to F i tch Inc . , the

C o l u m b u s - b a s e d d e s ig n c o m p a n y h ehad worked wi th in h is previous jobrunn ing Ga tes Energy P roduc t s '

rechargeable bat tery business , for help .Iomega's survival clearly depended on a

new product and Edwards was determinedto in t roduce i t a t t he November 1994

Comdex , t he semiannua l compute r dea l e r s 'expo where the industry's hottest new products

are unvei led . "We were g iven less than e ightmonths to come up wi th a new product ,


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I S S U E

ident i ty and pos i t ioning to show at Comdex," recal lsFi tch vice pres ident Spencer Murrel l . " Iomega s implyhad no choice. I t was fas t going down the tubes ."

I n fact , Edwards wanted a product that would notonly take back share f rom SyQuest , but actual lycreate a new market category, wi th Iomega layingclaim to nothing short of the next generation of floppydisk replacement . Edwards explains , "Shif t ing theindustry paradigm would not be enough; Iomega had tosmash the paradigm. This is a segment that had measured itself in [only] hundreds of thousands [of unitsales] a year. Shifting would be gaining share from thecompet ing types of removables . Smashing would bechas ing the real oppor tuni ty."

So began the race. The shor t lead t ime to Comdexmade i t d i f f i cu l t fo r F i t ch to implement i t s normalprocess of "d i scover , def ine , des ign and de l iver . "I n s t ead , F i t ch an d I o meg a f o u n d t h ems e l v es t h r o w ninto al l those phases concur ren t ly . Even while ini t iat ing prel iminary cus tomer research to f ind out whatuser s wanted in computer s to rage , F i t ch was t es t ingIomega prototypes with focus groups . Led by indust r i a l des igner Mur re l l and graphic des igner J a imie

Alexander , the Fi tch team launched into a crash courseabout Iomega . They in te rv iewed more than 35 Iomegasenior management people, cut t ing across corporatediscipl ines ; talked to buyers throughout Iomega's var i o u s d i s t r i b u t i o n ch an n e l s ; an d s e t u p ex h au s t i v efocus groups which eventual ly connected the des ignerswi th 1 ,000 people us ing computer s in For tune 1000companies , government and at home. "Par t of our dis covery proces s was to gath er the informa tion informally asking a lot of ques t ions of every knowledgeable userthat we encountered," explains Murrel l . Fi tch was sodetermined to ge t an under s tanding of those computeruser needs tha t , p r io r to focus group ses s ions , i tp r o v i d ed d i s p o s ab l e cam er a s s o p a r t i c i p a n t s co u l ddocument a day in the i r l ives w i th t echnology .

The interviews provided a dis turbing picture ofIomega's prospects . As things s tood, the company hada l imited cus tomer base, and that market was showingsigns of saturation. Portable computing was boomingand Iomega had no product for the category. The company had vir tual ly no retai l presence. Perhaps mostd i scourag ing , people were bored by the idea of computer s torage. "They hated i t . I t was l ike insurance.

Packaging, Old and NewIomega's revamped packaging(right) presents a hierarchy of infor-mation, clearly identifying thebrand and product names, storagecapacity, wh at the product lookslike and key selling points.


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I S S U E

You have to have i t , but who wants to think about i t ,"says Alexander. "But where we found they got excitedwas in having thei r ' s tuf f near ready access . Datawas an off-putt ing technological term. But they talkedabout their stuff the way they talked about the thingson their desk and they really responded to the idea youcould make i t more organized, accessible and portable.""Stuff," ra ther than data s torage, became the ra l lying cry behind Fitch's brand posit ioning strategy andcol loquial approach to design. I t humanized Iomegaand made for a powerful point of difference in anin t imida t ing t echno logy-d r iven marke tp l ace . I t spoketo a wide cross-section of people logging on, whethercomputer professionals , regular users or k ids.

W hi le much of that ear ly research was invaluablein defining corporate posit ioning, other feedback f rom focus groups was causing s leeplessnights . With the company al ready behind on producttool ing deadl ines, consumers to ld F i tch they hated theini t ia l prototypes created by Iomega 's engineers . Thetop- loading C D-player - l ike device s, they said , took uptoo much desk space and weren ' t easy to access thedisk . Teachers laughed of f the design, predic t ing s tu

dents would have the l ids r ipped of f in days. Withabou t four mo nths un ti l C omd ex, it was back to thedrawing board , and Iomega 's engineers d idn ' t th ink i tcould be done. "When we quest ioned whether i t wasdo-able , Kim made our opt ions pret ty c lear ," saysAlexander . ' "No Comdex , no company , no cho ice . ' "

Edwards responds: "Product development i s not anintuit ive process. Of course this hurt morale at Iomega.Their f irst reaction was 'You gave us a clean slate towork with and now at the eleventh hour there are parameters. ' So we took key engineers to focus groups sothey could see end users d i rect ly ."

Clearly the t ide had changed at Iomega and, giventhe overnight success of the Zip , perhaps hereaf terin the larger computer indust ry as wel l . Iomega hadchanged from a technology-driven company whereengineers determined the marketplace to a market ing-sensi t ive organizat ion guided by consumer demand.

With little time left, the Fitch team with i ts invaluable focus group research scrambled to shepherd thedesign process. "I t came straight from the consumer,"desc r ibes Mur re l l . "They d idn ' t l i ke us ing the doordesign; they were much happier s t icking something in

ip , D i t t o a n d J az D r i vesBold colors and a very portable size distinguishIomega's storage drives for the consumer market.

Th e indigo-colored Zip drive is touted as "Theone drive for all your stuff," Ditto is usedprimarily for file duplication an d backup

as opposed to transporting informationan d Ja z utilizes one gigabyte of mem-

allowing fo r the huge demandsof multimedia applications.

L o g o M a k e o v e r7b create a stronger, simpler and

friendlier identity, the old logo(left) was replaced with a dotted

"I" literally breaking out of its boxto emphasize the personal and sug

gest the empowerment of users.

IOMEGAiomega .


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"Stuf f" Ma rke t ing CampaignIn advertising and promo

tional materials, Iomegaused popular jargon to speak

to consumers in a friendly,unintimidating voice.

Early P rototypeThe CD-player-type model was an earlyfavorite w ith designers, but as Iomega gotready to retool machinery to manufacturethis version, consumer focus groups toldthem it took up too much desk space andwould be too easy for kids to break.

Compact and AffordableNamed for its speed and agility, the

Zip drive is about the size of a compact CD player and weighs around a

pound, fitting easily into a briefcase or purse. Its comfortableprice has made it affordable

to small business andhome office users

not Y O U RDATA. It's yourstuff,dtH: - - *

See-Through WindowZip's see-through windowlets users see which disk

is inside without remov ing it from the drive.

Distinctive DiskThe "clipped" corners

of a Zip disk give it aneasily recognizable shape,

while labels are brandedwith both the Zip and

Iomega names and 100megabyte capacity.

Designed to Sit Flator On I ts S ideTiny padded feet make iteasy to stand the Zip on itsside or lay it flat. A groovedpath on the side housesthe cord to keep it fromdangling loose.

Zip AccessoriesIomega's complete line

of accessories, with clearlogo markings even on the

SCS I cables, helps retailersextend sales through

cross-merchandising.

10


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a s lo t ." So Fi tch adapted s t reamlined versions of theBernoul l i Box, and for greater desktop ef f ic iencies ,made the designs usable s tanding or f la t . They included a window so users would know i f a d isk wasal ready in p lace . They made the dr ive uni ts s tackablewith other new Iomega products. (While the Zip wasIomega's top Comdex priori ty, Fitch was simultaneouslycreating two other designs for the company's Jaz andDitto products.)G et t ing Iomega 's engineers to back Fi tch 's designswas easy. Now came the hard par t . "We'd workedout most of the troublesome details. I t was t ime toaddress the big issue of color subject of countlessc o n v e r s a t i o n s , a r g u m e n t s a n d h e a dshaking," says Murrel l . " In many waysthe indust ry ignores color . They saymake i t g r ay , be ige o r wh i t e , t ha t ' swhat consumers want and expect . Wealmost fe l l in to that recidivis t pathunti l , in a late night f i t of inspiration,boredom or whatever i t was, we paint ed a model blue. We felt al l along thati t was cri t ical for the Iomega productsto s tand out f rom thei r own environmen t . They had to make a s t a t emen tthat they were really different from thecompet i t ion . The color c l inched i t . "

Indigo for Zip, mauve for Jaz, forestgreen for Ditto. Having agreed to sucha bo ld v i sua l s t a t emen t , t he r e was l i t t l e p r even t ingIomega from creating an unconventional identi ty in i tscommunicat ions as wel l . Even the Fi tch team droppedthei r more conservat ive product - informat ion-dr ivenideas to f inally embrace ad agency Dahlin Smith White 'stagl ine "Because i t ' s your stuff." Alan Reighard , seniorvice president /group account d i rector a t the Sal t LakeCi ty -based ad agency , says , "There may have beensome hesitat ion but i t was important that f irst year todevelop a personal , aggressive brand personal i ty . Wehad to change the percept ion of s torage technology,which was old and bor ing."

Likewise , that personal , aggressive brand personal i tywas expressed through Iomega's new logo, packaging,Web si te and direct mail campaign. Even Fitch's namingof the brands, as Alexander describes "l ike dog names;something you'd l ike to bring home with you," reflected

S T O C K P E R F O R M A N C E

CU M U LAT IV E T OT AL S T OCK H OLD ER R ET U R N , AS S U M I N GTHE INVESTMENT OF $ 1 0 0 ON D ECEM B ER 3 1 , 1 9 9 0

Zip 's ImpactThe introduction of the Zip drive inNovember of 1994 had an immediateand profound impact on Iomega'sstock value.

Iomega's new user-fr iendly corporate sensibil i ty."Everything came together l i tera l ly minutes before

the Comdex show opened. I t was amazing to see i t a l lin one place ," recal l s Alexander . "Somet imes i t fe l tl ike we had been a hear tbeat away f rom fai lure ."

Which hardly proved to be the case. After Zip's late1994 debut , a t $200 for a dr ive and $20 per d isk ,Iomega had the h ighest increase in share value of anystock on the NASDAQ, New York and American StockExchange in 1995. In less than three years , Iomegasoared from $2 to $150 in real terms, before stockspl i t s . There was an immediate backlog in orders andIomega scrambled to ship one mi l l ion uni ts in less

than 11 months. There are now morethan three mi l l ion Zip dr ives in use .The real challenge, of course, will beto mainta in that momentum and convince computer manufacturers toinstall Zip drive units in theirmach ines . Some compan ies , i nc lud ingPackard Bel l , IBM, Acer and Hewlet t -Packard , have jo ined wi th Iomega toinclude the Zip on high-end models oras a backup opt ion.

Descr ib ing the Zip exper ience as" r e inven t ing a company th roughdesign," Edwards adds, " I don ' t knowhow else you can sel l in a consumermarke tp l ace wi thou t under s t and ing

product design and usage. You have to know what theend user wants . The cr i t ica l factors are aesthet ics andusabil i ty, and how that interfaces with things l ikepackaging, adver t i s ing, even pr ice points . I t ' s a verybroad set of thought processes that affect one another."

I f I omega i s any example , t hose p rocesses canhave immediate , dramat ic impact on a company andan indust ry .

"People talk about reposit ioning a company as if i tis only a marketing problem. The product is a big partof reposit ioning. The reali ty is they are one and thesame," says F i tch CEO Mar t in Beck. " I t ' s taken quilea whi le for senior management in corporate Amer ica toful ly real ize products and services are l inked together .Kim Edwards understands th is . You can change yourwor ld pret ty quickly through product design. I t ' s oneof the most powerful tools to get your message across."

l i


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Swatch was born out of necess i ty. In the 1970s ,the Swiss watchmaking industry was plunged intoa deep cr is is . Af ter centur ies of dominat ing thewatch bus iness , the Swiss were jol ted out of complacency by Asian manufacturers who were carving deepinroads into t radi t ional markets wi th the int roduct ionof low-cost, good-quality quartz watches. Swiss watches,which a few years ear l ier had accounted for about 50%of the market , plummeted to about 12%. Hong Kongand Japan had pushed Switzer land into thi rd place, andTaiwan, China and South Korea were quickly catchingu p . Jobs in the Swiss watchmaking industry were in afree fall , dropping from over 90,000 jobs to less than40 ,000 . Someth ing had to be done .

With the country's two largest watchmakers ASUAGand SSIH near ly insolvent , Swiss banks turned toZur ich-based Hayek Engineer ing , headed by NicholasG. Hayek, to conduct an analys is . Hayek repor ted thatthe largest market and most growth potential was in thelow-pr ice segment not at the luxury level, of whichthe Swiss owned 97% market share and recommended

D e s ig n T i m eNot long ago, people boughtwatches the way they purchaseddinnerware - one for everydayuse and one for formal occasions. Swatch changed all thatby revolutionizing the reason wewear watches. Much more thana timepiece, a Swatch is an inexpensive fashion accessory thatwe can change according to ourmood and activities.

1983 Swatch DesignWhile well-made and inexpensive,the first Swatch was plain,black and graphically subdued.

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tha t Swiss wa tchmakers take the o f fens ive , compe t inghead-on wi th As ian manufac tu re rs by p roduc ingh igh-qua l i ty , low-cos t p las t ic ana log wa tches . What ' smore , Hayek emphas ized rad ica l changes were nec essary if the Swiss watch industry was to survive.

"We could retreat no longer. We had to have ab road marke t p resence ," says Hayek , who became theC EO and the major s takeh older of SMH , a companyformed by the merger of ASUAG and SSIH.

What fol lowed was one of the 20th century 's mostspectacular industr ia l comebacks. Throwing offentrenched tradi t ions, Swatch (Swiss + watch) complete ly re invented the industry from the technologyto public perception of what watches were a l l about .

Recognizing that manufacturing processes usedby Swiss watchmakers for over 200 years would notsolve the problem, the original Swatch project team oftechn ic ians , des igners and marke t ing spec ia l i s t s abandoned conventional methods and searched for a complete ly new, in tegrated solut ion based on meeting

defined market ing object ives namely, to

mainta in the high-quali ty s tandards associa ted withSwiss brands; arr ive a t a re ta i l pr ice competi t ive withAsian manufacturers ; produce a producl adaptable to awide range of models ; and incorporate features desirable for everyday use. Hayek had one other major goal to build the watches in Switzer land. "We must buildwhere we l ive ," he says. "When a country loses theknow-how and expert ise to manufacture th ings, i t losesi ts capaci ty to create wealth i ts f inancia l in dep endence. When i t loses i ts f inancia l independence, i tstarts to lose political sovereignty."C hall eng ed to thin k and act innovatively, Swatchdesign engineers looked for inspira t ion in th ingsl ike chi ldren 's Lego blocks (for the in ject ionmold ing and d ie -cas t ing) and d isposab le p las t iclighters (for the ultrasonic welding). The final designwas an accurate quartz analog product that requiredonly 5f parts , com pared to the typical 90 to f 50 partsfound in conventional watches. Not only did th is dramatical ly cut production costs and a l low automatedassembly, i t enhanced performance re l iabi l i ty .

1996 Swatch DesignIrreverent and fun, Swatch has found

its own lively voice, introducing some ofthe most daring art in any medium.

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AquaChronoA water-resistant stopwatch , theplastic AquaChrono was officially

"baptized" in the depths ofm?^. Loch Ness, and pro

moted with a skiboat key ring.

Fairy Tales and FablesThis Swatch tells a quickstory of a man romancing awom an, who is left crying.At right, Eve forms the handsand apples the hours, witha snakeskin band.

Pop SwatchA decorative accessorythat doesn't have to beworn on a wrist, the PopSwatch has a pop-out face

that can be clippedonto clothing.

CT )

?***i-

CT )00


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I S S U E

H ad Swatch s imply s topped wi th cos t -cu t t ing ,however , i t wouldn ' t be the phenomenal successit is today. To entice consumers to buy three,four, 15, 20, an entire collection of Swatches, the company determined that i t had Lo position its product asan affordable lifestyle accessory.

"We are se l l ing an emotional product ," Hayek says."You wear a watch on your wrist , r ight against yourskin. You have it there for 12 hours a day, maybe 24hours a day. It can be an important part of your self-i m age . . . . We are not jus t offer ing people a s tyle . Weare offering them a message. This is an absolutelycritical point. Fashion is about image. Emotional products are about message a strong, exciting, distinct,authent ic message that te l ls people who you are andwhy you do what you do."

That message is being conveyed through designand marketing savvy. The company attributes i ts suc-Swatch Eyes ce Ss la rge ly " to theIn 1994, Swatch extended Itsexpertise in personal fashion state- c o m m u n i c a t i o n s s p e -ment accessories to eyewear, with c ia l is ts a d v e r t i s i n gthe introduction of Swatch Eyes. n * .. J -, ., , , consu l tan ts , a r t d i r e c -Available in dozens of colors, stylesan d shapes, these interchangeable t o r s , P R a n d p r o m o t i o nplastic sunglasses clip onto a basic special ists - who haveframe, letting wearers change their

devised one or iginalidea af ter anotherto put Swatch in thespo t l igh t . "

At Swatch designlabs in Milan and NewYork, an ever-changingcadre of graphicar t is ts , archi tects andindustr ia l designersfrom a wide range ofcountr ies create about140 different stylesannual ly . C ol lectionsintroduced twice a yearaddress five basicSwatch l ines: formal ,ac t ive spor t s , casua lle isure , fashion andart. Each model is partof a collection, andeach has i ts own name.

The company never uses one-off designs for a singlewatch , bu t deve lops seasona l l ines a round themeconcepts to gain greater promotional and sales prese n c e . In every category, Swatch claims to stand for"provocat ion, jo ie de vivre and unl imited imaginat ion."

C ar lo Giordanet t i , d i rector of Swatch C reat iveServices, says, "I l ike to think of Swatch as a productyou can approach on two levels. The first reading ispurely aesthet ic and funct ional . The second readingis when someone says T like your watch' and youcan show it has a meaning and a story to tell . Swatchalways conveys something very personal . I t ' s notabout nice color or fitting properly with your outfit. Itsays something about the personality of the wearer."

Swatch a lso pr ides i tse l f on being s t reetwise . "Theart form we are really into is graffit i ," ihe c o m p a n yclaims. "For the col lect ion that is now going out wehave a s t rong aspha l t theme ," repor t s Giordane t t i ."We had never approached the hard s ide of the c i ty ,so we provided this as input to the designers , andthen gave them total freedom to see what comes outin that d i rect ion."

Since 1985, some of the world 's best knownmodern ar t is ts have a lso created Swatch Art Specia ls ,inc lud ing Yoko Ono , S tud io Azzur ro , Micha Kle in ,Victor Vasarely, Kiki Picasso, Keith Haring, IritBatsry and Pedro Almodovar . As with other Swatchl i nes , the Art Special collection, featuring six stylesannual ly , revolves around specif ic themes. "We lookfor ar t is ts wi th a non-tradi t ional way of approachingar t , " Giordane t t i says , add ing tha t one p rac t i ca lconsiderat ion in the se lect ion of ar t is ts is the needfor th ree b lack-and-whi te and th ree co lo r wa tchdes igns in each co l l ec t ion .

S watch has a lso expanded i ts offer ings throught e c h n i c a l i n n o v a t i o n s t h a t n o w i n c l u d e s c u b a ,so la r , ch rono , mus ica l a la rm, and e lec t ron icaccess wris lwatches . Recent ly i t launched a successfulsol id s teel-case l ine , cal led I rony, produced by metalinject ion molding instead of mechanical machining, tooffer significant cost advantages.

Swatch's zeal for the youthful, irreverent and provoca t ive d r ives i t s communica t ions campa ign worldwide. "Swatch belongs on the s t reets" is the company'smotto . "Swatch isn ' t a l l about gent i l i ty and reserve.Swatch gels in there with the people , wants to be


20/38

S w a t c h I n n o v a t i o n sDeveloped for economicalmass assembly, the shapeand construction of thebasic all-plastic Swatchremain the same from styleto style, but the color, dial,hands, date display andstrap are open to free interpretation by designers. Inaddition to outside designconsultants, Swatch hassome 15-18 designersworking out of its designlabs in Milan and NewYork. Together they producesome 140 Swatch styles ayear, ranging from thewhimsical to the avant-garde. Concepts for SwatchSpecials include collectibletheme-related packaging aswell as promotional giveaway items. In recent years,Swatch has also introduceda number of technologicalinnovations such as theMusiCall, Irony, Scuba 200,Access, Solar, Automaticand AquaChrono lines. Inevery case, a relatively lowprice point, engineeringexcellence and provocativedesign are essential criteria.

MusiCallA musical alarm watchfeaturing commissionedmelodies by leadingcomposers, the MusiCallwill play a 32-secondmini-concert on your wrist.

First All-Metal SwatchAfter over a decade of producingplastic watches, in 1995 Swatchintroduced Irony, its first all-metal wristwatch, whichcomes in its own uniquelydesigned package.


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Collectors' EditionsOnly "Swatch the Club" mem bers can purchase certainspecial limited edition watches,such as Looka, which comes ina special standup case.

( ) Annie LeibovitzThis limited edition SwatchSpecial created for theAtlanta Olympics featuresphotographs by AnnieLeibovitz, an d came witha photographer's loupe.

Automatic SwatchWith a weighted rotor thatspins every time you turnyour wrist and winds themovement, the Automatichas a power reserve ofover 40 hours.


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I S S U E :

E

part of the act ion,wherever it is. Andmore: Swatch is theac t ion , " t he companyproc la ims.

Swatch manifestsi t s ph i losophy bysponso r i ng ac t i onevents l ike theE uropean S w a t chBeach Vol l eybal lC i rcu i t , Aust ra l i anBal loon Spectacularand London's firstfreestyle snowboardcom pe t i t i on inCovent Garden , andstaging out rageousyet fun media eventsl ike sending sevenof i t s Swatch Accessmodel s i n to outerspace wi th theColumbia as t ronaut s ,and proving the water-r e s i s t an t a ccu racyof i t s Aqu aC hronoby s u b m e r g i n g it200 m e t e r s dow n

m o t i o n a l p r o d u c t s a r e a b o u t

m e s s a g e - a s t r o n g ,e x c i t i n g , d i s t i n c t ,a u t h e n t i c m e s s a g et h a t t e l l s p e o p l ew h o y o u a r e a n d w h yy o u d o w h a t y o u d o . "

i n to Loch Ness .As the Official Timekeeper at the At lanta Olympic

Games, Swatch made the most of i ts association byse l l i ng one numbered Swatch Perfec t T iming Chronometer dai ly for 250 days leading up to the OpeningC e rem ony and com m i ss i on i ng a r t i s t s to c r e a t e 2 0 -foot-high clock towers in 12 different ci t ies aroundthe wor ld . It a l so i ssued four spec ia l Olympic watchcol l ec t ions , i nc luding one en t i t l ed Olympic Legends ,fea tur ing pas t Olympic champions .

Remarkably, Swatch has managed to keep the pricepoint of i t s basic plast ic Swatch model at $40, set whenthe company was l aunched in 19 83 , wi th other m odelskept wi thin relat ively affordable range. It has also t r iedto maintain a consistent internat ional price posi t ioning, so t ravelers to other countries won' t encounter anent i rely di fferent price point . Key to keeping pr i ces

down is Swatch ' s propr i e t a ry mass product ion t echnologies, which also have enabled the company to produce more than 200 mi l l i on watches to da t e .W hi l e Swatch ' s "approachable" pr i ce has appea ledto typ i ca l con sum ers , its qual i ty des ign andcraf t smanship have he lped it t o become a grea ti nves t m en t . T oday S w a t ch w a t ches com m and h i ghp r i c e s at auc t i ons and a re exh i b i t ed in f ine artsmuseums. S t i l l , t he company c l a ims, "No Swatch hasever de l ibera t e ly been des igned to become a c lass i c .A Swatch for a season , no t a watch for al l seasons, isour modest object ive."

Meanwhi le, the company isn ' t ignoring the legionswho feel otherwise. "Swatch the C lub ," a col l ec tors 'fan c lub wi th more than 100,000 members wor ldwide ,a l l ow s m em bers to buy l imi t ed ed i t i on s ty l es notava i l ab l e in s tores , rece ive ca t a logs and newsle t t e rs ,and a t t end spec ia l Swatch promot ional event s .

Wh i le by any mea sure TwinphoneA major manufacturer of 1.5 voltmicrochips used in quartz watches,cellular phones, hearing aids an dthe like, Swatch h a s branched ou tinto the telecommunications busi-ness, with the double handsetTwinphone (shown here), cellularphones, an d BeepUp integrateding its first flagship wristwatch pagers.

store in Manhat t an th i sfall and is cont inual lye x p a n d i n g i n t o newmarket s , i nc luding sunglasses, telecommunicat ions and cars. The muc h-ant icipated Swatch Carf ea t u re s a c o n c e p t byM ercedes -B enz .

W ha t s t a r t ed out int he ' 70s as a last di tcheffort to save the besiegedS w i s s w a t ch i ndus t ryh a s b e c o m e a m o d e lfor t u rn ing around t ra d i t i o n a l b u s i n e s s e s ."Swatch is a symbol ofour will ingness to find aposi t i ve answer to theeconom i c cha l l enges ofour t i m e , " s ays H ayek .

Swatch can be j udgedan as toni sh ing success ,the company isn ' t for amoment res t ing on itslaurels . Swatch is open -


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A c c e s s S w a t c hConverted for Olympicpress corps use, the Accesswas first introduce d as aski-pass that wearers couldwave over a scanner to openthe turnstile.

Q Scuba 20 0 SwatchMade for deep dives, the Scuba_ g _ . 200 is water-resistant down

{ ^ ^ to 200 meters. EarlyV - ^ B ^ ^ ^ Scubas were pro-

^ H V moted with ay ^ flipper key chain.

F i r s t G r a p h i c sThe earliest Swatches weresmall, black and plain andidentif ied by code numbersinstead of names. GB103 wasthe first attemp t at puttinggraphics on the face.


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I S S U E

T h e L a n g u a g e o f V i s u a l M e t a p h o r sImagine that each painting below is an airline, a bank or a prospective employer.Which would you choose? Does one feel safer and more reliable? Is one moreopen and creative? Chances are, your opinion is heavily influenced by cultural references, generational attitudes and gender. Because experiences help form ourvisual vocabulary, it is believed that people from similar backgrounds are morelikely to attribute the same values to what they see - even abstract images. To findout how your answers match with others, fill out the return mailer at the back ofthe book. We'll tabulate your responses and print them in a forthcoming @lssue.

You have three job offers, onefrom each of these companies.Which one do you choose towork for, and why?

Now imagine that each of thepaintings represents a different airline. Which one do youchoose to fly with, and why?


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This abstract painting exercise was developed by Dr. Angela Dumas, directorof research at the Design Council in the UK and senior associate of the JudgeInstitute of Management Studies at the University of Cambridge. Used as a warm-up for her "Totem Building" workshop, designed to improve the group dynamicsof cross-functional creative teams, the exercise helps participants realize that evenwhen their tastes and perspectives differ, the values they attribute to the paintingsoften are not that far apart. By looking for common conceptual ground on issues,team members are encouraged to collaborate more closely in seeking solutions.

Which picture representsthe organization you actuallydo work for?

Imagine each of the paintingsrepresents a candidate forPresident of the U.S. Whichwould you vote for, and why?


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I S S U E

D r i v i n g E m o t i o n sLong known fo r sa fe ty , luxury and p rec i s ion eng ineer ing ,M e r c e d e s - B e n z n o w s e e k s to a p p e a l to y o u n g e r , l e s s c on se r va t i ve aud i ences by p r e sen t i ng t he mor e app r oachab l e ,fun- lo v ing , e ne rge t i c s id e of i t se lf in i ts ca r ca ta log s an dp r o m o t i o n a l m a t e r i a l s .

Tim MerazSenior Creative Director,The Designory, Inc.77m Meraz heads up Th e Designory's M ercedes-Benz team responsible for creating brochures,point-of-sale materials and new media projects.

Albert WeissDirector of National Marketing Communications,Mercedes-Benz of North AmericaWith Mercedes-Benz for 31 years, Albert Weissoversees all consumer comm unications for thecompany's North American operations.W hen you 've long been considered the s tandardfor automotive luxury and engineering excellence, extending your brand can be a sensi t ive

opera t ion . Bu t wi th aggress ive g loba l compe t i t o r ssl icing the luxury car market into ever thinner segments,Mercedes-Benz sought to d ispel i t s reputat ion as astatus vehicle only for aff luent, older guys to showingthat i t can be an accessible, fun-to-drive car for successful professionals. The launch of i ts new E-Class sedantargeted to youthful , less conservat ive 40-plus b a b yboomers provided the impetus to adopt a more emotional tone in i ts 1996 model catalogs and advertising.

The effort paid off. The Mercedes-Benz line C-Class,E - C l a s s , S-Class, SL-Class and 600 Ser ies saw U.S.sales jum p 19 .3 % to 58,4 86 veh icles in the fi rs t e ightmonths of 1996. Auto insiders predic t s t rong sales tocont inue as Mercedes-Benz embraces l i festy le-or ientedmarketing to seed the launch of i ts U.S.-made productsl ike the M-Class All-Activity Vehicle.

The public got i ts f irst look at the new Mercedes-

Benz market ing s t ra tegy last year when the companypi tched the generat ion ra ised on rock-and-rol l wi th abroadcast ad using the Janis Jopl in song, "Lord, Won' tY ou B u y M e a M e r c e d e s - B e n z . " C r e a t e d b y N e wYork-based Lowe & Partners/SMS, the ad was a star tl ing depar ture f rom Mercedes-Benz 's sedate image.The carmaker cont inued appeal ing to younger , upscaleconsumers wi th i t s aggressive $30,000-plus pr ic ing onthe C -C lass and then the debut of i t s new E-C lass inthe '96 model year .

Long Beach-based The Designory, which has beencreat ing Mercedes-Benz car cata logs s ince 1993, hasbeen responsible for changing the percept ion of thebrand a t the personal level through market ing mater i a ls d is t r ibuted to prospect ive buyers v ia showroomsand quer ies on an 800 number .

"There 's a s t rong evolut ionary aspect to the designof Mercedes-Benz cars , and we look a t that as a guidel ine to how we evolve thei r market ing mater ia ls ," saysRich C onk l in , The Des ignory copy d i r ec to r on the

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I S S U E

E-ClassL a u n c h V i d e oTimed to coincide with

M er ced es - B en z acco u n t . T h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f t h eE-C lass with its softer, mo re organ ic silhouette sugg ested the tone of the new promotional campaign. So didi t s more approachable pr i ce .

T im Meraz , The Des ignory c rea t ive d i r ec tor forMercedes -Benz , expla ins , "More and more , we are t ry ing to appeal to people l ike you and me, people whomake Mercedes -Benz our on ly car . I t ' s a wor thwhi leinves tment for us . For this segment , we need to getacross the value issue and get away f rom the percept ion tha t every Mercedes -Benz cos t s $100 ,000 ." Thechal l enge was to advance the Mercedes -Benz l egend

wi thout d ivorc ing i t s e l f f rom i t s o r ig ina ls t r engths . "Mercedes -Benz i s one of the

s t ronges t brands in the world. Youhave to be careful wi th i t ,"

Meraz cau t ions .The Designory set about

re inforc ing Mercedes -Benz ' snew message of approachabi l -ity, value and fun by integrat-

action video of the new1996 model was sent to i n S s i m i l a r d e s i g n c u e starget customers. The five- throughout layers of consumerminute tape was also shown , , __ ,. , , , . . , c o m m u n i c a t i o n i n t h e l y y oat dealerships, auto showsand promotional events. m o d e l y e a r c a t a l o g s . I n aser ies of catalogs for the '96 model year , ent i t led" I n s p i r a t i o n , " " I mag i n e , " " D es i r e s , " " D r eams " an d"Envis ion , " The Des ignory unfur led Mercedes -Benz ' snew emphas i s on l i f es ty le . "These ca ta logs werein tended to be eas ie r to r ead , more access ib le andmore emotional ," Meraz says .

"But i t ' s kind of a f ine l ine," he adds . "We wantto make Mercedes -Benz seem l ike these a re car s tha tpeople wear ing shor t s go to the 7-Eleven in , bu twe d idn ' t want to go as f a r as to cheapen the brand .General ly, we t ry to s tay away f rom photographingthese cars in f ront of mansions and opulent set t ings .The r ea l i ty too i s tha t Mercedes -Benz has f ewsuper -expens ive car s . For the mos t par t , they arecompet i t ive ly pr i ced w i th BMW and Lexus . "

"We are t rying to get consumers to see a s ide ofMercedes-Benz that has always exis ted but hasn ' t beence lebra ted in marke t ing communica t ions namely ,the relat ionship that you are going to have with the caras opposed to what we as engineers did to the car ,"C o n k l i n ad d s .

6 0 0 S e r i e s C a ta l o gMercedes-Benz'sultra-luxurious 600

model, which sellsupwards of $125,000,

is in a class by itself -and so is its catalog. The '

brochure's oversized 12 x 17-inch format,stitched binding and lavish use of white

space and double spread photographsexude elegance and exclusivity.

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I S S U E

G e n e r a l B r o c h u r eFor casual shoppers

who aren't sure which carmodel is right for them,

this brochure gives a briefoverview of the different

models and customersupport features.

M o d e l C a t a l o g sBlurred action photographs andevocative titles set the emotionaltone of the imagery inside the1996 model year catalogs. Aback-pocket brochure (below) letsMercedes-Benz address hot topicsin the car industry and explain whyits engineering is unique. Diskettes

provide in-depthtechnical andengineering infor-mation, withinteractivedemonstrations.

S p e c i a l T y p e fa c eMercedes-Benz's attentionto creating a distinctive

identity extended even todesigning its own propri-

tary typeface for use in all itscommunications materials.

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Pre-launch M a r k e t i n gA direct mail piece sent to targetcustomers, this CD-ROM servedas a teaser for the launch ofMercedes-Benz's new generationE-Class sedan. Timed for arrival |five days before the new car's ..- r.,u.,is>l,,,unveil ing, the CD program fea- " " . ,"3tures a panorama of photographicsquares, which, when clicked,unlock interesting "factoids". C l i c k : Only a certain numb er of squares can be unlocked each day as

users navigate along Mercedes -Benz's historical timeline filled with anecdotal stories and innovation

highlights, some set to music and voiceovers. E ach square open s onto a second layer that revea ls a portion

of the new car. Launch day culminates with lavish fanfare a nd a full-motion video of the new sedan. C l i c k .


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I S S U E

With t i t les l ike "Desi res ," that message i s conveyed r ight from the cover. "Most manufacturers wouldhave put the name and model on the cover , but wewanted to talk about you, what inspires you, what youare a l l abo ut ." C onkl in says. "Th e idea i s that beforewe sell you a car , we need to sell you an idea aboutthat car . We also recognize that buying cars on theMercedes-Benz level i sn ' t about somebody who wantsa car just to get from point A to point B."

I nside, the cata logs feature photos of people andlandscapes, not just cars , and exper ient ia l ly conveythe exci tement of dr iv ing a Mercedes-Benz throughblur red act ion photographs, angled shots and a combination of duotone, tr i tone and full-colorimages. "If you look at the photographyver sus images in o the r ca r ca t a logs , i ti s i m p e r f e c t b y d e s i g n , " s a y s A n d r e aSchindler , The Designory art director forMercedes-Benz . "Other s l ook r e touchedlike mad. We do as l i t t le retouching aspossible. If there is a reflection of a treein a window, we leave it in as long as itlooks good. We want to support a lookof n a t u r a l n e s s a n d a p p r o a c h a b i l i t y .Mercedes-Benz feels pret ty conf identthat they ha ve on e of the f 0 most r ec ognizable brands in the world and theyare will ing to play with that a bit ."

Ano the r way Mercedes-Benz human izedi t s ca t a logs was by showing c lose -up f ash ion- s ty l ephotographs of people, often without the car even inthe picture. "We struggled with how to do that a longt ime," says Meraz. "We f inal ly h i red a fashionpho tographer and a r e p l eased wi th t he r e su l t s . "

The text is meant to be fr iendly as well . The copy in an easy- to- read font cal led Corporate A, cut especia l ly for Mercedes-Benz i s s imple , c lear and di rect ,coun te rba l anc ing the e the r ea l qua l i t y o f some o fthe imagery. "Posing quest ions l ike What does it feellike to drive? " says C onk l in , "pu t s t he d i a logue onthe consumer s ' l eve l and approaches i n fo rmat ionf rom the i r pe r spec t ive . "

The cata logs themselves were developed in threesect ions. " In the main par t of the brochure , we wantedto present the beauty of the car and the emot ionalexper ience," explains Meraz. "People who want to go

Bui lding AnticipationFor months, Mercedes-Benz hasbeen stimulating interest in itsnew SLK sports car convertible,set for release in January 1997.This 6x6-inch teaser contains asix-panel fold-out brochure thatappeals to people who love theoutdoors, and proclaims inside"Some sensations are worthwaiting for."

" T h e r e ' s a s t r o n g e v o lu t io n a r y a s p e c t t ot h e d e s ig n o f M e r c e d e s - B e n z c a r s , a n dw e l o o k a t t h a t a s a g u i d e l i n e t o h o w w ee v o lv e t h e i r m a r k e t in g m a t e r i a l . "deeper can look at the back of the brochure and see i tfrom a benefits standpoint . The third level is a diskettethat f i t s in to the back pocket , which shows Mercedes-Benz her i tage and his tory of engineer ing excel lence.These d isket tes are r ich wi th technical informat ion."

The Designory, along with its affiliatePinkhaus in Miami , a lso produces o thermajo r p i eces , i nc lud ing a we lcomebrochure for new car owners and lesseesand a Col lect ion cata log of s ignatureaccessory and gif t i tems.

C omp ared to the average 16 to 24pages of most o ther car brochures, theMercedes-Benz ca r ca t a logs have ale isurely 52-plus pages Lo del iver thei rmessage . "Mercedes-Benz f ee l s t he i rcustomers have cer ta in expecta t ions,that thei r brochures need to have a cer

tain tacti le quali ty , a heft factor ," says C onk lin.When you get the brochure and hold i t in your

hand, i t needs to feel l ike there i s substance there ."The catalogs feature a combination of coated anduncoated papers in 100 lb . basis weight . "Uncoatedpapers are good for showing emotions, but when i tcomes to product , where we need to c lear ly representthe car and i ts textures, there is nothing l ike a coatedsheet ," says Meraz. As a resul t , the bulk of thecata logs are made up of coated papers , showing cr ispdetails of the cars and exuding sophist icated energy.

The s ize and scope of the Mercedes-Benz market ingsuppor t program also means that work must cont inueyear - round. The Designory has 20 people assignedful l - t ime to the Mercedes account . The team includestwo product specia l i s t s , wi th engineer ing backgrounds,"who do nothing but l ive and breathe Mercedes-Benzproduct informat ion," Meraz says. "They go to a l l thephoto shoots and make sure that ar t d i rectors andcopywriters are in l ine and review all the mechanicals

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I S S U E

B r a n d E x t e n s i o nCapitalizing on the cachet of the Mercedes-Benzname, the Collection catalog, offering exclusivebranded car accessories and gift items, generatesadditional revenue for the company and its dealers. Because all items can be ordered directly

through dealers, the collection facilitates trackingtarget customers.

T r a d e m a r k E m b l e mOne of the world's best known trade

marks, the Mercedes-Benz emblemcombined the three-pointed star of Daimler

and the laurel wreath of Benz when thetwo companies merged in 1926

H i g h - E n d G i f t I t eMercedes-Benz g

selection caters to thlifestyle needs of i

customers with itelike terry velour robe

golf caps and mensilk formalwear se t

Ne w E-Class M o d e lThe softer silhouette of thenew E-Class instigated themove toward a more emotionalmessage in Mercedes-Benz'spromotional materials.

F r id a y W e a rThe prestige value of the

Mercedes-Benz name is subtlyconveyed in apparel, such as thisdenim shirt with a tiny logo tag

attached to the pocket.

L o g o K e y c h a inNot just one, but a half dozenchoices of logo keychains are available to Mercedes-Benz owners.

D e s i g n e r N e c k t i eThis necktie by

Nicole Millerfeatures the com

pany's milestonecars, ranging from

the 1886 BenzPatent Motorwagen

to the new E-Class.28


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I S S U E

Children's B ookWith a 110-yearhistory, the companyhas stories that haveevolved into legend,including this charmingtale about the world'sfirst long-distance cartrip taken by CarlBern's wife, Berta,and their sons.

items as woolAMG

Limited Edi t ion PosterTo celebrate its 100th

anniversary, the companycommissioned Andy Warhol

to create a limited editionposter, which is now

sold in the gift collection.

(f inished layouts) to make sure the best angles of thecar are shown, the wheels are correct , and the cars areexactly the way buyers are going to get them."

Dur ing every s tep of the process, Mercedes market ing people are involved, providing di rect ion andsignoff. Merced es-Benz di rector of nat ional market ingcommunicat ions Alber t Weiss says Mercedes-Benz ofNor th Amer ica , based in New Jersey, works c loselywi th Th e Designory to ens ure ef fect ive com mu nica t ions while al lowing enough f lexibil i ty for creativepowers to f lourish. "Our process is to do a postmortemat the end of each year," Weiss says. "We try to anticipate what the customer i s th inking a year or so inadvance. Through the graphic design, layout and photoimagery, we try to provide the consumer with as muchrelevant information as possible complete , engagingand emot ional ."

[uch of this is hashed out at an annual retreat .I "The client will characterize what will be

happening in the next year . If there isa new car coming out, we go to the

factory in Stuttgart , Germany, andtalk to the people who designedi t . We might spend a monthdesigning the look of these

brochures and nine months execut ing them," explains Meraz. The

Designory a lso works c losely wi th adagency Lowe & Par tners/SMS. " In extending the new

Mercedes-Benz personal i ty being broadcast by theagency, we try to drive i t al l the way down to the collateral level so everything will look and feel l ike onecompany. To mak e sure th is messa ge i s cohes ive,every t ime we're in New York, we try to get togetherwith Lowe and do a show-and-tell ," says Meraz. "I t issurprising that even when we arr ive at our solutionsindependent ly , they are remarkably synergist ic ."

Perhaps because cus tomer s see t he Mercedes-Benzprint materials as an extension and reflection of theprest ig ious cars themselves, they tend to hang onto thecata logs even af ter they have made thei r purchasingdecision. "We find people use them on coffee tablesin their off ices," says Weiss. "Our l i terature is not onlya suppor t ive e lement in the purchase of the product ,i t 's also table-top quali ty. They're passed from oneconsumer to the next ."

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I S S U E

T e n T i p s f o r W r i t i n g a n E f f e c t i v e D e s i g n B r ie fWhether the p ro jec t i s an annua l r epo r t , p roduc td e s i g n , p a c k a g i n g , W e b s i t e , C D - R O M , m a r k e t i n gb rochu re , co rpo ra te iden t i ty p rog ram o r env i ronment a l g r a p h i c s , c o m p a n i e s c a n s a v e t i m e a n d m i su n

d e r s t a n d i n g b y p u t t i n g t o g e t h e r a d e s i g n b r i e f b e f o r e i n t e r v i e w i n gpro sp ec t ive de s ig n f i rms. Unfor tunate ly , too few corp ora te m an ag erst ake the t ime to p repare a brief, t h ink ing tha t " t a lk ing i t t h rough"in a m ee t in g wil l suffice. A w ri t ten br ief offers two im po rtan t ad va nt a g e s , however : 1 ) I t demands tha t in -house managers c l a r i fy thepro jec t ' s bus iness ob jec t ives a t the s tar t , and 2 ) i t g ives des igners asummary o f key co rpo ra te po in t s to r e fe r to l a t e r on . Bu t keep thedes ign b r i e f sho r t , and recogn ize tha t i t s pu rpose i s to p rov ideeno ugh in fo rmat ion to ass ess the p ro pos ed ass ign m en t r e a l i s t i c a l lyw i t h o u t d i s c o u r a g i n g c r e a t i v e e x p l o r a t i o n .1 . CorporateProfile

Even if yourcorporate

rename4 J is more

8&UI 4 famousthan Madonna's, don'tassume everyone knowswhat you do. Peoplemay only know yourcompany by name, orhave an outdated imageof what you do, or thinkof you too narrowly interms of one product orone market area. Adesigner's erroneous

assumptions about yourbusiness can skew theentire opening discussion, so first provide asynopsis of your currentline of business, marketemphasis and reach,along with pertinent historical highlights.2 . M a r k e tPosit ion

Provide arealisticevaluation of

your organization, service orbrand relative to yourcompetitors. How isyour company unique ordifferent? What is your

standing in the industry?What marketing communications techniquesare most effective amongyour competitors?3. CurrentSituat ion

/ \ Explain the/ situation thati * instigated

' ^ the needfor this proj

ect. Examples: Our brandidentity isn't workinganymore. The baby-boom generation thinksof us fondly from theiryouth, but their children

consider us too conservative. We're about tolaunch a big push intoglobal markets, andour packaging hasn'tchanged since we werea regional company. Wejust went public andneed to be taken seriously on Wall Street.4 . BusinessObjectives

What do you want toachieve? If it's a salesbrochure, what pointsare you pushing? If it'san annual report, what

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I S S U E

are the key messagesfor the year? If it's aproduct design, whatattributes do you wantto convey? Define yourobjectives.5. TargetAudience

Who are youtrying to

reach?f Are you

reachingthem now?

If not, what do you feelis missing? For multipleaudiences, rank themin terms of importance.Provide demographicinformation, if relevant.Explain any unusual orunique attributes aboutyour audience.6. Corpora te /Brand Personality

What is yourimage inthe market-

J f A P | a c e ?C - ^ How doyou want to be perceived?Cutting edge? Relaxedand friendly? Trendy andelegant? Inexpensive andapproachable? Whatsubliminal messages doyou want to convey? Jotdown a list of adjectivesdescribing the imageyou want to project andanother describing messages you want to avoid.

7 . B udge tUntil youknowwhat

form thesolution will

take, it's hard to definea budget. However, itusually helps to state aballpark figure for thetotal project, so that thedesigner knows whetheryou are thinking abouta three-panel brochureor a 48-page full-colorbook. Some companiesundertake design projects so infrequently, theyhave no idea how muchthings cost. They comein with lavish samplesof what they want, onlyto discover that something comparable wouldwildly exceed their budget. In fairness to thedesign process, it isimportant to provide abudget range, so thatthe designer can developconcepts with that inmind - or advise youearly-on that the ideasyou want to execute willcost more than is currently budgeted. Don'ttry to breakout thebudget by line items -i.e., design, photography, typesetting, printing, paper, etc.; let thedesigner do that oncethe solution is defined.

When it comes to budgeting at this earlystage, it's important tobuild in flexibility, sothat you don't miss anopportunity to get theperfect so lution, whichmay happen to cost justa few dollars more.8. Scheduleand Deadl ine; What absolute

targets mustbe met? A

? j productlaunch at a

conference that happensonce a year? An SEC filing? A Board of D irectors'presentation? If this is aprogram with many elements, is there a rolloutsequence? Does the printadvertising have to coincide with the brochuredistribution, for instance?State any interim targetsthat must be met duringproduction, if relevant,and when the projectmust be completed.9. DesignM e d ium

What mediumfly? do you have

in mind forthe design?

A print piece,advertising, packaging,Web site, poster, exteriorsignage, CD-ROM, video,multimedia interactivekiosk - or all of theabove? Do you have a

particular size in mind -e.g., a 24-page self-cover brochure, a direct-mail piece that fits a No.10 envelope? In somecases, the situation willdictate the medium; inothers, the best mediummay emerge through anaudit and analysis ofyour needs. State yourpreference, but keep anopen mind.10. Technica la nd Pra c t ic a lConstraints

___ . Does theIj designer

have tostay with

in certainparameters? Is it a point-of-purchase display thathas to meet specificsupermarket guidelines?A brochure that has tobe translated into threelanguages? Packagingthat must include recycled materials? If thereare inflexible constraints,state them up front.Don't base your parameters simply on the factthat "it's always beendone that way," becauseyou may prevent yourdesigner from comingup with a solution thatno one has ever considered before.

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D E S I G N A N D B U S I N E S S C L A S S I C C O C A - C O L A B O T T L E

W fe need a new b ottle - a distinc tive package thatII help us fight substitutions...we need a bottlewhich a person will recognize as a Coca-Colabottle even when he feels it in the dark. The Coca-Colabottle should be so shaped that, even if broken, a personcould tell what it was..." wrote the company's legal coursel in 1915, urging management to develop packagingthat could be protected by trademark and patent laws.

In response, the now globally celebrated contouredglass Coke bottle was born. Created by the Root GlassCo. of Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1915, the bottlewith its distinctive fluted sides and bulging middle was inspired by the shape of an African kolanut - which along with the South American cocaleaf contributes to the soft drink's unique flavor.The beverage itself was invented by John S.Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, in 1886 and

named by Pemberton's bookkeeper Frank Robinsonwho suggested that featuring the drink's two mostexotic ingredients had a nice alliterative sound. A penmanship expert, Robinson drew the brand name in theflourished Spencerian style of the time - and that's howit has remained.The curvaceous bottle came to symbolize the Americanspirit during World War II, when the company pledgedthat U.S. fighting forces could count on Coca-Cola wherever they were and set up 64 bottling plants overseas.

The sight of the familiar Coke bottle served as areassuring reminder of home and engendered

I good will toward the soft drink. Today Coca-Colais sold in more than 200 countries, and recently

the company introduced the soft drink in a new20-ounce contoured plastic bottle, capitalizing ona shape known around the world.

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C o r p o r a t e D e s i g n F o u n d a t i o nCorporate Design Foundation, a non-profit educational institut ion, was founded on the belief that design can make a majorcontribution both to an individual's quality of life and to acorporation's success, and that both individual and organizationalinterests can be served through the effective use of designdisciplines: product design, communication design andarchitecture. Accordingly, our mission is to improve the qualityof life and the effectiveness of organizations through design.

At the heart of this mission is a focus on education toexpand the awareness of design's potential among corporatemanagers. Through the Design Leadership Programs, theFoundation promotes research and documentation of the roleof design in business and the development of new teachingcurricula and materials for use in graduate business schools.

The Foundation frequently serves as a catalyst, working witheducational and other organizations to achieve the following:Create future innovators by including design in the curricula ofleading business schools,- develop collaborations betweendesign, business and other schools or disciplines to further theunderstanding of design and use of interdisciplinary teams;achieve an understanding of design and ecologically sustainable development by current business and government leaders.

Potlatch C o r p o r a t i o nThe sponsor of @Issue, Potlatch Corporation has long been aproponent of the use of quality design to create corporate identity,promote products and establish credibility and distinctionamong key consumer and business audiences.

At mills in northern Minnesota, Potlatch manufacturesthe broadest line of premium coated printing papers availabletoday, including a selection of gloss, dul l , velvet, silk andmatte finishes and a choice of fine recycled papers. Inaddition to setting the standard for coated printing paperquality, Potlatch's printing paper operations have earnedInternational Standards Organization (ISO) 9002 cert if ication,a rating verifying its manufacturing product quality system isrecognized worldwide.

Printed in the U.S.A. on Potlatch Vintage9 Remarque9 Gloss Cover,100 lb. and Vintage 9 Remarque 9 Velvet Book, 100 lb. Both arerecycled papers containing a minimum 10% post-consumer waste.


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The Journal ofBusiness and DesignPublished byCorporate Design FoundationSponsored byPotlatch Corporation

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